Author: Shelly W

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Breaking News Canada World

Many Canadians Honor Cpl Nathan Cirillo, Show Support for Soldier’s Family

Cpl Nathan Cirillo, slain soldier, terrorism
Cpl Nathan Cirillo, slain soldier, terrorism

This has been a rough few weeks for Canadians, none more so than the family of Cpl Nathan Cirillo. As the soldier standing guard when an act of terrorism was committed on Parliament Hill last week Cpl Nathan Cirillo lost his life due to an act of terrorism and cowardice, and Canadians around the country showed up to honor this courageous and honorable man, and to show support for his family. Few will ever forget the sight of the slain soldier’s 5 year old son peeking out of the back of a limousine to see his father being honored, and this heart wrenching sight touched even the hardest of hearts. Thousands of people crowded the side of the streets in order to pay respect to the soldier when Cirillo was laid to rest with full military honors, and their thoughts and prayers were with the family of this hero.

Ross Amos, one of those who came to pay respects to Cpl Nathan Cirillo and show support for the family of the slain soldier, commented about the huge crowds. “I’m amazed. I’m sure many more watched at home on TV. There’s a great sense of concern right now and a feeling of empathy for the Cirillo family as well as all those serving in our Armed Forces. This is a hometown boy, so I felt like I should be here to support his family.” Cpl Nathan Cirillo did nothing to invite the act of terrorism that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau committed, and the soldier had only been in Ottowa a short while before he was murdered.

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Alberta Health

Alberta Needs More Tissue and Organ Donors, New Law Helps

Alberta, tissue and organ donors
Alberta, tissue and organ donors

Alberta is looking for more people to become tissue and organ donors, and the province is also revamping the program for tissue and organ donations. Len Webber, the Calgary-Foothills MLA , introduced Bill 207 in March of 2013, and it passed in November of the same year. The goal of the act was to establish a single agency which would coordinate and facilitate tissue and organ donors an donations in the Alberta area. The passage of Bill 207, also known as the Human Issue and Organ Donation Amendment Act, made it much easier for Alberta residents to become tissue and organ donors. In the past registration clerks were not required to ask if a visitor to the counter wanted to become tissue and organ donors, but now these clerks are legally required by law to ask.

Association of Alberta Registries CEO Pamela Wilson explained “The legislation in Alberta requires that when you go to a registry office … the registry clerk will ask if you’re interested in registering your consent to be an organ donor. Those types of transactions are about eight million per year in the province of Alberta.” Tissue and organ donors are sorely needed in Alberta, and the registries do not have enough donors in the Alberta area to fill the need for donations each year. According to Wilson “44,000 doesn’t seem like a very big number, so we want to boost those numbers and get the total numbers of consent on file to be much higher. We know that the ask at the counter is having really good results — 60 to 70% of that 44,000 that have registered since July have registered because they were asked at the counter to register. They can donate their entire body to science if they want to, or they can donate any parts that are on the list. They can choose all of them or any combination there of.”

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Ft Mac

Conklin Multiplex Breaks Ground, Will House Various Wood Buffalo Offices

Conklin, Wood Buffalo
Conklin, Wood Buffalo

The Conklin community is celebrating the start of a new multiplex, and the ground breaking for the project happened recently. On Monday the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo broke ground so that constuction on the Conklin multiplex could begin. Right now things are only in the design stage, and the project will go out for tender sometime in 2015. The multiplex will include recreational facilities for residents, and it will also provide local services such as the bylaw offices of RMWB and the RCMP. According to Conklin Resource Development Advisory Committee executive director Jeffrey O’Donnell “(It)was a great day for Conklin, and we really congratulate Wood Buffalo council on their forward thinking on this project. That’s so important to the community because the community currently provides a really wide range of social services…Having a multiplex there, we’re able to actually align all of these services and strategically being able to deliver them over one roof.”

Wood Buffalo and Conklin will both benefit from the new multiplex, and currently community services are operated from numerous locations. O’Donnell explained “They’re either too small or there’s not enough space. The Metis local doesn’t have an office, the CRDAC is being run out of a lodge. All of our services are spread out all throughout the community, so we need that essential point to deliver.” He continued by saying “The big question seems to be, is it worth it?. When you develop individuals as a whole in a positive environment, the society and the community generally benefits immensely, weighted against negative social interventions. What the idea was at the time was that Fort McMurray had more capacity to deliver programs and services… (and) 19 years after the fact some of these things are actually coming to life. We’re just super excited to see the dirt move.”

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Canada Ft Mac Health World

Has Ebola Reached Fort MacMurray? Local Camp Worker Quarantined.

Ebola, camp worker, quarantine
Ebola, camp worker, quarantine

The recent quarantine of a local Fort MacMurray camp worker has raised Ebola fears in this remote community. This all happened at the Hangingstone Project camp operated by Athabasca Oil on Monday, and it created the fear that Ebola could impact the community. The entire camp was put under lock down, and quarantine procedures were initiated, after the camp worker reported to the camp doctor with symptoms similar to the flu. The doctor is the one who initiated the quarantine, not Alberta Health Services, according to the AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson. The Ebola fears were caused by the fact that several other camp workers stated that the sick individual recently returned from South Africa where he had traveled on a trip. The worker was a contract employee with a local cleaning company, and was not employed by Athabasca Oil.

AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson explained that the quarantine was not recommended by AHS, and the lock down was eliminated later Monday afternoon after company officials discussed the matter and shared the fear of Ebola in a camp worker who was under quarantine. There was little apparent risk to the local Fort MacMurray community and the general public according to the provincial health officials, so the quarantine was lifted. There have been no suspected Ebola cases in Canada’s North Zone, and the worker did not visit any area of South Africa where the virus has been widespread. According to Williams “We know that the patient who sparked this certainly does not have Ebola. “By the looks of things it looks like the physician went above and beyond by recommending the quarantine, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

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Entertainment Ft Mac

Fort MacMurray Prepares for the Holidays

Fort MacMurray, holiday preparations
Fort MacMurray, holiday preparations

Many Fort MacMurray residents are starting their holiday preparations, because this can be a very busy time of year and there is always so much to get done it seems like there is never enough time in each day. Friday is Halloween, and that means buying candy, decorating your home and yard, and getting ready for hordes of children in their very best costumes showing up at your door. Soon after Halloween Fort MacMurray starts getting ready for Thanksgiving, with a schedule of cleaning, decorating, and other holiday preparations like cooking an enormous meal for a large crowd. This can be one of the best and the worst times of the year at the same time. You enjoy having a meal with family and close friends but there is so much you have to do so that this is possible.

After Fort MacMurray residents get through the Thanksgiving holiday it is time for the Christmas holiday preparations, and this can be the most stressful and time consuming of all. The entire month of December often flies by with shopping, cleaning, cooking, wrapping gifts, and decorating. Many people take a materialistic view of Christmas, forgetting what this holiday is actually all about. Everyone is having a holiday party or other special event, and the days leading up to the Christmas holiday can seem very hectic as a result. Once Christmas Day has passed the stress does not let up, because the New Year holiday is just a week away, leaving little time for breathing. Remember to take care of yourself for the next few months so that you get through your holiday preparations in Fort MacMurray with as little stress as possible.

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Alberta Ft Mac

Founder of Kids Forever, An Organization Helping Fort MacMurray Residents, is Honored

Kids Forever, Fort MacMurray
Kids Forever, Fort MacMurray

Jon Foy, the founder of the Kids Forever Foundation, was recently honored by the province for all of his hard work and efforts to help children in the Fort MacMurray community, and in other areas of Canada as well. When asked about being honored Foy responded “I just like helping kids and sick kids. I saw there was an opportunity for that in Canada when I came here.” Mike Allen and Don Scott were the MLAs who were honoring the Kids Forever Foundation founder at the Clearwater Hotel. The organization was started by Foy in 1998, in order to help families in Fort MacMurray who needed assistance caring for ill or disabled children. While Kids Forever started out in Fort MacMurray Jon Foy has not limited his generosity to this local area, his foundation has started to become focused on children in the entire Alberta area of Canada.

As Kids Forever has branched out from the Fort MacMurray the organization has worked with many other children charity based organizations. These charities include Northern Lights Regional Health Centre in Fort MacMurray, Ronald McDonald House, Stollery Children’s Hospital, Camp Health, Hope and Happiness, and Glenrose Hospital. Since the founding of Kids Forever it is estimated that the organization has helped more than 300 families in the Alberta area who suffer from financial hardship. The organization has helped to cover the costs for medical equipment, medical expenses, and even travel related costs so that kids can receive treatment. Jon Foy deserves to be honored, because his organization has made a big difference in the lives of many children.