HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-04-30, Page 7A reunion over 15 years in the
making took place in Brussels last
week as former employees of
Callander Nursing Home gathered to
take a stroll down memory lane.
Approximately 20 former
Callander employees gathered at
retired nurse, Betty Graber-Watson’s
house to go through old photo
albums and newspaper clippings,
and to catch up and reminisce.
One of the most glaring
differences, Graber-Watson said, are
the health and safety concerns today,
as well as the privacy concerns.
While dozens of photos, taken by
the former nurses themselves
displayed the employees as well as
the patients, some of the women
discussed how taking pictures of
patients is no longer allowed.
There was also the story of a
young disabled man who was
orphaned and had no skills that
would be useful for living in the
outside world, despite the fact that
the home had to release him.
Many of the former nurses recalledteaching him how to care for himselfand cook for himself, showing him inthe home’s kitchen. Several of the former nurses notedthat health and safety concernswould make lessons like that
impossible in this day and age.
When the home closed in
September 1991, some employees
went on to the Braemare Nursing
Home in Wingham, some retired and
some entered other lines of work.
The building, on the west side of
Turnberry Street, just south of
downtown, can be traced as far back
as the mid-1800s. The building was
owned by several owners before
being officially converted to a
nursing home in the late 1950s, when
it became Baker’s Convalescent
Home, owned and operated by
Edward and Mary Baker.
Douglas Callander bought the
home in 1961 and began expanding
the facility immediately.
In 1972, Extendicare was
introduced to the home andinspections became more frequentand the rules became more strict.In 1973, Callander sold the hometo Austin Nursing Homes Ltd. andthen in 1985 it was bought byMacGowan Nursing Homes Ltd.
who remained the owners until the
home was finally closed.
The building currently houses
apartments for rent in its original
location.
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2009. PAGE 7.Callander crew shares memories at reunion
Adapting theme of conference
Continued from page 1
to the air which can fall as rain or
snow.
A theme of the conference was the
need to adapt and prepare for the
changes the climate will bring. Steve
Jackson, water resources engineer
with the MVCA, said that with more
severe weather events such as
sudden thunderstorms, muni-
cipalities can either spend money to
repair road and culvert washouts and
deal with flooding, or they can spend
money to make the watershed more
resilient to sudden downpours.
“Water will always win”, he
warned about waiting to deal with
problems of too much water.
The alternative is to create
roadside berms or other structures
that will hold water from a sudden
event for 24 hours on the land to
prevent it rushing downstream to
caused damage, but not long enough
to change cropping of the land. Such
hold-backs would also help keep soil
on fields instead of having it flushed
into drains and rivers, Jackson said.
Buffers along open drains and
streams will also help prevent the
need to expensive clean-outs of the
drains, Jackson said. There needs to
be an education program to help
people understand the need for tree
planting in these riparian areas. “As
we get more intense (weather)
events, one of the keys will be to
prevent erosion.”
If there is more drought in future,
perhaps there’s a need for tile drains
to feed into constructed wetlands
instead of water being carried
quickly from farmland into drains
and streams, he said.
As well, windbreaks will help
prevent the drying out of land and
crops.
Jackson said as climate change
brings higher-intensity rain events
that might drop 150 mm of rain
when they were expected to drop 75,
or rapid snow melts such as were
seen twice this past winter, it’s going
to be harder for the conservation
authority to predict floods.
“We’re going to see flooding like
we never did before,” he said. The
conservation authority is not going
to be able to give enough warning of
flooding to really allow
municipalities to respond.
That’s why he urged
municipalities to try to take action to
try to prevent severe flooding.
“We’re either going to spend
money over and over again (to make
repairs) or we can spend the money
now and reap the rewards down the
way.”
Reunion
Former employees of the Callander Nursing Home in Brussels met last week at Betty Graber-
Watson’s house for a bit of a reunion. Over 20 came and looked through old photo albums,
poured over old newspaper clippings and reminisced about their days working at the home.
Back row, from left: Linda Smith, Dawn White, Karen Griffith, Mabel Glanville, Betty Campbell,
Donna Prior, Barb Fritz and Carol Stevenson. Middle: Graber-Watson, Mary Stretton, Debbie
Trollope, Jane Hall and Violet Heibein. Front: Betty Shaw, Cec Moore and Edna Pearson. (Shawn
Loughlin photo)
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By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
There was an error in the April 16
story regarding the utilization of a
Trillium grant awarded to the
Brussels Legion Pipe Band.
It has always been the policy of
the Brussels Legion Pipe Band that
its uniforms remain the property of
the band. This policy will not
change due to the grant the band
received.
We apologize for any confusion
this may have caused.
Correction