Funding For Medical Clinic On Wolfe Island

At their regular monthly meeting for February, Frontenac County Council received a presentation from Kathy Ganz and Sheila MacDonald, Wolfe Islanders who are the President and Treasurer of the volunteer-based Wolfe Island Community Medical Clinic.

Kathy Ganz outlined some of the recent history of the clinic. The clinic used to have service from a Frontenac Doctors, but that service ended a couple of years ago, and it has been unable to offer clinic hours since then.

Recently however, the clinic has begun to offer service one day a week, courtesy of Aridia Medical, an urgent care nurse practitioner-led clinic, offering “episodic healthcare for all ages”, in the words of its web page. Aridia Medical has 2 locations in Kingston, and charges a user fee of $49 per visit.

The Wolfe Island clinic came to an agreement with Aridia back in December of last year, to start up the clinic, with funding support from donations as well as a contribution of $17,500 from Frontenac Islands Township. The Wolfe Island clinic was already offering footcare, dental hygienist care, Lifelabs, and an equipment loan service, all at no charge to Wolfe Island and Simcoe Island residents. The funding support from donations, and the township, covers the $49 user fee, making nurse practitioner services to be free to local residents, as well.

The community medical clinic was looking for $17,500 from Frontenac County, to help support the service.

Later in the meeting, Council considered the request for funding, which was brought forward by Frontenac Islands Mayor Judy Greenwood-Speers and supported by Warden Bill Saunders, who is a member of Frontenac Islands Council.

Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith said that since she was not running for re-election and will not be involved in the 2027 county budget, she would not vote on the motion.

However, Mayor Greenwood-Speers said that the request is for funding for a second day of service within the 2026 pilot year for the program, and the county funds, $17,500, will be drawn from a reserve fund.

Noting that Frontenac Islands has provided funding, North Frontenac Mayor Gerry Lichty said “I think this is a good thing,” and said he would support it.

“This is a one-year pilot, so it will not impact any future budgets,” said Councillor Nicki Gowdy from Central Frontenac.

The request for a $17,500 grant was approved.

Allocation to Central Frontenac For Trailhead Development

Council formally approved a request for $100,000 to Central Frontenac to be applied to the construction of a bathroom and change room at Sharbot Lake beach, on the K&P Trail.

The money is Frontenac Counties’ contribution to trailhead development in Central Frontenac. The beach, which abuts the trail, is part of what Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith describes as a linear park running through the village, along the trail between the Sharbot Lake Family Heath Team building and the railway park and junction of the K&P Trail, and the East-West Trans Canada Trail, on the northside of the Thomsons Rock Cut trail feature.

(South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal was absent from the meeting.)