Southern Frontenac Community Services AGM

Jeff Green | Jul 01, 2015

Local politicians, visitors from other social service agencies, and members of the business community were well represented at Southern Frontenac Community Services’ (SFCS) AGM on June 24, which was held once again this year in the morning in order to accommodate the schedules of most of those in attendance.

Breakfast was served at 7:30 and the meeting started up at 8:00 in order to be wrapped before 9:00 last Wednesday.

A few milestones were marked at this, the 26th anniversary of the agency. Joan Cameron, who has been the board chair for six years, stepped down as chair and retired from the board. As was pointed out by the new board chair, Nona Mariotti, Cameron's legacy at SFCS is exemplified in the Grace Centre, where the meeting was held. It was Cameron who was the driving force in the development of the centre as a multi-purpose space that is used both for SFCS programming and administration as well as for public use as an arts centre, breathing life into the former United Church building.

In her final remarks, Cameron commended the efforts of the board in developing a governance model. She also reported that the agency has enjoyed its best year both in terms of service and finances.

Mariotti, who has chaired the Adult Services Committee of the agency and has been involved in developing and publicising events at the Grace Centre, takes over a six-member board, which is looking for three members to restore a full complement, including a new treasurer.

In his remarks to the membership, Executive Director David Townsend thanked the agency’s staff and talked about some of the new programming that SFCS has engaged in, including a homelessness initiative, as well as a palliative care counselling service for families throughout Frontenac County.

Tom Whiteman, then made a presentation on behalf of the United Way of Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington, of which he is a board member. He presented one of the agency’s annual Volunteer of the Year awards to John Trousdale. He said that Trousdale had been nominated by SFCS, which is a United Way member agency, and that when looking at the breadth of support he has provided to the agency and to the community of Sydenham, “It was very easy for us to make a decision.”

While many of John Trousdale’s contributions in Sydenham are well known, he has remained in the background over the 26-year history of SFCS, but on numerous occasions when there were either opportunities or crises, he has come through with a helping hand, either though in-kind or cash donations or by providing strategic advice.

Whiteman said that in recognition of his award, people in the community should “give John a hug”, something that Mayor Vandewal attempted to do later on without much success. Perhaps a simple handshake would suffice.

The keynote speech at the AGM was delivered by Donna Segal, the Chair of the Board of Directors for the South East Local Health Integration Network (SELHIN), which acts for the Ontario Ministry Health in funding hospitals, long-term care facilities, the Community Care Access Centre (CCAC), and also community support service agencies, of which SFCS is one. Segal said that the SELHIN spends about $1 billion annually, and one of its goals is to ensure that money is spent wisely and that service providers work together to provide “patient-centred care”, to cover all service gaps for patients and to avoid duplication of service.

She said that the SELHIN spends the second most money per capita among the 14 LHINS throughout Ontario on hospitals, the third most on long-term care, and the highest amount on home care, but the lowest amount per capita on community support services.

SFCS has been advocating for increases in its own funding from the LHIN for its popular Adult Day Program for the frail elderly.

Segal did not say if changes are coming to community support services funding, but she did indicate that the CCAC system, which provides nursing and other home services, may be seeing major changes in the near future.