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ErinoakKids' current facilities are not meeting the need by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff Health We are currently in 10 sites, nine of which are rented facilities in industrial type buildings. Not all of them are accessible. We own one site that was built in the '70s. It is long past its ability to manage well for us because it is crumbling and there are a lot of issues with the site. 29 | Thursday, September 26, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" A recent Town of Oakville council meeting discussed the new state-ofthe-art ErinoakKids Centre for Treatment and Development expected to open in Oakville in 2017. The official announcement of the location for the new site was made Friday -- it will be located at the northwest corner of Third Line and the future new Burnhamthorpe Road. Ward 4 Town and Regional Councillor Allan Elgar said the facility is expected to employ 150 full-time employees. The 74,000-square-foot building will replace two ErinoakKids facilities currently in place at Bristol Circle in Oakville and one in Burlington. It will support the organization whose mission is to help children and youths with physical, developmental and communication disabilities. The new Oakville building is one of three ErinoakKids centres being built to consolidate and expand the group's operations. A 122,000-square-foot facility will be located in Brampton and a 93,000-square-foot building will be established in Mississauga. "We are currently in 10 sites, nine of which are rented facilities in industrial type buildings. Not all of them are accessible. We own one site that was built in the '70s. It is long past its ErinoakKids spokesperson Carolyn Hill ability to manage well for us because it is crumbling and there are a lot of issues with the site," said Carolyn Hill, spokesperson for ErinoakKids. The new buildings will offer a wide range of services including autism services, such as intensive behavioural intervention and applied behavioural analysis, infant hearing and blind/low vision services, physiotherapy and occupational therapy services, speech and language services, assistive devices resources services, medical, nursing and specialty medical services, respite services (Brampton only) and family support services. ErinoakKids currently serves 13,500 children annually. "There's a lot of preparation and a lot of details that we are working through now in order to be prepared ahead of time so everyone knows exactly what's coming, where they need to be and who they are going to see at the new building," said Hill. Construction of the new Oakville facility is being made possible through a grant from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. While Hill would not say how much the Ministry is spending to build the new Oakville facility she said ErinoakKids has been asked to raise $6 million to pay for the furniture, fixtures and equipment inside. Anyone interested in making a donation can do so through www. erinoakkids.ca. Canadian Cancer Society to charge $100 registration fee for rides as of Oct. 1 by Ian Holroyd Special to the Beaver A ride to the hospital for cancer treatment will no longer be free of charge at the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS). The national cancer support service recently announced it will begin charging a $100 registration fee to new patients in Ontario for its transportation service after Oct. 1. According to the society, the decision was made based on the changing landscape of cancer. With the population of Ontario growing and aging, the number of new cancer cases is increasing, as is the number of patients needing a ride to their treatments. The CCS has provided transportation to patients in Ontario since the 1950s and, according to Tanya Nixon, senior manager of transportation with the society, this one-time registration fee will help maintain the program. "We know that we want to be able to keep this program going," Nixon said. "It's hugely important to people in Ontario. It's a program that's used by a lot of people and in many cases it's their only way of getting to treatment, so we wanted to ensure that we could continue with it." Last year in Ontario, there was a 20 per cent increase in the number of people registering for the transportation program. "We really needed to look at a way that, moving forward, this program could continue," said Nixon, who explained that incorporating the registration fee was a difficult decision to make. "The last thing we want to do is have to scale back on services." Though drivers volunteer time and their vehicles, they are reimbursed 30 cents per kilometre. Last year, the society's Halton Unit had 553 new clients register and supported 2,451 people. The agency's 135 drivers drove 306,495 kilometres. Across Ontario, 15,500 patients received rides to treatment and travelled more than 12 million kilometres. The new registration fee is only being instituted in Ontario because, though the CCS is a national program, each province runs its trans- portation service separately. Nixon said each patient on average travels to the hospital between 10 and 17 times, which can become a financial burden to some after they pay for gas and hospital parking. And there are other reasons people use the service. "We know often it's because (patients) are just not feeling well enough to drive or they're feeling unsafe driving their vehicle," she said. "The drivers are some of the most compassionate people I know and they make the experience a pleasant one for someone when they're in a difficult time." Nixon also emphasized no one would be turned away if they could not afford the $100 registration fee. "Nobody will be left behind," she said. International Centre, Hall 6 6900 Airport Rd., Mississauga FREE PARKING Saturday: 10am-6pm · Sunday: 10am-5pm September28-29 Come see live entertainment all weekend! Helping Families Every Step of the Way! 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