WEDNESDAY October 24, 2012 Vol. 27• No. 85 ••• $1.25 inc. H.S.T.
COMOX VALLEY
ARTS
SPORTS
Weakened by cancer, but not defeated, Kymme Patrick carries on with TheatreWorks. page B1
Yeti alumni turn back the clock and have a great time back on the ice. page B7
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Renee Andor Record Staff
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MANAGER JEFF ACKINCLOSE of the new Thrifty Foods store in Courtenay is excited to support the St. Joseph’s General Hospital Foundation with the store’s Pumpkins for Charity fundraiser. The store’s grand opening is Wednesday, Oct. 24 and a special announcement involving the hospital is planned between 9 and 9:30 a.m. during the opening ceremonies. PHOTO BY RENEE ANDOR Hospital Foundation through to Halloween. Thrifty Foods’ general manager Jim Dores will be joined by Courtenay Mayor Larry Jangula and St. Joseph’s General Hospital Foundation executive director Lynn Dashkewytch to officially open the new Thrifty Foods grocery store on the Crown Isle property. First Nations members will also join the ceremony, as well as a pipe band. The official opening ceremony will be at 9:25 a.m., and the store will be
open by 9:30 a.m. Kelly notes deals and food demonstrations with free samples will be plentiful on opening day, including the big cheese of food samples. “We will be cracking the huge Parmigiano Reggiano wheel in the store,” said Kelly, adding the enormous wheel of cheese has been aged for 30 days in a special region of Italy, and is worth about $300. “It is a sight to be seen and a fresh sample is out of this world.” The store is the second
location in Courtenay, and will be the 29th Thrifty Foods location in the province. The downtown Courtenay Thrifty Foods, at Sixth Street and England Avenue, will remain open. Cascadia Liquor, which is the new Thrifty Foods store’s neighbour at Lerwick and Ryan, will also open its doors on Wednesday. From 5 to 7 p.m. the store will offer samples of wine, beer and cider, as well as snacks provided by Thrifty Foods. writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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Applause greets beds possibility
Thrifty helping hospital The new Thrifty Foods store in Courtenay will open Wednesday morning with a “big reveal and special deals,” according to the company’s manager of communications Erin Kelly. The opening ceremonies for the new 40,000-squarefoot store at the corner of Lerwick and Ryan roads in Courtenay are set to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, and Kelly noted a special surprise is planned for the big day. “We will have a special reveal on Wednesday to do with the hospital (St. Joseph’s General Hospital), and some interesting props, which people have to come down and witness for themselves,” Kelly said Monday. “Some tie in between pumpkins and hospitals — I’ll leave it to your imagination.” Kelly pointed out Thrifty Foods normally holds a Pumpkins for Charity fundraiser around this time of year where the company donates $1 from every pumpkin sold to local hospital foundations. She added there will be a special fundraiser at the store for the St. Joseph’s
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Eight residential hospice beds and four tertiary care beds have been approved for the North Island. The announcement came at the Comox Valley Hospice Society’s annual general meeting Thursday evening. The Vancouver Island Health Authority’s (VIHA) director for home and community care and end-of-life (EOL) care Lois Cosgrave and executive director of continuing health services Marguerite Rowe made the announcement while giving an update on EOL care in the Comox Valley. “I can announce tonight that we received, just in the nick of time, approval for our end-of-life bed plan, and that bed plan does call for eight hospice beds and four tertiary beds for the North Island,” Cosgrave said as the room broke out in a round of applause. “Now of course, you know, we’re still in the early stages. The beds have been approved but the funding still needs to be sourced for sure and that’s a piece that we will continue to work on within the health authority.” They couldn’t say exactly how the beds would be divided in the North Island but suggested four residential hospice beds for the Comox Valley and four for Campbell River, all of which would likely be outside of a hospital setting. Cosgrave
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also noted that due to plans to build the new hospitals in the two communities, decisions around where the four tertiary care beds should go, which would be in hospital, will have to wait a bit. When hospice society executive director Terri Odeneal pointed out the Valley has a higher general population and a much higher ratio of elderly than Campbell River, Cosgrave and Rowe said the numbers are certainly not final and the Comox Valley could see a larger share of the beds. During the question and answer period, some meeting attendees voiced concerns about when these beds would become reality. Cosgrave and Rowe couldn’t give a date, but assured the group progress has been made and the plan is moving forward. “All I can say is that Marguerite and I are very, very serious about moving this plan forward, and we will advocate for that as strongly as we can,” said Cosgrave. “I believe that we have made significant process in the last few months, in the last year, and I do believe that there is recognition that these beds are important.” An EOL care plan was created by VIHA in 2007, and Cosgrave and Rowe were not involved at that time, but have been tasked with taking a fresh look at that plan, which they are in ... see SKEPTICS ■ A2