The Creemore
ECHO
Friday, March 12, 2021 Vol. 21 No. 11
www.creemore.com
News and views in and around Creemore
INSIDE
Vicki Bell, Broker 154 Mill St.Creemore 705-446-4539
Ice Time
Partners discuss future of NDCC PAGE 8
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Arctic TV shoot offers career highlight by Trina Berlo Jacquie Rushlow said it was a nobrainer for her to join the crew of Arctic Vets, a new documentary series airing on CBC, given that it is about two things very close to her heart: animal rescue and climate change. The show follows the professionals who rescue, treat and protect the animals of the Arctic. Arctic Vets was filmed from September to November, when two units travelled north after testing negative for COVID-19. The show follows the staff and animals at Assiniboine Park Conservancy in Winnipeg, but also features the work of Polar Bears International, Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre, and Manitoba Conservation’s Polar Bear Alert Program, which safely relocates bears that come too close to town in order to avoid conflicts with the human population. As story editor, it is Rushlow’s job to find the narrative that connects the viewer to the story. There is a lot of advance planning to ensure the crew can tell the best story but they also have to be highly adaptable to spontaneous
Contributed photo
Arctic Vets story producer Jacquie Rushlow takes a selfie with a polar bear at Assiniboine Park Conservancy in Winnipeg while working on the CBC documentary series. situations. “When you are working with wild animals you have no idea what you are going to get,” said Rushlow.
In Episode 2, Polar Bears International finds a rare set of healthy polar bear cub triplets heading to their (See “Experience” on page 3)
High speed internet, a game changer in Dunedin by Trina Berlo John de Ruiter says having high speed internet in the area has brought Dunedin into the 21st Century. He said village residents were desperate for high speed internet, even before the pandemic, and that’s why he reached out to the Rural Net team to see if it was possible to provide service there. He said having high speed internet is a game changer for people who are working from home, running home based businesses and students who are learning online. It also allows residents the ability to access streaming services, for much needed entertainment during a shutdown. Until now, de Ruiter said his only internet options were dial-up or satellite
internet. While some people could access cellular service, it was shoddy at best for those living right in the village. “I could text kind of, but you couldn’t really place a phone call, and certainly since the pandemic hit, it wasn’t enough to do any streaming with,” said de Ruiter. “Now, it’s just a whole new world.” He said they are over the moon to have high-speed internet, which is unlimited and at a lower cost, and everyone he knows has signed up for the service. “I’ve had so many people say, it’s a game-changer. It has totally changed our lives. People these days, living in town don’t appreciate how much we rely on a solid connection,” said de Ruiter.
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Rural Net founder Heiner Philipp said he got started as an internet provider because he needed internet for his Flesherton based engineering company. “I couldn’t take it anymore,” said Philipp. Out of shear frustration, in the middle of winter three years ago, he said he dug a hole in his front yard and put up a 96-foot tower. “I didn’t even know where I was going to get internet from, but I knew I needed to reach out to somewhere and the higher I could go, the better my chances of getting something,” said Philipp. He said he invested close to $400,000 (See “Internet” on page 7)
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More variants detected in region by Trina Berlo The stage is set for wider rollout of the vaccine, which is expected to be available in Simcoe Muskoka in the next couple of weeks, said Dr. Charles Gardner, the region’s medical officer of health. He said Simcoe Muskoka is considered a COVID-19 hot spot and will be receiving additional vaccines. The region will be receiving three types of vaccine, hopefully more as they are approved, and will be extending the length between doses to 16 weeks to get the first dose to a larger portion of the population. So far, more than 52,600 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Simcoe Muskoka, mostly to health care workers in local hospitals, longterm care and retirement homes. This includes more than 15,714 individuals who have received both of the required doses of the vaccine. In addition, 3,000 (or 94 per cent) long-term care residents and 3,429 (or 94 per cent) retirement home residents have received their first dose. Gardner said that although case counts are either levelling off or declining, he remains cautious due to the variants of concern (VOCs) that have been detected in the region. To date, 236 local cases have tested positive for the UK B.1.1.7 variant, seven have tested positive for the P.1 VOC (Brazil), and one person has tested positive for the B.1.351 VOC (South Africa). An additional 491 cases have screened positive and are awaiting confirmatory testing. “Basically what we’re seeing is the VOCs taking over and dominating among our COVID cases, and this is what we predicted considering they are more communicable, but we’re also seeing that as a whole the number has started to come down a bit, and our total case count for COVID has also come down a bit,” said Gardner.