Our Progress To Date
A collection of newspaper clippings, press releases and Board updates that trace the activity of the East Beaches Regional Complex Inc.
December 10, 2015
IERHA: COMMUNITY INFORMATION MEETING HELD FOR MOBILE CLINIC
March 24, 2014
EBRC Board: LIVING360 PRIMARY CARE CENTRE EQUIPMENT DONATION PAGE LAUNCHED
January, 2014
EBRC Board: UPDATE ON THE PROGRESS OF THE LIVING360 PRIMARY CARE CENTRE AND LIVING360 PHARMACY
October 24, 2013
The Selkirk Journal: LOG ON TO VOTE FOR GRAND MARAIS NEW HEALTH CARE PROJECT
August 16, 2013
The Selkirk Journal: HEALTHCARE FACILITY ON ITS WAY TO EAST BEACHES
August 15, 2013
The Winnipeg River Echo: LIVING360 COMES TO EAST BEACHES
August 3, 2013
Press Release: COMMUNITY WELLNESS FIRST – LIVING360 - A NEW MODEL AS WORK BEGINS ON A PRIMARY CARE CENTRE AND PHARMACY FOR EAST BEACHES
July 29, 2013
Excerpt From: ALMOST CAUGHT-UP IN EAST BEACHES
April 23, 2012
Selkirk Journal: MORE ROOM FOR CAMPERS IN GRAND MARAIS
October 2, 2010
GRAND MARAIS COMMUNITY CENTRAL OFFICIALLY OPENS
October 3, 2009
GRAND MARAIS CELEBRATES BEGINNING OF TOWN REVITALIZATION
December, 2015
On December 10, 2015 the Interlake Eastern regional Health Authourity held a Community Information evening about the upcoming Mobile Clinic that will be arriving in the East Beaches Area early in 2016. View the Power Point from that meeting here.
March 24, 2014
LIVING360 PRIMARY CARE CENTRE EQUIPMENT DONATION PAGE LAUNCHED
Today the EBRC Board launched a special page on their website, that allows supportors to donate specific items of equipment for the soon to be opened LIVING360 PRIMARY CARE CENTRE. The page can be reached at http://www.living360.ca/howtohelp-donate.html.
January, 2014
UPDATE ON THE PROGRESS OF THE LIVING360 PRIMARY CARE CENTRE AND LIVING360 PHARMACY
Construction continues at the Grand Marais Community Central building on the Living360 Primary Care Centre and the Living360 Pharmacy. All internal walls are up, heat ducting is installed, electrical conduits await the wiring, wastewater plumbing is mostly complete and some of the water lines are present.
The cabinetry for the pharmacy and lab is purchased and on site but await taping and painting of the walls prior to instillation. The washbasins and facets for each of the examination rooms has been purchased and are at the site awaiting installation. Taping is currently underway. Telephone, internet wiring, painting, additional cabinetry, painting and vinyl flooring for the lab will be following.
We continue to fundraise. The Winnipeg Foundation will be making a decision on important funding at the end of the month.
Local East Beachers are being asked to consider a donation of equipment or the monies to purchase individual pieces of equipment. If you wish to purchase and donate items such as a ½ fridge or donate the monies to purchase a stethoscope ($78 including tax), eye chart ($9) orhemoglobin analyzer ($840) a list will be soon be up on the East Beaches Regional Complex Inc. Internet site at www.Living360.ca.
Donations can be mailed to our Treasurer, Audrey Litzenberger at Box 330, Grand Marais, Manitoba, R0E 0T0.
For specific items to be donated email Brian Pannell at pannell.bj@gmail.com. Persons interested in memberships may fill out applications on our website at living360.ca/howtohelp-becomemember.html together with a fee of ten dollars.
October 24, 2013
LOG ON TO VOTE FOR GRAND MARAIS NEW HEALTH CARE PROJECT
Melissa Robbins-The Selkirk Journal
With limited services, it is not easy to receive medical care in and around the Grand Mantis area.
Brian Pannel, project manager for East Beaches Regional Complex Inc. said he has applied for 30 separate grant applications for the Living36o Primary Care Centre and Living36O Pharmacy project to bring healthcare closer to home.
With this project, the plan is to remove or reduce the travel requirements for local residents and visitors in need of medical or pharmacy services.
It will also be a benefit to those who are thinking about relocation due to the fact they do not have the medical amenities in the area they require.
Planned projects
The planned Living 360 Pharmacy would arrange prescriptions to be filled through high definition video communication.
This method gives all hospitals and care organizations the ability to enhance and expedite care.
This will allow for assistants and nurse practitioners be mentored by physicians while working under their license during patient treatment in rural areas.
Cost requirements
“Inventory and equipment will run about $100-120,000 each. It is hard to be absolute about what the entire budget would be for one-year period, with all salary positions. But it would be likely over a million”; said Pannel, when asked the approximate total of the project.
The Aviva Community Fund is one of the organizations that have a grant up for grabs.
It is a vote based grant with a set of voting exercises, each lasting 15 days. Living 360 is registered into the second qualifying round, which runs Oct.21 to Nov. 4, with the third qualifying round beginning Nov. I. The goal is to rank within the top 30 of all the project ideas in order to make it to the semi-final rounds of voting.
If you live in, have a cottage in this area, or travel nearby, Pannel encourages people both in and outside the area to vote for Grand Marais so they can come one step closer to obtaining the grant.
You can do this by logging on and filling out a form in support of the Living 360 Pharmacy and Primary Care Centre project, which is currently in construction process.
You can cast one vote per day, with a total of fifteen votes per qualifying round.
To register and vote, please go to http:/ ideas/acflBO27 or share your thoughts on their Living 360 Facebook page.
August 16, 2013
HEALTHCARE FACILITY ON ITS WAY TO EAST BEACHES
Amanda Lefley-The Selkirk Journal
The Living 360 Primary Care Centre is off to a great start, especially after the East Beaches Regional Complex Inc, the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, and the RM of St. Clements gathered in Grand Marais at the Community Central building Aug. 10.
The Primary Care Centre as well as the Living 360 Pharmacy for the Grand Marais community is coming to fruition, as the lease was officially signed and a memorandum was delivered by the IERHA last Saturday. As Marilyn Schneider, chairperson of the Regional Complex board of directors, explained the Living 360 project is a community initiative that will set a benchmark and ultimately change the way health care is delivered in the area.
Schneider explained that for residents in the area needing medical attention it also means a 40-minute trip to another community to receive it. She said as people age and need more medical attention, some times weekly, in many cases it means re-locating to be closer to centres that can give medical care.
“When you look at a community and what forms a community, some of the things that draw people in and keep them there are the fact that you have medical services, you have social services,” explained Schneider.
“We don’t have anything to cover off the medical portion of it, so there is a need here for it.”
Soon that medical component will be void, as the Grand Marais Community Central building, off Highway 12 about 500 meters from the Grand Beach Provincial Park main gate, will house a primary care centre as well as a pharmacy. The Living 360 project has the endorsement of the IERHA, reads a press release, as well as the RM of St. Clements and the community-at-large. The primary care centre will fill 1,500 square feet of the Community Central building, which was constructed about two years ago.
Specific plans for the care centre started to take shape in April of this year. Schneider explained currently they are in the process of hiring a doctor and nurse practitioner, as well as any combination of healthcare providers.
“Whatever it takes to make this function,” explained Schneider.
“It’s to alleviate some of that (emergency room care). If we can do lots of that here we can alleviate it. Like primary care says… it’s the first step, so if anything needs to go on beyond that then you are directed elsewhere. But the idea is that it is going to be here, it will deal with the basic functions.”
Schneider said the community had hoped to have the facility up and running by the beginning of summer, but they are currently busy trying to remodel three units to suit their needs as well as hire personnel for the facility. However, she did ensure the committee is being very diligent to get the Living 360 program up and running as soon as possible.
“We really do see a need for this,” said Schneider. “To start the program off we have had donations in the amount of $61,000 that have been forwarded by various community groups because we see a need for this.”
On Aug. 10 there were around 300 people who gathered for the official signing of the lease and the memorandum given. Following that there was also a community yard and bake sale, which acted as a fundraiser to raise money for the Living 360 program.
August 15, 2013
LIVING360 COMES TO EAST BEACHES
Laura Tutlies-The Winnipeg River Echo
Saturday, August 10th found the Grand Marais Community Central grounds filled to capacity. The Fire Department was there although there was no fire, as hundreds of bargain hunters searched through a lawn full of treasures donated by the community for the huge Yard Sale and Bake Sale that was a fundraiser for the Living360 Primary Care Centre and Pharmacy soon to be located at this site in East Beaches.
A media event at 11 am welcomed the sponsors of the Living360 centre and provided a venue for the signing of a lease with the RM of St. Clements and a Memorandum of Agreement with the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority, both of whom play a huge role in the new medical centre that will be housed at Grand Marais Community Central.
The sun shone and the skies were blue as the plans for the Centre were unveiled along with the new website for the organization. As Debbie Bell, one of the many guests said, “I see this centre becoming so much more. We really need health care facilities in our area and this building is the perfect place in the East Beaches for such a centre.” Her statement simply echoed many others made as folks lined up for free hotdogs and for East Beaches Regional Complex memberships. Of course the baking and the bargains were much appreciated as well.
August 3, 2013
COMMUNITY WELLNESS FIRST – LIVING360 - A NEW MODEL AS WORK BEGINS ON A PRIMARY CARE CENTRE AND PHARMACY FOR EAST BEACHES
Dateline – East Beaches – August 3, 2013
The Directors of the East Beaches Regional Complex Inc.(EBRC)are pleased to announce the creation of the Living360 Primary Care Centre and the Living360 Pharmacy. These pillars of health care will be located within the Grand Marais Community Central (GMCC) an accessible and central new building nestled in the heart of the East Beaches on Hwy #12 fifty-five minutes first along Hwy. 59 from the City of Winnipeg then about 500 metres from the Grand Beach Provincial Park main gate.
A celebration of this significant event Community Wellness First – Living360 will take place on Saturday, August 10, 2013 beginning at 10:00 a.m. on the grounds of GMCC. A media event that includes an introduction of our stakeholders will unfold at 11:00 a.m. The shindig is in conjunction with the “First Annual Yard & Bake Sale” which is just one of a number of fundraisers in support of the Living360 Primary Care Centre. These events coincide with the finale of the internationally known Sand Castle Building contest on the white sands of Grand Beach later that afternoon.
Typically, an announcement like this would come from a provincial body however; the 32 communities of the East Beaches on the East banks of Lake Winnipeg are setting a benchmark for change in the delivery of health care.
The concept of a primary care centre has been a deliverable of the EBRC since this non-profit organization formed three years ago. It has the endorsement of the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority and most especially that of the community stakeholders.
About the Living360 Primary Care Centre Marilyn Schneider, President of the Regional Complex Board of Directors says, “This is a community investment in our health and wellness and ultimately we want the best bang for our buck. Although we want to do it all - a wellness and recreation centre, a banquet hall plus facilities for our seniors and our youth - we have to be realistic about what we can accomplish within a reasonable timeframe. A medical facility along with a pharmacy makes the most sense because they are so necessary for our residents and for our seasonal guests.”
Specific plans for the Living360 Primary Care Centre accelerated in mid-April 2013 when a steering committee was launched. Lionel Duruisseau an RN recently retired from Health Canada leads the team. Duruisseau offers 35 years of experience, which has included the operation and delivery of primary care facilities in a number of Canada’s most isolated districts. He says, “Our mandate is to initiate a full service medical facility within the East Beaches. As the project evolved we recognized the necessity of a pharmacy to complement the service.” The committee consists of medical professionals, pivotal project administrators, and project manager; each of whom are residents of the area and bring with them a passion to improve health and wellness within their community.
The Interlake-Eastern RHA has committed to giving guidance and support. John Stinson, Chief Executive Officer of the RHA offered this comment, “The community clinic model that has been proposed for the East Beaches is unique and one that I expect will be an example for other densely populated small centers in Manitoba. Doreen Fey – V.P. Primary Care/Chief Administrative Officer (West), expressed a similar sentiment saying, “The Living360 Primary Care Centre will be an example for each of the other four new Regional Health Authorities who are looking to create the assurance of a medical facilitator for every resident of the Province”.
The Directors of the East Beaches Regional Complex Inc. along with Mayor Strang of the RM of St. Clements from which the 1500 sq. foot facility is being rented, plus representatives from the RHA and the EBRC partners look forward to hosting the Community Wellness First – Living360. The mood will be positive, the BBQ will be hot and ready; and one can expect the Yard Sale and Bake Sale tables to be loaded to capacity. The Living360 Primary Care Centre is off to a great start. Please join us on August 10th.
For more information contact – Marilyn Schneider, Chairperson EBRC or Brian Panell, Project Officer – both at ebrc@living360.ca
July 29, 2013
Excerpt From: ALMOST CAUGHT-UP IN EAST BEACHES
- Laura Tutlies
... Earlier this year the East Beaches Regional Complex Board adopted a brand/logo which clearly projects its three pillars – Wellness, Lifestyle and Recreation. At exactly the same time, a steering committee was working 24/7 to create a medical centre to serve the East Beaches and the 32 subdivisions contained in its catchment area.
The group has secured a Lease agreement with the RM of St. Clements to locate a fully staffed facility within the building known as Grand Marais Community Central. Grand Marais is the geological center of the East Beaches and a health care unit here reduces travel for each of the community’s residents to not more than 20 minutes to reach a Doctor or Nurse Practitioner.
The Interlake- Eastern Regional Health Authority are on board and plans are coming to fruition. Were it not for red tape the Living360 Primary Care Centre would be ready and waiting for patients. The projected opening is now expected to be early fall. In addition to 3 examining rooms, the space will include diagnostic services (blood work) and a fully equipped Pharmacy.
Meanwhile the EBRC Board is hosting a fundraiser and media event on Saturday August 10th. Look forward to a huge Yard Sale, Baking, a Lemonade Stand plus hot dogs BBQ’d by the volunteer fire fighters of East Beaches Fire and Rescue. The media event will honor the sponsors of the Living360 Primary Care Centre, as well as the significant contributions of the R.M. of St. Clements and the Regional Health Authority...
April 23, 2012
MORE ROOM FOR CAMPERS IN GRAND MARAIS
Amanda Lefley - Selkirk Journal
This is bound to be an exciting summer for the Grand Marais Community Central and RV Park.
Building manager Bonnie Grace explained how the completely new, privately owned, family-oriented RV campground will be open to the public after two years of construction. The new grounds won't have any tenting; it will be for RVs such as motor homes and fifth wheels. She also said the grounds is 'more geared towards families', and there is a great need for more camping in the area.
"People are always waiting for camping spaces especially if they are serviced sites," said Grace.
The RV Park will have 41 sites and of those 11 are designated as seasonal. Already there have been inquiries for bookings and Grace says she anticipates the seasonal spots will be booked by the end of the month. The facility will open its doors to campers May long weekend, with the camping season running from May 18 to Oct. 9, said Grace.
And the campground is not the only new and exciting aspect in the area. Last year the Community Central building officially opened, but more is being added to it for the upcoming season.
Grace explained the building is 'not just an information desk'. An aquarium featuring local fish and an ecological system of pond life will be up-and-running for this summer. The building will also feature a heritage room, three retail outlets and there is planning to have a Wi-Fi spot.
"The plan is that we would like people to feel that it is their building, belongs to the community and a place to meet," said Grace.
There was an official opening for the area in 2010, but Grace explained she expects there will be another event to commemorate the RV Park as well as when the aquarium is running although no date has been set as of yet.
"They'll be some plans in the works to show off our latest building in Grand Marais," said Grace.
October 2, 2010
GRAND MARAIS COMMUNITY CENTRAL OFFICIALLY OPENS
The Opening Ceremony for the Grand Marais Community Central was held today at the newly completed complex.
The Master of Ceremonies, Dennis Wasylyniuk, president of the East Beaches Regional Complex Board introduced each of the speakers in turn:
James Bezan, MP for Selkirk-Interlake
Greg Dewar, MLA for Selkirk
Denise Thomas, Vice President of the Manitoba Metis Federation, South East Region
Ron Joyce, President of the Grand Beach and Area Development Corporation and
Mayor Steve Strang, Mayor of the RM of St Clements
After hearing from each speaker, the five dignitaries simultaneously cut the ribbon to open the centre.
October 3, 2009
GRAND MARAIS CELEBRATES BEGINNING OF TOWN REVITALIZATION
Sod turning ceremony for new tourist and community centre to be held this Saturday, October 3, 2009.
Destination Grand Marais is celebrating the first phase of constructing the East Beaches Regional Complex, a new tourist, shopping and recreation facility to be located in Grand Marais, Manitoba. The sod turning for Community Central took place on October 3rd at the Grand Marais town centre on PTH 12.
“We are all so excited to see this finally under way,” said Steve Strang, Mayor of the RM of St. Clements. “As a part of the Destination Grand Marais Project, the East Beaches Regional Complex has seen tremendous support from the town, the neighbouring communities and other organizations. By supporting this project, they help Grand Marais and the East Beaches area draw more visitors from Manitoba and across the country.”
This event marks the first phase of constructing the East Beaches Regional Complex. Community Central, the first facility constructed, will be 5,000 square-feet, featuring architecture which embraces the area’s railroad heritage. The facility will also include tourist information, retail space and public washrooms.
Phase two of the East Beaches Regional Complex is set to begin in early 2010 and will include development of new walking tracks, a recreational centre, a curling rink, banquet and fitness facilities, a gymnasium, senior services, offices and retail space.
Although the activities as of late have been spear-headed by the RM of St. Clements, it was a partnership that formed years ago with the Grand Beach and Area Development Corporation that first planted the original seeds. Since that time, many organizations have joined the effort including:
• The Rural Municipality of Alexander
• The Grand Marais Recreational Association Inc.
• The Grand Marais & District Senior Citizens Inc.
• The East Beaches Recreation and Wellness Coalition Inc.
• The Grand Beach and Area Development Corporation
• Many cottage owner’s associations
Representing thousands of people, the project has leaped forward through this unique partnering of community and government, culminating in the first stages of construction of one of the most exciting projects in the Province of Manitoba.
For more information about the Destination Grand Marais Project please contact
Ron Joyce, Chair of the East Beaches Regional Complex Committee
Phone # 771-7268
Email: ronjoyce@mts.net
