There is something about the month of August that I just love. There are still many summer days ahead of us to enjoy bright sun and warmth, and perform “summery” outdoor activities, but there is also the anticipation of the fall, bringing with it cooler evenings and mornings, back-to-school prepping, and organizing of new routines. The real summertime lovers might not share my opinion, but I am grateful to live in a place where we truly experience the magic of all four seasons.
Before jumping to what lies ahead, a quick reflection on the summer months saw the CHCN celebrating fifteen years of serving our community – and we are proud to continue to do so in a way that addresses the needs of clients, family members, and the community at large.
I am happy that staff have enjoyed some much-needed vacation time over the past couple of months, returning to work refreshed and energized. Many of our teams have seen some changes in staffing as we have welcomed a new dentist (Dr. Roohee Mansoor), a summer student (Emily Dolan) who has worked with our Community Health Worker Carolyn to run youth outreach programming, and a Community Food Coordinator (Joelle Pegg) who is working with our Community Dietitian Adam, to implement exciting new food and food security initiatives. We are thrilled to be experiencing this growth in our teams, and will be excited to introduce more new staff members in our next newsletter.
As we turn our attention to the inevitable change in weather, we start to monitor seasonal trends. With the beginning of the school year (it’s just around the corner!), we know that cold and flu bugs will surface in classrooms. Now that masking is not as prevalent as it had been over the past several years, we will monitor infection levels and of course encourage everyone to continue to be diligent about handwashing, appropriate ‘cough etiquette’ and masking when appropriate.
This fall, our Board will be embarking on the development of our next Strategic Plan, which will help to guide us over the next 3 – 5 years as our organization continues to seek new opportunities while staying true to our values and mission. We will be working with staff, clients and partner organizations to ensure that our plan appropriately defines our direction and goals, and as always we welcome your feedback into this very important process. There are many avenues to providing comments or suggestions here at the CHCN – I would welcome direct contact at trennicks@chcnorthumberland.ca.
Finally, we are honoured to have been nominated for the first time, for a Port Hope Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award in the category of Non-Profit. We know that we have stiff competition with five other local non-profit organizations being nominated, all of whom do phenomenal work in the community. Just being nominated is a huge honor, staff and board members are proud and grateful for this and we look forward to learning the results (and sharing them with you) in October.
I would like to wish you all a wonderful last month of summer, stay safe, stay healthy, and best of luck to the kids (and parents) with back-to-school!
Taryn Rennicks
Executive Director
