November 2007

Brampton Civic Hospital opens for business
Brampton Civic Hospital (BCH) officially opened for business Oct. 28, ending a 30-year fight for a new hospital in Brampton. Ironically, Peel Memorial Hospital closed the same day.

The new facility at 1.3 million square feet is Ontario’s largest hospital project says Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman. The hospital is expected to accommodate 90,000 emergency visits, 300,000 ambulatory care visits and 5,000 births annually.

At the official opening, Smitherman said BCH will have more inpatient beds, improved clinical programs for adults and children and new services such as a critical care response team and cardiac catheterization suite; enhanced services for cancer and heart care and a regional centre for dialysis and pediatrics. The hospital includes 12 state-of-the-art operating rooms and will expand to 18 rooms in three years. It has parking for more than 2,000 vehicles and includes retail outlets such as a pharmacy, gift and flower shop and three Tim Horton’s restaurants.

BCH opens with 479 acute care beds but is expected to reach a full compliment of 608 beds by 2011-2012.
Staff worked on the transition from Peel Memorial to the new hospital for more than a year. New equipment deliveries started in early October. All patients were transferred on moving day and the plan went smoothly.
Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell proclaimed the opening “a great day for the City of Brampton,” a celebration of an important moment in Brampton's history.


back to top

New City Manager

Mayor Susan Fennell has announced the appointment of Deborah Dubenofsky as
City Manager effective this month.

Dubenofsky is an accomplished professional with more than 20 years of experience in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. She joins Brampton from her current role as a Senior Consultant with The Capital Hill Group, where she provides strategic intergovernmental and public affairs advice to clients. Her previous experience includes various senior roles in the provincial government as well as in the municipal sector, including as the Director of Policy and Government Relations for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario where she was an advisor and advocate for more than 800 municipal governments on a variety of important issues. Dubenofsky holds a Master of Public Administration from Queen’s University and an Honours
Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto.

“Deborah brings a wealth of strategic intergovernmental experience that will serve the City of Brampton well as we continue to demonstrate our leadership on complex issues such the environment, economic development, and disciplined growth management,” said Fennell. “She has earned a reputation as a skilled and resourceful leader, something Council values in its relations with the public and City staff."

Dubenofsky who, through her work with The Capital Hill Group has been advising the City of Brampton since 2001 on key issues such as funding for the Acceleride Project, the establishment of the City’s government relations function and the drive to keep Peel Memorial Hospital open, said she is looking forward to joining the organization.

“The City of Brampton’ s recent accomplishments, including the International Safe Community designation by the World Health Organization and the announcement that the City is a finalist in the 2007 World Leadership Awards for Town Planning, are indicative of the many opportunities that lie ahead. I’m honoured to have been selected as City Manager and I’m looking forward to working closely with City Council, staff and the public.”

The City Manager reports to Brampton City Council and is responsible for the management of a workforce of approximately 5,196 people and a budget of more than $332.4 million.

back to top

Outdoor Photography Magazine has won the Brampton Small Business Enterprise Centre’s 2007 Start-Up Business of the Year Award. The new award recognizes small business owners in the City of Brampton who have launched in the past year and demonstrated good business planning. From left to right, Roy Ramsay - Outdoor Photography Canada Magazine (owner); Steve Ipek - OPCM (marketing) Sandra Hames, City Councillor; and sponsors Penny Karas, Marketing Director, Shoppers World Brampton Jennifer Ho, Specialty Leasing Co-Ordinator, Shopper’s World.

Staffing World, the annual conference of the American Staffing Association (ASA), is aptly named, as more than 50 delegates from Canada attended this year.

More than 30 of attendees from north of the 49th parallel are member companies of Brampton-based The Staffing Edge.

“We’re very excited to have such a great turnout from our members,” says president of
The Staffing Edge, Lou Duggan. “It’s just further proof of what a great, committed group
of owners our members are. We always knew it, and now so does everybody else.”

The Staffing Edge has been a member of ASA for more than four years, and this is their
fourth time attending the conference. This year’s event was held in San Antonio, Texas, from October 9-12, and The Staffing Edge hosted a Tex Mex Mix & Mingle for all Canadian delegates.

“It’s important, we think, for Canadians to band together and make a real mark at North American events like these,” Duggan explains. “We may be smaller in number, but we’re just as great in expertise and experience. We should be proud of that.”

Experience and expertise are things members of The Staffing Edge have in abundance. Among their ranks are companies repeatedly ranked on Profit Magazine’s lists of Canada’s Emerging Growth Companies, Canada’s Fastest Growing Companies, Canada’s Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs, and Canada’s 50 Hottest Start-Ups. Some Members are also proud recipients of awards from local Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade.

The Staffing Edge was established in 1995, and is proud to be celebrating a dozen years of serving the Canadian staffing industry. The Staffing Edge offers a comprehensive range of services including technology, insurance, financing, payroll, and risk management to staffing companies Canada-wide, and launched their US line of services at Staffing World 2007.

back to top

Members of The Kiwanis Club of Brampton.

What is the Kiwanis experience all about? Simply, Kiwanis is for Kids; it’s about improving the lives of children, “one child in one community at a time”.

It isn’t just a slogan; it’s a way of life for Kiwanians who believe that children represent the future of our communities.

Throughout its history, the Kiwanis Club of Brampton has supported many community organizations and established meaningful community partnerships and legacies along a 50 year journey.

A small sampling of some of the community services, which have benefited from their initiatives and support, include: Peel Children’s Safety Village, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Salvation Army, Breakfast Programs for Kids, Peel Music Festival, Brampton Youth Hockey, Autistic Children - National Service Dogs, Youth Scholarships – Peel 4H, United Achievers and the Brampton Santa Claus parade.

For Kiwanians, it isn’t about another club meeting we have to attend every other week. Kiwanis service is something we want to do, something we look forward to doing, an enduring part of our everyday lives.
It’s hard to choose just one moment that defines why we are Kiwanians. Although they are often but fleeting moments, club members have been blessed with many “Kiwanis moments” in its proud history.
In fact, our motivation as club members comes from looking for that “Kiwanis moment” in each project or endeavor we participate in.

Like, for example, our annual Scholarship award program in collaboration with several community partners. One such moment came this past July when we were privileged to have a young man, Kofi Hope as our guest speaker. Some four years ago, Kofi Hope, was a recipient of a Kiwanis scholarship awarded through our community partner, United Achievers. Today, having graduated from the University of Toronto political science program, Kofi is now off to the University of Oxford on a 2007 Rhodes scholarship. One of 11 awarded in all of Canada. With a socially active background, Kofi has a clear vision to take his place in the world fighting for social justice. By the end of that summer evening in July, it became evident we were privileged to be in the company of a young man destined to do great things. That ladies and gentlemen is the power of ONE…. And we believe ONE can make a difference in improving the lives of ONE child in ONE community at a time!

Or, our Kiwanis Celebrity Clown project, a major annual fund raiser which brings together our Kiwanis Club, and the tremendous support of our community. Participants get to dress up as clowns (professionally made up) and entertain children along the Brampton Santa Claus parade route. This opportunity is aimed at those individuals who would be interested or have a curiosity to come and share a day with us as a clown and explore and experience the magic of participating in a parade not as a bystander but rather as a clown, providing priceless smiles and laughter for tens of thousands of children that line the parade route each year.
It is a magical experience and we raise much-needed funds that clearly touch the lives of those in need in our community.

A donation of $600 is your ticket to participate in this major fundraiser and a guaranteed once in a lifetime experience. This is offset by way of a tax deductible receipt for $500.
These are but two examples of “Kiwanis moments”, and we invite you to come join us and discover your own “Kiwanis moments”!

So here we are in our 50th year of service! And in this 50th year, our guiding theme has been to give more: $50,000 more in this our 50th year! This is over and above the ongoing Kiwanis support of approximately $75,000, which will find its way into our community this year.

Over the last 50 years, the Kiwanis Club of Brampton has raised an estimated $2.5 million and these funds are used to meet the needs of children in our community.

If you would like to learn more about Kiwanis and community service, or more information about participating as a celebrity clown, contact: Tom Allain – President, The Kiwanis Club of Brampton, 247 McMurchy Ave. S., Brampton, ON, L6Y 1Z4. Tel: (905) 796-1219.