5 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,S eptem ber 12,2019 insidehalton.com 905.632.1414 728 Burloak (South of the QEW) Farewell Foot Pain Foot & Health Clinic.com Our foot care starts with education. We treat all foot issues so you can live without pain & improve mobility • Best Chiropodist / Clinic / Orthotics provider since 2004 •We put care & service first! 1200 Speers Rd., Unit 12, Oakville, Ont. L6L 2X4 (905) 845 - 1408 | Fax (905) 845 - 5931 | ricky@rickywong.ca Ricky Wong CPA, CA, MBA, B. Eng Ricky WongRicky Wong DIAMONDDIDIDIDIDIAMAMAMAMAMONONONDIAMONDONDIAMONDONDIAMONDONDIAMONDONONONONONDDD DIAMONDDIDIDIDIDIAMAMAMAMAMONONONONONONONDDD Voted Best Accountant by Oakville Beaver Readers for 11 Consecutive Years For more information please check our website www.rickywong.ca •Accounting •Auditing • Taxation BLANEYS SAYS "WelcomeBlairBotsford, TEP-Partner, Wills&Estates" Blair brings 20+ years of experience helping individuals with their estate planning and administration needs including Wills, powers of attorney, trusts and probate. Blair is continuing her service to Oakville and the GTA. She is available to meet clients in Oakville and Toronto. Contact 416-596-2891 bbotsford@blaney.com Oakville council has approved plans to build a new state-of-the- art dementia care centre at 2250 Speers Rd. The project, which was brought forward by the registered charity Acclaim Health and Com- munity Care Services, received permission to move forward dur- ing a Monday, Sept. 9 meeting of the Planning and Development Council. Acclaim had been calling for zoning changes at the Speers Road site that would allow an existing one-storey industrial building to be converted into a dementia care facility. This facility will providefacility. This facility will providef family caregiver support, an adultfamily caregiver support, an adultf day program and short stay over- night respite care. It will care for 30 clients at a time, employ a mini- mum of 22 staff and operate 12 hours a day, seven days per week. News of the approval was well received by around 20 supporters of the project who cheered and ap- plauded council's decision. "We are very, very happy that the Town of Oakville's council ap- proved this tonight. We really are so thankful that Mayor (Rob) Bur- ton and Councillor Sean O'Meara particularly have been champions for this project," said Melissafor this project," said Melissaf Cameron, director of development and marketing for Acclaim Health. "This means for all those fami- lies in Oakville who are living with someone with dementia and trying to take care of them that next year they are going to have more options for care." Council previously heard from multiple residents who noted the Acclaim day program gives them much needed relief from the diffi- cult task of caring for a loved one with dementia. They noted respite care gives caregivers the opportu- nity to get a reprieve at night while knowing their loved ones are safe. Cameron said currently there are no overnight respite beds available in Halton with the clos-available in Halton with the clos-a est beds located in Mississauga and Hamilton. "They both have extensive waiting lists," she said. The proposed Oakville demen- tia care facility will have eight re- spite beds. Cameron emphasized the centre is not a long-term care facility since the maximum time afacility since the maximum time af person can stay there is two weeks. "Generally, people tend to stay three or four nights at other re- spite care facilities across the province, so we think that is prob- ably going to be the average," said Cameron. "So, we can actually help quite a lot of people with those eight beds." Town staff voiced concerns about the centre and on Aug. 6 rec- ommended council reject it. The main issue discussed in the town staff report was that the dementia care facility would be lo- cated in an employment area and that its presence might have a neg- ative impact on the surrounding businesses if noise or air quality restrictions are put in place to ac- commodate the centre. During the Sept. 9 meeting Ac- claim representatives pointed out there are other sensitive land use developments already in the area including a daycare, a medical clinic and a hotel. "This is a great endeavour," said O'Meara. "I think they have gone above and beyond to show that this fits and that there are other uses of a similar nature in the area al- ready." Cameron said Acclaim still needs to raise the necessary funds to make the centre a reality. So far their campaign to raise $5 million has raised almost $3.5 million. For more information or to do-For more information or to do-F nate to the project visit https://ac- claimhealth.ca/buildingbetter- days/. DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS COUNCIL APPROVES PLANS FOR DEMENTIA CARE CENTRE THE ISSUE: OAKVILLE COUNCIL HAS APPROVED A PROPOSAL BY ACCLAIM HEALTH AND COMMUNITY CARE TO BUILD A DEMENTIA CARE FACILITY AT 2250 SPEERS RD. LOCAL IMPACT: THE CENTRE WILL OFFER AN ADULT DAY PROGRAM AND SHORT STAY OVERNIGHT RESPITE CARE, WHICH WILL BE OF GREAT HELP TO THOSE CARING FOR LOVED WITH DEMENTIA STORY BEHIND THE STORY We attended an Oakville council meeting where Acclaim's application was approved. We also interviewed an Acclaim representative following the meeting who provided information on what this means for the community.