A Peterborough woman is dead following a single-vehicle collision in the City of Kawartha Lakes on Monday morning (October 31).

At around 8:30 a.m., Kawartha Lakes OPP and emergency services responded to a vehicle rollover on Pigeon Lake Road east of Lindsay.

The lone occupant of the vehicle, a 51-year-old woman from Peterborough, was transported to hospital where she was later pronounced dead.

Police have not released the name of the victim.

Pigeon Lake Road was closed for several hours from Heights Road to Sturgeon Road while police documented the scene.

Environment Canada has issued a fog advisory for the southern Kawarthas region for Monday evening (October 31) into Tuesday morning.

The fog advisory is in effect for southern Peterborough County, southern Kawartha Lakes, and Northumberland County.

Dense fog is expected with visibility near zero.

With high pedestrian activity due to Halloween, motorists are encouraged to exercise increased caution when driving.

When trick-or-treating, pick brightly coloured costumes that can be clearly seen by motorists. Add reflective tape to the costume to increase visibility.

Give each child a flashlight to carry to make them more visible to motorists and others.

If travelling, be prepared for areas of near-zero visibility. If visibility is reduced while driving, slow down, watch for tail lights ahead and be prepared to stop.

In advance of Remembrance Day, a group of citizen volunteers is hosting a fall clean-up event at Ashburnham Memorial Park in Peterborough’s East City — known to locals as Armour Hill — on Saturday (November 5).

This is the third clean-up event organized by the Ashburnham Memorial Stewardship Group, founded in June 2021 to advocate for positive changes to the historical park, which features a memorial to local residents who died in World War I.

Because it is the highest point in Peterborough, Armour Hill is a popular destination during the summer (largely because of the commanding views) and during the winter for tobogganing. Unfortunately, these activities also result in a large amount of waste left behind in the park.

Previous fall and spring clean-up events hosted by the Ashburnham Memorial Stewardship Group have collected a total of 36 bags of garbage, four bags of recyclables, as well as several large items including tires and wheels, signposts, doors, and mirrors. More than 2.5 pounds of cigarette butts have been removed from the park by Donna Reid’s Butt 1 community initiative for charity.

The November 5th clean-up event begins at 10 a.m., rain or shine, with volunteers meeting at the Heritage Pavilion at the top of Armour Hill near the Peterborough Museum and Archives. The event will begin with a land acknowledgement and orientation. Supplies, snacks, and hot beverages will be provided, but volunteers are asked to bring optional work gloves, a mug for beverages, and to dress for the weather.

The spring clean-up event saw more than 50 volunteers participate. The fall clean-up tends to focus on the upper park around the large parking lot where lot of trash seems finds its way into the surrounding forest.

“Ashburnham Memorial Park is approximately 50 acres in size, so the more volunteers that show up to help at these clean-ups, the more widespread our cleaning efforts can be,” the group states on its website.

The traditional territory of the Mississauga Anishinaabeg, the land that comprises Ashburnham Memorial Park became Crown land that was purchased by European settler Reverend Samuel Armour in 1833. Part of Armour’s land (excluding the hill) was later expropriated by the federal government for the building of the Trent Canal.

When Armour’s estate was being settled in the 1920s, 35 acres of land on the top of the hill was offered to the City of Peterborough for purchase. Following much debate — with proponents of the purchase advocating using the land for a memorial for local men who died fighting in World War I — the city declined to purchase the land after a public vote in 1922,

The following year, a group of 35 women known as the Women’s Patriotic League of Ashburnham put a downpayment on the land and, over the next 14 years, raised enough funds to purchase the property. The group also arranged and paid for the planting of thousands of trees and commissioned the construction of the roadway (now known as Museum Drive) and the parking area.

When the group disbanded in 1937, they donated the park to the City of Peterborough to serve in perpetuity as a war memorial.

On June 24, 1959, a memorial cairn and plaque dedication was held on top of the hill of Ashburnham Memorial Park. The inscription reads, “This park was given to the City of Peterborough by the Women’s Patriotic League of Ashburnham in memory of the men of Peterborough who fell in the Great War of 1914-1918.”

In recognition of both the historical and environmental significance of the park, the Ashburnham Memorial Stewardship Group is seeking to enhance stewardship of the park for positive activities such as bird watching, hiking, astronomy, war memorial ceremonies, school visits, and tourism while decreasing known negative behaviours that happen at the park such as speeding and reckless driving, breaking of bottles, garbage dumping, illegal fireworks, and more.

The Ashburnham Memorial Stewardship Group meets monthly to discuss issues and ideas for the park and to liaise with the city councillors representing Ashburnham Ward on city council. The group recently distributed 1,000 flyers to East City residents, worked with the city to identify an infrastructure improvement opportunity for the memorial cairn, partnered with Trent University’s School of the Environment to create a gap analysis report, and participated in the public consultations for the city’s Eastside Transportation Study which has the potential to affect the park.

For more information about the Ashburnham Memorial Stewardship Group, and to complete a survey about the future of the park, visit the group’s new website at ashburnhamstewardship.com.

The emergency department at Campbellford Memorial Hospital reopened on Sunday night (October 30) after being temporarily closed for three days due to capacity and staffing challenges brought on by a COVID-19 outbreak in the hospital’s inpatient unit.

The hospital closed the emergency department on Thursday after the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit declared an outbreak on the inpatient unit following confirmed cases of hospital transmission. The outbreak affects two of the three wings on the inpatient unit that accommodate both the four-bed special care unit and 30 acute care beds.

Because of the size of the COVID-19 outbreak, the hospital temporarily repurposed its day surgery wing as an inpatient care area to help alleviate capacity pressures, with staff from other departments redeployed to assist with patient care on the inpatient unit.

While the emergency department reopened at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, the hospital’s capacity to admit new patients is still affected by the outbreak.

“Due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak on the inpatient unit, we are only able to admit patients to the day surgery area, which has been temporarily repurposed to accommodate inpatient beds,” the hospital states in a media release. “This creates a significant constraint on our capacity for admissions, and those attending the Emergency Department who need admission may be moved to another hospital.”

“We continue to work with public health in regards to our infection control practices as we continue to have a relatively large number of patients admitted with COVID, As the outbreak stabilizes, we hope to be able to open additional areas of the inpatient unit to further admissions.”

All visitation to the inpatient unit remains restricted to patients in the hospital for end-of-life care.

“We would like to thank our health care partners, in particular our neighbouring hospitals and EMS, for their support these past few days,” the hospital states. “We acknowledge all health service providers are operating well beyond their capacity and sudden closures of this nature put additional strain on an already strained system.”

The 12th annual “Bras Around the Building” campaign in Peterborough has raised $12,603 for breast cancer research.

The campaign, organized by local Bell Media radio stations Pure Country 105 and MOVE 99.7 in partnership with Merrett Home Hardware Building Centre, collected 3,472 gently used bras from the community over the past four weeks — which are now hanging on the radio stations’ building at 59 George Street North in downtown Peterborough.

Merrett Home Hardware Building Centre donated $2 per bra collected, along with monetary donations from local businesses — including Cindy King and Canada Life, Bridget Leslie and My Left Breast, AON, Sobeys Towerhill, Freshco Peterborough, and more — as well as monetary donations from individuals.

The $12,603 raised will be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society for breast cancer research.

Drew Merrett, Rob Tinney of Northumberland Crane and Tree Services, the Peterborough Fire Department, and Rapid Lift helped hang the bras on the building, where they will remain until Monday (October 31) as a symbol of support for women battling breast cancer, to honour survivors, and to remember those who have lost their battle.

People are encouraged to stop by and take pictures over the weekend.

Campbellford Memorial Hospital is extending the closure of its emergency department until 7:30 p.m. on Sunday (October 30) due to capacity and staffing challenges brought on by a COVID-19 outbreak in the hospital’s inpatient unit.

On Thursday, the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit declared the outbreak on the inpatient unit following confirmed cases of hospital transmission, according to a media release from the hospital. The outbreak is affecting two of the three wings on the inpatient unit that accommodate both the four-bed special care unit and 30 acute care beds.

Due to the size of the outbreak, the day surgery wing is also being temporarily repurposed as an inpatient care area to help alleviate capacity pressures and staff from other departments are being redeployed to assist with patient care on the inpatient unit.

On Thursday, the hospital announced the emergency department would be closed effective 3:30 p.m. on Thursday (October 27) “until at least” 8 a.m. on Saturday. On Friday afternoon, the hospital announced it would be extending the closure until 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.

“The ongoing high volume of COVID cases and the capacity challenges of our aging facility have meant we continue having to repurpose non-traditional spaces to properly care for our patients and redeploy staff from other areas of the hospital to assist,” the hospital states in a media release.

With the emergency department temporarily closed, the hospital is advising patients requiring emergency care to call 911 or to attend the closest hospital that offers emergency services, including the Northumberland Hills Hospital (1000 DePalma Drive, Cobourg), Quinte Healthcare Corporation – Trenton Memorial Hospital (242 King Street, Trenton), Quinte Healthcare Corporation – Belleville General Hospital (265 Dundas Street East, Belleville), or Peterborough Regional Health Centre ( Hospital Drive, Peterborough).

“We anticipate the situation to stabilize over the next 24 to 48 hours allowing us to return to normal operations at which time we will be in position to reopen the emergency department,” the hospital states.

Because of the outbreak, all visitation to the inpatient unit has been restricted except for patients in hospital for end-of-life care.

“Virtual visitation is still available and encouraged, and family members can reach out to Caitlyn Payne at 705-653-1140 ext. 2212 to set up a virtual visit,” the hospital states.

The hospital is also reminding the community that, while most public health restrictions have been lifted, “COVID-19 is still prevalent in the community and case volumes are rising in our area.”

“Best practices such as physical distancing, wearing a mask in indoor public settings (masks are mandatory at CMH), staying home when you’re feeling unwell and getting your fall COVID booster are essential in slowing the spread within high risk settings like hospitals and long term care homes,” the hospital states.

For the most recent updates on hospital policies and procedures as they relates to COVID-19, visit www.cmh.ca/covid-19.

The original version of this story has been updated with the most recent information from the hospital about the temporary closure of the emergency department.