Two employees of Campbellford Memorial Hospital who inappropriately accessed the information of around 500 patients have been fired.

The hospital recently discovered and confirmed the privacy breaches by the two employees, according to a media release issued on Friday (April 1).

“We are very disappointed that these privacy breaches have occurred,” says Eric Hanna, the hospital’s interim president and CEO. “Patients expect us to protect their information and it is very unfortunate that we did not do so in this case. We apologize to everyone whose information was inappropriately accessed.”

The hospital says it is working with the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, and that all patients involved in the breaches have been notified by mail. The hospital adds that at no time was the patient information accessed by anyone outside Campbellford Memorial Hospital

According to the hospital, it already has strict rules in place around patient confidentiality, including that physicians and staff are not allowed to access patient information “unless they are currently involved in that patient’s circle of care.”

To help prevent future internal privacy breaches, the hospital says it is will taking actions to “revisit and strengthen” its patient privacy education and training.

Campbellford Memorial Hospital also says a new electronic record system introduced in December gives the hospital “increased auditing capabilities and enhances the ability to protect the privacy and confidentiality of patients.”

The deVos family of Vosbrae Farms in Manilla received the Farm Family Award at the Kawartha Lakes Spotlight on Agriculture gala and awards event held last Friday (March 25) at the Lindsay Exhibition.

More than 450 guests gathered in the Commonwell Exhibition building for the third annual event, last held virtually in 2020 due to the pandemic, to celebrate food, farming, and agri-business in Kawartha Lakes.

Jack and Erkie deVos began farming north of Manilla in the mid-1950s with their family of six boys. with son John and his wife Fern (under the watchful eye of Jack) now leading the cash crop farm of 1,200 acres of corn, wheat, beans, and forages and 165 Holstein cows.

Vosbrae Farms is truly a family operation, with more than 10 family households within a two-kilometre radius of the farm and around 20 family members participating in the operation of the farm when needed.

The farm also includes a 30-cow beef herd and chickens, and recently expanded to open Vosbrae Dairy, an on-farm cow, goat, and sheep milk cheese processing plant.

Vosbrae Farms is well known in the community, hosting public events at the farm including the Twilight Meeting, forage days, barn open houses, and Kawartha Farmfest.

Simcoe Street Meat Packers, a provincially inspected abattoir located just north of Manilla, was also recognized at the Kawartha Lakes Spotlight on Agriculture gala and awards event with the Excellence in Agriculture Award.

Now led by Wahab Zamani, taking over from his father who purchased the operation in 2003, the business provides custom slaughter and processing of beef, veal, and lamb, and also purchases directly from around 20 local farmers to supply local products to independent butchers as well as their own two retail outlets in North York and Newmarket.

Simcoe Street Meat Packers is also a partner in the ownership of Farmers Butcher Shop in Lindsay with Matt Devries, which they opened to complete the full local supply loop within the community.

VIDEO: Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott recognizes award winners

The Batty family was honoured in the Milestone Recognition Program, which recognizes farming families that have surpassed the milestones of 150, 175, and 200 years of farming in the community.

They were recognized as being an Ontario farm family for 200 years and a county farm family for 150 years.

Allison Brown received the Agriculture Leadership Scholarship to support her participation in the Rural Ontario Institute’s Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program.

It’s something that warms the heart of anyone who has ever lived in or around downtown Peterborough: the wholesome aroma of baking oatmeal from the Quaker Oats plant on Hunter Street.

Now you’ll soon be able to enjoy the fragrance of maple and brown sugar and more from the comfort of your own home, no matter where you live.

Marking 120 years of production at the Hunter Street plant, Quaker Oats has announced a new plug-in air freshener called “The Official Scent of Peterborough”.

“The smell of baking oatmeal from Quaker Oats has long been the unofficial scent of Peterborough,” says Avril Sloof, a brand manager for PepsiCo Canada, the parent company of Quaker Oats. “We’re now making it official and sharing it with the rest of Canada.”

The announcement of the plug-in air freshener follows the release by Quaker Oats of a limited-edition clothing line called QUAKERborough earlier this year, celebrating the Hunter Street plant’s 120th anniversary.

Sloof says the air freshener, which plugs into an electrical outlet, will release a “subtle” scent of baking oatmeal.

“We didn’t want it to be overpowering,” Sloof explains. “We wanted it to be exactly what Peterborough residents experience when they walk out their door and catch a whiff of that wonderful scent on the breeze.”

“The Official Scent of Peterborough” plug-in air freshener will be available at all major grocery store chains across Canada by the summer.

In a technological first, the plug-in air freshener will rely on an internet connection to release its scent only when the Hunter Street plant is actually baking oatmeal. The scent released by the air freshener will match whatever product the plant is making at the time — including kawarthaNOW’s personal favourite, maple and brown sugar.

“Our product engineers worked incredibly hard to make this happen,” she says. “No matter where you live in Canada, you’ll have the same olfactory experience, and at the same time, as Peterborough residents do.”

Sloof says the plug-in air freshener will provide an added benefit for locals when the hot weather arrives.

“When you close your windows and turn on the air conditioner, you miss out on the aroma from the Quaker Oats plant,” she says. “Our plug-in air freshener means you can continue to enjoy the small of baking oatmeal whatever the weather.”

VIDEO: The Quaker Oats plant in downtown Peterborough, Canada

Not only will former Peterborough residents now be able to enjoy the smell of home once again but, according to Sloof, all Canadians will have a chance to share the experience for the very first time — and possibly people around the globe.

“We’re thrilled to introduce The Official Scent of Peterborough to the rest of Canada and maybe to the rest of the world too,” Sloof says, noting she thinks Peterborough belongs on the list of the best-smelling cities on the planet.

“It’s about time Peterborough takes its rightful place on the international scent map,” she adds.

If you haven’t figured it out already, this is an April Fool’s joke that kawarthaNOW created … without the involvement or endorsement of either Quaker Oats or PepsiCo Canada.

However, while the air freshener does not exist, the QUAKERborough clothing line does and all proceeds will be donated to Food Banks Canada.

Find out more at quakerborough.ca.

Two days after kawarthaNOW reported the Kawarthas region has the highest COVID-19 wastewater signal in Ontario, Peterborough Public Health has released local wastewater surveillance data that show the presence of the virus in wastewater exceeds the highest level seen during the omicron wave.

The wastewater surveillance data is part of the health unit’s new online COVID-19 “Community Risk Index”, which is intended to advise residents of the risk level of COVID-19 transmission in the health unit’s region and to help them make personal decisions about taking COVID-19 protective measures.

The health unit is encouraging residents to check the Community Risk Index at peterboroughpublichealth.ca/covid-19-risk-index/, as they would similar public health information such as tha Air Quality Health Index.

The Community Risk Index, which will be updated every Wednesday by 4 p.m., has five risk levels from very low risk to very high risk, and includes the status of six COVID-19 indicators used to determine the risk level: the local case incidence rate per 100,000, the number of hospitalizations, new deaths, PCR test positivity rate, community-reported rapid antigen test positivity rate, and wastewater surveillance signals.

As of March 30, the Community Risk Index is currently set a “high,” based on a moderate case rate, moderate hospitalizations, very low deaths, high PCR test positivity, very high rapid antigen test positivity, and high wastewater surveillance.

“Our goal with the COVID-19 Community Risk Index is to make our community’s virus transmission status as transparent as possible by integrating several indicators into one easy-to-understand five-point scale,” explains medical officer of health Dr. Thomas Piggott in a media release. “Each level corresponds to specific public health guidance both for the general population and for those residents who are at high-risk of serious health outcomes if they get infected.”

Peterborough Public Health is one of the first health units in Ontario to produce a local COVID-19 Community Risk Index, which is still in a pilot phase and will be refined over the coming weeks. Planned enhancements will include adding more granular data in a “business intelligence dashboard,” similar to the existing Local COVID-19 Tracker, which it will eventually replace. The health unit encourages residents to provide feedback on the index.

Dr. Piggott, who says the pandemic is now entering into its sixth wave, says the current “high risk” status due to the very high rapid antigen test positivity, the high PCR testing positivity rate, and the high wastewater surveillance signal — which is equivalent to the level seen during January’s omicron surge.

“This sixth wave we are starting into, like the fifth omicron wave, will disproportionately impact those who are more vulnerable in our communities — people still unvaccinated, elderly, medically at-risk, and immunocompromised,” he explains.

With the current “high risk” status, Peterborough Public Health is recommending residents be vaccinated (with three doses for most residents and four doses for those who are immunocompromised), wear a respirator-style mask (N95 or KN95) while indoors and around others (especially if you’re at high risk), stay home if sick even with mild symptoms, get a PCR test if you are eligible, and use rapid antigen tests.

The health unit is also encouraging residents to report their rapid antigen test results, both positive and negative, by using the confidential online reporting survey at chkmkt.com/RAT21. The results of the survey are used to inform the rapid antigen test positivity rate for the Community Risk Index.

“Each of our decisions to decrease transmission today will impact the context of the pandemic in our community tomorrow,” Dr. Piggott says. “I am closely watching the concerning evolving context, considering actions to reimpose requirements as I am responsible to do under the provincial legislation, and readying to take any measures needed to protect our community and those more vulnerable in it.”

VIDEO: Peterborough Public Health Community Risk Index