Chronicle Issue 09 all-pages-1-28

10 The Chronicle March 20 - 26, 2018 chronicle.durhamcollege.ca Campus
Dining differently in Brooklin
Claudia Latino
The Chronicle
The Copper Branch restaurant in
Brooklin is doing things differently
these days. It has improved its menu
to become more viewer-friendly,
including easy-to-read text, fewer
pictures, and short descriptions of
their food.
The plant-based restaurant made
the changes to improve the quality
of its business by becoming certified
by the Blue Umbrella program
last year.
The Blue Umbrella program is
designed for businesses that want
their service to be dementia-friendly.
According to the Alzheimer Society
of Durham Region, 10,000
people locally have been diagnosed
with a dementia-related illness.
The Blue Umbrella symbol, often
displayed on a door or window,
lets customers know the staff are
qualified to help those who have
memory loss of other symptoms of
dementia.
More than 50 businesses in
Whitby and Ajax are certified by
the program. Businesses receive a
one-hour training session from a
trainer, who works alongside volunteers
and a person with dementia
to educate staff.
The training includes a plan to
be implemented by staff to cater to
this group of customers.
Trevor Paterson, general manager
at Copper Branch, helped two
customers with a dementia-related
illness last summer.
“One time, there was this older
lady with her three daughters. One
of the daughters was very familiar
with the program since she saw the
sticker on our front door,” he said.
“She approached us about it and
she wasn’t only excited but very
appreciative when we gave her the
menu right away and knew what
she was talking about.”
After training, someone from the
organization acts as a customer to
see how knowledgeable the business
is about the Blue Umbrella
program.
“Once they pass, and once we
know those changes have been
made, the business can now say
they are ‘dementia-friendly’,” said
Christie May, director of philanthropy
at Alzheimer Society of
Durham Region. “We then give
them a blue umbrella emblem to
display in their store.”
Photograph by Claudia Latino
Christie May, focuses on fundraising programs through the Alzheimer's society in Brooklin.
Paterson once had a customer
ask him about the symbol.
“I was working outside on the
patio and this lady asked, ‘I see you
have the blue umbrella sticker on
your window. Do you mind telling
me what that’s about?’” he said.
A member from the Alzheimer
Society of Durham Region emailed
the restaurant a month later impressed
with how much knowledge
Paterson had about the program.
May is thankful her community
believes in this program.
“We were so fortunate to have
the support of the Town of Whitby
who gave us $25,000 to ignite this
Blue Umbrella movement in Whitby,”
said May.
“We also received $10,000 from
the Town of Ajax to ignite the
movement in Ajax.”
May said dementia is an issue for
many people.
“Dementia is on the rise and it
has been declared a ‘world epidemic’.
Many would say if they haven’t
had a situation first hand with Alzheimer’s
‘Oh I don’t know anybody
or that doesn’t affect me,” she said.
“It does affect you. It would be
hard-pressed to have a job or a role
and not come cross that.”
Paterson would like to see more
businesses become part of the program
to improve customer service
skills and equality in his community.
The Alzheimer Society of Durham
Region’s goal is to expand the
program beyond Whitby and Ajax.
“It’s a simple thing we take for
granted, as easy as going into a
restaurant or reading off a menu
that some people can’t do,” said
Paterson.
“This program is very unique
and it does cater to a group that
people don’t usually think about.
I think people who have relatives
who experience it really appreciate
there’s a society out there who are
dedicated to helping them.”
Cleaning out
the litter box
Michael Bromby
The Chronicle
If you live in Oshawa, you may
have complained about feral cats
running through your backyard.
Linda Power is an animal activist
in Oshawa who wants people to
understand the homeless cats that
may cause you grief are just trying
to make it through the day.
Power has lived in Oshawa for
the past 12 years but grew up in
Bancroft. As a child, she grew up
with animals in her family home.
The first animal she rescued was a
cat named Fluffy.
“As a kid, I rescued everything,”
says Power with a smile.
When she lived in Bancroft, she
ran a dog rescue with her husband
Jack. Over time, they slowly integrated
cats. When she moved
to Oshawa she began to focus on
cats and how they were living in
the city.
“When we came to Oshawa we
were very involved in cat rescue.
Part of cat rescue is the trap, neuter,
return, and manage program
(TNRM),” says Power.
In November, city council voted
on a motion put forward by Oshawa
Animal Services to have a
TNRM program in Oshawa. The
city approved a two-year pilot program
which allows animal services
to trap and spay or neuter the cat.
This local feral cat in Oshawa is part of a cat colony.
The cats are then returned to a
colony and volunteers from Action
Volunteers for Animals (AVA)
manage the colony providing food
and water. Under the TNRM, a
feral cat is defined as unsocial and
possibly aggressive, while avoiding
humans. The goal of the program
is to reduce the number of feral
cats. In 2016, Oshawa Animal
Services received 16 complaints
about feral cats and in 2015 it was
30. AVA was running small cat
colonies in the city.
Each feral cat brought into Oshawa
Animal Services from these
complaints were spade, neutered
and returned to the colony. The
city gave $4,500 toward the pilot
project for funding of volunteers.
Mayor John Henry says the community
volunteers are what keep
the program running successfully.
“The program has been working
very well in Oshawa. It wouldn’t
work if we didn’t have community
participation,” he says.
Henry says part of the feral cat
problem comes from students at
Durham College and UOIT. He
says they get cats during the school
year as pets, then release them before
they go home.
“If you had a cat don’t just release
it and go back home, make
sure that it’s properly looked after,”
says Henry.
Power says she has been advocating
for the TNRM program to be
implemented in Oshawa for years.
She says it is needed because the
public does not understand these
cats are suffering.
“They are starving, they are
often injured, they freeze to death
in the winter and they need help,”
she says.
Power has sent in letters to city
council and has also attended city
council meetings to voice her opinion.
“At first, when I would go to
council meetings or have a letter on
the agenda they really didn’t like
me too much,” says Power. “But
they’ve changed a lot and they’re
willing to recognize that volunteers
have been solving a huge and expensive
problem for them and those
volunteers need support.”
Power used to volunteer with
AVA by fostering cats while attending
to colonies. She doesn’t
work with them anymore but she
still visits three times a week to feed
the cats with food she buys. She
says it is expensive but with new
funding the food should be donated
to the colonies by the city or the
people in the community.
“Everybody wants to feed their
cats but it’s usually a financial concern,”
she says.
Power visits the colonies every
week to provide food for the feral
cats, and clean up garbage around
Photograph by Michael Bromby
the shelters.
She says the public is not always
receptive towards her actions.
“I have had my life threatened
if I came back to feed the cats. I
had people fight with me on the
street because I was putting down
cat food,” she says.
Power has worked hard to keep
the cats safe.
She says the city will not disclose
the locations of cat colonies
to the public because of potential
vandalism.
“There are a lot of people who do
not like cat colonies. If they know
where they are often they will go
and take the food away and destroy
the shelters,” she says.