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The newly renovated KO Telehealth and KiHS Centre of Excellence is now occupied and ready to better serve the First Nation partners across the region. Everyone is invited to stop by and take a tour of the new office complex. The former Balmertown clinic was purchased in the fall of 2003 and renovation work was managed by the KO Public Works department using local contractors throughout the winter and spring of 2004. Funding for this project came from Industry Canada FedNor and the Smart Communities project that helped the development of both these innovative KO projects.

Click here to see more pictures and watch for the upcoming Grand Opening event being planned for this building.

Click here for the telehealth story about their new offices.

Orpah McKenzie, NOMS' Aboriginal Affairs Director came to Sioux Lookout to meet with various groups to discuss collaborative opportunities. Orpah is working with different First Nations and aboriginal groups to identify four week community placement opportunities for first year medical school students starting in the spring of 2006.

While meeting with Keewaytinook Okimakanak, Nancy Greaves, the KO Telehealth Service Migration Officer who works with the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority (SLFNHA) was able to identify a number of opportunities to collaborate with Orpah and NOMS. In particular, during the upcoming telehealth workshop being planning for this fall, it is hoped that Orpah will be able to present information for the Health Directors and the Community Telehealth Coordinators (CTC) to identify each First Nation can benefit from supporting a placement in their communities. The expanded roles and responsibilities of all the different partners involved in this work can create new opportunities for each participating First Nation.

Jamie Ray travelled to Mishkegogamang and Wabigoon First Nations to work with their local teams in identifying strategies for developing their connectivity requirements.

In Mishkegogamang Jamie worked with the Chief and Council members at the band office getting their new computers set up and planning their network. He then worked with Donna Roundhead, the local Health Director to identify the needs to put a broadband connection into the local Health Centre so the telehealth services can be developed. Afterwards, he went with Michael Bottle over to the school to plan their local network.

Wabigoon FN Economic Development office wants to install a wireless connection from the school connection over to their offices.

Check out the pictures of these community visits.

Elijah Harper comes to Balmertown.... Mr. Harper toured the KO offices in Balmertown to learn more about our broadband applications such as Telehealth and KiHS, the Internet High School.

During his visit, he participated in a videoconference with KO's sub offices in Sioux Lookout and Thunder Bay.

Mr. Harper shared his experiences with Information Communications Technologies that date back over twenty years.

He will be briefing Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, who is expected to visit Balmertown in September.

To see more photos, click here. The KO Telehealth news story and pictures about Mr. Harper's visit can also be accessed by clicking here.

There was an election for chief in Pikangikum yesterday, Wednesday, August 18, 2004. There were four people running for the position. They were Ellen Peters, Charlie Turtle, Samuel Quill and Alex Peters. The polls were open from 11am to 9pm.

The results from the election were: 368 votes were casted, 10 were spoiled and 358 good votes.

1. Alex Peters        - 176 votes
2. Charlie Turtle     -112 votes
3. Samuel Quill       -  65 votes
4. Ellen Peters        -    5 votes

Congratulations goes out to our New Chief, Mr. Alex Peters.

Good day, my name is Nicole Morris and I have been working for Keewaytinook Okimakanak, in the Research Department as a summer student. One of my projects is to compile a list of Successful Students from the KIHS, to be displayed in the First Nations School web site.

If you have enrolled in KIHS and it was a success for you, we welcome you to share your experiences in participating in this project.  We are searching for information about students and their successes they experienced and are experiencing from their time at KIHS.

We will also be inviting other students from other schools to share their stories for this project as well. Questions will be asked of the students and we will work with your answers to produce a story about your experiences. These interviews and sharing will help others to get to know the student and their work.

There may be a lot of questions but most are easy to answer. The more detailed obtained during the interviews will help others learn about how KIHS has benefited the students and your communities. We hope to post the student profiles on the First Nations SchoolNet web site at http://firstnationschools.ca. This will give students an opportunity to share their experiences with the ICT equipment and encourage other students that are still living in their community to attend school.

Contact me for a copy of the questions for this project. This will be an on-going project for the Student Stories and Profiles.

We would like to have your information as soon as possible and would greatly appreciate being able to work with everyone willing to share their stories with us.

nicolemorris@knet.ca

toll free 1 877 737 5638 extension 51263
local  Thunder Bay # at 622 2812
(fax)  # 622 2861

Alternatively you may also contact Wesley McKay at

wesleymckay@knet.ca

Jim Sapay, Carleton Blackhawk and Tom Kuzemchuk from the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council worked with the K-Net team to develop a strategy for rolling out the NNEC video conferencing network across the Sioux Lookout district in each of the Wahsa Distance Education Learning Centres. Video conferencing equipment is presently installed in the Sioux Lookout NNEC sites (at the main admin building, Pelican Falls First Nations High School and at the Wahsa DE building) and in Thunder Bay at the Dennis Cromarty High School.

With the support of Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program, each of the community learning centres delivering Wahsa high schools are now being outfitted with the same video conferencing systems. This equipment is intended to support NNEC and Wahsa to further develop and deliver their services for the Sioux Lookout District First Nations.

Former KO Director of Health Orpah McKenzie is in charge of Aboriginal Affairs at the Northern Ontario Medical School. She is encouraging more NAN students to prepare for careers in medicine and other health care careers.

She is looking for First Nations to host medical students for four-week placements during their first year starting in the winter semester of 2006. The purpose of these visits is to familarize medical students with the health realities of day-to-day life for community members on reserve.  "Fort Severn, Deer Lake, North Spirit Lake, Keewaywin and Poplar Hill would be ideal sites for these placements," said Orpah... For more information, call her at 1-807-766-7311...

Check out the photos of her visit...

An employee of Tikinagan Child and Family Services working out of the Red Lake Unit lost her son on late Friday night (August 13, 2004) in a house fire in Red Lake. 

Tikinagan staff are asking for your donations of any kind to be sent to the Red Lake office. The family lost everything.

Please phone 807-727-3047 for more information about how you can help this family through their loss.