durhamregion.com | This Week | Thursday, June 23, 2022 | | 4 Six Durham Region residents are facing charges following an OPP investigation into drug trafficking in Simcoe County. In total, 11 people were charged and they face a combined 104 charges after police executed search warrants on Wednesday, June 8 in Ajax, Barrie, Springwater Township, Toronto and Whitby, the OPP noted. In addition to the OPP, other police services involved in the search warrants were the Durham Regional Police, Toronto police, Peterborough, Peel, York, Barrie and the RCMP. The OPP and the Barrie police began an investigation in April following fatal and non-fatal overdoes between Jan. 1 and June 6 of this year. The overdoses were caused by crack cocaine and fentanyl in Simcoe County, the OPP said. Police seized 509 grams of fentanyl, which the OPP said would represent more than 5,000 street-level doses, 3,358 grams of cocaine, 33 grams of crack cocaine, 741 grams of methamphetamine, 347 grams of heroin and 1,446 unidentified prescription capsules, police added. Also seized were four handguns, 73 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, 42 rounds of .40 cal ammunition, a bulletproof vest, several vehicles and $81,460 in Canadian currency. Daniel Robinson, 29, of Whitby, is facing 15 drug-related and gun-related charges. Kourtney Lammie, 23, of Whitby, is facing 23 gun and drug-related charges, along with two counts of failing to comply with a release order. Kaprice Lammie, 26, of Whitby, is facing 11 gun and drug-related charges. DeShawn Chin, 26, of Ajax, is facing eight drug and gun charges, along with failing to comply with a release order. Nicholas Robinson, 30, of Ajax, is facing four trafficking charges. An unnamed 24-year-old from Whitby is facing 10 drug and gun charges. Others charged were from Barrie, Toronto, North York and Etobicoke. SIX DURHAM RESIDENTS FACING SLEW OF CHARGES CRIME Hospice -- a partnership between Durham Hospice and VON Durham Community Corporation -- has been working to build two residential hospice care centres to offer muchneeded end-of-life care in south Durham. The Port Perry hospice opened June 2021. The Province of Ontario has provided some funding. The Region of Durham made a financial commitment. Both the Town of Whitby and the Municipality of Clarington have donated land and pledged support for the hospices. "We need to get this built. It's a fundamental need of the community," said Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster. Much of the funding for construction of the hospices has to come from the local community. For several years, Durham Region Hospice has been working hard to raise its original $15-million fundraising goal. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed fundraising efforts for several months but momentum was building again by 2021. Oshawa's Lovell family -- Diana Kirk, Arthur Lovell and Linda McGill -- donated $100,000 to bring the Whitby and Clarington hospices one step closer to breaking ground. "A hospice in Whitby and Clarington is very much needed for Durham Region. It will give terminally ill people quality of life provided by a team of health care professionals, and with the comfort of their family members able to be with them at any time," Kirk explained via email. By November, the hospice boards had reached 80 per cent of the overall funds thought to needed from donations. Each hospice board was within $2 million of the finish line -- until uncertain construction prices, and material and labour shortages impacted the cost estimates. Whitby hospice board decided to increase their fundraising efforts to raise the extra $3 million. The group will ramp up their outreach into neighbouring communities -- Pickering, Ajax and Oshawa -- who will also have residents relying on the hospice. "We'll be fundraising and educating people about the value of hospice to our community," said Reti. "We had consulted with some of our donors. Everybody said to us 'Do not give up the dream'. I almost cried." Raising the extra funds will take time. The Whitby hospice board is giving themselves a year to work hard on fundraising and will then evaluate whether they are likely to close the gap, explained Reti. "We're not changing our direction. We love our design ... If things aren't going well, we'll re-evaluate," said Reti. The Clarington hospice board decided to revisit their building plans with an architect. The group reduced common areas, hallways, offices and a small amount from residents' rooms. Combined the changes reduce the building by 3,000 square feet. Next they are looking at changes to interior finishes that could help reduce costs. "As a board we felt we weren't in a position to go forward with these costs," said Zarzeczny. "We're not sacrificing any of the comfort or quality of the building for patients, but it should allow us to come in close to budget." The changes to the plan means the Clarington hospice will need to go back to the Municipality and Province for approval. Then they will have to re-tender the project. Instead of breaking ground now, the Clarington hospice construction will begin in spring 2023. "There was unanimous support for moving forward and figuring out a way to get this done," said Zarzeczny. "There's still momentum. We're still raising significant money. There's community understanding. We want the community to know how much we value their contributions and support for the project." STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Durham Region Hospice -- Clarington and Whitby went to tender late last year. The hospice board reached out recently to provide an update on how the projects have been changed by the bids. NEWS Continued from page 1 'WE'RE NOT CHANGING OUR DIRECTION. WE LOVE OUR DESIGN' Durham Region Hospice - Clarington chair Melodie Zarzeczny, left, and Whitby chair Eva Reti, recently announced the hospices in Clarington and Whitby are going to tender. Durham Hospice photo SCAN THE CODE to read more Durham news online