OKP opens for business with a star studded event

One Kids Place special spokesperson Charlotte Mogan helps Nipissing MPP Monique Smith and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty officially open One Kids Place.


The opening of One Kids Place this week was a star studded event that featured an emotional speech from Premier Dalton McGuinty and the music styling of Canadian recording star Justin Hines.

Nipissing MPP Monique Smith says the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new facility on McKeown Avenue marks the end of a frustrating era for parents of special needs children in North Bay and surrounding area. Till now parents seeking treatment for their children had to run all over the city for appointments with specialists from speech therapists to pediatricians but now with everyone housed under one roof parents have peace of mind that their children will get the best care in the best facility.





McGuinty told reporters that his number one job in life is to be a father and a good dad and says that will be the greatest influence he will have on the future and because of that he admires parents of children with special needs greatly because they never have a break it is a 24-7 commitment.





Chris Mogan says for his family the centre comes full circle as his daughter Charlotte was the face for OKP's capital campaign, his wife who is a pediatrician be located at the centre and his youngest daughter Lilly will be at the centre for service.

Mogan says without OKP Lilly would be traveling throughout the area, and possibly out of town, for therapy, speech therapy, heart treatments and other issues she faces.

“There are great specialists right here in the city and now they are under one roof.”

“So now she can get all of the therapy and all of the specialist's treatments that she needs here at One Place where the experts talk to each other is excellent,” he adds.

Dr. Joseph Madden one of the driving forces behind the centre was in Ireland on family business but was so pleased the day had finally come that he sent a special message for Executive Director Judy Sharpe to read thanking the community for sharing the dream.



Sharpe agreed with Madden and the analagy 'it takes a village to raise a child,' indeed applies to what One Kids Place has to offer.



Chart topping singer Justin Hines, who used a childrens treatment centre when was younger as he suffers from a rare genetic joint condition called Larsen's syndrome, closed out the ceremony by singing the Ontario tourism song that is apropos for the new OKP centre.