MINDEMOYA—The closure last summer of Edgewater Home Health and Mobility in Little Current, Manitoulin’s only full-service home health and mobility store, created a void in the market and the three partners involved in the opening of Mindemoya Home Medical jumped in to close the gap. The centrally located store opened on November 1 but celebrated their official grand opening last Wednesday.
MP Carol Hughes was on hand for the grand opening, as was Central Manitoulin Mayor Richard Stephens. M’Chigeeng First Nation elder Geraldine Ense McGregor led a smudging ceremony prior to the ribbon cutting and Tammy Albers catered the launch.
“I want to thank you and congratulate you in opening a store which will make a difference in people’s lives,” said MP Hughes. “It will help people be more independent, be able to live maybe not in as much pain with some of the supplies you have here and I think this is really an asset to the community.”
MP Hughes presented the partnership with certificates from herself and MPP Michael Mantha, who was unable to attend the opening. MPP Mantha wrote, “Island residents will greatly benefit from the healthcare services and products that you have to offer. Please accept my best wishes for a long and prosperous business venture in this community.”
Mayor Stephens offered a welcome on behalf of the municipality. “I also want to say thank you for picking Mindemoya and Central Manitoulin as your designated location. We’re very happy to have you here. As Carol announced, it’s certainly a well-needed organization with a well-stocked product in place,” he said.
“There was a void here on the Island and Darrin was looking to move up from Toronto, looking for a place to do business up this way,” said owner Pierre Despres, who also owns Temiskaming Home Medical.
Mr. Despres knew sales and service representative Darrin Crowell through his Temiskamong Shores location. Mr. Crowell introduced him to Sue Miron, who had previously run Edgewater. “It was kind of perfect,” Mr. Despres said. “All of the ingredients were here to start up a new business.”
Ms. Miron is sales manager for Manitoulin Home Medical. “Originally when I was introduced to Pierre and we started talking about it, I wanted to open the store in Espanola so that it was central to the Island and Elliott Lake and the North Shore,” she said. “He and Darrin and I started doing the rounds and we quickly realized that Mindemoya is central to the Island. I used to run the Edgewater so I knew what was needed. Ninety percent of my clients from over there were not from Little Current.”
It just made sense to come to Mindemoya, she added.
You have to be on the Island if you want to service the people here, Mr. Crowell said. “That’s why we’re here. When I was dealing with Pierre and we were talking about this, Sue was working for another company and one of the things that was crucial was to have all the key individuals in the equation to make it work. I think as a group we’ve got it where all of the different aspects that we cover are truly covered. We all have different skills and I think that’s what makes us a really good team.”
Things are just starting to pick up, Mr. Despres said. “Now that Christmas season is over, we’re starting to focus more on the business and growing the business. Hopefully before too long we’ll be adding more people.”
Ms. Miron will continue to build on existing relationships she has with the Island’s seven First Nations while Darrin introduces people to the products that are available to make living easier for people and help them maintain their mobility, Mr. Despres explained. “The other thing we’d like to do is work closer with the clinics, nursing homes and doctors’ offices.”
The store is spacious, bright and accessible. Products range from adaptive apparel, braces, canes, compression socks to grab bars, hospital beds, walkers and wheelchairs. Some home medical products or mobility aids are available for rental as well as sales.
Anyone is welcome to visit the store. “We can service anybody,” said Mr. Crowell. “If somebody is working out and they need a compression elbow sleeve, they’re here. We have a lot of different things to help a lot of different people. The Island didn’t have a store where it was all in one place. If you look around, not everything is going to be for someone who is in a wheelchair. We’re part of a huge buying group. If we don’t have something we can get it. If someone asks for it, we will order six of them in, two in each size.”
“Ultimately at the end of the day, we have to be cognitive of who we’re doing this for,” he said. “It could be a recent injury or it could be someone’s fourth chair. They all have to be treated with the respect that everybody deserves to be treated with.”
Mr. Despres, Ms. Miron and Mr. Crowell are all passionate about and committed to the operation. “I’ve been doing this work for years and I’ve helped a lot of people,” said Mr. Crowell. “It’s nice to be able to go to bed at night knowing you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. That goes a long way.”
The store is centrally located at 6143 King Street, beside Foodland and the Mindemoya pharmacy. Ms. Miron is on location five days a week right now, Monday to Friday, and Mr. Crowell is on the road, visiting facilities and people in their homes.
Contact the store at (705) 377-4106 or find them online at ManitoulinHomeMedical.ca.
