Kinmount

This is County Close-Up, news from Halliburton County with Elizabeth Oakley.

Long before she lost her mom to cancer, Kim Restivo-Galea walked beside her in support of her mission to raise funds to recruit healthcare workers to the Kinmount region.

Now, in her memory, Restivo-Galea walks to honour her mother and so many other average everyday people who started the Kinmount District Health Services Foundation in 1995 with one purpose – to bring quality health care to the area so local residents get the care they deserve.

KDHSF, as it's known, is hosting the 28th annual Journey for Health community fundraising event on Saturday, September 19th from 9 a.m. to noon.

Start the day with a pancake breakfast, walk, run, or jog the rail trail, and raise money for physician recruitment.

So that's why we made it the third weekend in September.

Back when it began, KDHSF didn't have professional recruiters filling its ranks.

Instead, it had passionate, driven members, including Restivo Galea's mother, who wanted to establish a medical clinic in Kinmount with a full-time doctor to serve the community.

Most of it was insurance money and an inheritance from her adopted parents, George and Denise Smith, both of whom had died earlier that decade.

Her only surviving relatives were two aunts, one in Vancouver and one in Calgary, an uncle in Kinmount, Ontario, and a cousin in Winnipeg.

Irene's money went to the two aunts, who barely knew her.

Over the years, people in the Tyndall Park area have reported seeing the ghost of Irene.