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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-05-13, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 13, 2010. The Huron Perth HealthcareAlliance (HPHA) held a town hall-style meeting in Clinton on May 5 and the message was change is coming, but not necessarily bad change. Andrew Williams, CEO of the HPHA, said that the four hospitals that the HPHA presides over; St. Marys Memorial Hospital, Clinton Public Hospital, Seaforth Community Hospital and Stratford General Hospital, will see changes as part of their Vision 2013 plan. “We all have the same goal,” Williams said, talking about residents and members of thehealthcare community. “We wantaccessible, safe, high qualityhealthcare now, and accessible, safe,high quality healthcare in thefuture.” Williams stated that to do that, the HPHA is facing several challenges, including the streamlining of services that are offered at more than one location. Emergency departments, for example, are going to be re- evaluated. According to Williams, Seaforth’s emerency department, which is currently running at reduced hours due to a staff shortage, and Clinton’s emergency department, could be looked at for reduced hours in thenew plans.Williams stated that, since they areso close, and so close to otherhospitals that provide the sameservice, like Goderich, it doesn’t make good financial sense, or career sense, to have both emergency departments open full time. “We want to have people working to their fullest, and having someone sitting there for a total of six outpatients doesn’t mean they are reaching their potential,” he said. Williams stressed the fact that one emergency department facing reduced hours would not have an adverse affect on healthcare in the area. “We have to let people know they will have access to the same care, just a few minutes further away,” he said. After any restructuring, Williams said that the HPHA will still have their four emergency rooms open. St. Marys hospital is also looking at the potential of reduced hours. Another challenge that the HPHA is preparing to face is the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care’s plans to create competition between hospitals in the future by trying to‘sell’ speciality operations to certainhospitals.Williams gave the example ofbroken hips and home care, statingthat there is going to be a need for more of these operations with a growing, aging population. “The crown is going to foster competition and we need to be ready to take advantage of that,” he said. The competition will lie in which hospital, or which alliance, gets the contract to do these operations. If there are a lot of knee replacements in area A, he said, and the hospital in area B has the best facilities and specialists to handle those operations, patients will be sent to that hospital. This centralization of services is not just going to be at the provincial level either. Williams said that, while the HPHA is planning to increase the number of beds across their board by approximately five per cent (from 200 beds to 209 or 2010), their will be a lot of change in what beds are going to be where. The example Williams gave is that Spring is supposed to be here, but we had a taste of Old Man Winter on Saturday night. Snow flakes were in the air for quite a while and the wind was cold and strong. The wicked wind brought down lots of branches and entire trees and now the cleanup begins. Thankful, we all know the nasty weather won’t last for long and warmer weather will be here. Happy Mother’s Day to all. I hope everyone had a chance to speak or visit with their mother. My mom is still in the hospital and my siblings spent the day with her. I had my time alone with her the next day which was even better. Home for a short visit from Vancouver was Neil McDonald. He was here to celebrate Mother’s Day with his mother, Leona McDonald. Welcome back to Jean Bewley, who has returned from a holiday in Calgary and Bolton. Jean flew to Calgary to visit her daughter and son-in-law, Brenda and Dan Raven in Airdrie. While there, she visited with grandson John and Jilly Raven and great-granddaughter, Bree in Calgary. Elizabeth and Erin Hopchin came down from Edmonton to attend a family gathering at Scott and Heather Raven’s in Airdrie. They stayed at Brenda and Dan’s and then took Jean the next day to Canmore (near Banff). Jean flew back to Toronto after a week and went to Bolton and stayed at daughter, Mary and Wayne Baker’s home. Mark Baker, Jean’s grandson, came home from Australia for a visit and Jean had the chance to visit with him for a day. Mark will be home for 10 days and then it’s back to Sydney, Australia where he is an economist with the Bank of Australia. A tidbit of information Jean remembers Mark sharing is that the minimum wage in Australia is $21 an hour, but the cost of living is very high. Celebrating birthdays this past week include Scott McNaughton, Doug O’Neill, Scott Baan, Brandon Blake, Colin Humphries, Jessica Hergert, Jim Shortreed, Carman Bernard, Calvin Flood, Nathen Wharton, Gavin Bowers, Jim Cook, Barb Fritz, Darlene Hymers, Tracey Lee, Shane Ryan, Sharon Steinmen, Andrea Shortreed and Edith Wey. UCW The members of the UCW met on Wednesday evening for their May meeting. The special guest speaker for the evening was Melody van Dorp. She spoke on her time at a Haitian orphanage. She arrived there right after the earthquake that devastated much of the country. She was there for 10 days to assist at an orphanage for babies. She was assigned a baby to look after and help in any way she could. The children are there until they are three or four, until they can be returned to their parents, adopted, or until they go on to another orphanage for older children. The group enjoyed her slides and presentation. The group enjoyed angel food cake and ice cream after the business portion of the meeting. DUFF’S Our condolences to Rev. Peter and his family on the sudden death of his nephew in Sierra Leone. Welcoming members attending Duff’s United Church on Mother’s Day or Family Sunday were Fred and Heidi McClure. Announcements included that Duff’s United will be open for July and August for worship services. Duff’s Anniversary Service will be celebrated on June 13 with no service at Bluevale United. Invite your family to return for our celebration service. DVDs are available for purchase of the Half Century of Going Down the Aisle in Style event and original bride DVDs. Contact committee members to order. The men are in charge of service on May 30 and breakfast will be served following the service. Brussels Cemetery Decoration Service will be held June 27. Members of Duff’s United are encouraged to sign up for the PAR system of contributing to the church regularly. The church is still experiencing a shortfall in its revenue/expenses. Rev. Peter’s reflection was entitled, “Love in Action”. He described a typical day for a mother in a home. Getting children up and ready for school, packing lunches, books in the back pack and proper clothing for the day at school. After the school day, sometimes after school activities, making dinner, doing homework with them, bath time and spending time with other children in the home. A good mother loves her family and provides a listening ear, a comforting word, a hug, a loving touch and good advice. Mothers are the best teaches of Love in action. The Lord Jesus was an excellent teacher. He taught about sincere and genuine love and that the Holy Spirit will help us remember His teachings. If a person loves Jesus, they will come to know God and his commandments. It is his invitation to us to participate in the community that is one with God, a community of full love. The “Faith community” sometimes fails to share God’s Love. There are thousands of immigrants coming to Canada each year but are not welcomed into our faith community. All Ministers have been mandated to attend workshops on “Racial Injustice”, which Rev. Peter attended in Seaforth last week. The workshop challenge is to eradicate racism by identifying, challenging and changing attitudes, behaviours and structures that perpetuate it. “Love in Action” is when God moves through faith communities to love and touch people in need. We are the servants of God and the Holy Spirit allows us to remember our Christian teaching and to “Love in Action”. Changes coming to local healthcare The Citiz e n Get Your Message AROUND THE WORLD IMMEDIATELY If you have important papers that need to go somewhere FAST ... use THE CITIZEN’S FAX MACHINE! Our fax machine can contact any other fax machine, in the world, instantly. We offer this service for a cost of $4.00 per printed sheet for the first one and $1.00 per additional sheet. (Or $1.00 per sheet if it is not long distance) Our fax number, is also your number, so use it to receive your messages at $1.00 per sheet. WE CAN RECEIVE 24 HRS. PER DAY! This service is only available in our Blyth office PP hh ..:: 55 11 99 --55 22 33 --44 77 99 22 FF aa xx :: 55 11 99 --55 22 33 --99 11 44 00 PP hh ..:: 55 11 99 --55 22 33 --44 77 99 22 FF aa xx :: 55 11 99 --55 22 33 --99 11 44 00 NEWS FROM WALTON By Jo-Ann McDonald Call 887-6570 PEOPLE AROUND WALTON By Denny ScottThe Citizen Continued on page 16