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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-07-29, Page 11Continued from page 7 discuss the legal aspects and ramifications of the issue further, surfacing with no bylaws, but a suggestion that another special council meeting be held on August 3 to discuss the issue with the municipal solicitor present. Ryan said he understood the municipality’s concerns and said that he wouldn’t want to put the area ratepayers at risk and in a position where they would have to pay for legal fees that have nothing to do with the ward in which they live. “We always said we never wanted to put Huron East in a position where they would be challenged,” Ryan said. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2010. PAGE 11. On July 12 the Central HuronSwine Club 4-H meeting was held atthe Kroes home near Clinton. Thegroup started the meeting with doingsome judging to get ready for thecompetition.The group went to Paul and Lorraine Franken’s jersey farm to judge a class of jersey cows. Before the judging started, Paul Franken mentioned a few things to look for when judging the class of Jersey cows. You want a nice wide, deep udder, highly and widely sprung ribs and strong square legs. Once everyone was finished judging, they heard the official placings and reasons. Members then split into three groups to read their reasons and get pointers on how to improve their judging and reading of the reasons. After they finished in the barn, the group headed back to the Kroes’ house to continue with the meeting. They read through a book on biosecurity, learning what is best when protecting farms fromdiseases.After finishing discussion onupcoming events, the group began tojudge a class of t-shirts, looking forcleanliness, smell, holes and rips.After everyone was finished and handed in their cards, the youth leader, Lorraine, read the correct placings and reasons for the class of t-shirts. The next meeting will be held at the veterinary clinic in Mitchell on August 17 at 7 p.m. On June 28, the Central Huron Swine Club had its third 4-H meeting at the Thompson’s in Hensall. The meeting began with judging, to practise for the competition on August 10 in Seaforth. They judged soybeans and then apples. There were four different samples and members were to place them from top to bottom. Members were looking for clean beans with no other materials or substances in them and a nice uniform bag. After they finished evaluating thesoybeans, members handed in theirjudging cards. One of the leadersgave the proper placings and reasonsfor why they were put there. Afterthe soybeans, the group continueddoing the exact same thing with the class of apples, looking for uniformity, no bruises, same size and clean apples. After finishing with the judging members began to read the next chapter of their book on biosecurity, as they have been throughout the entire process. They read about ways to keep diseases out of their barn and certain precautions they should take with having visitors at the barn. At the end of the chapter, there was a quiz with different questions like, what visitors on the farm should wear, how vehicles can transmit diseases and how far away an isolation room should be from the main barn. After going through all the questions and answers members discussed when the next meetingwas, ended the meeting with the 4-H pledge and had snacks beforeeveryone travelled home. Continued from page 10 she said. “And we support some of those costs, like training and equipment. It’s a reasonable cost to be expected for the township that benefits from it.” Councillors, however, stated that they felt they had made the right decision, and, after Cook had explained exactly how mutual aid works, tensions in the room seemed to lessen as the members of the gallery stopped asking why things were the way they were, and focused on how they could be reassured their coverage wouldn’t be lessened. The group still left requests with council, including that they reconsider their fire protection plan. The group also asked for an evaluation of fire protection services to be completed, similar to the one that North Huron and Central Huron submitted to, to ensure that the coverage being provided by Lucknow, Clinton and Blyth fire halls were all equal. Central Huron and Lucknow fire departments are not held under contract by ACW. If any change was to be made, it could be affected in the time it requires to have dispatches and telecommunicaiton companies to change ACW residents 911 numbers. Wind turbines hot topic in Huron East Kick it! The young soccer players of tomorrow were out last week, playing some U-6 soccer in Blyth. It was all for fun, but it didn’t mean they didn’t want to win, with both of these players travelling at full speed towards the ball. (Vicky Bremner photo) Central Huron Swine Club goes over judgingResidents ask ACW for fire change The Board of the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone for your past and continued participation in our community engagement activities regarding VISION 2013 – a plan to strengthen hospital-based services for the residents of Huron and Perth Counties. Over the past few months we have spoken with hundreds of people and heard your feedback on VISION 2013 through surveys, Town Halls, Community Workshops and formal and informal presentations and conversations. As a result, we believe we have the foundation for building a stronger healthcare system amongst our four hospital sites that will best serve the needs of all of our patients, both now and well into the future. Why VISION 2013? VISION 2013 has been developed in light of a number of key factors and issues affecting the delivery of health care, not only at HPHA, but across the province. These factors require that we be proactive and lead the change necessary to provide Excellent Care For All. The delivery of health care has changed dramatically in recent years in a number of ways: • There aren’t enough physicians, nurses and other health care professionals.This is not just a “local’ problem or a “HPHA” problem. All hospitals are competing for the same recruits and this situation will worsen as doctors and nurses retire. This means that we have to think differently about how we deliver health care. • The length of hospital stays has decreased significantly due to new treatments, state-of-the-art diagnostic technology, medicines and the availability of community-based care. • The baby boomers are aging.This has a huge, two-fold impact on our health care system. First, as people get older, they generally use the health care system more than they ever did. Secondly, the number of new health care graduates is fewer than the retiring “boomers” health care providers. • The need for new and enhanced local services.Our plan calls for the addition of new and enhanced services such as MRI and child and adolescent mental health beds which will help to address identified service gaps in our area. • The costs of health care are skyrocketing at an unsustainable rate. Ontario spends more than $45 billion annually on health care, which represents nearly half of the entire Provincial budget. Everyone involved in the planning and delivery of care must work together to apply resources as effectively as possible. Next Steps Throughout the planning process the South West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) has been kept informed of our progress and community engagement activities. The Vision 2013 recommendations that were approved by the HPHA Board on June 3, 2010 were presented to the LHIN Board for information purposes on July 14th.These recommendations will now be submitted to the South West LHIN as a formal Notice of Integration for their consideration. Under the Local Health System Integration Act, 2006 (LHSIA), these recommendations are considered to be an integration as they include “coordination of services and interactions; transferring, merging or amalgamating services, operations or entities”. The South West LHIN staff will conduct a comprehensive review of the information submitted and provide the LHIN Board with a written report to assist the Board in its decision-making. Keeping You Informed We are committed to continuing to provide accurate information to all of our stakeholders. We will continue a transparent, participative and respectful planning process. We will keep you informed of progress and changes through our website at www.hpha.ca, our regular Community Reports and special-purpose communications, such as this one. You are also welcome to contact either Andrew Williams or Leslie Showers with your questions or comments. Leslie Showers, Board Chair Andrew Williams, CEO leslie.showers@investorsgroup.com andrew.williams@hpha.ca 519-284-3534 519-272-8202