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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1980-06-25, Page 5leknolr Sentinel, Wednesday, hike 2.5, 1980—Page $ Hospital passes controversial by-law . . , wine operation Approximately , 176 people m Denmark attended pork barbeque on the farm of :Milton. Turner, West Wawa- nosh on ;goo 17. Asp 10- obsen of galundborg, Den, mark owns the swine breed, wing operation , run by Mr. Turner on the fan* A Miigne system in this area, the %Soc.. ation includes farroW ,•to .finish, ..breeding stock and market plgai Kann& ham builds the type of barns , he, ,inti built. On the West ,Wawanoshlarm Denmark • and each year-the farmers fOr whom he' , built barns gather together to tour a swine operation. ,This year . they came to Canada to tour Mr. Ralunilbories operation in Ontario;The Danish dele- gation attended, the Pork Congress .in 'Stratford; and toured the Ridgetown Agri- . Cultural -Collegei and the - Elora Research Centre and - Musenm while they were in • • Canada. [Sentinel Staff Photo] response to problems which several had encountered. He noted that hospital trustees, sometimes have access to medical information about patients and . new trustees don't alwayS recognize the' problems of confidentiality. Also sometimes local politics get involved in a board, and a trustee will ge out to the public and air a matter in a biased manner it ' hels on-the- loshigaide in some -decisien, he said. The bylaw is intended to discourage this, although no formal sanctions are provided to discipline trustees who break it..ImpeaChing a trustee is like impeaching a, president, Mr. Slute said, and as far as he knows it's never happened, although it said he has had several inquiries about it over the years.. • He said the bylaw "establishes the principle" of confidentiality. Mr. Hayes also explained the bylaw as being intended to structure the release of information-from the-hospital by channeling it through spokesmen, It's not intended to prevent the release of information, he said. In other business attheineettrig, Turn--berry Reeve Brian McBurney served notice of a motion which:would allow only ratepay- ers of a municipality which is to be represented to make nominations .from the floor for a board member. This will come up for discussion voting at the next annual meeting. At first Mr. Milosevic and Mr. Hayes interpreted the motion as allowing only rate- payers from the affected municipality to vote for their board member, and they called on solicitor Robert Campbell to explain this can't be done without complicated changes to the, letters patent of the hospital corporation. However when it was clarified that the motion dealt only with nominations, Mr. Hayes agreed that could be . accomplished through a simple bylaw change. Another bylaw change which, among oth- er thingT, wound"" have raised the annual membership fee in the hospital association to $5.00 from $1,00 was amended to keep the fee at $1.00. Dr. J. C. McKim pointed out the proposal to raise the fee was a case of history repeat- ing itself. Exactly the same thing happened about a dozen years ago, he said, but the fee had to be lowered again because 'nobody bought memberships: Other bylaw changes dealt with small changes in wording to tighten* up several' bylaws. Notice of motion also was served for a bylaw 'realigning representation- on the hospital board. This will come up for a decision at the meeting next year; if approved it would reduce the size of the board to 13 members from 17 and equalize representation among the Member municip- alities. Mrs. Elnislie proposed that in ctithhig years the --annual meeting should be publicized earlier to enable more people from-outlying-areas to 'bay bietlibdtAipS. Mr. Hayes said that should be possible since the bylaw requires only 'that the meeting be publicized at least two weeks in advance. BY. HENRY HESS A controversial bylaw dealing with the confidentiality of matters brought before the hospital board ratified by the Wingham and District Hospital ASsociation last week, though not without a fight. A number of association members object- ed strongly to the bylaW, which they said would make- board meetings—even more- secretive and prevent representatives from reporting back to their municipalities. ' 'Representatives 'on the board represent people who , have a right to know what's going' on at meetings," Raye Elmslie, a board member, declared. , She added that if, as Chairman Bora Milosevic claimed, the bylaw applied only to personal matters or matters still in dis- cussion before the board, the working should be tightened to make this clear. Doug Fortune, a Turnberry Township councillor; also spoke out against-the bylaw.' - He said board meetings should be open to the press and public_ and suggested that one ..ef_the problems__ encountered_by the public_ relations committee in drumming up support for the hospital stems from the secrecy of the board and its decisions. The bylaw, which was passed bithe board early this year, states: "Every governor, officer and employee of the, Corporation shall respect the confidentiality of matters brought before the Board, keeping in mind that unauthorized statements could adver- sely affect the interest of the Corporation." A second sectiovyddds: "The Board shall give authority to 'one or more governors, officers or employees• of the Corporation to make statements to the press or, public about matters brought before, the Board." Mr. Milosevic assured the meeting that the bylaw is not intended to exclude members of the press from the board meetings, and it was ratified by a vote of 20 - 13. Following the meeting both Mr. Milosevic and Norman Hayes, hospital administrator, refused to elaborate on the reasons why the bylaw was introduced, beyond saying that it was drawn up by the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) and circulated to all hospital boards in the province. Mrs. Elmslie however, said it arose out of her public statement following the board decision to close beds and lay off staff last fall. At that time she said the board decision had not been unanimous, as the chairman reported, since she had abstained froin voting. (The decision was made by the board in closed session and communicated to ,the' press by Mr. Milosevic the following day.) Mr. Hayes later informed the board that, according to rules of order, an abstention -does not prevent a, decision froth being considered unanimous. Mrs. Elmslie reported that the conti& etitiality bylaw was introduced-by The-board immediately afterward. loget Slute, a member OT 011A'S-legat department in Toronto, said the prototype bylaw was drafted by the OHA about a year ago and circulated to member hospitals in and Home Improvement... a Good Investment RED Wood Finishes Bring New Beauty, and Lasting Protection to Wood -Rex-keeps wootlooking beautiful-longer- -- There's no chipping, no cracking, no peeling Ready To Use Cement Mix [Just Add Water] Mortar Mix, Sand Mix Concrete Mix Also Decorative Stucco pzp,"' z • 'oop. e *.$J