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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-06-09, Page 116 If Ysi • ?. 4took' - \4 "The question to be as ,,, t'4Oday's econorruk ,....„-\: , ..;„ \ .„ : II A, ‘ \ \ health care servle "Given the leadership 6 g '' IttOttnning and delive,, , perhaps ther#1 4-.`' o encompass triiii\ ,.-- k..,:.,,..'.ioals out11 e4as ''.435nrt cll.” AN \`'Is ' ..‘„,,,...,,. ,..„ . .. \ s' !'..'.-'...-Torn Lunning, k....• :-..,,,, ,':<.,. ,:.,,,..:•:,&,:x,....k y believe ,..touldn't have put . e 9,L. , \‘''!..V.,4 N, .„.,\N„, ‘ elected body show ,....... macilii.,:\•....Asi..:,m.,'...,',$is\‘‘ ."4\%":4% \''' ' "\,:', \>„\`'.:- Warden Tom T. ,.. '4,1 ' 11 .1.S'nLs ent, t g that the Steering Committee on a District Health Council will m e its decision June 9 .,* (tonight44 4 7:30 p.m.) at Clinton Town Hall a..S.t.O whether to recorri44 .•,,.. mend ap?.01101, for Huron. If the decision is "no", the committee's work" .', will be 'n" - Iii:If it is "yes" there will be more meetings, ..,...: 4:,. The 0.010 Ai position paper will be circulated ta jt,'o $ er Bob Rae, the st :lir Health and the leaders of the oppogl raf:,..- ,OX,',f.,-4.Q ::•4":','4.0,:*,.. , ng 3! ,tl leader$0 $ , ,$-,$ I \ 'kk :, , $ :Al . FL, . N . \ \ .1' (''.. II 4:0 NAlii, st:T ," , , ,• li , .\\S:\•, ,...t.,, ,:.v.... says the county is Col,'•cii.ei‘Witlie''ad'ai\‘' \$ ,,,..z.,„, , :'bureaucracy that seeriik ' ' t an other' district stet t ..\\,....44::;1,?:.,f::4sei:f e:ab at.7c17tyk" \ 84,' lw, OriCciunty‘, '1, , •„. Ur ..._ ..,,„.„, .$=‘ . . ....,,‘,.. , $ :alin promoh ,,i'''N,-,:s.,\:,,,.\'‘,\$ ;i \\\\‘\ $ , $ ‘or'''e an expanded rap.. ''>, %,',. -.-- . ,..s \.•• \ , ,:eilth plannink x:A.:'' lit up of a Di ' e tF PRO Model 175 32 cc straight shaft trimmer Reg. $259. ON SALE s189r Model 112 21 cc curved shaft trimmer Reg '149 ON SALE $129r WINGHAM AND DISTRICT HOSPITAL CORPORATION Notice is hereby given that the Annual Meeting of the Wingham and District Hospital Corporation will be held in the Nursing Assistants' Training Centre, Catherine St., Wingham, Ontario on Thursday, June 17, 1993 at the hour of eight o'clock p.m. for the revision of bylaws: for the election of Governors; for the appointment of Auditors; and for the transaction of such other things as may properly come before the meeting. Copies of the Annual Report and Hospital Financial Statements may be obtained at the front desk of the Wingham and District Hospital prior to three o'clock p.m., Thursday, June 17,1993. Said documents will also be available at the Annual Meeting. Memberships granting voting privileges may be purchased at the front desk of the hospital for five dollars ($5.00) prior to five o'clock p.m., Wednesday, June 2, 1993. No membership sold, after that time, on that date, will entitle the purchaser to a vote. Dated at Wing ham, Ontario, this sixth day of May, 1993. By order of the Board of Governors. L. Koch, Secretary r THE HURON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION SUMMER SCHOOL 1993 Courses Offered: SECONDARY IMPROVEMENT COURSES July 6 to .July 28 English: Advanced and General in Grades 9 through 12 Mathematics: Advanced and General in Grades 9 through 12. Additional courses may he offered in Grade 9 subjects if num- bers warrant. DRIVER EDUCATION for Secondary School Students July 6 to July 14 CONTINUING EDUCATION for Adult Students July 6 to July 14 Most classes run daily from 8:00 to 11:30 a.m., some Grade 9 classes may run daily from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m. FEES: All courses are free except for Driver Education which costs $230.00 LocATION:_All courses, except Continuing Education are offered at Central Iluron Secondary School in Clinton. Continuing Education will be held at Vanastra Public School. Bus transportation is provided from Exeter, Goderich, Wingham and Seaforth. For further information contact your local school or BRUCE ECCLES, PRINCIPAL, SUMMER SCHOOL 527-0380 Bea Dawson \ Chair Borog Public Malice Optimit Op the World Bob Allan Direct()) THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1993. PAGE 11. DHC committee ends round of hearings The Huron County District Health Council Steering Committee has completed its round of formal input hearings in five communities across the County with a final session in Exeter on Thursday evening, June 3. The hectic schedule of five (5) public meetings hosted by the Huron Community Services Network over the last two weeks gathered input and ideas from a total of 120 participants from the community in addition to Steering Committee members and resource persons who attended the input sessions. Twenty-three briefs and letters were presented, which included submissions of general support for some sort of health planning. Key opposition was voiced from the Huron County Board of Health, some unnamed farm representa- tives said to be leaders in the community, and a handful of individual health care provider spokespersons. Most of the discussion centered around the- need for cost savings, liaison and co-ordination of services. The overwhelming majority of presenters suggested that an amalgamation with Perth County — also going through a similar decision-making process — would make the most sense. Both counties are similar in structure and have a lot in common. There are many existing connections in the public and the private sectors on which to build new partnerships in health care planning. Both areas would be starting fresh, in that they are the only two areas left in Ontario which do not have a community advisory council to advise the Minister of Health on planning issues. Some presenters, including Joan Van den Broeck on behalf of the Huron Health and Social Services Committee, felt that Huron County should stand alone or find some way to protect its interests within a larger group. Committee members and resource persons repeatedly reminded proponents that a Huron- alone DHC was not in the cards because it did not meet the minimum population base set by the Ministry as the minimum required for administrative cost- efficiency. Although concern has been raised by some local government members that consumer input was not high enough, committee resource person Jack Riddell insisted at the Exeter hearing that the positive input from each of the five community hospital boards was essentially consumer input. In Education Minister responds to Huron trustees' criticism A Huron County Board of Edu- cation brief that criticized the gov- ernment's financial and policy practices was answered by the Min- ister of Education. The letter, from Dave Cooke, the Minister of Education and Train- ing, was part of the June 7 board agenda. Trustees made no comment on the letter which basically reiterated the government's stance and stated the county's comments will be addressed to ''officials within the Ministry who are working with the various aspects of education reform." The letter did admit the provin- cial government has made cutbacks to school boards but that "School Boards will be expected to continue with their restructuring efforts despite reduced provincial assis- tance." the case of Exeter 14 of the 15 board members are lay persons, not connected with the health care delivery system in any way other than being consumers and volunteer members of their local hospital board. "This is overwhelming support from the consumers across Huron County as far as I can see, from all of the hospital board members," he said. Most of the survey forms returned to date have been submitted by consumers, including a recent inflow of survey responses from senior secondary school students who have been involved in seminars with Fred Godbolt, a secondary school student member of the Steering Committee. Mr. Godbolt has been assisted by Debbie Selkirk, co-chair of the Steering Committee Education Committee and other members of that sub-committee in the ser.ondary school visits. The survey responses have also been largely in favour of a local DHC, again in conjunction with Perth County if amalgamation is required. Steering Committee Chair, Paul Carroll, Seaforth, expressed satisfaction with the widespread participation in the meeting process across the county. "Most meetings have drawn two or three dozen participants in addition to the Steering Committee members. This is particularly encouraging when there are no specific local issues of direct impact at this time," he said, following the final hearing. According to Jack Riddell, "We can not expect to fill up the public halls with this kind of issue." Chair Carroll indicated a degree of disappointment with the lack of participation from elected members of local governments, noting that only about seven of the County Council had seen fit to have any involvement in meetings or information discussions before voting on this matter at the June 3 meeting of County Council. "There is a lot of misinformation being circulated in some quarters," he said, "And there is confusion about the mandate of DHCs and their role as it related to the Board of Health. It is a pity that the members did not respond to 'invitations to share information, use resource persons readily available, or attend meetings held by the Steering Committee to educate it own members during the last two months." Carroll said, "An informed negative decision is much more credible than a hasty decision based on hearsay and incorrect information. The issues are too important for Huron's 59,000 citizens to take lightly, or misinterpret, particularly when we are entering the most severe period of government cutbacks that we have ever experienced." He decried the fact that "Huron is not represented at the negotiating table at this time, because throughout a succession of Conservative, Liberal and NDP governments, each Minister of Health has chosen to use the DHC as its main source of community input for health care advice, yet influential segments of the Huron community have continually said 'no' to getting involved in the advisory process from local residents to the Minister through a DHC." With virtually the entire healthcare community and most consumers who have had input lined up on one side, and the County board of Health and some arms-length opponents from the agricultural community, essentially on the other, the committee members now enter the most difficult phase of their deliberations. The first decision required by the committee is whether or not to proceed with a recommendation to have a DHC. The 'yes-no' question will be debated at the June 9 Committee meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Town Hall in Clinton. "Committee members have not made up their minds yet," stated Steering Committee member Brenda McIntosh, a farm representative who chaired the Exeter meeting. "We have been asked to keep an open mind and listen to all the issues on the sides before deciding," she declared. An answer to the 'yes-no' question is expected in the next two weeks. Chair Carroll said "The Committee needs to reach its first decision before it can proceed to the more complicated questions of boundaries and representation. If the committee says 'no' before the end of June, we can have a relaxing summer! If they decide 'yes', then sub-committees must be struck to study the amalgamation issues and the question of nominees for the first DHC." "This work should be wrapped up by early fall, if possible, but the education process to help people understand the issues must be ongoing," he declared. The committee will meet again on June 23, following whatever decisions are made at the June 9, Clinton meeting. All committee meetings are public, and are held in the auditorium of the Clinton Town Hall and start at 7:30 p.m. Plus Free Oil Mix Bottle While Supplies Last GLEN SAWS RR 3 Clinton Bus. 482-9292 Home 233-3175