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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1996-09-18, Page 4E ditorial I A deer look Photo by Janice Bekcer Letters THE EDITOR, I would like to express my angel' and frustration concerning the Health Unit in Brussels. Since laSt spring the board of the Medical Dental Building has been aware of changes regarding Health Care in Ontario and so, wrote to Gary Davidson, invited Health Bd. Chair Ron Murray to our facility and asked Brussels Council to reinforce our position, which is that the Health Unit in Brussels is important to the community. It is a place of advice, education, reinforcement and health building. In attempts to protect community health this little corner office is important to Brussels, Morris and Grey. Sometimes economics need to be a secondary consideration to well being and morale, especially when health care is in such an upheaval. Business decisions do not all involve closure and cutbacks if overall health is our goal - sometimes we have to spend money in one area to save in another. I've been hearing rumours involving our county. If you have concerns, talk to the people involved. We do pay their salary! Call the board of health with your questions and let them know your opinion of Health coverage. Betty Graber P.S. Would the Fast Fact author like to work with North Huron for improved county government? Contact me if you would. THE EDITOR, I have learned through Ross Proctor that you are doing a feature on Brussels, Ontario in the near future. I am trying to research family connections in that area and would appreciate it if you could run a small notice in your upcoming edition along the following lines. I am an amateur family history researcher. I am seeking information on my father, Russell Gordon Taylor, born Brussels, Ontario, circa 1885 and his parents, -Robert Taylor (lawyer) and wife, Mary (nicknamed Molly) of the same area. Anyone with information can contact me at 5468 West River Drive, Manotick, Ontario, or call collect 613-692- 4863. We will be at Stratford Festival on Oct. 1 and 2 and intend to drive up to Blyth/Brussels area on Oct. 1. Yours truly, Joan Burnside. THE EDITOR, On Friday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. the sixth Annual 'Take Back the Night' Women's March Against Violence will be held in Goderich on the Square. As women we march together: - to claim our right to personal safety on the streets, in our homes, everywhere, day or night, all our lives - to raise community awareness that violence towards women exists in Huron County — to voice our grief for the losses we have suffered because of male violence — to state our refusal to take responsibility for sexual harass- ment, sexual assault, battering and incest — to celebrate women in our power and diversity Violence against women exists in Huron County. I believe everyone has a story to tell, either about themselves or someone they know. These stories of violence and abuse are told to us by our daughters, mothers, grandmothers, aunts, nieces, sisters and friends. We know these women and we know their truth. Many times I have heard both men and women react with denial and defensiveness about male violence towards women. I have heard comments like: I am only concerned about violence in general; I do not feel it is right to focus on violence specifically against women." "Violence against women is a women's issue." "I think the statistics and stories are exaggerated." "I don't beat my wife and I don't sexually abuse my daughter so this issue is not my problem." and my personal favourite: "Feminists are out to destroy all men; most women don't even like feminists." Then there are those comments that reflect our helplessness in dealing with issues of violence. On Friday, Sept. 20 newspapers and television stations will report that we held the 6th Annual Take Back the Night - Women's March Against Violence". Many people will read the printed articles and listen to women sharing their feelings and experiences; but few will relate to the real problem. Perhaps, because reality is so painful that it is easier to believe that the problem does not exist or that each case represents some isolated incident. Such rationalizations however, are extremely dangerous because they silence women, thereby allowing the violence to continue. We must not deny that violence against women exists or believe that it only happens to 'women in unique situations' and we must stop blaming women for the violence they experience in their lives. When the truth about violence against women is acknowledged; there is a need for us to make a clear commitment towards ending all forms of woman 'abuse, be it verbal, emotional, sexual, physical or psychological. From that point, it is necessary to go on to examine the factors in our society that may contribute towards woman abuse. These factors include political and spiritual institutions, cultural and Continued on page 14 PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1996 O The • North Huron an C it aJ izen A P.O. Box 429, BLYTH, OM. NON 1H0 Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140 P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, OM. NOG 1H0 Phone 887-9114 FAX 887-9021 Publisher, Keith Roulston Editor, Bonnie Gropp Advertising Manager, Jeannette McNeil The Citizen is published weekly In Brussels, Ontario by North Huron Publishing Company Inc. Subscriptions are payable in advance at a rate of $27.00/year ($25.24 + $1.76 G.S.T.) in Canada; $62.00/year in U.S.A. and $75.00/year in other foreign countries. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, only that portion of the advertisement will be credited. Advertising Deadlines: Monday, 2 p.m. - Brussels; Monday, 4 p.m. - Blyth. We are not responsible for unsolicited newscrlpts or photographs. Contents of The Citizen are CO Copyright. Publications Mail Registration No. 6968 Diagnosis pessimistic According to television reports, the Huron County Medical Society will welcome an American recruiter to their meeting tonight (Wednesday). Apparently, frustrated by government cuts and a heavy workload because it's so hard to find doctors to fill the vacancies in the county, some doctors are willing to listen to the tales of how much better things are south of the border. It's not hard to see their point. Conditions for rural physicians have been deteriorating in recent years. There have been caps on incomes. There is a sense of being harassed by governments trying to get a hold on health care costs. And there is the problem of providing emergency room coverage with a declining number of doctors, meaning long hours of work. Doctors can look to the south and see the possibility of unlimited incomes and lower taxes for people in their income bracket. For them, it's like looking back to the days when Ontario doctors always had the biggest house in town. Today, although doctors still have good incomes, they are no longer way out:front of other professionals. Some obviously resent this. But just as someone with a cold can sometimes feel sorry for himself when there are other people suffering life-threatening illness, perhaps doctors should take a clear-eyed look at the society around them. Nearly everyone is working harder for the same income, or even less. At least doctors don't have to worry about job security — our problem is that we don't have enough doctors in rural areas, not too many. Take a look at the plight of a young doctor. Unlike an American high school graduate, a Canadian student will have a heavily subsidized university education (one of the reasons for those high taxes), allowing someone from almost any financial background to aspire to be a doctor. Yes, tuition is going up, but compared to U.S. schools, it's still very low. When our doctor graduates he/she is virtually guaranteed an income most people can only dream of. While many young people are graduating from university and not finding any work, jobs in medicine go begging. While the sons and daughters of rural families usually must move to the city to find work, the irony is there's more work for doctors in rural areas than the cities, but we can't attract them. Doctors are able to set up in the already-crowded cities and still make a good income. Doctors are essential to our health but then even more essential are their neighbours, the farmers who produce the nutritious foods without which all the medical care in the world wouldn't keep us healthy. Farmers continue to be squeezed out of business while medical jobs go unfilled, partly because farmers have to shoulder the high cost of buying a farm, buying the machinery, buying the livestock. Taxpayers provide the hospital and most of the equipment for doctors leaving them with only their own office, and sometimes the community provides that as well. Farmers have to worry about prices going down, doctors have a set rate for the work they do and they're guaranteed payment. Despite their investment, their time and talent and education, few farmers can aspire to what doctors feel is their inadequate level of income. A rural doctor's plight is not an easy one, but perhaps it's not as bad as it might seem on a bad day. Look around. — KR Turnabout's fair play It's the Americans' time to brag. Earlier this summer Canadians took great pleasure in beating the U.S. at its own game, winning the 100 metre dash and the 4x100 metre relay at the Olympic games right in the American backyard at Atlanta. Saturday night the U.S. beat us at our game, hockey, and right in the home of the most dominant hockey dynasty in world history, the Montreal Canadiens. The strange thing is how quietly Canadians have taken the defeat. Unlike the near defeat to the Soviet Union in 1972 that seemed to cause a national trauma, this-loss barely got attention in the Canadian media 24 hours later. Nobody was talking about it on the street. Does hockey not mean as much to Canadians anymore? Is it that we don't mind losing to the Americans as much as the Russians? Have we matured? Or have Canadians, in this day of globalization and downsizing, come to expect we won't be best at anything?—KR