HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1996-12-04, Page 4Cool waters
The
•
North Huron Cn
Lai
C itizen eA
P.O. Box 429, P.O. Box 152, Publisher, Keith Roulston
BLYTH, Ont. BRUSSELS, Ont. Editor, Bonnie Gropp NOM 1H0 NOG 1140
Phone 523-4792 Phone 887-9114 Advertising Manager,
FAX 523-9140 FAX 887-9021 Jeannette McNeil PAM
The Citizen is published weekly in Brussels, Ontario by North Huron
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Publications Mail Registration No. 6968
PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1996
Fear replaces greed
There are, business experts will say, only two emotions that affect
the market: fear and greed. Ontario voters who voted with greed for a
tax cut promised by Premier Mike Harris, are now reacting in fear
when that cut could endanger
their lives through the hospital
closings.
Until now the cuts
required for deficit reduction
and the first part of the Harris
tax cut, have not hit many people close to home. We've shrugged off
the effects of government cuts because they have hit at isolated groups
like welfare recipients or government employees. Now we're going to
see friends, relatives and neighbours laid off if hospitals close. Worse,
we're going to worry about our safety if we have to travel further to get
to a hospital, particularly in winter.
Sadly, as people worry about their personal safety if their hospital is
closed, they are turning on each other. At Huron County council, last
week, reeves from municipalities most hurt by possible cuts, struck out
at the decision. Councillors who are serving on the District Health
Council fought back, arguing critics should come up with alternative
solutions. Across the county, supporters of endangered hospitals are
blaming supporters of the hospitals that seem most secure for stacking
the odds. All this, however, doesn't solve the real problem.
Hiding quietly in the background are the people who are forcing the
cuts and who seem to be getting away without having to live with the
results. Way, way back in the bushes is Federal Finance Minister Paul
Martin, whose cuts to provincial transfer payments meant the provinces
had to take action to harness health care costs. Martin set the dominoes
in motion and it's unknown just where they will stop and what will be
left standing when they do.
Premier Mike Harris made the situation worse than it needs to be
because of his tax cut promise. What will it matter if you save a few
dollars in provincial income tax if you die before you can get adequate
health care? We fooled ourselves that there was some painless way to
cut government "waste" and still keep all the things we held dear like
medical facilities. Now we're paying the price.
There's no sense fighting among each other. The DHC is faced with
a "reality" of cutting 18-25 per cent from health care in Huron and
Perth, a target leaving little maneuvering room. Pitting one hospital,
one community, against another, is destructive. What we must do is
attack the real problem makers. We should be turning our wrath on the
federal government for precipitating the problem and on the province
for creating the arbitrary targets in the name of cutting taxes.
How much does good health care mean to you? Are you willing to
pay, through higher taxes, to be free of the fear of having your local
hospital closed? Now is the time for people to fight together, not among
each other, to convince senior governments that medical cutbacks are
penny wise and pound foolish. Now is the time to unite, not to divide.
Sense of ownership lost
The provincial government's reorganization is moving in two
directions that are contradictory. At the same time the province wants
service bodies made larger, it is also asking for more non-tax, voluntary
public support. The problem is, the farther people feel from ownership
of something, the less likely they are to give support.
The Huron County Public Library's appeal for support at a time of
declining government grants is an illustration. There's no doubt that
having a county library has allowed better service in towns and
villages. Bulk buying, expert staff and other advantages of the county
system have improved the resources in local libraries.
But the county system has also created an impression that
"somebody else" will look after the local library. Where once Brussels
or Blyth would have to rally around the local library to keep it open,
we've had decades of letting someone else take the responsibility.
The library has had some success getting donations to offset
government cuts, but nothing like what is needed to keep up its
standards, and nothing like local arenas or other services get, because
people don't identify the library as "ours".
In the short term, we must begin to support our libraries again if we
want to keep them. In the long, we should learn that the larger the
organization, the farther from the community, the harder it is to build
support. — KR
Letters
THE EDITOR,
My grandmother, Anna E.
Moore, was born Nov. 4, 1880 in
Brussels, Ontario, Canada. Her
mother Alice C. Carroll was born
1840 in Canada and her father's
name was Martin/Martain Moore.
Anyone with any knowledge of
the above please write.
Norma Lawless
5885 Weiss #B1
Saginaw, MI 48603 USA.
THE EDITOR,
Something is starting to smell
fishy and it's the Huron Perth
District Health Council's Hospital
and Related Services Task Force
Report.
The Health Council wants the
public to review only their three
options presented in the report. The
process used to arrive at their three
options is also important and
worthy of review. If the process is
flawed, then the results of that
process are tainted.
I urge your paper to publish the
report in its entirety. (It's only 12
typewritten pages). Let's have the
people who will be affected
significantly by this report have a
chance to see the content and
quality of the report that is already
affecting their lives in a significant
way.
The Health Council won't defend
their report and I wouldn't want to
have to defend it either. They only
want to "discuss" their three
options. Very little information is
publicly available about how the
three options were selected;
however, one member of the task
force has broken the silence and
indicated that in the process each
task force member was given three
blue dots and they were asked to
place their dots on the options they
would like to see. Rumour has it
there were nine options from which
to select.
The future health care system for
Huron Perth has been designed by
60 (plus or minus) blue dots. Is this
a credible way to plan the future of
health care for your community?
Art Clark, Wingham.
THE EDITOR,
This is a letter I wrote to the
members of the Task Force,
I am very disappointed in the
results of the study conducted by
the Task Force with regard to the
hospital restructuring options. I feel
that you have not been just or fair
to the citizens of Huron,
particularly those who reside in the
northern part of rural Huron
County. The following is a brief
summary of why I feel th: wa r .
1. In essence, you have provided
only one option for Huron, not
three. Basically you have stated
that Goderich will be the secondary
hospital. Seaforth will be the
primary hospital. Clinton,
Wingham, and Exeter face closures
at your discretion.
2. You have not been fiscally
responsible. The ultimate goal is to
reduce costs, yet you have not even
done a cost analysis study. This is
comparable to applying for a
mortgage without doing a cash
flow study. Your "options" do not
have a solid foundation on which to
stand.
3. According to proposed
guidelines emergency and primary
health care should be accessible to
all residents of Huron County
within 30 min. How fast do you
drive? Did you consider the fact
that many of us live on gravel
sideroads where that average safe
speed is 70 km/h in optimal
conditions. From November to
April I can only travel 50 to 60
km/h. Emergency and primary
health care will no longer be a
accessible to me and my family.
4. An emergency centre with
"on-call" staffing does not
constitute emergency care. Greater
travelling distances and delays in
the arrival of professional care
Photo by Jeannette McNeil
increase the risk of permanent
injury and death to incoming
patients.
5. Decreased availability of
primary and emergency care and
decreased staffing will increase the
need for care at the tertiary level.
Reread number 4. Is this cost
efficient?
The Task Force has failed to give
Huron County three viable options.
You need to go back to work.
Please consider options that will
not jeopardize health care services
to the people of this county.
From a very concerned resident
of Huron County.
THE EDITOR,
A couple of friends and myself
have a problem concerning the
article on the For Teens By Teens
page of the Nov. 27 issue of The
Citizen.
The first thing in the letter that
really bothered us was the fact that
if she felt it necessary to publish
this then she should have at least
spelled the names of the victims
correct. (Neal, not Neil). Many
people that I've talked to have
taken offence to the fact that she
published this three days after the
accident took place and something
as important as the name wasn't
even spelled right.
Another thing that affected quite
a few people is whether or not this
accident was researched before the
article was published, or if she
gathered the information up on her
own. There are already so many
RUMOURS going around about
this fatal accident, she did not need
to contribute to all of it. Does she
even know from family or hospital
records for sure that Brandon was
in a coma?
One more thing that ticked us off
is what she wrote about just seeing
Brandon and his girlfriend together.
Do you know for sure they're still
together? Or is it really any of your
business? This accident really upset
quite a few people. As it was they
didn't need your help by talkirtg
about their life before the accident.
Continued on page 22
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