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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1996-12-18, Page 6NOTICE MORRIS TOWNSHIP LANDFILL SITE The days of operation for the Morris the Christmas holiday are as follows: Wednesday, December 25, 1996 Saturday, December 28, 1996 Wednesday, January 1, 1997 Thursday, January 2, 1997 Saturday, January 4, 1997 Township Landfill Site for Closed Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Open 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. How About A Computer For Christmas? - Multimedia packages with educational software - Quality systems with a 2 year warranty - Easy lease to own payment plan - Free delivery and setup Please call from 9-9 Mon. to Sat. for a system quote Huron Video and Sound Steve Blake 887-9434 GET ALL THE BENEFITS OF THE NEW The new photo system that gets more out of your pictures. 1. Three Print Formats 2. Picture Quality Improvement 3. Backprinting 4. Index Prints 5 Negatives Returned In Cassette KODAK ADVANTiX Remarkably Simple, Simply Remarkable Also available at 014field's Kodak ADVANTIX Film, 100, 200 & 400 each available in 15, 25 and 40 exposure cassettes Kodak Disposable Cameras OLDFIELD PRO HARDWARE & RADIO SHACK RadioShack. Brussels, ON 887-6851 PRO PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1996 Responses just Slah, blah, blah', says attendee Continued from page 1 afternoon to the health council. Steffler said she believes the local committee has a very good case to make to the DHC, although a "double standard" has been imposed. While none of the three DHC options have any costing associated with them, Steffler says, other parties must provide costing with their options. The Wingham group literally has been working day and night to come up with cost estimates. But Steffler proudly notes that option four would result in budget savings of 18.3 per cent, well within DHC restructuring guidelines. The best that the local group can hope for is an extension to this Thursday's deadline for the release of the DHC preferred option. "We're hoping for an extension of at least 60 days," she said. QUESTION PERIOD An amount of time was allotted for questions following the DHC presentation, but many people were frustrated by the responses given by health council representatives with Hook's and Gillis's replies being met with loud guffaws many times over the course of the evening. Lorraine Poulin of Wingham approached the microphone saying, "I'm very nervous because I'm very angry." Calling herself a small town activist, Poulin said Wingham Continued from page 4 geriatrics. It makes sense to us to have these services at one location, and it also makes sense to have these services available locally in order to best utilize the advantages of being among family and friends when medical services are needed and to reduce mental stress arid financial inconvenience for patients and their families when they have to travel to distant health care facilities. In economic terms, the farther we have to go to health care, the more it costs us in terms of lost productivity. We are concerned that our lost productivity and increased costs under any of the proposed options were not evaluated, or even considered, by the task force. Because of agriculture's long history of involvement with health issues, we have never accepted, and do not now accept, the premise that health care should be subject to across-the-board cuts. We cannot help but believe the across-the- board-cuts proposed for health care are not in the best interest of small town and rural Ontario in general, and are definitely not in the best interests of the agricultural industry in Huron County. To us, proposals for across-the-board health care It was already too late, when Blyth firefighters arrived on the scene of a Morris Twp. blaze early Dec. 12. Fire Chief Paul Josling said the time of the fire, 5 a.m., and the fact that the two-storey brick house, located at Lot 15, South Half of Conc. 9, was vacant, kept the fire from being detected early on. "By the time we got there everything, floors, and ceilings, was in the basement. All that was left were the brick walls." The house had been purchased just over a month ago from Murray Shepherd, by Robert and Heather Williamson of Walton. Josling said the couple had planned to renovate is "a great hospital with wonderful people working in it... "Why is change always focused on smaller communities losing more and larger communities gaining more?" Poulin went on to ask. "If these (DHC) options are adopted, we have been sat on, spat on and dumped on and the people of Wingham will not take that." The DHC report has given the Town of Winghavn "the bum's rush'', said Wingham Councillor Archie MacGowan. "Why was this study done so quickly?" "We've been mandated by the government to complete the study," replied Hook. "Despite the talk about a short time frame, our analysis is a good one and we've done a lot of consultation with people. We've done a lot of work in six months." "After seeing your three options, you'd better take another six months," said MacGowan to loud applause. Jim Hall, a Wingham dentist, asked the health council representatives for clarification. "This (restructuring) process is to save costs, to cut 18 to 20 per cent (from hospital budgets) ... With this in mind, this is a severe blow to health care in our area. We're going from something we're happy with, to bloody near nothing." Following the question period, cuts closely reflect the type of thinking that opposed universal health care in the first place. To maintain our own competitive advantage, the largest industry in Huron County cannot afford to lose any of the health services now available to its members and their families, and we absolutely cannot afford to have community pitted against community in, what we believe, is a misguided and badly flawed exercise. In summary, the Huron Federation of Agriculture strongly supports the following principles: 1. No facility or community can be pitted against any other. 2. Representatives from agriculture, the largest economic base in Huron, must be included in proportionate numbers for any and all future studies and consultations. 3. Agriculture cannot afford to lose any health care services and facilities. 4. If the task at hand is as important as claimed, it is important to do it correctly, not quickly. Sincerely, Stephen Thompson, Past President, Huron County Federation of Agriculture. and move in next summer. Due to the extent of damage, Josling said the cause of the blaze has not been determined. Poulin, MacGowan and Hall all reiterated that they were frustrated by the process and said they did not feel their concerns were addressed by health council representatives. "The bottom line is this," said Hall, in summing up his view. "I don't feel these people (on the DHC) considered the interests of rural Huron and Perth Counties.; The safety of my wife and children, friends and neighbours, is being jeopardized," adding that his interest as a dentist is secondary. Another person seemingly frustrated by the process was Wingham Councillor Bill McGrath, a member of the local action committee. "We've asked numerous times what would happen in the case of accident. You sent me to the other side (to speak to DHC representatives) and they don't know (the answer) and you don't know," he told Hook and Gillis. "If there is a major accident which will require surgery, where will that patient be transferred without dying (enr,oute)?" asked McGrath. The operating room at WDH is eliminated under options one, two and three, noted McGrath. "Did you (the DHC) ever drive through the counties of Huron and Perth to see the distances between hospitals?" As she had said many times over the course of the evening, Hook replied, "The task force is committed to planning for Health services in Huron and Perth Counties." However, her assurances fell upon deaf ears. DOCTOR'S VIEW Dr. Marie Gear, a general practitioner-anesthetist asked the DHC representatives how they think they will keep doctors in small towns with no hospitals. "Doctors are not interested in doing five-day-a-week office hours. Physicians will be gone. By closing hospitals, you are denying people access to physicians. Dr. Gear said she believed the DHC's consultation process gave Huron and Perth doctors short shrift. One meeting was held to get input from doctors, Dr. Gear said and a second meeting was only for information purposes. Originally, she said, she thought the process was good, but now believes that people were protecting their own turf and the study would have been more objective had it been done by somebody outside the area. The Wingham hospital and other small hospitals in Huron and Perth Counties run "in the black", noted Penny McCardy of Clinton. McCardy, who had attended every DHC open house — not just Clinton's, said Stratford hospital is the only hospital running over budget and it has the most to gain under the DHC proposals. "How much is Stratford going to cut back?" McCardy asked and, "Who has the most to gain when we downsize?" Hook's response that the provincial ministry of health would determine how much Stratford's budget is trimmed brought derisive comments from the audience, such as, "Answer the question, lady," fro—m one man and, "Blah. blah. blah," from another. "We (small hospitals in Huron and Perth) are being punished for being fiscally responsible," McCardy said later. A laboratory technician at Clinton hospital, McCardy is concerned about her own hospital, and about the future of all small hospitals in the two counties. She calls the divisive nature of the DHC study an attempt to "divide and conquer" Huron and Perth residents. Few residents who went behind the curtain to talk to DHC members were happy with the responses they received. "It's a sham," said Walter Elliott of Lucknow. Letter says cuts will hurt rural Ont. Fire destroys Morris house