HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1975-12-24, Page 14,55
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THE ILIBCKNOIN SENTINEL, LIUCKNOVA, ONTARIO
WEDNESDAY4 DECEMBER 24, 1975
• r , *I;
.ys To
itcol Letter
e Area Closings
The, folkwing is a further article
to an earfier letter to the editor
concerning the present policy of the
• Ontario Government re the dosing
er some small area hospitals.. The
first letter was written by - Arthur
Calt–t, editor of the Palmerston
()Unmet.
This follow up atticle is written
as a letter to Mr. Carr by Ken
• McTaggan of Fleshertono 'now
Mired -and -a noted journaliA. Mr.
McTagtartowas Abe first Canadian
"civilian" made an honourary
member of the Ontario Medical
• Association in meognition of assist-
ance to Ontario hospitals..
Dear Arthur:
When I read The Oberner'S
• repott of your tax odevianon
•plan. as a protest. against ,the
announced intention of the Minist-
ry of Health's decision to dose your
- hospital, a. flood- of memories
beseiged nie.
The first- of course,, was that
night when you and I wee driving
back to Palmerston frorn Drayton
where a meeting had been held to
seek a solution to the problem .of
finding a physician for a earnestly
unserved big area. h was late. but
sou found time to show me.. very
• proudly your 10C3.1 hospital, and you
recounted instances when it had
been recognized as the. difference
between life and death for many of
your conununity's citizens..
I can understand and appreciate
the ertiotiontal reaction of vour
community to the government
deciston. As you know Arthur. for
nearty eight years since I retired I
BillISTMAS
GREFFINO
(Day the holy light
of the Christmas
• season brighten
• your spirits and
• bring peace to
your hetarts,
MURRAY
GAUNT
M.P.P. HURON -BRUCE
have lived in a rura! area, near
Flesherton, with an excellent small
hospital six miles distant at
Markdale. True, sophisticated
procedures like organ transplants
and open. heart surgery are not
provided there. but in an area of a
score or more small comnumities
which serve •a widely scattered
agrarian population, and, especial-
ly, in a nation with an aging
population, • it provides a vital
service. It has amply juatified, to
my knowledge, its need in local
health care. '
Memory, however, reveals that
what is proposed now for your
hospital, and many others, could
have been foreseen years ago. It
was forecast, by those engaged in
providing medical care: Insufficient
•professional and technical person-
nel, inadequacy of essential equip-
ment or its adventitious location,
and eventual oast. All this wan
premised on the basis of existing
conditions at that time. Butethers
ignored the warnings and their
paitiall gains dominated, seem-
ingly, good judgment.
Now those warnings are being
recognized as the' bitter fruit is
tasted_ The drive for economy
causes. your, my and government
concern. Small hospitals within a
"reasonable" distance of larger
hospitals will be folded up: their
patients will be taken to larger
'nearby' Triospitali. Just what is a
reasonable distance: just how far is
nearby?
you recall the old saw about
"Sow the wind and reap the
whirlwind"? The time to have
considered economies was before..
or at least far earlier than, the
introduction of the patient treat-
ment and care system that has
precipitated the action now propos-
ed by your citizens in an, effort to
hold their tiospital. Do v.ou malt
the tax withholding tempest in
France a few years ago that Ied to
enactment of regulatory damages
affecting small businesses? JUSI
maybe something can ensue from
your proposal now. Lord knows it 1
is needed.
The fact is, however. that the
system created .its own Franken-
stein.
That monster exists in the
' number of active treatment beds in
Ontario hospitals by patients who
ought to be in convalescent or
chronic care beds.. . With the
pathetically few Inert are of the
• latter. the average physician hesi-
tates to send home patients who
still need even 3 mmum of
1 medical and nursing care.
Knowing the Cirillilllszances facing
;hem there. he permits them• to
remain in hospital Conner than this
-
indicates_ In the cities a big
: proportion of such patients are
single persons facing return Zo 3
rooming or boarding house:. in the
country they would return to
distant, even remote. farmsteads
• or villages. In both cases these
1 patients still require continuing
i visits by their physicians, and more
care and attention than can be
provided by a husband or wife. a
• daughter or son. or a neighbour.
• This situation is responsible now
for the excessive cost of heahh care
in Ontario. Hospital costs top all
other costs. including physicians'
and surgeons' fees. Yet the
difference in cost of providing
Annotative care facilities and antive
treatment hospital beds is otos. In some instanes, for
example where suitable after-
treatment beds in contigous or
nearby structures are prided.
costs drop to a fraction ofactive
treatment bed ants . .. one-quart-
er up to one-eighth or more.
• Physicians have been urging
the need of such beds since long
before the present situations
neces• sary feven before the present
national health program was estab-
lished. The difference between the
cost of active treatment beds and
the post-treatmentiteriad beds is
caused by the villein of equipment
4
and personnel needed, for • the
former x-ray, scanners and so
on, and medical, surgical, technical
and therapeutic personnel A big
proportion of hospital space' is
necessary for the provision of all
this.,
Not many years ago government
fostered construction of community
hospitals and peripheral hospitals
in large urban areas. Grants were
made available for active treatment
needs. mainly provincial: federal
grants provided nothing for either
space or equipment for operating
rooms, laboratory facilities and so
on. So local citizens launched
campaigns and raised funds to
provide the extra needs. Now the
suggestion is that too many of
these were built too close to others.
They should be replaced with
community health centres from
which patients., if necessary. could
be sent to the nearest hospital.
How close is the nearest hospital
when roads are dosed by bliz
zards? Last winter some patients
arrived by snowmobile at our
Markdale hospital when highways
were dosed for many hours, with
snow-covered trucks and cars
blocking the efforts of plows to
dear routes.
Ilvas we see the problem facing
government: Cut costs because of
lack of far-sighted planning. • And
we nee_ too„ —the plight of
communities facing the loss of the
institution they helped to establish
and which to them means adequate
protection when needed. True, the
community health centre offers
some benefits such as greater
emphasis and attention for prev-
entive health care as provided by
district health nurses. But will it
handle the massively hentorritag-
ing gostric ulcer or such tonditions
CONTINUED, ON PAGE. 13
Special delivery!
It's a friendly message
brimming with the
best of holidery cheer. We
hope this Christmas
is the nierriest
mad happiest •
• for you and all
your loved ones.
WISHING ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR
J. A. McDONAGH INSURANCE
• B. A. McDONAGH
REAL ESTATE
AND STAFF
1
Smiling faces. Family pleasures. Happy voices
• raised in joyous carols of the Christmas season.
May we add an extra note of best wishes and thanks.
MANAGER AND STAFF
BANK of MONTREAL