Huron Expositor, 2006-04-26, Page 4Page 4 April 26, 2006 • The Huron Expositor
Opinion
Proprietor and Publisher, Bowes Publishers Limited, 11 Main St., Seaforth, ON, NOK 1W0
A rocky road
to the family
health team..
Last April, medical professionals of all types
gathered in great excitement as Huron -Bruce MPP
Carol Mitchell appeared in Seaforth with the big
announcement that Seaforth was one of the 52
lucky ones chosen for a family health team, the new
model of cooperation that would solve the orphan
patient crisis across Ontario.
A year later, it seems to have been a rocky road to
the FHT, for Seaforth at least.
Because the process has not been public, it's diffi-
cult to know the exact reasons why a number of ups
and downs have occurred, with vague threats at
Huron East council that Seaforth could lose its
chance at a FHT.
But, while . Seaforth doctors have "issues" they
need to work through before joining the FHT - some
of them surrounding the method of payment they
will receive from the province - the good news is
that, according to Dr. Dan Rooyakkers, Seaforth
will be part of the FHT business plan that should
be submitted to the province on May 24.
A month ago, Dr. Dan Rooyakkers and Gwen
Devereaux came to Huron East council warning
that Seaforth was "going to lose it" and asking local
politicians to fight for the control of Huron East
healthcare.
But, exactly what and whom they were expected
to fight was never specified.
Since the local FHT was originally envisioned as
a county -wide model of cooperation and teamwork
that would provide more access to doctors - espe-
cially for orphan patients - than as a new physical
building or, space, it's confusing to imagine what
exactly needs to be controlled.
Perhaps a more public process with open meet-
ings (allowing of course for private discussions sur-
rounding salary and personnel) would have pre-
cluded some of the drama unanswered questions
always produce.
Here's hoping the growing pains of a new health-
care model, designed especially for orphan patients
- like the 2,000 to 3,000 living in Huron East -
-result in the promised FHT, finally allowing
orphans some access to Ontario's publicly -funded
healthcare system.
Susan Hundertmark
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A little more activity could
prevent the need for TV ban
I have many goals in
life.
One day I would like to
get married, buy a house
and have a family,.
But what I really look
forward to is buying the
largest television I can
afford. I even know of a
company that can install
a screen into your wall. It
will be like my very own movie theatre.
I guess I enjoy watching television - and
always have.
So you can imagine my horror when I
leaned that children across the county this
week are being "encouraged" by the health
unit to turn off their TVs and computer moni-
tors, for Turn -Off -the -Screens. Week.
I feel for these poor kids. This, would have
been extremely difficult for me to handle as a
kid. In fact, it would be just as hard today.
But, having said that, Turn -Off -the -Screens
Week does not necessarily mean Turn -Off -
the -Fun Week too.
When I was growing up, my friends and I
spent an equal amount of time in front of a
TV and computer as we did outside being
active.
There was never a day when we would have
rather been scoring on Patrick Roy in a video
game than actually deking out a friend and
scoring on the road.
And there was never a day when we would
have rather hit a homerun over the green
monster at Fenway Park in a baseball video
game, rather than hit a tennis ball over a
neighbour's fence and watch it sail over their
roof (that was our green
monster).
There wasn't a day in
the summer we weren't out
recruiting players for a
ball game, or a tennis
match or basketball game.
And this isn't true just
for boys. There were •
always girls running
around, either teasing the
boys, skipping or drawing those crazy squares
on the sidewalk. -
In the winter there wasn't a day when our
street wasn't filled with kids playing road
hockey. And the fall and spring - that was
football season.
Even this past winter, although it was diffi-
cult to get everyone together, we still played
one game of road hockey - and plan to. do so at
least once each year.
Yet, as active as we were, we still played a
lot of video games, watched movies, and just
sat in front of the computer.
But we knew how to balance the two, and as
a result, our parents never felt the need to
enforcetime away from a screen.
With obesity rates continuing to climb, pro-
grams such as this may only be the begin-
ning.
My advice for kids out there, who are strug-
gling through the week, and already dreading
next year, is to try spending a little bit more
time outside over the next year.
Maybe then your parents won't feel the
need to enforce such an unspeakable act
against you ever again.
Ron &
(1 '
e
That's Uncle Tom's Car!
He's here for a visit, and
he always gives us a dollar!
Yeah, he
really
likes us!
HA!, He can't
stand kids! He just
gives us a dollar
so we'll go away!
Really?
by David Lacey
Hey, maybe if we're
really obnoxious, we
could get TWO dollars!
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