HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2006-05-03, Page 4Page 4 May 3, 2006 • The Huron Expositor
Opinion
Proprietor and Publisher, Bowes Publishers Limited, 11 Main St., Seaforth, ON, NOK 1W0
g for
local healthcare
The prognosis for local health care is looking good
after last week's announcement that the Huron -
Perth Healthcare Alliance will be able to balance
its budget, thanks to the current provincial govern-
ment.
Last week, the province announced a $5.1 -million
increase in ongoing operating funds for the Huron
Perth Healthcare Alliance, plus an additional
$862,583 in funding that will allow the alliance to
perform 245 more surgeries this year.
The $5.1 -million increase in base funding means
the Alliance's four hospitals -- Stratford General,
St. Marys Memorial, Clinton Public and Seaforth
Community — won't have to cut staff or programs
to make ends meet.
The first year of the _increase will help the
alliance erase its budget deficit for 2005-06 and ends.
the fiscal year with a $500,000 surplus.
What's more important, however, is that the ho
pitals will have multi-year stable funding that will
take the anxiety out of the budget process.
Had the Alliance been mandated to balance its
budget without the additional funds, "we would
have definitely been looking at staffing losses —
there would have 'been no way around that," said
Andrew Williams, the Alliance's CEO.
In fact, that's just what the Alliance was facing in
the fall of 2004 when it was trying to decide how
slash $7 million in spending in order to meet the
province's requirement that hospitals balance thei
budgets by 2005 and every year after, or lose future
funding increases.
A year ago, the Alliance cut 19 beds, most of them
in Seaforth, and eliminated eight jobs as it tried to
reduce its $6 -million deficit for 2005-06.
Now, after 18 months of struggling to balance
their budget while keeping the programs and ser-
vices needed in the communities it serves, Alliance
administrators are feeling vindicated.
"This acknowledges that the alliance had a struc-
tural deficit, which means that it .was related to the
programs that we are offering. Our deficit was not
related to inefficiencies and waste," says Mary
Cardinal, site administrator at Seaforth.
Our communities are fortunate to have politi-
cians and Alliance members working so hard to
look after our health.
Stratford Beacon Herald
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Small town generosity a
remarkable thing to see
Prior to moving here to
Seaforth I'll admit, I had
my pre -conceived notions
of what a small town
would be like, and many
of those things have
turned out to be true.
When I walk down Main
Street everyone does say
`hello' to everyone else,
just like I thought they would.
Even when I walk into the bank the tellers
know me by name, which certainly would not
happen back in Kitchener.
Most nights it is very, very quiet around
town. It is fair to say there's not much of a
night life in Seaforth but that's what I
expected, and I think I've adjusted quite
well, or at least to the best I can.
One thing though that I did not expect is
the high sense of community that exists
inside, well this community.
There's practically never a week that you
won't flip through the pages of the Expositor
without seeing a photo of a cheque presenta-
tion.
This week there's two, and I can tell you
there will be more in next week's paper.
With a small town comes a small population
-right?
Well you certainly would not be able to tell
1-1111111111
By Jeff
Heuchert
Hey, our hometown
library e-mailed me and
asked me to do an.exhibit
in the lobby this month.
by the amount of giving
and generosity that goes
on around here.
It seems like every
week either the Lions
Club, or Optimists, or the
Foresters, or even munici-
pal council is handing out
money for a good cause.
Not to mention the
individuals and businesses in town that take
the ,time to volunteer for events or donate
money.
Maybe back in Kitchener these kinds of
things happened all the time, but if they do,
nobody knows about it.
It's: really nice to be able to recognize a per-
son, or business, or service group when
they've made a contribution that will not only
enhance the community, but make it all the
more enjoyable for those that live here.
It's a level of not just pride - in town you've
chosen to live in, but a kind of charitableness
that usually is only found in charities them-
selves.
You hear the phrase used - the small town
with a big heart.
Well, I've experienced the small town and
I'm happy to say that the phrase is 100 per
cent true.
I doubt that any
of your old friends
ever set foot in a li •
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