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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1983-01-19, Page 4Page 4 ' Times -Advocate, January ,19, 1983 umensimmisaw • Imes Times Established 187,3 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated .1924 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited LORNE F•EDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Adaertrsing Manager Bit I BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAL)C,H Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail. Registration Number 0386.,a Phone 135-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: 'Canada $21.00 Per year; U.S.A. $56.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC' World of their own It's encouraging to know that not all area residents have been adversely affected by the current recession and the need to tighten belts. Among those escaping, apparently, are the organizers and participants in the annual ski trip be- ing conducted for students at South Huron District High School early next month. At a cost that will be about $200 per head, the students and their supervisors will enjoy a three-day outing to the Georgian Bay area to swoop down the hills. "The major objectives of the trip," according to the form sent home with students, "are to provide each student with an opportunity to pursue a physical ac- tivity ata level geared to his/her individual ability, and to help train students for the use of their leisure time in later life." Ironically, the trip -does not correspond with the leisure time of the students or their accompanying teachers. It is being held on three regular school days. Many would contend that type of training is the reason for this country's deplorable work ethic status and its corresponding economic plight. It will also escape most people as to the reason why a three-day trip during school time is required to pro- vide an opportunity to pursue a physical activity. The community has spent hundreds of thousands of private • and public dollars to provide facilities for physical ac tivity and the sagging budgets of most of those facilities would welcome with open arms a busload or two of young people with a couple of hundred.bucks each to fatten their coffers. There are even miles of free ski trails where physical impetus, not inclines, provide the means to reach a destination. If educators were interested in training students in the use of their leisure•time, they should show them how to do it more economically. in the community in which they live and in time that could more ap- propriately be considered leisure for both students and staff. Oh yes, the trip is strictly voluntary, but within the usual guidelines of peer pressure, and the joy of escap- ing from work for three gloriQus days on the slopes. The temptations are very strong. There's a place on the consent form for OHIP numbers. That's at least one' sign of someone acknowledging the reality of the physical activity and the schedule involved. After alt, the reflexes of novice skiers who have to get up at 4:00 a.m. and endure a long bus ride to enjoy a day on the hills could be ex- pected to lead to some type of injury. It is, unfortunately, about the only reality that is acknowledged. Taking no chances Senior citizens, who are supplied, free of charge with a long list of approved drugs and medications, have good reason to be thankful for what would other- wise be a burdensome expense. Payments for some types of prescription drugs would eat a pretty large hole in limited incomes. Those seniors who still have a sense of humor, however, cannot deny themselves a chuckle over one of the limitations in the free drug plan. Your doctor is not allowed to prescribe more than a single month's supply of pills or medicine. Apparently our all -caring government is taking nochanceson the possibility that a certain percentage of the older folks might not live long enough to use up all the pills in the bottle if they were allowed to lay in a supply for two or three months. Well, that's good thinking. Nice to know that Big Daddy is careful with the taxpayers' money. Wingham Advance -Times Surely age is important factor Memo to the last person leaving Huron County: Please turn out the lights! After reading about Huron's above- average mortality rate in last week's issue, many people may consider it pru- dent to join in a mass exodus before they become part of the rather shocking statistics. Most of us have probably been living with the false sense of security that the fresh, country air here in staid, slow Buren is a boon to longevity. No so! Iluron residents drop off at higher rates than in practically any other part of the province, it seems. In some categories; the risk factor in Huron is twice as high as the provincial average. Those categories include the death rate for pneumonia, influenza, motor vehicle accidents and general ac- cidents. The heart disease and cancer death rate are also well above the average. One of the few areas in which Huron residents come in under the averages is the rate of suicide -deaths. However, even that can be expected to change drastical-. ly as more people decide to tape their own lives in view of the devastating news that residency in the county makes them prime candidates for becoming part of the unusual statistics in other forms of death. The only cheering news from the whole outline of statistics given at the January session of county comes from the decision of council to hire a full-time health, educator at a salary of $21,320. « «' * As residents of the cqunty, council members obviously recognized the need for such a position for their own self preservation. In fact, it wouldn't be sur- prising to find that they have the new health educator conducting classes at their next session. it should be one of the perks of the job, similar to our provincial and federal leaders having first claim .to the nuclear bomb shelters set aside for their sole use when the "big one" drops. Certainly no segment of society can hope to exist without, politicians. -Of course, it's never beendetermined who's going to provide for them when they come crawling out of those shelters, but that's just a minor detail. • Another minor detail which may be relevant to the consideration of mortali- ty statistics, ,rrthe fact that eventually everyone becomes part of that statistic. Basedona perilo,000census population, it can be expected that sooner or later, all BATT'N AROUND with the editor 100,000 will die, or pass on if you prefer to soften the blow. Appointing one health educator, or even an army of health educators, isn't going to change that eventuality. No is one health educator, or even an army of them, going to reduce the ac- cidental or highway death rate. In fact, if residents of the county are going to have to drive to health education classes in ad- dition to their normal driving practices, it can be anticipated that the highway death rate will increase due to the numbers factor. However, the most difficult aspect of the discussion to comprehend is the state- ment by Huron's Medical Officer of Ilealth that the fact the county has a higher proportion of citizens over 65 years of age than the provincial average does not influence the statistics dramatically. Most of us would like to believe that, of course, because for too long we've held the opinion that your risk of dying (or passing on, if you prefer) becomes greater in some direct proportion to the age which you attain. Checking out the T -A obituary columns since October 1 of last year, it is found that the average age of the adults who died in this area since that time was 74. Of the 28 adults, six were •in the 90s, another six were in their 80s and 11 w7re in (heir 70s. How that average of 74 compares to the. rest of the province isnot know ut sure- ly it must he one of the fi res which • should be considered in ny decision regarding health care ser ices or in com- paring averages. « « Whle one should. not be, flippant about such anabsolnteand. final thing as death, there must also be an awareness that no amount of health education is going to sustain life eternally, at least on this earth. if the six area residents who were in their 90s died of pneumonia, influenza, cancer or heart disease it tends to inflate the mortality rate for the county perhaps, but does not show, as the MO1I suggests, that there is a great need for a health educator. By any standard, those people had a full allotment of years. The plain and simple truth is that the majority of Huron residents probably know and fully undersland'the risks they assume in their lifestyles. Further enun- ciation from a health educator probably isn't going to change many of them to any .appreciable extent. if county councillors were really serious about reducing the mortality rate in the categories of heart disease and cancer, they would have moved to ban smoking in the council chambers and throughout all county buildings, jogged around the Goderich Square prior to their meeting or chosen their dinner menu more carefully. if they were worried about the high in- cidence of traffic deaths related to alcohol in the county, they•probably would have moved to require that only soft drinks be served at their annual warden's bash. But hiring a health educator is really much easier...even though it probably won't change Huron's mortality statistics. "Well, why didn't you SAY you were a political crone? — the government post is yours!" Having field -day With 1983 newly arrived, this is the time for the goom and dloom mer- chants, and they're having a field -day. Just read the other day in the Globe that the western provinces are in a cataclysmic state, border- ing on that of the The Great Depression of the Thirties. 'According to this gar- bage, the west is only about two jumps ahead of the millentturn, the apocalypse. The learned professor who wrote it is obviously a product of the well-nourished post - Depression era. It seems that there are all sorts'of people out of work in the west. They're having a terrible time ex- isting on pogie and various welfare payments. -Many of them scarcely know where the next twenty- four of beer is coming from. Despite the black smoke ofthe professor's statistics, he doesn't know what he's talking about, as any survivor of The Depression in Western Canada will agree. Was listening to a couple of younger (around 40) colleagues of mine recent- ly. They couldn't unders- tand why their parents were so concerned with such things as bargains, and turning off the lights that weren't being used. "I guess it must have been the Depression," chortled one. "They haven't got over the hard times, and they're scared of being destitute when they're old." "Yeah," smirked another, who makes about as many dollars in three .years as his father made in fifty, "they seem to have this thing. They run all over, looking for. bargains, and worry about keeping up the house." Neither of these chaps, searing reality of not knowing where the money is to come from to pay the fuel •bill. It's hardly likely that they'll ever see their mothers weeping broken - Sugar sand Spice Dispensed By Smiley' or their wives, or their children, has ever missed •a meal, unless b'y acci- dent. Neither has ever liv- ed under the humiliating cloud of having to. "go on relief," the ultimate in soul-destroying. "Yabbut, I paid unemployment for years," they chorus. Right. They paid in about $100 a year, and the minute they're fired, they start to withdraw over $100 a week, and there's no shame no humiliation in- volved. The gummint "owes".it to them. They will never have to live in second-hand clothes, or eat potato -skin hash or pea soup bolstered by barley. They'll be hor- rified if they can't send out for a pizza, or Chinese. They will never have to ride the rods, looking for non-existent work, or de- pend on a good-hearted housewife to give them a meal, or sleep in jail. In short, these youngish middle-aged men don't know what a real Depres- sion is. They don't know what a world war is. They'll never know •the ly over the sewing machine at midnight, which I have. It's im- probable that they'll miss, a lot. If things get tighter, and they will, these chaps may have to curtail their daughters' dancing or skating or piano lessons. Inflation and the price of gas may forestall them from driving their sons, with sixty dollars worth of hockey equipment, to the arena at 5:30 a.m., feeling all good, and a fatherly glow, after they've dumped or picked up, the kids. • But they'll miss ' the close-knit loyalty or a family in truly hard times, when everybody accepted the cold fact that there was no money. ' And eve everybody chipped in to They'll miss the warmth in the family circle that is playing parcheesi or monopoly or crochinole, instead of competing wild- ly in a TV pushbutton Bar Stars or Outer Space Freaks game where nobody wins except the con men who peddled it at $299.00. They'll miss telling their kids stories, because the kids get a better story on T.V. They'll miss the hear- tache of the children who want a doll and a pair of skis and have to settle for suits of long underwear. They'll miss the thrill of children who look awed and exalted when they're given a dime for the matinee, instead of look- ing • surly when their allowance is cut to three bucks a week. They'll miss the often boring, but somehow tenuous experience of hav- ing cousins by the dozens (family connections are outre now.) And they'll miss perhaps the most impor- tant experience of all: the knowledge that somehow,' despite all adversity, they have kept their pride, have swum against the strum; keeping their heads up and trailing their families safely behind them. I don't envy them too much, these youngish middle-aged men and women, many of whom are friends of mine. They are good people. They have all the right ideas. They bring up their children right. They treat their parents (fairly) well. They are not vicious, or malicious. They 'have worked hard for the co- coons they have spun. But, dammit, they don't know what hard timesz,re. Or they've forgeiien, in some cases. I want them to suffer. And the trouble is, they won't. They just go on being happy, and corn- _ fortable, and complaisant. IT ISN'T FAIR! Confusing? Believe it is! On New Year's Day i thought it might be kind of fun to sit down and watch a little bit of television, maybe a good western or even a bit of sijuation comedy. If I was really -desperate •I could watch one of the afternoon soaps. I turned the .ube on. "Here we are folks; right in the middle of the Rose Bowl Parade. In a few minutes we will be here to give you on the spot reports on the big game between UCLA and • the Michigan Wolverines. We know that this is the one you've been all waiting for..." I hated to disillusion him but watching football on television has to be less than my favourite form of entertainment. Now don't get me wrong. I played My share of the game back in high school and thoroughly en- joyed it. I've even attend- ed a few professional games and liked them as has been trying to steal the pretty girl's deodorant on the 'Secret' commercial. Then they run a replay Perspectives well, but the fellows in TV land have wrecked the sport as far as I'm concerned. They sit there analysing every movement of the game -then zip in for a close-up of some hulk on the sidelines blowing his nose or taking a whiff of oxygen. I'm pretty sure that he's the same one who By Syd Fletcher of the last play when the centre beautifully flatten- ed the quarterback and tore off his helmet.ft the time you get back the real game `you've missed the next play which happens to be the only touchdown of the whole game. Now of course, they will give you a replay of that, but by this time who really cares. NBC has come out with something they call the 'pre -play' in which they try to predict who is going to make the next super pl- ay. They focus in close on him. Rather embarrass- ing when he does absolute- ly nothing this time, but it's all right. The an- nouncer will tell you ex- actly where, in his opinion, the man should have gone. Confusing? You want to believe it. Then again, if you didn't catch all the fine points of the game at two o'clock, maybe you can see a replay of what happened in the Rose Bowl on the Orange Bowl which im- mediately follows it. If not there is sure to be a sec. tion of it on the eleven o'clock news. Happy viewing!