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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1998-02-11, Page 4. Page 4 • Times -Advocate, February 11, 1998 Publisher & Editor: Jini Beckett Business Manager: Don Smith Production Manager: Deb Lord Advertising; Barb Consitt, Chad Eedy /yews • Heather Mir, Kate Monk, Craig Bradford, Chantall Van Raay, Ross Haugh Production; AIma.Ballantyne, Mary McMurray, Barb Robertson Brenda Hem, Joyce Weber, Laurel Miner Transportation: Al Hodgert Front Office & Accounting; Sue Rollings, Carol Windsor Ruthanne Negrijn. Anita McDonald, Cassie Dalrymple, Ruth S:aght. Sheila Corbett A The Exeter Times -Advocate is a member of a family of community newspapers providing news, advertising and information leadership Ii)I DIFOR kI. Thereis_an alternative to crisis young woman in need of hos- pital care is told She is on a list, and is' advised to call her government repre- sentative if she has a complaint about the long wait. An ambulance rushing a critically injured person to the nearest . .hospital is rerouted to a more distant hospital: the patient dies on the way. A . patient on a surgical waiting list dies of a treatable condition. The whole thing• is like phoning a. suicide hotline and hearing, "Please hold... someone will ' he with you as soon as a line becomes available." . • Ontario Premier Mike -Harris is un- der attack - again - fo'r cuts 'to health care. He has announced the solution to lengthy and sometimes lethal waiting , lists in hospital emergency waiting rooms is to get on with his progyam of closing some hospitals and beefing up other community based facilities, People, including Harris. and.his ad- visors, are apparently forgetting three • important points. • .First, hospital funding cuts'did not start with the Harris government. TIie , purse strings tightened on hospital bud- , gets several. years ago. First to go was funding for major.construction. Next,,to -: go were the little'ektras.•Then jobs - primarily nursing jobs - started disap- pearing at an alarming rate. The nuniber of keds available for treatment'has been reduced because_ there are too few nurses. to provide nec- essary care. .And the funding cuts are slicing deeper. Now it,has reached the• point where entire hospitals are on the • chopping block.. , Point two is health care has -grown extremely costly, to the extent most people genuinely believe.something has to`be done to get expenses under con- trol. Transferring many aspects of health care to community based agen- cies could very well result in savings to the system, and perhaps a type of care which is better 'for the patient. Harris did not begin the cuts, he did not create the crisis single handed, but he has come up with a solution. This brings us to point three, and this is thereal killer. At the same time the number of hospitals is being re- duced, funding is also being reducedfor those community-based agencies which are expected -to fill the gap. • ' -We have been told to expect prob- lems while the process of change is tak- ing place. In other words, the savings have to be generated -before they can be reinvested:in other areas of health care. In the meantime, elderly and chronic care patients who could, and should, be treated at home are being sent to hospi- tal because the local home care -program . ran out of funding, and the VON nurse got her layoff notice. These patients are taking up bed,s which -should rightly be reserved, for, acute care patients, and there are fewer beds all around. Add to it an aging population elderly patients require longer hospital stays on average. Add to this a doctor shortage in many • small communities, which is forcing a substantial number of people to' use the emergency room: as'their only access .to health care. The result is a crisis of dan- , gerous proportions. ' , Our provincial government is re- - building health care from the ground tip 'Construction jobs on buildings which must remain in use usually start with scaffolding. fencing and other safety measures, not a statement that of course some workers and passers-by will be killed -while the work is under way. Ensuring safety nets are in place and .doing the job a bit at a time is a valid. and merciful, alternative to ramming the job through fast and dirty. . reprinted jinni Sarreeen Cit}• News • Your Views Letters to the Editor Publications Mail Registration Number 07511 $yBSCRIPTION RAT : One year rate for Canada subscribers - $86.00 + 081' Two year rate fer'Csnsda subscribers - $63.00 + SIT Mini Outside Canada - $1$102.00 4R9-taae rr 1 Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S6 by J.W. Eedy Publications Ltd. Telephone 1-519-235-1331 • Fax: 519-235-0766 •matt:teesedy.com G.S.T. /R105210836 Religious freedoms. important "Recent developments in the U.S.A. jeopardize such freedom: Dear Editor` How secure is our freedom of religious expres- , cion" • Recent dcvejopments in the U.S.A. jeopardize such freedom. The U.S. Supreme Court bas ruled several times against religious liberty; contrary to the expressed direction of the U.S. Congress: Is Canada on the same track? Bruce Perry.. Exeter A View from Queen's Park By Eric Dowd TORONTO -- Premier Mike Harris has . hinted at some of the tactics he will use trying - 10 win an.election next year, and they .consist mainly of blowing his own trumpet. The Progressive Conservative. premier- has said many times that his programs are fine but . his government is 'not communicating, so eve- ryone appreciates this. and he said again last week that it "needs -to. communicate a lot bet- ter." Harris has conceded personally 'after two years of cutting services he has.to look kinder and gentler and has turned up at community meetings and been pictured in a club with his staff. A boss looks kind buying employees a. beer. Harris also joined the Toronto -Chinese com- munity celebrating its New Year, which helps his image two ways. Harris has not shown much affinity for visible minorities and scrapped a law requiring employers to hire and promote them and many think his unspoken view is they should return on the next boat. That's my opinion In my few years- in this world 1'yc learned that dent is unavoida- ble. Whether it he a large dent that takes years to get out of or a small debt that lasts hut a week. everyone ha"s or will _feel its mean streak at least -once in their lite. you can only avoid debt if you're 'wearing a cape and you can fly. In other words. you're not real. Dent. I have also learned. isnot only monetary. A well known vari- ation of dcht is called a 'favor'. "You owc me one." may he a casual exchange of words between two friends. hut is it really that cas- ual'' It's a. vernal and binding agree- ment that you wouldn't think twice about until. alas. you truly need that favor. . And could you imagine if some- one ever` saved your .life'' You would owe them your soul. That sante person could throw up on your dug and spray paint your house. but if it weren't for that per- son you might not be alive., The richest man in the world. Bill Gates. is indebted to, charitable or- By''hAentall Van Raay So they say ganizations or indented to make tho world a --Netter place with his bil- lions of dollars._, in an interview with Gates.- Barbara Walters ac- cused him of not sharing his money with the world. It is an •obligation for you 10 share your millions of dollars. It is dent. You owe it to the world: they say of Gates. - , An'uncalculated amount Of syno- nyms can he found for the word debt including liability. obligation. mortgage.' duty. arrears. note. hill and deficit. Deficit. huh? Docs this mean we are part of the world dcht even though we ,tri- hard to detach our- selves from it? No matter what we do. we can't get away from owing someone. in this case the World Bank: We -can't avoid it and that's one thing which I find frightening as a pup in the pool Of dehL liven winning the• .lottery is a debt. Like Gates. the money that is yours is not really yours if there is a lot of it. i have oticn said that if i had the choice of winning one mil- lion dollars or $40.000. I would eas- ily pick the later amount. All I real- ly want is to pay off what 1 owc. If anyone asks me hi give them or anyone sonic of the money I have won I will •have to say. "Sorry, 1 owe me first." If I won one million dollars; saying "not' would he in- credibly, selfish. If you win a small amount of money and you don't give it away people don't •even bother with you. What is $40.000 anyway? To me. it was a mere four years of post secondary education. that's all. nothing more. nothing less. I haven't even acquired a dent on a home. a car. a family. insu- rance etc. etc. So really, what is S40.(0(l'' It will accumulate. so they say. But with the $40.(K0 I will win from Lottariot," Wintario or Lotto 649. I'll pay ot'f my dent. I'll take the extra tittle bit of cash and be. in- debted to myself..i think the* Baha- mas is a nice place to pay oneself . hack. at least. that's what, they tell Me. His public relations strategists in a document that has now inadvertently become public say Harris and his Tories also should stress they are making Ontario. the best jurisdiction in North America and envy of the world and they are al- ready starting to paint this rosy picture.. On a day this week while the legislature is not sitting and the government normally has few an- nouncements, Health Minister Elizabeth Witmer launched a program to reduce heart disease which she described as "the most comprehen- sive heart disease program in North America. -Transportation Minister Tony Clement claimed Ontario will .be "the first jurisdiction in North America to impound trucks and buses" for defects and Labor Minister Jim Flaherty boasted it "leads the league" in creating jobs. Many in the news media reported these claims without questioning them, because it requires a lot of research to track down how every jurisdic- tion in North America handles an issue, so the Tories may be getting away with boasts they cannot substantiate. Turning Ontario into paradise? This approach is a variation of -one used by the Liberal premier, David Peterson, in the late 1980s, when he bragged everything in Ontario under his guidance was "world class," but failed to win re-election. Harris's p.r. staff want him to, talk more of the people his programs help than money spent or saved or other dry statistics, which is little more than the newspaper technique of focussing on the personal or "human" angle. its leading exponent, Canada's biggest daily, the Toronto Star, it has been said, would report the coming end of the world in terms like "At- tractive Toronto mother -of -three Mary Smith faces the end of the world" along with every other inhabitant of the planet. Ontarians therefore should brace for a deluge of announcements from government telling how .single mother Sally Jones prospered by getting off welfare or metalworker Tom Mor- gan has a more secure job now Harris has sof- tened environmental requirements. If the Harris government churns out much of this propaganda, however, it will be accused of using public employees to help its political ob- jectives, of politicizing the civil service. Harris's p.r. men say he should be portrayed as a "thoughtful listener," but one of his hall- marks is he makes up his mind after consulting only a tiny inner circle and is rarely swayed. An overwhelming majority showed they were against amalgamating Metropolitan Toronto, but he did it just the same. His p.r. advisers say Harris also should stress he is different from other politicians because he keeps all his promises: Harris' undeniably has kept more promises than the average premier particularly basic ones like cutting taxes, but has failed to keep others, as for example saying he did not plan to close hospitals when he will shut many. Harris and his team seem to be planning to seek re-election on the theme he is turning On- tario into paradise, but if this is true residents would know and he would not need a host of p.r. tricks to sell them on it.