Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1976-03-11, Page 13CLINTON tiE Rev. F.D. Stuart, left, a former minister at Brucefield United Church, returned last Sunday to help the church mark, its Centennial Rev. Stuart talks with some of the choir members dressed itt cacti^costume. Left. to riglitare We get 'letters �.. Dear Editor:.. •l am writing this letter to you as a concerned citizen who wishes to voice a strong personal protest at the 'proposed closure of the Clinton Public Hospital by Progressive Conservative Hearth Minister Frank Miller, in the hope that you as representative of the people of Ontario may able to help prevent the gross injustice of Mr,miller's decision. The hospital here in Clinton offers specialized medical care such as a first rate working coronary care unit, staffed by personnelcarefully trained in the procedures indicated in this area.' The hospital, being strategically situated just one block from the crossroads of two busy highways, is in an ideal location for such a unit, the shortest distance in any,circle being towards the centre. The difference between life and death in a coronary case can often be counted in the precious minutes saved by travelling the shortest distnce for help so vitally needed. Clinton Public has the only peritoneal dialysis unit in the area. Clinton Public provides a very fast and efficient emergency care centre. The fine surgeons here carry out many major surgical procedures that patients could not avail themselves of Mrs. Lorne Wilson, Mrs. Lyle Hill, Mrs. H.F. Berry, Olive Johnson, Mrs. C.H. Ham, Mrs. Gertrude Wright, Marjorie Broadfoot, Alice Scott, and J.K. Cornish. (News -Record PbSK, • Writer says--ntjusee without travelling the many well be too long ai time. miles to Stratford or London, , resulting-- in heartbreak and if this hospital ee be-tica"`edy`fdr the family of the closed. , child, .vife or parent who just Mr. Miller stated that the 't,make it. Clinton Public other hospitals at W Ingham, , at this time, serves year Seaforth, Goderich and round the hospital needs of Exeter will be able in the some MAO citizens, from future to handle the extra Clinton, Londesboro, workload of Clinton and area V anastra, Brucerf field, patients..Even if they could, HoImeille, Varna- and all which seems to be in serious the farms in between. doubt, some quality and The medical and surgical speed of service in these other team at this hospital is just hospitals. would necessarily that; a team; who work have to suffer simply because together with an efficiency of over-worked and frazzled and "Esprit de Corps" rarely staff members. Would it be if ever found in larger urban fair to tower the health care hospitals. Each member of standards in these other this team is a person who communities in order to genuinely and truly care accommoda•t& the extra about the welfare of the in- patient load from Clinton? dividuals whose health and How will our fine doctors in lives so often depend solely Clinton properly conduct upon their skill. This type of their practices when their very real caring can go a long hospitalized patients are way towards alleviating scattered all over the county?. stress and anxiety in the Will not some of them. in patient, thus aiding in a swift order to conduct their and complete recovery. In practices properly. feel this fine group of people, obliged to re -locate in some developed over the years into other town with a hospital;, .:: an efficient medtca,1� team, so closeby? Where their,-9would -casually. `to be sett .up and that leave the victim of a scattered? sudden heart attack. the tot Mr. Miller states that they who accidentally swallows are not to worry, there will be poison. the young mother jobs for them all in the other about to deliver a child? area hospitals. This is just not In this snow belt region, the so. The other hospitals are not time it would take to make hiring any new staff. There the necessary journey to - will be 118 .well-trained. ex- Seaforth or Goderich in a perienced personnel out of January storm could very work, draining the unem- 1R 111�111�11111��, � Bring this ad in and check all the savings during our ployment insurance benefits reserve, which is provided by the tax paying public, you and I. Is this the way in which our government proposes -to cut spending? Perhaps Mr. Miller would like to per- sonally guarantee com- parative positions for them in the other medical facilities in. this count. Surely in the name of simple humanity, health care such as Clinton Public Hospital has consistantly offered the people in the town and surroundingarea cannot be allowed to be arbitrarily cut off without much stronger reasons given than the flimsy ones proffered by the Health Minister on his momentary pause at our hospital recently. ' The people of Clinton and surrounding communities feel stunned and betrayed by the very public servants that they have helped elect to serve the interests of all the people of this province. Each man and woman must ,,workwith provincial politicians, town leaders and medical staff to ensure then continued vital health care so well provided by the hospitals in our rural communities. Our lives depend upon it! Yours very truly, Mrs. Lois Evans., Wife. mother and citizen, Vanastra, RR 5, Clinton. Check theSe savings on new MF farm tractors under 80 pto - = horsepower, plus industrial machines! MODEL MF 235 TR ACTOR MF 255 °TR ACTOR MF 7118 SKID STEER LOADER MF 30 BACK HOE LOADER MF 50A BACK HOE LOADER YOU CAN NOW SAVE :400.00 $ 400.00 $400.00 $ 900.00 $900.00 Limited to available inventories until p t 301h, 197i - We've got other brandnew bargains in s at unbelievably how prices. • GEORGE WRAITH ti 2 Mi. East of Godericb Hwy. No. 8 584_7351 \\\ '\WM\W\\\ ock 8-6 p.m. iIk "ti. here's little doubt that i;:ocial workers have changed over the Iasi few years. and Helen .Oen, who was the special guest speaker at the annul meeting of the Huron County Children's isikt Society ursday evening in Goderich, is p rhaps one of the best examples of this swing to social workers wa+tlt a heart. "CABS workersused to be known as baby snatchers," Miss- Allen said in ,a11 informal meeting prior to the evening :'event. "And they used to look Under the beds to see what kind of a housekeeper you were. But that's all gone now." Miss AIlen is the originator of Today's Chill, a newspaper feature which has ted to the adoption of mare than 70150 Ontario children since 1864. She is also the key figure on the television program "The Family Finder" which was launched in late 1969 at Miss Allen's suggestion. She had no idea after her graduation from the University of Toronto that she'd ever become a social worker. She joined The Telegram staff and launched her career as a general reporter, movie critic, women's editor. features editor and political writer. Her exciting work found her covering royal tours, inaugurations of US presidents, federal election campaigns. Due to her job. Miss Allen covered many welfare assignments. Her warmth and feeling for people showed through, and she acquired a wide knowledge of the field. When the idea of Today's Child was born at The Telegram, Miss Allen was a natural to persue the column, She has been, dedicated to the column and to the adoption of hard -to -place children ever since_ Today's Child now appears in 22 daily newspapers and 155 weeklies. Helen Aliennow is an employee of the Ontario government's Ministry of Community and Social Services and the picture -story of a child needing adoption is also handled by that Ministry: "The column had been so successful in The Telegram, that when the paper folded in 1971, the government did not want to see the column lost along with the newspaper," Miss Allen cotrinented. "And I went with the column." The Family Finder is seen on 12 television channels across the province. When Today's Child began, only -three Children's Aid Societies out of 55 in the province - Toronto, ,Hamilton and Kenora - were willing to have their children pictured and written up in the newspaper. The three-week pilot project was very successful. Out of 23 children whose pictures appeared in the newspaper. 18 were adopted. Then the requests started pouring in and a further six weeks was planned for the column. "That six weeks is still going on," Miss Allen smiled. t 4t the start, pseudonyms were used ttr the children. Then an older child named Tommy objected to having a name other than his own used. He said he'd told all the kids at school that his picture was to be in Today's Chili and he thought it would look silly to have some other name'attached to his picture. "From then on, all the older children were asked, whether they wanted to use their own names or a pseudonym," Miss Alien said. showing once ag ain her genuine concern for her young, charges. most want to use their own, names. During the years of Today's Child, four sets of seven children frox one family have been adopted as units. One set went to, a doctor, and his . wife, one group to a minister and his wife; one to an average middle class family; andthe final one to a childless couple in the armed forces. "I've often wonderedjust what kind of change occurred in that home where they went from no children to seven children in one day," said Miss Allen. More black and native families are adopting children these days, Miss Anen noted, ;Consequently, more effort is being made by the Children's Aid Societies to place Indian, Eskimo and black children in homes of their own race. And there is a growing acceptance of problem children - youngsters with learning disabilities, emotional problems, physical limitations and medical difficulties all are being adopted into gem' homes where they are accepted and loved. There are fever infants for adoption these days because of the improved birth control methods and the accessibility of abortions. As ,well, fewer older children are available for adoption through CA$ because of the trend toward keeping children in their natural families whenever possible. "The CAS will take children into care temporarily while mother straightens out her emotional problems or father sorts out his liquor problems," Miss Allen commented. "They will put housekeepers into homes and do everything to rehabilitate a family so ,that kids can either stay at home or return to the home after a while:* While single parents who want to •adapt children are discouraged because of the Klief that the ideal situation is where Moth a mother and a father are in the home, in some exceptional cir- cumstances, adoption by single parents is permitted. Miss Allen noted an in- crease in the, number of single men who are appl •' for children to adopt. "ThereTtave been some really suc- cessful single parent adoptions," she said. Today's Child is a more effective means of finding adopting families than The Family Finder on television. ' "That's probably because the televisiop program is -more easily forgotten after it is over." Miss Allen admitted. "The newspaper stays in the home and makes a greater and longer impression on families. But I suppose you could say that one complements the other. A child who appears on television may turn up in the newspaper - or vice versa." She also believes that Today's Child has been so successful because it provides prospective parents with some say about the child they select. Often times the picture of a particular child Cone in to Lorne Brown Motors Today! FREE Just for taking a test drive! We're proud of our '76 GM cars and trucks. all of them We're so proud we will give you a hook of money saving coupons that could" be worth over 5100 in discounts on quality goods and services. simply for road testing any one of our 1976 cars or light duty trucks You'll gena double reward: 1. A better idea of what a new GM car offers you. 2. A book of GM Bonus Bucks with our compliments. will appeal to a family for whatever reason, and a good home'ound Where it otherwise could not havebeen. What's more, children have ah great deal to say about the homes into which they will go. The child is given plenty of tune to assess the home through weekend visits and holidays. He must feel comfortable there and want to go there. No child is forced into a situation anymore than a family is pressured lata taking' the child ."It must- be- a mutual feeling. - the parents for the 'child, the child for the parents," Miss Alien pointed out. While Miss Allen has nothing to do with placing the children she puts before the public, she is keenly interested in.her children, and keeps track of many of them. She has some warm and won- derful stories to relateabout the adoptions with which she has been in- volved. She has mixed feelings about present government investigation into allowing adopted children when they become of age, to know about their natura,L-parents. She tells about a Toronto mother of four who is totally distraught by recent legislation in Nova S,cotia which per- mits an 18 year old to know his or her parental background and the last known address of his, or her parents. This women has never told her husband or her family ,about the child born to her in Nova Scotia, and is now terrified that the child will turn up one day in Toronto and destroy her relationship with her present family. But there are some cases, Miss Allen says, where putting children and parents together even after many long years of separation can be a beautiful thing. She feels that it should be possible to untie where it is desirable, and to protect parents and children where this is best, But where adoption is concerned, Miss Allen has a positive outlook. She believes , in adoption with ati her heart, and would like to find homes for all children who require them. She may be moving closer to her goal. This week, in fact, ° the daily Today's Child will appear only three or four times a week because there are less and less children needing homes all the time, Helen Allen made two trips to South Vietnam before that country fell under communist rule. She and Mrs. Victoria Leach, co-ordinator. for Ontario, were sent in 1973 on a fact-finding mission regarding the possible adoption of Vietnamese. children by Ontario families. In 1975 they went again at the urgent request of a Saigon child welfare agency. and returned with. 57 orphan children, all of whom were adopted by, Ontario families. - "Some people will consider nothing but an overseas child." commented Miss Allen, "and I suppose I can understand their reasoning. They say that at least children without homes in Canada are fed and clothed and given medical care whereas Vietnamese children, for in- stance. are in desperate straits." Purina Golden Milk Special for extra energy and milk •".1 tie lt :y.. E .e,e** «„ea Is pw' ',a's ' y P'esea'c'r We are mighty proud of Purina Golden Milk Special. It is priced right and It is helping our customers market extra milk. Purina scientists formulated Golden Milk with highly digestible nutrients lb increase palatability, build the TON and add extra energy cows require fory,fop produttlon. They also supplied the right balance of vitamins: minerals and other nutrients to assure the high quality dairymen have learned to .. exp+e' rfrcim Purina. -. 'Ulf you're sholMt on, or out of grain, call in today and check on theecoriomy and quality of this popular milking ration. DURSTFARM AND GARDEN CENTRE H a N BAKER. PROPRIETORS 482.9333 22 ISAAC ST.. Clinton, Ontario. "Your authorized Ralston Purina °Dealer" PURINA bAIRY CHOWS