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Home My WebLink AboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1975-05-22, Page 151 0 1 Lalonde anis Mustard get ruction BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER It was a long day. - a gruelling day - a frustrating day. It was a day to discuss the Lalonde White Paper • and the Mustard, • Report. More properly called "A,, New Perspective on The Health of Canadians" and "Report of The Health Planning Task Force", • the two documents had enough meat in them to occupy ad entire morning and afternoon of discussionat Goderich Psychiatric Hospital Wed- nesday - and'then some.. But as Phoebe Stanley, Director of Nursing at S;trat- 1, ford General Hospital so ap- propriately said in her 4 p.m. summarization of the day's events, "What can I say - ex- cept that we're in the midst of change." Mrs. Brenda Wattie, Editor of "Canada's Mental Health" and a representative from the federal Ministry of Health, had her work" cut out for her to condense and explain 'nigh White Paper in the stead of the Hon. Marc Lalonde who was unable to be present. She did a fine job - she pointed up the health needs of the nation as outlined in the report. ,She talked about better ac- • cess to health• care, reducing mental and physical disease through various means 'in- cluding something called "modification of life, 'style",. and well organized community health care services. She said there is great' potential for prevention of disease, and added that the high risk segments of the population must be identified. Mrs. Wattie spoke about the five strategies to achieve this end: the health promotion.' strategy; ' the regulatory strategy; the research strategy; • the health care ef- fectiveness, strategy; the goal ° setting strategy. She touched on diseases of choice resulting from things like smoking and drinking and drug abuse; diseases of af- fluence like over -eating and under -exercising; *diseases of neglect: ' 0 She advocated greater publid awareness, long range health planning and greater emphasis on preventative medicine. She mentioned her own . special concern - that of mental health and the need to recognize the causes of disturbances which finally torment and hospitalize It.h'care op an increasing number of people , every year. And then she stopped. She -had to Stop. For the White Paper - undoubtedly a costly document = 'doed really little more than identify problems. It doesn't provide solutions. As one seminar goer so aptly stated during coffee that morning: "We all know what the problems area' What we ,peed are answer' In. the afternoon, Dr. H. Humphrys, a family medical practitioner from St. Mary's who is also a' member of the Health Planning Task Force in Ontario, took the spotlight to talk about the Mustard Report. He spoke long and tirelessly. PATIENTS ARE IMPORTANT Among his opening remarks was one which touched the' hearts of most people present, including a strong represen- tation of nurses and allied health care workers. He said J the individual patient is of prime importance to the authors of the Mustard Report. • He went on then to talk about eventual amalgamation of health and social services; optimalhealth care within financial resources; availability of health care ,services; accessibility of health care services; continuity of health care services; co- ordination of health care services. ' He said the proposals in the Mustard Report ..are not revolutionary but evolutionary nd he said the process could tit ke as much as 10-15 years. Dr. Humphrys talked about grouping health care workers into a prime care sector. He mentioned re -naming hospitals. He suggested Health Care Centres would be a more appropriate title if the Mustard Report is implemented.,, He, spoke about "professional's;' health care - and then added this does not imply , necessarily that the "professional" -should be a physician. "We must utilize the skills of allied health care workers ter a greater extent to keep costs. down," he said. 'We must encourage a team approach and a team spirit," . he insisted. He spoke. about ,the need for health—care centres to make money - turn a profit. He suggested a share system for payment of workers - a kind of fee schedule according. to responsibility and type of service rendered. He admitted he didn't know just how this would be done. Dr. Humphrys spoke about the probability of seven regions and seven regional directors in the'province; the districts with their District Health -Councils within each region; the .areas with their Area Management Boards within the Districts in the Region. At the helm, quite naturally, is the Ontario Ministry of Health. He said regional directors, were not to be dictators as some had predicted they might become. Dr. Humphrys saw these people reflecting the needs of the District, the wishes of the District Health Councils, the thoughts of the Area Management Boards. He saw the regional directors taking the basic, grass-roots concern of the people to Toronto. He explained District Health Councils would be , planning bodies responsible . for the development of prime . care facilities for the health needs'of the distrt and provision and optimum use of such health facilities. Area Management Boards, says Dr. Humphrys, are nothing more sinister than hospital boards with added responsibilities. He told the audience hospital boards have done such a .great job in the past,they have shown they can handle more decision-making power. These area management boards would have fiscal responsibility, provide leadership, support primary and . secondary health care sectors and recommend to District Health Councils. "They would be the operating arm of the District Health Councils," said Or. Humphrys. REACTION Following both speeches, morning and afternoon, the reaction ..:,ipanel chaired by Angela Dawson; staff development officer at, Goderich "P-syohiatric Hospital, ° had its say. Panelists were Norinan Hayes, Executive Director of Wingham District Hospital; Marion McGee, Associate Professor of Nursing, University of Western Ontario; Dr. Frank Mills, Huron County Medical Officer of Health; a ve• .40.40Ypr Y;.'gy�b'1•',�!S%71:rfa9MMkwtL.wMAad stiy nee Robert Watson, Social Ser vices, Stratford; Pat Wheeler, co-ordinator of volunteer services. at GPH; and Shirley Keller, Signal -Star editor. Then there was a ---free- wheeling ques.tior period when the audience could react to what had been said. And there was plenty of reaction - Phoebe Stanley called it a "display of fireworks". • It was abundantly clear from the day's deliberations that finances were a major concern for a great number of people. An affluent society this is •,.. but in the throes of,,mounting in- flation everyone is aware of the high cost of everything. More than that; they are interested in controlling expenses. Perhaps the most pertinent comment on this 'matter came from Robert Watson of Social and Community • Services in Stratford. Mr.. Watson said, "Costs are going right out of. sight. Nobody' wants to talk to anyone else. They all have their own little empire. But expenses must 'only increase with delivery of services. It°was pointed out by both the pariel and some members of the audience who spoke that the programs,- for instance, ad- vocated by the federal ministry of 'health, in the Lalonde White' Paper are very, very costly. Perhaps too costly for the amount of actual value they will ultimately provide to the people of the nation. While it was generally'agreed preventing 'disease ,is of treniendous 'importance' because it will save lives as n well as money, there was widely varying opinions about how preventative measures can be saccessfully introduced to'society, and just how this' massive program could be , incorporated into' a budget already bulging with higher costs for defence and roads and housing and justice and every other ministry in Canada. "We must... spend on prevention or we will never gain on the curative end," insisted Dr. Mills,. He ex- pressed his concern that less and less of ,the'health budget every year"' its Whig—spent on prevention of disease. • Mr. Hayes agreed to some degree. He put it another way; though, by,saying that hospitals filled to ,.over -flowing give testimony every day to this nation's failure to prevent disease and accidents- and emotional pressures. • • • riP et Take our favorite I traveling companions on a warm weather holiday. This cool selection is pretty.:. packable priced right. SHOPPE m GODERKH OPEN FRIDAY NIGHT TILL 9 P.M. "h` ' i „ , ‘(11 NUM MEM R 4 • 4 • r.• eJ14. • •a r7 What's needed is to -modify the behaviour of an entire ' nation, according to Marion McGee .... and that's a monumental task. She referred ,to Mrs. Wattle's long and rather impressive list of films, pamphlets, books and • periodicals which are designed to educate the masses ,... and she questioned their ef- fectiveness, REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY A case in point, according to Ms. McGee, is the,anti-smoking , campaign waged with ads and brochures and posters aimed at teenagers in particular. An all out effort on the part of com- munity r health nurses in con- junction with the schools was made to warn teenagers of the dangers of smoking and to discourage them- fromtaking up the habit.• Surveys taken before, during • and after the campaign gave the answer to the effectiveness of thebattle, Ms. McGee said.' "Smoking had increased," she statedslowly and' , em- phatically. Heads nodded. around the packed auditorium. She indicated that the educational material may be too negative. • - "Accentuating the positive is a better way to do it than emphasizing the negative," she said. Heads once again nodded in approval. Of course! Instead of pointing up the dangers of smoking, perhaps a more effective anti- smoking campaign would be to focus on the non-smoker who is free of a nagging cough and nicotine -browned fingers and that disfiguring fag in the mouth! Coming into focus now is the present provincial government campaign to "Mix a little thinking with your drinking". Gurpal Thind, director of nursing for the Huron County Health Unit pointed out that while these educational aids via the government are excellent; they are ”not always available. She said public health nurses were .."fed up" and "frustrated" because these films, books and pamphlets produced at ,.cons'iderable cost to the taxpayers, were just not getting into the hands of the people for whom they were intended. Some people felt. that not enough was said in the Lalonde report about the mental health area of health care. Several persons s.poke about the desperate need for ' family counselling. It was pointed out again and again the absolute importance of the family unit in the health of a nation. Over and over the need for strong bonds in the family were touched upon. Family coun- selling, according to Dr. Humphrys • in the morning session, should be done by the health professionals; others thought schools should take- on the responsibility.. to teach values and morals and at - Continued on page YYh- �4C M3 pq piic ��r l PP'RA'"RI itO P"'J 41.E4• P 0.4 i , ,., _ is., op s. •A•.. -i +s- ,,.�v• -4%-k i'i ' ,,,,to. • a.b ji1j pv o..,r;I� u k 410111/111111" ,� 1,11141i ' ii411 k I 1IIpI I_,f!!!!„ . ii r IrhJ,ula •r0,rr'''', CAU- ANYTIME - USUNDA'YS.' & HOLIDAYS V 56 EAST ST. ne i/leddln i Bounuerf Fresh C !t;' Fi ems,' + Plants.. • Over .350 Monuments In stock to choose from Order now for earliest possible delivery'and while selection is at its best... • T. PRYDE &:SON. » LIMITED AGENT - DON DENOMME 66 HAMILTON ST. GODERICH 524-8761 'Frank Mellwain 200 •Gibbons St. 524-9465 $ • .• • • • 6AS ar r1 • Keep mosquitoes and black flies from biting with • 6-12 PLUS. 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