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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1980-03-27, Page 1end YCW drough Sa1ors advance to OHA The Goderich Lion Peewees ended a 21-year- drOught winning the B Championship in the Lions Young Canada Week Hockey Tour- nament Saturday. The Ligns, under the direction of Dick Madge, pill.Rahbeck and Bob Dick won four straight in the.. tournament, climaxed by a thrilling 2-1 victory over Tillsonburg in the final to win the B Championship trophy. The last Goderich win in the Lions tour- nament was in 1959 when the team competed in the A division. This year Goderich won a tough overtime game against Mooretown in the Openinground and then defeated Port Elgin 4-3. In the semi-finals they edged: Kincardine 4-3 to earn a berth in the final. They also won the East-West. .exhibition game defeating St. Lambert 6-2. This year 62 teams competed in five divisions of the double knockout tournament. More details of the Lions games are on the sports page and the Signal also features a special tabloid section containing the wrapup of the tournament games Saturday. In other hockey news the Goderich Sailors nipped Lucknow 6-5 Monday to win that playoff series in seven games. The Sailors'now advance to the Ontario semi- finals and will be meeting. Dresden. The first game will be plaYed Friday in Dresden and the second game will be in Goderich, Sunday at 8 p.m. --D o -r -says -art itofferr:", adequate, safe patient -care BY SHIRLEY J.KELLER Dr. J. L. Hollingworth, president of the medical staff at Alexandra Marine and General Hospital, took the opportunity at Monday evening's regular board meeting to reassure the board and the public that the present Critical (Intensive) Care Unit (CCU) offers. adequate, safe patient care. Dr. Hollingworth was referring to an article about the need for upgrading the -CCU which appeared recently in The Goderich Signal -Star. The doctor said that while considerable com- munity interest has been shown for the project with certain. parties generously offering to sponsor some aspects ofthe development on the unit because of the story, some public concern has since been expressed concerning the care which is presently given in the unit. He read a letter from Dr. C.C. Chan, chair- man of the CCU committee who said the present AM&G unit can provide effective, safe medical and nursing care for critically ill patients. "Although the present cardiac monitors are outdated, they are safe," wrote Dr. Chan. "In general, the medical staff agreed with the sentiments of this article," Dr. Chan con- tinued, pointing out the "favorable responses" illicited from the public by the story. "On behalf of the medical staff of this hospital, I therefore strongly advise that the public should not be alarmed at the situation of our CCU," Dr. Chan said.. Dr. Hollingworth told the board the medical staff and the nursing staff associated, with the CCU look forwaard to the time when they have a `larger floor space to work in and more modern sophisticated monitoring and resuscitation equipment". Dr. Michael Conlon said there has been "very active discussion by the medical staff"' about the CCU. He said the doctors are meeting this Next week the Signal comes_ to your home In an effort to provide a better service to both readers and advertisers, the Goderich Signal-, Star will be using a new system of delivery beginning with the April 2 edition - of the newspaper. In -town subscribers to the Signal -Star will have their newspapers delivered to their doors by. 6:30 p.m. each Wednesday by carrier boys and girls. Rural and out-of-town subscribers will still receive their newspapers by mail. • The carrier boys and girls will not be collecting money at the door. Subscriptions will be paid i`n the usual manner at the Signal -Star office. There will no longer be mailing labels on the .news papers-o.Lin=town-su-k scribers The pictures and routes of the 22 carrier boys and girls who have been hired by Signal -Star to cover the town, will be published in the April 9 edition of the newspaper. Since the newspapers are now being delivered earlier, the deadline of Tuesday at 5 p.m. for editorial copy will be strictly enforced. The new system of delivery is guaranteed to have the newspaper in the hands of all .in -town subscribers earlier and will help advertisers to get their weekend shopping specials to people as early in the week as possible. OPP discover body in bush On Wednesday morning, an investigation was launched by Goderich O.P.P.Constable Gary Martin, members of the Goderich O.P.P. detachment, and Detective Inspectors Ron Roberts and Charles Judson of the Toronto Criminal Investigation Branch of the O.P.P. concerning human remains found in a bush area north of Goderich. Two specials in this weeks paper This week the Signal -Star is pleased to offer readers a special 12 -page tabloid section, Hope. Hope offers `news about the goals and objectives of the Canadian Cancer Society and its local branches as well as fund raising efforts n, dertaken by the GBderich branch. The tali"Cliid also features stories on research and advances in the treatment of cancer. Friday with a cardiologist regarding the care of heart patients in CCU. Dr. Conlon said "a new era" is dawning, filled with new equipment and new ]methods which will require ongoing staff training, retraining and updating. He warned that if the local hospital moves into this new era, the board must be prepared to "meet the costs of training for these services". Members of the Goderich Lions Peewees triumphantly paraded around the ice surface with their B Division championship trophy following their 2-1 win over Tillsonburg in the final Saturday. The championship win ended a 21 • year Young Canada Week drought for • Goderich teams In the -tournament. Sixty-two teams participated in the eight-day event that wrapped up Saturday. (photo by Dave Sykes) YEAR 132 — 13 THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 1980 35 CENTS PER COPY Hospital budget over $4 million approved BY SHIRLEY J.KELLER Members of the board at Alexandra Marine and General Hospital approved a budget Monday ay evening that estimates a total cost of $4,431,199 to runthe local health care facility for 1980-81. Expenses are up, not unexpectedly. But fortunately, revenues are up as well. According to hospital administrator Elmer Taylor, the Ontario Ministry of Health's formulas have worked in favor of AM&G this year. In the current year, the ministry paid $3,837,377 toward the operation of AM&G. This coming year, the net ministry liability is $4,165,924, up 8.5 percent overall. Every hospital got a 7.5 percent increase over last.year, but AM&G got another on'e' percent for in-patient services for being within the bed allocation approved by the ministry. AM&G also got another 1.5 percent for out- patient services, over the 'normal 7.5 percent increase granted by the ministry. The ministry, says Taylor, is encouraging hospitals to expand their outpatient services, the coming method of care for a growing number of patients in the years ahead. AM,4zG__di.d__not get_hawe_ver,.-n additional one percent for achieving the 3.5 beds per 1,000 population, the ministry ideal. Only one hospital in this region - the town of St. Marys' hospital - attained those bonus dollars. Actually, the ministry is expected to fund about 94 percent of the total expenses at AM&G in the coming year. Income that .the hospital generates on its own, including such things as payments from persons not covered by OHIP such as Canadian residents from other provinces, American visitors and others for both in-patient and out-patient services, is expected to make up much of the difference. Ambulance costs are handled under a separate budget, Taylo explained. The new ministry allocation for that service is up -about 7.6 percent over last year, from $143,550 to $154,460. Costs at the hospital are up across the board. Salaries are by far the largest budget item at an estimated $3,114,026 for 1980-81. However, the numbers of staff working hours have been cut somewhat from last year as the result of the management consitltants' recommendations, and tends to offset the increase to some extent. Still, estimated salaries for the coming year are up nearly $200,000 over last year, the budget showed. Employee benefits are up substantially too, front $337}869projected to the end of the current year to $363,700 estimated for the coming year. "Fringe benefits are slityrOcketing on us," claimed Taylor. Medical and surgical supplies are up by $8,000; drugs are up by $10,000; ' and other supplies and expenses including xray film by better than $30,000. Taylor noted that xray film which this year cost $14,100 is expected to cost something like. $36,000 in the sliming year. "And that's after reclaiming and selling the silver and negatives," the administrator said. Food costs are up an estimated $15,000 from $105,000 in the current year to an estimated $120,000 in 1980-81. The estimates for natural gas to heats the building are up $8,000 from $32,000 presently to $40,000 in the coming year. The one bright spot is in the consumption'of- electricity at the `hospital. Although hydro supply is costing more, Don Greene of the hospital's maintenance staff has been doing a masterful job of conserving electric energy in the plant, says Taylor. The Ontario Hospital Association is est tremely interested in cutting down on the amount of energy used by hospitals, the ad- ministrator says, and sends out all kinds of hints and suggestions for ways to save. AM&G's Greene has been actively pursuing these energy savings and has done things such as turned off every third light in the corridors, painted brighter, lighter colors to reduce. the amount of artificial light needed to illuminate halls and rooms, replaced some . regular lighting with more efficient fluorescent tubing, reduced the amount of wattage in -lighting and installed, switches on equipment so it can be easily shut off at the end of the day or when not in use. "Through his efforts, our electrical bills really haven't gone up all that much even with the increases in the price of hydro," said Taylor. Although plans . are progressing steadily toward the inclusion of the psychiatric unit within the confines of AM&G, the approved budget doesn't include any provision. for the. operation of the unit within the present plant. "We would only be speculating about when it would be open and about operating costs. there," reasoned Taylor. He said the psychiatric unit won't come on stream until perhaps nine or ten months into the new budget, and shouldn't pose that great a funding problem when it is incorporated. Reye's Syndrome claims life of Clinton girl by Shelley McPhee Tragedy has struck a Clinton family for the second time within a year. On March 22, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Wildfong and Donald Forrest lost their second child and sister. Their 15 -year-old daughter Donna Jane Forrest, who had just celebrated her birthday -on---FebruaT-T -T.6,- died in Victoria Hospital, London after a week's illness from the rare disease, Reye's Syndrome. Her death about a year after her younger brother, Dennis died from leukemia. Donna was a Grade 9 student at Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton ,and a member of the Wesley -Willis United Church. She was also known by many Clinton people through her part-time job as a waitress at the Kum -In Restaurant in Clinton. Donna is survived by her parents and one brother, Richard at their 117 Walker Street home in Clinton. She is also survived by her stepsister Theresa O'Neil, stepbrothers Kevin and Jim Wildfong and grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Harold Finlay of Exeter and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wildfong of Exeter. She was diagnosed as a victim of the mysterious disease on March 15• Weekend, and was transferred from Clinton Public Hospital to London. Dr. William Sibbald, director of the critical care trauma unit at Victoria Hospital, said in an interview that she carne to the hospital in a partial coma. She was later placed in a drug induced full coma Man attempt to save her life. A simliar drug induced coma helped to save the life of a nine-year-old Staffa area girl(' who was sent to Victoria Hospital two weeks ago also suffefing from the disease. She'was placed in a coma to allow the brain a resting period and to help reduce the swelling in it, one of the most life-threatening aspects of the strange disease. She is making a total recovery at War Memorial Children's Hospital in London and £loctors hope she will be able to return home soonAI{. 'ong with the Clinton teenager one other girl, a seven-year-old from Kits teener, died last week at the Hqspital for Sick Children in Toronto from the disease which doctors stress is not contagious. Dr. J.E. Boone of the War Memorial Hospital said in an interview that people tend to com- pare Reye's Syndrome with polio epidemics of early days. He stressed, however that many doctors treated all kinds of polib '',ictims then and Reye's Syndrome cases are extremely isolated in comparison. In total, there have been atteast nine cases of Reye's Syndrome in Ontario this year. In Michigan, however, 40 cases have been reported since k ecember 1979 and in Ohio, 102 cases have been discovered in the past four weeks. u Along with the Clinton and Staffa area girl, Victoria Hospital has treated a third case of the disease since December and a 10 -year-old Chatham area boy remains in 0 coma in War Memorial Children'sHospital. Placing the young patients in a coma is one of the ways that doctors have been battling the disturbing disease, but its real cause and cure is unknown. Doctors and medical researchers have found that the disease strikes youngsters anywhere from a few months after birth to late teens. The disease alters the blood chemistry, terrorizes the liver and puts pressure on the skull In about half the severe cases, the child dies. Victimsusually contract Reye's Syndrome while recovering from a viral infection such as influenza or chicken pox. However, Dr, Sib - bald, along with other medical experts, say that the condition is so rare that parents should not become overly concerned because their children either have flu or chicken pox. Not only the results of the disease are frightening, but its suspected causes are equally disturbing. The disease was labelled Reye's Syndrome 17 years ago, but Dr. Sibbald suspects that it may have beenca.round much longer than that. Modern technology and tests are showing signs that the sometimes deadly disease may he man-made. Doctors think that the simple childhood viruses, like flu and chicken pox, may be uniting, with man-made chemicals in the environment or in household products to produce a deadly combination. While the results of "the disease are clearly evident, researchers have been Struggling to determine what combination of compounds causes Reye's Syndrome. Dr. Stephen Safe, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Guelph, said in an in- terview that; "It could be a host of different chemicals. You can't exclude any of them." The chemicals that may be connected with -the syndioune could be found in any -household product, nthe air we breath or the food we eat. Already research has found that a variety -of chemicals ranging from 'highly toxic mould found on nuts to chemicals used in shampoos and household detergents have been tested with normally, innocous viruses. .The shocking Turn to page 18 Not much can be done about Reye's On Saturday, March 22, the mysterious Reye's Syndrome claimed the life of a 15-year- oldClinton girl. ' Donna Jane Forrest, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Wildfong and Donald Forrest (see story inside) died of the illness, whose cause is not known. Dr. Brian Lynch of the Huron County Health Unit said that the spraying of spruce trees for budworm has been linked to Reye's Syndrome, but there is no proof of the connection. Also, case's often have occurred after a bout with the flu or chicken pox, but again, there is no proof of a link. Dr. Lynch said that Reye's Syndrome usually attacks youngsters, playing havoc with the liver and causing tissue in the brain to swell up with fluid. "Nothing can be done to prevent Reye's if it is going to occur," said Dr., Lynch. But he added that treatment is more successful if the syn- drome is traced early. "If a childris not recovering well from in- fluenza or chicken pox, the parents should take him to see their doctor,"said Dr. Lynch. It is esti mated that there could be 100 cases of the illness this year in Canada and 400 in the U.S. 4 v p rti[':iY:YtiYL'.' ,Nlr1iL*., ft'vi,''twr^uA,