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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-06-04, Page 1138 YEAR - 23 NAL -ST GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 1986 ti 60 CENTS PER COPY K Day Care Centre is evicted but mayor proth rnunicipal f BY SUSAN HUNDERTMARK Users of the K Day Care Centre in Goderich will be provided, with a municipal day care centre when they're evicted from the Kinsmen Community Centre, Mayor Eileen Palmer told a group of 50 angry parents at a meeting Monday night at MacKay Hall. "Cathy (DeJong) and Cindy (Austin) have made us recognize there is a need for day ('are in this community. I promise you we'll have a municipal day care centre," she said. The meeting was held by the K Day Care Centre operators Cathy DeJong and Cindy Austin and the parents who use the service after the operators were given an eviction notice by the Goderich Kinsmen last Wednesday. DeJong and Austin say they were behind in their rent by $550. An eviction notice was given to the operators on Wednesday, May 28 stating that the centre should leave the Kinsmen building by July 31 when it would be in ar- rears by $1000. No advance warnings were given to the operators about the eviction. "Three parents asked us if the day care centre was closing down but we didn't have a clue about what was going on until we got the eviction notice. Then, there was no chance to negotiate or anything. That's what really made me angry," said Austin. The eviction notice stated that the Kinsmen had found another tenant for the building. Kinsmen President Barron Purser said the Kinsmen had been negotiating with the Goderich hospital for a month before serving the eviction notice to the day care centre. The centre opened May 21, 1985. After the operators were unsuccessful in convincing the town of Goderich to open a municipal day care centre, they approached the • Goderich Kinsmen about using the Kinsmen building as a day care centre. The Kinsmen agreed' and renovated the building, painted the playground equipment and installed a $5000 fire and burglar alarrri. Rent for the building was $450 for the first eight months and then jumped to $600 in January of 1986. "We understood. the rent would go up but we didn't know when or how much. They told us they weren't meeting their operating expenses," said Austin. Because of fluctuating enrolment, the cen- Babies arrive just in Mme for census Three new Goderich citizens arrived just in time to be included in Canada's cen- sus. June 3. Arriving on Census Day at Alexandra Marine and General Hospital were a baby boy to Aaron and Jacqueline Masse, a baby girl to Don +nd Dianne Kellestine and a baby girl to Wendy and Gary Tebbutt, all of Goderich. Mothers and babies are doing fine. Congratulations! Town will ,honor Year of Peace A $300 to $400 plaque commemorating the International Year of,Peace should be placed in a garden either at Sunset Park or on the. main beach, the Goderich ad- ministrative committee recommended recently. "It's important to do something," said Coun. John Stringer who suggested' the plaque adding it should have justice and freedom mentioned on it. "We could have a dedication or ,add tc the garden from time to time," he added. Clerk -Administrator Larry McCabe sug- gested that Dr. Jim Hollingworth plant a tree at the same time as the dedication since he made the suggestion about the peace garden in the first place. Goderich hospital `gets computers BY SHARON DIETZ The Alexandra Marine and General Hospital board of governors approved in principle the computerization of the hospital's business office and ace- _iting records when it considered the capital equipment purchases for the coming year at its May meeting. The purchase of a computer and'software was approved on the condition that it cost mo more than $10,000. The property com- mittee is to obtain quotes on each of the items on the list and the purchases will be referred to the management committee and then back to the board for final approval. A total of $122,340 is budgeted for the pur- chase of capital equipment this year. Board chairman Richard Ottewell said the list has been subject to a lot of "flying fur" and was substantially longer when it went to property committee for considera- tion. Two items eliminated from the list by the property committee, which requested) more information about them, were reinstated to the list along with the computer. "All items should be included on the capital list so that we have a bottom line figure and everything is treated through the same procedure," suggested Dr. Don Neal, hospital chief of staff. OtteiveIk agreed that everything' should appear on the list if it is intended that the hospital purchase it as a first priority this year. To eliminate items intended as a priority, because more information is re- quired, leaves the impression those items , are not to be considered on the priority list. He added that it makes things difficult when things are added to the list through the year. Equipment which must be replaced in an emergency however, is purchased as required. After the K Day Care Centre received its eviction notice from the Goderich Kinsmen last Wednesday, the parents who use the facility met with operators Cindy Austin '(shown above with a group of children at the centre) and Cathy DeJong and members of the Kinsmen executive to air their grievances and work out a solution. tre had difficulty meeting the rent payments every month. For the first four months, the operators took home $50 every two weeks in pay, for the next three months they took home $50 a week, in December $140 a week and in January began to take a wage of $6 an hour or $250 a week. "We just couldn't not make any money at all," said Austin. Because a day care centre must have one staff member to every eight children by law, the centre hired two more employees at $4.50 and $5 an hour for 40 hours a week once Mayor Eileen Palmer attended the meeting and promised that the town would support- a municipal day care centre to replace the K centre. Parents said day care services in Goderich are essential. (photo by Susan Hundertmark) the centre, which is licensed for 24 children, began operating closeLl to capgity in December and January. It had also hired a cook last June at $5 an hour. . . "The centre needs $1500 a week just to break even. The girls kept enough to eat and paid the rest in rent. It's been a nightmare for them," said Jim Britnell, DeJong's father. He added that at capacity enrol- ment, the centre would make only $1560 a week. In the meantime, the Kinsmen said they were losing at least $300 a month since operating expenses for the building in- cluding, by lid l eat, insurance, taxes and cleaning expenses totalled '$900 a month while the rent was only $600 a month. "We've treated it as a business from the start," said Bill Pollock, past -president of the Kinsmen. • "We felt there was a need there, we wanted to see them succeed and we helped to get them operating but we then realized they wouldn't be financially successful. Turn to page 3 • Goderich doctors support OMA in strike 4 BY SHARON DIETZ All but one of Goderich's doctors closed their offices for two days last week in sup- port of the Ontario Medical Association's strike protesting the government's inten- tion to ban extra -billing in the province. Eleven doctors who have active prac- tices in Goderich closed their offices, but their services were still available in the usual manner at Alexandra Marine and General Hospital. Hospital chief of staff Dr. Donald Neal said all doctors were available to see their own patients at emergency. It was not a case of two or three doctors being on call and the re- mainder taking the day off to play golf. "People (doctors) were very sensitive about not signing out. Everyone was on call on beepers," said Dr. Neal. The one doctor whose office remained open supports the Ontario Medical Association's stand against extra -billing but did not think closing the office was an appropriate action to take to register op- position to the government's ban on extra - billing. Dr. Neal would not reveal the name of the physician whose office re- mained open because he said that person would not wish to be centred out in such a manner. Dr. Neal said the OMA's decision to call for a two day closure of doctors' offices was the right action as the move was sup- ported by doctors across the province and throughout Huron County. Only five of 45 doctors with active practices in the county did not close their offices for the two days, three in Exeter, one in Wingham and one in Goderich. Dr. Neal said it was a difficult decision for all doctors to make but they took this action in a symbolic sense to show how deeply they feel about the issue. It is the doctors' contention that the ban on extra - billing takes away their individual profes- sional freedom. He said it was not appropriate to speculate on the response of his colleagues concerning an extended closure of offices or withdraw&: of services, as the OMA has indicated it might request to further pro- test the government's action. Local doc- tors recognize that their position as doc- tors here is a little different than urban doctors whre there is more back up provid- ed, he said. Doctors in the county will meet with their colleagues in their community this week to decide what further action they would be prepared to take. Delegates from the county to the annual meeting of the OMA in Toronto this weekend will take this decision with them to the OMA. Dr. Neal said at this point the OMA • wants direction on what the doctors want to do next. "The OMA. is waiting to hear from us since they don't like to stray too far from the grass roots feeling," he said. Dr. Neal will attend he meeting in Toronto Public input is If you've ever had a complaint, a compli- ment or air idea for the recreation depart- ment in Goderich, now is the time to be heard. A comprehensive recreation master plan and feasibility study is being con- ducted by the Goderich recreation board. Public meetings, telephone surveys and meetings of recreation groups are planned to help the board assess and plan the recreation needs of the community for the next 10 years. "We need and must have the public's in- put. We want the public to be excited about this. Their own children are going to benefit from the whole thing since it's a long term plan. It's a very extensive study tailor-made to the town of Goderich," says Ron Bushell, chairman of the subcommit- tee in charge of the study. Goderich received ' a grant of $20,000 from the Ministry of Tourism) and Recrea- tion earlier this year which was thatched as a Huron County Medical Society delegate. According to hospital administrator Ken Englestad the doctors' withdrawal of ser- vices presented no problems for the hospital. "We had good coverage. They looked after us very well." said Englestad. There was no difference in the quality of care for either outpatients or inpatients, he added. The emergency department was busier than usual but there weren't any problems finding doctors to treat patients. Englestad said he has seen it busier on mornings when the doctors have office ap- pointments booked later in the day. The public response to the doctors' strike was sympathetic. Most felt the doc- tors should be allowed to set their own fees as any other professional, but the same people did not want to be extra -billed when they are referred to a specialist in London. In a random survey of people interview- ed on The Square, at Suncoast Mall, in bank lineups, at grocery checkouts and in coffee shops on Thursday and Friday, the Signal -Star learned people were ready to give their opinions but they were not prepared to let their names stand with their comments. Many felt they were no longer commenting on an issue since their doctors had withdrawn their services. In discussing the strike, they felt their com- ments were more personal, since it was their doctor in their town they were being asked to comment about. One man said he thought Premier David Peterson should have done more to negotiate a settlement with the doctors before threatening to ban extra- billing. Peterson introduced the bill and then started negotiations. - A pregnant woman whose baby is ex- pected this week was concerned her doctor would not be available to deliver her baby if she went into labor on Thursday or Fri- day. Once she learned her doctor would see her for her regular office. appointment Friday, she said the doctors' strike did not concern her as much. She said she believes doctors should have the right to extra -bill but she doesn't want to see doctors opt out of the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. If they opt out and then expect their patients to pay the bill first and wait to collect from OHIP, it will create hardship for average working peo- ple who do not qualify for assistance and ' yet, aren't rich by any means. A senior citizen, who was a trade unionist before he retired, said the issue is money and the doctors are pushing too far. Doctors are getting good increases from the government (they have negotiated a 40 per cent increase in their fees since 1982) and they should be satisfied, he.said. He went on to comment that it's unprofes- sional of doctors to go on strike, adding you don't see engineers and lawyers on strike. elcomed dor master flan by the town to pay for the master plan and feasibility study. At its last meeting on May 26, Goderich council hired the consulting firm of John A. Stephenson Associates to complete the plan and study. The first public meeting will be held on June 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the town hall. "The information for the study is gathered from these kinds of public meetings and we want as much input as possible. The study will only be as good as the input we get," says Recreation Direc- tor Jane Netzke. I hope hundreds of people come out to the public meeting. This is a time to be im- aginative even if your ideas are far-out. We definitely want to hear what the people of Goderich think. This is where you can change things if your thoughts are given." Questions to be answered include what is the recreation department doing right, what is it doing wrong and where can It improve. Are costs of programs too high, too low and is the scheduling of programs good? Are there any gaps in services, are there any barriers to public participation and are there enough existing facilities? The master plan will go on to rectify any gaps in services and develop a 10 year plan of implementation showing annual costs of the first five years. It will also review administrative prac- tises of the recreation department and make recpmrnendations about the policy and procedures manual, methods of en- couraging public participation an develop guidelines for the subsidization of programs and facilities. "The master plan is the basis for everything we so for the next 10 years. We don't know what we need right now," says &shell. °The feasibility study will determine whether a community recreation centre is needed and what facility components it • should include based on identified com- munity needs. It will also identify construction costs for each facility component, list the potential funding sources, outline a staged plan of construction and develop a 10 year forecast of operating expenditures and revenues as well as a 20 year forecast of building 'conservation. Potential sites, community attitudes towards user fees and ability to pay, floor plan proposals and the effect of a new recreation complex on the existing county recreation network will also be explored. The master plan is on schedule with the hiring of the consulting firm and the data collection in May and June. The final report is scheduled to be presented to Goderich council in January,1987. The recreation board will be responsible for implementing the agreed upon recom- mendations and priorities. A major review of the plan will occur after five years and then after 10 years. �t�,tiMtf INSIDE THE Exploring China Goderich globetrotters Harold Kloeze and Linda Hoffmeyer have just returned from a nine month exe'irsion around the world. An "incredible adventure", their destinations included Europe, Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia and China. See the wonders of China explored on today's com- munity front, page 1 of section A. Windsurfing meet Canada's largest windsurfing meet was held in the waters of Lake Hiiron off Point Farms Provincial Park on Sunday. Over 50 surfers braved the chill:, waters to take part in the event. Seetoday's sports page for pictures and story. Orioles win The Orioles romped to a 9 - 0 victory over the Juniors in Men's Industrial Fastball League play this week. The Orioles pound- ed their opponents with a 14 hit. attack. Read the game reports .of this and other ball games in area league play in today's sports section.