HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-03-22, Page 5Elizabeth Westbrook was presented with a Public Service plaque from the
government and a 25 year pin from the post office this week by assistant
postmaster Bert McCreath. Mrs. Westbrook began working in the Goderich
post office when it was located on West Street where the town hall is located
• today and has remained with the Goderich post office for 25 years. Mel
Farnsworth, postmaster, has had 25 years service with the post office and
Kay Whateley has seen 28 years service with the Goderich post office.
(Photo by Joanne Buchanan)
MOIL urges continued support
No time now to quit
Dear Editor:
Because of the threat of
bed closures of our local
hospitals, articles from
the Health Unit have been
held back for the past
month.
In this newspaper
many views have been
expressed concerning the
legality, fairness and
possible hazards of such a
bed reduction to the
Goderich hospital.. The,
Ministry of Health has
recently reacted to
opinion from the
Goderich area by sending
some officials to the
hospital. Opposition
parties have shown in-
terest also.
What has prompted this
ministerial and political
concern was not the
expression of danger or
inadequacy of health
services in' Goderich but
that the Minister of
Health was receiving
letters., of complaint from
Goderich.
Clearly, resolution of
our concern for our
hospital services will be
political, not necessarily
practical. No matter that
the hospital trustees and
medical staff know and
say that health services
will be compromised,
simply a few letters to a
Rules cannot control disease...
• from page 4
furthermore that the
people who are sick in the
hospital for too long,
including people in
psychiatric hospital beds,
should be penalized (to
the tune of $10 per day).
This is equally insane.
So we are to financially
penalize both the
Samaritan and the
Pharisee?
+++
6. You are, or should
be, aware off a recent
death- in- Toronto wh-ieh-
occurred'after the patient
was shipped from
hospital to hospital
be-ca.0 se-- al-l--th.di.r..--bed s-_.
were full.
Are you expecting
more such deaths Mr.
Timbrell? (Of course not,
Toronto's acute hospital
beds are apparently to be
reduced by over 1,000).
But if not, why does a
recent circular to all •
coroners in Ontario
(Memo A-416, January 2,
1979) request that "the
Ministry of Health be
informed in advance of
inquests where the
Coroner suspects that
Health services may not
have been appropriately
provided"?
+++..
7. The legality of your
proposal has not yet, I
think, 'been questioned.
We live, unfortunately, in
a society where political
ign'orance and apathy are
widespread; indeed
many people (especially
those serving on Hospital
Boards) seem to think
that . ministerial
pronouncements
some Trow have • the force
of law and must therefore
be obeyed. ,.
Yet it is only two or
three_--- y'ears_._.i. ..-......the._ _.
Supreme Court of
Ontario, ruling illegal
your predecessor's
directives to close local
hospitals, made clear
what surely must be
obvious to any thinking
person..
That is, that the public
hospitals of this province
are the property of the
people of this province;
they are not the property
of the ,provincial
government.
+++
When the provincial
government monopolized
Health Care Insurance
some years ago, carefully
legislating out of
existence any com-'
petition from the more
efficient private sector,
they contracted with
local hospitals to provide
health care in return for
adequate funding.
The hospitals have
more than kept their end
of the .bargain. Your
veiled attempts to now
indirectly close down
these hospitals, perhaps
partly •because of the
financial in°cbm. pet a nee of
your own Ministry (an
overhead of 30 percent?)
is not simply immoral; it
is, I should suspect,
probably also illegal.
I further -question
whether, you or your
felloW civil servants can
provide meaningful
answers (as opposed to
political platitudes) to the
questions I have raised.
The main purpose of
these rhetorical points.is,
then.,. to bring them to the
attention of the public.
For any .person who in-
tends to be sick or injured
in this society will have to
answer thesequestions
themselves./
Yours faithfully,
M: Watts
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THE HOLCROFT COVENANT by Robert Ludlum
The Fourth Reich is waiting to be born. The only man who can stop it is
about to sign its birth cirtificate. In 1945 the children of the Third Reich
were secretly hidden all over the world—to be concealed until the
1970's when they would come of age. Then the most elaborate plans.
and '780 million in a Swiss bank would be wafting. There would even be
an unsuspecting outsider to set the plan into action.
TAMARISK by Claire Lorrimer
In beauty, she was Mavreen's daughter. In love, she was passion's
child...Beautiful, capricious Tamarisk grew to womanhood during
England's most exciting time. The fabulous era of scandalous,
irresistible Lord Byron...of fine ladies tarrying in elegant salons—of
highwaymen and gypsy caravans and dazzling masquerade balls.
Tamarisk would travel half a continent in pursuit of the man she wan-
ted. • •
THE BLACK MARBLE by Joseph Wambaugh
Sergeant Valnikov wos a good cop. Wrapped in a yellow slicker, wrap-
ped around a bottle ofvodka, he was running in place from a 19 year
old nightmare. Natalie Zimmerman was a twice -divorced lady detec-
tive nursing a grudge against men and a strong suspicion that her par-
tner was always drunk or crazy—or both. They fought crime, boredom,
and each other. And in each other found more than they ever hoped
for.
MY MOTHER, MYSELF by Nancy Friday
Examines the first, most lasting—and most crucial—tie of every
woman's life, and shows how, In all the passages of a woman's
life—with men, with other women, on the lob, and with her own
daughters—every woman can begin to change the childhood patterns
of the mother/daughter bond, and become the vital, independent,
fully sexual woman she wants to be.
GOODBYE CALIFORNIA by Alistair Maclean
"Earthquake country" said the Professor 'San Francisco is geologically
and seismologicolly a city that waits to die. Los Angeles is ringed by
earthquake centres—seven massive quakes so far. We have no idea
where the next, the monster, will hit—Until a criminal fanatic kidnaps
a nuclear scientist and ht./lids his own atomic bombs. If exploded on
California's fault lines they could trigger off the mightiest earthquake
of them all...c oodbye California.
THE LAST CONVERTIBLE by Anton Myrer
The Last Convertible was a best seller from the moment it was
published. It Is the story of five Harvard men and the woman they
loved—and the elegant car that came to symbolize their romantic
youth. It is the story of their coming'of-age in the dark days of World
War I1, and of their unshakable loyalty toa lost dreom In the decades
that followed. It is the story of all our yesterdays.
Provincial Minister and
we get a response.
Of course this is the
case now that Ontario's
health services are ad-
ministrated politically.
Pressure from Ontario's
citizens,to be heard and to
have influence on our
health system, to be of
any effect, must also be
political,
Seniors
elect
Sparling
Everett Sparling was
appointed chairmaq ofj,
the Steering committee'
for the Senior Citizens'
Recreation Centre at a
meeting' in McKay Hall
on Thursday, March 15.
A special feature of this
meeting was . a tour of
McKay Hall conducted by
Ken Hunter.
It was suggested that a
survey be taken in
regards to the number of
people who would be
interested in using a
Senior Citizens' Centre. A
sub -committee on
„membership was set up
'With Mr. B.R. Robinson
as chairman, assisted by
Mr. T.R. Berryman.
Mrs. Eileen Palmer,
Mrs. D. Smith and Mr. T.
Alton" will act on a sub-
committee to consider
activities.
A bus trip to visit the
Senior Citizens' Centre in
St. Marys on Wednesday
May 2 has been arranged
by Mr. Berryman. Cost
for transportation will be
$3. If you wish to go on
this tour, please call Mr.
Berryman at 524-8851.
The next meeting of the
Steering Committee will
be held in the mayor's
office on Thursday, April
1"9 at 7 p.m. Any retired
people who are interested
are invited to attend.
Your physicians have
had to face this for years
when we saw that our
opinion was largely being
ignored.
The problem with
political administration
is that petitions froth the
citizenry are judged in
larger part, for their
political value.
For example, the
provisioh of one public
service may be judged
more important •than
another simply because
of its potential to improve
opinion polls or election
results. We all know, this
as normal political ac-
tivity.
I think it is a hame
that decision-making in
health services has come
to this because what has
really happened is that
expert professional
opinion' has been
removed from the
decision-making.
There are people who
tell me that this is best
because then decisions
can be made by those
"accountable" to the
GODERICI-I SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1979—PAGE 5
•public. What interferes
with this wondrous
scheme is that most
humans are power-
hungry and personally I
prefer that knowledge
and authority be shared
rather • than that
knowledge be subject to
authority. That m.ust•be a
professional's utopia.
Anyway; .the political
pressure seems to have
stirred some conscience
in Queen's Park but it is
not yet time to give up or
in.
The hospital is planning
•a public meeting at
Goderich arena on March
26 at 8:00 p.m. Those of
us, for we all are the
same when laid out in a
hospital bed, who feel
that we should preserve
as best as possible, our
hospital resource, should
be there to have our
views heard.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Lynch, M.D.,
D.P.H.
Medical Officer
of Health,
County of Huron.
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