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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-11-22, Page 1Hospital television ,system definitely the way to go It may be a little bit early to predict when Goderich's Alexandra Marine and General Hospital will join the swing to in-hospital television, but Administrator Elmer Taylor says it is "definitely the way to go in the future". At its October board meeting, hospital board members were discussing the teaching and education television system- -at-- -University Hospital in London. There's no doubt about it. Board members, particularly members of the medical staff, are tremendously intrigued by it all. Taylor said this week the board hopes to have a showing of the cassette film prepared by University Hospital to demonstrate their system. There's one hitch. Some special equipment is required a'. the hospital to show the film, which is des gne to run through a television. sEo.., the But Taylor feels it is only until that kind of equipment is available at AM&G. According to the director, it is a mint for staff education these days. "Everything is prepared for this kind of system," says Taylor. A news release from University Hospital this week tells what the system at that hospital means to in-hospital patients. This closed circuit Patient Education Television (PETV) system is set up and operated by the hospital's own staff. Via black and wide receivers in the patients' rooms, people in hospital learn preventive medicine - good health maintenance and the bad health habits or lifestyles that contribute to illness. PETV delves into national health problems such as smoking, alcoholism, obesity, tension and lack of exercise. It also explores different areas of the human body. Some programs are emotionally and spiritually uplifting, and some are simply entertaining. But all programs have the same quality - all have been carefully selected and approved in the best interests of the patient by hospital professionals and medical staff. There's even a TV guide for Patient Education Television, designed to keep patients informed of the program schedule. This PETV system at-Uni-vet sity Hospital has come about through the efforts of the hospital's health education committee and Sterivision Ltd. Sterivision, a firm involved in the rental of standard 'off -air TV receivers for hospital patients, approached University Hospital to conduct a pilot project in response to the need for patient health care education via the medium of television. Sterivision will provide black and white single -channel sets at every patient bedside at no charge to either the patient or the hospital. Patients who wish to view regular en- tertainment channels and have the option of tuning in to the hospital's closed circuit system, may rent sets at a nominal fee. "The scope offered by a closed circuit television information system is tremendous," says Rafaela Kuryluk, University Hospital's information officer. Elmer Taylor agrees He said is is- "almost limitless". It almost boggles the mind," said Taylor. He claims perhaps the biggest advantage of such a system is the access to resources it provides for physicians and nurses, par- ticularly in a small hospital. The system would be a two-way audio and visual device. If AM&G were hooked into the University Hospital system, for instance, it would be possible for a surgeon at University Hospital to direct a surgeon working in the operating room at AM&G. It would be possible for medical staff and THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1979 35 CENTS PER COPY Assessment changes set for 1980 BY JEFF SEDDON Goderich town council decided Monday night to base its tax billing, on market value assessments in 1980. The decision means that next years residential, commercial and industrial taxation will reflect the 1975 market value of properties. If property has a high market value the owner will pay high taxes in proportion to property with lesser value. The move is designed to cut out many inequities that presently exist in. the town's taxation system. While council does not con- sider market value assessment the type of taxation reform needed in the province to retrieve inequities between municipalities it at least makes local taxation fair. In a recorded vote council ampAr‘narket value assessment by a 6-1 margin. Only councillor Elsa Haydon voted against the new taxation. Councillors Stin Profit and John Doherty were absent from the meeting. Councillor Elsa Haydon said she was not directly opposed to the theory of market value assessment but was concerned about the im- pact it may have on some taxpayers in Goderich. She said her concern centred • around elderly home owners claiming the older people may not be able to afford higher taxes. Hayden told council she was not concerned about the affect the tax change would hWre on commercial and industrial taxpayers, l'said council could be penalizing people that can least afford it by going with market value assessment. The present system of taxation intown is based on assessmentsthat in some caseshave no bearing on the value of the property. Some homes in town were assessed over 20 years ago and because of that pay much less tax than homes built and assessed in the past decade. Haydon pointed out to council that some of the older homes 'that will now carry a greater share of the tax load belong to elderly people. She said the people may have owned the homes for many years and since buying them have retired from jobs. She added that some may —have assumed ownership as a result of an inheritance. She said it didn't matter how the people came to own the home what mattered was their financial position today. She said many of the owners could be living on pensions or a fixed income' and are barely able to maintain their home. She said the fact that they own the home does not indicate they have money claiminetOliome is a home not a bunch of dollars". She pointed out to council that the extra burden placed on these owners' by increased tax bills`•may be more than they can handle. Deputy -reeve Bob Allen conceded that market value assessment could cause some hardship for homeowners in Goderich but he pointed out to council that under the present system some owners are suffering unfairly. He told council that newer homes with high tax bills are subsidizing older homes that have not been reassessed in a number of years. Allen said he based his vote on the affect market value assessment would have on the town not on what it would do to individual taxpayers. "I don't wish to know whose taxes are up and nursing staff to consult with specialists and especially trained professionals on various medical problems. It would be possible for patients in Goderich to have communication with doctors at University Hospital. "It goes a long way beyond education," said Taylor. It really isn't anything new, according t. Taylor. A similar system was used between a hospital in Moose Factory on James Bay and a London hospital for reading x-rays until government grants ran out. The hospitals in Kincardine and Wingham have facilities to transmit electrocardiograms to Victoria Hospital in London and get im- mediate results. "We could have 20 hospitals linked into the University Hospital system," Taylor believes, "at a fairly reasonable cost. They are really willing to co-operate with small hospitals." Clark resigns as principal St. Marys Separate School principal, Betty Clark, resigned from her position earlier this month and has been placed in curriculum development within the Huron Perth Separate School Board. Director of Education, Bill Eckert, said that Miss Clark requested an immediate transfer from her position as principal of St. Marys. "The board responded by granting her request and Miss Clark has been reassigned other duties in the area of curriculum development," Eckert said. Jirrrn' McDade, who also worked in curriculum development, has been assigned as acting principal at the school until December 31, 1979. Eckert said the vacated position has been advertised and a new principal will be hired for the school effective January 1, 1980. Miss Clark will now be responsible for the development of a French program for all schools within the Huron -Perth jurisdiction from grades 4 to 8. The program presently involves grades 6 to 8 but will be expanded in September to include grades 4 and 5. The resignation of Miss Clark follows a series of meetings between the board and Goderich area ratepayers over personnel problems at St. Marys -School. t e board was approached on at least two occasions by ratepayers expressing concerns over communication and staff relation problems. Eckert said the reasons for Miss Clark's resignation and reassignment request were ,discussed in comrnitte of the whole. Elementary teachers close to 1980 contract settlement BY JEFF SEDDON The Huron county board of education and its elementary school teachers may be close to contract settlement despite negotiations which, at best, have been slow. In a prepared release Monday Shirley Weary, head of the board's negotiating team and Brenda Schedler, chief negotiater for the teachers, said they were "hopeful of reaching a settlement soon". Neither side would expand on the statement preferring to keep negotiations behind closed doors. David Moore, the fact finder appointed by the Education Relations Commission to investigate contract negotiations in Huron, said he was hopeful both parties could settle without "undue delay". Moore was appointed by the ERC early in September to investigate and report on con- tractual negotiations in Huron county. That practice is common when boards and teachers have not settled by September in the hopes that , the fact finder can pinpoint problem areas and make recommendations that could speed up bargaining. Moore said negotiations were slow and as .of September had not resulted in any "substantial change" to the collective agreement. He said in his report, prepared early in October, that what issues had been resolved during negotiations had "little financial im- plications". But he pointed out that there were a "relatively small number of issues which remain to be resolved". In the release Monday the negotiating chairmen from both parties said there had been one bargaining session since Moore's report and another session is scheduled for this week. Indications are a settlement could be reached to work slowdown when the shipping season by the end of November. closes and there" is no where to take salt being Moore said the teachers proposed increases mined: (photo by Jeff Seddon) varying between nine and 10 percent claiming the increase matches the rate of inflation. The board's offer was between 3.5 and four percent Construction is progressing on the outdoor salt pier and the Maitland. River. Fill being ex - storage area at the Domtar Sifto Mine at tracted from the Maitland Marina project is Goderich harbour. Workers are installing steel , being hauled to the Domtar project " which piling to hold the fill which reclaimed- the hopeful] will eliminate the annual layoff of portion of the lake between the north harbour about 60 workers at the mine. The layfoff is due Grain dust could be a ver tough ar�d e en�ivyp e problem ' But it is not the inside of the elevator that He said there was no way the truck pits could causes problems during peak periods. Goderich be enclosed to trap the dust. An enclosed area Elevator president George Parsons said the for unloading trucks .would be unbearable for dust prol3lem,is in the pits where trucks unload. employees and Parsons felt there was a He said the pits are outside and when large possibility employees would actually suffocate volumes of trucks are unloaded the dust levels in an enclosed unloading area. increase dramatically. In defense of the elevator Parsons indicated that the dust was only a problem when a combinatipn of conditions existed. He said a concentration of trucks unloading coupled with wind and weather conditions were needed for heavy amounts of dust to settle over the town. He said on days when the wind was blowing offshore the dust went over the harbour and not a peep was heard from residents. He said Goderich Elevator was not alone in problems arising froni dust. He said every country elevator creates dust and residences surrounding those operations suffer. He added that Goderich Elevator actually creates less dust than some of those inland Operations because grain ariving at , the Goderich operation has: alread r'been-clearred BY JEFF SEDDON Where there's grain there's grain dust and Goderich Elevator discovered this week that that dust could prove to be an expensive item. The Goderich industry came under the watchful eye of the ministry of the environment last Friday after complaints about grain dust were aired. Two residents complained that dust was covering their home and car on Lighthouse Street and was irritating allergies. The matter was turned over to the ministry of environment to conduct tests at Goderich Elevator to determineif the dust,could be controlled. The fact that the dust existed was already common knowledge. What the ministry wanted to find out was whether or not the grain handling firm was doing ail that could be done to control the prohleen. Jim McCrorie a filler man with the ministry, was in Goderich Friday II to conduct tests at Goderich Elevator. /VI Crc rte's consensus was that there was duet and that It was coming from the elevator. He also discovered that the amount of dust the elevator was producing exceeded the standards set by the ministry. The field man said he realized the excessive levels were caused by the large volume of corn the elevator was accepting during harvesting. He said his investigations indicated the problem may be shortlived and that during normal operations dust emissions at the elevator were within ministry standards. But McCrorie indicated the ministry wants to look into possiblfties of Controlling the dust, even during peak periods. McCrorie said he was sending a letter to Goderich Elevator asking that the grain dust problem be explored and that equipment to control the dust be priced and, if possible, installed. The elevator has already spent sizeable sums of money controlling dust. To satisfy govern- ment standards for working conditions in the elevator the firm had to sp nd a little over one million dollars for speical equipment. ' Parsons said the dust problem is a fact of life in thegrain handling business but indicated he did not want to leave the impression the firm wasn't concerned about the matter. He said no Matter how much money was spent trying to control the dust it would still be a problem. He added that economics was a key 'factor in dust control. The president said equipment to control dust was very expensive. He said the firm planned to invesltigate the situation to see what could be done. 1 -le said he had no idea what costs were involved in controlling dust at the truck pits but said the firm could spend $250,000 and still not do-rnuch-about-the du st. claiming inflation is only one factor to consider. Moore split the difference suggesting an increase of between 6.5 and seven percent. His 'recommended increase was exclusive of the annual increment. The increment is the annual raise granted teachers with less than 10 years experience and 10 years service to the board. Every year a teacheneturns to the classroom he or she moves uj` on the salary grid to the maximum wage rec;•* ,ed, a maximum not reached for 10 years. The board argued the increment should be included in the increase claiming it cost 1.9 percent. Teachers claimed it was part of the existing contract and as such should not be considered part of the increase. Moore said his recommended increase considered the views of both sides. He said it was part of the existing agreement which supported the teachers' arguement. But he added that it was a significant cost for the board. He said his recommendation for a seven percent average increase took both points into consideration. Moore said the negotiation process was being held up by poor communications more so than outstanding issues. He said it appeared the teachers made their proposals and then waited for the board's reaction. The board said it wanted the financial problems cleared up in one package and waited for the teachers to do so. He said the feeling on the part of each side that the other must be the next to show movement created an "artificial deadlock". Ashfield gets second chance BY JEFF SEDDON Residents of Ashfield township will have an opportunity November 29 to decide if they're happy with the proposed official plan for the township or just disinterested. The second draft of the secondary plan for Ashfield has been prepared by the Huron county planning department and will be discussed at a publid'irneeting next week. According to Gary Davidson, head of the county planning department, the bulk of the changes put in the second draft centered on the village of Port Albert and the, cottage area along the Lake Huron shoreline within the township boundaries. Davidson said a public meeting introducing the first 'draft of the plan conflicted with the dates of the Lucknow Fall Fair and con- sequently had very pobt' attendance. He said • residents of Port Albert turned out in number but very few, if any, inland landowners showed up. The planner said the concerns the Port Albert residents had about the frost proposal were taken into account and subsequent changes made in the plan. But he added that if inland residents have had virtually na input into the plan to date. Ile said., • py,