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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2006-10-25, Page 22 Times -Advocate Wednesday, October 25, 2006 Bluewater Family HealthTeam in early stages By Scott Nixon TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF ZURICH — A series of information meetings last week informed the public on the proposed Bluewater Family Health Team (FHT), which would see a group of various health care professionals work together to offer health care in the area. Meetings were held in Hensall, Dashwood, Bayfield and Zurich to gather feedback from the public. So far the Bluewater FHT is in the preliminary stages, with a steering committee preparing a business plan that will be submitted to the Ministry of Health and Long -Term Care, which Floyd Dale of Shaw Consulting of Chatham said is committed to establish- ing 150 teams in the province. At the Zurich meeting last Thursday, Dale said the FHTs are designed to improve access to primary care. He said each FHT across the province will probably be different, but would involve a family doctor working in conjunction with other health care professionals such as a nurse practitioner, a registered nurse, a pharma- cist, mental health/addiction workers, dieticians, social workers, registered practical nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, nurse educators and counsellors. Dale said FHTs will be "very patient cen- tred" and provide after hours service with someone on-call 24 hours a day. Health promotion and illness prevention will also be focused on. The Bluewater FHT will serve Bluewater, but Dale said this doesn't mean non-Bluewater residents can't be part of it. The primary focus, though, will be on the communities of Zurich, Dashwood, Hensall and Bayfield. Dale said the area is medically underserviced and should have nine family doctors; it now has three and a half. Seniors, children, vacationers and the Mennonite community have been populations identified as need- ing care. "Those are groups that need a little extra attention," Dale said, adding an FHT will improve care by provid- ing access to a health team, enhancing health promo- tion and illness prevention and looking at early detec- tion and chronic disease management. Dale said FHTs take little administration, but a part time or full time office manager will be needed. Staff will be on salary and there could be sites in each of the four Bluewater communities served, although new buildings will not be constructed. Staff will be allocated based on who is needed where. The Ministry of Health will have a budget for each FHT, although numbers aren't known yet — funding would cover staff, space and equipment. The concept of FHTs is new, Dale explained, with none running yet. FHTs will be governed by a local board and will not have an executive director. Dale said one of the hopes behind the FHT philoso- phy is that it will attract new doctors to the area. Discussions are being held with local doctors to see if they want to be part of the Bluewater health team. Steering committee member Janisse Zimmerman said Bluewater is "very short" on service and if the ministry is going to fund the new program, "Why wouldn't we accept?" Concerns were expressed at the Zurich meeting that existing local doctors wouldn't be pleased about the FHT, but it was noted they are being consulted and the program is still in its early stages. The committee hopes to have its business plan done by the end of November. As the Ministry of Health won't provide funding until doctors are committed to the health team, one of the board's jobs is to find doctors. Dale said it will be a minimum of a year before anything concrete happens. Residents have concerns about turbine Continued from front page tal benefits through a reduction in greenhouse gases — there would be an expected 16 per cent reduction in each of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide released. A temporary 60 metre meteorological tower at Port Blake has been measuring wind speed, direc- tion and temperature since February. Martin Ince of M.K. Ince and Associates said the wind analysis shows the treatment plant is an excellent location for a wind turbine because of its proximity to Lake Huron and the flat terrain and few land obstructions. He said one of the main concerns of nearby resi- dents is noise caused by the spinning blades. Ince said there is already significant noise caused by Highway 21 traffic. Studies show noise levels caused by the wind tur- bine will be within Ministry of the Environment standards for residences in an urban/rural situa- tion. The area is considered a `Class 2 Noise Area,' with limits between 45 and 53 decibels. Conversational speech is about 60 decibels, with studies showing noise at a residence 204 metres away from the turbine would be 43.8 decibels. Ince added the turbine won't be heard at all times and there will be times when the blades won't be spinning at all and times when traffic will be loud- er. "There will be a significant amount of times when you won't hear the windmill at all," he said, adding that the type of turbine proposed, a V82, is one of the quieter turbines. Wind turbines are expected to last 20 years. Drew Robertson of Crediton asked what affect wind turbines have on real estate values, with REGIONAL WRAP UP Medals awarded in Blyth BLYTH — Firefighters from the Blyth Fire Department were honoured recently with medals of merit from the Fire Fighters Association of Ontario and the Fire Marshall's office. The medals recognized efforts given at a Morris Township farm, resulting in saving a heart attack vic- tim's life, according to The Citizen. On behalf of the fire marshall, assistant deputy fire marshall Barry McKinnon began by quoting from the funeral of Pericles. "The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike and yet notwithstanding go out and meet it." McKinnon also said the Blyth Fire Department is lead- ing the way with introducing a defibulator program, a first in the county. "We know that services such as the defibulator pro- gram are essential to restoring life and they place even more demands on scarce time for volunteer firefighters. Thanks for preserving and implementing the program," said McKinnon. He also noted that the equipment allowed the victim a second chance at life. "Your team has proven that the technology and the program work." Wortman responding that studies are continuing, but they tend to show a neutral affect. He said there seems to be no consensus that property val- ues go down, although he said he realizes that may be hard to believe. As for the location, Ince said having the turbine onsite as opposed to offsite is desirable so the plant isn't spending money on transmission lines. Also explained at the meeting was Port Blake is actually part of the water treatment plant's proper- ty and will be used by the plant when it expands. However, Port Blake will continue to be open to the public if the turbine is built and access to the lakeshore will not be restricted. Gordon Rottar, an area cottage owner expressed concern about wind turbines exploding when struck by lightning. He added the wind turbine won't provide enough savings to make it worth it and called the proposal "irresponsible." Wortman said the newer wind turbine blades are designed to accept severe lightning. "It's part of the design of the new ones," he said, comparing them to the CN Tower, similarly designed for lightning strikes. One audience member said the location is inap- propriate for a wind turbine because it is a residen- tial settlement area. The water treatment plant's annual power bill is close to $3 million, with the turbine projected to save $345,000 a year. Lake Huron and Elgin Area Primary Water Supply Systems operations engineer Carolyn de Groot said there is no definite price on the wind turbine yet, but it's expected to cost somewhere between $3 million and $5 million. Clarification In last week's story about Grand Bend Area Community Health Centre executive director Jane Falconer leaving, the last sentence on page 2 was mistakenly cut off. The last sentence should have read: "Bannister thanked Falconer for her efforts at the health centre and said a professional firm will be employed to find a new executive director as soon as possible." The Times -Advocate apologizes for the error. i Business Directory REPAIRS Sewing Machine REPAIRS TO ALL MAKES Free estimates 90 day Warranty Experienced since 1952 Sew and Save Centre Ltd. 149 Downie St., Stratford Phone 271-9660 Rejected ballots Continued from front page secrecy envelope inside the yellow envelope. Ballots can either be mailed or dropped off at town hall. Strang said she asked voters at town hall if they had difficulty with the instructions. Many told her they did- n't read them. Coun. Jim Dietrich said maybe the new council should look at the issue for the next municipal election. Dianne Faubert, a candidate in the Stephen ward, asked if the municipality can send out a flyer with instructions. She said it's difficult for seniors to read the instructions included with the ballots, although Deputy Mayor Dave Urlin said the instructions included are clear. Exeter ward candidate Wayne DeLuca noted the number of rejected ballots so far is high and added he had visited 900 homes while campaigning. "People are confused," he said, particularly the elder- ly. "People should have their ballots counted." Urlin noted that the vote by mail has resulted in a larger voter turnout — in the 2003 election, voter turnout was over 50 per cent, a number that was usu- ally 30 per cent in previous elections using the tradi- tional method of voting. Stephen ward candidate Crystal Varley asked if the rejected ballots can eventually be counted if it turns out a high figure like 50 per cent of the ballots are rejected. She was told they can not be. Coun. Ken Oke said there's no reason to panic and, even with rejected ballots, there are still more people voting than there used to be under the former method. He said the public needs to be educated on the process for the next election. CLEAN COAL EMITS 96.4%a LESS POLLUTION. AT THIS RATE, EVEN THE GOVERNMENT'S HANDS WON'T GET DIRTY. The Power Workers' Union has a better plan and you can go to abetterenerg'yplan.ca and learn more about it. POWER WORKERS' UNION