The Lucknow Sentinel, 1980-03-26, Page 1it
A late winter storm on Priday brought Surrounding townships were without
heavy rainfall changing to snow and gale power through the night and some areas did .
force winds creating peor visibility, blocked not have power restored until late Saturday
roads and power outages. 6 night. . • • •
bour: • , phoop conditions reach, a certain - state,
Blowing-snow-caused poor 'viSibility; and usually in Conditions of high moisture .and
driving conditions•wore. made more hazard- • low. temperatures freezing mark.
°es. by the .snow and slush ,blocked • Lines bounce up and down, pulling wires
sortie roads •in the area. • from insulators and wires bang together. •
Hydro power in the area ,was. .seriously This causeslinel to burn down or fuses'to
affected. Power in -Lucknow was off and on blow. • • - •
between 2.00•and 4,00 pm. Power was out The major problems in the •Lucknow area
afterAp.m.,- and didnoteerne_911 to stay:Until Were caused when a, main line went out
after 7,'p.M. in the village, • • About two Miles north, of 'LuCknovv. near
Helyroed, The lines hanged: together and
took .out power,.;
According to Pierce, ,noth,ing can he done
to prevent "galloping'
"It is 4 phenoMenon, There is no cure for
it until the wind changes or the temperature.
rises," *he said.
Hydro crews were brought. in around
midnight, Friday Said "Pierce, 'because the
roads WOW blocked ;and the men had been .
working 16 , hours in the,freezing .rain-and,
high wind, •
Crews were called in from five other
locations to assist the Walkerton Men and all
Men returned to work at daylight 5aturday.
All customers were returned to power late
Saturday night.
During'the 36 holm period from Thursday The interruption to hydro service in the
evening to Saturday morning, the area area was caused by a phenomenon knoWn'as
received about 37- mm of rain and.strong "galloping" according to B. J. fierce,
:1A9rtherlY winds which se in as hhe rain T"maanager-at-Ontario Hydroy-Walkerton.
subSided reached between' 7Q - 80 -km an This phenomenon occurs when atmoi-
Come' for coffee and muffins on
• • April. 2 when the Lracknow branch of
the Canadian Cancer Society, holds its
Coffee Party between 10.00 and 11.30
a.m. and 1.30 and 4.00. p.m. at
JOhnstone's Furniture Store, Bring a
friend and drop in for coffee. There.
will .be a silver .collection with pror
ceecls to go to the Society's' campaign
for fund'S.
Lucknoves: hockey .season_cameAta .
an end this week when the two re-
maining teams in competition lost
7 their series. The Lucknow Lancers lost
to the GOderich Sailors in the dying
seconds of: the game Monday night.
Lucknow's goalie Ron Martin played
an outstanding game but the Sailors
were able to score a goal in the last
minute of the game to win 6 - 5 and.
take the series.
The Lucknow Midgets were put out
ip overtime When Ilderton `scored in
the'last minute of the overtime period .
to take the game with• a 6 2 5 score
also.
The Lucknovv teams played an ex
cellent season with players who had.
just moved up a level turning in some
fine performances. The season also
saw a marked improvement in the
Lancets who fought strong for first
place in their division and played a
fine series with Goderich in the
playoffs.
Lucknow has good hockey players
who are benefiting from the time and
effort given them by their coaches and
managers. The hockey program in this
town is a credit to the management.
and the players who participate. None
of our teams will play in all Ontario
championships this year, but the fans
'have enjoyed some great hockey
action through the course of the
season and look forward to next year's
•
erect nurses and 24 RNAs, with an 'additional
19 part-time segistered:nursed and 13
available for relief duty.
DIFFERENTrICTURE ,
The ,community collegeS responsible for
training registered- nurses in Ontario see a
sotnevvhat different. picture.
"It's' only within the. last year or so We've
been having good -luck Placing graduates (of
the nursing program)." Gerry Downey, ah
assistant registrar at 'Conestoga i College,
Boon', reported., •
Turn td page 46
BY HENRY HESS.
Hospitals in Ontario are facing a shortage
of registered nurses which wilt have an
effect •on their operation during the coming
Years; Norman Hayes, .administratOr :of
Wingliam and District Hospital,'' believes..
He • expects the: problenr• to become
increasingly acute over the: nextthree to five
years,• leading to sharply higher nursing
'salaries andsossibly curtailment hospital
• • '
So far this hospital hasn't been troubled
too badly, but it, will start to feel the pinch
dnring the summer when many of the
fullAime staff take holidays, he said, since it.
is -getting more and more diffieult to find
qualified relief •nurses.
During a meeting tiff the hospital board
--last-weelt„Mr-Hayes-repoded-problerns-areL,-
cropping up in finding registered nurses to,
staff the pediatrics .ward at night.
c Tonight, we simply Onldn't find an RN," •
he said, adding: "That's a problem which
" will become more acute as time goes on.
(Later he reported that a nurse had been
found to Come in that night.)
Mr, Hayes' blamed the shortage on
shortsighted planning, by the Provincial
government. The province reduced enrol-
ment in the nursing programs at community
colleges beeause it felt there was a surplus of
nurse's in Ontario, he said. Now it is facing_a
"fairly widespread" shortage, and it will:
take a number of years to, catch up.
Compounding- the problein is 'the exten-
sion of nursing programs to three yearS from •
two, he'added. This means that two years
down the road there will ,be 'no graduating
—class, and "unless something is done we're
into a real crunch".
In a later interview, Mr. Hayes had a
couple of suggestions on how to relieve the
problem. ComMunity colleges should be
allowed to enlarge their programs, he said,
and they should also be encouraged to offer
refresher courses for nurses :who have been
out of the profession for a 'while.
The problem at Wingham is primarily with
part-time nurses to fill in the'gaps in
scheduling, he explained, and while the
hospital has applications from registered
nurses wanting to get back into nursing, it is
difficult to give the necessary refresher
training in an in-service program.
While they have been away raising their
families or working in other' professions
there have been many changes, both with
new medications and newregnlations gov-
erning nurses, he said,. and before they can
return to nursing effectively they need to
hone their 'skills'-and be brought up to date.
Pressure is beginning- to build in the
cities; with some hospitals talking of tutting
back services, he reported;: but it will likely
take five years .to alleviate the problem given
Winter's blow
The severe storm which blew into
the area last Friday treated, poor road
conditions and put out hydro power.
Several of this week's columns relate
how the storm affeCted the commun ,
ities surrounding Lucknow. See inside
this week's issue for details.
the high turnover in the profession, with
' nurses leaving to have • families, or go into
other work.
He also predicted one result of the
,shorta e Will a jump in nurses' 'salaries
two years, warning board members
t ey had, better he prepared for it.
There is no shortage of registered nursing
assistants, with the hospital drawing from
;thee -affiliated schOol, he added, .Currently
there is about a 50-50 ratio between
registered'nurses and RNAs at the hoipitai
Last week there were 23 ful17 tinie
Last Thursday was the first day of spring and a beautiful spring day it was. The
snow was almost all melted and the weather was mild enough for Rid* and Ron
Collins to roller skate Up and down Lueknow's Main street during sehool break,
By Friday, however, there was a complete turn around weather-wise, Wet snow
piled up, read conditions and visibility were poor and hydro power was out in
many locations. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan)