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The Citizen, 1988-12-07, Page 8Meeting Santa can be quite an experience for ayoung man as Brendon Pierce found out Saturday old man and by the time he made it to Santa’s lap, he was all smiles. Hundreds of other when Santa came to Blyth. At left, Brendon needs some assurance from his mother Debbie as youngsters also met Santa as the Blyth Lions Club sponsored the visit Saturday. Santa talks to him. Moments later [centre] he seems to have taken to the idea of meeting the Jolly Huronview standards not down, county told Standards ofcareatthe Huron­ view home for the aged will be down from what they were earlier this year but not down from the traditional standards despite staff cutbacks, Wayne Lester, Huronview Admini­ stratorassured Huron County Coun­ cil Wednesday. Mr. Lester was replying to a question from Wingham Reeve Bruce Machan who wondered how the home could maintain the same standard of service after having laid off nine full-time and a number of part-time workers at thehome in layoffs in July and October. Perhaps itwasdue to the headlines that came from last month’s county council session when Huronview staff ex­ pressed their concerns about care of the residents but “The only thing I’m saying is thatl’ve heard that there has been quite a decline in services,’’ Reeve Machan said. Is the county providing the same staff to resident ratio, he asked. “Close,’’ Mr. Lester answered. “How close?’’ “Not quite as well as we were,’’ Mr. Lester admitted. He went on to say that when budgetting was gong on in January plans were for 3.6 hours of care per resident. After the cutbacks in July andOctober, the hours per resident are 3.59. John Doherty, Deputy-reeve of Goderich worried that perhaps too much worry was being put on saving dollars and not enough on the care for the seniors. The cutbacks were not based on dollars, Mr. Lester said. Quality of care was the starting point for the cutbacks and if the home is meeting the provincial staff to resident guidelines. “If you want to enrich the service we’re providing, we’ll be CP line abandoned Continued from page 1 who had previously made submis­ sions. There was no public notice or advertising done despite the regula- tions under the new National Transportation Act for public notice because the application was in the transition stage between the old and new act. The line was originally built by the Guelph and Goderich Railway Com­ pany between 1905 and 1907 and was leased to the Canadian Pacific from 1905 on for 999 years. In 1956 the company became part of Canadian Pacific. The line carried 1652 carloads of traffic in 1987,1497 of those outward bound, most from Goderich. glad to do it,’’ he said. “The Ministry (of Community and Social Services) sets the standard of staff-to residents and we’re above them,’’ Lossy Fuller, Deputy Reeve of Exeter and chairman of the Huronview Management Commit­ tee said. Tom Cunningham, Reeve of Hullett said that it had been his assumption that as the resident population of Huronview had dropp­ ed, the staff size had been shrinking as well but he only recently came to realize that until the recent cut­ backs, staffing had stayed at the same level as when there were 290-295 residents. As at October 31 ther were 258 residents in the home. “I think we’re making an assump­ tion we’ve deteriorated the level of care when we’re just trying to get back to where we were,” he said. Mr. Lester presented information that the projected shortfall in Huronview’s revenue to expenses has been reduced from a projected $355,844 to $112,813.The deficit will mean the province must pick up an extra $59,272 and $53,541 for the county. Figures showed the staff cutbacks should save $151,000 and further expenditure cuts were made by putting a freeze on spending which saw items such as a dryer, walk-in refrigerator and floor polisher not get purchased. Russel Kernighan, Reeve of Colborne said perhaps the county should be looking at the reasons why occupancy at the home is dropping and if this was a real trend despite predictions of an aging population. Mr. Lester replied that all the privately operated homes that had private rooms (with bathrooms attached), were full. People don’t like to put their relatives in Huronview where there are wards and people had to use communal bathrooms, he said. Meanwhile council authorized the Huronview Chairman, the Warden and the Clerk-administrator to negotiate an agreement on a lease with the Ontario Ministry of Agricul- ture and Food for the recently vacated south-wing of Huronview. Brian McBurney, Turnberry Township Reeve questioned the move saying that when the council was asked to approve the closure of the wing at the Nov. 3 meeting, he didn’t realize that it was to be a permanent closing. In renting the wing to a tenant he wondered “if maybe we’re making good time but we're not sure where we’re going.” Bill Hanly, county clerk-admini­ strator, said he thought councillors realized that they were closing the wing permanently. The move to open negotiations with OMAF was because if something wasn’t done quickly, the Ministry might go elsewhere for its space needs. Dave Johnston, Reeve of Bayfield worried that if the south wing was renovated and rented out, it might be just the first step in renovating the old Huronview for offices. Mr. Hanly said the south wing lease would have to come back before council before any decision was made. He said he didn’t think renovation of the wing would be the first step toward moving the county offices to the old Huronview building when it is closed after the building of a new Huron­ view, because the south wing could easily be separated from the rest of the building. Besides, he said, there is no assurance OMAF is really interested. They had expressed some interest but it’s up to the Ministry to now decide how interest­ ed it is. Deputy-Reeve Fuller reported to council that she and Warden Bob Bell had met with a resident of the home who had written a letter to some councillors saying threats had been made if the resident didn’t co-operate in the move from the south wing toelsewhere in the home. She said the letter wasbasedona misunderstanding and that the misunderstanding had been cleared up. If it were in her hands... the gift would be from... Remember pewterers Blyth 523-9554 "We're a participating Blyth Bucks Store" Meanwhile Mr. Lester said resi­ dents, relatives of residents and staff members had co-operated TREE STAND? ARE ALSO AVAILABLE GRAND VIEW RESTAURANT BLYTH 523-4471 wonderfully in the move of people from the wing and it had gone better than he could have imagined. (SILVERSMITHS Fine Pewter The Craft of the Pewtersmith For centuries, artisans skilled in the age-old craft of forming pewter have produced works to be treasured as family heirlooms. The piece of fine, hand-crafted pewter which you are holding in your hand today carries on that historic tradition. Today'spewterisanalloyof tin,copper,and antimony. Unlike silver, it will not tarnish, and with proper care its unique, grey lustre will retain its richness for genera­ tions. Set Pictured Only $28.00 Fashion Pewter Earrings & Jewellery Box only $12.99 Other Pieces $5 to $38. P S We have an assortment of Pewter Christmas Ornaments too!