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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1985-07-03, Page 1BEST ALL ROUND COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER IN CANADA • (Circulation Class under 2200) C.C:N.A. Better Newspaper Competition 1985 sT1 # i q is ailEx 4 AE s The congregation from the Calvin United Church in St. Helen's me i r a special closing service last Sunday: The contents of the church will be auctioned off July 5 and the building will be demolished by November 1. Rev. Harley Moore of Merlin,. Ontario and a former student minister at the St Helen's church was a special guest at the service. (Photo by Alan Rivett) Clvi'n United Church opens doors for last dime, An era came to .an end as the Calvin United Church in St. Helen's ' opened' its ,doors for services for the last time Sunday. A decline in membership and the high cost of maintaining the building were reasons for the closing of the church said treasurer Miss Isobel Miller. She said there was very little •-opposition to closing the church which was decided last year. "People were a little sad about it, but they couldn't see aafuture in it " she said. The contents of the church will be sold at anauctio -sale on July 5. The building is ex- pected to be demolished by November 1. The church was built in 1898 and served as a Presbyterian Church until 1925 when it was used as a United Church. . The St. Helen's congregation, joined by • the Trinity United Church congregation, held a special service to mark the closing of the church: Rev. Harlty Moore, a student pastor at the St: Helens church 21 -years -ago and now minister in Merlin, Ontario, was a :special guest for the occasion. •In a sermon to the congregation, Rev. Moore warned them.not to resist the change but rather to .welcome it in order to grow in their spiritual. lives: Rev. Moore was presented with the pulpit bible by Mr. Ross Errington, a member of the board of management forthe church. < • Don 'Cameron, secretary of the board, presented the Membership and baptismal rolls to Rev. Warren McDougall of the Lucknow United,Church• The congregation at St. Helen's will become members of the Lucknow church. The records' from the St. Helen's church were also presented to Mfrs., Myrtle Walken' of the Huron - Perth Presbytery by Mr. Err- ington. The record will become part of- the United Church Archives. Mrs. Walken' was introduced by Mrs. Bell Hackett., The minister at Calvin United Church, Rev. Arthur Scott along with his family will take up a new pastoral charge at, the •Goderich Free Methodist Church, Rev. Scott has been the minister at Calvin United Church and Trinity United Church for the past five years. Rev. Scott was presentedwith:a peuter set on behalf of the congregation by Mrs. Janet MacPherson. Mrs. Miller 'also presented hini with money from the congregation. The closing of the -St. Helen's church also marks the end of the St. Helen's - Trinity pastoral charge. Trinity United Church will now become part of a four -point pastoral. charge involving Donnybrook, Dungannon and Nile United Churches. Progressive year for Hospital By Henry Hess , The Wingham and District Hospital is in a "very enviable position" among hospitals in Ontario, said outgoing chairman Mary,Vair during last week's meetings of the annual meeting of members of, the hospital corpora-' tion. In her chairman's report, Mrs. Vair said the past year has been one of progress, ad- ding that thishospital is one of a minority in the province which -is not in financial dif- ficulty. ' • Seventy-five per cent are having pro- •blems . balancing their budgets, she reported, and many, especially the large ci- ty hospitals, have deficits. . • By contrast, theauditor's report showed the Wingham hospital with a surplus of, $368,387 for the past year on revenues of $6.3 million and expenses of slightly under $6 million: This is up from a surplus of $235,873 during the 198344 budget year. However, in his executive - director's report, Norman Hayes told the meeting, "Things will be tight again as they always seem to belately." He also said he •had hoped to have the new emergency and out- patient wing completed for this meeting, • "but it was not to be." Completion is now forecast for this fall: The report of the finance, and audit com- mittee noted an increase lit hospital activity of 4,5, per cent over the previous year, but when a question was raised about this Mr. Hayes explained this is because there were more long-term patients in the hospital, not because more patients were using it. He said that pattern appears to be con-' tinuing, although: it is to earlyto establish a trend for the current year. , The hospital year runs from April 1 through March 31. The report also noted that an estimated $425,000 remains to be spent on the. new building and $500,000 on property develop- ment and egaiprnent: Mr. Hayes said the $500,000 figure . includes slightly .: over $300,000 for the new radiology machine and also -money for replacelnent of other equip iTient.. , Reporting for the joint conference com- mittee, Mrs. Vair said it had looked at the health care provided by this hospital and found it to be excellent. Chief of Staff, Dr, Bran Hanlon, reported Turn to page 3 Wingham District Hospital may benefit from health care increase Fty Henry Hess • The. Wingham and District . Hospital stands to benefit from an increase in health care funding announced' prio . to the fall of the Frank Miller government last week. • In a report to the hospital board on Wednesday night, Administrator Norman. Hayes passed ,on the ``rather encouraging note" that former Health Minister Philip Andrewes had announced overall health funding in Ontario would rise by 7.7 per cent'. instead of 6.7 per cent this year. Those figures are somewhat misleading when it comes to funding for hospitals, Mr. Hayes said, but the changes milli mean an in- crease in the hospital's provincial. funding of about 3.9 per cent, up from the 2.75 per cent promised earlier. The result will be "additional bucks in our pocket" of about $64,400, he told the board. Last year, the hospital received $5.8 • mihion from the Health Ministry in a total budget of $6.3 million. . In other business at the meeting, the board heard that it will have to pay -almost $5,000 more for liability insurance this year, an increase of more than 50 per cent. Asked if the insurance policy had been ptit out for bids, Mr. Hayes said there were several reasons why it was° not, adding he does not think it would hav:,e made much dif- 'ference if it had been, There are only two companies offering hospital insurance now, he said. One works through the Ontario Hospital Association, where the hospital us- ed to have its insurance, and the other is the Frank Cowan Company, which currently holds the hospital,policy. ' He noted one reason for the higher fee an increase in the liability limit to $10• million from $5, million, while the other reason is a general increase in the cost.of liabilitycoverage. Hospital insurance is getting to be a "very,, verytight field", he said, and there are some hospitals in the United States which can no longer get any liability in- surance. The Wingham hospital will Pay $13,98 for insurance this year, up from $9,037 last year. In what was its final session before the hospital annual meeting Thursday night, the board approved an ambulance services budget of $234,639 for 1985-86 and a budget for the RNA training centre of $85,922. A draft operating budget for the hospital was accepted as a working document for in- ternal purposes, but it was not made public; Treasurer Gordon Baxter explained the budget was not complete because the ' hospital had not yet been officially notified • what its actual funding would be from the Health Ministry. Mr. Hayes told the board the new building is -80 per cent complete. The remaining work is mostly. cosmetip and should begin to come' together over the next couple of months, he said. ' However, the board agreed with a recom- mendationfrom the public relations com- mittee that The official opening should be left until next spring. It also,agreed to invite the lieutenant -governor of Ontario to preside at the meeting. Reporting for the public relations commit- tee, Mary Lou Thompson .told the board of plans to produce a hospital calendar', this year instead of placernats for restaurants. The calendar would have photoaraohs from Tum to 'page 3