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The Citizen, 1991-11-13, Page 7THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 1991. PAGE 7. HCBE told renovations will be costly The trustees of the Huron County Board of Education were informed at the meeting of November 4 that they are faced with the challenge of providing expensive renovations to provide handicapped access in its remaining multi-level buildings in the absence of Ministry of Educa­ tion grant support. The Ministry of Education has Welfare costs continue to soar Faced with spiralling caseloads, the Huron County Social Services department has had to hire another field worker to deal with the work­ load. The hiring of the extra worker was approved by county council Thursday, but not before some councillors worried about the hir­ ing. Hullett Reeve Tom Cunningham said he realized the additional worker was needed because of the Seniors say freedom to move is life itself Betty Cardno of Seaforth and Helen Owen of Bayfield were among the over 160 delegates from across Canada who consulted for three days on ways to meet the mobility needs of seniors. “Free­ dom to Move is Life Itself”, a national forum on seniors trans­ portation, sponsored by the Federa­ tion of Canadian Municipalities with financial assistance from the Seniors Independence Program, Health and Welfare Canada, took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba Octo­ ber 27-30, 1991. Delegates, including seniors, transportation service providers, transit professionals and represen­ tatives from all orders of govern­ ment, gathered to leam and share their transportation experiences. Presentations on new technologies, services, programs and innovative methods of funding were heard by delegates. Working groups dis­ cussed successes and failures in all of these areas, working through a process leading to workable, action-oriented recommendations. Betty Cardno, retired Director of the Huron County Home Care Pro­ gram, reported that the emphasis throughout the conference was inte- County’s disabled unite Despite miserable weather condi­ tions, about 50 handicapped or dis­ abled persons from across Huron County and some areas of Perth County, banded together at Huron- view in Clinton on November 2 in an effort to make their voice loud­ er. The group tentatively known as Diamonds, is intended to be a non­ profit organization, that will listen to its members, evaluate the prob­ lems and seek a solution. "It is time we, as handicapped, got together and talked things out, looked at the new laws and make the county enforce them," said Glen McLach- lin of Vanastra, one of the meet­ ing's co-organizers. "We should feel happy and proud of who we are." Mr. McLachlin explained that part of the reason to get the group going was to get the people out of their homes and to let the county know that they are here. They want to have their voices heard locally and provincially. The biggest problem forming the group, said Mr. McLachlin, is that provided only minimal grant sup­ port with most of the renovation costs being bome by the local tax­ payer. The board was told that efforts to acquire alternate sources of funding from other Ministries, the Ontario Lottery Corporation or the Ontario Access Fund have not been successful. The Management Committee current situation but he worried about hiring a full-time person instead of a contract position in case the current crisis ends. "Hope­ fully this is just a blip," he said. But John MacKinnon, head of Social Services said it is unlikely this is just a blip. Many of the jobs lost are not going to come back even if the recession ends, he said. In addition, with reforms brought in under the Back On Track program by the province, "We're no longer gration and co-ordination of exist­ ing transportation services. “Seniors transportation should be considered in terms of transporta­ tion for all,” said Cardno. Helen Owen found many articu­ late seniors at the conference who were sensitive to the inadequacies in transportation services. “Many transportation programs have been developed,” Owen claims, “be­ cause of the initiative and experi­ ence of seniors. They gave direction to what has been achieved elsewhere and could be achieved in Huron.” The conference recommenda­ tions are all based on the idea that improved transportation for seniors will lead to improved transportation for everyone and include (in sum­ mary): •all solutions must include con­ sultation with seniors; •citizens and organizations should call on the National Trans­ portation Agency to issue, not later than September, 1992, the accessi­ bility standards for all models under federal jurisdiction required by the National Transportation Act of 1988; •citizens and organizations must co-ordinate their transportation there is no way presently to identify how many people are disabled. "There is no system, which says there are 50 people in a wheelchair in the county," he said. "If we don't start now we won't be able to find out where disabled people are. The county doesn't realize we are here and they don't want to know." Because there is no system to iden­ tify handicapped persons, the group is hoping its members will spread the word. Two issues facing the group are the lack of accessible buildings in the county and transportation. While many churches are getting government funding to install lifts, there are still many public build­ ings, like court houses and post offices, which are still inaccessible, said Mr. McLachlan. It has been legislated, he said, that as of Jan­ uary 1, all public buildings have to be accessible. "It is guaranteed that many in the county won't be unless we do something about it," he said. The problem of transportation is presently under heavy study and discussion. members have suggested that a higher profile be given to this issue to generate a better balance between local and provincial fund­ ing. To date the amount spent on ren­ ovations and modifications have come to $577, 000 in the elemen­ tary schools and $71,000 in the sec­ in the welfare business: we're in the maintaining incomes business." Under the new programs people who work full-time but at low wages, can get additional assistance through social services. So far about 20 people have applied for the program, he said. In one case a worker with a large family working for an agricultural producer and making $7.90 per hour was able to receive help. Because of the size of that family the farmer would have to pay the worker $17-$ 18 an hour efforts in order to make the best use of physical, financial, human and community resources; •the communication of the real needs of seniors to all the appropri­ ate organization(s) for action is cru­ cial to solving mobility problems; •there must be a co-ordinating body to oversee and take responsi­ bility for implementing solutions. INDEPENDENTLY OWNED & OPERATED EMA IS SUPPLIED AND SERVICED BY ELLIOTT MARR AND COMPANY LIMITED, LONDON IN ASSOCIATION WITH 0SHAWA FOODS ALL ORDERS MUST BE □ ^eefpiesI—--------------- —- V—TTwonLLEYiS® _____ O PEAS —-- ------— - laSElcMmoiS-. ----------- — ICE COLD SAVINGS! VEGETABLES ARE FANCY GRADE ■*4 JetS---------14 ic; 95 dicedIU^N P—— 16 TT951SjycEo^ols—-------30 3q 95|5cauufiojneb---- - 22 '^fTOQlOcUT WAXEDBEAH------- -|OQ5ObRUSSELSPR0U1S-------"oj —i —-• —■ —oo qq r lemon CBLANLB^ —9999|QpeujxLE1^—— —U’-MiaSSSsSSss— —— CALL 887-9740 ALL CASES WILL BE SOLD BY CASE LOTS NAME ondary schools. Projects being given considera­ tion for 1992 and 1993 include a combination of elevator and stair lift and ramps due to 11 elevations at F.E. Madill Secondary School, an elevator or stair lift at both Seaforth District High School and South Huron District High School and an elevator at Central Huron for him to not qualify for welfare assistance, Mr. MacKinnon said. The average wage in Huron is $8 an hour, Mr. MacKinnon said and if that's the only wage in the fami­ ly, people will be able to qualify for assistance. Lionel Wilder, Reeve of Hay, expressed bitterness at the situa­ tion. Fifty per cent of the people in the room were farmers, he said and they don't make the $8 per hour average wage yet because they are self-employed they don't qualify for help themselves and they must pay their taxes to support those who can get the additional help. "Until we get a different govern­ ment in Toronto that can at least add up," he said, things won’t improve. "It's only hoping when an election comes up we at least smarten up and change our minds and change the government." Doug Fraser, Reeve of Morris supported Mr. Wilder but pointed out that small business is in the same boat as farmers. ADDRESS Secondary School, for which the board is wailing for MOE approval. The latter has been built into the redevelopment project of CHSS. The Management Committee told the board they agreed that al) remaining high-cost renovations should be consolidated into a spe­ cial section of the next multi-year capital forecast. Committee Chair Rick Rompf told the trustees that it will have to be a board decision whether to pro­ ceed. Trustee Norm Picked said that he couldn't believe that with all the talk about the $50,000,000 that had been set aside for JK being returned to the treasury that the board can't get funds for two-storey accessibili­ ty. "I find it inconceivable in this day and age we can't get money to do what we need to do." The board passed a recommenda­ tion that the matter of Ministry funding for handicapped access for HCBE buildings be raised with MPP Paul Klopp as part of the November OPEN (Ontario Public Education Network) submission and that outstanding building access projects be Consolidated into a submission for the current five- year forecast. PHONE