The Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-11-04, Page 1PM40064683R07602
Week 45
Year 160
www.doderichsidnnistsr.cem
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FIN Dentin Clinics
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Splash n' Boots
■ Rural Response for
Healthy Children hosted a
Splash N' Boots experience
in Goderich P9 •
Local celebrity
■ Gracin Black made his TV
debut this week on TVOs The
Ocean Room pg. 42
• Sports
pg 29
Mi Editorial pg 6
Wednesday, November
Photo by Gerard Creces
Mr. Bones
Grayson Oster, Ryan Dickson, Joey Murry, and Marley Doney were in
full costume as they toured around The Square trick -or -treating on
Saturday. For more photos, see page 4.
the hurontel home
take a seat and experience the home of the future..today.
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(;oderich
519-4400936
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Hospital ready for
patient demands
Dominique. Milburn
signal -star staff
It's all over the news.
The predicted 2009 1-11N1 in-
fluenza pandemic seems to have
taken centre stage. In Toronto,
it took last week's sudden death
of 13 -year-old Evan Frustaglio
to compel panicking parents to
swamp the emer-
gency room at the
Hospital for Sick
Children, crash the
Telehealth hotline,
inundate their fam-
ily doctors with
queries, and are
now lining up for
hours outside GTA
flu clinics.
Although Alex-
andra Marine and
General Hospital
CEO Bill Thib-
ert said the facility has
hulances. The emergency de-
partment at Children's Hospital
was struggling to cope with 2(X)
per cent of its normal volumes.
"Our beds are all full. We are
overflowing and we've got pa-
tients in corridors," Donnalene
Tuer-Hodes, chief nursing exec-
utive at Stratford General Hos-
pital, told the London
Free Press.
Some patients in the
Stratford emergency
department waited
overnight for a bed in
the hospital and surger-
ies for in -patients were
cancelled in hopes of
making room.
"It is busting at the
seams. We just don't
have the beds to put
them in after surgery,"
said Tuer-Hodes.
On Friday, the scene
at the AMGH Emergency Room
(ER) was unlike its more urban
counterparts. A handful of peo-
ple waited patiently in the ER
and were seen by the triage at-
tendant.
"Of course, we're always
here for the community, but we
shouldn't be the first stop when
you're experiencing flu-like
symptoms," said AMGH Direc-
See SELF-ASSESSMENT, Page 2
How to get more
information
Call Ontario's Telehealth to get
free access to a Registered
Nurse 24 Hours a day, 7 days
a Week at 1-R6$-797.0000.
The hotline is experiencing
a higher volume of calls this
season, so wait times are not
unusual.
Call your family physician.
noted
increased volumes and admis-
sions, he also noted that exten-
sive media coverage has played
a role.
"The media hype is creating
a lot of trouble in some ways,"
Thibert said last week.
In London and area hospitals,
emergency departments have
become strained, forcing the
cancellation of surgeries and
delaying the offloading of am -
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