Huron Expositor, 2000-08-30, Page 11Lc+s _' • • 'Yiyl 111,Am ,s0IL resrnr. .iielk
August 30, 2000
$1
(includes G5T)
Local weather
Wednesday --Morning
showers. High 25. •
Thursday --Sunny, .cloudy
periods. High 29. Low 17.
Friday --Cloudy . with
.'i Sy chance of showers. High
28. Low 17.
Saturday --Mix sun,
cloud, chance of showers.
High 26. low 15. •
From Environment Canada
In brief
Devereaux
signs
three-year
contract
with
Detroit
Red
Wings
While two serious
head injuries caused him
to consider 'retirement
two months ago. Seaforth
native Boyd Devereaux
-has signed a three-year
contract with the Detroit
Red Wings.
Devereaux, 22, was
playing with the
Edmonton Oilers in April
when he was hit by
Dallas Drake of : the
Phoenix Coyotes and
suffered a seizure. MRIs
showed bruising of the
brain. The Oilers did not
tender a qualifying offer
by July 1. making him a
free agent.
In a June press release.
Devereaux said he was
"very concerned" with
the head injuries and
needed to give "utmost
consideration to the risk I
would perhaps be at each
'night if I elect to
continue my career on
the ice."
During. July., he
underwent a: battery of
neurological tests at
McGill University Health
Centre in Montreal and
was cleared to resume
playing. The diagnosis
was confirmed recently
by members of the Red,
Wings' medifal staff.
Devereaux, the Oilers'
first-round draft pick in
1996. had eight goals and
19 assists in 75 games.
last sealon. He had a
plus -6 rating and was a
key member of the
Oilers' penalty -killing
unit.
"He's a young player
who adds depth and
speed to our hockey
club," said Red Wings
general manager Ken
Holland in a recent press
release.
"We also like his size
and versatility as he has
played both centre and
left wing. As he matures
as a hockey player, he
should develop into a
solid two-way NHL
player." said Holland. •
Centenoires
looking for
new players..
P09113.
•
are dc..knng
kxxji
Pogo 12
furans team up
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Page 14
911 takes effect in Huron
By Sarah Caldwell �
Goderich signal -Star Staff _
After six years of snags and delays, in one week,
the 911 emergencyservice number will be in effect
in Huron County.
Starting Sept. 6. all Huron County residents will
be able to dial 911 for emergency help from their
telephones with a 32 cern per month charge.
In celebration of the activation of Huron's new
911 service. there will be a special ceremony held
at Millennium Park. in Clinton on Sept. 6 at noon.
County Engineer Sandra Lawson said it is
defintely exciting 911 will be here in one week.
after four years of being involved with the
imple¢nentation.
Bell Canada confirmed Huron County is the last
county in the 519 area code to get 911 service. A
representative from Bell said they have been
working with Huron County since 1994 to
implement the service,
"We are pleased to provide the County of Huron
with the most sophisticated 911 system available."
said Patricia Jacobi. Bell's manager of emergency
911 services. according to a press release issued by
Bell Canada.
The ball started rolling on 911 when all of
Huron's municipalities agreed to proceed with
building a 911 system.
To implement the program in Huron County a
911 committee was formed. consisting of
representatives from municipal and county
governments, -emergency service providers..
telephone companies and school boards. The task
of this group was to determine how to progress
with the challenges ahead.
An important aspect of the project from the very
beginning was how.to assign logical municipal
addresses to a large, rural county. This was.
necessary for the advanced 911 system to identify
the exact location of emergency calls; and to help
emergency crews to find their destinations quickly
and easily. -
This aspect of the implementation took two
See OFFICIAL, Page 7
Care clowns cheering hospital patients
Susan Hundertmork photo
Shawn Brooker learns, to be a caring,dowf. He was one of more than o dozen students from
across the county who came to Seaforth Community Hospital for .an.eight-week clowning
course that prepares them to use humour in the healing process:
By Susan Hundertmark
Expositor Staff
Winkles. Petal. Skeeter. Tizzy Lizzy. Snippity - they're
'some of the names on the roll call at clown school where
volunteers throughout the eight -member hospital partnership
inHuron and Perth Counties recently learned how much
humour and healing are wrapped up together.
The eight-week course on care clowning. held at Seaforth
Community Hospital throughout the summer, was taught by
Stratford care clown Pat Willows. alias Beany the Clown. -
"Becoming a clown gotme through some very tough
times." says Willows. who was drawn to take a clowning
course. nine years ago. shortly after the death of her first
husband.
While care clowns work in hospitals as volunteers to cheer .
up patients most often in chronic and- palliative care units.
Willows says those drawn to become clowns have usually
"had something happen to hit
them in the head arid make
them realize how short life
is." - - -
"When 1 first started. I was
the widow Willows who
wasn't supposed to laugh.
Beany gave me anew life,"
she says.
Starting out 'with the idea
that it would be nice to help
people laugh, Willows says
clowning has become a
passion which she loves to
teach to others.
"I'm trying to get people to
lighten up because one of these days. they're going to wake
up dead. And, if 1 teach enough people how to do this,- it's
going to be okay if one day I'rn not here." she says. -
Willows says because her first husband died suddenly after
he retired. she learned as a 49 -year-old widow to enjoy every ..
moment of every day.
"We planned a retirement together but we never got there
all our plans died with him." she says.
But, helping others to heal with laughter helped heal
Willows as well.
As part of the Giggle and Get'Well program at Stratford
General Hospital. Willows works most .often in the palliative
care program for patients. visitors and staff who need a lift.
"Just having someone there dressed as a clown often brings
a smile. And: that's your pay," she says.
Wearing a button that says, "Hug me - I hug back," Beany
offers hugs. jokes and often just a listening ear.
Once. a woman Beany, hugged during the day her sister
died looked Willows up later to say how much the hug helped.
her make it thrdugh the day.
See CLOWNS, Pogo 13
Quoted
'Becoming a
clown got me
through some
very tough
times' --
Pat Willow, aka Beany
the Clown.
`Surv•
ivor' may have killed blood clinic
By Scott Hilgendorff
Expositor Editor
• The final episode of Survivor, a
CBS television program, may have
caused the deathof Seaforth's blood
donor clinic. •
"Unfortunately, with good weather
and. the final show .of Survivor on,
we lose donors. who otherwise
attend. so we were not sure how this
clinic would turn out." said Tim
Hamilton, recruitment coordinator
with Canadian Blood Services in
London. in a press release. •
Survivor.. a new reality television
show attracted record audiences this
summer with its final broadcast
taking place during clinic hours.
The lack of turnout also calls into
question the survival of the Seaforth
clinic.
. The clinic quota was set for 150
donations but of the 131 people who
attended this year. only 119 were
able to donate.
Suzanne Barron. another
recruitment coordinator with the
Canadian Blood Services, said a
shortfall,. at a clinic can have
consequences. -
"It's serious enough," she Said of
the concern it causes Blood Services
and the hospitals that depend on a
weekly supply of blood from it.
Clinics are held in different
communities across the• region in
addition to a permanent facility for
donating, open five days a week in
London.
'Those .clinics generate blood
supplies for 32 hospitals in the
London branch's. Southwestern
Ontario coverage area from Port
Elgin to Windsor and east toward
Kitchener.
When the clinics don't receive the
required quotas of blood donations,
Barron said hospitals could have to
cancel anything but emergency
surgeries.
She said a serious car accident can
seriously deplete a hospital's blood
supply and they try to collect enough
' each week to ensure there is blood
for regular surgeries ,plus
emergencies that occur.
But Barron said they sometimes
compete against the weather or
hockey playoffs that distract people
who would normally take the time to
donate blood when a clinic comes
through town.
In Seaforth's case, she said they
also could have been competing with
weather favourable to farmers who
needed to be outside working and
couldn't give blood.
Only three per cent of adult
Canadians donate blood but
Hamilton said of those 97 per cent,
most will need blood in their
lifetime. -
With cutbacks and a need to reach,
blood donation^quotas, Hamilton
said, "Next yeas` will definitely be
critical for this clinic to remain."
Barron said there are a lot of new .
donors coming out each year and
that Canadian Blood Services is
encouraging its current donors to •
consider donating one more time a
year.
That increase would be enough .to
ensure there was always enough
blood on hand for the region's
hospitals.
Regardless of lower than normal
turnout this year in Seaforth.
Canadian Blood Services said the
donations were greatly appreciated
and the work of the Seaforth
Optimist Club .which provided
volunteers to operate the clinic.
People can donate blood again
after 56 days which would make
donors eligible again for an Oct. 23 '
clinic in Exeter. The next closest
clinic is in Clinton on Nov. 9.
Barron said there are a number of
people who donate three or four
times a year and they try to schedule
neighbouring clinics after the 56 -day
waiting penod.
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