Times Advocate, 1997-02-19, Page 4Page 4
Tines-Advec'afe, -February 19, 1997
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Rural Ontarians deserve
equal access to health care
is February and the Heart and
Stroke Foundation of Ontario is in the
midst of its annual fundraising and pub-
lic awareness campaign.
Research, health promotion and
lic education funded, by the Heart and
Stroke Foundation; have resulted in
much progress in heart attack preven-
tion and treatment. Since the early
1970s, the rate at which Canadians -die
from heart attack has been cut by half.
Still, heart disease and -stroke -Continue
to he the single largest cause of death
among men and women. 16 1994, heart .
disease and stroke claimed'the lives of
. nearly 79,000 Canadians. - .
Troubling statistics were released re-
•rently by the Heart and Stroke Founds -
11011. indicating that rural areas of Onta-
rio have a significantly higher rate of
death from heart attack and stroke than
'large cities.•
London .Centre MPP'Marion Boyd
brought up this issue at Queen's Park
recently. She noted that the findings
raise a lot of serious questions,which .
necessitate more research,
"One of those questions is very partic-
ular to rural•Qntari9. is there any corre-
lation' between heart disease fatality
and access to emergency medical
carer Boyd -said:
Given that agricultural, areas have sig
nificantly more.death already due to -
heart attack, how can you go ahead
with closing small-town and -rural hos-
pitals and their emergency departments
without really -knowing what'impact
that may have on heart disease fatali-
ties?" Boyd asked the Health Minister,
_The Hon. David Johnson.
The Minister'of Health admitted that -it
- was a "troubling question' but went on
to speak -about how much money the
current government is putting hack into
the healthcare system. •
Boyd persisted with her questions, not-
ing that people in rural Ontario should'
he entitled to the same kind of emergen-.-
cy response Times .as their urban neigh-
hors. .
-A huge public outcry has; for -now,
saved emergency care at rural hospitals ..
in -Huron and Perth Counties.. However,
this decision must still he approved by
the.Healt-h Restructuring Commission.
And ER facilities are in serious jeopardy
at small' hospitals in other counties 'all
over the province, including our neigh- -
hors to the north -in Grey. and Bruce -
Counties. - - -
Researchers continue to find new ways
to treat heart disease thanks to the fund
raising efforts of the Heart and Stroke
Foundation; which is an excellent well-
respected organization. To he treated
properly in the event of a serious.heart
attack or stroke; however victims must
he able to get.to an'emergency room and
to the attention of health care profes-
sionals quickly. ' , - .
A 30 -minute access (apparently a sug-
gested guideline) -to a hospital is just not
good enough. ' -
District Health Councils and Duncan
- Sinclair's Health, Restructuring Commis-
sion must bear that inertind: The deci-
sions they make wii affect many lives.
Si,'Marys Journal Argas
•
Your Views
Letters to the editor
Pancakelunch .served at school
,"... we, experienced some very real
community involvement." '
Dear Editor:
On Shmvc Tuesday at. Hensall Public School we
experienced some very real coMmunity involve-
ment. We served the students and the staff a pan-
cake lunch.
This wouldn't have hcen such an enjoyable endea-
vour without the generous support in time and in
manpower and in equipment given by the Hensall
Volunteer Firefghters,_thl: Hensall P.L.C.. Kate
Station Restaurant and the many parents who donat-
'ed crudities and those who enthusiastically %Man-
teered in person.
• We would also like to thank those parents why' t'i-
fcred their help and weren't called on. this time. We
gratefully acknowledge. all those who offered en-
couragement and appreciation tiff this activity.
Sincerer,
Janne Fragiskatos•
•S.A.Q. at Hensall Public School
A View From Queen's Park
TORONTO -- A cabinet 'Maisie,' determined
4o show that the Mike Harris government iS
tightening its belt might he Netter off not to -
mention that he has just spent $10,000 -on his
dog.
Having been foolhardy enough to let slip this
hone of information in an interview, Municipal
Affairs and Housing Minister. AI Leach now
tinds himself in the doghouse.
The pugnacious Leach is trying to amalga-
mate Metropolitan Toronto into a "megacity"
and tlje Toronto Star, which supports him, ran a
puff -piece trying to make him look warm and
human. Leach gushed he has a apso that cost
hint $10,000 recently because it insisted on
.leeping with him so he had to buy a new king -
\ bed and chewed up an expensive oriental
carpet and $300 pair of shoes.
Some hearts may, have bled, but not those of -
welfare recipients, who pointed out angrily
Harris's Progressive Conservative government
expects a sing;t, person on welfare to manage
By Eric Dowd
for 19 -months on $10,000. and the New De,no-
crats felt the minister's affluence worth investi-
gating.
They found -Leach collects close to 5200.900
a year from•his ministers salary of $1 11.(XX)
plus pensions. at the ripe -age of 61. for working
earlier for GO Transit, the province's commuter
system. and the Toronto Transit .Commission.
which receives substantial provincial funds.
This violates almost everything Harris and
his Tories stand for. Harris's major promise,
which he generally has been fulfilling, has been
to cut government costs and stop what Tories
more than others call feeding at the public .
trough.
Harris has cut funds for welfare, hospitals,
education, housing land protecting the env iron-
ment and now been revealed as doing this
while enabling a minister in his cabinet to re-
velin 5200,000 a year.
Harris has embarked with special relish on
slashing the number of politicians, MPPs,
BALL'
Simple Cruelties
Brenda Burke
Hospital heroism
- Seeing the Tight side of thipgs
canhelp.one cope with life's
downers, even personal tragedy.
• After stay ing with my
_husband in a North Bay hospital
for a week following his .
snowmobile accident, f decided
to chuckle at simple cruelties
the -situation threw at tis rather
than dwell on the overwhelming-
. reality
verwhelming-.reality of his injuries. This has
helped me w ith-the. coping . -
pi•ocess.
At one point he was left lying .
in his bed in an x=ray hallway
waiting to be wheeled backto
his room. Understandable with
cutbacks -and everything but it
was a little comical when an -
apologetic person placed a sign-
on
ignon him reading. 'Please return
patient to room.'
A few. days later. his
intravenous needle Became.
dislodged. filling up his arm .
ti.sue, rather than pumping his
veins full of life-sustaining
substance. -
• Within hours his forearm was
swollen to the size of King
Kong's and he was informed it
would return to normal size in
three or four da•. ,.
He also ha&Jh- hare t'
hospital roommates: a trucker
trying to pass kidney stones; a
stroke victim who would -sleep
for:36 hours and jabber for'l0. a
man equipped with -a supersonic
fan,.hordes of viAitors and a - -
fascination -with country music
videos. - And the hospitalfood was cwt_
to lunch. -One day the trucker'
asked me what was under the
mysterious plastic cover and I
. replied. "ft looks like carrot.
cake with gravy on top."
Our family snuck in .
McDonald's food and I offered
a brownie from time to -time.
It's very difficult -to maintain
one's dignity in a hospital: My
husband had grown weary of •
pastel gowns t"You're the
orightest thing l've-seen today."
heduld a visitor weiaring a dark
green coati that snapped •
toittether. choking him at .the f -
neck and coming undone at the
back.
- It wasn't long before he was . -
asking for boxer shorts. On .
Valentine's Day. he got his wish
•
•
•
- ;ilkones decorated with red
hearts -_enough to;maks one -
nurse exclaim. You should -
' have seen the racy -shorts we cut
off him after the acci-dent!"
• We're still trying to figure out
which ones they were. •I guess
that (ld'advice: 'Wear decent
underwear. just in case you.get •
- into an accident;' actually holds -
irue.: - - - -
When:.:onfined to a hospital.
it's always nJcetO know you'll
-ha'e interesting visitors to
entertain you. A small group of
inebriated snowmobile buddies • •
decided -to visit. bringing .with -
them a moose' hat and -
dirty -slogan T-shirt.
Hoots and hollers that •
indicated'heroism on.the trail
contrasted with my motherly
glance, of sympathetic -
Now that• those hospital days
are behind us. Ill remember a
few things I've -learned
as a -
yew
person for a loved one.
Limit your visits to 10 hours •
- ata time, bring food in from -
another.source and don't let
hospital colors wash you out.
Leach in doghouse
school trustees. whom hew ill restrict to a max-
imum $5,000 salary. and municipal councillors.
and derided those who object as greedy, while
his minister pockets $2200.000 from public
sources.
Harris also in opposition'and since being
elected to government in 1995 has sharply criti-
cized the practice of double-dipping in which
someone draws both a salary from a public ap-
pointment and pension from•the public sector.
This usually took the form of the government
of the day appointing one of its former MPPs to
a provincial agency. board or commission and
paying him a fulltime salary -on top of his noto-
riously generous MPP's pension.
Since being in government the Tories have
adopted a policy of appointing former MPPs to
boards only if they agree either to give up their
MPP's pension and take the salary for the job,
or keep their pension and top it up with a re-
duced salary -- they can't have both.
Leach's case is slightly different in that he be-
came eligible for pensions from public sector
jobs first and then was elected a politician. but
the principle is the same and he is collecting
large sums from both.
Leach will not receive much sympathy be-
cause he has sneered that municipal politicians
objecting to their jobs vanishing merely want to
hang on to their salaries, which are meagre any-
way compared to his own.
He has insisted he is not.doing anything
wrong and simply collecting pensions he
worked for and is entitled. to. But he might
have followed the example set by former long
time New Democrat minister Brian Charlton.
who was defeated in 1995 and took a job as
senior adviser to party leader Howard Hamp-
ton. -
Charlton collects his 554.000 MPP's pension
and his party tops it up so his combined pen-
sion and salary is 578,000. He does not colic.,
full pension and full salary =- unlike a minister
supposedly dedicated to cost- cutting who rakes
in both to keep his pet in doggie heaven.
w
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