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Times-Advocate, 1999-04-07, Page 66 Exeter Times -Advocate T V / M) , • .'.� •- 1 . s � � • AciP Editorial&Opifli�fl PUBLICATIONS MAIL. REGISTRATION NUMBER 07511 jim Beckett Publisher and Editor Don Smith General Manager Production Manager Deb Lord Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850 Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 • (519) 235-1331 EDITORIAL Giving time is ' octant By the time students entering Grade 9 graduate, they must have completed 40 hours of volunteer work. Put into perspective, that means 10 hours per year. It is far from being an onerous task. Some teenagers put in that many hours of volunteer work in a week. These are the young people who help look after the little ones during church, coach minor soccer, canvass for the Cancer Society and organize teams to bowl for Big Brothers and Big Sisters. There are a lot of them out there, and they are a delight to anyone fortu- nate enough to know them. Then there are the teens who will barely open their eyes unless someone pays them. The concept of working for free is totally foreign to them, com- pletely outside their experience, In truth, there are a lot more of the former than the latter. It is not difficult to figure out which teenagers' will earn that 40 hours with' ease; all you have to do is look at their parents. Does the mother spend untold hours organizing minor hockey tourna- ments, collecting money for the Arthritis Society, and taking the Guides on camp -outs? Does the father spend most Saturdays coaching minor soc- cer? Does he take a day off work to chaperone on Junior's class tris- to the zoo? Does it seem that one parent is always out at a meeting, while .the other one stays home making phone calls to round Alb/IrrA,147 A solution is needed for emergency room problems While the topic is in .danger of becoming over- played, the story of the South Huron Hospital's problems with its emergency room just • isn't going away. As regular T -A readers know, the hospi- tal's ER was forced to close for the first up help for a neighbourhood fund raiser? ___time in its 50 -year history during last You can bet the children get dragged along to. a May's Vi rced to coria e forayshift n weekend. It was also good many of those meetings and fund raisers, Recently,the ER was closed on March 14 and grow up assuming everyone contributes time and talent for the benefit of the community's chil- and, while the ER was supposed to close dren, the needy, those suffering from serious ill- last Wednesday — as reported in the T -A — the hospital actually managed to keep nesses, and anyone who needs a helping hand. the ER open. Tomorrow's volunteers are the children of The problem? Members of the manage- . today's volunteers. To instill a sense of communi- ment team from the Huron Perth Hospitals ty responsibility in a teenager, a parent has to Partnership say there simply aren't enough doc- show a sense of community- responsibility from tors willing to do ER work at South Huron, mak- the time the child is old enough to notice the ing it impossible for the hospital to keep the ER world around him. Encouraging volunteerism is open. not something which can be done in a political Exeter and the surrounding area are medically speech, school program or television ad; it must underserviced but recruiting doctors to the area be taught by example. is a challenge when most communities in south - Nevertheless, the community can help in a western Ontario are looking for more doctors. number of ways. Insisting on 10 hours of volun- How can small, quaint Exeter convince doctors teer work a year is an excellent example of too graduating from medical school to start their little, too late, but treating our volunteers as valu- careers here when. Kitchener/Waterloo and Windsor are .each looking for more than 50 doe able and important resources is a step in.thesright tors? - direction. While moving to a larger city to practice medi- Special awards ceremonies, certificates and cine might appeal more to young graduating doc- • pins are good, but a handshake from someone tors than setting up an office in a small rural who has benefitted from the work of a volunteer community, let's examine the advantages of set - is better. ting up shop in Exeter. Best of all would be for volunteer work to get First, while Exeter is small and obviously a rural concrete recognition from employers. People do community, all the advantages of the big city are not volunteer because of financial benefits, but skills developed doing volunteer jobs are often transferrable to the office or factory. Although there are notable exceptions, that fact seems lost on a lot of employers. There have been too many cases where a woman who has been running the biggest fund raising campaign in the community for years, is turned down for a paid job doing much the same thing - because she has no .recent work experience. That message has a lot more impact than the Ontario government saying stu- dents need 10 hours a year to graduate. If volun- teer work is important enough to be a require- ment for graduation, it Is important enough to count as job experience. only half an hour away In London:- -Y Secondly, the beaches of Lake Huron are only a short drive away and the arts are repre- sented by many places such as the Huron Country Playhouse and Lucan's Ausable Centre. And, while it may seem more attractive to practice in a big city, wouldn't doctors with families rather raise their children in small safe towns rather than large urban centres? Although- attempts are being made to attract more doctors to the area, .it really is disgraceful that Exeter has a hospital that can't guarantee its emergency room will be open. What good is a hospital that can't offer emergency service? Site administrator Janice Cosgrove told the T -A last week there are 100 uncovered ER shifts between now and the fall. While she said many doctors have shown interest in covering many of those shifts, it's probable that some of those shifts aren't going to be covered and South Huron will be forced to close its ER several times. It's easy to blame hospital administration and doctors for the ER problems, but the government certainly isn't blameless, either. Most of the. recent announcements from the gn ment promising cash for heylharewl only help large urban centres. And of course, these promises have nothing to do with the fact there's a provincial election com- ing up, do they? Come on, Mike Harris, give some money to the small community hospitals and give rural residents the health care they deserve. SCOTT NIXO AND AN THING About the Times -Advocate Address & Office Hours Times -Advocate, 424 Main Street South, P.O. Box 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6. Our office is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. Contact Us By Phone or Fax • Classified ad & subscription sales (519) 235-1331 24-hour automated attendant (519) 235-1336 Fax number for all departments (519) 235-0766 Subscription Rates One year rate for addresses in Canada: $35+GST Two year rate for addresses in Canada: $63+GST One year rate for addresses outside Canada: $102 Call (519) 235-1331 to order a subscription. Classified Rates Word ads: $9.00 for 20.words1 154 for each additional N OTHER !2~0044 :'4S6i1R4W3JPlf6 lG6:Ot�F:NXdt 'ffBl0i0:440 [ W. r:�9Sfi:bri ?ilosi+` 1 word+ GST. 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