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Clinton News-Record, 1984-12-12, Page 24INCORPORATING -THE BLYTH STANDARD -THE HAYFIELD BUGLE • SECOND SECTION WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1984 119TH YEAR BABIES, BABIES, BABIES Little Baby Boy Shannon, son of Herb and Bonnie 'Shannon of Blyth, is seen here receiv- ing his share of Tender Loving Care from Clinton Public Hospital RNA Betty Thompson. Obstetrics care at CPH will continue to improve and grow, as this week the board of directors voted to build a new $500,000 wing for maternity patients and their babies. I Shelley McPhee photo) CPH prepares for future needs with better facilities By Shelley McPhee CLINTON - "I dunno nuthin' 'bout birthin' no babies," Prissy screamed. In the clays of Scarlett O'Hara, the 1800s and generations before, childbirth was left to chance. Medical attention, professionals and. technology was limited. Luckily, those days are Gone With The Wind. Clinton Public Hospital ( CPH) is preparing to meet the future - a steadily increasing birthrate, and a need for better facilities. This week the hospital's board of directors announced that construction will begin in 1986 on a new $500,000 obstetrics wing at CPH. ' Board members are currently looking at several alternatives and locations, and studying rough sketches for the proposed wing. Final plans will be adopted sometime in 1985. As well, a major fund raising drive for the $500,000 wing will get underway next year. Public support needed Public%upport is essential. The board of directors will be looking to the community to finance the project. The Ministry of Health isn't offering any financial assistance at this time, but hospital administrator Dan Steyn said he hopes that will change in future years. given with the stipulation that the hospital raise its own funds, but CPH directors aren't discouraged. Mr. Steyn noted, "We feel that a half -a - million dollar project is something we can easily attain in a short time." Fundraising will start in the fall of 1985, with actual construction to follow shortly afterwards. Poor combinations The new facility will move obstetrics from the 37 -year old northwest section of the hospital, currently shared between chronic care and maternity patients. - The combination of obstetrics and chronic care on 'the second floor is serious concern and one of the main reasons why the board feels a new addition is needed. "Mixing of chronic care and obstetrics is a bad combination," Mr. Steyn said. Mary DeJong, head nurse on second floor, further' explained that chronic care patients spend a good part of their day in the sunroom. This means that there's no waiting Ec..onornic reality of early motherhood Not romance, but harsh reality is the recurring theme of a UWO sociologist's research project on the "long term economic consequences of adolescent mar- riage and fertility; " and it's brought him round to George Bernard Shaw's way of thinking..Professor Carl Grindstaff said he realizes now that Shaw was making an im- portant social comment when he wrote that youth is such an important time in life that it's a shame it has to be wasted on the young.. data I was able to assemble point out unequivocally that the vast majority of women who marry and begin their childbearing as teenagers are destined for less than , satisfactory economic circumstances—few years of formal educa- tion, part-time and low status work, and low levels of financial compensation." "Women are squandering a most precious asset, their youth, on behaviors that could be begun more profitably later- on in their lives," Grindstaff added. Society and its institutions have to do a more responsible job of communicating the hard economic facts of life to young women, Grindstaff said, so they can make "an in- formed choice" from among the alternative roles women have open to there today. • If the choice, after deliberation and not 'duress, is still "family;' at an early age, then it becomes society's responsibility to make that choice as tolerable as possible, he said. "Ways must be found to allow women to participate fully in the economic life of society and at the same time have children, if they so desire. Childbearing is at least as important as waiting on tables in a restaurant and it shouldbecome more of a societal responsibility rather than simply that of the nuclear family. We need mechanisms, like paid maternity leaves, to 'stop the clock', in effect, so that childbear- ing will become far less detrimental to women." From the last national census, Grindstaff reconstructed personal histories of all Cana- dian women who were 30 years old in June, 1981—some 200,000. He focussed on each > woman's age at time of marriage, age at onset of childbearing. ( based on the oldest child at home), and number of children; he then divided this population of women into several subgroups. Grindstaff's findings will be published as one chapter of a book he is writing for Statistics Canada. "I chose age 30 because it's a critical tune for getting established and things like job promotion; also because alrimost all women have at least started if not completed their childbearing by that age." Grindstaff produced statistical tables comparing the subgroups of women for completed education, husband's completed education, labor force participation, oc- cupation level, and income. He used a number of factors to control for such things as ethnic origin and religion. For education, the findings are absolutely clear and consistent, Grindstaff said. "The earlier a marriage takes place in a woman's life and the earlier she begins her childbear- ing, the lower her formal educational achievement." Fewer than 10 per cent of the women who had a child before age 25 went to university and less than five per cent completed a university degree. On the other hand, nearly one-third of the women who waited until 25 or later to have a child or didn't have a child atall had been to university and about 25 per cent had completed at least an undergraduate degree: Only eight per cent of the husbands who married a teenager completed a university' degree, and the proportion decreases to four per cent if the woman also had a baby while still an adolescent. Yet nearly 25 per cent of the men whose bride was 20 or •older com- pleted university and this percentage rose to 34 per cent if there were no children born by the time the woman was 30 years of age. , When Grindstaff turned his attention to the differences in labor force participation among the 30 year old women, he found that age at marriage plays only a minor role; the major factor is having children on the one hand versus being childless on the other. Women without children are about twice as likely as mothers to be employed ( 82 per cent), and more certain to have a full-time position (89 per cent). Yet women who mar- ried and had children as teenagers were not at a long term disadvantage for labor force participation in comparison to women who began having children later in their lives. To examine the women's occupational Turn topage 2A• Higher rate of older first time parents. More and more couples are choosing to• become first-time parents later in life, ac- cording to a report soon to be published by Statistics Canada. Almost 25 per cent of Canadian babies born, in 1982 to women over 30 were first- born children, making this the highest rate of older first-time parents Canada has ever had. Among the largest increases, the rate of first-time births to mothers aged 30 to 34 almost doubled, from 14 per cent in 1970 to 25.8 per cent in 1982 (the most recent year for which statistics are available). The Statscan report on fertility trends will be published by Christmas. Meanwhile, Pro - lessor Benjamin Schlesinger, of the Univer- sity of Toronto's School of Social Work, has dealt with aspects of delayed childbearing 1 in a recent study of his own. Prof. Schlesinger says his is the only, study of delayed childbearing in Canada that has studied couples in their first mar- riage and has interviewed both parents. The interviews, of more than 46 couples who had delayed having children till after age 30, took place in their homes. The mothers' average age was 38 while that of the father was 39. The women had worked an average of 11 years before the birth of the child,.and most mothers decided to stay home at least for a while after the birth. Dr. Schlesinger found that 50 per cent of the women had had ultrasound tests, used instead of x-rays to check on the baby's development. Surprisingly, very few underwent amniocentesis, used to test for abnormalities such as Down's syndrome, 'despite the fact that the women are in an age group which has a high risk of produc- ing babies with Down's syndrome. Prof. Schlesinger found more of the women than of the men felt overworked, isolated, and depressed after the birth. "The husbands promised a lot of participation and shared responsibility but didn't deliver," he says. The women wound up do- ing the majority of the housework and baby - tending, even when both spouses worked. The birth of the child seemed to have some negative effects on the couple's sexual life', causing less spontaneity, in part Turn to page 2A • room facilities or rest area for new mothers and their families. "You really feel you're confining the new moms. They can only use their room and the bathroom. Sometimes it's hard on the new moms to se,e the chronic care patients, but we can't leave chronic cares in their rooms all day. You feel guilty if you leave them in their rooms and guilty if you take there out." Chronic care and obstetrics were never meant to share quarters. However, in the late 1970s, when CPH was threatened with closure, emergency changes were made. At that ti , Clinton's birth rate was low, chronic are needed additional accommo a ion and the second floor area was put to use. Baby boom hits The two sections could be reasonably managed in the early 1980s when hospital births were low. While in 1980 only 56 babies were born at CPH, this year it is anticipated that 130 deliveries will be recorded at the local hospital. The increase in births means that quarters are now cramped, facilities are limited and nursing care is overtaxed. Mrs. DeJong noted, "Chronic care patients don't like sharing nurses, but moms and babies take first priority." She remembered that when the second floor was strictly used for maternity it handled hundreds of babies a year. In 1955, CPH births averaged a baby a day, more than 360 in one year. The nursery would be filled with more than 12 new borns at one time. The present obstetrics facilities is made up of a six bed unit. In one week the department has the ability to handle seven babies in the nursery. It can also accommodate two deliveries at one time, but Mrs. DeJong noted, "We had three deliveries in a day and then we had to call in extra help." When second floor facilities are stretched to the seams, maternity and chronic care patients are temporarily accommodated on first floor surgery. Again the combination is less than ideal. Mrs. De Jong explained, "Obstetrics and surgery is no good, it's too hectic for obstetrics patients." Better services offered The hospital board of directors anticipates that CPH's delivery rate will continue to rise. With that comes the need for additional facilities.. • New doctors who specialize -in obstetrics ' have come to Clinton in the past few years and more mothers are choosing to have their babies at the local hospital. Mr. Steyn believes that 150 deliveries in a year at CPH is foreseeable in the near future. He added, "We're offering good medical care here, but not 'good physical facilities." Dr. T.A. Steed, CPH chief of staff and specialist in obstetrics says that the overall the hospital is offering good services, however, "the only real area that now needs help is obstetrics." Obstetrics -chronic care combination and the limited facilities are his main concerns. "There's no waiting room for fathers or area for obstetrics patients and their familie.. Facilities are limited, with only one shower and no men's washroom," Dr. Steed said. "These things were marginal at best when deliveries were fewer." CPH now offers the medical professionals and improved equipment to handle more deliveries, and they are doing so. Now, as Mr. Steyn said, "We're looking at improving patient dignity." Dr. Steed noted that CPH is now capable of handling higher risk pregnancies and fewer local women are travelling to London hospitals to have their babies. "London hospitals are at the breaking point," he noted. "They don't want the uncomplicated deliveries." Convenience and care More area women a:•e choosing local doctors and the local' hospital for the birth of their children. The convenience, the personal attention and the improved services are attracting them to CPH. . "We can now offer better facilities, and we don't always need London hospitals," Dr..Steed said. The board of directors feel that a new obstetrics facility will enchance the high quality services that have developed at CPH. Considered in their plans are showers in each room, an emphasis on private rooms and mothers "rooming in" with their babies. The board is optimistic that the Clinton area people will financially support the project. Mr. Steyn noted, "Every hospital faces fund raising. We've had good reaction from people in the community already who are willing to back us with dollars." Dr. Steed is also optimistic that that $500,000 will be raised. He noted, "It's an issue that's really close to the heart." �i Babies at Clinton Public Hospital will be more comfortable with the help of the Canadian Royal Legion Ontario Command. Clinton Public Hospital received a $4,300 grant from the Ontario Command through their Charitable Foundation program. Clinton Legion member George Campbell, right, helped channel some of the funds to Clinton through his role as Legion Director for District C. Clinton Legion President George Lauzon, centre, has happy to Help hand the money over to hospital administrator Dan Steyn. It was used to purchase two new bassinets and a suction machine for the nursery. This is the first tithe that Clinton has received fungi through the Ontario Command. (Shelley McPhee photo)