The Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-03-08, Page 5'
Dear Editor...
• from page 4 •
which was one of the
Trudeau goN, ernment's
notorious breaches of
foresight, by taking over ,
the Medical Insurance
plan, it has been said that
the Lord helps those who
help themselves. I do not
mean embezzlement or
getting money at •the
' point of a gun. I am
referring specifically to
some constructive effort
on the part of the ones
who are involved.
It would- seem to me
that if they could utilize
the empty space that has
been created by qur
brilliant P.M. maybe a
temporary nursing
,,.;•'Fksidence, it would help
-to Augment the hospital's
operating,,costs. Then, of
course; construction
could be planned for a
permanent nurses'
residence and other
hospital staff. ,This
residence should be built
in such a manner, that in
the event of expansion it
could be easily altered to
become part of the
hospital.
We all know that this is
a county seat and I do
not know why it should
not be the main medical
centre for Clinton and
Seaforth.
The Ontario Lottery
can be approached for a
grant and also the
Federal government.
I do not know whether
this plan of a nursing
residence on the hospital
property would be
legitimate or not, but as
seamen express it; any
old port in a storm.
The nurses' residence
should be exempt from
taxes until the operation
is in the black (out of
debt).
We all know that
Goderich is consistently'
growing and to eliminate
any of its existing
medical facilities is
preposterous. Last year
the town had to build an
extension on the existing
utility building. This year
they had to buy more
utilities to cope with this
expansion.
Sincerely
In rebuff
Dear Editor:
I am enclosing a copy
of a letter to the editor
that was published in the
Miami Herald on Friday,
February 23 and thought
it might be off interest to
you.
This has been a very
good winter here, we
have had several cool
spells, but.these we don't
mind when we read about
the Storms and snow
further north.
I hope some of this chit
chat and news, is of in-
terest to you.
Yours truly
W. Roy Hilton
Pompano Beach, Florida
The following is the
letter sent by Mr. Hilton
from the Miami Hera14:
To the Editor:
A recent Herald article
on the Parti Quebecois
and Quebec separatism is
very timely. But there
would never be enough
space to refute the
flasehoods and distor-
tions with which the Parti
feeds its fanaticism.
French Canada has had
self-government for 100
years. Today, out of 110
members - of the
provincial parliament,
only three are
Anglophones. Out of some
35,000 provincial civil
servants, some 300 are
Anglophones. Yet
Anglophones are 20
percent of the population
of Quebec and 35 percent
of the population. of
Montreal.
A minister of the Parti
goes up and down the
province claiming that
they are the sole
defenders of the French
language and culture.
The facts are that in two
world wars most French
Canadians turned their
backs on France when it
was occupied by a
conqueror and its
language and culture
•were threatened with
extinction.,,It was left to
the Anglophones to shed
'their blood.
The Canadian federal
government is headed by
Norman J. Minaker
Trudeau, who has in-
deavoured to govern all
23.5 million Canadians in
the interest of six million
French-Canadians (and
the opposition is headed
by a Chamberlainesque
nonentity). Both of them
have let French
Canadians believe that
secession is an. "option"
that does not concern the
rest of Canada.
The reality may be
understood if we assume.
that the. United States ,
numbered among its
states oneAhat stretched
all the way from Chicago,
down the Mississippi
River to the Gulf of
Mexico ,,and that state
announced that it twas
becoming a foreign
country, thus cutting off
Eastern United States
from the Western United
States. We do not need to
ask what the swift
response would be.
Secession of. Quebec
would cut off access for
Central and Western
Canada to our Maritime
provinces without
passing through a foreign
country, Quebec. '
There are solutions to
this problem, but one
thing is sure. The Canada
that put 1,000,000 men in
uniform to fight a threat
to its integrity from 3,000
miles away is not going to
allow a few hundred
thousand fanatics to
destroy it. Failure in
Ottawa to'realize this and
to make it ringingly clear
will inevitably lead to
tragedy.
Bevan Hartley
Fort Lauderdale
What goes on?
Dear Editor,
What is going on here?
First, it was the arena
that some white-collar
galoot in the legislature
decreed had to be
replaced. An arena whose
roof cnever collected snow
nor lost any shingles in
the high winds that swept
over it from all directions
n ad seasons. An arena
that could have been
saved, I was told by a
professional engineer,
had additional supports
been installed alongside
the others.
Next, we let the wool be
pulled over our eyes to
the tune -- thus far -- of
$127,000 towards the
widening to four lanes of
Highway No. 21. One
million dollars in total
will be spent for just one
mile of road (at 1977
figures, remember) and
for what? Gone are the
trees, ' coming are those
yellow lights from the
Square, but the same old
traffic bottleneck at the
Five Points will still be
with us.
Then we let a contract
for a new grandstand to
an architect, or
whatever, who would not
allow the spectators in
the top rows of seats to
see the track.
And now the Ministry of
Health wants. to trim our
hospital beds to 37.
Thirty-seven active
treatment beds to serve a
population of 14,000,
exclusive- of the sum-
mertime influx of tourists
and residents who may
perchance require
hospitalization.
As was mentioned,
earlier, there are too
many ga loots in high
places today.
Perhaps it is because of
our apathetic attitudes
that we have let these
things happen.
Our hospital is of vital
importance to everyone
in this area and the time
has come when we should
not let our sense of values
become distorted by
allowing cutbacks to
jeopardize the health and
welfare of our citizens.
A friend remarked to
me recently, commenting
on the above-mentioned
situations in general but
the hospital dilemma in
particular, "What is this
country coming to?"
I replied, "Shouldn't
that word be WHEN?"
Yours very truly
/8.B.
Open letter
Dear Edito ,
Enclos d is a copy of programs were not
my le- er to all of the adequate even before the
government officals
whose, addresses you
provided us with.
My thanks to you for
the addresses and also to
Dona Baker, whose letter
in last week's paper
prompted me - also a
busy type, as well as
being a confirmed
procrastinator - to finally
get moving and do my bit.
Would have preferred
to have had more time to
reword and polish - but
might then never have
gotten it sent!
I hope a few more
people will also realize
that it still isn't too late to
indulge in our right to
express our concerns and
opinions to these officials.
Sincerely,
Wendy Hoernig
Dear Mr. Dennis Tim-
brell etc,
Are you there? Are you
listening?
I am writing to express
our concern and in-
dignation about how the
problem of the high cost
of public medical care is
being handled.
To begin with, surely
any intelligent person
must realize that a
sweeping edict should
never be created to apply
to every community,
irregardless of conditions
and needs. That isabout
as, fair as a declaration
that all politicians are
two-faced asses!
A basic goal should be
set, and then, where it is
possible, you reach for it.
However it is essential
that individual situations
and problems be taken
Into , account, and
. flexibility be allowed to
make ' reasonable
adaptations possible.
As I know you've
already been told, our
are/ has a high
pr portion of elderly
lieople, and people
needing chronic care. We
' also have a sub-
stantially expanded
population for about half
of the year, because this
is --a lovely -vacation area.
Nursing home facilities
and chronic care
cinbacks. There appears
to be no help to improve
that situation. On many
occasions over recent
years I personally have
seen patients bedded
down in the halls off our
hospital. How CAN you
declare that we don't
need our hospital beds!
Our system is supposed
to offer prepaid medical
care for those needing it.
We've paid our taxes!
You can't now deny us the
right to a hospital bed
when we are ill.
That'w, like having a
'prepaid grocery system -
then telling the hungry
people who come to pick
up their already paid -for
food, "Sorry - we've
decided not to produce so
much food, you'll have to
do without for a month or
so".
If you ignore evidence
that the cutback is too
severe for a community,
then it seems to me that
this must surely leave
you open to be sued for
the physical and mental
agony suffered by an
individual and his family
when lack of facilities
denies such a person
medical care soon
enough, and as a result he
or she dies, or is per-
manently harmed.
You simply do not have
the right to deny people
,adequate care in their
-need.
You DO have the right
td declare, "We have a
problem". And you also
have an obligation - to
find a solution! One that
doesn't say "Do
without".
Yes, we should cut back
wherever possible -
watch every penny,
eliminate duplication and
wastage.
How about a per-
centage of ,those juicy
lottery winnings going
into the health care
system?
How about having otir
hospital insurance cover
most of the costs, but
having the patients pay a
small percentage
(determined on one's
ability to pay)? There's a
psychological advantage
to the system here. When
GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1979—PAGE 5
a person muit pay even
part out of .one's own
pocket, then there tends
to be more of a stimulus
to tryto prevent this
need.
How about allowing a
community the right to
choose to find ways of
raising extra funds to
share in covering the
extra costs - instead of
penalizing them for
managing to provide
more care than you
deemed that they should,
as you have done with our
hospital?
Surely much better
resujlts would occur
through working together
with us on this problem
than what you get by
playing dictator.
Moreover, if you
declare that we must
decrease our need for
hospitals, then surely you
must also provide more
vigorous, positive and
workable, public
education programs in
preventative health care.
Finally, we have ex-
cellent people in all facets
of the health care field in
our area. We do not want
them physically' and
mentally drained in a
desperate battle in an
impossible situation.
Maybe in the city it is
easier to turn away a
stranger at the hospital
door. But in a community
like ours, you know that
person. How can you
refuse to help him or her?
If there is no bed
available, the suffering
isn't all the patient's. You
care too!
Isn't it tragic that our
government doesn't?
Sincerely,
• Wendy Hoernig
P.S. Neither I nor anyone
in my family are in the
health care field. These
are our feelings as or-
dinary citi:Zens.
Write a letter
to the editor
today
i •
4tLt,
Jim Costello, captain of the G.D.C.I. junior boys'
basketball team, accepted the plaque for win-
ning the Huron -Perth championship, on behalf of
the rest of the team .at an awards assembly on
Wednesday, (Photo by Joanne Buchanai)
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