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Wingham Advance-Times, 1980-03-26, Page 1• • 10. MS FIRST SECTION at are gham, Wednesday, March 26, 1980 crdlands meeting Natural Environment .and hazard lend policies received' most of the attention at S' public Meeting !huraday night for the Tfaberry Draft 2 Secondary .Plan. About .50. residents came ou>>eto hear George Penfold, a county planner from Godericb, ex.= plain alterations in the second draft Some ; resideasts couldn't' understand why areas of land were, deemed natural an viroafnllesit t r hazaidlald; acid wanted ,0 know how the zoning aiould affect present or future development. Mr. Penfold explained that hazard land areas are those which could be affected by extensive flooding, erosion or unstable soil conditions. "They are not, all in specifically 'flood areas, but are identified as areas where the potential for physical hazards might exist." As a result future developments needing building permits might be subject to the approval of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority. Its recommend- ations would be forwarded to Kinettes mike dofl!tiOfls 'D meeting wring a ee ins of the Wingham xinette chi ' lass week' a. tultiiliar t ti', vier nasi • ,thilliK.41Attt Fibs it keisoc., with smite o> the proceeds coming froifl balloon sale held during; Decemberand from the CF bubbles placed in various stores around town. Other donations included $50 to the Wingham Figure Skating Club and $200 to the Wingham and District Association for the Mentally Retarded. Some of the'projects on which the Kinettes are currently working are an Easter hamper, with various food items and clothing, for the Salvation Army and a $50 raffle from. Miller's ° Ladies' Wear to be held April 1. Tickets are still available at that store or from any Kinette. oeo.;ie l for consideration ., before permits woutd he granted- He eased soma of ' their fears, stating, `40o far- these are Just limes on a, map a'' 'he con$rvation authority would eonaldereach application realistically, he 's'aid. • Brian McBurney., the new tovynship reeve, added that ammell hopes it will not have to : use the' lanes designating hazard land. Ile said he hoped residents *Quid' have enough faith in their council to accept its decisions, adding, "Per- sonaily I don't like' (MVCA recommendations)." It 'was also noted that there were no representatives from the MVCA present at the Meeting. Regarding building permits one resident asked •whether Orr not one could build on a property at his or her own risk and release the municipality from any liability in the event off damage caused by flooding or erosion. Although the draft implies that this arrangment is possible Mr. Penfold suggested that the township woliid=still be 'liable to pay for some- daitnage Another concerns utas why son%e„forels$ed aria has been zoned as natural envh omnent andotherhas notM1t',, ' nfo d explained that'the -plait identifies_ natural en- vironrnenta larger, con- tinuous blocks of- forest and lowland areas. He added that permission to. clear these and any areas is subject to the Huron Tree Cutting Bylaw and council's decision -an' such a matter. One resident decided" to be quite .blunt and asked what advantage a secondary plan has. "Does it just take control out of the people's, hands?" To daughter and applause Mr. McBurney "answered, "I don't know how much of, an advantage there is to this:" He later added that the plan would place more control at the township level rather than ,the county level. Bev Brown, who is involved in the Bluevale Chamber of Commerce, suggested that one reason could be so that decisions aren't made in Toronto ,or J. Municipal Bali who don't have an, here". Much of the questttttii period' was taken up: -' Sill family. Ens stated.she was coiM wildlife, - iueatione maintenance and ' d standards. This area includes the `ap- pointment of a property standards officer and a.' passible bylaw' ,prop`osift lands . and 'water. properties OS; 'free' I rubbish, debris, abandoned Or used 've "Does this. mean we have:, spray our weeds?" she ani before giving a speach on. needs of wildlife. Mr. Penfold assured- • her .. , et that a public Meeting would: held before the adoption of"any,, maintenance and : oceupat}C : bylaw. • Other areas discussed,: Mr. Penfold included the of extractive reso , es such as gravel' pits, locations, fors a agriculturally related ')tp- dustries and the less extesiiv' cultural Code of e a explained that Draft Secon- initiated over o. He said the oup that it be n. happens the est deal with• further concerns of the ratepayers, adopt it as a bylaw and then submit it to the county. After the county plan is amended to allow for the township's it will 'go to the province for approval. He assured residents that secondary plans are generally approved by the province. lic meeting for tonight eeting on the 'nit to Wingham's needed to permit 'fa senior citizen plex in Quick - set for 8;30 this esday, in the ent is needed to `free-standing' already passed council for the ion of the park. s"invited to at - jag and give in- put into the proposed amend- ment, following which the planning board will make a recommendation to council, which will decide on the matter. If approved, both the amendment and, the bylaw will go back before the Ontario Municipal Board for a hearing sometime this spring. The public meeting had previously been set for Thurs- day, evening, but has been moved ahead one day. r�r ±td .4 ..ii LONG SERVICE—Bora MUosevlc, hospital board chairman,pi with &retirement gift from :the board. Mrs MCDonnald started laistrlct Hospital in 196Q and had been dischargeplenning,cc accepting the gift, she said it was a pleasure'tie work vtrlth doctors at the hospital. . Chimney fires Wingham firefighters braved 'a snowstorm. Friday evening to . respond to a chimney fire at the home of Peter Dorsch in Morris Town- ship. Fire Chief Dave Crothers reported the fire was confined to the chimney and there was no structural damage. of* MUSIC MAKERS—Rev. Dr. Robert Armstrong, Rev. Barry Passmore and Rev. John Swan, representing the Wingham and District Minis- terial Association, preseCnted a new, electric organ to Wingham and District Hospital last week. Accepting on behalf of the hospital were Margaret Spence of Brussels, one of the patients, and Bora Milosevic hospitals facin By Henry Hess Hospitals in Ontario are facing a shortage of registered nurses which will have an effect on their operationsluring the coming years, Norman Hayes, administrator of Wingham and District Hospital, believes. He expects the problem to become in- creasingly acute over the next three to five years, leading to sharply higher nursing salaries and possibly curtailment of hospital services. So far this hospital h en't been troubled °_.e teeny, `:Lt it will start to feel the pine:, during the summer when many of the full- time staff take holidays, he said, since it is getting more and more difficult to find qualified relief nurses. During a meeting of the hospital board last week Mr. Hayes reported problems are cropping up in finding registered nurses to staff the pediatrics ward at night. "Tonight we simply couldn't2fisid an RN," he said, adding: 'That's a problem which will become more acute as time goes on." (Later he reported that a nurse had been found to come in that night.) Mr. Hayes blamed the shortage on short- sighted planning 'by the provincial govern- ment. The province reduced enrolment in the nursing programs at community colleges because it felt there was a surplus Of nurses in Ontario, he said. Now it is facing a "fairly widespread" shortage, and it will take a number of years to catch up. Compounding the problem is the extension of nursing. programs to three years from two, he added. This means that two years down the road there will be no graduating class, and "unless` something is done we're into a real crunch." In a later interview, Mr. Hayes had a couple of suggestions on how to relieve the problem. Cornmilnite emteeee 'helee ti - allowed to enlarge their programs, he said, and they should also be encouraged to offer refresher courses for nurses who have been out of the profession for a while. The problem at Wingham is primarily with part. -time nurses to fill in the gaps in scheduling, he explained, and while the hospital' has applications from registered nurses wanting to get back into nursing, it is difficult to give them the necessary refresher training.in an in-service program. While they have been away raising their families or working in other professions there have been many changes, both with. new medications and new regulations governing -nurses, he said, and before they can return to nursing effectively they need to Nene their skills and be brought' up to date. of the hospital board. The organ will be used during the regular Sunday services at the hospital. The purchase was sponsored by the ministe- rial association, with donations coming from churches and organize. tions around the area. 5 Pressure is beginning to build in the cities, with some hospitals talking of cutting back services, he reported, but it will likely take five years to alleviate the problem given the high turnover in the profession, with nurses leaving to have families or go into other work. He also predicted one result of the shor- tage will be a jump in nurses' salaries within two years, warning board members they had better be prepared for it. ehe. Lege s[ reglstereo nursing assistants, with the hospital drawing from the 'affiliated school, he added. Currently there is about a 50-50 ratio between full-time registered nurses and RNAs at the hospital. Last week there were 23 full-time -registered nurses and 24 RNAs, with an additional 19 part-time registered nurses and 13 available frelief duty. COLLEGES-- SEE A DIFFERENT PICTURE The community colleges responsible for training registered' nurses in Ontario see a somewhat different picture. "It's only within the last year or so we've been having good luck placing graduates (of the nursing program)," Gerry Downey, an assistant registrar at Conestoga College, Doon, reported. She confirmed there has•been a gradual 0 it it Business ssoc. alternate.si The wnig am Business Association copes tie resolve the controversy over, Cruickshank.: Park by offering an alternativesite'for senior citizen housing in town. , • The site it has in mind is the lot at. the corner of John and Leopold streets, formerly occupied by the old Lloyd factory. The lot has been vacant since the factory buildings were taken down last year and has been for sale for a number of years. The business association plans to take an option to purchase the land and then offer it to the town as a site for the apartments Town council had previously rejected the site as a location for the seniors' apartments on the grounds the asking price is too high. However Jim Watt, an executive member of the business association, told the group last week that the property' is available more cheaply than the town has quoted. No figures were given, but he said the executive, following discussions with its solicitor, recommended the association should move to acquire an opfion on the land. Association members voted ton proceed ac- cording to the recommendation. "There has to be some alternative supplied, because town council seems to feel there isn't any option," Fred McGee. commented. Audrey Currie inquired whether the Pen= tecostal church property, which has also been offered for sale, had been considered, but Mr. Watt reported that property is not wide enough for the design of building planned. In related business it was noted the public meeting on an amendment to, the town official plan to permit construction of the apartments in a po , &i-iif emit ;he1d tins, Wednesday, March 26, at the town hall. 'lit other business theassociation hopes to. find out 'more about a natural gas survey reportedly.conducted in the town last spring.- , The survey was to' determine what the demand for natural gas would be if it were made available here, but Mr. McGee said it seems to have been a strange sort of canvass since he had yet to find anyone who was .ap- proached. ' The business association agreed' to write a letter to the gas company involved to discover the chances of natural gas being brought to Wingham. The association also hopes to find out more about the results of a parking survey done last summerby students hired by the town. The .1 association had agreed to pay $200 toward the cost, but it was reported this hadn't yet been paid since it had not received a copy of the report. The group did agree to pay the Wingham Junior Citizens $290 for organizing last year's Santa Claus parade. It, plans to look at a proposal by Bill Keil that a Santa Week should be substituted for the parade. Mr. Keil noted problems with bad weather have often made' it hard to put on a good parade; last year, for. instance, the weather kept any bands from taking part. There was some discussion on the,sidewalk sale planned during F,tanfest this summer, and the association is also looking into the ,possibility of a promotion in conjunction with -•-the opening of the new plaza, tentatively set for May 24. ii u. reduction in the ceiling set by the province for enrolment in the program, but added that is partly because of difficulties 'the colleges have encountered in placing graduates. - Bonita Russell, the college's career planning and placement officer, said last year nearly 94 per cent 'of nursing graduates found full- or part-time jobs in that field. which is virtually identical to the placement record for the eollpap qc,•,ti�,� j��•:� �- �ne was unable to provide a comparison with previous years. Last year 184 persons graduated in the health sciences program from the college's three centres at Doon, Guelph and Stratford, down slightly from 193 the previous year. Currently 120 students are enrolled in the first year of the program at Poon, 60 al Guelph and 52 at Stratford. (Health sciences includes both the registered nursing and ambulance programs.) Nancy Hacking, who is in the health sciences department at the college, said the province has twice required the program to est back on its enrolment, the first time about four years ago, and since then it hes beeii holding steady. Irt her opinion the biggest factors involved were concern over the number of jobs available and over the number of nurses moving to the United States, she said. As a result of the cuts jobs are "reasonably available" in some of the larger 'centres, particularly Toronto, she said: "Certainly jobs are a little more available this year." However she added she doubts that nursing will ever go back to the situation of 20 years ago, when a nurse could leave one joh and five minutes later have another one. she said, although she didn't know What the percentage of graduates leaving Ontario is. Sfie also explaihed that while nursing schools in the province have been asked to extend their programs, it doesn't necessarily mean they will be going to three years instead of two. The schools have been asked to go to a maximum of 24 months instruction instead of 20 or 21, she said. They can take less time, provided they can ac- complish the required amount sof classroom and clinical work. Nursing continues to be a popular profession, Mrs. Hacking, herself a nurse, reported, and Conestoga•^has never had any . trouble filling its program. However she said she thinks it'was a good 'idea for the province to reduce enrolment when it did. ,, ih other business at the board meeting, Treasurer Gordon Baxter reported he is still forecasting the hospital will be ,close 'to break-even on its budget by the end of its financial year this month. Salaries are about $10,000 over budget but many other areas are under, he reported, and the hospital as a wholeis within one per cent of budget, He also noted patient per diem costs are up about five dollars over the budgeted amount $112 compared to $107 — number of patient -days. Last year the per diem cost was $98: In response to a question submitted by' board member, Mr. Hayes reported on the progress of renovations to the children's ward. He said cupboards and a sink have been installed and the redecorating has been started. "i think we can get it dressed up quite nicely." Double doors have been installed and as a result the number of complaints= about noise has dropped drastically, he added., Mary Vair reported embers of the hospital auxiliary are working on improve- ments to the ward, including toys. She also reported that all the necessary equipment for the stroke unit has been acquired, much of it as the result of donations by Women's Institutes around the area. sit � ._-. ,''...�,5;,`�J:�'' � • ..:����� �.� �..