14 Terrace Review — Wednesday, June 11, 1986

Georgetown Cathedral is reputedly the largest wooden
structure in the world. Itis made of local green heart wood
from the Interior jungle.

Terrace resident visits
Guyana, South America

Jocelyne Harris of
Terrace visited Guyana,
South America, in May
of this year as part of the
Rosa Program.

by Philip Musselman

The Rosa Program is
dedicated to Rosa
Cineros, who died as a
result of a political
assassination. Cineros
was killed due to her
belief in equal rights. In
her memory the
Anglican Churchwomen
formed the Rosa Pro-
ject, which supports and
encourages women who
are trying to create self-
determination.

Four Canadian
women visited Guyana at
the suggestion of church
women there and
Jocelyne Harris was Ter-
race’s representative.

Other representatives
were from Toronto,
Ont.; Sault Ste. Marie,
Ont.; and Brandon,
Man. According to Har-
ris, who is an organist at
the St. Matthew's
Church, the Guyanese
were very friendly and a
good welcome was well

appreciated.
Guyana is in South
America between

Venezuela and Surinam.
It is bordered to the
south by Brazil.

When Harris was in
Guyana, she went, with
three other ladies,
around to visit branches
of the Mothers’ Union in
Guyana. The Mothers’
Union is the largest and
oldest Christian Family
Society in the world.

Any Christian may
enter the society as long
as they accept the five
aims of -the Mothers’
Union. The society is
dedicated to: upholding
Christ's teachings on the
nature of marriage, en-
couraging parents to br-
ing up their children in
the faith of the church,
maintaining the
fellowship of Christians
United in Prayer and

1 ‘found' my lost home in
the classifieds,

suffers.

Worship, promoting
favorable family condi-
tions, and finally, help-
ing those whose family
life has met with adversi-
ty.

According to Harris,
the Guyanese people are
amazingly happy con-
sidering the conditions.
The welcome was tre-
mendous and the hospi-
tality was at its peak.

The people in Guyana
are mainly: Indo-Guyan-
ese 51 percent, Afro-
Guyanese 31 percent,
mixed 11 percent,
Amerindian 5 percent,
Chinese/Portuguese 1
percent, and others 1
percent.

The main language is
English and there are a
few religions: Christian
46 percent, Hindu 37
percent, Muslim 9 per-
cent, and not. stated 8
percent.

The average life expec-
tancy (1961) in Guyana is
59 years for males and 63
years for females. Infant
mortality is 50 percent
for every 1000, there is
one doctor for every
7660 people (1981), and
there is one hospital bed
for every 207 people.

The country of
Guyana is quite under
developed and the
government has been an
Executive Presidency
since 1980. Considering
that the military ratio is
1:35 of the population,
the restrictions are not
too bad, Harris said.
There are restrictions on
imported foods and
gasoline, The Guyanese
dollar has no foreign ex-
change in other coun-
tries.

The population
depends primarily on the
exporting of bauxite, rice
and sugar. The income
per capita works out to
approximately $690 in
U.S. currency. At one
time Guyana was known
as the ‘‘Rice bowl of the
Caribbean’. ;

Literature implies
there is little prosperity
in. Guyana today,
Besides water, electrici-
ty, and telephone dif-
ficulties, transportation
The average
worker spends about
four hours a day getting
to and from work.

Hospital involved in
transplant network |

The transplanting of
organs and tissue is no
longer a medical experi-
ment, but an accepted
and successful method of
treatment for many
diseases and types of in-
jury. The widespread
public perception that
transplant operations are
still surrounded by
hazards such as tissue re-
jection is contradicted by
figures released recently
by Health and Welfare
Canada; which show
one-year survival rates of
95 percent for cornea
transplants, 80 percent
for kidney transplants,
75 percent for heart
transplants and 70 per-
cent for liver transplants,
Improved tissue match-
ing, blood transfusions
and new immunosup-
pressive drugs have
dramatically increased
the success rate of
surgical procedures, to
the point that the
primary barrier to
transplant technology
has now become a short-
age of donor tissue and
organs.

by Michael Kelley

Dr. R.E.M. Lee, chief
of medicine at Mills
Memorial Hospital,
stated in a recent inter-
view that the Terrace
hospital is able to par-
ticipate in only a limited
way as a procural centre
for donated tissue and
organs. Dr. Lee said that
the situation is partly due

in good health, relatively
young - and alive. The
only suitable candidates

are individuals who have -

suffered severe head
trauma from either in-
jury or disease, resulting
in a state termed “brain
death’’ characterized by
terminal brain damage
accompanied by physical
processes which can be
kept active by life sup-
port equipment. Blood
circulation and respira-
tion must be maintained
up to the last possible
moment before trans-
planting. The ‘‘brain
death’’ condition can on-
ly be pronounced by
either a neurologist or
neurosurgeon, and Dr.
Lee pointed out that
neither of those types of
specialists practice in the
northwest.

The logistics are not
impossible, he said. A
neurologist and retrieval
team can be in Terrace
within a few hours of
notification, traveling in
a provincial dispatch
emergency air ambu-
lance jet equipped with
the necessary life support.
machinery. The real pro-
blem, he-said, is seeking
and obtaining consent
from the donor’s family,

Most people are
familiar with the orange
dots which can be affix-
ed to B.C. driver’s
licenses, an indication

to the logistics of ©

organizing transporta-
tion to Vancouver, the
nearest transplant centre
and organ bank facility,
but he added that the
primary problem is the
fact that the technology
has far outrun social ac-
ceptance of donation
procedures.

Donations of cornea,
skin and bone tissue are
relatively free of diffi-
culty because the grafts
can be removed from
cadavers, held at low
temperature, and trans-
ported to tissue banks in
Vancouver for storage.
In spite of the almost
routine nature of the
procurement, Health
and Welfare Canada in-
dicates that less than half
of the requirements in
these categories are met
annually in Canada.
Mills Memorial is fre-
quently able to con-
tribute these types of
tissue,

At the present time
heart, lung and _ liver
transplants are not done
in western Canada.
Kidney transplants are
performed at Vancouver
General Hospital, but
Dr. Lee said that secur-
ing suitable donor
kidneys in remote areas
such as Terrace involves
formidable technical and
ethical difficulties. The
identified donor must be

that the holder is willing
to donate tissue and
organs in the event of a
fatal accident. Family
allowance cheques were
recently accompanied by
donar cards which carry
the same message, but
Dr. Lee states that these
are only indications of
intent and have no legal
force at all. Consent
from family or relatives
is still a requirement
before the retrieval pro-
cedure can begin.

As a result, medical
personnel are placed i ina
bizarre position for
which few precedents ex-
ist. To approach a griev-
ing family in emotional
shock with what may ap-
pear to be a grotesque

solicitation on behalf of
a transplant requirement
is understandably an act
which many doctors find
themselves incapable of
performing.

Literature supplied by
Dr. Lee’s office indicates
that the only solution to
this dilemma is clear
communication and ad-
vance planning on the
part of individuals.
Comprehensive con-
sultation . with families
and physicians regarding
the eventuality of
becoming an organ
donor is the only way to
insure that these wishes
can be honored after
death. Even the most

conservative medical
organizations have
recognized that trans-
plants are the recom-
mended treatment: for
cases of kidney failure,
terminal heart, lung and
liver conditions, and
even, through pancreas
transplant, diabetes, It
would appear that the
only barriers left in this
branch of healing are
social ones.

Police
report

On Sunday, June 8
Terrace RCMP charged
a 24 year-old Terrace
man with impaired driv-
ing and refusal to pro-
vide a breath sample
after a routine police
check on Highway 16.

The man will be ap-
pearing in Terrace Pro-
vincial Court at a later
date.

* * LI]

On Sunday, June 8 a
rock slide occurred over-
night on Highway 16.

Department . of
Highways crews are
clearing Highway 16 and
traffic was restricted to
one lane approximately
52 miles West of Ter-
Trace.

oy

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