A2 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 1, From front Mills gains beds Gairns and Warwick did, however, release their plan in Vancouver, along with the five other health authorities as part of a marathon event put on by the pro- vineiat health ministry. Speaking tater, Gairns said he and Warwick had no choice about attending ‘the Vancouver event. The Northern Health Authority plan was also approved by the health ministry prior to ils re- lease, The autherity still has to sign a perfor- mance contract with the ministry setting out standards of emergency, hospital and community care. Do you know what the BC government plans to surrender to forest corporations under the cover of a softwood deal? YOUR JOBS. YOUR COMMUNITIES. YOUR PUBLIC FORESTS. _ The government's softwood plan is a sellout. It increases the stranglehold that the big forest corporations already. have over our public forests and our forest industry - at the expense of our communities and our natural environment. 2002 Health care job losses start THOSE PEOPLE scheduled to lose their administrative and support jobs at Mills Memorial Hospital now begin a complicated process which could see them, depending upon seniority and union contracts, ‘bump’ others. The Northern Health Authority wants to shed the equivalent of 175 full time jobs throughout the north in the administrative and support: category this year alone to slave off a deficil.-Topping the list are senior admin- istratars brought over when the authority was created oul of 15 smailer ones late Jast year. Although the ‘authority is headquartered in Prince George, {t doesn’t mean -all-of the administrative and support services will be based there, authority chair Harry Gairns said last week. “Our next objective is -to talk-to the union-and define what we're looking at,” added authority chief executive officer Peter Warwick. “There will be situations “invo!- ying seniority and the: mix of people.”- One fuzzy area involves cost savings in areas such as housekeeping, laundry and food'services. This will hap- pen at the expense of 400 full time job equivalents over the next three years, The authority ‘so far isn’t moving ahead immediately, as are other authorilies, to contract out these services in ihe expectation of saving money. But the authority will only commit itself to its no- contracting out stance for this year, leaving open the question of what will happen in the years after. For now, Warwick refers to what he’s calling “best practices” with the authority’s existing union workforce, - What that means is bringing in outside managers ta set levels of job performance and expectations. “These are the experts,” said Warwick, “They will be the ones in housckeeping, for example, who will deter- mine how many square feet of floor can be cleaned by an FTE [full time equivalent employee], how many meals can be cooked or how many pounds of laundry can be done.” Warwick adds there has been no fixed target dales set ‘for job losses. in housekeeping, food and Jaundry areas, fr For more.information, call toll-free: 1-866-483-6873 We propose a made-in-BC solution that: * gives control of public forests back to local communities * creates more jobs per tree cut _ * protects the environment, and * provides a lasting solution to the softwood trade dispute. Send a fax to Premier Campbell with just two simple clicks — visit our website: Cwww forestsolutions.ca ) The hospitai in Kitimat already handles laundry for Mills Memorial and the Terraceview Lodge extended care facility,-And now. that the Kitimat -haspital has moved’ lo new: quarters, the new laundry facilities can handle more than the current workload between that cily and Terrace, » Health boss leaves THE NORTHERN Health Authority is looking for a per- manent chief executive officer. Peter Warwick, named interim head of the authority last December, is retiring. Warwick had been the CEO of the North Coast Com- munity Health Council in Prince Rupert fram May 1999 until it and 14 other health authorities in the north were merged late last year to save money. “The Northern Health Authority started looking for a permanent CEO nearly a month ago and there had been some suggestions Warwick was interested, “But last week. Warwick said his intention all along was to stay until a permanent person was found. Warwick’s salary is $200,000, putting him into the mid-range of executive pay given the size - $350 mil- lion - of the Northern Health Authority budget. SAY NO TO THE SOFTWOOD SELLOUT. THERE ISA BETTER WAY. “Tell Gordon Campbell that it’s time for a win-win softwood solution, Premier Campbell, your softwood proposal is a sellout. There's a better way: take back at least half of our publicly owned forests from the corporations. Put control and benefits into the hands of communities. Get an honest price for BC's public timber in open, regional log markets. And give local business and workers a fair shot at value added development. name ‘Writers win awards TWO WRITERS from The Terrace Standard won awards al its parent company’s editorial awards banquet April 20 in Williams Lake. The awards were for stories, features and editorials written in 2001. Senior reporter Jeff Nagel claimed first place in the news writing category for a number of stories, including several on the ups and downs of the Skeena Cellulose situation. “The winners this year went further, dug deeper and asked more than the obvious questions. That's good journalism,” commented the judges in this calegory. , He also won second place in the feature writing category far a body of work, including an in-depth look at the Kitselas band’s efforts to revive its his- tory in the Kitselas Canyon. “The winners this year stand out in the way they describe essential parts of their stories, rather than relying on quote afier quote after quote,” the judges wrote. Nagel further won an honourable mention in the editorial writing category. Editor Rod Link won first place in the editorial writing category for an ediloria! criticizing the continuing existence of northern living bonuses for provincial and federal civil servants. The Terrace Standard is owned by Cariboo Press which has newspapers throughout the north and down into the interior. Its newspapers include The Northern Sentinel in Kitimat and The Interiar News in Smithers down to The Morning Star in Vernon and Kamloops This Week in Kamloops. address signature SPONSORED BY THE COALITION FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST SOLUTIONS Clip and mail to the Coalition for Sustainable Forest Solutions, an P.O, Box 8701, Victoria, BC,V8W 383. We will forward It to Premier Campbell mo