TERRACE — The kind of
health care available in the north
will change dramatically if
recommendations of a review on.
the threes main northwest hospi-
tals are followed,

We'll be spending less time in”

hospitals as more community and
preventative care prograins are
introduced.

Aad they shouldn’t cost us any
nore money than we're spending
now, indicates the review.

The review of hospitals here, in
Kitimat and in Prince Rupert
found there are savings to be
made in the way those iustitutions
are run.

Those savings can then be spent
on the community programs, sug:
gests the review.

Bat hospitals can’t expect any
kind of. financial break as their
services: are phased oul and the
others brought in, health minister

Elizabeth Cull said last week
after the review’s release.

She said there isn’t cnovgh
health . care money

time.

We don’t live in that kind. of a

ideal world,’ said Cull.

She added there will be. “some
transition pain.”’

Mills Memorial Hospital here

was one of those. whose budget. .

was frozen at 1991 levels: this
year. That caused the elimination
of the equivalent of i1 full time’

jobs and the closure of 22 beds to -

balance a
deficit.

The way health care: is: being
managed in the north will “also
change if the review's recom-
mendations are Followed.

It calls for the. creation.of com-
munity health councils with re-
sponsibility for local health issues

projected’ budget

THIS. BUDS FOR YOU: Bud Kirkaldy checks out an oil filter. cb,
he's just cruished for UFC Recovery and Disposal. The com-.
pany, owned by Brian Burdett, started operations a month |
_ago, The crushed filters are sent to a U.S. steel foundry which
Tecycles. them into cement reinforcement bar. The- ‘Tubber
seals ‘go to a tire factory, and -the tecovered ” coil is:

availabic °
anymore to do both at the same

‘* You'll find more on the health care review on

Page Az.

-* And, the photo copying machine at Mills

_ review.

Memorial Hospital has been working overtime’
to produce coples. of the northwest health care

* jit is more than 120 Pages long but there is a
summary and short conclusions section.
. * Copies are available for reading in the hospi

to 3 p.m.

 tal’s board room, Monday to ) Friday, from 9 a.m.

‘and better regional coordination

between communities.

**The three hospitals have oper-
ated in a relatively autonomous
-Manner, preferring to cither work
independently or to look to Van-
couver or other larger centres for
assistance whetiever required, ”
said the review.

“There has been minimal, if

any, co-ordinated medical man-

power training, particularly. in the

nat

though ail filter recycling is doing well, pitino
- household recycling in Terrace ends in two weeks when the .
local recyelng, depot shuts down, : ‘See story page! ‘AS.

ze ws

area of provision of specialty ser-

vices.’

‘TAs a result, opportunities for
sharing a broadly based regional
specialty service {offering a
sustainable base for operation and

adequate back-up support and

‘relief) bave been missed,’’ the
review said.

‘Cull said she will appoint as
soon as possible a person to work
on regional co-ordination.

TERRACE — The Kitlope River
valley should be preserved from
logging, says a new study,

The 46-page report was com-
missioned by Ecotrust — a
branch of Oregon-based Conser-
vation International, which is
aimed at conserving. areas. of
lemperate rainforest.

The report calls for the atea to
be turned into a wilderness
preserve, with logging, mining,
hydroelectric developments and
road construction prohibited.

It would be jointly managed by
Hais!a natives, and the federal
and provincial governments.

“The Kitlope has a high poten-
lial for carefully managed low-
impact wildlife viewing and
ecotourism,’! the report says.

‘Opportunities inclide spring
bear viewing on the estuary, ob-

Group says
should not

serving spawning salmon, and

**uneconomic’” — on old figures

participating in: ‘ecosystem ‘re
search activities.”

It would allow limited ‘gilded
tourism.
public access, as well as research
and native uses. ;

It also says that logging the Kit-
lope would be a money-losing

-yenture for Eurocan Pulp and

‘Paper — which holds cutting
rights to the area — and would
require ‘‘massive subsidy from
ihe provincial account,”
*That’s absolutely  untrue,”’
says Don Chesley, manager of
Eurocan-owned Skecna Sawmills
in Terrace, which will depend olk
wood from the Kitlope in future

~ years, “We have never requested

a subsidy,’ —

He said the study bases its find-
ing — that the company has
deemed logging the Kitlope

; “qt seemed the |
more support we »

_ got the quicker we —
nt broke,” -

Hot Kermodes

& Caledonia’s team is
on fire this. basketball .

season,

and =minimum-impact. -

lo the Kitlo ua _

“seontsec

en

De logged _

Chesley notes that both parent

prepared in 1985 when the com-

"pany was struggling out of the

“recession...
At that time, Jogging in “the

‘southern half of Eurocan’s Tree

Farm Licence wasn’t considered
viable, ,

“Now it is economical,’’ he
“said.
templating it if we were going to
be fosing money on It.”’

Overall, he said, he report is
“very biased’? in. favour of
preserving the Kitlope.

“Whether thal’s-the right thing
to, be done: with a large part of

. British Columbia is still-a matter
of much debate,”

The report also: says. -the presi-
dent of the two. parent companies

. that own Etirocan told Kitamaat

Village chicf councillor Gerald
Amos that they did not want to

Kitlope area

“We wouldn’t . be. con-”

companies have their own ‘presi
dents... >! ae

“]. have no ‘idea. who" “they? Te.
talking about,’ he said. “Butl’m
sure nellhér: one of them said
this.”’

The study targets what it calls
the Greater Killope Ecosystem —_
a 405,000 hectare region about
100,000 hectares larger than the
Killope watershed alone because
it takes in a couple adjacent
watersheds.

There’s a logging moratorium

_on the Kitlope until August,.

1995. Victoria is also to decide

by the end of that year whether or -
‘not to preserve the valley.
The company says it will expect

compensation if it is prevented
from logging the 100,000 cubic
metres a year there it has been al-

located.

chill Drive and Hwy37 with

But she said the person won't
have authority to override hospi-
tal board decisions.

Terrace Regional Health Care
Sociely chicf exccutive officer
Michael Leisinger said the person
will have to have good negotiat-
ing and persuasion skills.

‘He might be what we’ve been
calling a benevolent dictator,”
sald Leisinger in conceding that

‘Ibe review condemned the com-

petitive nature of the three com-
munilies. ;

The review follows closely last
year’s health care royal commis-
sion which had ‘‘closer to home”
as its theme, :

“We have to look at the north-
west as closer to home — not
Terrace, Prince Rupert = or
Kitimal,”’ said Leisinger.

“We have ta look at it terms
that there are 65,000 people who
should have access to the basics

ealth care all shook up

of health care somewhere in the .

region,” he said,

The review found, for instance,
that people in the . communities
often go to Vancouver for treal-,

ment when it can be given else- ,
- where in the northwest.

“TE we can share this common
vision, the. we’ can proceed on
how to make it work,’ " said
Leisinger. : :

He added that
health care society. board has- yet
to consider all of the report and
so couldn't give a complete
opinion,

Eight northwest hospitals are:

meeting Dec, 8 to go over-a pre-
vious study suggesting that a

more regional health care ap-

proach be taken and will consider
this latest report.

Leisinger said it will be better
to work with than against the

Tegional co-ordinator,

We'll KNOW.

wood

facts -

in January —

TERRACE — An analysis of
how much harvestable wood is
left in the North Kalum area will
likely be made public early next
year, says forest district manager
Brian Downie.

And until that review is com-

plete, he added, any talk of a

Teduction in the aunual allowable |

cut is simply ‘‘speculation’’.
Downie said forest service staff

are-now in the midst-of-preparing, ....,..

a timber supply analysis for an
area he described as ‘“‘all the Nass
watershed’’.

Noting a meeting was to be held

at the end of this week to ‘‘fine --

tune the schedule’, he predicted
the results of the review would be
ready for release by mid-January.

Given the public will first have
an opportunity to view and com-
ment on the analysis, Downie
said it was unlikely any submis-
sion will be made to the pro-
vince’s chief forester, John Cuth-
bert, before March.

It will then be up to Cuthbert to
decide whether cuts are required
in the annual allowable cut in the
North Kalum and, if so, how deep
they should be.

In a July 22 letter to Nisga’a a
Tribal Council president,
suspended. forests minister Dan
Miller referred to ‘‘the perceived

urgency for a’ ‘reduction in har-
_-Vesting rates in ‘the area.”

°-Asked whether the analysis

. would show-a need to reduce log-

ging in-the North Kalum, Downie
said any talk of cuts.at this stage
was only speculation.:

speculation, he "said, adding,

* “Ts clearly the chief Forester’ 8

decision.’

In that game letter, Miller had.
indicated he expected to imple-.

ment ‘any recommendations from
Cuthbert by Jan. 1. re

Downie said that date bad been

based on the originally hoped for
June start date for the review,

A timber supply analysis for the .

remainder of the Kalum Forest
District will also be ready in
1993,

Downie said that review is ¢x-
pected to be completed by ‘mid-
year. The information will be tied
into the South Kalum manage-
ment plan the district is currently
working on.

Petitioners want
emergency exit

. TERRACE — The Queensway

subdivision becomes a potential
death trap when trains block all
exit routes, area residents say.
Three-year-old Wayne Lamke
nearly died on Oct. 4 when he
stopped breathing after having
fever-driven convulsions.

His father, Russell Lainke,

- found their route to the hospital

blocked by a CN freight train.
He did mouth-to-mouth resus-
citation until the tracks cleared.
Wayne’s fine now but the near-
tragedy spurred residents to draw
up 2187-name petition calling for
better emergency access to the

Queensway area,

Kitimat-Stikine Regional Diss
trict directors voted last week to
call on the highways ministry to
either re-apen Doorman road or
another route.

Doorman road connected Chur-

trict, but will consider the idea.

Queensway — running un-
derneath a railway overpass —
until it was closed and blocked
three years ago at the behest of
Churchill Drive residents.

“This is a hazardous situation’
that . should’ be fixed,’’ said
Thornhill director Les Wat-
mough. | :

‘It’s dangerous the way it is
now,’” said Frances Venus, who
ofganized ihe petition.

Doorman Road .is narrow and
needs repairs, but he said it could
be reopened as al least a onc-way
road that would provide - an
alternative emergency exit,

It would allow residents to get
out, and. fire and ambulances

could get in if both existing roads

in were blocked by a train. ;.

‘Highways
said they have not yet, received
the request from the reglonal dis-.

THE DEAL.

@ An agreement restricts
future development on
Nisga’ a-claimed land.

NEWS + Al2

the Terrace:

now. |

41 -don’twant.t saddaito..thal.. oe,

ministry : . officials ,