A6 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 9, 1999 An agonizing lack of money Dear Sir: I wish to respond to your editorial titled, ‘‘Annual Agony’’ in the May 19 edi- tion of The Terrace Stan- dard, You are correct that this is . an annual agony. The reason for this is very simple and easily understood. The Terrace and District — Health Council is funded to take care of the residents of Terrace, Thornhill and a few small surrounding com- munities, . . If that was the only popu- lation that we looked after then budgetary issues would not be an annual agony. The fact of the matter is that 30-40 per cent of the patients that come through the doors of Milis Memorial Hospital come from areas outside our funding ea- velope, This is because we _ have the largest and stablest complement of specialists in the region. The health ministry in the past has stated that we run into troubles with our budget deficit because of the hospital being inefficient. They were correct in the past. They are nat now. Your hospital is as effi- cient as it is going to get, Our length of stays in the hospital are as good as any other comparable hospital in the province, The fact of the matter Is that 30-40 per cent of the patients that come through the doors of Mills Memorial Hospital come from areas outside our funding envelope. Therefore, if we are as ef- ficient as any other com- patable hospital in the pro- vince it would stand to rea- | son that the budget deficits — we have been struggling with for the past four. years are due to inadequate fund- ing, This seems pretty plain: and simple to me, The Ministry of Health has instructed the CHC to balance the budget regard- less of the consequences, The Ministry of Health doés not care if cuts will be made- to the services provided. They are just interested in getting our budget balanced. This unfortunately bas led to a lot of rhetoric and in- fighting amongst — local people. There should be concerted effort by all or us to make the Ministry of Health un- derstand that we will no longer accept two tier medi- cine — lots of services to the southem part of the pro- vince, minimal to the north. You mentioned that you believe that the provincial health ministry has long felt that doctors have exerted too much control over our hospital when it comes to admissions, discharges and surgeries. Father's last days Dear Sir: Tam a victim of lymphatic cancer, and have wished for some time to retum to my family in the Toronto area to live out my last days. Until recently, however, this seemed an impossible wish. Now, thanks to. the canvassing work of the Wil- lows Tenants Association under the able direction of Margaret Cooper,. the money necessary to pay for the airline ticket has been raised. For thasc who gave gener- ously from the heart, even though they do not know me personally, I can only say 2 heart felt ‘thank you’, : Perhaps they sensed how important it is that a: father spend his last days with his. family even though a long . period of separation has in- tervened. Clearly, my family desired closure and now through the generosity of strangers this will be possible, = Floyd Dean, Terrace, B.C. I am wondering who you feel would be best able to do this. “You may rest assured that patients are not admitted to the hospital unless it is ab- solutely necessary, Patients are discharged home as soon as is safely possible. I would expect thal miost people would prefer to have control of their surgery in the bands of their surgeon. "Finally, I held the position. Separate | CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag of Chief of Staff of our hos- pital for over four years. I wish to make it perfectly clear that my resignation as the Chief of Staff was my decision and my decision alone. It had absolutely nothing to do with any ministry wish whatsoever. I left my posi- tion as chief of staff for rea- sons stated in my letter of ral . resignation to Ms. Tarwick, head of the CHC. ] hope this will help you to be able to ‘‘figure out exact- ly what the heck is going - on, ws We provide too many ser- vices for the size of our hos- pital and our government funding. We either cut ser- vices or get more funding. It is that simple. Dr. Jim Dunfield, Terrace, B.C. Dr. R.D. Greenwood Chiropractor 4635 Lazelle, Terrace as MSP, ICBC, WCB ACCEPTED Dynamic Gait Analysis and © Prescription Orthotics Now Available. For Appointment 638-8165 case TIME a ec > Safeway Club Price Edwards Coffee Regular, Fine or Extra Fine Grind. 300 g. FIRST ONE - ‘| Combined varieties. {| SAVE up to $1.50 tp eee paren Safeway Club Price Cheese Time Spread Lucerne. Tt kg, FIRST ONE. 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