Shoe metereae.: fae ci att tank WEN ate mae a Bae Resa, YAMBA TD de Be Ae TSE Te aire

+2

Terrace wasn’t a Jarge com-
munity in 1950. About three to
“four hundred people lived in an
area no larger than four or five
“city blocks, according to Fraser

‘-McKinnon. This was the year.

. that staff at the Home for the-
Aged, later renamed Skeenaview
Lodge,. opened the doors of the .
‘west wing to 150 Essondale men- ~
tal patients. ‘The home was lo- |
‘cated about a mile or so north of
Terrace, perched on a hill over-
looking: ‘the town. It was also the
year that the staff at the Home

Our

As outrageous as

- for doctors.

_ rations are performed.

it seems, poli-
' ticiansare actually making medical decisions . B.C.governmentis jeopardizing
of thousands of British Columbians.

" They say health care costs too much.

_ Decisions that delay crucial testing
Is this true? At $1,227 last year, B.C’s

for cancer. Decisions on when and how op-

of medical procedures doctors can order.

tor the Aged, living in a comi-'

munity of. their own’ separate
from Terrace, began forming
bonds with their fellow workers

that'would last for decades.
In its first few years of opera--.

tion the home consisted of two
‘wards, says McKinnon, ‘‘both
of :which had: to be locked: to.
‘prevent patients from escap- .
-jng’’, This changed in time, and. ;
the Home for the Aged was one
of the: first hospitals in the

province to eliminate locked
doors. Even .when: the wards _

alt

By deciding to withhold funds, the

per capita health care

expen
Even decisions affecting the number fourth beliind Alberta, Ontario and Saskat-
-chewan. In fact, increases in health costs

Fg dig ag RBS rr fee ee eae A IE ore

Piet ocak ate

‘were locked, ‘though, McKinion

Says. that many -patients were ..
allowed to walk around the
grounds: and ‘had a certain

amount of “ground privileges”’

Before the Home for the Aged

opened, however, an ‘‘advance
‘party’? was sent to Terrace to
-prepare . the buildings for occu-~
“pancy.. ‘Helping this. crew, says.

‘former’ employee Marg Good-
lad; were two local women —.

Susan Adams and: Martha Paul-
son (who still resides in Ter-
race).

z:| : Skeen: aview

~ onet this preparatory work
‘was completed the first patients
arrived by train from Essondale
on Sept. 4 — but they weren’t
welcomed to the type of facility
you might imagine. There was a
shortage of staff.and those who
did work there were underpaid.
The government of the day,
“however, covered this short-
coming, by putting the residents
. to work. The residents were
‘generally young and in good
health and were expected to help
with everyday chores — helping

to prepare meals, doing laundry; oe
mowing and trimming grass and

‘many other jobs... _

McKinnon describes’ how. the

staff shortage was directly
linked to low wages: “Because
of competition for people :to
work in the bush, which paid
two-or three times as much,”’ he
writes. Time corrected this situa-

tion but the original head cook.
at the home, Terrace résident
- Jim Piffer,

remembers those
days well.

continued on page 20

+

are trasling | increases in general revenues. Please sign it.
thehealth Andoccupyinga smaller, not larger, portion If we don’t keep health care in the
of the total provincial budget. hands of professionals; we'll all be paying
It’s not costs that are out ofline, it’s the price.
the government's priorities. . . Ses
diture was At your doctor’s office right now is BRITISH COLUMBIA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
a petition urging government -
to take health care more setiously. Your healthi 1S on the e.