A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 29, 2003 STANDARD ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988 B.C, AND YUKON COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION, CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION CN CNA PUBLISHER: ROD LINK ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C, » V8G 5R2 TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 » FAX: (250) 638-8432 WEB: www.terracestandard.com EMAIL: newsroom@terracestai :dard.com Tell us more _ THE NORTHERN Health Authority must move quickly to fill the growing information gap about its plans to change the way it cares for seniors, Earlier this year the authority released its gen- eral three-year vision to boost community and home-care services for seniors. Simply put, the authority wants to do everything possibie to have seniors live at home for as long as possible. Given the strain on health care budgets, the plan _ does make sense. It is much cheaper to care for seniors in their homes through services such as Meals on Wheels and visiting nurses than it does to place people in institutions. On a human level, home-care is preferred as people can continue to live in familiar surround- ' ings, supported as the need arises by the above- mentioned and other services. Only those people who need the highest level of care would be placed into institutions. This explains the Northern Health Authority’s . vision for Terraceview Lodge. From its current . 75 intermediate and extended care beds, the three- year plan calls for a cut to 50 highly specialized ' care beds. On paper, at least, so far so good. There’ S an " assumption the money not spent on those 25 soon- ' to-be-gone beds would be shifted to providing those home and community services providing - more value and more overall care. But there are now reports of beds already being _ closed or being left vacant at Terraceview. And to date, the Northern Health Authority has been re- _ Juctant to flesh out the quantity, quality and cost of community and home care. The problem is that the Northern, Health Author- ‘ity j is trying ‘to do two things at-orice + : change the _ public perception that the quality of health care is directly tied to the number of beds in hospitals and in long term care institutions and shift to more - community and home services. A failure by the health authority to completely lay out its plans for senior care will only heighten opposition and worries. Right now, the worry and opposition mainly comes from seniors and health . care advocates. But as time goes on, opposition will spread to other people, leading to widespread discontent and ' suspicion, painting the Northern Health Authority as an autocratic, unfeeling and cold-hearted bu- _ Teaucratic monolith inhabited only by bean coun- ters and systems analysts. And that will ultimately become a problem for the health authority’s political masters, the provin- cial Liberal government. The governing Liberals - made much of the previous NDP government’s . health care problems. There’s no way they want to be put in the same position. Yet that’s exactly what’s going to happen unless ’ the health authority is more forthcoming. Cee errr eee eee eee eee eee eee PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Rod Link ADVERTISING MANAGER: Brian Lindenbach PRODUCTION MANAGER: Edouard Credgeur NEWS: Jeff Nagel NEWS/SPORTS Sarah A. Zimmerman NEWS/COMMUNITY: Jennifer Lang - 2002 WINNER FRON E: D: : x CCNA BETTER T OFFICE: Darlene Keeping & Carol McKay CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR: Teri Gordon ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS: Bert Husband & Debbie Simons COMPOSING: Susan Credgeur AD ASSISTANT: Sandra Stefanik SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: $57.94 (+$4.06 GST)=62.00 per year; Seniors $50.98 (+$3.57 GST)=54.55; Out of Province $65.17 (+$4.56 GST)=69.73 Outside of Canada (6 months) $156.91(+10.98 GST)= 167.89 MEMEER OF NEWSPAPERS COMPETITION AND B.C, PRESS COUNCIL (www. bepresscouncllorg) _ ee Le Pris Grlemtie eet Faden ” Serving the Tertace and Thombilt area, Publishad on Wednesday of each week at 4210 Clinton Breet, Terrace, British Columbia, V8G 5R2. - $lories, photographs, illustrations, designs and typastyles In the Terrace Standard are the property of lhe copy- fight holders, including Gariboo Press (1969) Ltd, ils illustration repro services and advertising agens'ss, Reproduction in whole or in part, without wrilten permisston, Is specifically prohibited. - Authorizad es sacond-class mall pending the Post Offica Department, for paymant of postage In cash. Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents for iheir time and talents t oem THE i WATERING RESTRICTIONS rt A U PRAYED AND PRAYED //| AND PRAYED FoR NOW I'M TRYING FoR TALL, DARK, HANDSOME VERSION OF STAN - ONE -WiTeH HAIR. ANP MONEY f OVERHEARD DURING THE STORM OF ways CENTURY Liberals will defeat new Tories VICTORIA — Let me see if ] got this straight, There ance was a Progressive Conservative Party that once in a long while formed the government. Along came Preston Manning, a western upstart, stole most the Tory marbles, and ever since, what is loosely referred to the Ca- naidian Right, has been lamenting that it is being kept from forming another government by the frag- mentation of the right vote. The aforementioned upstart eventually responded to the call for unity of the right by propos- ing that changing the name of his party from Reform Party to Cana- dian Alliance would do the trick, Unfortunately, in the process he lost the leadership of the new party to one Stockwell Day, the man who believes the world is only 6,000 years old and thal homo sapiens walked with the dinosaurs. He didn’t last very long and was replaced by one Stephen Harper. - ‘Meanwhile, the old Tories lan- guished as a fourth party barely _ Managing to get a handful of candidates elected. But all that is going to change now that the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party have struck a deal to unite under a single right-wing ban- ner to be called the Conservative Party of Canada. FROM THE CAPITAL HUBERT BEYER Happy days are here again. At least that’s what the deal-makers fondly hope. Pronouncements at the birth of the new child were decidedly optimistic in a jingoistic sort of way. . "Our swords will henceforth point at the Liberals, not at each other,” said Alliance leader Harper, while Tory leader Peter MacKay predicted that yotensis {think this willpbyitsvary naa: splitting would end the: drought -- of the right at the polls. But wouldn’t you know it, the snipers of which there has rarely been a shortage among Tories, were already shooting at the new political creature with live am- munition. “The so-called Conservative Party of Canada, if il goes ahead, will be an illegitimate creature conceived in deception and born in betrayal,” said David Orchard, former Progressive Conservative Party leadership candidate. That he’s a litthe peeved is understandable. He was the kingmaker at the convention that chose MacKay as the new leader last May. Orchard threw his support behind MacKay after extracting an agreement from him not to pursue a merger with the Alliance. “This is a complete and utter betrayal of our agreement, but more importantly, it’s a betrayal of our party and of its history,” Orchard summed up his feeling about the party merger. Former Tory leader and prime minister Joe Clark was somewhat less incensed but also left. no doubt about his views, lament- ing the death of the Progressive Conservative Party, stating that it had a hard-won reputation as a defender of Canada’s diversity. I'm still pondering that one. ‘ture, be ainarrower-party/than the PC party has been,” Clark said. But let’s. suppose the nay- Sayers are in the minority and the merger ts approved by the membership of both parties. What then? | The next election is expected in April and Paul Martin’s Lib- eral juggernaut is merrily rolling along. The new and improved party of the right has no cohesive plat- form in place. We have not heard one policy pronouncement from either party to the marriage. The candidate selection pro- cess will consume a lot of time. Ik won't be easy to find candi- dates for every federal riding that appeal to supporters of the two former right-wing parties whose commen ground was by no means wide. But even if all that goes well, what would compel voters to trust the new party with govern- ing the country? The real problem the right faces, has always faced and prob- ably will always face is that the Liberals have staked their clair on Canadian politics brilliantly, embracing or professing to em- brace most of the values most Canadians cherish, leaving very litte room for the NDP on the left or whatever party is on the right. Let’s face it, the Liberals don’t électthemsel ves, The voters elect them, because by and large; they ‘seem to like what the Liberals stand for. Don’t blame me, tell the majority of the voters that they are wrong most of the time. That’s why chances of the Conservative Party of Canada winning the next election are those of a snowball in hell and slim to none in the one after that. Beyer can be reached at: B- mail: hbeyer@coolcom,con. Free rent? Please read on TERRACE IS well known to be a community of retir- ees, many of whom own their homes and enjoy sufficient health and wealth to travel. When they to out of town for weeks, they seek to hire a reliable young adult to move in and secure their home until their return, Yet, so far as I can determine, the city has no ros- ter of available house sitters, This unavailability of young adults willing to babysit a house for several weeks in return for comfortable accommodation is odd given the large population of college students, surely some of whom would welcome free rent, The job, though laden with responsibility, is not taxing. De- pending upon the homeownet’s requirements, a house sitter can be expected to bring in mail and flyers, care for plants and pets, and walk the dog. If, in addition, the house sitter mows the lawn or shov- els snow from the walkway for the postie’s safely, the MR. GUIDE, Sie!) mee T'M...T'M AFRAID meme OFA BEAR ATTACK Ly ON THIS TRIP! THROUGH BIFOCALS. CLAUDETTE SANDECKI home owner will be tickled. { became aware of this unique personnel shortage talking with customers. Older homeowners often time repair or reupholster- ing of a sofa or their favourite chair to coincide with an ex- tended absence. If their furniture is ready to return home before they ore, I’m instructed to ar- Tange a time suitable to the house sitter for delivering the furniture, The house sitters [’ve met have gone to work or classes, so that | must phone them before 8 a.m., at CAN You RUN FASTER THAN YOUR HUSBAND? lunchtime, or later in the evening, Any appointment agreed upon must be honoured by both myself and the sitter for smooth delivery, Reliability is a big requirement for a responsible house sitter. House sitters must also be ev- erything you'd want in a babysit- ter except skilled at CPR and the Heimlich maneuver. Trustworthy, self-reliant. Honest. Above ail, they should not be snoopy. No homeowner wants hired help pry- ing into their personal belongings. For all these reasons, home awners tend ta hire by word of mouth. Ifa house sitter does a sat- isfactory job for one homeowner, he or she will be recommended to friends. This means the best house sitters are eagerly sought and may not always be available. I'm told one homeowner, to make sure her favourite house sit- ter would be available when she wanted to leave town, went so far as to furnish a separate base- tment suite for the young lady. Other than word of mouth, where would you look for a house “I THEN YOuRE sitter to hire? ] began by ‘check- ing with travel and real estate agents. I expected both to have a ready list of potential house sitters, but no, But real estate agents do hire people to tend the yards of properties awaiting sale. So I phoned the Happy Gang Centre, my ‘through line’ ‘to seniors. [ was given the names of several retirees known to hire house sitters regularly while they take bus tours to Grace- land, ocean’ cruises to the Ba- hamas, or travel to Vancouver for extended medical treatment. So far as I have learned, no one teaches even a rudimen- tary course for house sitters, nor | does anyone publish a check list for tenants looking to hire. From my limited contact with house sitters, they should arm themselves, like babysit- ters with phone numbers for emergencies, Where. to reach the homeowner, police, firehall, a plumber, an electrician, and a vet. And know the address of the house they are sitting,