AG - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 28, 1996 CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag © Hospital isn’t a hotel An open letter to: Rod Falconer, President Willows Tenants Assoc. Dear Sir; Thank you for your recent letter (Terrace Standard, Feb, 21). Yow ‘are’ incorrect~in your comments that ] made a statement to the effect that ‘‘our hospital was being used as a hotel’, You may recall that an issue was raised about out-of-town patients being dis- charged and because a doctor might want the palicnt to remain close to the hospital just in case the palicnt had a relapse. The inference was tha? such a patient should be permilted to stay at the hospital longer, I made the comment that it might be a topic for discussion as to whether the ex- pensive acute care facilitics should provide “hotel accommodation’? for such patients or whether that kind of support could be better delivered by other methods, To keep a patient in a hospital bed costs hundreds of dollar a day whereas a hotel room is around $50. As you also know, Sleeping Beauty Lodge exists today to ful- fill that need at much less cost to the paticnt and the taxpayer. ; At no time did I state that currently ‘our hospital was being used as a hotel’’ so you can appreciate that I am somewhat dis- tressed at the misrepresentation of the dis- cussion we had. Second, the number of hospital beds available is not an indicator of the quality of paticnt care. Last year Mills Memorial Hospital operated a1 an average 70 per cent capacity. Thal means that on average 30 percent of the beds, which have to have Staff to supervise them, are emply. All the ministry has said is that an 85 per cent average occupancy should be the target. Given the taxpayers dollars are limited, we have an obligation to make Milis just as efficient as ather hospitals. Preference-based pricing has saved Pharmacare $8.2 million since October. Drug companies are cven reducing their dmg costs to match Pharmacare’s No special rights here Dear Sir: ; : The Quebec issue and the native issue have been bothering me for a long time. On the Quebec issue, I think that all the government officials who are involved in this should be charged with treason. Any more talk of separating from Canada and they should be exiled or put in jail. Who do they think they are that they can just up and take a part of our country away from the rest of us, Canada belongs to all Canadians not just to the people who live in Quebec, When government officials are swom into office do they not swear to uphold the laws of our country and to work for the country and not against it? I am sure that if one of the American states decided that they no longer wanted to be a part of the United States of America the President would send in the militia. Is it only the French that are to be, recog~ nized in this country, or are we all supposed to be equal, Our country would not have such a deficit if the government quit paying ont all our reference-based price. The savings in dmg cost will protect Pharmacare and Medicare. I recognize that some (repeat ‘some’) members of the local medical profession have followed the B.C. Medical Associa- tion's political agenda. Doctors incomes are facilitaled “by their access 1o hospitals which are paid for by the taxpayers, Any political comments they make to in- crease the taxpayers’ contribution to fund- ing more beds when we have a 70 per cent occupancy rate should be given critical thought. Putting political agendas in perspective does not suggest thal the professionalism of most of the medical profession is being questioned, The BCMA and the opposition parties are on record as supporting a two-tiered, Amer- icanized health care system where the thickness of your wallet will dictate how fast you can expect medical services and of what quantily those services will be. The Liberal opposition even says it will cut $3 billion dollars from provincial spending just to give big business a billion dollar tax break. A $3 billion dollar cut is worse than what Alberta or Ontario have done. Governments have to deliver services within the dollars available. Federal of- floading has continued and I don’t hear ofa single letter 10 the Prime Minister protest- ing the loss of $1.3 billion over the next two years. The local mayor has yet to hold a press conference denouncing federal offloading of health, education and social services costs, In the last four years, I have not heard of a single case where someone had to go our of town for a medical service they did not have to go out of town for prior to 1992. In fact the CT scanner has lessened the need for out of town travel. More specialists want to come to Terrace. Perhaps it is be- cause this is simply a good place to live and work. Helmut Giesbrecht, MLA for Skeena, Terrace, B.C, sae ggnny ss tax money to settle land claims and appease the ‘‘distinct society”. Why not just call us all Canadians and let us all pay taxes and have equal rights as Canadians. If there are some that do not want equal rights for every Canadian then they can leave our country. We do not need people that want to tear our country apart. As for the native issue, the government is going to go on paying and paying and paying with our tax dollars for something that as far as I am concerned has been paid back over the years. They talk about what they have lost. Let’s talk aboul what they have gained. They have had free medical, dental, education, free housing, and many more benefits, It is time that the government let them stand on their own two feet and stop treat- ing them like a bunch of imbeciles, They are quile capable of working and taking part in the day to day task of raising a fam- ily on their own, Claudette Grosset, Terrace, B.C. Sie Presents ° - Bg oe ta 6» MAR 12. NOON Qe ag® 3- 4pm 1” x Conrad = Flapps at? 7 - Bom So The Blue se Aa Shadows xf fas. - n. Lend @ Hand, Bulld The Terrace Little Theatre TO PLEDGE DIAL 638-ARTS WATCH OS ON CABLE to OR JOIN OS AT REM, THEATRE 4 - Spm s y x Paul %, Oy Hann % 4 Cag B= 9om 2 the Arts” This Ad space is presented as a public service by: _~ miaady_—— meses STANDAR 3210 Clinton St. Terrace, B.C. Active Livin Exercise Yor phon THE Diabetes RESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN far tal od AES OC Attys fal QUABE TES Cate UTE ASAOCMTION Ga DRT IE = RITCHIE MALLETT Lease & Fleet Munager Thornhill Motors 3026 Highway 16, fest, Terrace 07041 Featuring Cars From Suberu, Hyundai & Mazda 2 - 1996 MAZDA 4X4 MPV'S AND 3 - 1996 SUBURU OUTBACK’S IN STOCK NOW! 14% entire store RWIN’S JE WE LL ER S° 1 4% off the 0 entire store P LINGEREREAD PLIVHOUSE - 1 Ao off the 0 entire store FLOWERS off IA | “Your FTD Florist With & Flair™ 1 Ay off the 0 entire store Shefield & Bons Tobacconist 0 off the 14 entire store (EXCLUDING TOBACCO) aap 1 Ay off the selected 0 merchandise store 1 AY off the 0 entire store* - *Exceptions: tobacco, Prescriptions, sale Items, coliectables and baby formula, @ sonny's : eg COLLECTABLES & ff th ti 14% store y ome mace qu sTlecs 1 Ay off the 0 entire store 635-7286 f 32 Join us on : this special day of savings where the participating merchants of the Skeena Mail will I pay the equivalent of 2% , — the applicable TAX FREE ON C.D’S & TAPES boutigue Skeena Mall 638-7640 Richi’s 14% ontire store WEEKEND EDITION 1 Ao off the 0 entire store Save the equivalent of the tax on selected displays of books PET WORLD 14% entire atore Maal a4 entire store