i; in the provincial budget

Tis ‘March 24 proviit ts
cial’ budget. offered the
Ministry of Health a
7.5% | increase. Of this,
5.5% was to be funneled
directly.” into hospital
budgets. This looked like
a reasonable increase. A
6.69% increase, a little
better than: $70 million,”
would at least allow B.C. .
hospitals to keep pace. —
with wage, increases and.
inflation. |
But in most cases,
when B.C. . hospitals
began receiving official :
notification of . their 1992/93
budget allocations, any perception

of the: word “reasonable” disinte-

grated. Particularly in the north.
; Hospital boards
Vancouver area, Fraser Valley
and’ the Okanagan were happy.
They were ‘told they would be

getting more money in the new

fiscal year, some of them as much

as 6-8% more than they did in the

previous year. -
In. the distant,
north, however, there were n0

smiles. All northern hospitals,

including Terrace’s Mills: Memor-

in. the

forgotten

ial,. learned they would be getting

a 0% funding increase.. Given
inflation, that meant. they would
somehow have to offer the same
services they did the year before

with something like 4% less in
real dollars. There were no smiles

at all.
"Its just like: last year never
happened," says Terrace Regional

Health Care Society CEO Michael

Leisinger. —

Early in 1991. there was con-
cern that Mills Memorial might
be heading for a year-end deficit.
On June 26 a Terrace delegation

a Terrace Review — May 8, 1992 Oe

wh, CERES
. “met “with Minister of .
.: ‘Health Bruce’ ‘Strachan ;
. and MLA Dave Parker i in -
Victoria. eye =,
“Their message:. ‘Mills
Memorial Hospital served °°
:.a regional function but
. "was funded as.a munici- .
' pal facility. As a ‘result, .
_ Mills Memorial was short.
- about a half million dol-:
lars in funding each year.
Even with restraint, the:
hospital. faced a projected
operational shortfall of
about $270,000. in -the.

. °1991/92 fiscal: year, And
.. the society had been
- forced to order a staff.
reduction of six nurses. and the

closure of 24 beds.

A Mills Memorial staff meet-
ing on July 5 focused blame on
Victoria, not the board of trustees,

. and the idea of a petition was

born. Strachan visited Mills Mem-
orial on July 22 — there were
already 12,000 signatures on that

petition and it was still growing

fast. .

- During a July 5 press confer-
ence, Strachan officially recog-
nized the regional nature of Mills
Memorial services and announced
that his ministry would pay the