| More

i

beds

| needed at

| Mills,

HAVING JUST 25 beds
‘officially approved on the
“main .
floor of Mills. Memorial _
Hospital is a‘ “ioke,” says a

medical. ‘services

local physician.

>» Demand driven by il

ness, the area’s population,

. increasing numbers of el-
' derly people and the hospi-

tal’s all-but official status
as‘a regional facility makes

, - that’.number ‘unworkable, -
says Dr. Geoff Appleton,

who also sits on’ the board

of the B.C. Medical Asso--

ciation.
- “When you talk to the

ca local docs, they say 40 beds

is a more realistic mimber,”
says ‘Appleton.

___ As it is, health care of--- “
ficials have pretty much |:

discarded that 25 number

"and have moved to 30 beds ~
. “in what they call’ an “oper-—
. ating level.” Yet there are’ -

times when that 30 bed to-
tal is exceeded ‘and daily

_admission counts hover in —
the 38 range. A consistent.
challenge facing Mills is ..
_ in the number. of elderly.
‘patients it-has who don’t
really need the services of.

a hospital but who have no-'

_ where else to go. , -
“Thad an elderly patient

_.in Mills, a woman, who
spent a” year there before.
' going to Terraceview and * —

that was just.a few weeks

: ago,” said Appleton’ re-) >»
cently. * °

‘He added that he: and
other doctors recognize the

- ultimate: ability of . Mills

to provide beds rests ‘with
having enough nurses and

_ other health care workers

to. take care of patients.

The lack of beds then af-
fects its emergency’ room
as people are kept there
until space opens up on the
hospital’s
floor, he said,
_ And that, in turn, affects
the ability of the ER to pro-
vide services.

“It’s been growing in
the last couple of years,
It’s not all that unusual to
have someone in ER for
24 hours until a bed opens

up,’ said Appleton. « .~

“Recently, when Apple-

ton was on call, five ER ©

spaces were taken up. by

people who. ‘should have.

had a hospital bed.
. “That left just one room
where all of the people

_coming into ER had to

be examined: It’s a major
problem and it is growing
and it’s not unique. It’s not

-a problem with the ER. It’s
a problem because there

aren’t enough beds,” he
said.

“People may think that

because this is a small

"hospital that we don’t see -

the kind of people as does
a large hospital, that °we
don’t see the tough stuff.
But that’s not true. We see
the same kind of people
as anywhere else, not just

“those with coughs and.

colds.”

“Tf, you have your ER
full of people waiting for a
bed and then an emergency

happens, then you’re really —

in trouble,” said Appleton:
Local health care of-

ficials say the ER at Mills ©

has been getting busier
with 19,905 visits between
April 1, 2005 to March 31,

2006 compared to 18,841 |

visits the year before.
“These . visits would

include everything from —

emergencies: to scheduled
visits such as having casts
removed or for IVs,” says
Northern Health Authority
official Rowena Holoien.

In that same period, ad-

missions from ER to the
hospital itself. declined
from 1,334 between April
1, 2004 to March 31, 2005
to 1,078 from April 1, 2005
to March 31 of this year.
But Holoien said these

\

main medical

loc

kinds of stats are too gen-

eral and don’t tell the full .
.. Story of the level of activity 7

within the ER or the result-

_ing impact on the hospital.

That’s changing - this
year because Mills is in-

‘troducing a more detailed ©
Stats program, which will.

measure not only the medi-
cal state of a person com-

-ing into the ER.but the time.
it takes for that’person to
‘receive treatment.

VISIT YOUR CHRYSLER «

Wise customers read the fine print: *,

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 19, 2006 - A114

"Busted ts”

NANCY HOPKINS, owner of Golddiggers Flea Market, holds a rack slick sto-
len from her store last'October and later recovered by police. She ‘says Ter- |’
race RCMP forwarded charges to prosecutors twice but both times they were
rejected even though she believes the culprit was. caught red- handed. She.
* taped this front store “window after. would- be thieves attempted’a break-in

ore)

over the, Canada Day long weekend... _ MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

- is extremely proud of our graduating students

of the 2005-2006 school year. Not only do our _
students face the same challenges as in-school
students, but they must also be self-motivated,
disciplined, very well organized and able to

- work independently. Our students’ abilities
have been recognized by a number of
‘substantial University awards and scholarships.

We would like,to offer our congratulations .
_ to the following students: ;

Sarah Hudson ~ Graduated with Honours

Kaleigh Allen ,
Katherine Ames
Ben Brown _ ,

- Benjamin Brown

Angela Chapman
Brandon Craig
Tora deMedeiros >

Lauren Edgar - -
Dentin Grant

“Candice Green

Ashley. Hershey —

Laurie Koch

Jeff Mohler

North Coast Distance
Education School |

Clancy Petersen - 4
‘Laura Reimche 4)
Holly Robinson
Sasha Rochon
' Robyn Scofield .
_ John Shaws 3 8
_< Christina. Sivyer soe
- Thomas Stewart, —
Jared Webb ° Coe _ cs
Kimberly Webb ao ;
Natasha Wolker
7 Mark Zarvie .

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www.terraceautomall. com pir 5058 |