Aa - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 8, 1996

TERRACE.

STANDARD.

ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. * V8G 5R2
TELEPHONE: (604) 638-7283 * FAX: (604) 638-8432
E-MAIL: terrace.standard@sasquat.com
MODEM: (604) 638-7247

Milis mayhem

Can you explain what is happening at Mills
Memorial Hospital?

Hospitals were once built and staffed under the
assumption that there would never be a crimp in
the money pipeline.

We all cheerfully bought into socialized medi-
cine as one of the cornerstones of Canadian
society. This foundation went way beyond
politics. It had everything to do with how we
thought of ourselves as a nation. Of course,
‘governments fueled this as the bigger the hospi-
tal, the more nurses and doctors there were in-
side, the greater the payback at election time.

| ‘Se ‘how as this changed?

' Simple. There isn’t any more money. Medical
services costs historically have risen in the dou-
ble digits each year. It’s about the only sector of
the economy that has done so, partially due to
the attitude that there would always be money.
But those costs eventually caught up with
governments and this level of spending can’t
continue. The federal government has cut back
on what it pays for medical services and, given
the expense of running hospitals, the provincial
government feels medical money is better spent
on less expensive community or home care.

What has that meant for Mills?

This is the fourth year of a budget freeze at

Mills. A freeze is as good as a budget cut be-
.cause of inflation and wage increases. Anybody
can cut costs for the first while by eliminating
waste and increasing efficiency but eventually, it
boils down to people losing their jobs and, with
hospitals, closing beds.

HOW TIME FLIES...
FOUR O'CLOCK AND
| STILL HAVEN'T
MADE ONE SINGLE. (,
PROMISE 10- -pAY |, . /

Clark’s in front by a nose

VICTORIA —— Finance Min-
ister Elizabeth Cull introduced
a budget in the B.C. Legisla-
ture last Tuesday that was
rendered null and void by
Premier Glen Clark just hours
Jater.

Before Cull had even fin-
ished delivering her budget
speech, the legislative press
gallery was informed that
Clark would hold a press con-

ference at 1:30 p.m., outside |

Government House,

Tradition took it on the chin,
once again, as Clark announc-
ed at the portal to the stately
Goverment House, neutral
and apolitical territory by all

“FT ow ts it poing so far?

Not so good. The hospital’s latest plan to cut
cosis is to spend $1 million on renovations to
‘ebnsolidate. services on its main medical services.
floor. Translation! fewer: nursing jobs.” ve
' This plan also features a “‘now you see it, now
you don’t’’ bed count. There are 42 beds on that
floor. The plan is to reduce that number to 33
and budget for a ‘70-75 per cent occupancy level.

Doesn’t this mean a loss of beds?

Not according to the hospital because it says it
will place nine beds in reserve, ready for oc-
cupancy in case of emergencies. That’s a tricky
way of saying there won’t be an overall bed loss.

And what about job cuts?

The latest plan, once the renovations are com-
plete, is to cut back on registered nursing hours
on the main floor. These hours will then be
shifted to the emergency room where, to make
room for the registered nurses, Mills is going to
lay off licensed practical nurses.

Is that being accepted?

Not by the Hospital Employees? Union which
represents the licensed practical nurses. It feels
this is an attempt by management to pit it against
the B.C. Nurses’ Union, which represents regis-
tered nurses, and thus take the heat off of the
overall issue of job losses. There’s also a hint
that the scramble for nursing jobs is a case of
survival of the fittest — senior nurse managers
will bump other registered nurses who will then
take the licensed practical nurse positions.

Will the election change any of this?

Probably not. If the NDP are re-elected at best
Mills will go through another budget freeze
which, because of inflation, translates into job
cuts. The Liberals have to explain how their
pledge to increase health care spending will be
balanced against their plan to limit the size of the
provincial budget in relation to overall economic

growth,
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FROM THE CAPITAL.
HUBERT BEYER

traditional standards, that Brit-
ish Columbians will go to the
polls May 28.

Asked why he didn’t choose .

a more fitting. setting. for his
election call, Clark said he
wanted to accommodate the
media by being available right
after the Lieutenant-Governor
Garde Gardom dissolved the
legislature, clearing the way
for an election. Sorry, I had no
idea you did it for us,

Clark got off to a running
start, boarding his campaign
bus immediately after the an-
nouncement

The next few wecks promise
to be a hard-foughi, gruciling
batile with no prisoners taken.

One indication of the tone of
the campaign are the Liberal
ads that have been on TV for.

federal election, when they ran
TV spots showing Jean
Chretien talking out of bath
sides of his mouth,

Issuing the election call,
Clark struck up a by-now fa-

| miliar theme, one we will hear

over and over again during the
next few weeks;

‘In this election, British
Columbians face the clearest

| choice anyone can remember,

It’s a choice between protect-
ing Medicare and education,
with tax relief for the middle
class, or cutting health care
and education to pay for tax
breaks for large corporations.”’

While Clark has pressed

prominent Liberals, including
MLA Allan Wamke told
Campbell to stuff it.
Meanwhile, Jack Weisger-
ber’s Reformers, consistently
trailing in the polls, will serve
only to split the anti-NDP vote.
By comparison, Clark has
been talking for months about
protecting Medicare and edu-
cation. Being in the driver's
seat has also enabled him to
spend money in areas consid-
ercd important by the public.
But above all, Clark has
given the impression of being a
firm leader, something British
Columbians weren't used to
from Mike Harcourt. When ail

days before the election was
called,

Clark was a litile upset over
the ads. which portray him as_
- “Glenocchio, i? whose: : “those
grows a litile larger with every
past promise the Liberals claim
tumied out to be a tie,

*T think it’s completely un-
acceptable in Canadian
politics. Personal altacks, using
disfiguring . photography or
computerized photography is
unacceplable. I don’t take to it
very kindly,”’ Clark said.

Well, cry me a river, And
besides, the Liberals use such
tactics at their own risk.
Maybe they forgot what hap-
pened to the Tories in the fast

pretty well all the right buttons
since he took over as leader of
the NDP, the wheels seem to
fall off the Liberal campaign
“Wagon! one by ond. ©

To. start wilh, the public
doesn’t know ‘to this day who
Gordon Campbell is and what
exaclly he stands for, His
Strategy of letting Neutenants
like Gary Farrell-Collins do
the down-and-dirty work for
him has cost Campbell dearly.

Badly-enunciated —_ election
promises like cutting billions
of dollars from public spend-
ing, without providing details,
also did nothing to clear the
cobwebs from voters’ minds.
And worst of all, a number of

else is said and done, leader
ship or even the impression
thereof counts for more than
all the numbers crunched by

the oppasition..... dhe,
 Ewill be connecting with the

party leaders at various inter-
sections of the election trail. I
might even take my grand-
daughter with me, as long as
nobody rats one me that I am
kecping her out of school for a
day or two. At any rate, this is
an education she won't get in
the classroom.

Beyer can be reached at Tel:
920-9300; Fax: 385-6783; E-
Mail: hbeyer@direct.ca

Ah, the comforts of home

SINCE LAST fall Mills
Memorial Hospital has been
asking lective patients to
supply their own grooming

' items, slippers and bathrobe,

To date, too few patients are
heeding the hospital's plea.

Probably some people have
good reasons for not taking
along certain personal com-
forts. For instance, I’d worry
about theft of a rechargeable
electric razor.

I'd be embarrassed to unpack
my five year old quilted slip-
pers with their soles worn so
thin I could read Braille with
my tocs, One look, and the
nurse would have them
laundered to tatters.

And our family shares a tube
of toothpaste and a hairbrush.
I'd have to go out and buy an
exira hairbrush as well as new
slippers before | handed over
my health care card to the ad-
mittance clerk. Klecnex is no
problem for me. I always tow a
carton of it on wheels like air-
port luggage,

THROUGH BIFOCALS

CLAUDETTE SANDECK]

I've never been a patient at
Milis. But having worked in
four other hospitals, I’ve seen
patients wearing blue paper
slippers thal stayed on only if
the person shuffled, and
bathrobes striped like Alcatraz
uniforms, Dressed so, even
patients well enough to be dis-
charged appeared in need of
further hospitalization.

If inclegant hospital garb
isn’t. persuading patients to
bring their own bathrobes and

IMAGINE !-THE ANCIENTS
BELIEVED THAT STARS :
WERE FLAWS IN ASHIECD iM
BETWEEN US AND THE | J
GLORY oF THE HEAVENS ae

Acadll

WELL SCIENCE
Sure EXPLODED

THAT MYTHIS |

slippers, the hospilal could fol-
low modera advertising.
Remind patients, as did Wil-
liams Moving, that their own
precious belongings will be
kept separate from other
patients’ stuff.

Take a cue from Hallmark:
encourage family who care
enough io give the very best to
pack every comfort a suitcase
can hold — lotion, deodorant,
socks, art afghan..,

Or, in the style of Pepsi or
Coke, allow suppliers to set up
hospital dispensers for tooth-

paste, toothbrushes, disposable

razors, soaps... Make it easy
for patients to buy their needs
on sile. Such transactions
would be far quicker for the
patient than waiting for family
to fetch forgotten toiletries
from home.

We arrive for admitiance
with just our ATM, Visa, and
health care cards, set for an cx-
perience as comfortable as you
can expect sleeping between
sheets starched to the

flexibility of boiler plate. We
don’t ask to imitate Liz Taylor
checking in accompanied by a
maid, five-trunk wardrobe, and
a Maltese terrier named Sugar,

But gaing to the hospital is a
bit like staying at a motel. We
expect to find complimentary
soap, Shampoo, and tissues.
Though relatively inexpensive,
these small cost do add up.
Dollars saved help the hospital
toward funding major, vital
equipment.

Every budget cutback trims
our hospitals to more closely
resemble TY news reports of
hospital wards in the Middle
East during the Gulf War, in
Bast Africa amid civil wart, or
in Communist Romania 10
years ago. Paticnis relied on
family to wash and feed them,
make their beds, do their
laundry, and clean their rooms.

The B.C. government set out
to bring health care closer to
home; Mills wants us to bring

home closer to our. hospital.

care.

OPE Rha

Ek