| L Hos ey — limit By NIGEL MORGAN A serious crisis is developing in B.C. hospitals. Newspaper headlines tell the story . . . ‘‘8,000 wait for beds”. ofBed Shortage’’. . . “Substandard Hospitals Get Reprove Because . “Facilities Rapped in 3 Hospitals’’ -. . “Provincial Doctors Leader Cites ‘Serious Delays’ I Treatment’’ Admit Dying Youngster” . Employees Picket To Back Away”’ ‘Hospital Protests.’ Each year one out of every pout of us requires a hospital ed. The odds are that you or a Member of your family will need __ the facilities of a hospital within the next four years. Maybe Ener than you think. If you or Pacone close to you needed a Ospital bed tonight, would there One available for you? In fertain situations that is a question of life or death. And the chances are that if you live in the OWer Mainland area of Greater Ictoria, there’ll be no bed for you. oo a long time we’ve been ee and hearing about the Beer vowded conditions that ‘ ae in our hospitals: of people top. Must wait a month or more ; elective surgery, of cots lined Din the emergency hallway at caver General: of bottle- €cks in admitting wards, and of Woefully inadequate facilities for ‘ € chronically ill and small Mes dren. There has long been a Pace shortage in many of the arger hospitals of our province. any people even now simply nnot obtain the treatment they ; requi 3 : ‘fequire without long and serious ; Me ays. Two recent cases that Bere to my attention in our ighborhood were that of a 79- Year-old pensioner who had to is taken to ‘‘emergency”’ to gain > Mission after waiting three =e for removal of part of the aR for cancer. Another, the Im of an auto accident witha juuctured lung (that all but cost ao his life) who had to lay ona bef ™ emergency for 24 hours , ore space could be found for ™in a proper ward. a € problem: simply over- pee — too many patients, Sis Bac room and facilities, and 5 Ufficient staff — has been ‘eadily worsening. CRITICAL SITUATION i recent national survey of Xty major Canadian cities Xposed the fact that B.C’s iad city of Victoria has the is Best average waiting list per pita in Canada. The report . Wed a total of 3.213 waiting F oné thousand hospital beds. ficouver’s percentage is not &t behind, B Survey made for the Fraser- i Tard Regional Hospital Strict (the Lower Mainland’s sho Cities and municipalities) pee 7.800 waiting for elective Rene alone for a total of 4,000 ike beds in the region, only * t to nine hundred of which Ofte t aside for that purpose. ata 40 and sometimes more, Ucally il} or injured. are evita for hospitalization in the cae General Emergency t Poctors and hospital adminis- mille’ insist more than $300 lon is needed to overcome e Present serious deficiency in ; pel facilities. in the Lower pang Region. Instead feo! government « Sures held the last Regional oa bylaw down $51 million i Sixth of the estimated mini- .~™ requirement) and then i ted spending down to $12 ah per year. All over the fea hospitals are in dire 4 Hospital Urged By Minister To _ . More Patients Turned Medical authorities tell us that for good, safe hospital care hos- pital occupancy should not exceed 85%. When that level is exceeded they say, the margin for emergency admissions is not provided for, effective treat- ment is endangered and risks of medical error are raised. Yet these conditions exist in nearly all Lower Mainland hospitals and many others today. Some have 100% occupancy all the time, and some even lift their intake to 125% by putting cots in the corridors. Vancouver General reported a 92.5% average as long ago as 1966. And the ‘‘emergency”’ ward not only handles the regular flow of “emergency” patients, but psychiatric cases, chronic-care cases, nursing-home appli- cants, alcoholics and intensive- ‘eare patients as well. : Increasing numbers of Van: couverites are learning that the énly way to gain admission even in cases of cancer surgery, (in ‘which time is often decisive), is to be ‘dropped off at Emergency.” SOCREDS BLAMED General health expenditures of the Provincial*government have © remained at about 14 percent of the total budget for the last ten years, but the percentage. for hospital construction has steadily diminished. Since the Federal government started contributing to the operating costs of hospitals, the hospitals themselves have not benefitted. As the Federal contribution increased, the portion of the Provincial Sales Tax committed to hospital purposes has been withheld. The Provincial govern- ment treasury has been the beneficiary. Now the crisis is worsening. The cause — imposition by the Bennett government of new spending curbs on_ hospitals (strikingly similar to the controls already imposed on the school system) and amendment of the Hospitals Act by the last session of the B.C. Legislature to provide for government-take- over .of any hospital not operating to the wishes of the Secred majority. - The new amendment simply provides that wherever ‘‘The minister (Loffmark) considers it necessary he may appoint an examining board to examine all aspects of plannning, construction or operation of a hospital.’’ The Board ‘‘shall proceed in accord- ance with instructions issued by the minister and shall report . .. to the minister within such time as may be specified.” - And “‘if in the opinion of the Minister circumstances warrant the minister may refer to the lieutenant-governor-in- council the report together with such recommendations as he deems appropriate” The cabinet ‘“‘may at any time appoint a person as public admin- istrator to manage the affairs of a hospital society or corporation that owns, operates. or is planning, or constructing a hospital’’. The full extent of the club the government is holding over the ae 20) SAVE OUR HOSPITALS. Doctors, nurses and members of the Hospital Em- ployees’ Union are picketing hospitals to protest provincial govern- ment hospital financing policies. This week the Vancouver General Hospital is being picketed. Photo shows pickets at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster. head of every hospital board in the province is perhaps best exemplified in the following provisions: ‘‘Upon appointment of a public administrator to conduct the affairs of any hospital society or corporation, the trustees or directors of such society or corporation cease to hold office.” The government- appointee has “‘Exclusive right to exercise all powers of such a society” and ‘‘Exclusive control of the property, assets and revenues of such society or corporation and the disposal of same.” Effects of the new powers to Rank and file key to forestry victory ‘Wider involvement of rank and - file woodworkers is the key to victory in the forest industry says ‘‘Onthe Beam’, an industry | paper issued by the ‘Left Caucus in Wood,”’ in its. May issue, now being distributed throughout the industry. ‘Lashing out at the stalling tactics of the forest barons in the current negotiations, ‘On the Beam’’ points out that they are part of the Employers’ Council gang-up on labor. “They are attempting to dictate the conditions under which we work, and cut wages to reap super profits.” “On the Beam’’ says: ‘‘The road to success in all union struggles is rank and file involve- ment; co-ordination and unity between unions; and keeping the public informed on the issues involved and exposing the false propaganda of the employers. “Negotiations for 45,000 workers in lumber and pulp can’t be left to a small committee be- hind closed doors in- Vancouver. We want to know what’s going on. We want to be involved. The bosses are united. We have got to be too. “We have no alternative in the current crisis but to bring the whole strength of organized labor to bear; to reach out witha well-organized public campaign to arouse public opinion to compel FIR (Forest Industrial Relations) to get down to negotiations to end the present impasse without further delay. “Rank and file action is needed to bring the Employers’ Council and FIR to their senses. We are the many — they are the few. ‘‘We need meetings to inform and involve the membership, and prepare them for the struggles now unfolding. Such meetings can help unify and strengthen membership involvement; arouse public opinion and develop mass demon- strations and job action in support of our Bargaining Com mittee. é ‘‘We need better means of com- munication between our elected representatives and_ local unions, between locals, and between the camps and mills that make up our industry. The quarterly Regional meetings need to be revived. RECEIVER GENERAL FOR CANADA RECEVF UR GENERAL DU CANADA FLDERAL OLD AGE PENSION . DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL HEALTH AND WELFARE ‘| PENSION FEDERALE DE VIEILLESSE MINISTERE DE LA SANTE NATIONAL! ET DU BIEN-ETRE SOCIAL NEGOTIABLE WITHOUT CHARGE AT ANY BANK IN CANADA ab 9 5 4 = PAYABLE AU PAIR PAR TOUTE BANQUE AU CANADA To the Receiver General for Canada a Reperene général du Canada ler of —A l’ordre de VANCOUVER 10 BC DEPUTY RECEIVER GENERAL ~ SOUS-RECEVEUR GEN! , expanding population. "$11.41" DOLLARS _ 1702108 zee JINE 26770 | agedy control and club local hospital administrations into line with Socred thinking, and restric- tions on funds for adequate hospital operations will be far- reaching medically, and politi- cally as well. Already the axe has begun to fall. END CUTBACKS Health Minister Loffmark’s refusal to pay more than 70% of the Provincial government share of recently-negotiated wage increases has compelled local administrations to cutback already inadequate staffs. Hospital Employees Union spokesmen in Vancouver report 400 jobs will be eliminated. In Vancouver General already 80 to 100 in the dietary and build- ing service departments have been let go. St. Paul’s, Lion’s Gate and Westminster hospitals have announced similar steps underway. So severe have been the cutbacks that doctors have joined nurses and members of the Hospital Employees Union in establishing — ‘‘information’’ pickets at several hospitals: New Westminster’s royal Columbian Hospital, which has had a long-runing battle with Loffmark and BCHIS is expected to be the first to feel the impact of government take- over-legislation. The Bennett government is moving to tighten the reins on hospital construction and operation just as it has done on our schools Loffmark’s dictum of “‘cutbacks”’ is a shocking indict- ment of Socred policy in view of the crying need for additional beds and facilities in practically every hospital across. this province. Particularly is this so in a province with the rich resources we possess, which the Bennett government is giving- away for a song to foreign and domestic monopolies. There is no reason for denying the people of this richly-endowed province adequate facilities for health, education and social needs. Full marks ( and support) should be given socially-minded hospital workers, nurses and doctors for sounding the alarm. Situations like the Royal Columbian are as much those of Vancouverites as they are West- minsters or Coquitlams. Illness, let alone accidents, know no municipal boundaries. Nor should hospital facilities and proper medical care be refused anyone because of his or her address. United action of the whole community is needed to compel the government to give top priority to health needs and to extend Provincial grants. Instead of cutbacks we need hospital-extensions and a modernization program keyed to our needs and a rapidly- Public pressure alone can win it. CHEQUE NO JUIN 26/70 Pensioners have received post dated cheques (see above) to:the end of June: Does this indicate that Ottawa” is preparing for a long postal shutdown? The PT has also heard that’ hotel : eS _ to cash these cheques at anywhere from 50¢ to 90¢ on the $1.00. SS Cen ee PACIFIC TRIBUNE-—FRIDAY, MAY 22; 1970—Page 3