Benner ee 8 ome AB - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 3, 200) Shape “Pathetic parochialism” must stop, Says surgeon Dear Sir: The members of the re- CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD tinuous political in-fighting and turf protection, this report gional medical advisory committee have made an effort to work together and try and resolve some of the regional medical issues that have been muddying the waters for years, Several recommendations were passed on to the- Council of Chairs; none of these recommendations were acted upon. The committee members have been frustra- ted with this, At present the regional committee seems io be a rather toothless bureaucratic endeavour and may well be endanger of being dissolved. Hopefully this will not happen as !t can serve a vital role in advising the Council of Chairs. The advice, how- ever, does need to be listened to, Unfortunately the issue of the nursery at Mills Mem- crial Hospital is still not resolved. Having pediatricians with no nursery is like having surgeons with no operating room. Issues involving around ophthalmology include the need for two ophthalmologists in the region, and the need for more ophthalmology O.R. time. There is no more available operating room time in terrace. Contrary to popular regional belief, Mills Memorial Hospital does not get any exira funding to fund a TeBio- nal ophthalmology service. Enquiries have been made to the surrounding commu- nities {0 try to get some more O. R. time for the ophthal- mologist service. These efforts at regional cooperation were flatly re- fused. This is unfortunate as ophthalmology is an ideal day surgery service. There have been efforts to try and recruit a psychiatr- ist but to no avail, In December 1999, it was decided by the specialists that we will no longer be able to accept patients from the region for care, We have been functioning as a regional hospital for many of these services, and have never been funded for this. This resulted in a lack of beds and inability to care for patients form the Terrace and Thornhill area for which we are funded. It also causes severe over-working of our nurses, The response of the region to this solution was an emergency meeting in December amongst the commun- ity health councils, their chief executive officers and Chiefs of Staff from all the nine health councils in the Tegion. ; What came out of that meeting was an agreement to Iry to work to come up with a regional health plan. This was developed over the spring and summer at great time and expense, This resulted in a northwest authorities health service plan, which was released in July 2000. Because of con- Cut the rates or cap the wells Dear Sir: The B.C. Utilities Commission has-advised me what I expected. Due to world demand, B.C. consumers are paying world prices and gas companies are “taking risks” in drilling for natural gas. They also said that the exponential rate increases are called “rate shock”. Poor, poor gas companies, every business has risk and I don’t see them all subjecting us to “rate shock”. a ; The only teason a publicly owned resource should be harvested or extracted is for the benefit of the public, and if that’s not the case, it should not be harvested at all. Markets with warmer winter temperatures, no Bas re- source and who do not have to turn on the heater eight months out of the year can afford these rates. We can't. If the only way the NDP government can pay for health care. is sanctioning “rate shock” for British Co- lumbians, it is time for an election. Premier Dosanjh, get your hands out of our pocket books and call us to the polls! Don’t gouge us for bal- anced books and health care for re-election popularity. The only beneficiaries of our natural gas resource are gas entrepreneurs and NDP politicians who want to be re-elected — not British Columbians. Cap those wells or cut the rates. Pat Smith, Terrace, B.C. CN has plenty of ammo here Dear Sir: ‘ The Dec. 13, 2000 article about the Ministry of Trans- portation and Highways’ avalanche control program failed to mention that the 105 mm recoilless rifle is being replaced with a howitzer in Bear Pass but not in the Skeena corridor, The secoilless rifles used between Usk and Prince Rupert were introduced to the area in 1992 by CN Rail, assisted by the ministry. CN’s. ammunition inventory is expecied to last approximately ten more years, at which time the rifles will be replaced with the most appropriate weapon available at that time. . CN operates its avalanche safety program in close cooperation with the Ministry of Transportation and Highways avalanche program, Presently, there is little requirement for replacing CN’s secoilless rifles until our ammunition supply is ex- hausted. The recoilless is a very mobile, powerful, cost- efficient tool ideally suited for avalanche hazard man- agement in the Skeena valley. The travelling public, on both railway and highway corridors, is fortunate to bene- fit from the efforts of both safety programs. Rod Gee, ‘CN Avalanche ‘Coordinator, _ Terrace B.C. Support Christen as Seals Generously 1-888-566-LUNG www.lungica 100 years RAKE Molirre. The Mail Bag : Ato was watered down to a very disappointing and weak state, In my opinion, it does nothing more that perpetuate the pro- blems that already exist. It is interesting to note that out of the entire Pacific northwest, none of the specialists that take calls get paid for taking calls; this is also true for the GP’s in Terrace, All other GP's in the region get paid to be on call. This will hopefully be resolved in the near future. This has been another disappointing year as Chief of Staff following a rather long string of these. I believe that the only way thal we are going to be able to provide proper care‘to ‘the residents of the Pacific northwest will be to have specialists that area desperate- ly needed, Unfortunately, there does not scem to be the political will or backbone to to accomplish this. I believe that if these above issues are not dealt with, things are just going to get worse. More specialists will leave, and the two-tier system that residents of the Pacific northwest are subjected to will just become more glaringly obvious. This pathetic parochialism must stop, Maintaining the status quo is courting disaster! Dr. Jim Danfield, Terrace, B.C. (Editor’s note: The above FS a shortened version of Dr. Dunfield’s report as chief of medical staff at Mills Memorial Hospital. It’s his sixth report and, his last, Jesus said: “Put God's Kingdom First” We encourage you to do just that right | from the start of the New Year. 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