A6- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 28, 2001 The hospital is really no place for elderly people to call home Dear Sir: It's very misleading to believe that elderly patients are somehow at fault for being placed in acute care beds at Mills Memorial Hospi- tal. Don't forget they're in CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD ment for their care as acute care patients. The hospital is billing the elderly patients at the same rate that they would be charged if they were residents at Terraceview Lodge which is approximate- ly $30 per day. Also keep in mind that not the hospital only because the government who is responsible for providing healthcare has not provi- ded the extended care fa- cilities that they require. The elderly patients who are awaiting extended care beds at Terraceview Lodge don't require acute care beds at Mills Memorial Hospital, That's not rocket science. Doesn't take a lot of brain ceils to figure that out. They don't want to live at Mills Memorial either. Un- fortunately there is no other option. They are not well enough to be cared for at home — even with the help of family, friends and home support services. It bugs me when [ hear people say that elderly people are a drain on health care dollars and that they're plug- ging up the system. Keep in mind they have been assessed by longterm care and by their doctor as requiring residential longterm care. And because there are not enough longterm care beds available they were put on a waiting list. The wait ing list for an extended care bed at Terraceview Lodge is approximately two years. In the meantime the hospital is not billing the govern- Mother wants an explanation An open [etter ta: that native children should The Minister of Educa- get this privilege. Even he tion and School District doesn't qualify. 82, If everything is sup- This is the time of year posed to be equal, then for kindergarten registra- why doesn’t my son and tion. My son will be in kindergarten this year, so 1 went te the school he'll be attending to register him.. When I asked about the full days, | was told that because my son was not a special needs, a native student, he didn’t qualify. I don’t have a problem with special needs child- ren and the last thing 1 want to come across as is- Gun law must go Dear Sir: Ray Griffith may well be tight in responding to an earlier column of mine regarding gun laws. An individual police of- The Mail Bag all of their medications are provided free of charge by the hospital or by Pharma- care. Some of them pay extra for them. And guess what? Not everyone has the money to afford them. It's no way to take care of the elderly. I know of three patients who were on the waiting list and who died be- fore they ever made it to Terraceview Lodge. One of these ladies lived at the hospital for almost 1 1/2 years. It just boggles my mind. If we're looking al a2 year waiting list at this present time, what will it be like in five or 10 or 20 years? What will it be like when you or I need these services? It's all well and good to be striving to get an eight-bed alternate care ward in place at Mills Memorial Hospital. Hooray for that, But it's a very smal} step when you think about the upcoming needs of our aging population. The government needs to get with the program — or more aptly, get with the demographics. Build more long- term care facilities. Joy Lennox, Terrace, B.C. able for one it should be available for everyone or it is called discrimination. Michelle Williams, ‘Terrace, B.C. all other children get the same equal time in school? Can someone please answer this for me? If something is avail- ficer may very well use good judgment and com- mon sense in enforcing our new firearm Jaws. But in fact, the law is as it is written. If your spouse is not li- censed and, in your ab- sence, has access to your firearms you are at risk of an unsafe storage charge. If a police officer chooses to ignore the law then you are fortunate to have avoided a serious problem. But if the officer chooses to enforce the law as written, it is well within his authority to seize your firearms and charge you with unsafe storage. Certainly crown coun- sel, or at the next level, a judge, may decide in your favour and order the return of your firearms. But: at that point you will have already invested some hard earned cash in legal fees and will have under- pone considerable emo- tional stress. medications they're of all, the costs. Your Northern Drugs SKEENA MALL taking — the benefits, the side effects and nat least Pharmacist understands OUR PEOPLE MAKE US BETTER — PHONE 635-6555 “MAY | HELP,YOU?” Nowadays, people want to know more about the this and considers answers-to-questions as a routine part of filling any prescription. Your Northern Drugs pharmacist is always able to keep you well informed. We have no way of knowing how many police officers tum a blind eye to many of the more unrea- sonable aspects of the fire- arms legislation. Unfortu- nately the information that we receive indicates that in many cases police have been dealing with the law by confiscating firearms first and letting the legal system sort out the details. Every firearm owner has the option to ignore the technicalities of the Fire- [() SAFEWAY): FOOD & DRUG arm Act and trust in the judgment of an individual police officer should a pro- diem arise. 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