Page A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 21, 1993 O-~< "ERRACE STANDART) PublisheriEditor: A Bo STABLIGHED APAL 27, 1888 ~ | Rod Link = Registration No. 7820 4647 Lazelle Ave., Terrace, B.C., VBG 188 Manager Mike L. Hamm Phone (604) 638-7283 Fax (604) 638-8432 Serving the Tartace area, Published on Wednesday of each waak by Carlbos Press (1955) Lid. at 4647 Lazelle Ave., Tertace, Brtish Solumbia Storles, photographs, illustrations, designa and typestyles in the Terrace Standard are the properly af the copyright hoklars, including Cariboo Prass (1969) Lid., i's illustration repro services and advertising agencies, @ CNA Production Manager: Edouard Credgeur Joft Nagel - News/Community, Makoim Baxter - Nawe/Spor's, © Boge Fisher - Front Office Manager, Pam Odell - Typeselter, “Alene Watts - Typesatter, Susan Credgeur - Compesing/Darkraom, Janet Viveltos - Advertising Consuttant, Sam Collier -Advertising Consultant, Chaslene Matthews - Circulation Manager _ cena fg ef yariraio (eigeuraTioan Sy pate ADAH COM mag " wr fF a yw, Ge is Ge Meg Ones) ie aay 3 Rares mins 4550S fwspapen con ' QONTHCHLLEO Special thanks to allour contributors and correspondents for their time and talents. Reproduction in whole or in part, without writlen permission, {s specifically prohibited. Authorized 48 second-class mail pending the Post Offics Department, for peyment of postage In cash, ‘Board members of the Terrace Regional Health Care Society are doing the wrong thing by not saying how they voted on a province-wide labour relations deal. The deal sets out how hospitals and employees will adjust to a decline in budgets and jobs. It’s probably the most important health care labour relations event of the past 20 years, That’s because it is a central part of the provincial . government’s. move to shift health care from hospitals to community and preventative programs. A lot of what the government wants to do relies on trim- ming labour costs. Jobs: are scheduled to be cut and positions transferred out of hospi- tals to other programs. i All of this has an effect on the several hundred people who rely directly and in- directly on Mills Memorial Hospital for their livelihood. It’s been a tough couple of years at that institution as successive year- ly budget battles ate into morale and atti-. tudes, The public has also been affected by these events. Mills Memorial is a corner- stone of the community and its health ultimately ‘reflects on our collective well- being. — The labour relations deal is a rehash of one proposed earlier in the year. It was ap- proved by health care unions. It was also approved by a majority of hospitals but didn’t.pass because a two-thirds ‘yes’ vote. was needed, a Back then the health care society did say how it voted — ‘no’ — and that sel offa . morning strike in the hospital cafeteria. ' This: time;.-to, avoid any ‘nasty stuff, the : society.decided not to:revéal how it voted. burming — Slash “used ‘to be that society measured its . progress. by the amount of smoke it could belch into the air. Industrial stacks and. beehive ‘burners all pointed to thé good things ‘in’ life. That, thankfully, «. has changed, ‘We. now’ measure progress - by how little: we pollute the earth. Witness the ruckus over Alderman Mo Takhar’s subdivision development on the is wrong. Interestingly enough the society made the decision before taking the vote on the labour relations deal. The deal has received the required majority by hospitals and is’ now being voted on by health care unions. The health care society defends its ac- tions based on the long standing principle of the secret ballot. Nobody knows how each society voted, just the overall result. The society says there is nothing in legisla- tion to force it to reveal how it voted. And it says it has a democratic right to keep its voteasecret. : All of this makes sense when. applying the principle of a secret ballot to an indi- vidual. But it doesn’t when dealing with elected societies entrusted with the ex- penditures of millions of taxpayers’ dol- lars. Taxpayers have the right to know how societies deal wilh matters affecting their money. Elected office is a responsibility ‘that cannot be abused. : The society’s stand doesn’t make sense for another reason. We would know how it voted if it conducted its own bargaining. That’s the way things work with school districts and teachers, for instance. Being part of a labour relations association, as is the case here, does not bring with it the privilege of keeping its dealings behind closed doors. Over the years the health care society has developed strong connections with the community. These have resulted in sig- nificant improvements in health care ser- vice. The society’s position that it will keep secret what it wants to goes against the kind of trust built wp through those connections. | bench. The old days of piling and burning just didn’t cut it anymore. Permit require- ments aside, it is just plain weird to set fire to huge piles of slash. _. And now the city has tested a hi-tech slash burn concept at the Takhar subdivi- sion. Results are said to be encouraging. This is at least a step in the right direction but the central issue of burning remains. ikling “When the Wayne Gretzkys _ and Jan Millers of the athletic world fumble, they have ex- pensive, specially trained sports psychologists to hold their hands and help rational- , ize away their disappointment. I have a piano, .The piano doesn’t offer me Through Bifocals . by Claudette Sandecki | any soothing, words or sage advice. It- only replaces the woodpile where my ancestors ° let off steam by splitting fire- wood into kindling. -What.I° play on the: piano réflects: my. feelings. When 1 goof upat my job:and.am up- set with myself, I’ pound out resounding . marches." Elated, my fingers tangle through. a_ spirited jig or polka, Content, . my choice is a languid waltz. Even from a-distance, anyone with an ear can read my mood. Besides wanting to kick myself for wasting time and losing profit when | bungle on the job, I -suffer thinking ‘the whole neighbourhood knows I messed up. Lately, I’ve made. _ 80 many errors I’ve considered early retirement. my optimism and enthusiasm return, snuffing out gloom and guilt. ‘The experts. show no sign of being bothered by in- - competence, There's the . too-wide ° re- placement “tooth: a’. dentist glued into my mouth to cap a root canal... Se he “A. new pickw truck | tha passed: assembly. line: inspec- . technical tion though ils automatic - transmission was built without asecond gear The bathtub installed with taps reversed, hot on the right, cold on the left. ; . CBC radio programs inter- - Tupled by technicians solving problems = of reporlers conducting. research interviews. _ _ One, whole issue of a daily. newspaper with some pages -welded together, other pages — printed only down the center third. - Lo The book supplier who thanked me for my order and . asstired me. my: book was in the mail even though it wasn’t The book wasn’t. shipped until ~after’Iasked about it two. * - “months later. ae “Then I recall some of the - booboos ‘purchased from ex-— peris in their flelds, Instantly, ° The mammoth tent.two feet _ Shorter all around than it was labelled. Stretched over. its. “metal supports, there was still enough opening -around the bottom for mule deer to. iine “dance in and out without duck- ~ ing. Peseta rc ‘~ Or. the fast food restaurant -with slivery. wooden benches ‘that skewered the backs of customers! Jegs-and shredded * Mistakes never fazed. those experts. My dentist performed root canals with gusto until failing health forced his retire- ment. The daily paper. still publishes, with inventive bloopers from time to time. They never’ explained what caused such an un-news-ual ‘issue. And CBC still experi- ences unexpected interrup- tions. ~ : ; _ So why should errors result- ing from momentary inatten- tion or miscalculation hogtie my life?. Instead, | heard ad- vice given to writers for com- ing to grips with editors’ re-— jections. “‘I have to get over *.. this sometime, why not now?”’ -. Some of those. experts, too, ferocious piano - may . be players. No! Alo! NoTeH THE. FRONT HERE ANP | Tue BACK HERE SO IT Wikh TustST TAS Here’s a good concept | for all medical flights VICTORIA — A northern British Columbia woman wants the B.C, government to stop doing her favors. The last one is costing her between $203 and $520 a month. - Deborah Ann Koppel lives in Dawson Creek. Two years ago; hér.teenage son began’, 2°; “2° treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at B.C. Children’s Hospital in — Varicouver, . For the first three and a half months, she and her son lived in Vancouver. In October 1991, with the initiation of her son’s maintenance protocol, they moved back home to Dawson Creek. While undergoing some chemotherapy at the Dawson Creek Hospital, 25 miles from where the family lives, her son has to travel to Vancouver once a month for additional treatment. His mother ac- companies him on those trips. If you live in Vancouver and ’ Victoria and ever had to go up north on short notice, you know the prohibitive price of air travel. I’ve paid less fora round-trip to London than a return flight to Terrace, ' - Mrs, Koppel was used to paying anywhere from $450 to $667 for their journey lo Van- — couver and back; It was a heavy financial burden to bear, but she managed. Enter the compassionate B.C. government. Transporia- tion from rural British Colum- bia to Vancouver, which has the province's state-of-the-art medical facilities, was _ altogether too expensive, the government thought. . Something must be done to for northemers. "Last month, something was done, indeed, The government announced a package of fare reductions for northerners who shave to travel io the south for medical reasons. . Airlines would give dis- - counts, so would the govern- Dane !! From the Capital by Hubert Beyer —— ment’s own fleet of aircraft. Hell, ever B.C. Ferries said it would transport folks free of charge. It sounded good, but when the details surfaced, it wasn’t such a great deal after all. It obviously had escaped the government that some trans- portation companies were al- _ ready giving discounts to northerners who had to travel ‘for medical reasons, Air BC,, for instance, hada ~ program called Convention West, which allowed patients to travel on the cheapest avail- able seat at any given day, waving all restrictions such as cancelation charges, mini- mum stay and minimum ad- - vance booking requirements. *'This program helped our ' family by allowing short-term bookings with access to the cheapest available seats and permitting changes without enalty on return flights,”” said oppel. | ; Under that program, it was also not necessary for the fam- ity doctor to involve himself in the ticketing process. Once a family was registered with the airline, approval was automat- ic. Under the government- negotiated arrangement, medi-_ cal fares are 30 per cent off the full economy fare. And that hits the Koppels and all other northemers travelling south for medical reasons where it hurt— right inthe pocket. — book, Before the government's well-intentioned but ill- conceived interference, Mrs. Koppel spent anywhere from Hey! I BEEN LOGGING WITH A CHAINSAW FoR 20 YEARS So L THINK T KNOW WHAT L'M per iS. f me : ae -. Come on, Mike, admit it’s a): ee oO OS $450 to $667 a month to travel with her son to Vancouver and . back. For 20 trips, the average |. came $564.42. Now she oS spends close to $1,000a month. Some deal. an As always, there is a better way, better than Convention. © West and certainly better than. the one concocted by the ~~ | . government, The trouble is the NDP would have to admit that’ — a Socred had a good idea.’ Rick Neufel, the Socred member for Peace River North, a man thoroughly fa- miliar with problems north. . erners face, wants the govern-" ment to establish a Travelcare Fund. And here’s how it work: Every day, politicians and’ - " bureaucrats are flying some- where on government busi-.. ness, All airlines have some - travel bonus system that al-. - lows the traveller toaccumu:?° late points toward free flights.: However, neither politicians : nor bureaucrats are allowed to ° take advantage of the rewards, as long as they are in the tax- |” payers’ employ. Peed Neufeld plan calls for the es- - - tablishment of a central fund . .. into which all bonus points, accumulated by politicians and’ ee . public servants would go. Any... - travel by British Columbians. for medical reasons would be, paid for out of that fund, ©. The airlines don’t like the. <: idea, but with a little arm-. . twisting and some hints that». any airline agrecing to sucha <. - scheme would pet all govern- ment business would soon’) bring them around. aes greatidenanddoit, ==. JUNIOR ELDERS PRACTICING TO. ° BE OLD TIMERS!