At it again

Helio Dolly

On the road

over costs\NEWS AQ

Terrace and the regional district
find themselves butting heads

You're encouraged to dress up an’
International Women’s Day
exhibit\COMMUNITY B1.

Bantam hockey reps are off to the
provincial championships later
this month\SPORTS B4

WEDNESDAY
MARCH 4, 1998

93¢ PLUS 7¢ GST.
VOL. 10 NO. 47

| Look out. Sydney’s on his way

STOCK UF on tissues and analgesics.
Terrace is about to be hit with a nasty flu
bug.

Public health nurse Margaret McKelvie
predicts the full impact of Influenza
AjSydney could be felt here in a week or
two.

“This flu actually sends you to bed,”’
she says. It comes on very suddenly with
overwhelming fatigue, followed by
symptoms such as fever, chills, couges-
tion and sore throat

She says no cases have been reported
to Northwest Community Health Ser-
vices yel, but that doesn’t necessarily

mean anything.

This strain of Ou bas made a big im-
pact across the country recently, crowd-
ing hospital beds with the elderly and

-those with pre-existing illnesses. It in-

fected athletes and coaches at the
Nagano Winter Olympics.

The A/Sydney strain was first identi-
fied in June 1997 in Australia. It is
believed io have come to Canada from a
cruise ship which visited Australia in
September, then docked at Montreal.

A/Sydney is spread by person-to-

person contact by coughing, sneezing,
hand-to-hand contact or by touching

something an infected person has
touched.

McKelvie recommends people who get
this strain of flu go to bed and stay there.

“The flu can be very ter-
rible. It’s really important for
people to take it seriously.”

"Don’t go ta work,’’ she says, ‘‘It’s
very contagious.’’ She also advises those
infected to stay away from the elderly,

chronically ill and infants.

If you gota flu vaccine shot in Novem-
ber, you may have some protection. This
influenza strain wasn’t contained in the

‘ flu shot, but the A/Wuhan strain was,
, and it’s very similar. That means those
- who were vaccinated have some pro- ,

tection, but could still get sick.

McKelvie says there's not a lot of
point in getting a flu shot now since it
takes the body a while to build up im-
munily to the flu.

Washing your hands regularly, before
you cat or touch your face, will go a long
ways towards preventing the spread of

the flu.

McKeivie also strongly recommends
gelting a Qu vaccine next November,
when they become widely available
again.

“World experts are predicting a major
world wide flu epidemic,” she says.

The last major epidemic, or pandemic,
was the Asiatic flu in 1957, McKelvie
says experts think the flu has mutated
quite a bit since then, and could be
poised for a comeback,

“The flu can be very terrible. It’s real-
ly important for people to take it serious-

ly.”?

wa Local hospital

ae

THE DEPARTMENT of Fisheries and
Oceans has nat ruled out completely closing
the Skeena River commercial fishery this year
to save endangered runs of upper Skeena
coho.

Officials with the DFO met with First Na-
tions, the fishermen’s union, environmental
groups and others affected by the coho crisis
last week in Vancouver,

The Coho Summit brought together 60
people representing the different groups to
discuss what can be done to save troubled
runs in the province.

Summer runs of upper Skeena coho in 1997
were the weakest ever recorded. In southern
B.C., South Thompson River coho are also al
critically low levels.

Summit members were told by the DFO that
atiempts made last year to reduce coho
morlality were not enough to prevent some
runs from slipping further towards extinction.

COHO CRISIS: Chris Culp of the Deep Creek Hatchery displays
some wild young coho that are living in the creek's cold waters.
Culp says this run isn’t in serious trouble, but summer runs of up-

Feds eye full fishery closure

ne betes

This year, stock conservation has been made
top priority by the DFO, and that will likely
mean a reduction in openings for commercial
fishermen, or even a complete closure.

“For areas where we cannot ensure there
will be acceptable bycatch, that option has
been mled out,” says DFO biologist Les Janz.

Last year, there was no commercial gillnet
fishery for coho. However, coho swim with
sockeye and are still caught incidentaliy.

According to Janz, the question is what
levels of bycatch are people willing to accept.

“Is it zero tolerance?’’ he asks. If so, Janz
says there will likely be widespread commez-
clal closures, and further restrictions on coho
sportsfishing. :

Jim Culp of the sportsfish advisory board
also took part in the summit. He says the pro-
cess was an important first step to an problem
that has no casy answers, and won't go away
quickly.

per Skeena coho have reached critically low levels. Federal
fisheries biologists say the Skeena commercial fishery may have
to be severely curtailed to save the salmon.

“This is probably the biggest fishing issue
ever in B.C.,” be says. ‘It’s enormous, It af-
fects everyone who fishes.”’

Both Culp and Janz agree that coming to an
agreement with Alaska is important because
Alaskan boats take a large number of Skeena
coho. ' :

But Culp points out that the Alaskan fleet
did not cause the problem to start with, they
just made it worse. .

“By pointing the finger at Alaska we're let-
ting the commercial guys at the mouth of the
river off the hook,”’ Culp says. “‘Skeena coho
have been declining since the 1970s.’

Ultimately, it will be up to the DFO to de-
cide how much commercial fishing will take
place this year. The department has created a
coho response team to deal with that issue.

Janz says they plan to have a final report on
federal fisheries minister David Anderson’s
desk by May 1.

Local charities losing bingo revenue

admits itself
to emergency

MILLS MEMORIAL Hospital will cancel all elective
surgery for a week this month and will tum off its CT
scanner for two weeks in an emergency effort to save
money,

The measures were announced last weck after the hospi-
tal’s financial health took a sudden turn for the worse.

New numbers for the period ending Feb. 5 showed a
$147,500 deficit — a major reversal from just a month ear-
lier when the hospital was sitting on a $40,000 surplus.

‘Hospital administrator Michael Leisinger said the com-
munity health council, which made the decision in an
emergency meeting last week, feared the hospital might
greatly exceed even its predicted deficit of $178,000 by
year end if action wasn’t taken quickly.

The operating room will be closed to al! but emergency
surgery March 16-20.

And the CT scanner won't take patients from March 9-
20.

Leisinger said those actions should result in Ihe hospital
saving around $30,000 this month.
Leisinger said cancelling a week of elected surgery — in
this case during the week of spring break — is identical to

what the hospital already does at Christmas.

But local doctors are worried it could amount to 4 con-
linuing practice.

“We fecl that their decision to go ahead with these:
closures really does not deal with the fundamental problem
of underfunding of Mills Memorial Hospital,” said Dr.
Phil Lin, an anesthetist and president of the Terrace and
District Medical Association.

“In essence the hospital is asking not just the doctors but
the nursing staff in the operating room and any other staff
connected with the day to day running of the operating
room to bear the brunt of reducing the budget deficit.”

The dramatic reversal in the hospital’s budget picture has
been largely the result of entering the busier months for
hospital use, Leisinger said.

“There’s been a lot of activity, a lot of usage in the hos-
pital,’’ Leisinger said. ‘‘It’s been a busy place. So we were
expecling a drop.

“The high activity, high occupancy, high workloads are
not inconsistent with this time of year,”” he added.

Also contributing to the moncy drain was $35,000 in
revenue the hospital expected but failed to receive after a
dispute with the government of Quebec.

‘The money was spent caring for a Quebec resident at
Mills Memorial Hospital.

But the Quebec government was refusing to pay, and in

the end didn’t have to because it was determined the
patient had been in B.C. for al least 90 days — long
enough to qualify for B.C, residency.

“That knocked us for an unexpected loop as well,”
Leisinger said.

The new financial figures basically puts Mills Memorial
in the same position as it was almost a year ago.

Leisinger said they’re aiming to come under the
$178,000 deficit forecast in the budget, but the real chal-

Cont'd Page A2

} THE TERRACE BINGO Association is
- asking government to put an immediate
stop to “Linked bingo” in the local bingo
hall.

Linked bingo was established in
November by the provincial government
in bingo halls across the province. It
allows bingo enthusiasts to play on-line,
and has a higher cash payout and bigger
jackpots than other bingo games here.

Pat Smith, president of the Terrace
Bingo Association, says because of this

linked bingo, there’s been a decrease in
the number of people playing regular
bingo. And that means less money is
coming to local charities,

“Our current numbers are declining,”
says Smith. “Late night bingo brings us
fewer and fewer people unless we have
big jackpots.”

Under the normal bingo system, a char-
ity applies to the BC Gaming
Commission to get a bingo licence, and
tells the conimission where those pro-

ceeds will be spent. A minimum of 25 per
cent of gross bingo revenue in the allotted
time slot then goes to the charities with
bingo licences.

Smith doesn’t know how much money
local charities have lost to linked bingo.
December and January are traditionally
slow months and the Terrace economy
hasn’t been strong, he adds.

In 1996 the 43 charities here with
bingo licences made $1.4 million from
bingo. Smith doesn’t think those numbers

will be as good in the future. He calls the
government’s actions unethical aud asks
for an immediate stop to linked bingo.

Another worry for local charities is that
the traditional licensing system may be
replaced by a granting system. Charilies
would apply to the government for what
Smith terms as handouts.

Smith is worried that those handouts
would eventually decline, meaning com-
munity services performed by the chari-
ties would suffer.

Pat Smith -_