Vighty Moe attacked Doc's back RCMP are searching for the unknown assailants who threw Terrace doctor Isaac Sobol returns from amedical missionin = Hey, it’s Canadian | Ringette registration numbers _ rocks at Moe’s truck\NEWS A8 Tibet\COMMUNITY B1. keep growing in Terrace\SPORTS C1. WEDNESDAY - October 27, 1999 PEOPLE ARE going to have to be sick- er than ever to be admilted to Mills Memorial Hospital this winter, says a local doctor. And they can expect to be sent home sooner even if they are admitted, said Dr. Geoff Appleton in response to increased admission restrictions brought in last week. Mills began limiting admissions to 15 patients in its main medical ward when the baby nursery was open and to 20 when it was closed in July when it didn’t haye enough nurses to provide care. That appeared to have eased by early fall but admissions were again restricted from Oct. 8 to 13 and renewed effective Oct. 19, This time the hospital says its 25-bed Workers laid off at Skeena Sawmills FIFTEEN WORKERS at West Fraser’s Skeena Saw- mills operation were laid off Oct. 21 after the company ran out of wood to chip for Skeena Cellulose, The two companies are in negotiations to renew the chipping agreement, which had been in place since spring. Employees were notified last Wednesday. “We've told them we’re curtailing the chipping until we get an agreement in place,” West Fraser general manager Lou Poulin said. “Their layoff is indefinite until we can get something put together.” Skeena Sawmills contin- ues to run one regular shift of both its sawmill and its planer. The chipping has been providing work for the 15 employees who otherwise would have been a laid off in June when a federal work sharing program expired. _ The job-share first went into effect in September 1998 to avert layoffs when West Fraser decided to re- duce its number of sawmill shifts from two to one be- cause of difficult markets. . Skeena Cellulose in the spring decided to terminate its chipping agreement with Don Hull and Sons Contra- cting and instead divert the work to West Fraser, Don Hull and Sons’ chipper ia the Poirier yard had been a source of local noise complaints. “We're still talking,” Poulin said of the negotia- tions with Skeenaa Cellu- lose. “We're anticipating we cal come to an agreement but that’s never final until the fat lady sings.” mes 5 : Masked, armed males invade house Udsen believes the mon are 18 to 25 years old and said their guns looked very teal. "We don’t like those kinds of weapons being used,” said Udsen, “Some of them may be fake, but how do you know‘” As of Oct. 22.Udsen sald ROMP had a number of leads and had “spoken to a lot of peo- ple” but were still locking for witnesses and or anyone with information about the incident to A KNOCK on the door tumed into what police are calling a first armed robbery of its kind when three masked males walked into a house, waved guns and demanded cash, “It’s as close as we’ve come to a home inva- sion,” said Terrace RCMP Corporal Anders Ud- sen of the Oct. 17 incident. “But we’re not 100 per cent sure what’s going on here Udsen sald the men wore black balaclavas and barged in to find four people ~ two residents and HAPPY HALLOWEEN: Some Terrace main ward has 30 patients and can’t han- dle anymore, A memo circulated Oct. 19 stated “the hospital is closed to further admissions io the main ward and ICU [intensive care Ss cuts admissi tions were first introduced in the sum- mer, The ward has three beds but al times, under pressure from physicians, a fourth bed has been added. people down south. “The information I have is that it costs $2,200 for a one-way trip, but that's an average and would include shorter flights between Victoria and Vancouver, for unit] until further notice, due to an unavailability of nursing staff and beds.” Hospital's casual nurse hiring policy criticized, Page A2 m@ Admission restrictions will continue at Mills, Page A2 m@ Chief doc says regionalization is the key, Page A15 instance, 50 you know it is going to be higher to -Terrace,”. said The memo was sent to local doctors, to the hospital in Prince George and to hospitals in Victoria and on the lower mainland, but wasn’t generally released to local resi- dents. Appleton finds it particularly disturb- ing that the admission restrictions in- clude the intensive care unit, a section that had not been affected when restric- “The [CU gets patients not only from here, but from Kitimat, Smithers, Prince Rupert and the Nass,” said Appleton. “Some will have to be directed to Vancouver,” he said. Appleton added that doctors are frustrated and view as wasteful the amount of money it takes to medevac ft cash. thieves knew house. residents get two guests— home around 9:15 p.m. They didn't fire a shot, tle up or physically hurt the victims and escaped with $500 to $2000- Udsen would not confirm whether anything else was stolen from home at the corner of Hall and Haugland in Tertace’s southside. Part of the mystery, sald Udsen, is how that much’ money was In the ate: on Molitor ~; eall the detachment, Appleton. “If you have 200 trips a year from here, it’s really a no-brainer tu think that money could be used here to improve what we do,” he added. Overall, Appleton said the restrictions will hurt the ability to provide medical care here. “We're coming into the busy season $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST ($4.10 plus S¢ GST outside of the Tarace area) .. . VOL. 12 NO. 29 ons again last winter in keeping to 25 beds. That was grossly inadequate and there were 35 people in there at times,” said Appleton.: “To pet into the hospital now you're going to have to be really sick and where you could have a few days recuperation before, there won’t be that safety valve.” “More people will be treated as out- patients who shouldn't be. It’s tisky and scary and it’s not making us feel very good,” he said. “Some people will be getting sub- standard care.” Appleton is also predicting that peo- ple on surgical waiting lists can expect to get bumped. : “This year there won| be any guaran- tees that if you are on a wait tist for sur- gery, it will happen on that date,” he and you'll recall there was a problem all’ said. 4 Patients get | more power to choose By ALEX HAMILTON PATIENTS with life threatening illnesses now have more say to determine how much medical care they re- ceive lowards the end of their lives, ; Terrace Area Community Health Council members have pul in place a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) policy to encourage doctors and nurses to talk to their patients about their end -of-life health care wishes, Up until now there hasn’! been a proper process in place for patients who are dying and who don’t want to be resuscitated at the end of their lives, says registered nurse Penny Anguish who helped develop the policy. “[This policy] is about helping people have a goad death,”Anguish said. “People have a right ta say how they would like to end their lives,” She added that doctors have been signing patients’ DNR forms for years, but until now they weren't encour- age to ask patients about how much intervention they wanl towards the end of their lives. “We have an ethical obligation to have a discussion with patients about what their health concerns are,” An- guish said. Registered nurse Miranda Stone said the policy is vital to Mills Memorial Hospital. She explained that ofien patients aren't encouraged to discuss the issue until it’s too late, when some of them aren’t coherent or capable enough to sign the DNR form. “There are situations happening all the time with pa- tients caming to the end of their lives and there hasn’t been any discussion about the kinds of medical interven- tion they'd like,” she said. “Discussion needs to be star- ted earlier.” Competent, informed patients who are of an advanced age and/or have an illness with a poor prognosis will now be able to clarify their choice regarding resuscita- lion and can clarify the degree of medical intervention they want in. The onus in on doctors and physicians to provide information and opportunity to complete a form as carly as appropriate, Anyone who fills out a DNR form must be able to reason and make judgments, make voluntary health care decisions without coercion, and be able to explain or in- dicate that he or she understands the risks and benefits of the proposed treatment alternatives or non-treatments, as well as the prognosis with or without treatments, Candidates get ready for forums LOCAL VOTERS will get a chance to take their ques- tions directly to their future civic leaders ut a pair of All Candidates Forums next month, The first one is for the 11 candidates running for the six Terrace city council positions and starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov,3 at the R.E.M. Lee Theatre. The second one is Friday, Nov. 12, also at 7:00 p.m, at the R.E.M, Lee Theatre. It’s for the three candidates run- ning for mayor and the five candidates running for elec- toral area E and C seats on the Kitimat-Slikine regional district board. The two forums are being organized by The Terrace Standard, in conjunction with volunteers from the Ter- race Toastmasters, Terrace and District Chamber of Commerce and the local media, The format will allow a combination of questions from a-media panel, questions from the floor al standing mi- ° crophones and written questions from the audience, _ All local voters are welcome to attend, listen and ask questions so they can make an informed decision on election day, Nov, 20, For those uaable to attend in person, written questions can be mailed to.the Standard or faxed weil in advance to 638-8432 marked “Attention: All Candidates Forum.” go-