ENVIRONMENT Princeton beats Keremeos in Earth Hour Page A3
COMMUNITY
LITERACY Young Princeton author brings fantasy to life Page A5
Princeton hosts second annual powwow Page A2 $1.10 Includes TAX
SPOTLIGHT The Similkameen
Volume 63 Issue 14
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Proudly serving the community since 1948 • www.similkameenspotlight.com
ER closures announced Princeton Hospital emergency department will close four times a week Michaela Garstin editor@similkameenspotlight.com
Michaela Garstin/Spotlight
PRINCETON BEATS KEREMEOS - Chloe McCallum, 21 months, wears neon-green hair at Princeton’s Earth Hour hotspot on March 31. Princeton won a bet against Keremeos on which community could gather the most pledges. Story Page 3, photos Pages 13 and 18.
Happy Easter
EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE: for the April 11 Edition
All Ads & Insertions must be received by Thursday, April 5 at NOON. Spotlight Office will be CLOSED Friday, April 6.
Princeton says farewell to penny Michaela Garstin editor@similkameenspotlight.com
Local business owners react to the elimination of Canada’s smallest denomination The penny will start to disappear from Canadians’ pockets in about six months, the government announced in its new budget. Businesses will be asked to return pennies to banks beginning this fall,
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but the copper coin will retain its value indefinitely. However, pennies will only be allowed for payment in 25-cent bunches. CoCo’s Bistro co-owner Barbara Bushewsky doesn’t mind pennies because it allows her to give exact change back to her customers. “Pennies aren’t a hassle. They come in handy all the time,” she said. The government is recommending businesses round down to 0 or 5 if the
The emergency department at Princeton Hospital will be closed from midnight to 8 a.m. Monday to Thursday starting May 1. An announcement was made by Interior Health at town council April 2 about the decision to close the emergency department during these times until a doctor is found to fill the shifts. These scheduled closures will reduce the amount of time the hospital is on LLTO status, where only someone who could die or lose a limb will be seen. But the amount of times the hospital is actually closed - when injured or sick people must travel to another hospital no matter how bad their condition is - will increase once the change comes into affect. “It’s been really obvious to residents of Princeton that we’ve had challenges... in ensuring we have sufficient physicians to provide on-call coverage,” said Princeton Hospital administrator Susan Brown. And the situation has gotten worse. One Princeton doctor reduced his on-call availability as of April 2 and locum doctors from previous years aren’t available, she said. If the hospital wasn’t on a set schedule of closures, the emergency department could end up being closed during busier times, Brown said. “We are concerned that we are moving into the potential of more closures and that some of those closures may be during peak times,” Brown said. “That’s the kind of instability we want to avoid.” During the time the emergency room is closed four times a week patients will have to travel by ambulance or helicopter to Penticton or another city for treatment. Interior Health will be working with Princeton’s three doctors in their recruitment strategy to see how they envision making room for another doctor in town, Brown said. The emergency department is tentatively closed on April 9, 16, 25 and 30, until it begins regular closures on May 1.
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