ELIZABETH FRY PLAN MOVING FORWARD
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NEED NEW PATTULLO BRIDGE OPTIONS
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FAMILY DAY LEGISLATION ON WAY
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FRIDAY
JUNE 1 2012
www.newwestnewsleader.com Seniors, including two local ones were successful in bid getting TransLink to put chopping the TaxiSaver program on hold. See Page A3
City to host Pattullo biz forum Grant Granger ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Sandra and Don Driedger enjoy a little time in the yard with their eight-year-old daughter, Clara, who has Down Syndrome.
Helping a child learn to thrive Mario Bartel photo@newwestnewsleader.com
Learning the child they’re about to bring into the world may have developmental or health problems is a parent’s worst fear. When tests indicated Sandra and Don Driedger’s second child had a good likelihood of being born with Down Syndrome, they pressed on despite the uncertainty of the future. Clara is now eight years old, the cards and balloons from her recent birthday still scattered around her family’s New Westminster home. She
attends Herbert Spencer school. She loves television and horsing around on the tire swing in the front yard. But her future is no less certain. At ¿rst the Driedgers carried on as the parents of any newborn. “She was just a baby, and we had to take care of her,” says Don. “If you looked ahead too far, you knew life was going to be different.” “You really want to live a normal life,” says Sandra. “It’s dif¿cult to accept at ¿rst.” But as Clara grew older and her mental and physical challenges
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became more apparent, the Driedgers had to acknowledge they’d need help to ensure their daughter would enjoy a happy, independent and ful¿lling life. They started to tap into some of the resources their doctors had told them were available for families with a Down Syndrome child, including a speech therapy program at the Down Syndrome Research Foundation in Burnaby. Very quickly the facility became much more than just a place to help Clara develop her skills, says Sandra. “Everyone who’s there understands.
We share something, we can talk about the same things.” “Every parent loves it when others take an interest in your kid, understands and appreciates them,” says Don. The weekly sessions at the Foundation didn’t just help Clara improve her speech and reading skills, they also helped bring out her determination, made her more con¿dent. “She’s in a place where she’s comfortable,” says Don. Please see SPENCER, A3
The 5th Annual ~ A Taste of Amica. If you have never visited your neighbourhood Amica at Mayfair Retirement Community, this is the day to satisfy your curiosity… and your taste buds! Amica at Mayfair • A Wellness & Vitality™ Residence 2267 Kelly Avenue, Port Coquitlam, BC V3C 6N4 604.552.5552 • www.amica.ca
Thursday, June 14th, 2012 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
The City of New Westminster will host a forum and workshop on the proposed replacement of the Pattullo Bridge for local small business owners. Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said he was surprised by what he heard at a joint Surrey and New West chambers of commerce forum at the Fraser River Discovery Centre last week. At the session, a spokesman for the Lower Mainland Chamber Transportation Advisory Panel spoke supporting TransLink’s proposal to build a new six-lane bridge to replace the aging fourlane aging structure. “That really concerns me, because from the small business people I know it doesn’t reÀect [their views],” said Puchmayr this week. So at Monday’s council meeting he made a motion for the city to hold a working session forum with New West business to see how they feel about a six-lane bridge, and the rest of council agreed. Puchmayr said he spoke to one Surrey chamber member in the trucking business who was shocked to ¿nd out the province is Please see MORE, A3