Thursday May 1, 2014 (Vol. 39 No. 35)
V O I C E
O F
W H I T E
R O C K
A N D
S O U T H
S U R R E Y
w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m
Fade out: The final credits have rolled on South Surrey’s popular Rialto Theatre, which closed its doors this week rather than undertake an expensive switch from film to a digital-projection format. i see page 8
72-hour notice targets White Rock City Hall for unprecedented job action Friday
Trivial issues not worth strike: mayor Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
Unionized White Rock employees have served the city with 72 hours strike notice. The move is one for the history books – it marks the first time ever that negotiations in the city have reached this point in prospective job action, according to the union.
However, White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin expressed concern prior to the notice that city workers could strike over issues that are “so trivial.” In a statement issued Tuesday morning, CUPE 402-01 president Mike Guraliuk said the first step will see union members who work at city hall off the job. This
includes employees working in bylaw enforcement, pay parking and financial services. “CUPE was hopeful that the city would enter into last weekend’s talks with a renewed commitment,” Guraliuk said, referring to three days of mediated bargaining held April 25-27. “But that is not what we found.
Our decision to serve strike notice was made in response to the fact that we saw little progress at the bargaining table, where the city and their representative from Metro Vancouver failed to address key issues.” City manager Dan Bottrill told Peace Arch News Wednesday that should the job action kick in Fri-
day, residents likely won’t see much difference. “City hall will be open, exempt staff will be providing services,” he said. “There will be bylaw enforcement, there will be parking (enforcement). All municipal services that typically are delivered out of city hall will still be delivered.” i see page 8
Fraser Health calls idea ‘ridiculous’
Seven months for diagnosis
Top surgeons disagree over wait solution
A family’s frustration Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter
Alex Browne Staff Reporter
Peace Arch Hospital’s chief of surgery says the facility has made strides in maximizing efficiency to avoid penalties imposed by the B.C. Ministry of Health on the Fraser Health Authority for undue waits for nonemergency surgeries. But Dr. Arno Smit also says Fraser Health needs to authorize full use of potential OR time at the hospital – rather than the 80 per cent he says the facility has been limited to in recent months – to avoid a waiting-list crisis in the future. “Our most serious challenge is providing timely care for conditions that are not considered life-threatening,” Smit, a White Rock orthopedic surgeon, said. He warned that staff are reaching a “tipping point” of morale due to frustration over OR-use limits – which he feels threatens advances the hospital has made. Smit suggests Fraser Alex Browne photo Health authorize full use of ‘We have been penalized OR capability, in anticipafor being effective’: Smit. tion of a new budget and potential funding increases, rather than wait for increases to materialize. i see page 5
Tracy Holmes photo
Paige Jamieson and her father, Jen Chitty, say the wait list for an MRI is far too long.
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A South Surrey family is frustrated by health-care wait lists that are forcing their active teenaged daughter to wait at least seven months to get a knee injury properly diagnosed. Paige Jamieson, 16, was hurt March 30 during a playoff soccer game at Queen’s Park in New Westminster. As Jamieson went for a kick, a player on the opposing team “just kinda ran through my leg,” the teen said, explaining the impact to her left knee. “I was limping for about 2½ weeks. I couldn’t walk at all for the first week.” Jamieson’s dad, Jen Chitty, said a diagnostic MRI was ordered for Paige after an X-ray of her knee showed an “anomaly” that likely requires surgery, but did not enable doctors to pinpoint the damage. “They know there’s something wrong,” Chitty said. Since Paige’s injury was not deemed an emergency, she was given the first MRI appointment available at Peace Arch Hospital – Nov. 18, seven months away. Chitty said that when he complained it was an unacceptable wait for an active teenager, he was told to check other hospitals. The news was even more frustrating: the earliest appointment at Surrey Memorial Hospital was next April. Put on a cancellation list, the family is not optimistic things will change anytime soon. They were told there are 250 people ahead of Paige on that list. “They told us they’d had… ‘another budget cut’,” Chitty said. i see page 4
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