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Friday, February 21, 2014 Lakeshore News A7
Letters to the Editor
Waiting for health care in BC
You’ve just received the diagnosis from the surgeon that you require a joint replacement. The good news is, they can perform these surgeries and in all likelihood, the outcome will be positive for you. The bad news is, you must go on a surgery waiting list for up to 18 months or longer while waiting to have it done. The orthopedic surgeons cannot perform all of these surgeries as the BC Government has reduced funding that allows the operating rooms to be scheduled to meet the demand. It is my understanding many hospitals are being underutilized by as much as 50%, is this fact? Large ‘new’ hospitals such as in Vernon and Kelowna are not being utilized to their fullest due to a shortage of funds that would allow these hospitals to be fully staffed and equipped. The new facilities are there but we now lack the funds to put these facilities to full use. Operating rooms, patient beds and specialized equipment sit idle for much of the time. They are closed during the off hours and weekends due to lack of funding. Other than
emergency situations most surgeries are performed Monday to Friday between the hours of 7:00 and 17:00. Government officials will tell us health care spending has been increased but no new funding is available to alleviate these growing waiting lists. What’s going to happen in a few years as the baby boomers require more & more health care? This a real concern – what is the government doing about it? There seems to be enough money to construct new bridges and highways in the lower mainland but why are surgery waiting lists continuing to grow and there does not appear to be any relief in sight. This letter might be seen as negative by some but the problem remains and is growing larger every day. As the BC government is in control of health care, what are they doing about it as British Columbians are demanding answers? This problem lies squarely on the shoulders of the Christy Clark government; we need to hear from our Premier and our local MLA’s regarding what they plan on doing about this abysmal situation? B. Campbell, Sorrento
Not all are small
Re: Sally Scales’ “no bra” advisory for women: (in her Lakeshore News Feb. 14th column): I would like to note that not all women have breasts the size of crabapples. Those of us who are more generously endowed would disagree most vigorously – first from a health standpoint, and also for appearance’s sake. If it is a male doctor’s advice she is quoting, that is understandable. He has never coped with permanent pendulous growths on his chest. If her advice stems simply from her former profession, then more shame on her. She must have seen enough female patients to reach a more sensible conclusion. Alli M. Graham, Sicamous
Affordable daycare?
The TRUE In The Trees team is excited that Emily Mlieczko, Executive Director of Early Childhood Educators of BC, is coming to Salmon Arm to share information about the proposed community plan for a public system of integrated early care and learning ($10/day plan). If the plan is successful, there will be many changes to BC’s current childcare system – changes will have an impact on families, early childhood educators, the school board, and businesses. Please come and learn about the $10/Day Plan! Ask questions and share your thoughts! She will be at Salmon Arm City Council meeting on Monday March 10th, 2:30 p.m. (meetings are open to the public to listen); and then later, there will be a public forum at the District Education Centre, 2960 Okanagan Ave at 6:00-8:00 p.m. It’s free to attend, and coffee will be provided. Bring a friend! Please come out and show that you care about how young children are cared for in BC.
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A special baby
Blanche Hartnett, left, of the Shuswap Quilters’ Guild presents a quilt to Allen and Lyndsay Martin, along with baby Evan. Evan is the first baby born in Salmon Arm in 2014, and this is the 10th year the guild has given a quilt to the New Years’ baby.
mallarkey
by Daron Mayes
Duma’s rooftop adventure
For those who are wondering, “Princess Duma” is still alive and kicking, I am not sure how many of her nine lives she has left, but the good news is she hasn’t been using them up as fast as she was last year. However, she almost used up one of mine last week. It all happened on one of those frigid days we had awhile back; where the temperature had dipped and the wind made it even colder. As I got out of my vehicle after work that night, I heard “meow” from the roof of our house, looked up, and saw Duma staring down at me. In most cases I would simply brush it off except that I could tell she wanted down, and couldn’t figure out how that was going to work. She slowly inched to the edge of the gutter, looked at me, meowed some more and then scurried back up to a more secure place. I dropped off my bag in the house and then went back out in the freezing cold to try and coax her off the roof. If I had been smart, I would have gotten changed out of my dress clothes and grabbed a toque, gloves and warm coat. However, we don’t always do the ‘smart thing,’ especially when we are impatient and hungry. I could tell she wasn’t going to miraculously jump into my arms so I thought I would go to the backyard where I might convince her to jump onto a pergola that ran close to the edge of the house. It seemed to make sense, as I was pretty sure she climbed the pergola to get onto the roof in the first place.
So there I was standing in the snow calling her. She did follow me from one side of the house to the other, but simply stared at me as I tried to convince her to jump down about 12 inches from the roof to the pergola. After a lot of muttering under my breath, I came to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to make it easy on me. I tromped through the snow to our shed and grabbed a step ladder. I took the ladder back to the house, tried my best to balance it and began the precarious climb up. Like most men, once I noticed the ladder was barely tall enough, I didn’t bother trying to find a bigger one; I just tried to stretch further. As I reached out to grab Duma, she smacked my hands a couple times with her paws and ran back up the roof away from me. So here I was putting my life on the line to save hers, and all she could do was smack me around and run off. Getting colder by the minute, I tried to coax her to the edge of the roof a couple more times, with the results being the same. On around the fourth try, however, I managed to quickly grab her before she could bolt away. “I was trying to rescue you – you crazy cat!” I exclaimed. She just looked at me with a look of “What took you so long?” In the end, she swaggered off with her tail in the air and I escaped without breaking my neck. She might be Princess Duma, but I’m definitely not her Prince Charming!
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