Ride ‘em cowboy
Luxton Pro Rodeo readies fun for the whole family Page A3
NEWS: Langford provides affordable housing A3 7 WONDERS: Celebrating the best of the West Shore A7 DRIVEWAY: The handsome beast of an Impala A17
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www.vicnews.com
Victoria surgery Western Foods turns 40 wait times the worst in province Arnold Lim News staff
Grocer keeps it in the family
Kyle Wells News staff
New numbers from the provincial ministry of health show Vancouver Island hospitals as having the longest wait times for scheduled surgeries in the province. Island Health administrators are blaming the numbers on a current shortage of anesthesiologists, a problem they are currently tackling and hope to have solved by the fall. “This is one of our top priorities,” said J. Paul Whelan, chief of surgery for Island Health. “We really spend a great deal of our time working on this particular issue.” The two main benchmarks the province uses to gauge surgical waits is how long it takes to complete 50 per cent of cases and 90 per cent of cases in each hospital, specialty or region. From January 1 to March 31, 2014, Greater Victoria hospitals (Victoria General Hospital and Royal Jubilee Hospital) showed an average wait time of eight weeks for 50 per cent of surgeries and 34.9 weeks for 90 per cent of surgeries. This is compared to the provincial average of 6 weeks for 50 per cent of surgeries and 28.3 weeks for 90 per cent. Vancouver Island in general saw 50 per cent of surgeries completed in 7.3 weeks and 90 per cent completed in 33.1, well above the provincial average and the worst for a health authority in B.C. Island Health spokesperson Sarah Plank said normally there are 35 full-time equivalent anesthesiologists working within Island Health, whereas since last summer the health authority has been down to 31. Please see: Anesthesiologist shortage blamed, Page A5
Western Foods has kept it all in the family for 40 years. Starting off with a small corner store in Esquimalt that eventually grew into a supermarket on Goldstream Ave., founder Charlie Low and his family celebrate Western Foods’ 40 years in the Western Communities with festivities marking the multi-generational family business run by Low’s children today. “It all started with my parents opening and founding this store back in 1974,” said Low’s daughter, and current Western Foods managing director, Laura Lum. “It was farmland and they had the opportunity to open up the store and they went for it.” Lum has been in the business herself for 20 years, it was her first job and she has worked in pretty much every department of the store from cashier, to the meat department to management, giving her an opportunity to learn from her father in the family business she is proud to be involved with today. “It was great, he was my mentor and he was always in retail so he had that knack for knowing what people
wanted and giving them the best value for the money,”
“(I am) proud, happy and gracious we are still around” – ed low
she said. “Everything fresh and always giving back to the community, he knew all the customers.”
Come in an see us d the patio is open.
HAPPY MAY DAY New Ownership. Great Food! Great Friends!
Simon & Cheryl Fearn
Don Descoteau/News staff
Western Foods director Laura Lum and her brother, company president Ed Low, run this Langford store and another in Sooke. The company celebrates its 40th anniversary this month.
250-478-3811 | 2668 Sooke Road Sunday & Monday: 11am-10pm, Tuesday-Saturday: 11am - 11pm
Western Foods boasts two locations today, the second opening in Sooke in 1995, and combine to employ more than 100 staff and more than 30,000 square-feet between the two supermarkets. Lum said the trick to their success has been to keep the business familyoriented, by treating both their employees and their
customers like family. “I think that’s the most important for us,” she said. “We have lots of staff here that have been with us for 20 years. I think that’s key, we treat everybody like a family.” Please see: Family focus defines store, Page A2
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