Maple Ridge News, July 11, 2014

Page 1

Sidewinder Doddering district? p6

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Cyclists support saving stream. p11

THE NEWS

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Pitt Meadows. p5

www.mapleridgenews.com Friday, July 11, 2014 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est.APO1978 STME · 604-467-1122 · Delivery: 604-466-6397 DIA: D REF SIZE: ERENCE: COLO U PROB R: LEMS ?

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Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS

Communities in Bloom Cyndy Johnson-McCormick, and Charlotte Mitchell, co-chairs of Communities In Bloom, put the finishing touches on Trixie, one of six scarecrows on display at the Intergenerational Garden, 121st Avenue and Edge Street, on July 17. The displays will be part of Communities in Bloom contest in which Maple Ridge will compete with other B.C. municipalities to determine who has the nicest looking parks, lawns and gardens . See p5.

Ridge Meadows RCMP will be ramping up traffic enforcement as the summer holiday season reaches its peak. “More cars on the road can result in some delays, or traffic congestion that doesn’t happen at other times of the year,” said Const. Mike Moore with Ridge Meadows traffic section. “This can cause a motorist untold frustration, and can lead to unsafe driving practices.” Sudden turns, failing to signal, or yield the right of way, speeding and running traffic lights are a leading cause of traffic accidents. It’s not only drivers being targeted, police will also be on the look out for pedestrians and cyclists who flout the rules. “Ridge Meadows RCMP commit to making our roads as safe as possible.” See Roads, p4

RMH scores low in review Ridge Meadows Hospital has more falls, infections by Ne i l Co r b e t t staff reporter

It’s getting tinder dry out there See story, p8 The

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If Fraser Health is concerned that “nursing sensitive events” are afflicting patients at Ridge Meadows Hospital, it should hire more nurses, and let them do their jobs, says the hospital’s B.C. Nurse’s Union rep. “Nursing sensitive events” is jar-

gon for infections, bed sores and even fractures which occur while patients are hospitalized, and which presumably could be prevented by nurses. A recent review of Fraser Health says Ridge Meadows, Surrey Memorial and Burnaby hospitals all have double the national average rate of nursingsensitive events, “with no demonstrated improvement over the past three years.” That could be interpreted as blaming nurses for health care complications, which is how Debbie Picco,

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Opinion Letters Hospitals Community Calendar DriveWay Sports Classifieds

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the co-chair for the BCNU’s Simon Fraser Region reads it. “That’s what the employer is doing,” she said. “There are not enough staff to safely care for patients.” The nurses say that Fraser Health is “devolving nursing into a series of tasks that need to be done,” without respect for the nurse’s professional judgement. “We’re losing RN (registered nurse) and LPN (licensed practical nurse) positions to unregistered caregivers,” she continued. Picco graduated from nursing

school in 1976, and her last job before taking a union position five years ago was home care in Maple Ridge. When she started in the profession, departments were run by head nurses who knew the profession. Now, there are more nonnursing managers. “The people leading the wards are not people who know about nursing care,” she asserts. “The philosophy of management is a business philosophy now. And patient care has suffered.” See Hospital, p4, Other stories p9, 11

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