SCIENCE FAIR
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March 3, 2016
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100milefreepress.net
100 Mile House keeps in-house laundry Heather Nelson Free Press
The decision has been made – 100 Mile District General Hospital will keep its in-house laundry services. At its board meeting on March 1, the Interior Health Authority (IHA) board decided to let the hospitals in 100 Mile House, Golden, Ashcroft, Princeton, Lillooet and Williams Lake keep their own laundry services. This decision is a huge victory for the communities with the smaller hospitals because it means there will be no job losses, which would have happened if the laundry services were privatized. Opposition to the privatization scheme grew over the months since the privatization plan was first introduced, with almost 13,000 citizens signing a petition against the job losses. Municipal councils, including the District of 100 Mile House, passed motions objecting to privatization. Local Health Employees’ Union (HEU) members were out in force waving flags, carrying signs and a clothesline pinned with T-shirts, on the corner of First Street and Highway 97 on Feb. 29. They were rallying in support of hospital laundry workers in their fight to protect their jobs. There would have been at least four people losing their jobs here, says HEU local chair and shop steward Barb Matfin. She noted that if a private company came into the facilities and collected the laundry, it may have impacted more jobs. However, the services in larger centres – Kelowna, Kamloops, Nelson, Penticton and Vernon – will be privatized. Today’s decision by the IHA to contract out hospital laundry services is deeply disappointing Continued on A4
Heather Nelson photo
Hospital Employees’ Union members John Code and Debbie Anderson walked a clothesline across Highway 97. On Feb. 29, a dozen union members waved flags and held signs on the corner of First Avenue and Highway 97 in support of hospital laundry workers in their fight to protect jobs.
108 Mile Ranch water system upgrade going ahead
Ken Alexander Free Press
108 Mile Ranch residents gave two thumbs up for the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) to borrow up to $2 million for a new water treatment plant this year, and developing an alternative water source by 2018. Eligible residents voted at two advance polls on Feb. 17 and 22, and the general voting day poll was held at the 108 Mile Community Hall on Feb. 27. Final results showed 415 residents were in support, while 100 voted against the upgrades. CRD chair and Area G Director Al Richmond says he was happy people got out to vote. “I’m pleased there was a very definitive statement from them about moving ahead with the project. It’s always better when you have an overwhelming majority rather than a 50-per-cent-plus-one decision, which is not really a win for anyone. “Eighty per cent was really nice to see. Obviously, we were able to get the message out and people decided to get out and vote, so that’s good.” Richmond says the vote pretty much reflected the feelings of the 145 or so
people who turned up for the Feb. 15 public meeting at the 108 Mile Community Hall, where they heard new information and had their questions answered. AL “It was definitely RICHMOND similar to the feeling in the hall in that the overwhelming majority of the people were in favour and there was a few who weren’t too sure – that’s uncertainty rather than being opposed. “I know a lot of people wanted to vote for the treatment plant, but they didn’t want to vote for the other [north aquifer] well.... “We will move on now. We’ll get the plant ready for construction this year, and we will do some more research on the well and the aquifer before we make any decisions on that. Richmond says the CRD will be hiring another hydrogeology company to review the three opinions the regional district has on the work that’s been done now to see what the hydrogeologists can come up with a common theme among themselves. This would help to determine if there’s more work to be done and what that work would
look like. “By reviewing all the three comments we have from the three hydrogeologists, hopefully, we can come up with a better idea on whether there is more testing that needs to be done, or just what the situation is because we want to be sure we get it right.” Richmond says the CRD wants to make sure it has enough information before it spends the money to build a pipeline to connect it to the water plant. The first meeting they had on the treatment plant (primarily to get rid of the manganese) was around threeand-a-half years ago, the CRD chair says, adding people also wanted the regional district to look at the wells and the lake levels. “So, we said, ‘OK’. So, it’s taken that long.” He adds the treatment design had been done, so the CRD knew what the pipe system was going to be and a “pretty good idea” of costs. “But, when people wanted us to look at the wells, we had to get more details on the water quality [of the wells] and there had to be changes to the plant. “We kind of know now, but we have to prove that [north] aquifer the best we can to ensure it won’t have an impact on the lake levels.”