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YOUR Independent Community Newspaper
Vol. 5 Edition 29
More change needed at CKHA: critic By Bruce Corcoran bruce@chathamvoice.com
A local citizen who saw both his parents have extended stays with the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance in recent years likes the changes that are occurring there, but thinks more can be done. John Cryderman said he was first exposed to what he calls “unintentional lack of care” issues at the health alliance when his father, Jack Cryderman, was hospitalized in 2010. “He was in there a few times. The third admission, he was more critical. He couldn’t eat on his own and was aspirating a lot,” Cryderman said. “What I first noticed was the food trays. Each time I would go there, they were left untouched. It became a deep concern of mine.” The feeding of patients was just one area of worry for Cryderman. He believes there aren’t enough frontline nurses in the medical unit, physiotherapy is conducted by more of a cookie-cutter approach, and information taken at the time of a person’s admittance to hospital is not detailed enough and doesn’t always make it to the hands of the caregivers. “Every patient is differ-
ent. What may work for one may not work for another. There is no such thing as one physiotherapy glove fitting all patients,” he said. Cryderman isn’t pointing fingers at anyone, but rather says it’s a problem with the system. “There’s nobody to blame. Ultimately there’s a reason why. I’m not advocating there is any intention of malfeasance,” he said. “It’s just the administration is there to manage care, and the frontline staff, from surgeons all the way down to personal support workers, are there to provide the recovery,” he said. He believes it is at least in part due to not enough staff. “There are times up there when nurses have between nine and 10 patients each. They’re running their tails off up there. You can’t deliver health care as mandated by the ministry of health in that manner,” he said. Lori Marshall, president and CEO of the alliance, disagreed. “We did undergo a benchmarking exercise with a consulting firm. They compared us to other hospitals of similar size and scope of services.”
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Eyes on the cherry prize
Mary Beth Corcoran/The Chatham Voice
Blenheim Cherryfest saw a lot of action this past weekend, with the church ladies selling out of pies in record time, cherry pit spitting champions crowned and young pie enthusiasts getting down and dirty with kid-sized cherry pies. Here, Jack Deshaw, 7, from Sudbury, shows incredible potential, downing his pie in record time to take first place in his age group. He won a first place ribbon and small cash award for his pie-eating skills.
Ecto-1 part of FireFest
By Bruce Corcoran bruce@chathamvoice.com
Who you gonna call? FireFest. A replica of Ecto-1, the Ghostbuster mobile from the 1984 movie, will be part of the sixth annual FireFest Chatham-Kent in
September. It will join upwards of 100 antique firefighting vehicles, police cars and ambulances to be displayed in Chatham’s downtown core Sept. 23. DeNure said organizers seek out a unique vehicle to showcase each year.
“Ecto-1 is the feature vehicle this year. Every year we try to bring in a vehicle to pique everyone’s interest,” he said. “It’s the world’s most popular emergency response vehicle.” At Ecto-1’s core is a 1959 Cadillac hearse/ambu-
lance. It and the other vintage vehicles will be on display from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 23 in the downtown. DeNure said some are from as far back as the 1840s, with the newest being from 1990.
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