OPINION |

WEDNESDAY, May 24, 1995

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The Castidgar Sun

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Serving the 10,000 people of the Castlegar Area, The Castlegar Sun
is every y by Ne Lid. at 465
Columbia Ave. Castlegar, B.C. V1N 1G8. The Castlegar Sun is polit
cally independent and a member of the Sterling News Service,
Canadian C y Ni A . B.C. Cr ity
Newspapers Assocation, and the B.C. Press Council. Established
N 28, 1990. Pi Mail R 10420

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Wednesday, May 24, 1995

The Castlegar Sun

Page 7A

Castlegar hospital grapples
with ‘closer to home’ results

KAREN KERKHOFF
Sun Staff

An unwanted game of musical
hospital beds has left Castlegar
and District Hospital and
patients the Clear losers in the
Ministry of Health's mandate of
Closer to Home,

Ata recent hospital board
meeting, director of nursing
Denise Reed told trustees that an
increased number of surgical and
transfer patients are being re-
admitted to Castlegar hospital.

She said early discharges from

there has been increased bed
use in some areas Of care, which
is in direct opposition to the
Ministry of Health's Closer to
Home Mandate. That mandate
requires @ decrease of hospital
bed utilization. }
The current formula set out by

“As far as transfers are con-
cerned there is an increase in
1994/95 over the previous year
of 112 patient days. This brings
the total of transfers to 331
patient days.”

There is also an increase of re-
admissions after discharge from

the Ministry of Health req
that Castlegar have only 750
patient days per 1,000 population.

But in 1993/1994 Castlegar
hospital reported 980 patient days
per 1,000,

Because there is a funding for-
mula based on patient days, it's

other hosp 4 day surg-
eries, and the transfer of local
surgical patients from other facil-
ities have been partly responsible.

Consequently, said Reed,

to

Based on the local population
this equates to approximately 1,790
Patient days per year, said Reed.

other h in the p
said Reed.

“There was an increase of 11
patient days for a total of 78
patient days.”

Although there are patient-day
increases in specific areas, Reed
Says that in 1994/95 there was a
total overall decrease of 431
patient days.

“We have made progress in the
past with cutting days. Year by
year we are bringing it down.”

College daycare still a dream

KAREN KERKHOFF
Sun Staff
It could be a while yet before

ments regarding the daycare.

“We've just completed a mas-
ter plan that simply identifies
where it would be.”

is enough time to hire an architec-
ture and build the facility before
classes resume in September..

“I doubt if one would be in by

1995:
GLEN CLARK
170 Ibs T oz.

SUN STAFF PHOTO / Karen Kerkhoft
Valley Vista students admired their handiwork at making fridge magnets. Stu-
dents also made tote bags, and baked bread, cookies, and cupcakes for a fun fair

held at the school earlier this month. Monies earned from the fair is going toward a
new playground, which is pajt of the Valley Vista Healthy School initiative.

Even should funding come September—maybe by January,
through, Schatz doubts that there but it alll depends on the funding.

CIBC to host barbecue for -
B.C. Children’s.

Behind the and bank
deta, Camtlogas's Conasian
mperial Bank of Commerce

daycare is available at Selkirk
College.

Despite assurances by Ross-
jand-Trail MLA Ed Conroy that
funding is imminent, Selkirk Col-
lege officials aren't counting their.
chickens before they hatch.

“Conroy informed us at a

editorial comment

Emergency plan
only the first step

The City of Castlegar’s invitation to the Regional

WOODLAND PARK SCHOOL

Okay, everyone take a

i Wel-the funds 10 install the

Said Dale Schatz, vice-president |
of administration,

Schatz said that although a”
specific daycare area is identified

ealth of it
there was little comment from fed-
eral politicians.

The furore surr it). The province must now look

| Bonneville Power Administra-

ootenay to
| regional emergency plan is a ‘good idea.

After all, disasters know no boundaries.

But more than that, the services which must han-
dle a major emergency are, for the most part,
regional and not municipal.

RCMP, hospital, school district, health, ambu-
lance—they are all services which are not restrict-
ed by city boundaries.

It ‘makes Sense, as Councillor Ron Armbruster
said last week, that those services plan for emer-
gencies that are inside as well as outside city linrits
and for emergencies that overlap what are essen-
tially political boundaries.

But the need for regional cooperation goes fur-
ther than major emergencies. Of course, such coop-
eration is at work in various forms already, as
evidenced by the recreation commission, the aquat-
ic centre, the Ootischenia landfill, economic devel-
opment, transit service and, most recently, the
Castle gar and District Public Library.

But it could be much more comprehensive. Even
outsiders have recognized that.

Vancouver consultant Graham Argyle, who
Prepared the recent facilities study for the Castle-
gar school district, commented on the regional
nature of the area. He suggested the area func-
tions as a regional municipality and might be best
Tun as such.

The problem, as everyone: is aware, is that
there is a great deal of friction between the city
and regional district representatives. That needs
to change.

In order for this area to reach its full potential,
we need to work together: rural and city, regional
and municipal.

The emergency planning process is just another
example of that. There are many more.

Ron Norman

Not all teens bad

Local teens have been in the news a lot lately,
especially regarding loitering around the downtown
amenity area. But contrary to popular belief, not all
teens are bad.

All you have to do is read this week’s Castlegar
Sun to realize that troubled teens are a very small
Part of the teen population.

For example; 68 SHSS students fasted for 30-
hours for hunger relief and two other SHSS stu-
dents earned first place regionally and 18th
nationally in a stock market trading contest.

This is the norm, not the exception. The excep-
tion are those teens who make a bad name for all
teens.

Karen Kerkhoff +

ERRORS:
The advertiser agrees that the
damages arising out of errors in

tion’s decision to pull out of the
Columbia River Treaty down-
stream benefits agreement brings
to mind an Aislin (Terry Mosher's
pen name) cartoon when the Pani
Quebecois first came to power 20
years ago.

It showed a phlegmatic Pre-
mier-elect Renee Levesque with
the ever-present cigarette in his
hand saying: “Okay, everyone take
a Valium.”

In other words, don’t get
whipped out of shape for no reason

And there is no reason to get
whipped out of shape over the
collapse of the downstream bene-
fits agreement.

Granted, having an agreement
is better than not having an agree-
ment. It provided a level of cer-
tainty that we don’t have now.

It also provided money up

front—$250 million to be exact—
with the promise of $5 to $6 bil-
lion more over the next 30 years.
Some of that $250 million—$45
million—was money that was to
go to the newly-created Columbia
Basin Trust this year for Projects
and programs in the region.
That $250 million will no
longer be coming from the Ameri-
cans—at least as far as we know.
But that doesn’t mean the Trust is
bust. Far from it. Premier Mike
Harcourt said this week that the
Provincial government is pledged
to “carry out the commitments that
we made.”

That means the $45 million to
kick start the Trust will be coming
this year as scheduled.

But what about the Keenleyside
dam? It was to be fit with genera-
tors beginning this fall.

This town has a

I've always thought Castlegar
was a strange little town, hard to
peg. When I ran off in the 1960s,
leaving the nest to find myself in
the world, I couldn't get away fast
enough. Castlegar was smelly,
dull, non-descript, suffocating,
bland and (to my mind) character.
less. The “strip” development
along Columbia Avenue had
begun, the town was a blue-collar
bedroom community for Cominco,
and most of the men were mill
workers, including my father.

When I tetumed in 1991 to care
for my Dad, Murray Little, who
was succumbing to the devastating
and humiliating ravages of
Alzheimer's disease, I came with a
heavy heart and great reluctance. |
kept to myself, tried to ignore the
pulp mill in my back yard, and
worried that Dad would get lost-on
one of his many walks

In the end, my Dad was unable
to communicate well or under-
stand. To save himself embarrass-

generators and to expand the

Waneta and Brilliant dams were to

come from the downstream bene-

fits agreement with the BPA,
Under the Columbia Basin

Accord the

Province is to pay

the Trust $25 mil-

lion a year from

the downstream

benefits beginning

in 1996 and run-

ning for the next

10 years, for a

total of $250 mil-

lion. That money

is to go directly into the three

» the province will
invest $25 million a year for 10
years, running from 1996-2006,
for another $250 million.

That makes a total of $500 mil-
lion, or about one-half of the total
capital cost of the three generating
Projects. The province and the
Trust are to jointly finance the
remaining $500 million.

Where will all the money for
those projects come from now that
the BPA agreement is toast?
Where it was always coming
from: the Columbia River Treaty.

You see, B.C. is still entitled to
half the power from the Columbia
River Treaty, no matter what the
BPA does. The agreement with the
BPA was that it would purchase
the power.

The BPA has decided the cost
of the power is too high (though I
don't believe this for a moment,
How can the cost of Power have
changed that drastically in the last
six months? There is something
more to this and I think the bill
restricting water exports could be

ment, he would just open his wal-
let to strangers, a cashier, taxi
driver, or waitress, and Say “Take
what you need.” When I was told
this, it made me cringe. And when
he was driven by

his restlessness

and confusion out

on the streets for

his fifth walk of

the day—in the

wee hours of the

morning, or late at

night—I had

nightmares.

I needn't have
worried. Over the three bittersweet
years I have lived with my father
in his house, I discovered this
funny little town has a powerful
heart and many loving hands.

I learned the meaning of good
neighbors, caring community, “do
unto others", and respect. |
learned why my father had been
content to live here 41 years and
why he felt safe

THE VIEW

| MY

BarB
LITTLE

for another buyer for the power, or
strike another deal with the BPA.

But make no mistake: the
Province will still get millions of
dollars from the downstream bene-
fits, whether it
sells , the
Power to the
BPA or takes
the power and
sells it on the
open market

The .agree-
ment with the
BPA was a
convenience
{and a good deal for B.C.). Instead
of waiting until 1998 to take its
share of the power, B.C. struck a
deal with the BPA to take a lump
sum this year of $250 million and
$100 million a year from 1998
(when the first of the three initial
treaty terms expires) to 2002 and
then $200 million a year until
2024.

In return, the BPA would not
be required to construct a trans-
mission line to deliver half the
Power back to B.C. at Oliver.
The cost of that line is estimated
to be $150 million—and that
doesn’t take into account envi-
ronmental considerations.

That is the deal that went bust.
Not the Columbia Basin Accord.
Not the Columbia Basin Trust.
Not the Columbia River Treaty,
where the province gets half the
power, regardless.

It makes' me wonder, then, why
all the ruckus from nearly every
Political quarter.

When the BPA deal and the
Columbia Basin Accord were
announced, in September 1994
and March 1995, respectively,

FROM
HERE

RON
NORMAN

Now, when the BPA deal goes
sour, we're suddenly hearing from
Kootenay West-Revelstoke MP
Jim Gouk and Kootenay East MP
Jim Abbott (who curiously spells
Bonneville as “Bonnyville” all the
way through his press release).
Could it be because they are
Reform Party politicians? Nah, I
shouldn't be so cynical.

Meanwhile, the provincial
politicians have had trouble figur-
ing out if they support the various
deals or oppose them.

Liberal leader Gordon Camp-
bell is the worst. He couldn't
decide which side of the fence he
was on with the Accord and final-
ly settled on the side that Support-
ed the Accord.

Then, this week he jumped back
to thé “other side. In his words:
“They (the provincial government)
have also deceived the People of
the Kootenays who were told they
would get millions of dollars of
economic benefits to their region
and now they're left with nothing.”

Excuse me? How are we left
with ing?

Whether the province gets its
millions of dollars through the BPA

Best of all, we will benefit
from the sale of the Power from
those three projects for genera-
tions to come.

I think it's time someone drew a
cartoon with Premier Mike Har-
court saying: “Okay, everyone
take a Valium”.

powerful heart

I was the stranger here, but my
father, with his black fedora, was
4 familiar face to many. Watchful
eyes nm his whereabouts, kind
souls directed him on his way,
Strangers
Picked him
up, gave him
tea, and called
me.
The girls at
city hall, a
Place he knew
well, noted his
daily passing.
The police,
with great dignity and no fuss,
brought him home.

Local business People, finding
my dad confused and disoriented
on their doorstep, would bring
him back to me. Waitresses and
cashiers took just what they
needed from his wallet and gave
him change.

Caring voices on the Phone told
me things I should know. People

looked out for him, as though he
were their own.

From the bottom of my heart,
and on behalf of my brothers, I
thank all you wonderful, name-
less people who helped me look
after my father. You were my
eyes and ears, and the helping
arms I needed. I couldn't have
done it without you.

Castlegar may be hard to
define, may be bursting at the
seams with growing pains, torn up,
dusty, and looking for a new
image, but underneath, a strong
and steady heart beats. I have
rediscovered a friendly, caring,
committed, close little town, not
so smelly anymore, and not so
dull. I think I'll stay awhile.

Barb Little is a 1960s graduate
of Stanley Humphries Secondary
School who left Castlegar fora
number of years. She returned from
Revelstoke to look after her father,
former Mayor Murray Little.

SUN STAFF

Almost 150 Woodland Park
elementary school students will
be jumping off at an event this
Monday.

s
“Jump Rope for Heart is a fun
way ‘for children to learn about
heart health and the benefits of
physical fitness,” said Jill Wal-
gren, who is the volunteer orga-

nizer of the event.
“It teaches them that they can

The will be participat-
ing in a “jump off” to help raise
funds to combat heart disease and
stroke.

In teams. of four.or more, the
students will take turns jumping
rope for two hours.

Prior to the event students will
be collecting pledges from
friends, neighbors, and family
with proceeds being donated to
the Heart and Stroke Foundation
of B.C. and the Yukon.

get i ved in their ly
and help in the fight against hean
disease and stroke.”

Last year students who partici-

pated..in.jump offs throughout .

B.C. and the Yukon raised some
$1 million.

Jump Rope for Heart is a
unique educational program that
Promotes cardiovascular fitness
through skipping, Walgren said.

Students are introduced to
skipping in physical education

niforms
M Jackets

Cast
v

CASTLEGAR REBELS

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Sunday,
MNMWEAYW 2ST Fa

Arena C:

Double ups

$1000 Jackpot
$500 Bonanza

and 12 up pkgs.
Early Bird 6 p.m.

CASTLEGAR REBELS
License #794046

classes, and also learn general
information about heart health.

in the college's facilities plan, the
board has made no other arrange-

ready to serve
whole ham

2.16 kg.

government

inspected

pork

smoked »

Your satisfacti

U

‘Valu

Y MEAT |

cantaloupes

Product of U.S.
no. 1

1.05 kg.

jon is our main concern

e FRESH PRODUCE

pork loin
roast

government inspected pork

JUNIOR HOCKEY CLUB
are looking for Head Coach,
Assistant Coaches, General Manager,
Trainers and Equipment Manager
for the upcoming 95-96 season.

Please send application
BEFORE June 15th, 1995 to:

SECRETARY

Box 345:

1, Castlegar, B.C.
V1iN 3N8

prcccc co ------=

rib or tenderloin portion * 3.92 kg.

| caleeniteleeteetenta ate etek!

SOME RESTRICTIONS AppLy |

blade
steak

cut from Canada ‘A’ grades
bone in * family pack * 3.70 kg.

fresh
mushrooms

Product of Canada
3.70 kg.

e DEL! FEATURES «
¢ Montreal. Smoked Beef
¢ Black Forest Ham
° Old Fashioned Ham

ig 98 /100 g.
! Roast Beef
et 78 /100 g.

granny smith
apples

Product of the U.S. * fancy
1.71 kg.

Min. $15 - Max $100 Excluding tobacco

Castleaird Plaza

Castlegar, B.C:

PRICES EFFECTIVE:

Wednesday thru Saturday
May 24 to May 27,1995

Ph: 365-2412

“We reserve the right to limit quantities