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75 King St. South, Suite 201 Waterloo, Ontario, N2J 1P2 Phone: 886â€"2830 Fax; 886â€"9383 Eâ€"mail: wchronicle@sentex.net I‘m not suggesting that hospital restructuring wasn‘t and isn‘t necâ€" essary. But before hospitals were forced to reduce nursing staff, close wards, and send patients home while still in need of medical attenâ€" tion, the alternative healthâ€"care provisions â€" such as a solid regiâ€" ment of homeâ€"care nurses and homeâ€"support workers â€" should have been securely in place. Those provisions weren‘t in place â€" the province put the cart before the proverbial horse, and now we‘re feeling the crunch. Chronicle International Standard Serial Number ISSN 0832â€"3410 Even so, the hospital released a patient who wasn‘t ready to go home, and if it wasn‘t for the home care she received in Hamiltonâ€" Wentworth Region, I don‘t know how she, and we, would have managed. Less than a week after her second surgery, one of her battery of doctors announced to us that my mother would be going home the next day. 1 was gobsmacked. "Yes, she still has pneumonia," the doctor said. "And yes, she‘s still pretty delusional. And yes, she‘ll probably need more surgery to remove all that black skin that‘s developed around the wound (that one was new to us}. But she‘s perfectly fine to go home. We need the beds." I figure they based their decision to release her on the fact that she could almost walk to the bathroom on her own. Turns out she wasn‘t ready to go. They kept her there for a couple of days more. And in the meantime, she began to come to her senses (though nowhere near fully) and her lungs began to clear. My Dad and my aunt stayed with her constantly during the day, and I‘d drive down to Hamilton every evening to take over. The nurses were so strapped for time, they appreciated that we were there to bring her bedpans, change her sheets, and feed her. Since there were not enough nurses on duty to give her constant care (not their fault), she had to be bound to her bed for fear that she‘d try to get up (which she managed to do several times, regardâ€" less) and hurt herself. > The reconstructive surgery didn‘t go [m well. She developed a hematoma and underwent a second surgery in as Deborah Crandall many days. She developed pneumoâ€" nia. And (this was most frightening to me) she became extremely disoriented and delusional. This was not my mother anymore. This was not the veryâ€"youthfulâ€"60â€"something, intelligent, vibrant woman I knew and argued with often. This was a frail old lady who couldn‘t feed herself, saw things that weren‘t there, and imagined all sorts of horrors. Chronice ~~a@MCGiiyazomky Demand for these services is growing for several reasons. Our population of elderly people is increasing. More of these people are choosing to remain in their own homes as long as possible, rather than reside in nursing homes. And, most importantly, provinceâ€" Since my pal Scott a few pages over has decided to lighten up a bit this week, 1 think I‘ll get a bit serious. Let‘s talk health care, shall we? In this week‘s Chronicle (Page 3), we look at a shortage of homeâ€" support workers who help care for the convalescing and the elderly, and of a looming shortage of registered nurses who provide health care for people at home. AND AnotHEr Cart before the horse THDG... Last month, my mother underwent major reconstructive surgeryâ€"seven years ago she had a full mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast canâ€" cer. I‘m going to get very personal and share my own recent experience with you to show how strongly I feel about this issue. wide hospital restructuring is forcing people out of their hospital beds before they‘re ready. r a m “ s ‘ P li‘!?‘ J y h “?'\ r &A g@&_ nc * L/ | ce K o. 55. . s 5 e (zm . *‘ 20 x~~ ~{ To _Ah â€" 2 Ik _ J Jim Alexander Martice Bill Kerges Norma C Kim Broderick Bvcriee oo Agvertiaing ~ Suies bupirrger ~â€"Abrcriiing Sules Abroriay Sates Cimneinna intes Insiders reap millions from the illegal trading, and it casts doubt over the integrity of the market and, in fact, the whole One chap I know says the big disadvantage is that, after you win a jackpot, it takes too long to put the money back in. Insider Stuff: As most folks who hazard a few bucks in the market know, insider trading is widespread and mostly goes unpunished. The Globe ana Mail has added its confirmation to that. Anyhow, it sounds as if the current goal is a slotâ€"machine operation with a raceway attached, instead of the other way around. And, of course, not everyone likes the slots. You could say it was a oneâ€"way torrent of lmcciiinl 4 silver. The only guarantee the player had was that if he stayed with it for any length of time, he‘d lose. The machines were clearly illegal, but they dperated for years. Proof of that, of course, is the willingness to move a big, fat racetrack to get the slots in operation. Somehow it reminds me of the situation here about 60 years ago when coinâ€" inâ€"theâ€"slot horse machines paid off in cafes and such like. How come? Who knows. The owner? He was a staunch Lutheran and a pillar of the community. Leaving aside considerations of the site, the development proves anew one big thing: Slot machines are like a licence to print money. The operators just can‘t lose. In The Slot: Elmira Raceway is toying with the idea of shifting its track to near Breslau in hopes that slot machines will be acceptable at the new site. And it‘s not that keeping trees in shape is cheap. This year 1 had to get a new tree doctor. The old one couldn‘t stand the sight of sap. l Ts Autumn‘s splendor leaves us aching Many a poet has waxed fulsome about the splendor of the autumn leaves, but its a safe bet none of the thymeâ€"masters ever had to rake any. Of all the jobs that beset householders, there‘s none as bad as raking leaves. Oh, my aching back and blistered fingers. ONcE over LIGHTHY Halloween is quite an observance. And you know you‘re not much on looks when you can go out trickâ€"orâ€"treating dressed as is. If you‘ll pardon my Elugging a lost causc,lgood sense s‘avyls we should stay on daylight time the year around. Now most folks get up in the dark and go home in the dark. Their alleged lack of political awareness could also explain the results of some Cambridge municipal elections. Time and Tricks: There‘s a big weekend upcoming. First, the clocks go back an hour on Saturday night, and, second, the kids will be tricking and treating Saturday and/or Sunday, If things are as he says, I supfiose it would be possible to offer remedial courses on government to all the Cambridge folks who'_vc been left behind by the flow of events. He says that the big advantage would be to get u id of regional government "which most people . do not understand." I‘m really not an expert on Cambridge levels of awareness, but 1 can assure him that the rest of the region understands regional government well. I‘m cynical about the market. 1 put half my money in paper towels and half in revolving doors. 1 was wiped out before 1 could even turn around. Mostly Bored: Just when you thought the idea so ludicrous system. The regulators should keep a closer eye on takeovers and start enforcing the law. It‘s long past the time for action. What are you taikin‘ about, I‘m not jfumpin‘.... ! figured with the new millennium coming, this t be the only place theyl! allow us to Do you understand the expression "a dogs breakfast?" Do you see a similarity with service boards? Are you surprised that the big push behind the boards comes from Cambridge Coun. Doug Craig? Well, it wouldn‘t be exactly reform. Under the service boards, the region would be gone. The municipalities would become the decisionâ€"makâ€" ers. They‘d set up administrative boards to overâ€" see such things as sewage, garbage, and all the other stuff. no one would take it ;criously, along comes Cambridge councillors talking about coâ€"operaâ€" tive service boards as a means to regional reform. The views of our columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by The Fairway Group = A division of Southam Inc, Mailed subscription rates $65 yearly in Canada $90 yearly outside Canada + G S T newspaper