Report from . ueen s Park ByGeorgese,MP.P. j ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF HEALTH CARE Much has been said in the past while about reducing the use of hospital beds by providing alternative forms of health care, but not too much has been provided on just what these alternative forms are. This week, I would like to outline these alternatives as clearly as possible, taking into consideration that many of the programs are still in the development stage. In working towards providing alternative forms of health care, the Government of Ontario is placing greater emphasis on disease prevention and community health programs. We are relying a great deal on the District Health Councils which have been established across the Province. to assist us in encouraging people to take personal responsibility for their own health. It is important to recognize that health is something preserved by way of living rather than something restored by treatment of disease. The Durham Health Council is very active, and is presently undertaking two studies which are being financed by the Provincial Government. The first is a Hospital Role Study. This will examine the work performed by the six hospitals presently located within the Region, and make-recommen. dations on how the overall services can be improved. For example, this could result in the amalgamation of such services as pediatrics, when two or more hospitals in a community may each have a pediatrics ward, possibly with very low occupancy. The second study is on Long Term Health Care for the Region, and will place particular emphasis on the changing health care needs of our aging population. We aIl get exasperated by yet more studies. But in the case of quickly, growing communities like Ajax, Pickering and Whitby, it is quite necessary to determine just what the needs are now and will be in the future, and what is the best way to meet these needs. In many parts of the Province (unfortunately not Durham Region as yet) a home dialysis program has been established. This program allows patients to be dialysed in their own homes rather than in a hospital. With appropriate supervision, there appears to be equal benefit to the patient and the cost is $9,000 annually, rather thán $22,000 if the patient were hospitalized. Oshawa General Hospital has already introduced a very successful day hospital program, which is designed to help those people à bout to be discharged from a long-term care facility, or who are trying to manage a home. The.Province is also encouraging the expansion of day care surgery programs. There is evidence that the pressure for more inpatient services is reduced through the provision of day care surgery. This trend towards lower cost alternatives is freeing up beds to be used for those patients who must be admitted. Durham Region has one of 38 active home treatment care programs that have been developed in Ontario. The objective of this program is to decrease the-length of stay in a hospital by providing equivalent treatment services, where appropriate, to patients in their homes. It is estimated that the cost of health care services in Ontario will increase by $423 million this year. Right now of every tax dollar collected in Ontario, 27 cents goes to health care services, 24 cents goes to education, and the balance of 49 cents must be divided up amongst everything else...social services, roads, agriculture, energy research, local government needs... the list goes on and on. This is perhaps the best answer to questions asked about why the Government does not bring on the new programs before cutting back on the old. The process of change takes time, and must be managed within available financial resources. As stated by Premier Davis this past week, neither wnder drugs nor expensive machines can do what we ourselves must do by taking better care of our own bodies and minds. The health care system of Ontario is now in a state of transition, with a series of shifts in responsibility. Perhaps the most difficult adjustment of all will be to shift the responsibility for personal health away from government and the medical profession, and on to individuals and their families. It is a responsibility that we must all take seriously because the alternative could be disastrous, in an economic sense. Are you willing to do your part? Camper robbed A United States visiter was robbed some time, June 13 when his tent was entered and a am-fm cassette player and lamp were taken from the tent. Rodney Lambert of St. Paul, Minnesota, while visi- ting in the Whitby area is camping in the Heber Down Conservation Area,, police said. Also stolen during June 13 were four wire wheels. The wheels were taken from a car parked on the front lot of Glenwood Motors, 1120 Dun- das Street east. WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1979, PAGE 19 Councillors reject salary raise Durham Region Council voted* recently , 16-10 to rejeet a recommended salary increase for its mem- bers. The management commi- ttee had recommended that the salaries of the 30 council- lors and Regional Chairman Walter Beath be increased by 6.7 per cent on Jan. 1, 1980. If approved, the raise Negotiator appointed -The Education Relations Commission recently an- nounced the appointment of Harvey L. Ladd as a person to assist The Durham Board of Education and its second- ary teachers in their negotia- tions. Mr. Ladd is privately em- Service station breakm reported Police report that a Whitby Service station was broken into during the early hours 0f June 10. Churcher's Gulf Service Station on Dundas Street West, was entered through the bay window of the build- ing. Police report that a small sum of money was taken from the office of the Service Station. The area patrolled by the Whitby Division of the Dur- ham Regional Police recei- ved a heaby downpour of rain on June 10 but police report there was no* damage done. "There could have been some slight damage done during the storm. But what might have occurred must- Have been very light as we have received no damage reports from the storm in the Whitby Division area", said* Inspector David Fleming. There was damage caused by the storm in other areas patrolled by the Regional Force, he said. ployed as a labour relations consultant. He has lectured extensively on the collective bargaining process and has conducted training courses in the field. Among the other major assignments as a mediator and arbitrator, he was involved in the grain handling dispute on the west coast. He has previously assisted school boards and teachers in Durham, Niagara South, Stormont, Dundas and Glen- garry, Sudbury, Windsor and Metro Secondary, and the counties of Bruce, Huron, Lambton, Lennox and Ad- dington, Welland, Welling- ton, York County and Kent and the Provincial Schools Authority and the Federa- tion f Provincial Schools Authority Teachers. Police said that there are more reports of stolen bicy- cles. A girl's bicycle was stolen from the garage of 12 "fichael Boulevard, Whitby, .Ind another bicycle was olen from the lobby of the building located at 534 Mary .treet East. There was a break and enter of the apartment of Karen Colleran, 116 Hickory Street. The suspect was in the apartment at the time Ms. Colleran entered her apartment, police said, when she entered her apartment the suspect fled on foot. would have brought a council member's pay to $13,850 and the regional chairman's sal- ary to $37,878. Oshawa Councillor Ed Kolodzie said the members are overpaid "for what some of them do", and councillors who voted for the raise were greedy in his opinion. While Mr. Kolodzie said committee meetings last from 35 minutes to two hours and 35 minutes, Whitby Mayor Jim Gartshore rep- lied that attendance at com- mittee and council meetings is only a small percentage of a regional councillor's job requirements. "This is only the tip of the iceberg of the total job," he said. DENTURE THERAPY CLINIC 111 DUNDAS STREET WEST WHITBY Newcastle Mayor Garnet Richard urged that responsi- bility for increasing council salaries should revert to the local municipal level, citing the wide disparity between salariespaid local and regional councillors. He said regional council salaries were sufficiently high in the society we live in today. The proposed 6.7 per cent increase in salaries would have raised:councillors' sal- aries by $870. With the defeat of the proposed pay raise, the region's management com- mittee must still produce a recommendation on the level of 1980 council salaries by the end of September." THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF WHITBY ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE NOTICE OFA PUBLIC MEETING THE BROOKLIN SECONDARY PLAN STUDY PHASE Il A public meeting of the Administrative Committee will be held to present the findings of the Study Team's Phase Il report and the corresponding Financial Impact Analysis for growth in the Hamiet of Brooklin to 10,000 persons. The public meeting will be held in the Meeting Hall of the Whitby Municipal Building, 575 Rossland Road East, Whitby, on June 28, 1979 at 7:30 p.m. Robert J. Carson, Chairman Administrative Committee Robert B. Short, Director of Planning Planning Department Planning Department M