The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Socil sevics co missone war.,s,,,,WHITBY FREE PRSS, WiEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 198 1, PAGE 5 Care for s enio rs miay bec ome horrendous pro blem By MICHAEL KNELL Free Press Staff Durham Regional Council lias been war- ned that it faces a "horrendous" problem in providing institution- ai health care for senior citizens. If the region dme not take action to solve this problem, its com- missioner of social ser- vices said that it could flnd ltself i a situation where there are seniors needlng medical care in a home for the aged with no place to go. 11I don't like to say this, but the only avenue of escape for themn is ta die," p Commissioner Deug Johns told coundil. Johns sald that carlng for the elderly I the reglon will becorne a greater problem durlngr the next decade since statistics put out by the Canadian Medical Asso- ciation show that the population of senior dÏti- zens wlll double in the next five years. At its meeting last week, regional council adopted a recommen- dation frorn the social services committee that cals for greater in- volvement in such pro- jects as "outreach" services and "share-a- home" programs. Johns also told council that the construction and operation of several new non-profit senior citizens apartment buildings have "tempor- arily" offset the demand for beds in a home for the aged. ."Nevertheless, such temporary respite should be viewed with great caution inasmuch as while the current residents of these unità are presently able ta care for themselves, with advancing age and consequent debilitation, the day will corne when they can no longer do so and, at that tirne, we may be faced with a dernand for bed care accommodation in hun- dreds wIthin a relatively short space of time," Johns said in his report to council. "Should this occur, we wilI have delayed the solution for a five or ten year period only to be faced by an instantan- eous urgent dernand for niuch more expensive c'arsa wâhich Mulet haepro- problem." johns added that whle such projects as non-profit seniors' housing, volunteer out- reach services and *~444*I o share-a-home programs are helping to relieve the problem, they offer only a temporary respite. "I arn convinced that other service provisions have. sirnply granted us a temporary stay of exe- cution and that, at some point in the future, we will be faced by a much greater and more ex- pensive problern i th very litUti re to effect a solution," he said. While the vast majority of reglonal counilors were in sup- port of Johns' position, some expressed their concern as ta the cost to the taxpayer. One counc,;lor said prior ta the meeting that the property taxpayer is already overburdened and any action that is taken must be taken with the coot In mmnd. Regional officiais have been urging for the last two or three years that Durham construct a new home for aged. The estimated price tag for such a project is $6 million, 50 per cent of which rnust be paid by the regional taxpayer. The balance of the cost would be borne by the provincial govern- ment which lias been hesitant to give funds for a new home for the aged because of budge- tary considerations. However, Johns has repeatedly pointed out that it coets $35 a day to care for a person in a home for the aged. Many people in this category are presently cared for ln a chronlc care ward of a hospital at a cost of $70 or more a day. Another major problem is that private nursing homes have more space for ambula- tory patients than they do for those people requlring çonstant nur- sing care. According ta, Johns' report, there .-are currently 522 people waltlng to get into one of the regian's three homes for the aged. Of thme, 133 are waitln to get Into Whltby's Fair- viewLodge. I* Canada Postes Post Canada It's been stretched 3years, We% can't stretch it any further. You don't need reminding that almost everything costs a lot more now than it did almost 3 years ago - the time of the last postal increase. But, can you imagine how much operat- ing costs have risen for the postal system that serves the second largest cou ntry in the world? The cost of operating and fuel ing our vast transportation network, the cost of essen- tial equipment and the cost of our-work force have aIl risen substantially. In spite of our best efforts, the combined effects of these increased operating costs have brought Canada Post ta the point where it does not have the financial resources necessary to follow through on important steps being taken to improve service. Some of the steps we want to take are: Introduce more extensive quality contraI aimlngat a consistent mail service within Implement a new service-monitaning process which will improve reliabîlity. Expand letter carrier delivery within many commun ities to provide more complete service. Increase the availability of specialized mail services such as Priority Post, Special Delivery and Electronic Mail. Taking positive action. By soon becoming a public corporation, Canada Post w ill1 have the f reedom to operate as a more responsive and efficient bus iness, and eventually stop being a sub- sidized armn of government with its resu lting burden on the taxpayer. But no business can be healthy or eff i- cient if it fails ta recognize and adapt ta the economic realities in which it must function. And the present reality is that the existing postal rates do not reflect the costs involved ird running Canadas mail service the way it should be run. It is for thîs reason that Canada Post plans the implementation of new postal rates early next year. Same of these planned rates can be seen in the faollowing table: lst Glass letter in Canada 0-30 gm, 30o~ lst Glass letter to U.S.A. 0-30 gm 35o Parcel Post same city Ilst lass Parcel e.g. Montreal to Vancouver 1 kilo $3.35 Special Del ivery $1 plus lst Glass Postage Canada Post has a national responsiblllty ta provide the most relliable and complote mail service possible. The limplemontatian af these new rates Is necessary if revenues are ta be brought more Ili ne wlth operat- ing expenses. .. necessary ta ease the burden of a defîlcit on the taxpayer. And mast Important of ail, necessary ta allow Canada Post ta become, through improved service, one of the best mail systemns ln the wold. Canada PRst--et--ng thingsstr5tfor thefure Canada' BRIAN DEEGAN DENTURE THERAPY CLINIC HARWOOD AVENUE SOUTH AJAX, ONTARIO 683-6074' 1 kilo $1.10 for i