PAGE, 4. WEDNESDAY. JUNE 4. 1986, WITBY FREE PRESS a Published every Wednesday wh itby BILL MCOUAT - y iB.M . Publisling C m u iyE io (~~ (~~~ and 1liotography liie. CmulyEio '. Phzi(lm-6 VALERIE COWEN XIIThe Free Press Building, Advertlalng Manager Vole c th ContyownMicaelIanBuress Puishr- analngEdior1:11 BI'ock Street North, Second lass Mail Vole o te Cunt Twn ichellanBures, Pblihe - anain EdtoI11.0. IBox 200, Vhitby, Ont. Registration No. 5351 The only Whitby newspaper independenfly owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. No place for parochialism On page 10 ln this week's Free Press there Is a feature about the Dr. Joseph O. Ruddy Hospital and the Incredible increase in the demand for health care services it wlli be facing In the very near future. According to a consultants report commissloned by J.O. Ruddy's board of directors ln 1984, the hospital will require some 250 medical, surgîcal and chronlo care beds by 1991. WIth a current total of 97 beds, J.O. Ruddy Hospital and its board would appear to have their work cut out for them. Consultants Ernst and Whlnney's Role Review and Master Program study contains a lot of little eye openers like this in lt's 80 some odd pages S*~Wnomwu oomzmtIat' y * of-oa~a,' o14t Mg~s- p@alU (TEEOF OTTAWA - It Is astonlshlng how the anti-smoking campaign In this country has galned strength ln recent montha. It has been the mounting evidence that second hand smoke ls dangerous f0 others that has done t. 1 thlnk that's obvlous. As long as it was belleved that smokers were dolng only themselves an lnjury and were merely an annoyance f0 non- smokers, it was a campalgn which seemned to be loslng on the roundabouts what It gained on the swings. Not any more. As those who are stilI smoki ng wll11 teli1 you, lt's hard f find a place to 1light up anymore. I must say, however, that I cannot Imagine what useful purpose would be served by acquiesclng to demanda by the non-smokers rights group ln Toron- to that tobacco be iabelled an addlctive substance. That smoking, chewing and the taklng 0f snuff can be addictlve Is beyond question. But so can drinking alcohol, which Is not so labelled, and 80 can eating food. Any general practitioner willI bell you that being overwelght Is one of the major heaith probiema inn North America and In many cases Is cause-d by a full- blown addiction to food. In other words, addiction has almoat as much to do wlbh the user as the substance. I once knew someone who got hooked on sklmn milk. 1 have what 1 would cail an-addlctlve personaîity, but 1 am lest In admiration over that one. One of the arguments the non-smokers' rlghts people are uslng to support their contention that bobacco should be labelled Is that smoking can be six tîmes as dIfficult te give up as alcohol. As someone who has given up bobh, I tend to agree. But If my experiences this tîme wlth givlng Up tobacco mean anybhing, neither Is as dîfficuit as going on a dlet and stlckIng te lb indefiniteiy. Addîcts are ail or nothlng people. For theni, going on a diet la murderous. You can't ouf out eablng complebely, Ilke smoking or drinking. You must eab somnebhing. So a diet Is enforced moderatien, and bo an addlct, moderablon simply wasn'b bulît in at the facbory. Albhough it may be true that excessive food Is dangerous to health, I thlnk we'd look a littie silly In a starvlng world if we put warnIngs on if. There are some things perhaps that oughfte be left to the good sense of the user. Surely we stili have some respenslbiliby for saving ourselves. and few of them are calculated to put a restless mind at ease. A case ln point: by the year 2,000 Whltby's current population of 45,000 will have nearly doubled. Wthin that projection, the age group that will experience the greatest growth is the 65 and over category - the age group that Is most dependent on health care services. After the seniors, the other group expected to experience substantial growth is the 45 to 64 set, also ln- clined to be heavily dependent on health care ser- vices. Add to this the spectre of government cut backs in social services and the astronomical ex- penditures implled In the expansion of technology, staffing and physical space recom- mended ln the Ernst-Whinney report and you begin to get an Idea of the magnitude of the yen- ture that lies ahead for J.O. Ruddy administrator Jim Millerand his board of directors. J.O. Ruddy Hospital has long been forced to play the role of unfortunated cousin to the Oshawa General Hospital. Though none of the hospltal's board of directors is prepared to state as much on the record, several have admitted In private conservation that there Is a definate Oshawa blas on the Durham Region District Health Council which, to a large extent, is respon- sible for recommending hospital and program ex- pansions to the provincial Mlnlstry of Health. Ob- viously each community has a vested Interest ln building up its own health care services and the Durham Region District Health Council Is heavily larded with Oshawa residents. A commlttee ap- pointed by that council is now studying the Ernst- Whinney report and the J.O. Ruddy board is no doubt anxious to hear their flndings. If the health care needs of Durham Region are to be fully met ln the years to corne there are going to have to be some fundamentai and far reaching changes made ln the way that health care Is presently doled out in the reglon. There is no longer any place for parochial interests in something as basic to the human condition as the provision of health care. It's time we took a longer, heaithier view of Durham's medical needs.