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6 stouffville suntribune thursday april 20 2006 suntribune a metroland community newspaper box 154 stoufiville on l4a 725 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazufko director advertising distribution barry black director interactive media technology john futhey director circulation systems lynn pashko marketingpartnerships director debra weller york region printing general manager bob dean editorial better health care support needed on the face of it its hard to accuse queens park of not doing enough to sup port local hospitals last year alone it gave the green light to the 60million southlake regional cancer centre provided 464 million for an expansion of york central hospital in richmond hill and supported plans to merge markham stouffville and scarborough grace hospitals into a model health campus for the future on top of all that it provided a stable longterm funding commitment of 175 billion over the next three years across theprovince something local hospitals have wanted for years and yet we have a critical shortage of beds and ever increasing wait times at york central hospital one patient was asked to wait a total of 26 months for spinal surgery to relieve excruciating pain premier dalton mcguinty admitted tuesday that surgery wait times have increased provincewide why are yorks hospitals still so strapped well it all comes down to growth southlake reports its patient volumes have increased 33 per cent over three years and beds have simply not kept pace while money is pouring in it doesnt come close to keeping pace with our explosive growth according to tariq asmi executive director of the gta 905 healthcare alliance while 905 hospitals get 16 per cent of funding in the province we are home to 25 per cent of the population mr asmi says half of the provinces growth is in the 905 region and that pace continues at a rate of 100000 new people each year whats more under ontarios places to grow legislation yorkregion is supposed to grow to 15 million people by 2031 that growth will be concentrated in the three communities that have hospitals plus vaughan which needs one but has yet to receive approval the government says little about pro viding support to meet the health care needs of these 600000 new people it shouldnt be on the local taxpayers shoulders this downloading of broad provincial responsibilities to local gov ernments has been a disaster all around the province needs to continue to recognize the needs of highgrowth areas in its health care funding formulas and hospitals need to be innovative but we cant forget this is about caring for human beings if the province wants more people living here it must support a compassionate system to ensure york remains a place where people will want to live letters to the editor thanks spirit for playoff run there was the us miracle on ice back in 1980 then came the 2002 winter olympics with team canadas gold medal win with the loonie magic buried at centre ice all have a place in hockey history no doubt fast forward to the spring of 2006 in a town called stouffville a town on the move and a town that a lot of people did not know but ask people in parry sound aurora newmarket oakville and downtown bathurst st mikes the citizens in those centres know that in stouffville there is the spirit yes the stouffville spirit provincial junior a hockey league team a team that did something this spring that has seldom been done before they united a community they brought young old and new residents to a playoff party that lasted six weeks they made us cheer theybeat the big hockey pow ers newmarket aurora and oakville and then hooked up with st mikes for the league crown they never gave up even when they were down 31 to oakville they showed all of us in stouffville you never quit on a dream on easter sunday they battled once again los ing to st mikes in double overtime the spirit dream did not die its only been put on hold gentlemen thanks for a great season and for a very special playoff run and thanks for showing us that in stouffville there is a strong sense of spirit both on and off the ice see you next year for anoth er great ride stouffville get your season tickets before they are gone councillor rob hargrave town of whitchurchstouffville the stouffville suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the stouffville suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor po box 154 stouffville l4a 715 emailjmasonyrngcom or fax 9052941538 more to worry about in town than busy social calendar re jim thomas column april 13 i was amazed to see harry bowes is actually concerned there is too much going on in stouffville he referenced several social events including church events that took place april 8 apparently its such a terrible situation hes going to do something about harry as a councillor my councillor instead of worrying about what the adults of stouffvillere doing on a saturday night start worrying about important issues that affect the town if you want to start come on over to alderwood street sometime after dark and walk the block tell me if you think the street lighting is sufficient or even safe once youve done something about that you can start to address the many other issues that truly affect the well being of the town but please we dont pay you to worry about multiple social gatherings on a saturday night david baxter stouffville editorial editor jim mason jmasonymgcom assistant editor rick vanderlinde rvandertindeyrngcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandreukymgcom advertising classified manager ann campbell acampbellymgcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau brondeauymgcom retail manager staceyallen sallenymgcom new business development manager mikerogerson mrogersonymgcom production team leader sherry day sdayymgcom editorial 9055131717 fax9055137525 advertising 9055131717 classified 18007433353fas 9058531765 distribution 9055131717 canadian ontario circulations ql press audit boat member ccml1 smtribune a york region newspaper group community newspaper die suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill and thomtiill vaughan citizen the economist sun markham the erabanner newmarketaurora georgina advocate york region business times north of the city yoriaegioncom and york region printing off the top with jim mason helping every business become awardworthy the whitchiirchstoiiffville chamber of commerce will honour its best tonight theyll raise a glass of chablis to the best businesses in the community at the associations annual awards night at meadowbrook golf and country club thats nice but not every business even in a place the size oflvtiitchurchstouffville can go home with a plaque thafslife still there are things every business in this town can do to improve themselves including this one they often have to be pointed out by an outsider like the peeling paint in the front hall your motherinlaw keeps mentioning the chamber adopted a program manyyears ago that saw people from out of town visit businesses and write reviews including a list of things that should be done and not done its a great program adopted from a west coast business group that costs nothing weve all visited an establishment be it a restaurant hotel or retailer and vowed never to return but what if we set the anger aside for a minute and sent a constructive email to the manager it might accomplish something and youd be part of the solution examples my father a visitor to stouffville and i were shopping at a large and successful store on what looked like one of their busiest days of the year nice store but i cant tell the cus tomers from the employees said my dad whodo i ask for help i passed the tip on to the manager weeks later the store staff wore name tags and brightly coloured tops mission accomplished i walked out of another store one day after placing what i planned to purchase back on the shelf problem the clerk waiting on the person in front of me took time out to slam another customer by name for not following some insane in- store rule the neighbourhood soup nazi made famous in seinfeld is not what you want to be known as businesses that genuinely give back be it through sponsoring teams or activi- ties seem to prosper funny how that works what doesnt work the local outlets of national chains that must send requests for sponsorship to head office thafs not taking care of business smalltown style jim mason is editor of the suntribune and a former director of the whitchurch- stouffinlle chamber of commerce