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Its always a hot time for him The day Elmer William Roeder took a temperature in York County Hospital is a day hell never forget The thermometer read degrees That may not seem so unforgettable Whats so odd about people in hospital being sick and feverish People yes But his office floor You couldnt stand on it he recalled the other day reminiscing about the hospital that used to be when he first came to Newmarket to run it more than years ago boiler room which was not insulated and the floor held the heat and simmered the staff like pieces of efor The girls could only work tl so long at a stretch he said a wooden floor put over the and fans to circulate the air helped a There was a baby born right outside my office one day but I dont know if the heat hud anything to do with that In any case the tall young ad ministrator could never claim he had cold feet about the job he was about to tackle became the ad ministrator of York County Hospital the same day that the government hospital insurance plan came into effect in Ontario January The hospital had beds and was the busiest hospital per bed in the province It was dreadfully over crowded he said and its facilities were so inadequate it was almost a health hazard People awaiting surgery could expect to have their operations postponed at least three times In fact priority was based on how many times an operation had already been cancelled After four cancellations the patient went to the head of the list 1 dont know how the community accepted it He shakes his head appalled at the memory lie leans back in his chair in the cool green walled office he occupies hospitals second floor Behind hi Think and In lake thinks about how he happen which reads He was raised in Vancouver and lie relumed there after three years in the airforce during World War 11 to at tend the University of British Columbia He wanted to be a doctor There was no medical school in Vancouver hen just a premeds faculty But neither was there much chance for- a student from British Columbia to get into a medical school in the vast unless he had a university degree because so many veterans were vying for the limited medical school places During premeds the students visited local hospitals and found himself fascinated by hospital the University of the course His first post was as ad ministrative assistant at the Kit chenerWaterloo General then run by Gordon He was why I went there says had exciting ideas about hospitals Two years later moved to to be administrator of the Alexander Hospital and five years By that time and his wife Joyce a Torontoborn musician knew that city life held no appeal for Although we both grew up in cities our experience in Kitchener had made us want the things a smaller community offers the greater sense of identity that comes with living Newmarket struck them as ideal It had everything The community was exactly the kind of place they had wanted raise their young family two boys and two girls now aged to 19- Furthermore the hospital offered something of a challenge says It had the opportunity to provide a broad range of services to a large surrounding area His task a formidable one would be to make the hospital so good people no longer needed to make the long traffic- clogged trek to Toronto for treatment came to Newmarket alone first leaving Joyce and three of the children the youngest was born later in Newmarket in waiting to follow him when his initial round- theclock workload became a bit lighter He lived in a nearby room retur ning to it to fall into bed exhausted when he had worked until I couldnt keep my eyes open any longer The hospital required reorganization from the ground up The accounting system had to be altered to fit in with the new hospital plan he r In of bad it couldnt get alls The emergency department Cm the hospital morgue was hectic Every night was In the xray department t viewing room was his despair T darn thing was only four feet by feet and the only way it got any was through a vent that went into washroom behind it later with skiing with his family and to play golf On his desk is a golfball mounted on a wishbone a paperweight which bears the motto My only wish before I go to heaven is to come in He keeps fit bicycling the three- quarters of a mile from his home to the hospital whenever there are not too many meetings But he does it more to keep in shape mentally than physically A car insulates you from everybody and everything He wheels into the hospital driveway shortly before each morning and peddles home again about six carrying an hour or two of paper work I take home the puttering work he explains Summer evenings youll find him in his garden persuading his flowers ADMINISTRATOR He had a baby born to bloom or spading a new garden bed Mostly Im changing things around he says putting in a new rock garden or a new garden bed It is not his green thumb which accounts for the luxurious beds of color which flank the hospital entrance But un doubtedly his interest inspires the gardeners Im always badgering them he admits And although he never tells them what plants to put where I am busy secondguessing not a stereotyped type of administrator says Peter Wood assistant executive director of the Ontario Hospital Association I guess there is no such thing as a group of young Turks in the hospital field says Wood but there are half and is one of them His innovative ideas have stimulated others As cochairman of an OHA Ministry of Health joint financial AL his office No never he replies promptly There are satisfactions in his job he in other lines of work How do they feel useful That sa is missing in a lot of jobs Sure theyre paid in dollars and cents but a lot of people spend hours at a job they dont like or see no point in If there is anything he would wish different about his job it is that it allow him to spend more time dealing directly with people But as the hospital grew that part of his work shrank There are now three assistant administrators Mrs Jean Maunsell nursing service Milt Alley business and plant and Art Craig paramedical services Each has a team of department managers with whom they work closely Also working with the staff is Jack director of personnel Yet Roeder still has little time to practise his putting or smell his flowers He has done his job so well the hospital is once again becoming overcrowded and expansion is planned People feel there i of hospitals helps provide liaison between hospitals and government It has achieved a lot in helping all hospitals says Wood is also chairman of the Medical Records Institute which has been acclaimed for improving record problem in another hospital an which Wood says indicates he has our confidence as an all- round rational practical ad- to Toronto for car except for neurosurgery he Their own hospital can match ai in the city feeling kind of hospital A lot of personal warmth He credits the warm feelings of the multitude of small communities it serves for making the hospital the good neigh bour it is But there is a second doesnt say so but it lias avoided becoming an impersonal medical supermarket because of the York County friendly near and necessary