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

13 No. «Wednesday, November 23, 1983 20 'f * 4 Duck'" Luring...toÃ"BymPa ssers Two youngsters Kathleen, 5, and Sean O'Mara, 3, stop to feed the ducks i Harbour whiie out on a Sunday afte rnoo n drive withparents. The ducks ai qulte an attraction at this popuIar visltînïg location. n the Whitby ire becoming Emergency Number a Maj*or Concern A committee has recently been formed.to examine the possibiities ,of a 911 emergency number. for Whitby. The Emergency Health- Services Com- mittee,' which has representation from the police, fire, ambulance and hospitals, will be conducting a three mon- th study, beginning next month, to monitor the respon.se time and sur- vey the general publie to determine whether the Students Fi Alternati1ve B Attendance through- out Durham' Region. schools is at about 87 percent since the strike of Travelways- School Transit Ltd. began last Thursday. The strike by the drivers, which lias stop- ped service to twenty- six sehools in Whitby, Pickering and Ux- bridge, of which thir- teen of the sehools are in Whitby, affects ap- proximately 3,0 students. So far none of the Travelways routes have been covered by the Board of Education, says Jack Upton, Manager of Property and Transportation. "At this stage it has basicaly been left.Up to the parents to see that the parents children get to sehool. " 1Thursday about 1,000 students missed classes, and on Friday about 465 were absent. "We just hope that the strike will be. settled soon, " says Upton. A warning was given by the Travelway Sehool Transit a few days prior to the strike, that a settlement may not be reached. The Board of Education then notified the students on Tuesday, telling them that it was possible they may have to arrange their own transpor- tation. Across the region aproximatiely 14,000 students rely on the buses, but only 3,500 are emerg ency number is needed. Many complications are involved in hooking up a system sucli as this, says Mayor Bob Attersley. "We are flot sure yet that this system is the best route-to take, ind Loute taken by Travelways Ltd. Striking school bus drivers in the Durham and York Regions won't negotiate with Travelways until at least Wednesday. The Canaclian Brotherhood of Rail Transport and General ' Workers discontinued talks on Friday, after both sides failed to reach an agreement on wage in- creases. The 'company lias of- fered six and five per- cent increases over a two year contract. Union- officiais are bargaiming for 10 and 12 percent. For a 45- :minute run, they are currently earning $7.85 and for a 90-minute run, $10.12. but if the research in- dicates a need for it, I see no problems with supporting it." Although the 911 emergenicy service number is designed to make the response time faster and- easier (because of the three digits and because professionally trained help is available at the Emergency Bureau at aIl times). Com- plications have arrisen. Research bas indieated that servicing the outlying areas of the -existing Metro system, may not save time in ob- taining assistance because of the many links involved in ac- tually reaching the closest service. The calle r first lias to iden- tify which service is needed, it is then referred back to Toron- to, on to the emergency systems, and finally to the nearest emergen- ey service. With the many connections made, thé time element may not be faster than calling directly. This problem would also arrise in the surrounding areas of Durhamn Region. Another concern is the cost 0f hooklng up, this sYstem. Since it in- volves a major change in the existing systems, the eost would be very high. Installation for Toronto was ap- proximately $2 million, with another $2 million yearly to maintain it. For now, the Regional Health Council is working on developing a "buddy system", eom- ments- Mie Peters, Ad- ministrator of Durham Regional Health Coun- cil. "In the past Whit- by's emergency systems have worked together to help éach other. We would like tu expand this, s0 that more of- the cities would incorporate this idea. " Many programs have also been established for the public, such as CPR. "If the public took advantage of.- the programs offered, everyone could work together to help each other with life saving techniques," says Peters. The most important factor to remember is that in Whitby, we do not have a 911 emergen- cy number to cail. Our emergeney numbers are: Ambulance 723- 5232, FIre- 66&&111, Hospital 668.0831and Police 579-1234. 4 1,4