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t si i s- eamomist suriv stouftribun thursday dec 10 1998 7 st6iiffiville tribune t x- ametibland community newspaper 37 sandiford dr suite 3u6stburrviiie ont l4a7x5 publisher- ian proudfobt generalmanager-alvinbrouwer- editorinchief advertising director business manager brenda larson debraweller margaret fleming regional editor classified manager office manager brian kirlik stephen mathieu vivian oneil editor tracy kibble distribution director barry goodyear i vf jpmjriav province must follow its own health care process the announcement that a new cardiac centre is being- established at york county hospital is good news for all of york region the centre will provide cardiac surgery- coronary angioplasty pacemakers and implantable defibrilla tor service to residents of york region anctsimcoe county through this announcement the province has acknowledged this growing area should no longer be dependent on toronto for its health services but at the risk of looking a gift horse in the mouth the way the project was approved raises serious ques tions about the provinces health care restructuring the york simcoe district health council me body that is supposed to advise the ministry- on local health care issues and plan for future needs has been reviewing locations for a cardiac catheterization lab cardiac catheterization is a test in which dye is injected and used to take xrays in the coronary artery to determine the extent of heart disease the health council was weighing york countys plan against a proposal by york central hospital to establish acath lab at sunnybrook health science centre designated for york region patients with the provinces announcement that review process is now redundant but not only was graham constantine the chair person of the health council not consulted about the provinces decision he didnt even find out the deci- sion had been made until it was announced to the media last friday york county opened its cath lab in june without ministry of health approval instead it used private funding from general electric to build the 16-mil- lion facility in the hope that the province would fund it the lab was being used as a demonstration suite by ge until the funding was approved in addition york county started offering pacemak- er services in march again without ministry approval now that the approvalshave arrived york region is ahead of thegamebecause the equipment is already installed although it will probably take until after 2000 tohire the technicians and train the medical per sonnel to opfen the centre j ate rate yorkregion is growing the facility will be needed as soon as possible so york countys head start is a great benefit but it seems strange in light of the provinces health care restructuring- it created a commission to bring order and efficiency to the system j now the government has done an end runaround its own commission and is essentially rewarding a hospital for breaking the rules v furthermore neither provincial nor york county officials could say exactly how much funding was being provided there are many sound reasons why york county makes sense as the districts cardiac centre- its more accessible to sirricoe county residents than a toronto facilityatsunnybrpbkr arid while it might not be as accessible to southern york region a 1998 health services restructuring com- rnittee report suggested ah existing lab at scarboroughs i centenary hospital relies on markham patients to remain viable markham v stouffville hospital president jim maclean said the decision appears to be political without input from the district health council or other v local health care providers if the province wants to fix the health care system to make sure its fair and efficient it has to follow its own prqcessj imuivov mi few mii ui ax yteti doug devine parents have to k i ahead of child a letters to the editor nice to see a parent take responsibility for child with the recent stories in the paper about the growing amount of vandal ism in stouffville it was nice to see a parent take responsibility for it into his own hands my husband and i attend the spirit of stouffville junior a- hockey games every thursday and dec3 wasminor hockey night some young players were sitting next to us and were amusing- themselves by drawing on the back wall of the arena with their chuckapiicks my husband spoke to them and they stopped the graffiti a few moments later they all left except for two a broth- er and sister when their father came to sit in the stands the young girl spoke to him about the incident and he promptly took action by escorting his two young ortes to the maintenance area on returning with a bucket of soapy water the children were directed to clean the graffiti off the wall i overhead the young boy exclaim that it wasnt allhis doing that didnt matterhehadtocleanitall it was nice to see a parent take responsibility for his childs actions jrilwhrre stouffville town spirit praised v a fundraisihg project held by the canadian diabetes association assist- ed by the stouffville lions club took- place in town recently this fundraiser was called a case for a cure and involved donating empty beer bottles to the association thanks to the generosity of the citi zens of stouffville a total of 69195 was raised our municipality ranked fifth in york region in fundraising thanks to the- citizens of whitchurchstouffville and the staff of the localbeer store it was just another example of the tremendous spirit found in pur community lornehurst chairperson diabetes stouffville lions club remember less fortunate are you thinking of having a christmas party or new years eve party with friends and family this holiday sea son if so why not make it a little more interesting arid give it more meaning have each of your guests bring a nonperishable food item with them to me party which you can donate to your local food bank s we should remember there are a lot of people out there who for many rea- sons depend on food banks lets get together and feel proud make this sea son special foryourself as well as your guests by givingthem a feeling of well being for sharing arid helping others this simple gesture will put food on me table of others less forturiatearid help nourish tlie young v v cquartarone t first we were arigry then we were appalled about midnovember our sixyearold son began bririg- irig home annoying pamphlets from school stressing the importance of reading to children as often as pos- sible j since our son has hit a brick wall at learning to read my wife and i were furious especially since wed already j assured his teachers that weve read to bothoufchildren ever since they were strong enough to hold their heads up then we were appalled tothink mhatmaybe the teachers didnt believe us could it be that our son the tall- tale king of his class had somehow convinced his teachers that the only thing we ever read to him is the tv guide those fears were alleviated once it xbecameclear that all grade lstudents in the neighbourhood had received sirriilar brochures but the purpose of the sudden flur- ry of read- tofyouf kid propaganda became crystal clear last thursday as i i pored through the results of grade 3 j testing as part of the test students were j asked whether anyone reads to them at home only 25 per cent answered j yes j granted by grade 3 most students j can read on their own butas educa- tors know just because children can read doesnt mean tiiey icarft benefit from hearing adults read to thefn j parents just have to stay orie step j ahead of their child progressing from- beginner books to chapiter books to j the classics f trie irnportance of reading is never more evident than with pur annual ranking of the grade 3 test scores especially at schools which show dra matic improvement i without exception when we ask improving schools what their secret is i their principals point to a renewed i focus on early reading skills j which is why officials are hoping a few friendly brochures might help- j rerrund parents of the important role they play in their childs development bill hogarth theboards director of j education said he would like to see 35 per cent ofyorlc parents reading to their sons or daughters by riext year i dont know why he has set his f sights so low a target of 90 to 95 per cent would seem to be mpreappropri- jate for a region that clairris to be as ifarnilyroriented as york region stoiiffvffletribune serving the community since 1888- the stouffville tribune published every tuesday thursday and saturday is oneof the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd group of newspapers which includes the ajavpictering news advertiser aliistov herawcourier barrie advance barrys bay this vteek- bolton enterprisebrampton guardian burlington shopping news burlington post city parent collingwoodwasaga connection eastftrk mirror erin advocatecounoy routes etobicoke guardian flamborough post georgetown 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