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

stouffville suntribune thursday aug 30 2007 3 doctors don pet- rie left doug brodie and john button celebrate the 50th anni versary of the stoufiville medi cal centre this summer hours were long for the doctors in the early years of the clinic with office hours in the mornings and several evenings a week as well as house calls in the afternoons 50 years after medical centre opened doctor shortage remains in stouffville by hannelore volpe staff writer the stoufiville medical centre built by dr john button and dr doug brodie half a century ago is still going strong for the first 48 years the medi cal centre was at 6131 main st about two years ago the centre moved to the middle of town at 34 civic ave behind the old munici pal building the former medical centre is now a law office dr don petrie who joined the centre in 1959 has seen a lot of changes during the years after 48 years he is still with the centre although on a parttime basis one thing mat hasnt changed is the doctor shortage stoufiville faced 50 years ago the situation is about the same now with very few new patients being taken on by the doctors in the stoufiville medical centre there are absolutely not enough doctors in stoufiville dr petrie said many people keep their physi cians from their home community after moving to stoufiville dr petrie has also found those who have moved from stoufiville still return to their doctor at the centre some from as far away as peterborough dr petrie has also found those who have moved from stouffville still return to their doctor at the centre some from as far away as peterborough however the number of house calls has dropped dramatically over the decades thats largely due to the fact almost everyone now has a car dr petrie said also modern doctors offices are muchbetter equipped to treat patients instead of taking things with you he said some of his patients have come to him for more than 40 years you see some peoples grand children he said that is one of the perks of a family practice watching them grow the staff at the stoufiville med ical centre includes dr andrew patterson dr gwen sampson dr janice li dr jane philpott and dr sarah barclay dr button who began prac tising medicine in 1946 recalls the office he had over his fathers hardware store in the centre of town during the early years peo ple were returning from the war and settling down to start fami lies i had a busy obstetrical prac tice for many years he said all the doctors in town were busy with obstetrics when he and dr brodie first hung out their shingle it read dr brodie and dr button physicians and surgeons hours were long with office hours in the mornings and several evenings a week as well as house calls in the afternoons with both physicians on dirty three nights each the only night of the week that wasnt covered was sunday one of the evenings he prac tised was saturday which was the peak shopping time in stouffville dr button recalled rural families would come into town to visit clothing stores furni ture shops and grocery stores and socialize many of his patients were from the rural areas of what is now whitchurchstouffville and beyond he visited patients in gormley ballantrae goodwood and markham in the early days doctors also attended car accidents a practice which was eventually replaced by emergency services staff it was easier and faster for patients to see specialists than it is now dr button said dr button was also parkview homes first medical director holding the post from its opening in 1965 until 1988 briefly forests get fire protection whitchurchstouffville fire and emergency services and york region are working together to make sure fires starting in forests can be put out faster and more effectively since 2002 york region has pro vided equipment such as portable pumps lightweight forestry hose and hand tools to the local department as well as forest fire training for fire fighters equipment to fight fires has been enhanced this year with additional forestry hose water backpacks and tools provided by the region in addition whitchurch- stouffvilles fire department has out fitted a pickup truck to transport the equipment as well as water and firefighters to remote areas within forests there are more than 2000 acres of forest across the region including public lands north of ballantrae the forest trails are popular with hikers and horseback riders for more information on the forest go to yorkxaservicesforestry spirit at home tonight in preseason action the stouffville spirit won its first two preseason games last weekend the provincial jr a hockey league team hosts the lindsay muskies tonight at 730 pm at the stouffville arena and continues its presea son schedule tomorrow night in markham the spirit opens the regular season at home sept 13 against the colling- wood blues ken burrows fired as general manager of the spirit last spring is now gm in collingwood see story on page 23 for more information on the spirit go to stouflvillespiritcom bowlers bank on win the scotiabank trophy was brought home by bowlers from the stouffville lawn bowling club this month the rink of skip marg curtis vice bob stover and lead nancy stover came out on top in the mixed trebles tournament at the newmarket lawn bowling club the team played against teams from newmarket willowdale and richmond hill at the uxbridge ladies luncheon tournament skip audrey gibson vice gert brugger and lead nelda morley bested teams from uxbridge andagincourt ji i qartise color your life back to school savings sept 1st to sept 3ni all of our exciting new fall fashions regular ticket prices vbffhkb klassics womens fashions footwear and accessories 137 main st n markham 9052943882 wwwpeppertreeca open 7 days a weekx holidays