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2010. 6 (Safifribune ‘ Classified York Region Media Group community WW5 Ihe Sun-Tn'bune, published every Thuvsday and Saturday. is a d‘wisim of the Metroland Media Group In, a mollyowned subsidiary 01me Corporation. Metmland is composed of 100 community pubucaums acmss Ontano. The York Region Newspape! Gmup also IncludesThe Uberal, serving Richmond Hill and Thomhill, Vaughan CitizenJhe Era-Banner (Newmanet/Aumta). Matkham Economist Chained Manager Bonnie Rondeau The Sun-Tribune welcomes your letâ€" ters. All submissions must be less than 400 words and must tnclude a daytime telephone number. name and address The Sun-Tribune reserves the ri t to publish or not publis and to edit for clar- Ity and space. Lotion to the Editor, The Sun-Tubuno 6290 Mala St. W. 0" LM I01 Sun, Geowna Advocate, Yom Region Business Tim, North of the CW. VOW-00m and York Region Printing. cmadarlanefibyrmg’com DISTRIBUHON Circulation Supervisor Carrie MacFarlane Fax; mbunw’lleOyrmgcom brondeaué'yrmgcom cnormanaynngfiom Eormm lim Mason jmasonfl'yrmgcom dandreus€1>yrmgxom Carolyn Norman Dawna Andrews DISTRIBUTION 905â€"640â€"26 l 2 Anvumsmc 905-640-2612 uu 905W8778 ADVERTISING 905-640-261 2 PRODUCTION Mama“ Sherry Day sdayfl’ywngrom Mike Barwille lmuonflmtcom Imam MEDIA lETTERS POLICY EDITORIAL Stouflville I: 1-800-743-3353 905-640â€"8778 I find it inspiring and uplifting to read about peo- ple who go the extra mile for others, offer comfort to strangers, who organize fundraisers and galva- nize scfiools or churches to ddgood work in the community. In my own way I try to do my part to reach out to others at the end of another year. This fllear, my feel-good moment came at the Hillcrest Mall blood donor clinic in Richmond Hill. Longtime readers may recall I’ve written in the past about being unable to donate blood due to low iron levels. When I turned up the morning of Dec. 24 to try to give blood, you'll understand why I was relieved and thrilled, really, to find my iron levels were acceptable and I could offer the gift of life. The first screening nurse wondered why I was so pleased, probably thinkâ€" ing I’d been indulging in too much holiday cheer. After filling out answers to some of the required questions, I waited for the next nurse to determine if I was healthy enough to donate. Lack of snow shovelling mined family’s holidays Because of someone’s lazi- ness, Christmas this year was mined for our family. My mother slipped on an icy sidewalk. breaking her hip, spending Christmas and prob- ably the next three weeks in hospital. She will have to move out of the apartment where she lived for the last 14 years. She had been taking care of her sister. who, as a result of this accident, has been moved from her home of 27 years into assisted living. For my family, it has meant driving two hours each way several times over the hoildays to visit mother in hospital and move her sister into a retire- ment home. What is the impact? Well, my mother who exercised and ate properly her entire life and who was in excellent health. now has a 75-per-cent chance of living the rest of the year and, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Positive blood donation feel-good moment 0 what was your “feel-good" moment of the holiday? after that, a 25-per-cent chance of being able to walk properly Two people need to be moved into assisted liv- ing. which will cost in excess of $3,000 a month in extra And it has cost taxpayers numerous dollars in medical bills because someone was too damned lazy to shovel the side- walk in front of his home. The lawyers will decide the additional monetary penalties to the lazy individual. Stouffville is not immune from this. I have been slipâ€"slid- ing along many unshovelled sidewalks this winter. Do you want to risk mining someone’s life and damaging your pocket book for being too lazy/9’ I suggest everyone pick up their shovels and do their duty. PETER MCARTHUR STOUFFVILLE You can read letters to the editor, columns and sta- ries from The Sun-Dibune at yorkregion.com Perhaps because there were few appointments that day, the second nurse took an extra amount of time with me, probing my health and donation experience. When I confessed that I usual.â€" ly feel faint and light-headed after donating, she immediately left the room and went to get me a glass of peach juice. She told me the first step to hav- ing a good donation experience is drinking enough fluids and that caf- feine drinks such as coffee and tea don't help at all. She insisted I inform other clinic staff that I often feel faint during and after blood donation and pressed yet another glass of juice into my hands. Marney Beck As I stretched out into the donation easy chair, I dutifully told the young male nurse of my typical experience. He immediately started joking around, but I could tell he made up his mind to make my donation more pleasant and positive. .I n I won't go into the clinical details for those readers who are squeamish. but suffice to say that he asked lots of ques- tions and fussed over me to ensure everything went smoothly. Among many of the identity ques- tions donors are asked, we're frequently asked our birthdays to make sure that the paperwork identifying our blood donation is correct and follows the life-saving fluid through the Canadian Blood Services system. Suddenly. afiother nurse blurted out, “Hey, your birthday is the same as mine!" When she mentioned the date, sud- denlythedonorrightbesideme,ayoung woman, said. “That's my birthday, too!" What were the odds in a clinic of about six staff, two high school vol- unteers and six or seven donors. that three people would have the same birthday? Aftef such pleasant and diverting conversation, I realized with surprise Emm- m Cum Debora Kelly Busmm Robert lazurko my donationiwas‘cognpkte. 'I also realized I hid none of the unpleasant symptoms I'd come to expect. As I ate cookies and drank more juice at the treats table and the young volunteer marked on my donor card that it was my 20th donation. 1 real- ized it was the best experience I'd ever had. I made sure to thank the two nurses most responsible for this before I left and now I know one big secret to donating blood is to drink enough fluids beforehand. The best news of all from the com- munity relations contact I had is that while the Hillcrest clinic only had 15 appointments booked for Dec. 24, they ended up welcoming 58 donors in all. So remember my “secret” and make a new year's resolution to share the gift of life. It will truly make you feel good. (You can give the 81ft of life Ian. 23 at the Ballantrae Community Cen- tre and Feb. 19 at Latcham Hall in Stoufi‘i/ille. To make an appointment. call I 8882 DONATE.) MameyBeckisamrkRegionMediaGmup editor. Duncan, Won Nicole Fletcher