Zero-tolerance alcohol law should reach across the board
To the Expositor:
Recently, there has been some discussion about the requirement that drivers under the age of 22 must have zero alcohol in their blood. I believe our highways would be a whole lot safer if all drivers were required to have zero alcohol in their blood before they get behind the wheel.
In the book of I Timothy, the apostle Paul, in chapter three, verses one to seven (from the New King James version), gives the qualifications for a bishop. I believe those same qualifications would be great for anyone who wants to drive a car. Let me quote those verses for you.
This is a faithful saying: “If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behaviour, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous, one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”
Bert Hill
Providence Bay
Incentives needed for health-care workers to address elderly care needs
To the Expositor:
In light of strong statements from the Northeast Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) in regards to the lack of appropriate services for the elderly in our area, and the harsh reality of the projected doubling of dementia cases over the next 30 years, as outlined in a report by the Alzheimer Society of Canada, it was quite refreshing to learn of the recent commitment from NEMI to co-ordinate a feasibility study for expansion and a viable future for long-term care and possibly assisted living for the elderly. If positive results are achieved by this study and, in turn, services become enhanced for our ever-growing elderly population it will have been one of the best uses of taxpayers’ dollars by a municipality in some time!
With all this being said, the other side to this story of hope is an apparent lack of forward thinking by our provincial government and how it may affect long-term health care in the near future. Not long after the news of the NEMI long-term care feasibility study was announced, CTV aired a news report that the Ontario government was in the process of informing all the public sector unions in the province that they were going to put a two-year wage freeze on all public sector jobs. For anyone who has any experience at all in the long-term care sector, it is common knowledge that staffing, or the lack thereof, is always an issue of concern and in some cases reaches a crisis situation. In long-term care and assisted-living facilities in Ontario, approximately 90 percent of all the employees required to run these facilities efficiently are members of public sector unions. These employees’ wages are quite modest in comparison to some of the other sectors or other professions in the health care. With knowledgeable organizations such as the Alzheimer Society reporting that facilities are crying for personal support workers (the employees who provide 90 percent of all hands-on nursing care in long-term care), one would think that our Liberal government in Toronto would be promoting incentives for people to work in our facilities and to stay in these workplaces to become long-standing valued employees. What the Liberals have chosen to do instead, by attempting to freeze wages, makes absolutely no sense and will do nothing but bring further problems to an already struggling health-care sector!
When you think about it seriously, if a facility’s workers are actually at the end of a, let’s say, three- to five-year contract, if the government freezes wages for two years, that means that some workers could actually go more than seven years without a raise—not much of an incentive with the increased cost of living in post-HST Ontario! Now, I don’t expect our MPP, Mike Brown, to speak out against this slam at public sector workers, as I’m sure he’ll do as usual and follow the party line, but, as reported by the Expositor a while back, we have a new representative for our area on the Northeast LHIN. I would hope and expect, in light of the LHIN’s number one priority now being the care of the elderly, and with the announcement of possible expansion and increased services for the elderly in our area, that he would speak out against this potentially destructive move by the provincial government! Also, I’m sure most Manitoulin residents would agree that this whole scenario, both the long-term care improvements and expansion, along with the protecting of any provincial wage freeze that would affect health-care workers, would certainly be a very worthy cause for the Manitoulin Municipal Association to champion!
The baby boomers are entering the stage in their lives where long-term care could be in the near future. If we do not expand our services and facilities for the elderly the system will become flooded! The result of this crisis could well mean that our elderly loved ones may have to go to facilities far from the Island to have their needs met. This would be very sad for them and for their families!
If you are an Island resident who is concerned about this situation it may be worth your while to call or email MPP Andrea Horwath, leader of Ontario’s NDP, and ask her to voice your concerns to the Liberal government in Toronto. Our elderly have contributed so much to our society we enjoy today. Many of them can no longer speak for themselves. Let us be their voices loud and strong!
Greg Young
Big Lake
