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New Brunswick
FREDERICTON
— We're
not gonna take it
As soon as Health and Wellness Minister Elvy
Robichaud released his controversial health plan for
the province on June 9 thousands of protesters flocked
to the legislature to vent their ire. The four-year
plan calls for the closure of 298 hospital beds and
will eliminate entire hospitals in some communities.
Premier Bernard Lord said that the new focus on community-based
care, improved ambulance standards and prevention programmes
will save the province $46 million. For more on the
cutbacks in NB, please see " Those who help the wounded"
on page 15. JC
Nova Scotia
HALIFAX
— That's
one expensive ride The province's newly revised
ambulance fees will hit non-Nova Scotians hard. A ride
to the hospital will cost residents $120 -- representing
a $15 increase, but out-of province patients will be
charged $600, while immigrants and non-Canadians will
be slapped with a $900 bill. BH
HALIFAX
— Smoking
in the schoolyard Hospital workers, visitors,
and even patients at the smoke-free Queen Elizabeth
II Health Sciences Centre looking for a quick puff are
taking their habit next door, to the Queen Elizabeth
High School. The uninvited visitors have school administrators
fuming, especially since smoking is banned there as
well. The QEII emergency entrance is right by the high
school. "The path of least resistance usually leads
smokers to our back door," observed Principal Elwin
LeRoux philosophically. BH
Prince Edward Island
ALBERTON/O'LEARY
— One
for all Physicians serving both Western Hospital
in Alberton and Community Hospital in O'Leary have signed
an agreement "to support the concept of a new West Prince
regional hospital." Health Authority Chair Ernie Hudson
cautions that the controversial concept of a single
hospital for the two communities is still very much
in the preliminary stages. BM
CHARLOTTETOWN
— Belting
it out An alarming number of Islanders still
don't use seat belts, according to data from the Highway
Safety Division. Studies have shown that in the majority
of fatal accidents or crashes that resulted in serious
injuries, people weren't buckled up. The division decided
to assign teams of students to carry out random surveys
in 16 PEI communities in June to get an idea of seat
belt use. They found that only about 60% of people were
wearing their seat belts. BM
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Newfoundland
ST
JOHN'S — Practise
what you preach Dr Andrew Major, the new president
of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association
(NLMA), says one of his priorities for his one-year
term will be physician wellness. Many doctors tend to
be so busy in their practices that they don't focus
much on their own health, says Dr Major, an anesthetist.
DSS
ST
JOHN'S — Ups
and downs At 5.8%, Newfoundland has the highest
diabetes rate in the country, according to the report
Health Care in Canada 2004, published by the Canadian
Institute for Health Information and Statistics Canada.
On the up side, the province has the lowest asthma rate
in Canada, 6.6%. Nationally, the average diabetes rate
stands at 4.1% while the average asthma rate is 8.4%.
DSS
Yukon
WHITEHORSE
— It
makes the world go round In a bid to attract
new doctors to the territory and get existing docs to
stay put, the Yukon Medical Association (YMA) and the
Minister of Health have signed a new contract to give
physicians a 6.5% wage increase over the next four years.
Additional incentives include a $200 payment for each
new patient they take on and a $75,000 relocation package
for new physicians moving to the Yukon. Docs who stick
it out for more than three years will also get a hefty
$72,000 bonus. CS
Northwest Territories
YELLOWKNIFE
— Just
leave us be Keep your nose out of my son's business,
demands Anne Catholique, mother of a disabled teenage
boy living in the Aboriginal Partners and Youth Society
group home in Edmonton. He and nine other NWT patients
have refused to leave the group home at the centre of
an abuse scandal, even though their funding has been
withdrawn by the territory. Ms Catholique says visits
by government officials are disruptive; she believes
that political pressure will eventually force her son
and the others to move. CS
Nunavut
IQALUIT —
Please don't
go Nunavut is
planning to hire an international recruitment firm to
help its department of health and social services recruit
146 new employees. The ministry has also sent four employees
on a cross-Canada mission to recruit new nurses to the
territory. Recruiting and keeping staff are chronic
problems in the territory. "The best recruitment you
could achieve is by keeping the people you have now,"
said Deputy Minister of Health Bernie Blais. JG
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