PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1979, WHITBY FREE PRESS ~1~whitbyC Voic o f the County Town Michael Ian Burgess, Publisher,- Managing Editor lhe only Whltby newspaper independently owvned and operated by Whitby residents for Whltby residents. Publshe evey Wdn eday Communlty Editor - Mike KneIt Publshe evey WdPrsa oucion Manager -idaqj murgea. by M..M. ublising.PrInt & PromotIonui and M.B.M. pbihIn. Manager -*Roln Lyoo Phone 668-6111 Advertlslng Manager- Karen Titomson Mà a-lîng Permit No 460 The Free Press Building, Member 0f1fthe 131 Brock Street North, Beller Business Bureau 0f Toron1o P.O. Box 206. Whitby, Ont. Whitby Chaiber ol Comme'rce 769 say yes, 20 miay no Whitby needs buses Despite the dlaims of some Whitby coun- ciliors, buses are needed ln Whitby and the Free Press has proved it. At the close 0f the survey, out of a total of 789 responses, 769 said yeas, we do need a bus ser- vice and only 20 sald that we dld flot. 0f the 769 yes responses: 46 came from busînesses and other community organizations, 10 came from Brookiin and the nôrthern areas, 233 came from the Whitby Psychiatric Hospital, six from students, 168 from senior citizens and 306 from the average homeowner and taxpayer. On the other hand, of the 20 no responses, we had none f rom businesses and other communlty organilzations,- f Ive from Brookli1n.and the northern areas, none from the Whitby- Psychiatric Hospital, none from students, only two from senior cItizens and 13 f rom the 'average homeowner and taxpayer. People are golng to, and have In.the past few weeks, state that the survey s là ot truly representatîve of the feelings -of the.people of the town of Whitby. They may be rlght, but only to a certain extent., If these responses represent the feelings of a household, the survey would then represent the, feelings of about 10 per cent of the population of Whitby. When It Is taken into consideration that only about 30 pet cent of the eligible voters go to the polis durlng a municipal election, one-third of the vote has voiced it's opinion about the buses. When the Gallup poili does its surveys it only questions 1,000 péopie in the whole country of over 20 million people. Yet, their findings are taken as viable and accurate. Our survey has corne close to that mark ln only one small Canad Ian town of only 30,000. Whitby needs buses, for our senior citizens, for those people without a second family car, for those who cannot drive and for an entire spec- trum of people who need an inexpensive way to get around. If council does not spend $100,090less than 2 per cent) out of *it's approximate budget 0f $6,000,000 on buses what are they going to spend it on? Another marina? A bookmobile? A new park? We just spent the equivalent to five yesirs of bus service renovating the library, and will ýsoon be spending 10 years bus service repairing defects ln the Iroquois Park swimmning pool. The marina was a good Idea, but for the money that was put into it how many people are goirrg to get the benefit o0'f It? Or perhaps. more Impor- tant, how many local people? For the $100,000 or so the town could spend on buses, the usage per capita would be greater. As soon' as It can be arranged, the survey resuit,&wIll be formally presented to council for their consideration. We truly hope that counicil moves quickly to establish this much needed social service. R.N.A. 's are c oncerned about health, care in Ontarj'o, says reader Dear Sir: We, the member s 0f the Lakeview and District Chamber of the Ontario Association 0f Registered Nursing Assistants (QARNA), are writing to you regarding the growing. concern for our security within the health care field. The Lakeview and District Chapter of R.N.A.'s encompasses the area from Stouf- Mvlle to Cobourg and Oshawa' to Uxbridge. This 1s a vast area ln geographical miles and population; the same population that pays high taxes and'O.H.l.P. payments ln order to help safeguard their ln- terest ln adequate health care, should the need arise, for them- s.elves and family members. As R.N.A.s ex- perienced through years of practice. or newly graduated, are realizing that It is vital to our profession not to be merely satisfiled with a registration but to advance through semninars, workshops and special courses ,such as pharmacology, gerentology, etc. The. nursing home facility seems to realize more clearly, the potentiai of the R.N.A. and utilizes this poten- tial. Many nursing homes are, privately owned and have thus leamned to budget ln varlous areas Including staffing; that is to qay, R.N.A.'s are paid less than an R.N. for many 0f the samne dut les. The position of the general hospital, in its endeavour to save money, could be more aware-of the abilities 0f the R.N.A. and utilize them whenever possible; for example, R.N.A.'s taught and tested for speciai duties such as -sterile dressings, suctioning, catheterizations and Irrigations, thus leaving more time for the R.N to fuilil supervisory duties and ad- ministering of medications. It should be noted here that the R.N. is paid at a much higher rate and due to poor staffing management there tends to be a great overlap of duties for which the R.N.A. could be paid less to perform; for example, the daily personal care' of the patient. This probiem seems to stem from the over production of graduate R.N's from the two year program, that need Job placement. in- dicating that It is time to Increase the iength of the R.N. course again, as the nursing field has become over- populated. it has been noted many times, by C'ONT'D ON PG. 6 R.N.A.'s want better training nçm