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WIPABY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY NOVEMIER 18,1987, PAGE 7 PAGE SEVENLI A NEW HOSPITAL FOR WHITBY There is no doubt-that a community with a population of 48,000 and growing at more than 5% per year can easily justify the extra 42 acute care beds that were requested of the Ministry of Health. Yet the Ministry has declared, after careful consideration and review, that the demographics don't support those beds at the Whitby General Hospital. Paradoxically both sides are right. The problem is our hospital's location. It sits in the middle of a field at the southern extremity of the town, and is physically separated from it by the rather formidable barrier created by highway 401. Whitby can not grow southward - as Whitby grows, most of its new residents will find Oshawa General more accessible and to many it will actually be physically closer. Short of placing toll gates at the Whitby-Oshawa border, Whitby residents will use Oshawa General Hospital in increasing numbers. I can speak with some authority on our hospital having worked there for a total of thirteen years starting in 1970, just a few months after it opened, up to last summer when I left my position as chief technologist of the laboratory to become publisher of this newspaper. My wife also bas a long association with the hospital as personnel manager from July 1969, six months before it opened, until 1981. Whitby General is a good hospital. I can attest to that not just as someone who bas worked there but as one who bas been a patient on a couple of occasions. The service there is more friendly and less hurried. The waits for emergency care are on average less than in other hospitals in the area. Whitby General is the only hospital where certain types of elective surgery can be booked and performed within a matter of days. These are its strengths, yet in comparison to other hospitals in the area, they are signs of underutilization. The Ministry of Health is not blind. It can read maps too, and can see that as Whitby grows, the pressure will be on Oshawa's hospital not Whitby's. In its eyes, increasing the number of acute care beds is not justified. It is ironic that the Ministry of Health created the problem in the first place. It is my understanding that at the time the hospital was being planned in the 1960's a site in the Rossland Road area was available by donation but the then Minister of Health, Dr. Matthew Dymond who was also the local MPP chose the present site. With a population of only 15,000 at the time, Whitby's need for its own general hospital was somewhat tenuous; however, the Ministry felt that it could be justified if it also served the acute care needs of the Whitby Psychiatric Hospital. Hence the location in the middle of a field belonging to the Psychiatric Hospital. The decision was political and in retrospect an obvious mistake. If it had even been built at the corner of the baseline (Victoria St.), it would have been more accessible but the location chosen was destined to fail as a community hospital. Ever since then the hospital board has grappled as best it could with an awkward association with its larger neighbor. Whitby needs and bas the population to justify a general hospital of a hundred and fifty beds. We need a new hospital in a location which can serve the vast majority of the community. The Ministry is giving clear signals that expansion at Whitby General is limited. Even if the board gets more beds now, it will be another political decision, the very kind of decision that created the problem initially. And in a few years it will have to fight the saie battle all over. People may respond emotionally now to an appeal for more beds - signing petitions is easy - but when they're sick, where will they go? Oshawa General is running out of space to expand and they are talking about a second hospital, but Oshawa's growth at only 1.9% does not justify it, Whitby's at 5.4% does. A new hospital in Whitby north of Rossland Road could serve not only the existing community but the new growth areas of both Whitby and Oshawa. No, this is not a pipedream - the growth in Durham Region is such that in the next 25 years, some five or six hundred new beds will be needed - enough for two or three new hospitals. Whitby will get one only if the local powers decide it ought to - the Ministry responds to requests for new facilities, it does not go out and create them on its own. If Oshawa requests a new hospital and Whitby doesn't, Oshawa will get it. Sure we're talking a lot of money. We're also talking about a lot of new residents in two and three hundred thousand dollar homes who would like the assurance that their health care needs will be taken care of in the most efficient manner possible. Hospitals are not built for the prestige of the community - they are built to treat patients. They need -to be accessible. The development and success of several stand alone radiological, physiotherapy, laboratory and now even emergency clinics within the populated area of the town indicates a clear need for accessible facilities. Town Council bas recently undertaken the construction of a new $10 million recreation complex in the north end of Town in part because Iroquois Park was regarded as not sufficiently accessible to most of the community. Surely what's true of recreation is infinitely more true of emergency health care. If we can afford the one, we have to be able to afford the other. And what about the existing hospital? It already contains 32 chronic and rehabilitative beds and the Ministry bas authorized a further 36. Its location is well suited for chromec care and it would serve admnirably as a specialized long-term facility. FR g SPRUCE VILLA INN, DUNDAS STREET WEST, 1924 The original Spruce Villa Hotel was a red brick farm house built in the 1870s for William Clendenan, who died in 1906. In the early 1920s when the automobile began te make it possible to take long drives on i-gbway 2 from Toronto, Mrs. R. H. Weddel opened a wayside inn in the old farm bouse. She advertised luncheon served at any bour, evening supper, home cookcing and special attention to motor parties. The 'Whitby Camping Grounds" were advertised along witb the inn. The present Spruce Villa was built around the old farm bouse in 1950 and it is said that parts of the original building are incorporated into the construction of the new building. Whitby Archives Photo 10 YEARS AGO from the Wednesday, November 16, 1977 edition ot the WHITBY FREE PRESS " Whitby Psychiatric Hospital bas laid off 14 employees because of financial restraint. " Traffic warning ligbts are planned for the corner of H-ighway 7 and Durhamn Road 23 where there was a recent fatal accident. . Financial problems aredelaying construction of a hotel at Thickson Road and Highway 401. The project commenced in 1974. " Whitby's population is 28,852. Mayor Jim Gartshore asked the Royal Canadian Legion to fight separatism in Quebec. 25 YEARS AGO from the Thursday, November 15, 1962 edition of the WHITBY WEEKLY NEWS • Town water will be used to service an 18-acre subdivision in Whitby Township at Dundas and Thickson Roads. • Members of more than 500 families toured the Dunlop Tire plant at an "Open House" on Nov. 13. .A larger watermain from Lake Ontario to Victoria Street is planned to service the growving tewn. SFormer Whitby high school student Everet Russell Fleming married Frederica Joan Bull, daughter of Canada's ambassador to Japan at Tokyo on Nov. 3. 100 YEARS AGO from the Friday, November 18, 1887 edition of the WHITBY CHRONICLE • The Ancient Order of United Workmen Lodge held an oyster supper at Brooklin. • John Ball Dow bas been elected president of a new assoociation to revive and preserve the ancient customs, songs and dances of Scotland. • The Harris and Murphy families are carrying on a feud over wanting the same girls. • Large exhibits of turkeys, geese, ducks, eggs, butter, etc. are being prepared for the Ashburn Christmas Fair. L li "X7