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Basic Black by Arthur Black In case of illness, be very afraid... Most people think that medical care is good for you. The fact is that some medical care is good for you, a great deal-is irrelevant and, unfortunately, unfortunately, some of it is harmful Dr. Lester Breslow Heading off to the hospital for some corporeal customizing, customizing, are we? Going to let the sawbones hoist the old carcass up on the hospital lube rack for a little surgical nipping and tucking? Then I have just two words of advice for you: Good and Luck. Not to put the knock on our diagnosticians and surgeons. They do a helluva job considering considering their onerous case load, not to mention the dwindling resources and antiquated equipment they have to work with, thanks to our skinflint Ottawa bean counters. But that doesn't make the prospect of a hospital stay any less daunting. Checking into a Canadian hospital these days is a bit like diving into a shark tank with a 'Bite me' sign stapled stapled to. your butt. How dangerous is it? Pretty darned. In the past few years surgeons have removed wrong organs, amputated healthy limbs, drilled into the wrong part of a patient's skull - even performed heart surgery surgery on the wrong patient. The good news? All of the above happened in U.S. hospitals. hospitals. The bad news? The situation on this side of the border is even worse. A recent study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal took a look at 'adverse effects' - i.e. medical screw-ups - across the country. They studied studied 3,745 randomly chosen patient charts from 20 hospitals hospitals in five provinces. They documented drug overdoses, botched diagnoses, patients whose spines were sliced by clumsy surgeons - even one woman whose ovaries were removed. Which might have been Now available in Clarington only at FRED'S AUTOBODY 163 Baseline Road, Unit 1 Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 314 Tel: (905) 623-6353 Fax: 905-623-3913 E-mail: FAB@on.albn.com Fred DeVries, owner • FREE ESTIMATES •COMPETITIVE RATES •INSURANCE CLAIMS Complete Collision Repair, Restoration and Refinishing k ',/7 ",'i êMMm ,, i m-mm WL'ii .. 6 PARK ST, ORONO Our 1000 sq.ft, studio has classes for everyone! From beginner to advanced. Ages 3 years to adult. Local shows, recital, and competitions! BALLET, JAZZ, TAP, HIP HOP, MUSICAL THEATRE MOVERN ANV ACRO We provide an encouraging, supportive, positive experience for students to develop self confidence! Come experience the Freedom of Dance and register for the 2004/2005 Dance Season. Come in early and save the $35 registration fee! 905-983-5002 Call us if interested in Karate classes! Min. 10 students req./class fine if she hadn't been expecting expecting merely to have her appendix appendix out. ; The horror stories are right out of a Stephen King novel. The study says that 24,000 patients die in Canadian hospitals hospitals every year as. a result of preventable medical errors. Another 185,000 are crippled, injured or poisoned through professional incompetence, negligence or carelessness. Read that number again: 185,000. That's more than the population of Regina. American medical authorities authorities are attempting to correct their abysmal record by imposing a Speedy Muffler King-style check list on all .U.S. surgical teams. The list includes such elementary procedures procedures as: (a) Making certain that the correct patient is on the table, (b) Having the entire surgical team agree on precisely which part of the body they're supposed supposed to be working on ("Right knee? I thought they said left knee!") (c) Making sure that the X- rays are not read backwards; and (d) Having the presiding surgeon surgeon actually sign the incision site - preferably while the patient is still conscious. Which is all well and good I suppose, but even if every surgeon was as wise as Solomon and as adept as Zorro, we'd still have medical muck-ups, because we'd still have the non-perfectible part of the puzzle - which is to say the patients. Such as the woman who rushed into the emergency room of a hospital in Vancouver demanding to be directed to the 'Fraternity Ward'. "You must mean the Maternity Ward," said the receptionist. "Whatever," says the lady, "I've gotta see an upturn right away." "You must mean an intern," says the receptionist. "Fraternity, maternity," the woman yells, "upturn, intern - I don't care what you call it - all 1 know is, even though I use an IOU and my husband's had a bisectomy, 1 haven't demonstrated for two months and 1 think- I'm probably fragrant." fragrant." Wednesday. September 1, 2004 <pt the, lotit mmcl 1st Orono Pathfinders by Michelle Doran hujePa ôOplicaf KIDS come see our Barbie, ^ J\ Spidorman and A ° SpongeBob 10-3 Square Pants W. F io-8 Eyeware! 6 Park St. Orono s. 10-2 For two years the 1 st Orono Pathfinders have been fundraising and planning for a trip to England. This summer, all of our hard work finally paid off and our dream became reality. On Thursday July 29th, fifteen fifteen girls (pulling along their parents, of course) and four leaders met at St. Saviours Anglican church. This was the first leg of our journey. The atmosphere was full of excitement, the ground littered with luggage. Parents chattered chattered their last warnings to their daughters (who had already heard them about a million times) while the leaders leaders got all the last minute preparations and paperwork sorted out. At 4:30, the school bus finally left the church, all I loaded up with luggage and ecstatic girls waving goodbye to teaiy-eyed parents. Those with any fears of leaving their parents behind soon found themselves swept up in the excitement and challenge the next few hours held at the airport airport and on the plane itself, as we left what was familiar to pursue a dream. The first week sped by as we camped in Essex at the 2004 Essex International Jamboree. This camp consisted of 7000 scouts and guides from around the world all participating participating in activities and events, such as: scuba diving, wall climbing, crafts, dances, concerts, concerts, games, mazes, and so much more; through which we met new people and gained a better international understanding. understanding. Many of the people we met will continue to keep in touch with us and be our friends for years to come. We had fun, even having to overcome challenges that camp presented us with. I don't think any of us will forget having to sit on the ground at meal times and having having to eat soup with a fork on a plate because we only had limited limited dishes. And though sometimes sometimes we couldn't understand the words another person might be speaking, we understood understood their actions and their friendship. Saying goodbye to that friendship on the 7th of August may have been the hardest thing we did on our trip. From camp we took a large coach bus to Kemsing, where we stayed in a youth hostel for three days. During these three days, we went to Hever Castle and Canterbury Tales. Following Kemsing, we went to Lyndhurst where we stayed at Foxlease, a Guide house. While staying there, we went to Brownsea Island, where the first experimental Scout camp was held. We also went to Portsmouth to see the HMS Victory, the Mary Rose, and other ships and museums which offered a look at British naval history. Lyndhurst also offered the opportunity to shop; a definite plus for many of the girls (including myself, I must say). After Foxlease, we stayed at another youth hostel, The Baden Powell House, in London. This was the first time we were staying in a larger city. We only had five full days left by this point and these five days were full of excitement, including trips to: Salisbury Cathedral (where the best copy of the Magna Carta is kept), Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Buckingham Palace, a London show and lots of shopping! By the time we fell asleep on the 18th, we had seen so much of London and other parts of England, we were exhausted and ready to go home the next day. We were up the next mom- . ing at 5:00 am and home by 6:30 Canadian time (11:30 pm England time!). Our parents met us at St. Saviours again and all the girls went their separate separate ways, full of the memories memories of our adventure of a life time. It wasn't just the hard work of the 1st Orono Pathfinders that made our dream came true. Without the generosity of the community, our parents, our leaders and several groups and individuals in particular, this could never have happened. happened. Thank you everyone for your help and support. You will never know how much it means. orono ■ • Wedding Cakes • Cakes for a\\ Occasions • Pastries - Donuts - Pies • Bread & Buns 905-983-9779 l> r0| >"" *&Cn°VV,° .kor Closed Sunday and Monday