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THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday February Page 11 Outlook Lifestyle Its the IBMphysician wage war Lets be fair Although doctors have a reputation for charging an arm and a leg this reputation may not be based on fact We live in a service ori ented society where in many cases the cost of nonmedical services is es calating far faster than physicians fees For example when I take my Volkswagen in for routine repairs I am charged hour for labor Heaven knows what Id pay to keep a luxury car on the road To my know edge the Medicare authorities have no pending legislation to limit auto mechanics charges depending on what ails your car Last month my IBM typewriter went on the fritz My secretary called the corporation service center for our area to request assistance The com pany representative agreed to send out a repairperson at a staggering per hour labor including travel time plus 25 cents a mile After some backing and filling we acceded to a service call when another client need ed help thereby sharing the cost of travel time A week ago the fixit man came and replaced a 50 drive belt that had broken The belt was not guaranteed I grudgingly paid the 265 14 bill It seemed like a lot of la cost for the service I received I think I was ripped off IBM either needed my money to buy carpeting for its corporate executive suite or more likely the company is more in in selling computers than fix Selectnc typewriters Years ago as an elderly colleague of mine was preparing to take down his shingle he decided to separate the wheat from the chaff He doubled his office fees to an astronomical figure I think it was then in the hope of attracting well heeled pa tients to ease him into retirement In those days it was pretty well under stood that you didnt seek assistance from doctors who charged more than you could afford Patients of modest means were content to see the young doctor down the street in this case me who was starting a practice and needed all the business he could get whether It paid well or not The system has changed Boy has it changed Today physicians whom government agencies have identified as overchargers may be required to refund money to patients and in Massachusetts at least can lose their licenses Im not aware of any watch dog committee that will force IBM to pay me back part of its overcharge although I have been a loyal customer for years I dont make an hour when Im working If Im lucky and the office Is running at full capacity I may make an hour Of that half goes to overhead Of the remaining 50 about percent Is paid in taxes So on a good day my takehome pay is about an hour Im not even paid for my time giving advice on the tele phone driving researching difficult cases filling out insurance forms sit ting alone thinking and planning con sulting with other doctors teaching or carrying out out committee work at the hospital I have no sick time or paid vacations When I stop working even for a weekend the income stops I am not permitted to raise my fees for the elderly who are invari ably more timeconsuming than are younger patients When I provide a late night service or see sick people on holidays I dont get a- bair in fact the differential is ludi crous Im told by the government that when I attend a desperately sick patient in the hospitals Intensive Care Unit I cannot charge more than per hour Bored by this litany So am I Im not sharing this Information with you to complain I just think you ought to know the facta I live com fortably but I work a 100hour week to do so Altough some doctors are able to gouge the public most prac ticing physicians in my generation Heres the secret to painting neatly DEAR POLLY If you are paint ing something but there are areas of the surface that you want to mark just put a little petroleum jelly or grease over those areas then paint Any paint on the petroleum-jelly-cov- ered surface will wipe right off Youll have a neat easy job SHANNON DEAR SHANNON This is such a handy pointer when doing so many lit tle paint jobs Your helpful pointer earns you the Pointer of the Week award a copy of my book Pollys Pointers 1081 Helpful Hints for Making Everything Last Longer Others may order it for 6 Make your check payable to POLLYS POINTERS and send to POLLYS POINTERS PO Box 93863 Cleve land OH POLLY DEAR POLLY I think I have covered something new but maybe its old and I just rediscovered it We like to eat sliced cucumbers placed in vinegar water with a little salt and sugar to taste but the cucumbers used to always shrivel a bit if they werent eaten the same day So I bought some sugar substitute and used a half sugar and half sugarsub stitute mixture instead of only sugar The cucumbers were still fairly crisp the next day H M DEAR POLLY Here is a way to get that fresh parsley chopped finely Drop several bunches of parsley into a small juice glass Insert your kitch en shears into the glass and snip snip snip The same trick works for most herbs For a new steak treat dice a couple of garlic cloves very finely add a handful of chopped fresh parsley and serve the mixture on top of grilled steak This is from my French daugh terinlaw who is a super cook KM DEAR POLLY I have never seen a recipe that combined cut sweet corn POINTERS and zucchini squash but raced with a small quantity of both I tried serving them together I seasoned as for corn alone The two made a delicious dish and a colorful green and white one be sides B A DEAR POLLY When cooking with cocoa I often have trouble get ting the lumps out of the cocoa This makes it difficult to blend it smoothly with the other ingredients Whats the best way to get rid or the lumps HELEN DEAR HELEN There are two simple ways Sift the cocoa through an ordinary flour sifter or a wire strainer or whiz the cocoa into a fine lumpless powder in your blender or food processor In any case the cocoa will then be easy to mix with the other dry Ingredients in your recipe POLLY RECIPE OF THE WEEK Valen tines Day is just around the corner Treat your sweetie with these home made caramel sweets Mix 2 cops ft cup dark corn syrup cop butter and 1 cup light cream or halfandhalf in a 3quart saucepan Bring to a boil stir ring constantly When the mixture is boiling vigorously add another cup of cream and stir to combine Continue cooking at a boil until it reaches a temperature of 245 degrees on a can dy thermometer Immediately re move the pan from the heat and stir in teaspoon vanilla Then pour the candy mixture into an 8inchsquare pan that has been generously buttered or sprayed with a nonstick cooking spray Let the caramel cool at room temperature until firm Cut into 1- inch squares 124 MAIN ST SOUTH DOWNTOWN GEORGETOWN 8777654 Fashions For The Young At Heart MAJN ST S GEORGETOWN Across From Knox Church ft The Bennett Health Care Centre offering FINE RETIREMENT LIVING Private and SomrPrtvate Accommodation available in an attractive comfortable and secure environment specially designed for your needs Services include full dining room service nursing assistance maid and laundry service a variety of planned activities use of all amenities including beauty shop gilt shop and bar service THE BENNETT HEALTH CARE CENTRE A KMvptodt I the a District Memorial Hotplut Princess Anne Drive Georgetown Ontario L7G 87701 birthday sale Were Celebrating Our 1st Anniversary Feb 1st 1989 SPECIAL Perm for only SPECIALS UNTO SAT 18 IMS TREATMENT FREE With Every Service are caught in the same bind as I am We muddle along day by day shaking our heads at the dizzying array of reg ulations and restrictions that seem calculated to drive the private practi tioner nuts Sometimes its depressing I wonder about a society whose pri orities permit a typewriter repair man to demand and receive per hour plus cents a mile most of which goes to corporate upkeep while physicians are restricted by law to a fraction of that figure If Im ever crazy enough to call IBM for repairs Ill have to remember to ask the ser viceman how he landed such a cushy job till NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN BRAND By Glenda Hughes Sales Rep 8730300 It s been a week I really want to forget Either Im a maniac in get ting little details attended to or the rest of the world lives in a different strata than I How is it that my clients can get their homes ready for sale in a day or so and it takes me the better part of a week and Im a wreck at the end of it Ill never again be so blase with you when you tell me that you need more time to prepare need notice for showings need to call the painters need to straighten the cupboards and need to see the psychiatrist This is not funny and I hope that I can Jive through this to tell you the final results However I can report after what seemed like endless hours everything has been done but my family is looking at me in strange ways Ive noticed that they talk in hushed tones when they are around me my hubby takes me out for dinner so as not to dirty a dish and my secretaries are being so pa tient with me cause they know Im very fragile I really do know now why my clients are so happy when I go over to put up a sold sign its not because they have a deal put together it s because they can go back to living normally again I always suspected that there was more to their joy than met my trained eyes and now I do know This week when I went to put up that wonderful sign on a home I also delivered a bottle of champagne to them for there is nothing much better to match the news of Youve sold your home than toasting it with cold bubbles I often hear the phrase I never moving again and now I can sympathize with the greatest understanding possible Unfortunately though pain is easily forgot ten most of us The mind sorts out all the junk throws it out and on ly remembers the good stuff Thank goodness for that for if that didnt happen real estate agents would be out of a job builders wouldnt build new homes and the economy would be in a state So I do know that I will forget all this pain shortly and probably within the next 5 or years I will go through it again but surely it wont be as bad next time will it Your Lifestyle Shoe Store FOR YOUR SPECIAL VALENTINE Spring FaH Styles JMJ Savings saw lnrt Some Matching Purses a40 Savings LUSCIOUS LUCILLE AMOROUS MAURICE CUDDLY SUPPERS Just In Time For February Sty SB MAIN ST SOUTH DOWNTOWN GEORGETOWN 8771636