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Information for seniors lacking report says Staff at three public centres across have challenged a regional report a suggestion that a statistical data base in needed to provide general informs lion to area senior alliens In separate letters to the region health tad soda services committee officials of the Acton Social Services and Information Centre North Contact Centre and Information Burlington warned that such a move would duplicate their own efforts Their comments came n response to Phase of a regional consultant report Health and Social Services for the Elderly in While continuing support of the existing information centres is rccom mended the report also suggests establish a statistical data base worth about a year to meet stated concerns by some seniors that they have trouble obtain general information We feel it is a duplication of service for the region to establish a central information data base when the existing information centres are giving this service either by telephone or in person Contact Centre director Irene told the committee Each centre in the area where it is established is quite efficient extra funds would expand future service and pay extra help fulltime or part time Won Social Services Centre executive director Peggie said the need for a central information centre which she too questions should not be confused with the need for a statistical data base which she said the region could best develop and However in the area of services avail able for seniors it may be that this type of general is already available and accessible she said I understand that the other information centres are also well used by seniors in their area although there will always be people who are not aware of a particular service Perhaps more advertising of each centre would bean appropriate avenue for regional also suggested appointing a liaison person to join the seniors advisory committee and represent the concerns of the region and its information agencies Information Burlington manager Betty Thomas took exception to the regional report s appraisal of existing information The report Indicated that such Inform a lion was neither current nor she told the committee A serious amission of any mention of existing information centres was evident Thomas noted thai many of the enquiries answered by her agency in newsmakers GeorgetownActon Wednesday May 23 involved seniors concerns About seniors attended a recent four part seminar on those same concerns added Over the past 13 years since the agency was founded an extensive data base for seniors services has been compiled she wrote The proposed development of a statistical data base at the region would duplicate such information and at an estimated total annual cost of would appear In be an expensive and unnecessary undertaking The matter has been referred lo director of social services for further deliberation eft Georgetown 1 Mountntovktw GEORGETOWN 8751 08 Toronto Una Tension floats away in tank Ontario Bicentennial was officially released into Nation Hills when the Bicentennial flat was raised at the administration building Thursday Helping Major Miller arc Peter Norton and CMP Constable Re- Region passes on phone porn battle A problem with high school students in Thunder Bay phoning long distance to hear pornographic recordings had regional staff checking out men maga lines recently council was asked to endorse a resolution being circulated by the city of Thunder Boy aimed at curbing the use of telephones for solicited obscene phone calls via S toll fret numbers Council took no action on the resolution stopping short of sending a report on the problem by Chief Administrative Officer Dennis Perlin to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Thunder Bay authorities were responding to grove concern and shock expressed by citizens over the accessibility of phone numbers through which Ihe caller can hear a prerecorded message featuring blatant sexual references This number which is advertised in being loll free has appeared on the telephone bill of many parents whose children have been calling Ihis number unaware that it would appear an the household telephone bill the resolu lion from Thunder Bay says The city asked to join it in sing our strong displeasure over the mat and asking authorities to remedy the second resolution asks the Ministry of Education to launch school programs about pornography while a third asks Thunder Bay Telephone lo help Bell Canada investi gale the possibility of reversing charges on the calls so that the New York company behind them ends up fooling the bill In his report to called the Thunder Bay rtsoluiions contradictory and contended thai solution should come through legislation total number of these advertise apparently is incredible he said I am informed that in one magazine there were six pages devoted to advertising various telephone numbers and proximately separate telephone numbers listed While some Ontario municipalities have already endorsed the Thunder Bay resolutions noted many are passing bylaws restrict the display and sale of such magazines The primary problem is the availability of such publications which I am told contain material which is far more offensive that phone call invitations Perlin said They say it suspends the senses leaving the mind alone to probe for new levels of awareness say It simulates the effects of weightlessness easing the stress that gravity imposes on our bodies They say it speeds up the healing process for broken limbs and twisted joints And they say it amounts lo a return to the womb if only for on hour at a time But mostly the isolation tank developed for scientific research years ago and now available for public use locally is a prime device for sheer relaxation John Boer of Acton had tried out isolation tanks at Toronto s sole outlet for a Vancouver based operation but quickly realized the drive back home cut Into what ever relaxation he d managed to build up The solution was to get a tank of his own De Boer took things one step further opened his own shop this week Solitude Systems near Guclph and in George town With some plans to gear the shop to his clients needs and expectations De Boer currently offers a foot isolation tank he designed himself Inside the plywood housing is a vinyl liner that contains about a foot of extremely dense Epsom salts solution healed to about degrees Fahrenheit about skin temper Here the procedure the tanker or floater is escorted into the tank room after signing a waiver that indicates he is not subject to mental Illness and Is not under the influence of drugs or alcohol Left alone he undresses and showers then places cotton wool In each ear and covers any small cuts or sores with vaseline Then It into the tank via a swinging hatch that remains unlocked He floats high In the salt solution hearing little if anything because of the cotton and water seeing nothing once the hatch is closed First lime tankers are virtually unanimous that the sensation of weightlessness adrift inside ihe relatively spacious tank is alone worth the fee Solitude tanks Without his surroundings placing pressure on any port of his body the floater stretches his limbs and feels the tension drain from his body Slowly the floater stops listening to his own breathing and watching for any visual sensations Deprived of sensory in put the mind and steadily lakes oier while body rests like il never rested before There s no danger of drowning even if you fall asleep because of the solution high density and claustrophobia seem to be a problem because of Ihe total lock of sensory orientation Only the combined of wood and salts remind you where you are from time to time So It goes for an hour at a time Boer reenlers the tank room to softly rap on the tank signalling one hour He leaves floater can climb out to shower off the salt or remain for longer if he wishes Anxious to become a daily floater himself De Boer the full range of claims about just how far Ihe lank can take you Pro footballers use to hi injuries faster Devotees of rinse meditation biofeedback an conducting various from inside ihe tank The more adventurous claim lo repress I the womb slate Boer stresses though Ihnt relaxation is the tank irnin function Several major hotel chains in the S now offer isolation tanks alongside gyms and swimming pools In Europe few towns the size of Hills would be without m isolation lank centre So thoroughly relaxing is an hour in lank that business executives swarm to such centres on lunch breaks or after work The revitalizing process can be startling far more effective that a halfhour catnap De Boer is charging for each visit the tank but plans a scries of introductory offers If you try out the tank and want to return three more visits will cost and you make those visits yourself After that a fivetime for fee is charged and Ihosc visits con be transferred lo other customers Spending for United Way A nQve way tQ reax waste Whiting maintains Hiring consultants lo determine if can support a fourth United Way agency Is a waste of money says Hills Dave Whiting Mr Whiting was speaking against the region contributing a study to determine if Halton Hills can support a Wav You want some very basic answers to some basic questions Why do you need a consultant he isked Sheridan chairman of the Halton United Way Task Force who spoke about the proposed study Ihe health and social services committee three weeks ago Mr Sheridan said study would be conducted consul Michael former director of Hamilton social planning council Transport for disabled Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communication will provide half the Halloa region needs for a transportation study investigating the need of the DetCan a con sulting be paid to can duct the study while regional staff la t petted to tocqr the balance of the cost Men at work Halton regions public wort depart ment currently baa outside working on different projects ac cording to a recent report Among tb oldest projects bated are several dating back to early although all Hornby bridge of bridgebuilding pro jects far th u Ha cor belt conaoBtag of Parker f Surface treatment tnattBcM wuttweded aaoog the The study will examine funds currently being raised in Hills services currently provided and if there room for more fund raising Mr Sheridan said Burlington Mayor Holy Bird agreed with Whiting He loo could not see Ihe need for hiring a consultant has a social planning council he said asking why the council t conduct the study The Way task force is a creation of the social planning council anyway he said adding that even ihe consultant Is a former social planning council director Regional Chairman Peter however urged the committee to support the study Otherwise said the former Halton Hills mayor It will set the whole issue of creating a sole Uniled Way agency for Hal ion back FnendsinDeed Anne Dodds elected president by Noel During the Friends In Deed meeting of April the election of officers was con ducted with the following results Ann president Emily Price vice- president Secretary Joan Parker and Marion Keelan treasurer A donation was given to our group by the Dublin Women Institute A while back a questionnaire was given to each member to Till out So for oil the absent members do not forget to bring it with you at the next meeting A wheelchair clinic has been arranged for Saturday May at Capital Ford in Georgetown Victoria Wheelchair from Kit chencr will be providing this service Three or more persons could reserve the in advance For mare information please call Pat at 16 A reminder to everyone who shops at Dominion and Zehrs stores to save their cash register tapes for us Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday evening May and we will have a demonstration in dough art New members are always welcome by Mark Holmes Solitude Most people avoid it like the plague but thanks to a revolutionary new service are hundreds of people realizing the potential of such a state There ore several names for the service but the most common name for it is sen deprivation Thepurposeof sensory deprivation is as the name suggests to deprive a person of all physical sensations leaving the person in a trance like stale To achieve this the tank a four foot by four Toot by eight foot enclosed bathtub Is filled with a salt water solution heated to 94 degrees fohrenheit which Is the same temperature as skin and neither light or sound can penetrate the walls It would seem to reporters Mark Holmes and Paul Dorsey who tried out these tanks that such on environment would be claustrophobic but the sen sal ions were Ihe opposite The initial and most shocking sensation that the tank produces is the buoyancy thai the salt water gives It is hard lo accustom your body to thi sensation of floating on water without the fear of sinking below surface The utter combined warm damp darkness must be almost ihe same as prenatal conditions in a mother womb and strongly enough both of us remarked on the sensulion We both experienced feelings of floating in deep starless space The sound of our own breathing was the only thing Ihe struck our eardrums If we field our breath hear our own heart beats The womb like the of floating in space and the breathing were the only common experience be ween us In both eases he entire hour of tanking was undoubtedly one of strangest either one of us has ever ex penenccd RR Acta Joke Beer a fa a former chemical engineering who en his experiences la luki at a Toronto centre so much he opened his own tre fat Georgetown week float atop a Mil pitch black tanks thorough relaxing environ