Cardiology has changed dramatically in recent years. Whereas a cardiac patient would once spend a week to 10 days in hospital recovering from a heart attack. Today, the patient is in hospital from one to four days. He noted the unique design of the unit â€" that allows every patient to have a window and privacy, as well as, the cirâ€" cular nursing station to view all patients at the same time â€" was a "bottom up" design decision. It was the people who worked on the ward who made the design decisions, he said. (Continued from page 1) Governors in granting the funding at a fiscally demanding time for hospitals. Staff helped with design @p Pick or ths cror Later, the chief of staff estimated patients will have to wait longer than the current oneâ€"hour wait. Martin was the director of emergency services at OTMH prior to becoming its new chief of staff. Former chief of staff, Dr. Keith Phillips, had been in the position for eight years. "Patients are getting stuck in the "Things are difficult in the hospital now, and they are going to get even more difficult in the future. We all know that money is tight. I don‘t want to point any fingers or anything like that, but we are going to go through a hard time and the levels of service here will not be susâ€" tained," he told the Board of Governors. 245 LAKESHORE ROAD EAST + OAKVILLE TELEPHONE 905 844.â€"5363 (Continued from page 1) is one of the most heavily used areas of the hospital by people in the community. Up until recently, patients did not have the lengthy waits, which are now comâ€" mon in larger urban hospitals. Money crunch will be felt in emergency ward mMet EducaKional Ins«‘ghi's > T SQTan y 467 SPEERS RD., OAKVILLE 845â€"9742 or 845â€"3824 Rita FRance of . B 0 o K s with ... Nov DISPOSAL OF oLD SET UP SET AVAILABLE AVAILABLE He said OTMH has enjoyed a "pheâ€" nomenal" level of service due to the family physicianâ€"based nature of the hospital and the use of family physicians on call in emergency. But the squeeze ‘"You‘d get sent upstairs (to a ward) right away," he said. "Now, if you are seen, you might have to wait (for a bed) until tomorrow morning." emergency department," he said, after the meeting. He explained that in previâ€" ous years, there was little difficulty in initially diagnosing a patient and then finding a bed. Enamel Finish Mon.â€"Wed. Thurs.â€"Fri. Saturdays Sundays (Burlington Oakville only) He attributed the declining levels of service to the government deficit at the provincial and federal levels which filter down into all the services, including health care. "The truth of it is â€" we‘ve become a modern hospital with all the problems other hospitals have had for the past 10 years," he said. "It‘s a difficult time. There is a whole squeeze on the system, and we‘re feeling it." on health care dollars has made its way into a heavily need department and patients are going to feel it," he said. Black Enamel Finish Includes mattress _ frame Available in assorted colours MAIN ST. Complete with mattress SOFABED PaRT/ciraction RAINBOW IRON BED Guaranteed lowest prices 4 SPACESAVER BUNK 1 2" iron tubing Single over double