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The Oakville BeaverGuest Column467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the Hospital news overduecondition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Halton MPP Ted ChudleighNEIL OLIVERVice-President and Group Publisher, MARK DILLSDirector of Production Metroland WestMANUEL GARCIAProduction Managerhither our hospital funding? The Ontario bud-DAVID HARVEY Regional General ManagerCHARLENE HALLDirector of Distributionget process has come and gone, the necessary JILL DAVISEditor in ChiefSARAH MCSWEENEYCirc. Managerprelude to the provincial allocation of funding ROD JERREDManaging EditorWEBSITEoakvillebeaver.comWto various hospital projects across Ontario. For DANIEL BAIRDAdvertising DirectorThe Oakville Beaver is a division ofseveral weeks Ive been expecting the announcement as to RIZIERO VERTOLLIPhotography Directorwhich hospital projects in Ontario get priority funding. The SANDY PAREBusiness ManagerMinistry of Health is strangely silent.Ted ChudleighRECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY:Hospital projects in Halton are all different in character Ontario Community Canadian Community Suburban NewspapersNewspapers AssociationNewspapers Associationof Americaand are at various stages of the process. The new Oakville hospital, which will be quite near to northeast Burlington, is expected to break THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR:ground this summer and start construction. It has been a long, tortuous road for that project started by the PC government, delayed by municipal infighting about United Way of Oakvillethe location and then delayed by a Liberal government short on money.Having passed the needs assessment, a planned expansion of Miltons small hos-ATHENAAwardpital continues to wait on provincial funding for a study to determine the commu-nity needs. I can safely say that in a hospital built for a community of 30,000, which now serves about 100,000 residents, the community needs everything.That brings us to Burlington, already with a fair sized hospital; it, too, is at the stage where provincial funding is required to move forward with the planning pro-cess for the future. Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital is in dire need, however as it has aged much as the community has aged.Burlington will need a significant increase in care for seniors and the health problems of an aging population. Burlington has also grown significantly and the needs of a younger demographic cannot be ignored. At the same time, Joseph Brant is an older facility, built decades ago to different standards than todays hospitals. It was built at a time before significant computer diagnostics were even dreamed of.Of course, Joseph Brant has been retrofitted, upgraded and expanded over the years if it hadnt been, Burlington would be facing a situation even more difficult than Milton; however, its value as a regional facility is diminishing as more and more services are being outsourced to other local hospitals, particularly in Hamilton, which possess more updated facilities.Burlington and Milton hospital projects should be high on the provincial prior-ity list Milton because of its exploding population and Burlington because of population growth, demographic changes and its aging facility.We can only wait as ministry mandarins juggle competing needs surely every hospital project in Ontario has a compelling story but I am confident that the effort made to draw attention to these situations in Halton, such as petitions, community Mmarches, questions in the Legislature and public awareness, will pay off when the ICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVERannouncements are made.HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: Three-year-old Ava Marsden crawls through a tire at the recent Jensen Tire 25thTed Chudleigh is the Conservative MPP serving the provincial riding of anniversary open house. The event raised more than $10,000 for Jensen Tires' Weekend to End Women's CancersHalton.team. Jensen Tire is located at 928 Winston Churchill Boulevard.Shouldering the searing pain of a bizarre gardening accidentm not suggesting that Im old, unlucky and decrepit.At my surgeons appointment, I shookYes, my friend, there was weed involved. Plenty of weed(s). You Although all evidence indicates that I may well be, um, old,hands with the doctor who was alreadysee, since the spring deluge, Ive been behind on my yard work. Iunlucky and decrepit.acquainted with my knees and me; hedOne day I looked out back and noticed the grass and weeds around Take my knees (please). A few months ago, I found myself inoperated on my other knee eight yearsthe horse shelter had grown out of control. So I took my mower a surgeons office awaiting results of an MRI on a knee that hasago. And then he said that, although theand my hand clippers and went out to remedy the situation.bothered me for ages, and that of late was making a mockery of news was not good, it was probably noth-Before I could work my magic, I had to drag from the shelter my jogging routine: Id jog one day and find myself unable to runing I didnt already know: there was aa cumbersome, three-foot deep water bucket Id stored in there. or walk, or climb stairs for that matter for the next two days.ligament that had long ago been severed,That out of the way, I went about taming the small parcel of Alas, this knee has a history. When I was a teen, I blew out mysubstantial cartilage loss, and untoldproperty. After an hour of dedicated labour, I was done. I took a Andy Juniperleft knee on a football field when I planted a cleat and took off inosteoarthritis. Then he advised me to livefew steps back to admire my handiwork and fell over back-one direction while my knee went another. Over the years, thelife, do as much as the knee allows, andwards into the bucket. I landed on my elbow and would surely knee was repeatedly blown out on a tennis court (reaching forhed see me back in 10 years or so for replacement surgery.have felt a searing pain up my arm, clear up to the shoulder, but a backhand), a baseball diamond (in a pothole), a basketball courtNow, I could have hosted a pity party, lamenting the end of myI was too busy struggling to get up out of the bucket, and praying (making a cut), and in my living room (this involved dancing andrunning days. But Im a go-with-what-youve-got guy. So, Ithat no one had witnessed my ignominious back flip.rum enough said).retired my runners, got out my bike and started cycling the hillsWhich is how Ive come to find myself rehabbing another This poor joint has endured endless hours of physiotherapyaround our house. No pounding. A returned ability to climbbody part. And hoping theres not another trip to the surgeon in and chiropractic adjustments. Its been strapped into newfangledstairs. my future. I mean, the guys going to start thinking Im old, technology (braces that broke the bank and failed to protect theIn fact, I was practically pain-free for a while until, well, I suf-unlucky and decrepit.joint), and undergone a surgical procedure that was intended tofered a bizarre gardening accident one that produced a plethoraAndy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, be a full rebuild, but was downgraded to some scoping when theof pain, and caused a friend to ask: Was there weed involved infound on Facebook http://www.facebook.com, or followed at knee was found to be too tattered to reconstruct.this accident?www.twitter.com/thesportjesters. www.insideHALTON.com OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, July 7, 2011 6