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ig ~ -- NSE R SRS et pod oR - Lr DS , OT Sr AY SERN rea £70 I' EAS 3 po RE RIAL ay Ak BE RTA FIRE BRE SER - ARTY .". nes FING editorial poge AEE RAR A The Maternity Unit Judging from the response at last week's public meeting concerning the maternity unit of Port Perry Hospital, it is fair to say that the provincial Health Ministry would have a small revolution on its hands if a decision was ever made to shut the unit down. If ever there was an overwhelming expression of support for keeping the maternity unit, the community hospital itself and the medical professionals who work in this Township, it was present at the Latcham Centre last week. Surely, the message that came forth frankly and rationally from that meeting cannot be lost on the Durham District Health Council. And surely, the Health Council must pass the message on to the Ministry of Health that phasing out the maternity unit at Port Perry Hospital would be most unpopular and meet with concentrated resistance. Aside from the loud and clear message that came out of the meeting concerning the maternity unit, it must also have been gratifying for the hospital board of directors, administration, staff and doctors to hear such warm words of praise for the levels of medical service which are being provided in this community. Speaker after speaker stood up at that public meeting to offer their words of support and in some instances went into detail about their own personal experiences at the hospital. Like a lot of things these days, most of us tend to take things for granted. If we get sick we expect that there will be professional medical services available and a bed in a hospital, if necessary. The strong words of praise and support for the medical and hospital services available in Scugog Township were an indication that the people living here do appreciate what they have and can get 'mad as hell" if somebody tried to take it away. The arguments by the medical professionals, the hospital administration and board of directors and the general public literally blew giant holes in the consultants recommendation that the maternity unit be phased out over the next five years, in the hopes that a few dollars could be saved. In light of the facts, the recommendation Is a silly one as far as 'this hospital is concerned, and one can't help but wonder how it got into the consultants report in the first place. Possibly the answer to this came from one woman at the meeting who asked the -question'how many-women-had-any-input-into-that-consultants report?" == ue ue Anyway, let us hope that this issue has been put to rest permanently, and rather than considering cut-backs in service at the local hospital, the Ministry of Health will eventually approve plans for an expansion so that the people of this community can benefit from an even higher degree of medical service. The Library It would be easy to say at this time that Scugog Township needs a 'cooling off' period right now over the issue of the proposed new library building location. Feelings are running high in the wake of last Monday's municipal election, since it appears that two incumbent councillors went down to defeat primarily because of the library issue. However, the public library board of this Township, which has been battling for a new library for well over a year now, is within its rights to ask the out-going council to re-affirm the commitment to build on the proposed location of the former Lake Scugog Lumber property on Water Street. If the Library Board does not give one final push for the plans, despite the heat and the flack, there is a good chance that the people of this Township will not see library services Turn to page 5 bill PARTOF IT ALL It's like being a shipyards worker at the launching of the Titanic. Or an usher at the Hollywood premiere. Or a nurse at the birth of a baby. You are part of it all, but an insignificant one, compared to-the-central drama. My wife is going all the way to Moosonee to visit her daughter and grandboys for two weeks, and I feel about as important in the entire tour de force as the people mentioned above. I'm quite sure that Scott's preparation for getting to the South Pole didn't cause nearly as much fuss in Britain as have my wife's for getting to Moosonee, in our house. Mind you, it's not just like jumping on a bus and going to the city for a day or two. Getting to Moosonee is only slightly less difficult than getting to the Galapagos Islands. You can fly, of course, for an arm and a leg. It's cheaper to fly to England and back than to Moosonee and back. And to catch your plane, you have to be there at some unearthly hour like 6:30 a.m. That meant, for us, me getting up at 5 a.m., driving 160 miles round trip, and being at work at nine. year. smiley Or she could take a cab to the airport, for $55.00. Add that to the airfare, going and coming, and you could fly to Hawaii, which would make a lot more sense, this time of ~Or she could go down the night before, spend $35.00 for a hotel room and then take a cab to the airport, for $10.00. Plus a couple of meals. It still comes out to about $55.00. These are some of the alternatives I put forward. I'm no skinflint. But my wife is, in some respects. When I go to the city alone, I take cabs everywhere. When she goes alone, she takes the subway, or walks. I said, in some respects. She'll save string, bargain for prices in the supermar- ket like an Oriental cook, abhors wastage of three cents worth of food. But then she'll hit me with something that keeps me staggering for a week. One day, when I was a student, and our total income was around $100 a month, she blurted, rather fearfully, I must admit, that she had bought a new sewing machine. There went a month's income. It didn't upset me, really, because I've never been much interested in money. However, it did plant a little seed of something in my mind, so that, when I came \ home one day and she announced she'd bought a grand piano, for approximately one year's income, at the time, I was not bowled over, just slightly stunned. I dig- ress. Anyway, she wasn't going to pay that kind of money to get to Moosonee and back. The return trip, by air, is just as bad. The blasted plane gets in around 7:30 at night, and if you'll just turn all the driving time, and cab-fare and stuff around, it's the same deal. Getting this out of the way took about two weeks, as she relentlessly tore apart every suggestion I made. She decided to go __by train. This is a little cheaper; but jours i complicated. Again, she'd have to go to the city to catch the train, travel overnight, change at Cochrane, spend two or three hours in that salubrious resort, in the fall, doing lord- only-knows-what, before boarding the Polar Bear Express and a journey of anywhere from four to six hours to Moosonee. _The Express is probably the last of its kind in Canada. It stops in the middle of nowhere to avoid hitting a moose, to pick up a trapper, or to drop supplies for a prospec- tor. That's why it doesn't run right to the minute. Alternative. The train she's to catch stops at some god-forsaken junction, out in 'the middle of nowhere, forty miles from here. At 11:30 p.m. That was her final decision. It would save the time and money of going to the city and catching it there. But she didn't want me to drive her, and get home at 1 a.m. She knows how I hate night driving, and figured I'd go off the road if she weren't there to shriek, "There's the sign for the turnoff!" which I had seen five seconds earlier. . O.K. Get a cab. Thirty five bucks. Too much. A week after the final decision, I've hired a student to drive her to the junction. Only fifteen bugks. Then he wanted to take his girlfriend. Then my wife wanted to know - if I were coming, to say goodbye at the - junction. Holy Old Moses! Or Holy Old Home Week. Those were only the travel details. The others are too numerous and miscellaneous to mention. She had to iron two weeks supply of clean shirts for me. Had to buy -presents-for-the boys. First presents were useless and I had to take them back, as usual, and get the refund. Should she wear a trenchcoat with sweater under, or winter coat with boots? If it were piercing cold in the true north, she'd, freeze in a trench-coat. If it happened to be Indian Summer, she'd swelter in a winter coat. And on, and on, and on. She bought three months supply of meat and it's all in. the freezer, so I won't starve. I usually dine on a couple of eggs or some sausages, or béans, when she's away. I know, sincerely, that she expects to come home and find the house burned to the " ground, and me either in jail or the mental health centre, as we euphemistically call the loony bin nowadays. Migawd, I could get ready and make a trip to Outer Mongolia with one-tenth of the fluster. But when I think of the phone bills from Moosonee, every night, checking on me, my blood runs cold.