The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

' New Ridge may attract doctors an te ee RE ET by Murray Moore The sprawling Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre (MHC) employs 900 people. Only two of the 900 are psychiatrists. Those two psychiatrists share responsibility for the 400 beds in the regional centre of the MHC and in the better known Oak Ridge division. The catchment area for the MHC regional centre has a permanent popula- tion of 500,000. The influx of cottagers and tourists in the summer quadruples the population to two million. Eight psychiatric con- sultants from the Clarke In- stitute in Toronto together fulfill the equivalent of a third fulltime psychiatrist. Owen The Clarke Institute itself has one or two psychiatrists for 25 beds. The MHC would not be overstaffed if it had 10 psychiatrists, George Kytayko, administratoy of the MHC since December, 1986, says. Only two _ fulltime psychiatrists are on the MHC payroll because the Penetanguishene MHC is the last. choice of psychiatrists deciding where to work. MHC psychiatrists have to settle for considerably lower incomes. Unlike their colleagues in private practice, MHC psychiatrists are salaried government employees. They are paid for 36 hours and 15 minutes of work a Sound psychiatrists paid by hour Distance from Metropolitan Toronto doesn't seem to discourage psychiatrists from working in Owen Sound. The Grey-Bruce Regional Health Centre, in Owen Sound, currently has five fulltime psychiatrists for that institution's 48 beds. The Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre has two fulltime psychiatrists for 400 beds. The difference is that the - Grey-Bruce psychiatrists bill OHIP for their time. The Penetanguishene MHC psychiatrists are salaried*employees of the Ministry of Health who earn 25 per cent to 30 per cent less than their col- leagues who bill OHIP. Grey-Bruce Regional Health Centre vice- president of patient care, Dr. Malcolm MacDonald, cautioned that comparison of the two institutions is difficult. The Grey-Bruce Regional Health Centre has a very active community pro- gram. Patients are admit- ted and referred, some of them to the Penetanguishene MHC. At Grey-Bruce in May, 76 people were admitted: 77 were discharged. In the same month, 73 patients were admitted to the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre. Thirty- seven were discharged. In May at Grey-Bruce under the heading of after- care programs, Mac- Fall start and pool Construction of a swim- ming pool and a gym- nasium for the use of Oak Ridge patients will begin in October or November. The $3.6 million addition to the maximum security wing of the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre will be finished after 12 months. Donald listed 375 after-care visits, 164 day treatment patients, 357 outpatient service visits, and 422 out- patient visits. The Penetanguishene MHC doesn't have statistics of that sort. The Penetanguishene MHC is moving toward ex- panding into the communi- ty. MHC administrator George Kytayko points to the outpatient service for discharged patients which is opening in Midland in mid- August as an example. The permanent popula- tion of the area served by the Grey-Bruce Regional Health Unit is in the 140,000 to 150,000 range. The summertime popula- tion is between 1.4 million and 1.9 million, Mac- Donald said. The Penetanguishene MHC's area includes Grey and Bruce Counties, and Dufferin and Simcoe Counties and the south half of the Districts of Muskoka and Parry Sound. The Midland and Penetanguishene hospitals don't have psychiatric beds. Local psychiatric pa- tients are admitted to the MHC's regional centre. Grey-Bruce handles pa- tients who don't need to be in an institution for a long period. Patients admitted to Grey-Bruce are either released or sent to an in- stitution like the Penetanguishene MHC. for gym at Ridge The pool and a gym- nasium also will be used by patients in the MHC's other section, the regional hospital. Whether the pool and gymnasium can be used by members of the communi- ty remains to be worked out, MHC administrator George, Kytayko says: <<. Ae AMO week regardless of how many more. hours they might work. As employees of the Ministry of Health, a MHC psychiatrist's annual in- come is between 25 per cent and 30 per cent-less than the income of a col- league in private practice. A psychiatrist in private practice isn't restricted tc the hours he works. Also, a psychiatrist in private practice is paid by the hour, by billing the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. As well, the patients they see are different. Penetang and insane killer are synonymns to many people. Oak Ridge is notorious as the province's maximum security mental hospital where the province's citizens who are found not guilty by reason of insani- ty of often horrible acts are sent for treatment, even though not all of the pa- tients in Oak Ridge fit the mad killer stereotype. Some of the men who are inside Oak Ridge are being protected from themselves. Others are sent there by a judge for assessment. Psychiatrists who treat patients at a university are dealing with a different type of patient. Psychiatrists working at the MHC have to deal with the 'real tough guys,' Kytayko said. The "unique patient population" of Oak Ridge should help make the MHC more attractive, if it can be combined with a better building, Kytayko said. Since Kytayko took charge of the MHC 19 months ago, Oak Ridge has been given its own ad- ministrator, director of nursing and medical chief of staff. The administrative blueprint of the regional hospital and of-Oak Ridge has been made more efficient. The provincial manage- ment board of Cabinet will review a plan of develop- ment for the MHC before the end of the year. That plan doesn't deal with how psychiatrists are paid. But a better building, and af- filiation with a university, combined with the oppor- tunity to gain experience working with the Ridge's special patients, would help make the MHC more attractive to psychiatrists, Kytayko said. The general feeling in the psychiatric community is reportedly that. the Oak Ridge division of the MHC should be closed and mov- ed closer to Toronto. Psychiatrists hint they would be more interested in working at Oak Ridge if it wasn't so far away. "There's probably some truth to that. I don't doubt it for a second,'"' Kytayko said. The Penetanguishene MHC is this area's biggest employer in terms of payroll -- $30 million -- and the second biggest in number of employees. The present minister of health, like her predecessor, has taken the public position that Oak Ridge will stay in Penetanguishene. Minister of Health Elinor Caplan has put a new Oak Ridge at the top of her list. Half of the 900 MHC employees work in Oak 1 Va Creating goodwill Susan Legget possibly saves the driver of the vehicle parked behind her from a parking ticket, by putting a nickel into the meter. Twice a week until Labour Day, she or another Midland Chamber of Commerce Midland Chamber buys goodwill nickel at time The Midland Chamber of Commerce is investing in goodwill, five cents at a time. Last Friday the Chamber revived its five cents pro- gram. Chamber tourist in- formation guide Susan Legget walked along King Street and put nickels in parking meters that had a violation flag showing. "Our job is to create goodwill,' Chamber of Commerce manager Carol Baker said. The Chamber board decided to revive the dormant program to sup- port the merchants of downtown Midland. The chairperson of the Parking Authority, Bud 'Lewis, called the idea, a worthwhile public rela- tions initiative from the Chamber's point of view. "We hope that it is ap- preciated by the tourists for whom it is aimed, and the general public." Public knowledge of the five cent program possibly could encourage misuse, rather than abuse, of park- ing, he said. He didn't ap- pear to think that the number of parking tickets issued will decline noticeably. Drivers should not count on 15 minutes of free time beyond the time for which they pay. A tourist infor- mation guide will complete one circuit of King Street, AS Ridge. More doctors and nurses ~ are needed too, Kytayko said. tourist information guide will make one circuit of King Street, giving an extra 15 minutes to drivers whose time has expired. nickels in hand, twice a week, at a time when the downtown is busy. The number of parking tickets being issued this year under a new Parking Authority policy has become a political issue. Some members of the town council would like to see the Parking Authority replaced by the.same com- mittee of council members which oversees the fire and police departments. The Parking Authority and the Business Improvement Area group responded by calling a public meeting. The support in evidence at that meeting for the Park- ing Authority board was reported to the council at its July meeting. The drivers on whom the Chamber spends a nickel will find a slip of paper under a windshield wiper blade. Printed on the paper is the Town of Midland symbol, and the message, "Thank you for shopping downtown Midland. Your parking time has been ex- tended courtesy of the Midland Chamber of Com- merce." Baker is budgeting 4,000 nickels ($200). The five cent program will continue until Labour Day. On the first day the five cent program cost the Chamber of Commerce $1. Wednesday, July 27, 1988, Page 3