Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 2, 1988, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press april 1988 Page 3 Hospital projects threatened by Lisa priest the executive director of Winni Peg municipal hospitals fears a million project to rebuild three of its deteriorating buildings wont go through if a new provincial govern ment takes our buildings Are deteriorating and we cant provide the Type of service we Ross Cavey said were worried the Situa Tion May have changed since the government Cavey said the Princess King George and King Edward hospitals All of which Are to be demolished and rebuilt difficult and expensive to keep up to our Bones Are getting older and he said of the geriatric he said the wait has been frustrate Only one of the projects three phases has been completed since it was initially approved in Ken director of construction programming for the Manitoba health services said the which contained boilers and Heaters at the Cost of was completed in Jan uary expensive phase the and most expense phase King George and King Edward hospitals was to be approved by Cabinet during government spending estimates this but since the government was its up to the new Gover ment to review the project and de cide if it wants to undertake the second the second phase Only got approval for tender in Hominick explaining the delay in they had handed in their plan and were Over budget so they had to Send in another the final phase is the demolition of Princess Elizabeth and reconstruction of a new Complex the Cost of Hominick said the original plan called for the old nurses Resi built in to be demolished and replaced with a new building containing 204 a new Post polio unit and rehabilitative diagnostic and other a Large Garden atrium is also part of the plan and will provide a temperature controlled Interior Park for patient As the plan Calls for 409 Beds in the new about co More than the project was originally Esti mated at Hominick but was bumped up to million because of higher construction fees and too Early to say progressive conservative health critic Don Orchard Pembina said it is too Early to determine whal would happen to the project if the tories took office on april saying the new government would have to review All of the in in a real romans land until i take a look at the health depart ment Orchard but the More needy facilities would definitely get first Larry executive director of Manitoba health organizations say if he would lobby a new government if it scuttled the Winnipeg mans acquittal tory counters Trudeau attack on bearing a Cross archdiocese of Winnipeg youth yesterday marked easter by carrying a Cross from the health sciences through the Core to marys Cathedral Hydro increases too utilities watchdog rules recent Manitoba Hydro rate in creases have been reasonable and should have been the pub Lic utilities Board has the boards decision comes two months after 10 Days of hearings sparked by concerns of the Manitoba division of the Consumers association of Canada and the Manitoba society of the two groups had asked t he Board to review rate hikes starting in Hydro rates Rose per cent in per cent in 1987 and per cent effective the Board agreed that Manitoba Hydro needs Cash reserves to ensure rate but it went even further and said Hydro projected re serve level int excessive and might not be Given the specific risk of drought and the need to protect against rate the target reserves May be too Little Given All of the risks of the Hydro the boards re port the boards decision comes two months after 10 Days of hearings sparked by concerns of the Manitoba division of the Consumers association of Canada and the Manitoba society of Hydro officials have consistently denied that past rate increases Wero used to help offset losses expected when the Limestone project begins producing they Haven ruled the possibility of rate increases in 1991 and when Limestone begins generating the Board said Hydro can raise rates to cover any future shortfalls As Long As it tells ratepayers the reasons for the the Board also wants the Power to review and approve All future rate changes and major capital expend such As new generating facile in other a Manitoba Hydro Vic president yesterday indicated the Utility lost about Mil lion last year due to a Lack of Bob Hydro Vic Epresi Dent of said Rainwater shortages will leave Hydro with a loss despite last years Rale the water shortage caused Hydro to lose million during the first six months of the fiscal year Between april 1 and compared to a loss of million during the same period in it also forced the Utility to spend million More on Thermal Energy and imported Power to make up for the Brennan said the recent snowfalls will help Hydro financial picture next but he still wants to see More if it Falls in the Spring it will be Good for the Farmers and he nurses strike threat hospitals warn by Alexandra Paul Hospital administrators Are taking nurses strike threats a shortage of nurses throughout North coupled with lower wages in will mean a strike if management ignores nurses warned administrators in a Survey of seven hospitals in Winnipeg and anybody who says theres not going to be a strike this time is deluding Ronald executive director of seven Oaks general he said the walkout will be the toughest Challenge facing a new government after the april 26 provincial no matter what party gets there Are not going to be any win he a total of nurses in 83 Hospi tals and nursing Homes have set up strike votes for wednesday and talks broke Down last monday Between the Manitoba organization of nurses associations represent ing of the provinces nurses Manitoba health organizations which represents 78 hospitals and nursing a provincial conciliator was appointed tuesday and is expected to hold formal talks Mona presi Dent Vera Chernecki nurses have been negotiating since november for better working higher wages and Job Security in a three year the mho contends they Are ask ing for too administrators say they arc re viewing standing essential service agreements signed with the Union in the event of a each Hospital is faced with cutting Back on increasing Dis charges and cancelling some1 or All elective surgery when a strike is but the extent and timing of lie Impact depends on the which vary from Hospital to administrators Large hospitals such As the health sciences Centre will need up to two weeks to scale Down from approximately Beds to while smaller such As the 400 Becl Brandon general could gear Down for a strike in just a few administrators Boniface general and Concordia Hospital officials Are betting the nurses will stay on the Jack Boniface executive said his Hospital is one of five still in expected to stay Boniface nurses will be taking the strike vote but they Are expected to stay at work unless talks break Chernecki she warned impasses Are possible in the five separate ongoing negotiations because those nurses demands Are similar to the ones made in the stalled Sig executive director at said he expects nurses to follow a pattern set in when they settled at the last minute and averted a provincial the wild card this he con is the forced provincial elec Tion april which could stall a Chernecki said hospitals should take the strike threat we know How nurses Are feeling and we know How determined they she Litvack cites negotiations Chernecki said wages lower than those offered in British Alberta and Ontario impair Manito Bas ability to recruit from the de Clining ranks of graduating faced with 200 vacancies this Manitoba cant compete with other provinces that have As Many or More she Chernecki also said heavy work loads Are triggering nurses warn Ings patient care is court ruling welcomed in Brick bid a Winnipeg furniture dealer claims a recent court ruling could help him Block a National Chain from opening a store Here under a similar Fred who started Fine furniture almost 20 years says that by refusing to Grant an the Manitoba court of Appeal has increased his chances of blocking the Justice Charles Huband said thursday Brick could come before the Appeal court again after a Feder Al court of Canada injunction hear ing in Ottawa leaving the door open to another bid in the Manitoba court if the furniture store owner Huband said Justice Keith Hansson of Manitoba court i Queens Bench exercised proper discretion in refusing last month to give Brick an injunction stopping the Brick warehouse a National budget priced furniture from opening its store at Ellice Avenue and James Street on april who went to Ottawa for a rehearing on the Issue this said the Federal court injunction hearing is set for april 11 and leaving the Manitoba court time to hear the Case again april 13 if Issue an injunction to Stop the opening the next the Complex Legal Wrangle started last fall when the Brick warehouse ordered the local bricks to Stop using the name on the grounds that it infringed on the National firms Brick and his wife Cynthia have contended that if the National firm is allowed to use the its heavy advertising will create confusion and Hurt their rape claim told to wait her turn in the eyes of the people who operate the criminal injuries compensation a 42yearold rape victim is claim committee order and Shell have to wait her turn for assistance just like anyone else even though it was promised seven months rape is an awful crime murder of the mind and has most of even the most hardened among feeling tremendous sympathy for the so surely one would expect the Board to Bend Over backwards to great As i found out this but i its no great Surprise because the it Nople who sit on the Board Brian Elaine Smith and Lissa Donner Are directors of the workers compensation the rape victim is part of an enormous Case backlog of not one but after two years of psychological and rehabilitation the woman finally Felt she had dealt with the trauma of being savagely beaten and sexually she was part Way through a secretarial course at red River Community College at the time of the he had his thumb and Finger choking she a couple of More seconds and he could have killed i was bruised Mike Ward All Over and go out for a couple of she found out that even rape victims have to do things by the Book in return for after two weeks at i went Back to school for a Short but found i continue because of what thai animal did As a the Board ruled her compensation Start from the Day she was raped but from the Day she filed her last she Felt fit enough to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and return to a commercial she could have enrolled in a computer course starting this but for the boards Lack of understanding and despite its Promise of additional it had already taken the Board an astonishing 14 months from May to before it finally got around to awarding the woman in the supported by her working said she spent the Money on a Small paid off a few Bills and bought some Ann the boards wrote a letter to her on saying the Board had recommended the compensation and that More financial assistance would la Given based on additional documentation of disability and Active participation in a psychological counselling and Active participation in a rehabilitation the woman continued to see her counsellor at the health sciences Centre in filled out the necessary paper work required by the when i told my counsellor i was ready to go Back to she said that was the woman i got in touch with the Board in january and a woman there said she would Contact my and now All they keep Tell ing me is that its under when i explained i needed about to enrol in a data processing and computer one woman at the Board said i should Contact manpower the employment and immigration 1 told her hit Board had promised further but she said she didst know anything about Ai it really made me feel depressed All Over 1 could have started but now it looks As though it wont be until june when the next class the woman certainly met the boards first requirement of receiving and now is ready to meet the second condition of rehabilitating herself by wanting to take the i got out of Board chairman when 1 outlined the woman was sympathetic platitudes about her plight How he be talking to me As a government Agency of Hes not allowed to under the Manitoba elections act that the Board int perfect and could strive to be better and an Assurance he would get Back to me after investigating the boards handling of the claim it need Here was Chance for King to prove that in this Case bureaucracy would take a Back seat to he blew he didst Call his assistant Pii Carrol phoned to fill my ears with Mure Tutt utting of How in y he was Iho woman and tin1 delay in Ler claim i3 a of whal they had to v in e arc not going to do a perfect Jub on every fur from and no we arc going to make probably when ice have made we should admit those mistakes and get on with doing the Best we in not saying we have been perfect on there Are areas where we could hate handled it with More hut Alt things when i take the full claim and review it piece by memo by on balance i think she has been treated with an abundance during that memo memo Carrol find the registrars letter to the woman setting out the boards commitment to give her More with King assuring me the Board could expedite claims such As i Felt satisfied it was going to act with prompt and eager readiness shows you How wrong i can we just arbitrarily were getting Media feed on this and were going to move it up and make everybody else wait and Deal with it will have to Carrol getting to Ltd Ninan Iund victim of nit injustice that bureaucracy teems about remedy ing hive alike Ward u look into ;