No Quick Fix For Hospital

To the editor of the Sudbury Star

I read Vicki Kaminski's comments in this article with great interest. Despite the move by orthopedic surgeons to deplore the current hospital situation and urge a more vocal effort by hospital administration, her approach appears to basically be "don't rock the boat".
Ms. Kaminski talks about not jeopardizing the good relationship that exists between the hospital and the provincial health care authorities. As far as I can see, this relationship has done nothing to alleviate the current crisis which has been ongoing for almost three years. My wife is waiting for surgery that is not on the list of those governed by the Wait Time List and has been told it will likely take almost a year to get a surgery date. When that date finally rolls around, there is no guarantee that it won't be cancelled at the last minute.

I agree that more interim long term care beds are not the answer. How about more PERMANENT beds? Now, not in 2011. Our population is aging and we are in need of both increased long term care and additional hospital care.

She also says "We need to get back to basics on it and say what is it that we need to make it better." Agreed. So, after years of being in crisis I would expect that, given the large salary she gets paid to look after our hospital needs, she must have an educated opinion on this. So far, I haven't seen it voiced. The needs should be spelled out and then the call should be taken up by hospital authorities, municipal politicians and the citizens of Sudbury at large and trumpeted from the rooftops so that Toronto can hear.

Canadians have decided over the years that health care is a right. Delivery of that care is entrusted to the province. Let's provide the Ministry with some guidance since, if Kaminski's assertion that this problem is province wide is correct, they haven't seemed to be able to address it after all this time.

Mayor and Flag

To the editor of the Sudbury Star

Let me say from the start that I did not vote for John Rodrigues and I never supported the flying of the Franco-Ontarien flag at city hall. My opposition to the flag was not based on any lack of respect for the Francophone population in Sudbury, but merely because it was my belief that it only forms one part of the rich ethnic patchwork that compose our city.

That said, a large portion of the citizens of Sudbury did vote for John. If deciding what flag flies is within the mandate of his office, then he has the right to make that executive decision. He could refer the issue to council and have them take up valuable time debating it while the city continues to be divided arguing the merits of the move, or he could actually have the courage to make a decision and stand by it. Unlike his predecessors, he has chosen the latter step.

With all the problems facing Sudbury right now that need council's attention, the flag is a minor matter in my opinion. I don't see a clear-cut consensus on the direction to go and, rather than get bent out of shape because the elected leader chose something I didn't favour, I am going to applaud his taking swift action and put this behind me. At the end of his term, the flag will be a very small item in deciding his success as a mayor while the decisive style he has shown here will be very important. That is provided, of course, that his decisions are successful in dealing with the more serious problems we are facing.

I look forward with great interest to less talk and more action from our municipal government over the next four years.