"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Saturday 10 August 2013

Curiouser And Curiouser

I just had a phone call. From a student at Toronto University. A research project is being conducted on behalf of the Province. The subject Public Health Services. The purpose is advocacy for more health services. Those were the words used. One of the questions; how often do we have water tested? The caller's words tumble over each other in their haste and there's an inflection that makes for even less immediate intelligibility. How many people over the age of eighteen live in the house? Three. Which one has the next birthday? That's the one who must answer the questions. She's Not here. When would be the best time to call? Not known. I had a few questions myself like who is paying for the project? The government. Are we talking about Public Health Board services? Yes that's right. Do you know what the Public Health Nurses do? Not the one to answer that question. So,the Government of Ontario ,in deep deficit, paying a University to call homes in Ontario,speaking only to the person who has the next birthday , to ask questions about health services to determine what additional services might be advocated. There are four-hundred and forty municipalities in Ontario. Every Region and County has a Public Health Unit. No doubt there are places less well served than others. Likely the same places that don't have the resources to pay for the services. York Region is not one . We have Public Health Nurses attending monthly committee meeting of a Trails Advisory Committee without apparently making any contribution. Actually, it's difficult to imagine what a Public Health Nurse might contribute to a discussion about trails. A Master Trails Plan has been endorsed by Council. Even the reason for continued four hour monthly meeting of the Trails' Advisory Committee is not exactly clear. No doubt, in time, all will be revealed.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That question about getting water tested is peculiar. When we were on a well, we had ours tested regularly. But not be any nurse. And not because anyone suggested it to us. The deal was you got your sample, drove to the nearest hospital where they ran the tests. Tiny little room set aside for the purpose. If there was a nurse involved, I never saw him/her. Just staff in casual clothes who stamped forms & gave receipts. It did not cost anything but you had to provide lot & concession #'s.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Aurorans are taking out their anger at politics-as-usual on all 3 levels of government out on the nearest targets? It could be that we see some possibility of redemption on the local scene because the rest is a bloody shambles. Just a suggestion.

Old Aurora Lost said...

Hello Evelyn and frustration regarding the latest press on the AHS.Are these folks for real? They have continually used municipal funding for a National Historic Site and this cost us our museum.Now they want to brag about efforts and bring "friends"into the fray.I am appalled at their elite atitude of exclusion that push away some very dedicated citizens.Les Oliver had a few things to say that were glaring.This was in the Auroran.I believe this group over extended itself and we paid the price and lost our museum.Thats my take on a sad story for this senior Aurora Citizen.