Maple Ridge Times June 25 2010

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June 25, 2010

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Hands off our hospital, crowd says AMY STEELE asteele@mrtimes.com

M

ore than 100 people showed up to protest any potential plans to close pediatric beds or the obstetrics department at Ridge Meadows Hospital at a public meeting put on by Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows NDP MLA Michael Sather Wednesday. There were plenty of passionate speeches by residents wanting to protect existing services and anger directed towards Fraser Health about the lack of public consultation. Fraser Health officials assured the crowd that no decisions have been made yet but many in the audience didn’t appear to believe Fraser Health. One woman yelled out at a Fraser Health representative not to “be condescending” and not to “insult the intelligence of every single person in this room.” Fraser Health conducted an expert review of pediatrics and obstetrics services across the region and the experts made numerous recommen-

dations about improving quality and efficiency. Some of the recommendations have caused concern amongst local doctors and citizens that existing obstetric and pediatric care at RMH could be affected. Fraser Health officials said hospital staff members throughout the region are currently being consulted and an action plan on the recommendations will likely be in place by September. At the beginning of the public meeting parents Erin Sparks and Mandeep Bhuller praised the care their sick children received at RMH. They emphasized how beneficial it was for the overall family to be able to receive local care for their children rather than having to travel out of the community. Dr. Kwadwo Asante, who worked as a pediatrician in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows for 20 years and is now the medical director of the Asante Centre, which helps children with fetal alcohol syndrome, said this community has “good service” for women and children.

“It’s the right of children to have a people will be “scurrying around in place here. (The hospital) is not only traffic” to Abbostford, Surrey and for adults,” said Asante about the other hospitals south of the Fraser possibility of the pediatric beds in because there’s no services north of the Fraser. the hospital closing. Asante said he wants to He said if pediatric and ensure pediatric beds conobstetr ic ser vices were tinue to exist at the hospital. affected at RMH it could “ T h o s e c h i l d re n w h o cause anaesthetists, pedia“All kinds of end up staying in hospital tricians, nurses and surshould not be sitting in the geons to leave the hospital. fallout will with people who “All kinds of fallout will occur. Ridge emergency are throwing up, the drug occur,” he said. “Ridge Meadows overdoses, the alcoholic Me a d ow s Ho s p i t a l w i l l effectively become a nursHospital will problems,” said Asante. “There should be a place ing station.” effectively in the hospital...where they He said the community become a will stay. This is what we call needs to “guard against” the a pediatric bed.” potential “domino effect.” nursing Suzanne Eng, who has “We’re a growing comstation.” lived in Maple Ridge for 27 munity because we have Dr. Asante years, said she attended a a medical base and not a public meeting years ago community that is disinwhen Fraser Health was tegrating,” he said, adding considering closing the Maple Ridge doesn’t want its hospital to be reduced in scope pediatric ward. “They also wanted to close St. like what has happened in Mission. He said in a worst-case scenario Mary’s Hospital and do you know

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what happened at St. Mary’s Hospital (in New Westminster)? It’s closed,” she said. Eng said people would have to drive a minimum of 45 minutes to get to New Westminster or Abbotsford hospitals and then “once we do get to that hospital we’re going to have to wait the infamous emergency room wait.” “That’s not right. As a community Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows built this hospital and we want our mothers and children here in this community,” she said. Robin Bloch, who has an eightmonth-old son and is expecting another baby in November, said he didn’t see “anything logical” about shutting down departments “to create a better, healthier, safer service when all you’re really doing is breaking what isn’t really broken at all.” “I’m sure I can speak on behalf of everybody in this city. We’re proud of the hospital,” he said.

See HOSPITAL, Page 6

Two years later, School Yard thrives, Pitt kids parkless

With high school out for the summer, the School Yard was full of skateboarders and BMX riders early on Tuesday, practicing their gaps and ollies, their heel flips and kick flips. The School Yard skateboard and BMX bike park has been in heavy use since it opened two years ago on the grounds of Thomas Haney Secondary in Maple Ridge, and the City of Pitt Meadows has identified $450,000 to build a new one in 2011. The goal is to build the skatepark next year, as “there’s a demand and a need for that recreational facility,” said Bruce McLeod, manager of parks and open spaces with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Parks and Leisure Services. There was a small skatepark in Pitt Meadows next to city hall but that was torn down a couple years ago to make way for underground parking in the civic centre area. While the money for the skatepark is in the city’s five-year plan for 2011, the expenditure will need to be confirmed by council this fall during its budget planning. According to McLeod, the skatepark could be located at Harris Road Park — currently parks and leisure is working on a master plan for the park. A few years ago, parks and leisure services consulted the community on where a skatepark could be located, but “we’re really limited in the urban areas of Pitt Meadows where we could include something of that size,” McLeod said. The $450,000 identified in the Pitt Meadows fiveyear financial plan for the skatepark should be enough to pay for its construction, McLeod said, although it will probably not be as big as the School Yard.

Watch and listen to School Yard users at www.mrtimes.com.

Troy Landreville/TIMES

Michael Chavez was chilling at the School Yard on Tuesday morning. Watch Down by the School Yard in Multimedia at www.mrtimes.com.

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