A joyful way to mark 100-plus years
Re: “Four celebrate life at 100, and beyond,” Oct. 19.
Thank you for a front page Saturday that was a happy, non-political, non-mud-slinging photograph of four wonderful women. It must surely have brought smiles and feelings of joy to so many readers.
It was a delight and I wish them all as much pleasure in their daily lives as they brought to me. They are the true Wonder Women.
Pamela Jackson
Sidney
Hospital experience shows flaws in system
I am a senior, and during my recent 18-day stay at Royal Jubilee Hospital for a critical condition, numerous doctors and nurses encouraged me to write to hospital and government officials to express concern about the poor conditions in the emergency department and lack of acute-care beds.
After three days in emergency, I was finally transferred to a ward. Six beds — close to half — were occupied by seniors who had dementia or required geriatric care. These individuals did not require acute care. They just could not look after themselves.
Doctors have formally requested funding for specialized geriatric facilities and caregivers to alleviate the pressure on hospital acute-care beds. There have been no initiatives taken by hospital or government representatives to deal with the crisis facing seniors at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
Seniors should receive proper geriatric care to allow them dignity in their final years. Our senior population will continue to grow for many years to come, so we need to invest in proper geriatric facilities now.
Richard (Dick) Newson
James Bay
Universal single-payer pharmacare is needed
Canada now spends more on prescription medication than we do for doctors and this cost is being downloaded onto people.
We need to push back against the powerful pharmaceutical and insurance lobbies who are profiting off the inefficiencies of our current system.
We need a universal single-payer pharmacare system.
Ken Cross
View Royal
Universal pharmacare would save money, lives
Medicine is a key component of our health-care system. It should be covered the same way doctors and hospitals are. Period.
There are decades of independent expert reports supporting the need for universal single-payer pharmacare. Such a plan would not only ensure that all Canadians have equitable and affordable access to life-saving medication, but by negotiating drug prices for the country as a whole (“bulk buying”), we could significantly lower prices for prescription medications.
Big Pharma and Big Insurance reap huge profits off the inefficiencies of the current system and are pushing for a fill-in-the-gaps plan, meaning most people would have to continue relying on workplace drug plans, which vary dramatically depending on where you work.
High-risk, high-cost patients would be pushed out of private plans and “dumped” onto public plans. Without the negotiating power of single-payer “bulk buying,” the government would be forced to fill in the gaps by paying for medication at any price that Big Pharma sets.
The facts are on our side. A universal single-payer pharmacare plan would save money and lives.
Sheila Maxwell
Saanich
Use light money to create treatment centre
Re: “$500,000 Christmas lights dazzler planned for Centennial Square,” Oct. 4.
For $100,000 per year over the next five years, the DVBA could pay off much of the purchase cost or value-added down payment of a moderate older home where a true charity-based non-profit treatment centre could operate to assist in getting addicts off our streets and out of businesses doorways.
Sadly, the DVBA is far more interested in providing a Christmas show for addicts and vandals to liberate lights or vandalize at even greater expense than providing assistance to those in need.
I suggest stop wasting money and use it for a better purpose.
James Cooper
Victoria
Victoria has decimated large trees
Re: “Victoria speeds plans to save smaller trees,” Oct. 16.
I was flabbergasted to read this front page headline. If only they had had plans to save the population of large ones that they have been decimating over the last few years in Victoria.
Mayor Lisa Helps states: “I can’t imagine that people are going to go out and start chopping down trees.” Somebody get the mayor a mirror.
Ian MacDonell
Victoria
City needs new approach to trees
Re: “Victoria speeds plans to save smaller trees,” Oct. 16.
Victoria city council is proposing a further reduction in the size of tree that one can cut down on their own land.
When will people in authority realize it is time to take a new approach to achieve the goal of a larger, healthy urban forest to assist in the fight against global warming?
More legislation that just says “you can’t” is not the answer. What we really need is legislation that encourages property owners to get out there and plant more trees and better maintain the ones they have.
Year after year, we see the City of Victoria assert its control over trees on our public lands. They remove not only distressed trees but healthy trees to accommodate the improvements they deem appropriate and necessary for our future.
I just finished building a new home in Fairfield, for which I removed two old trees and planted six new ones. Why can’t an individual homeowner be granted the same rights over property they own? Are we not knowledgeable enough? Don’t we care enough?
I am all for legislation that actually results in the planting of more trees, so just once I would love to see proactive legislation.
For example, if a homeowner removes a tree on their property, they have to plant two new ones. How about a qualified tree consultant on city staff that would provide free advice on tree-planting locations and species to private property owners?
There are numerous ways to encourage the planting and maintenance of trees within our urban environment, so please, council, scrap the proposed anti-tree-cutting bylaw and come at the issue from an entirely new approach.
Paul Osborne
Victoria
Tree-planting cost includes transportation
Re: “Good start on planting trees,” letter, Oct. 12.
It’s clear the letter-writer has absolutely no concept or idea of the costs incurred in reforestation.
It’s not about a penny a tree where it costs thousands just to transport seedlings to tree planters who work remotely in camps to plant trees all day long.
Maybe this letter-writer should look at the real picture of reforestation costs by surface or air-drop distribution before making outlandish statements on costs.
James Cooper
Victoria
Poor planning with bridge closures
Do planning and engineering departments ever talk to each other? The bridge on Bay Street has been westbound only since May, and will not be back to full service until the end of October.
The Johnson Street Bridge gets horribly backed up whenever it is raised.
Now, there are lane closures at the only alternative, the Tillicum bridge. Get ready for more massive traffic snarls and waits, and fuming drivers.
It sure would have been nice if the work on the Tillicum bridge could have waited until the Bay Street bridge was finished.
Roel Hurkens
Victoria
Hidden costs running an electric vehicle
While I applaud B.C. Hydro for their promotion of electric vehicles, there is a hidden cost they are not fixing. When one charges one’s electric vehicle at home, there is a good chance that additional use of electricity will push billing into a higher-cost tier. So one’s toast will cost more.
I have been raising this issue with B.C. Hydro for three years and they have yet to address the issue. My efforts to reduce overall energy use are not being rewarded as B.C. Hydro is advertising.
It seems that a separate meter for the car charger or garage makes sense, but they are relatively expensive, so a small bump-up of the threshold between electricity rates would be appropriate.
Bill Yearwood
Victoria
