'Show our people that you truly do care'

Letter to the Editor -

Dear Editor: The following has been sent to Premier Danny Williams.

Dear Premier Williams:

We, the people of Englee, urge your government to reconsider the decision to cut vital health services at Flowers Cove.

The winter weather in Flowers Cove is not always kind or co-operative. Often here on the Northern Peninsula, especially in the Straits area, we get extremely high winds and blinding snowstorms making vehicular travel impossible.

If you allow this decision to stand, there will be numerous occasions when the people of the Flowers Cove area will not have access to any medical services at Flowers Cove after eight o'clock in the evening when you plan to shut down the clinic there for the night. Furthermore, people who do have emergencies will be forced to attempt to travel in impossible weather conditions. When people get caught on the road between Flowers Cove and St. Anthony, that will mean snowclearing personnel and emergency officials will now also have to risk life and limb.

We also ask that you reconsider the decision to terminate certain testing procedures such as x-ray at Flowers Cove. As you undoubtedly know, there is very little opportunity for work on the Northern Peninsula as a result of trucking out raw materials. Most of our residents are middle-aged or are already seniors. As people age they become less mobile, meaning greater need for important health services close to home. Most of these people who are already on fixed income cannot afford the cost of long distance travel for routine medical services such as an x-ray.

There used to be a problem obtaining qualified personnel in Flowers Cove. However, a technician had just moved to the area and purchased a home, meaning that he had made a decision to stay in the area for some time.

Also, there is a student from the area who upon the completion of training had plans of returning to the area to work and live. This should mean that there would be technician stability for a long time to come.

The criticism has been levelled at your administration that you are neglecting rural Newfoundland and Labrador. Your recent announcements at Roddickton and St. Anthony show that this is not entirely the case. Show our people that you truly do care for them by reversing a decision; the consequences of which we believe were not fully understood.

Rudy Porter
Mayor, Englee