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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Caregivers Need Care Too

Caregivers need care. too....and a new program promoting wellness among employees of New Brunswick nursing homes is being launched this month.

A survey was conducted that revealed caregivers need more information on how their habits effect their physical and psychological health on and off the job. The first year of the program will focus on cardiovascular diseases prevention, mental health, diabetes and cancer prevention, and musculoskeletal injuries.

Three thousand New Brunswickers are employed in nursing homes. 

Mayor Disappointed With Lack Of Support For Rink

Grand Bay-Westfield Mayor Grace Losier says she's disappointed with the River Valley Community Centre results.

Landslide votes decided not to support the rink with taxes, which will now result in an increase of user fees over $300 for people who use the venue. 


Losier says the results aren't surprising and she respects their right to choose but now it will place a terrible burden on young families.

When it comes to the information sessions, Losier says they were well advertised but much of the information was incorrect and biased. She says at the Greenwich meeting, for instance, it was announced the town refused to accept $120,000 which Losier says is simply untrue.

She stands by the idea that the centre benefits the whole community. The 12 member board will now meet and look at what has to be done with user fees. The town of Grand Bay-Westfield contributes $85,000 to the 16-year-old rink which now has it's mortgage paid off.

Community Rallies To Protect Kids Against Sexual Abuse

Children's needs are simple: they just want to be loved.

Especially when kids are very young, they can't be relied on to protect themselves from predators. Elsie McGraw, co-founder of Shielding Children From Sexual Abuse, tells CHSJ News it's up to adults to get informed and prevent child abuse.

She says part of protecting kids is removing the stigma around discussion of the issue. She wants parents to be extra vigilant and find out as much as possible about the people with whom their kids are spending time. At the same time, it's important to be sane and sensible when discussing potential dangers and not worry kids without a good reason. According to McGraw she's heard of at least 3 cases in recent months of kids being sexually abused.

The organization will be holding a meeting on Sunday, January 27th to discuss how parents and childcare workers can stop abuse. It's open to the public and will be held at the Holiday Inn at 400 Main Street at 6:30pm.


For more information contact Darren Wilkins at 645-0749 or dawilkins@nbpower.com, or Elsie McGraw at 674-1627 or mcgrame@nb.sympatico.ca.

Rothesay & Quispam Look At Possible Land Changes

The Mayor of Rothesay calls it a "win-win" situation for both Quispamsis and Rothesay.

When Quispamsis moves its lift station this year, Rothesay will be taking a look at taking over it's piece of land to enlarge its retention pond. In return, Quispam will upgrade parts of the Pettingill road that technically belongs to Rothesay.

Rothesay Mayor Bill Bishop tells CHSJ the exchange was made through letters and it looks very promising.

For years the Quispam lift station has had problems with flooding and pouring raw sewage into Oakville Acres when it rains heavily.

Doctors Not Happy With Health Minister

Provincial Auditor-General Kim McPherson's suggestion of making doctors' pay public is getting the thumbs down from the New Brunswick Medical Society.
 

The Medical Society's Executive Director Anthony Knight warns such a move could hurt efforts to recruit new doctors to the province.

He also is highly critical of Provincial Health Minister Ted Flemming's relationship with doctors.
 

Knight accuses Flemming of being on some sort of campaign to taint the public's perception of doctors which they are concerned about after going out of their way by accepting a freeze on their medicare fee schedule.

Knight argues attacking doctors is not the way to go if you're looking at finding co-operative solutions to the financial challenges facing health care.

Tax Dollars Won't Support RVCC Centre

The results are in, the River Valley Community Centre will not be supported by taxpayers dollars.

Votes were collected from residents in six local service districts. The decision not to tax more to support the venue means user fees will most likely jump higher than $300. 

Many people outside Grand Bay-Westfield felt it was unfair to pay taxes for a centre they don't use.


Grand Bay-Westfield Mayor Grace Losier told CHSJ News in December even if you're not directly using the arena, the whole community benefits by having this kind of facility. 

Areas like Musquash, Petersville, Westfield East and Kingston strongly supported removing the tax, while there was slightly more support for keeping the tax in areas like Greenwich and Westfield West.


The facility's mortgage is paid off. Here are the voting results:


Greenwich:                              Musquash:                          Westfield East:
Yea - 124                                   Yea - 5                                      Yea - 11
Nay - 201                                   Nay - 255                                   Nay - 163
3 Rejected

Petersville:                             Westfield West:                          Kingston:
Yes - 7                                       Yea - 131                                    Yea - 1
No - 105                                     Nay - 180                                   Nay - 497

Hampton Man Arrested For Break And Enter

The RCMP making an arrest in a break and enter that happened at the Kingston general store last August. 

The name of the 26 year old man from Hampton who was picked up will not be released until he's formally charged in court March 19th. 

The RCMP say alcohol and cigarettes were stolen and they're looking for a second suspect.