91Ô­´´

Excellent care at the emergency department

Despite staff shortages, and so many people arriving at the hospital emergency department, my 91-year-old husband has had extraordinary care.

The staff in emergency, including many security personnel, were kind, respectful and caring to every patient we saw for seven hours there. Once admitted the ward staff were also wonderful to both of us.

Now at home, the daily care he receives from the Hospital at Home staff is outstanding. Visits from nurses, an OT, daily chats with the physician in that program … a Zoom call with the evening nurse, and much needed support for me too.

Thanks to overworked health-care providers. I hope each of you has a much deserved happy holiday, and wishes for peace and wellness in 2024.

Judith Hodgson

Victoria

Urgent care clinics might be the future

Encouraging words from Health Minister Adrian Dix to those of us seeking a family doctor, but I’m rather skeptical that the addition of 700 doctors to B.C. will make a difference.

Our GP retired in 2020 and, since then, we’ve received good care from urgent and primary care clinics. Having a family physician would be ideal, but finding one is a challenge.

There’s been no response yet to our registration with the Health 91Ô­´´ Registry beyond an acknowledgement.

How many people have been successfully linked to a health provider through the registry? Referral by friends to their GP? Typically a firm “no” from the receptionist.

The “Every One Deserves a Family Doctor” campaign is commendable, but I’m not sure if it has made a difference.

So, we’ll continue using urgent care clinics where physician/nurse practitioner consultations are generally scheduled within a day of contacting a clinic, prescriptions or tests are promptly sent to a pharmacy or lab and there has always been a follow-up consultation.

Fortunately we are reasonably healthy, but perhaps having a family doctor is no longer attainable and we have to accept that urgent care clinics will be our future health-care provider.

Ray Lett

Saanich

Jubilee Hospital staff were wearing masks

Re: “Masking makes sense, even at the hospital,” letter, Dec. 21.

I, too, have just had a stay at the Royal Jubilee Hospital. My visit was for 15 days on Floor 6 South and 6 North, and, contrary to the experience noted in the above, mine was the precise opposite.

All of the hospital staff with whom I had the pleasure of interacting were extremely kind and constantly masked.

I commend each and every one of them — paramedics, nurses, doctors, food and housekeeping staff — on their diligence.

Carole Sabiston

Victoria

Look to Comox Valley for health leadership

Re: “Shelbourne medical clinic set to close due to doctor shortage,” Dec. 19.

Imagine if Greater Victoria had municipal leaders like those in the Comox Valley who helped spearhead a task force to recruit family doctors.

The efforts of the task force have reduced the number of residents without a doctor to three per cent from 19 per cent in the past two years.

Alas, our municipal councils are ­preoccupied with such pressing matters as banning retractable leashes and ­redesigning Centennial Square.

Don Ferster

Saanich

Airport weather reports do not reflect Victoria

The story on the historical chances of a White Christmas in Victoria uses some misleading statistics.

The first problem is that it uses airport data, but the Victoria Airport averages nearly twice as much snow as Victoria proper, so it isn’t really very representative.

The other problem is that, because snowfall is relatively rare in Victoria, there tends to be a lot of variability, both year to year, and in terms of what specific dates any snow happens to fall.

The 25-year period used by ­Environment Canada to compute its statistics (1997-2021) just happened to include an unusually high number of White ­Christmases (four at the airport and two in Victoria proper), despite the fact that total annual snowfall actually declined during that period.

Environment Canada collected snow depth data at Victoria Gonzales for 34 years before discontinuing it. Based on that data, the historical chance of a White Christmas in Victoria is just three per cent.

Steven Murray

Victoria

Education experts need to learn about math

Re: “B.C. is failing to teach math properly, and the numbers prove it,” ­commentary, Dec. 19.

This commentary accurately describes the failure to teach math and states “… elementary math discourages memorization of times tables, and fractional arithmetic isn’t included in the curriculum until Grade 8.”

Applicants seeking a carpentry apprenticeship were given a one-page form to fill out at the union office, with name, contact info etc. Then they were asked to complete a 10-question math quiz on the back of the form. This often brought a facial reaction of horror and comments such as “I am not very good at math.”

We would respond by saying failure to answer the questions correctly would not necessarily prevent the applicant from getting started but the test was more for the benefit of the applicant to know the level of their math skills.

We would explain that when an apprentice attends Level 1 carpentry, they will be taught framing, form work, hand tools, power tools and safety, and if they also have to learn math during that fast-paced eight-week program, they will not get through it successfully.

If the applicant’s math skills were poor (more often than not), we would recommend taking a math upgrading course. One major contractor in Victoria would counsel apprentices to make up cards such as 7 X 9 on one side and 63 on the other and suggest the apprentice practice by having their girlfriend/boyfriend flash the cards at home.

As the commentary said, “the teaching of arithmetic requires patience, practice and memorization.” It is essential to memorize times tables to be able to multiply, divide or do any math and every person, regardless of trade, requires a certain level of math skills to perform their job.

The failure of students to adequately learn math by memorizing times tables has been decades in the making and until the lesson is learned by the so-called educational experts, I fear it will only continue.

Wayne Cox

Saanichton

Math needs to be a higher priority

Re: “B.C. is failing to teach math ­properly, and the numbers prove it,” ­commentary, Dec. 19.

It’s a dismal picture that math scores in Canada are declining and have been for years. It’s troubling that the latest international assessment from PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) shows B.C. student scores even lower than the 91Ô­´´ average.

Tara Houle, in her commentary, lays out the critical issue: “convoluted learning strategies and poor instructional resources.” Surely, we should be seeing the most up-to-date methods in our schools! We are not backwoods B.C.!

The Ministry of Education should see how embarrassed this makes us (parents, grandparents, and taxpayers) feel. I am writing the ministry, my MLA, and all political parties to get behind math reform.

Our kids and society will benefit.

Tunya Audain

West 91Ô­´´

Sidney Island deer cull a predictable failure

How can Parks Canada justify $9,928.57 spent per deer killed on Sidney Island?

The eradication plan was clearly barely researched, thought out and disastrously executed.

To my knowledge no one from Parks Canada made any inquiries as to costs, methods utilized or challenges that previous managers of the Sidney Island fallow deer herd encountered.

For several consecutive years I was employed with a commercial outfitter as a paid guide on Sidney Island.

The operation was in a house on Sidney Island with a client camp accommodation, electrical generation, water borne transportation between Sidney Island and Canoe Cove, vehicle transportation, fuel processing facilities and hunt-related infrastructure.

Our base operating costs to “cover” the overall operation was around $20 to $25 per deer harvested by the guest clientele, but this cost was recovered and a profit realized by the initial unrevoked prepaid sale of a predetermined amount of pounds of harvested venison along with separate charges for any trophy antlers. They often fetched $1,000 to $1,500.

Our daily success rate with a slate of five or six neo type sportsmen or family groups who were certainly not “sharpshooters” or “marksmen” was in from four to eight deer per two hunt efforts per day during their stay.

Our season ran from Sept. 1 to as late as February, at which time fetus were seen to be present when a doe fallow deer was being “processed.”

Given the obvious foreseen failure of the first phase of Parks Canada’s bungled eradication effort, I foresee, if the program is not abandoned, cost rising to $20,000 to $30,000.00 per deer killed with many maimed, wounded or crippled, suffering until a subsequent effort takes them out.

Weston Cox

Nanaimo

EVs not the answer, but we need to act

Re: “EVs will put pressure on our ­transformers,” letter, Dec. 22.

Politicians and others continue to be mesmerized by all the clean air coming from the exhaust pipes of the growing number of those miraculous EVs.

The letter pointed out how fuelling EVs will put pressure on transformers, just another issue of many that will confront us and need to be addressed.

New mines are needed to produce lithium, cobalt and nickel. Will mining be done with electric bulldozers and excavators?

What about the cost of transforming service stations to electric? The storage and disposition of gas-powered vehicles?

All the needed skilled labour for this will be taken out of our productive national labour pool, negatively impacting on our economy for years to come.

The purpose of the move to EVs is to reduce harmful emissions, a major cause of the looming climate change crisis. And I am not the only one who doubts that the net result of it all will be a meaningful reduction in harmful emissions?

Would it not be much better to face the music. Collectively we need to reduce our reliance on Earth’s finite resources to reduce harmful emissions. We can no longer allow ourselves to drive the big SUVs and pickup trucks that dominate and drive the private-car trade.

We need to simplify our housing needs and look at many other areas where we can reduce our demands on these limited resources.

We are fortunate that we can do this and we need to act.

Vince Devries

Ladysmith

What will be done about camping in parks?

I live directly backing onto Oaklands Park. There are at least four tent structures in the park that remain in place during the day.

This was the situation all summer. At one point during the summer, two of the structures were so close to our property boundary we were unable to use our backyard comfortably.

The campers were able to see us and monitor our comings and goings. We could hear their conversations/arguments from within our house.

I call them campers as they are not sheltering overnight. They have taken up residence in the park.

Occasionally the bylaw and police come by, but the only action the ­campers take is to pretend to pack up. Within hours (during the day) the structures are re-established.

I have written to Victoria council asking that they consider taking a more proactive stance for Oaklands Park given the close proximity of the park and the residences, but have yet to receive any assurance that anything is being considered.

I know Stadacona and Irving Park have been added to the no-sheltering park list due to adjoining residents not being able to use the park.

But what is being done for residents not being able to use their own backyards due to the illegal sheltering during the day in Oaklands Park? Very little, as I see it.

Michael Walsh

Victoria

Architects will rise to the housing challenge

Re: “Higher density means losing trees, gardens and more,” commentary, Dec. 21.

As yet another recently-retired registered architect, I would like to offer a more optimistic scenario than my colleague has.

Rather than panic in the face of obvious contradictory and seemingly-impossible obstacles posed by the province’s new density-focused regulations, how about doing a bit of critical thinking?

Let’s take a look at how cities (as opposed to suburbs) have grown over time. Did they happen all at once or did they evolve gradually as populations and pressures grew?

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of developers and think about how we would solve these new puzzles. Do their buyers want to buy horrible boxes with no amenity?

Let’s think about ourselves, the current owners and renters, and wonder how we might be able to age in place within our familiar neighbourhoods.

It would be nice if we could at least double the current residential density so that we could do so too (as Carl Peterson, the author of the commentary, appears to have done with skill and sensitivity).

I truly believe that the market response to these changes will be measured, cautious and surprisingly livable. My own profession, and the communities they serve, will rise to the challenge and show the way.

I wish I was 20 years younger so I could be right in the thick of it, but I will be content developing exemplary housing of suitable density.

Oh, and contact me to get on the list for my upcoming eightplex in Uplands!

David R. Wilkinson

LMNTS Project Services Inc.

Victoria

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