page 2, February 9, 4977 - ‘day. North Shore News I TTA to me that there was Something: wrong and | arranged to meet Dr. Ian Strang in the emergency _ ward at Lions Gate Hospital. The paperwork took a - few minutes, and then I was flat on my back on one of the trolleys with the yellow curtain around it, my clothes on a hook and my modesty covered with one of those tie- in-the-back jobs. Strang poked and listened, and a few minutes later a technologist came for my trolley and wheeled me away for an X-ray. I was in that frame of mind where I realiy didn’t care where I was as long as someone brought me an extra blanket and when they wheeled me back to the crowded emergency ward and gave me an extra blanket I was content to lie there and shiver and watch the activity around me. BEATEN UP The ward was a_ busy place. Next to me the police were patiently questioning a young service station atten- dant who had been beaten by a robber, oniy minutes previously. ‘‘What happened then?’’ said the officer. ‘‘I put the empty oil can in the garbage’’, said the boy. *‘Then I went in the office. Next.thing I know, there was this :guy’ ‘right behind.me. I : thought he wanted some change or something: I said ‘Can I help you?’. Oh, my head is killing me.”’ I was piecing the scene together, lying on my side, observing the shoes under the yellow curtain. The shiny brown ones on the left spoke. “Did he say anything?’’ The boy’s voice was slow. He sounded as if this kind of thing happened to him every ‘‘Yeah. He said ‘Give me the f--ing money’ and he hit me on the side of the head. I think he had something in his fist.”’ LIKE LOVERS» “All around us_ in the emergency ward the dramas of life went on. The boy was describing how he couldn't see well enough after: the VERIFIED CIRCULATION 46,000 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 OFFICE/NEWS: (604) 980-0511 CLASSIFIED: 980-3464 CIRCULATION: 986-1337 Publisher Peter Speck - agreed. . ,blem’’, he said. _ ward, blow to his head to telephone the police after the assault when the curtains on the other side were whisked shut and a new guest discreetly introduced - an_ elderly gentleman who was having difficulty breathing. His wife stayed with him, while the nurses plugged him onto the hospital’s oxygen system. Neither the husband or the © wife were going to admit they were scared, and they spoke in the rough familiar tones of people who have lived here since the Depres- sion days, but when it came time to part they lingered over their farewells like --lovers. Ian Strang came back with my results. ‘‘Well, you've got pneumonia. We’re going to keep you here for. a while.’’ Visions of a soft bed and a warm room. danced through my. head, “Only one _ pro- “beds available in the hospi- tal. We'll have to keep you here in the emergency ward at least overnight.’’ As much as I enjoyed eavesdropping on my neigh- bours' in the it wasn’t the place I would choose to spend my evening. I was feeling pretty punk, and the hard rubber mattress of the trolley refused to yield to my body no matter how I-turned. It was noisy, and the lights were bright, and I had the shivers. But my alternatives, as they say, were limited. So I agreed. ‘‘We’ll try to get you ‘a bed as soon as one comes available,’’ said the admitting nurse. — I spent four hours on that trolley. At first I didn’t mind, but by the end of the time I was so uncomfortable that Associate Publisher Bob Graham/Mannaging Editor Noel Wright/News Guillermo Lam/Photos Ells- worth Dickson/Production Marna Leiren/Advertis- ing Kristi Vidler/Classified Berni Hilliard/Circula- tion Yvonne Chapman/Administration Barbara Haywood/Accounts Sylvia Sorensen. . North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent community newspaper repistered under Part 111, and Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Customs and Excise Act, is published each Wednesday by the North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mall Registration Number 3885. ENTIRE CONTENTS COPYRIGHT © 1977 NORTH SHORE FREE PRESS LTD. All rights reserved. and I. ‘‘There’s no | all emergency | the thought of staying there overnight was unthinkable. Fortunately, admitting found me a bed after that. PAPERWORK During the four hours I spent in emergency, the staff were unfailingly nice to me. They were busy, and I was -one of many bodies that they were dealing with, but 1 got a blanket when I was cold and a drink of water when I was thirsty and every time I despaired of ever being comfortable a nurse poked her head in my cubicle and said something to cheer me. up. The only picky thing I want to be picky about is that, from the time that they told _me they’d found me a bed upstairs until the time they wheeled me to it, was over ‘two hours. ‘‘It’s the paper- work,’’ shrugged the order- ly. “Sometimes it takes a long time.” Of course, once J] reached the tender care of 5th floor West I couldri’t have been in a. better place. I am impressed with Lions Gate emital Hospital. , H think it’ s a community resource that we --can ali be proud of. I'd like to say thank you to the nice people who looked after me. I: know you do it for’a living“and you get paid for it, but I think that the kind of care typified by that shown to something -you can’t pay for. The original Henry Ford was asked during the 1930s depression what would hap- pen to his automotive indus- try once gasoline was no longer available. He was at - no loss for an answer. ‘‘We can get fuel from fruit, from the sumach by the roadside, or from apples, weeds, sawdust—almost anything. There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented,’’ he said, referring to the alcohol that can be extracted from such material. And he had even equipped his Model A with a motor which could use fuels other than gasoline, On_ this __ score, Robert Steklasa in The Financial Post, Ford was not a mad eccentric but a man of considerable ingenuity and resourcefulness. A number of scientists and cngincers today are seriously considering alcohols as al-- ternative | fuels. Certainly, there seems to be no lack of raw material. For instance, methyl al- cohol (methanol), a colorless liquid with a trace of odor, can be extracted from natural gas, coal, wood, grains, agricultural wastes, garbage, manure and, in theory, from "any kind of carbon source. me is. | writes - Our fabric sales are so popular that we’re off- ering fantastic savings again, for the month of February. including labour, mat- erials—all labour guar- anteed 3 years—free armcaps with . every order total cost final price may be more or less than this figure depending on choice of fabric, style of chair, etc. for your convenience, all fabric samples will be shown in your home. workshop - all work done on our own premises by prof- essional craftsmen free estimates Carmel is a_ family operated business. 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