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January 7, 1996

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NORTH VANCOUVER resident Randy Hearst holds a cut cable and broken padlock —

NEWS photo Pa

the handiwork of thieves who stole Hearst's cherished Harley Davidson last week.

NORTH SHORE doctors are over-pre-
scribing sleeping pills and tranquilizers
to seniors, especially women, according
to a North Shore Health study.
By Anna Marie D'Angelo
News Reporter

© new study indicates that one in’ three

seniors on the North Shore received at least one
prescription for sleeping pills or tranquilizers las

CIOES at
meant for

thers found that some

addicted ¢chronig users of sedativ
SHOU-term use.

people get preseribed around a

isis and then it keeps on getting refilled and

refilled.” said Dr. Nancy Hall, director of commiu-

ve a

N. Shore seniors
are Over-prescribed

nity health promotion for North Shore Health.
Report findings include:

@ 30% of North Shore women, age 45 and over,

were prescribed sleeping pills or tranquiliz

i tonce in 1994 with the

average being five prescriptions;

@ 20% of North Shore men, age 65 and over.
scribed a sedative at feast once in 1904

B senior women received 73% of ail benzodi-

azepine sedative prescriptions on the North Shore

despite representing just 59% of the senior popu-

latio

@ prescription rates for benzodiazepine sedatives

were twice as high in seniorcare facilities as the

rate in the general community:

McGrath

Weather

Monday: Periods of rain
High 10°C, low 5°C.

Storage looted;

motorcycle gone
IT TOOK Randy Hearst two years
of saving before he could afford to
buy his classic 1976 Harley
Davidson.

By Anna Marie D'Angelo

News Reporter

It took only three weeks before some-
one stole the motorcycle out of Hearst's
locked North Vancouver garage.

“Let's just say I'm not very pleased at
the moment.” said Hearst on Wednesday.

Hearst, 36, figures that the motorcycle

s tiken some time in the evening of Ja
1 or the early morning of Jan. 2.

Those are the only two days | didn’t
iook at it or work on it.” said Hearst.

The motoreycle was stored in a pad-
locked, chained and cubied garage in the
300-block of West 15th Street.

The furnace repairman was in the midst
of adding a different set of handlebars and
some other “personal touches” to the
shovelhead rigid-framied Harle

Hearst estimates the replacement value
of the bike at $10,000,

He had storage insurance, but it doesn’t
cover the entire cost of the stolen motor-
eye

Hearst is offering a SLOOO reward for
the motarcyele’s return.

“Somebody took my ride and they h
no right to de that.” said Hearst.

Anyone with information about the
motorcycle is asked to call the North
Vancouver RCMP at 985-1301.

use rife

70% of residents in long-term care facilities on
the North Shore were prescribed sedatives at least
once in 1994;

M@ the period between 1993 and 1994 saw a 36%
increase in the percentage of women age 65 to 69
who were prescribed benzodiazepine sedatives on
the North Shore:

the North Shore prescription rate of these drugs
is higher than the B.C. average.

Hall said the study stemmed from an initial
investigation of ways to prevent seniors’ injuries
caused by falling.

he North Shore Health study indicates that
health risks i ¢ ia senior takes sleeping pil
or tranquilizers for more than two or three wee
Risks include falls and hip fractures, memory loss
and impaired automobile driving ability.

See Doctors page 4