health c. ing NDP government has a priority. A cynic might suppose th aimed it is making, is has as much to do with collecting the hospital union vote as anything else. While the government's new surgical waiting-list Web site has helped the provincial econo- my (jobs for the bureaucracy), it fails to show serious commitment towards improving the lot of the patient. inquiring repovter A cynic might further argue that the whole expensive program is an exercise in obfuscation designed to dis- guise the true size of the problem of getting a bed, a surgeon and an operating room, in the same hospital at the same time. How else to explain the fact that the Web site introduces the mean- ingless statistic “median waiting time,” uses differing (and widely varying) stan- dards to measure waiting time, and innacurately lists the numbers of waiting patients. Not to worry, the Web site records will be better in several months say hos- pital administrators. Now if only the same could be said for patients waiting months and months for a gall bladder operation. NORTH SHORE DEMOGRAPHICS Horseshoe Bay Dundarave/Ambteside British Properties Norgate/Pemberton Heights Capilano/Delbrook Highlands Lower Lonsdule Central and Upper Lonsdale Lynn Valley Blueridge/Deep Cove TOTAL 81% 92% 86% 94% 92% 90% sree BBG NO NO DON'T OPINION KNOW 1% 1% 3% 8% 0% 3% 0% 0% 1% 3% 2% 2% 2% 2% O% 0% 3% 4% 2% Richard Strachan Gabriola Island Probably not. But even if this government was doing enough, it probably wouldn’t get credit for it. Fay Tevendale West Vancouver 1 wonder if the whole system is working as efficiently as possible. Could hospitals be more efficiently organized? Could nurses be trained more in hospitals rather than in colleges? Would patients get more care that way? People who work in ho s must realize they carn a high hourly wage and bene- fits not available co many. Jackie Bowyer North Vancouver Ive been in the medical field for 15 years and the waiting lists for everything have increased. We just can’t keep up. The problem is compounded on the North Shore with the growing pressure of an aging pupula- tion Medicare needs revamping. Hang on to it, but rework it, top to bot- tom. DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR THE INQUIRING REPORTER? E-mail your comments or question ideas fo: martin@nsnews.com WV math marks top WEST Vencouver secondary stu- dents brought in some of the top scores in the 1999 Euclid Mathematics Contest. More than 100 students from West Vancouver school district secondary schools participated. The Euclid contest, which of the Canadian Mathematics Competition administered by the University of Waterloo, is 42.5-hour paper that is based at Grade 12 level curriculum. The contest is designed to chal- lenge prospective post-secondary students and identity those with outstanding talent. A group of 2,446 students from 165 schools throughout B.C., the Yukon and the North West Territories wrote the Euclid con- test. OF the top 54°B.C. students, all bur one is from a public school. Among the 132 B.C. and N.W.T. schools with five or more participants, based on the results of the five highest scoring students, Sentinel placed first. West Vancouver sec- ondary school ~— placed ~— fourteenth. Collingwood placed 64th. North Vancouver school district schools placed: Windsor 22nd; Handsworth 33rd; Argyle 48th; Carson Graham 51st; and Sutherland 57th. Among the 99 schools from the metropoli- tan Vancouver and Victoria areas with three or more participants, based on the results of the three highest scoring students, Sentinel placed first and West Vancouver placed fourteenth. Collingwood placed 57th. North Vancouver school district schools placed: Windsor 20th, Handsworth 35th; Sutherland 38th; Carson Graham 48th; Argyle 49th; and Scycove 66th. Sentinel’s Daniel Brox, Pin Chang 1 Sentinel, Steven Stanisich at Sentinel, Jel¥ Liu at West Vancouver, Dylan MeGuire at Sentinel, fi Weon Yoon at West Vancouver, Lars Jungelaus, Clark Liao of Collingwood and Gary Chang of Handsworth ranked in the top 10% in B.C. “Apart trom our team standing, I am par- ticularly pleased with the large number of Sentinel students who will be receiving certifi- cates of distinction for placing in the top 20% in Canada. “These results have provided a positive effect to my students and energized them for the final lunge to the provincial exam,” said Sentinel teacher Dave McClenahan. e Forest From page & “CAST has done a very good job of digging in areas of high probability,” Jones said. Jones said while the lanche risk has dissipated, re ill the worry of sink- holes. CAST MacFarla founder Tim who is a Coast Guard diver based on Sea Island, said it's “fantastic news” that NSR is willing to share information. He's hop- ing that his group won't need to mount its seventh full-scale mission on Saturday. “We're going in on Saturday if they’re untsuce ful. We hope they are success- ful, that will end the situation right now.” Both proups ay their ulti- mate gaal is to find Manning's body and help resolve his fam- ily’s grief. a Uniike NSR, CAST isn't credited with the Provincial pergency Preparedn Program. MacFarlane | sai tting up a non-pro ation to fund its activ ties, It currently collects dona- tions for expenses from. the familics of seareh subjects. CBC-TV reported carlier this week that CAST has billed the Manning fam'ly $8,400. g | CAST search fees not divulged MacFarlane said the figure was “exaggerated,” but didn’t want to disclose the actual cost. “I don’t want people getting a misconception about costs. The costs simply reflect the expenses that have to be met in the operation,” MacFarlane said. “When it comes from 4 private agency, people just automatically get the wrong impression.” DENTIST ANNOUNCES NEW HOURS Peel tas [Sie fina FRe SA‘ * Every second Tuesday and every other Saturday is off ** Open 1 monday per month. First work day of the week noon + &pm. New patlents are welcome (i=) 929-7499 | FOREST ALLIANCE