NEWS photo Mike Waketleld FROMME SCHOOL student Sonia Sacchetti (foreground) holds up a box of goods collected by the elementary school's pupils to be donated to the food bank. Pictured from left to right in the background are Carrie Brown, Jaime Maxwell! and Pam Hardie. Seven hundred and eighty-two items and $100 were collected in all. future Mainland. Dr. Norman Hamilton said in a telephone interview Friday that representatives of the provincial health ministry want to look into a trauma care centre and a specially equipped trauma care helicopter for the Lower Mainfand as soon as a committee chairman can be found. “t's everything we could hope for.’ suid Hamilton, who repre- sented the B.C. Medical Associa- tion in Victoria at a two-hour meeting with the executive director of the emergency health services commission and the director of the hospitals program Wednesday. Hamilton added that the pro- vincial government appears to see trauma care as a priority. Two advantages of a trauma care helicopter are speed and early assessment, he said. Early assess- ment is given by a paramedic and a nurse who fly with the helicopter to accident sites. Hamilton said this early assessment can be critical in saving lives and reducing N. VAN STREET CLEANER RETIRES lr. Lonsdale puts away his brooms LONSDALE AVENUE has taken a turn for the worse since Bud Bragg was ushered into premature retirement, according to area mer- chants. By TIMOTHY RENSHAW News Reporter “It’s just not the same,” Seymour Books Lid. owner Helene Hogg said Friday. ‘‘You used to be able to look down the street and there wouldn't be so much as a cinarette butt. Now it’s a pig-sty.”” The 62-year-old Bragg, original- ly dubbed ‘Mr. Lonsdale’ by News publisher Peter Speck for his janitorial gusto and his dedication to keeping the street spotless, has been Lonsdale’s personal custo- dian since the early ’70s when ne formed his Freeway Building Maintenance company. ‘He worked his beat seven days per week, rising at 2 and 3 a.m. to hit the street with hose, brooms, pails and other cleaning gear. But on Oct. 4, Bragg was heading north on Lonsdale en route to his usual rounds when he suffered an epileptic seizure at 12th and Lonsdale. He was hospitalized for five weeks and ordered by doctors to retire. “tT don’t know what happened,”’ Bragg said in a recent interview. ‘‘I didn’i know it (epilepsy) was even in my family. It has never happen- ed to me before. I really have to take my hat off to the medical staff at Lions Gate Hospital. They were great.”’ Married with one child, Bragg said he has no plans for his retire- ment as yet, and‘is trying hard to enjoy it, but Lonsdale remains in his blood. “1 miss it, you know. | really miss it. This sitting around is driv- ing me nuts.”’ 1420 For Gentlemen co-owner Jim Houston said he misses Bragg NEWS pholo Mike Wakefleld BUD BRAGG, lovingly known by North Vancouver residents as Mr. Lonsdale, is making a clean sweep of life and retiring as Lonsdale Avenue’s street janitor — a post that he has held for the past 11 years. and his peculiar diligence. “He can be cantankerous and aggressive, but there is something about him that you just can’t help liking. He is definitely one of the Street’s characters. I hope he comes back."* On a final note, Bragg said he has resigned himself to hanging up his cleaning equipment permanent- ly for the sake of his own health. **E guess you can work so hard you forget about everything else. As they say, sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses,”’ he said. 3.- Sunday, December 21, 1986 - North Shore News LOCAL DOCTOR LOBBIES VICTORIA edical helicopter iooks bright A SURGEON from Lions Gate Hospital is all smiles after he was asked to sit on a provincial steering committee look- ing into the need for a trauma helicopter on the Lower By ROBERT BEYNON Contributeng Writer disabilities. The government currently charters helicopters when needed, but Hamilton said the Lower Mainland needs its own medi- cally-equipped heligopter, which he compared 100 an airborne am- balance. He said trauma care helicopters are considered standard equipment in most North American urban centres, and that Toronto's Sun- nybrooke Hospital has had a helicopter since the 1970s. One iu five trauma victims could be saved with the improved service, he said. The committee, which will probably meet for the first time in early January, must decide how many victims trauma facilities could assist and if there are enough victims to justify the cost, he said. A helicopter would cost the pro- vince approximately $60,000 a month. - Weather: Sunday through Tuesday, periads of rain. Highs 7-10°C. “Most of the cases we have now are anecdotal.’ Hamilton add- ed. We can point to a certain ins cident on the Squainish Highwiy where trauma care would have helped save a fife." LGH DR. Norman Hamilton...**committee is everything we could bope for." Hamilton said the committee will also decide whether a helicopter would be used to trans- port transplant organs or ferry pa- tients between hospitals. INDEX Business......... Christmas News .... Classified Ads..... Fashion, .... Lifestyles ........ Mailbox.......... Speris...........1. TV Listings....... What's Going On. . NEWS CREDITED Food pours into Christmas Bureau FOOD IS ‘‘gushing in’! to the North Vancouver Christmas Bureau in such quantity that workers are having to rent an additional truck to handle the response. “The donations are coming bet- ter than we hoped,”’ said an elated NVCB head Ida Paddock. ‘‘The food is just flooding in now — right near the end.”* As well as a generous public, Paddeck credits the North Shore News with helping to open the floodgates of North Shore kind- ness. Inspired by a News editorial, a man came to the office and made a donation with the editorial in his hand. ‘We're delighted — you did it again.”” Never before has the response been so generous, said Paddock. “All of our volunteers are getting vehicles, but we've had to go and rent a big truck. “We've got so much food flooding in from all quarters. All of a sudden it is a very gratifying response,’’ said Paddock, who was worried about the food. Earlier, Paddock said the available food would not meet the NVCB’s commitments for over 70 food hampers to be delivered to By STEPHEN BARRINGTON News Reporter less fortunate North Shore homes. “You bet we'll make it now,” said Paddock enthusiastically. But although the food is flooding in, Paddock says she is still hungry for more. And 43 local businesses and the News are help- ing to fill this year’s Christmas need. The businesses are sporting News window screamers, posters and banners that herald the spot as a depot for the NVCB and West Vancouver Santa Claus Fund. Paddock and WVSCF_ head Ruth Stout want donations of non-perishable food to fill Christmas hampers to see the needy families throughout the festive season. The last pick-up from the depots is Dec. 22 and both Paddock and Stout are urging people to give whatever they can. Food is to be distributed Dec. 23. See page 40 in today’s News for donation iocations.