va NEWS craphic Cathisen Powell THE GRAPH reveals the size of Lions Gate waiting lists by period with P1 closely relating to April, the beginning of the fiscal year, and P13 to March. Average LGH wait for service 68 days _ BY IAN NOBLE News Reporter LIONS GATE Hospital’s surgical waiting list is.growing. According to at least one doctor, impatient patients aren’t happy about it. ‘Over 600 more people than Jast year were waiting for surgery as of March 31. That brings the total number of people on the waiting fist to 2,362 — the first time the Residents demand increased chopping | peneiies ‘BY IAN ROBLE News. Reporter — obs ILLEGAL. TREE chop: pers in North Vancouver . District. may soon face fines of $500, vo. Coun. Jim Cuthbert agreed with angry Deep Cove residents who watched a neighbor destroy a tree _ they.had worked for a year to save. They say the current $250 fine is inadequate. “It’s a lot compared to a speed- ing ticket,” said Cuthbert. “But Sed list has ever hit the fofty 2,300 plateau, said Lions Gate Hospital vice president Dr. Stew Madill. The longer list has boosted the average wait for surgery at the hospital to 68 days, up from about 55 day's two years ago. But Dr. Nicholas Marinatos said many patients wait longer than average. Extremely sick patients receive operations sooner and bring down the average. Marinatos, a general surgeon, said his patients’ average wait for elective surgery is 85 days. But he tells most patients the wait for operations will be between three and five months. “Some of them are quite angry. Others accept their fate,” he said. At least twice an hour people call his office wondering when they will fave their surgery. “They are not pleased.” Marinatos chalks up the waiting-list prob- lem to a growing North Shore population and bed closures at the hospital. “As a result of cutbacks we have to wait a little longer for problems that are not press- ing,” he said. He added a “small part” of the problem also stems from settlements with unions. Marinatos pointed out “corporate Fridays” were institut- ed with the last nursing settlement. On 10 Fridays each year, the 40 operations usually done have dropped to two, said Madill. Extra funding announced recently by Premier Glen Clark to cut waiting lists won't help most patients because the $25 million is mainly going to cardiac surgery and cancer treatment, said Marinatos. For others, the money won't speed up the service, he said. Madill said the hospital does not know why waiting lists have grown. He speculates that Lions Gate surgeons who have opted back into the Medical Services Plan recently are getting more referrals. People worried services won't be there for.them in the future are booking surgeries now. Three types of patients are on the list. Urgent. cases, such as suspicious: breast tumps and lesions, are generally looked . at within two weeks. : Patients who need surgery but not ‘on an emergency basis are considered elective Surgery cases. , A third category includes patients who have asked to reschedule sugery. : i [AUR ene 2B | Bright Lights_....12 | a Classifieds... vee 28 | a Crossword. a Inquiring Roporter.10 a Ni. Shore Alert... 13 . @ Real Estate... 37. when you consider the value of trees to the community at large. then $250 is not enough of a deter- Some peopie, he said, are prepared to break the law and pay the $250 fine, knowing it is something they can afford. Cuthbert originally wanted to boost the fine to $2, 000, but the Municipal Act only allows for a $500 maximum. + Cuthbert suid the district has two ways of dealing with illegal tree cut- ting on public property: imposing fines or taking the perpetrators to court. Going the court route, however, can be slow and potentially expensive, said Cuthbert. His motion will go to council on April 22. Cuthbert's fine call comes in the wake of a Deep Cove outcry over a tree chopped on a district lane allowance. Resident Dana Lepofsky said neighbors fought for one year to pre- serve the 20-metre (66- -foot) hemlock and other trees from a developer's axe. After saving the trees, a new Cliffmont resident fenced in the tree and chopped it down on March 29, said Lepofsky. She called the current $250 fine ridiculous. If someone wants a tree gone. paying the $250 fine is worth it. especially if the wood can be used for firewood or lumber, she added. Lepofsky said it ‘s up to the neighbors to prevent more public tress falling to private axes. - “It's not that We are so much. interested in pinpuinting this Person - _— JETHRO THE dog looks back in anger over tite toss of a Deep Cove hemiock tree. Dana Lepofaky and Angela Fenton survey the scene. Fenton and Lepofsky tought to save a tree from the axe. we don’t want to make it into some kind of feud — we just want some- thing good to come out of it and wanted people to realize that this shouldn't happen anywhere.” District parks manager Cameron Cairncross said the district has told the tree-cutter to take the fence off district property and replant trees in the lane allowance. The tree cutter was also fined $250. Caircross refused to release the ticketed person's name. He said public trees are cut frequently enough for the problem to be “worrisome,” adding that a couple are destroyed each month. Boosting the fine to $500 will help deter people thinking about cutting down public trees, agreed Cairncross, He added that the district will provide permission to cut public trees if homeowners pay the cost and neighbors agree to the request. Cuthbert said peer pressure is probably the most effective way (o deal with illegal tree cutting. In North Vancouver City, people caught removing public trees face penalties related to the value of the tree, said parks manager Bill Granger. The city determines the value using a complex international formula that has stood up in courts in the United States and Canada, said Granger. Under the formula, a big Douglas fir could be worth $20,000. The city has recently hired an urban forestry technician who will be performing tree inventory and maintenance and working on tree policy and bylaws. f homes i Renovations: The © art of drawing up an accurate floor pian: 15 features — & Consignment: Second hand goods: must bo first-rate: | rs