jack-door decision dubious THE Lions Gate Hospital Foundation is long overdue for a checkup. The health of its funding allocation decisions appears to be a touch under the weather. Those with their fingers on the pulse of such issues need look no further than a Jan. 23 News story by reporter Anna Marie D'Angelo. It recounts the latest pro- ject OK'd by the foundation, which is the hospital’s inde- pendent fundraising arm. Fans of our community hospital will know the foun- dation well. It’s a repository of good deeds wherein North Shore citizens or other community-minded souls can donate, bequeath or otherwise contribute to the well-being of the hospi- var and that well-being needs all the help it can get. It’s constantly being taxed by the vagaries of the provincial overnment and its health nding experiments, The foundation helps raise money from the com- munity to purchase equip- ment and improve hospital facilities that would other- wise be relegated to lists of items needed but unavailable due to funding restraints. _ Founded in 1986, it hes been in full operation for the past 11 years. : During that time it has raised approximately $19 million ~ $15 million of which has gone tothe hospi- tal to help fund such projects as the renovation of the hos- rreailivesx Community pital’s palliative care and pediatric units and the pur- chase of such equipment as a SPECT diagnostic camera. The other $4 million has gone to cover fund-raising costs. During the 1998/99 fis- cal year alone the foundation raised just over $5 million. That’s a lot of community nickels and dimes. Foundation funds are used primarily for capital budget purchases and reno- vation projects. According to foundation director of devel- opment Sheilah Grant, they can’t be used to prop up the hospital’s operating budget or pumped into helping off- set Lions Gate’s current nursing shortage. However, - the foundation has a special account for donations that are designated specifically for staff training and education. Funding allocation deci- sions are made by the foun- dation’s 15-member board. I know all this because _ Pm an ardent Lions Gate Hospital fan. I’ve also donated my own sweat and funds over the past five years to the foundation’s cause via the annual 9-1-1 Lions Gate Hospital relay, which has raised approxi- mately $800,000 for the hos- fire help appreciated ' Dear Editor: _ The North Shore commu- ty has been so caring and : ela through these last few .. weeks I would like to take the time.to thank everyone. _-* On Jan. 2, the unthink- able happened: our. house burned down. I lived there with my friend, her. two sons, and our exchange students. It was hard to think where to _ begin and how to get our lives back on track. The sup- “port. we have received is = amazing: people taking. the shoes off their fect and the coats off their back to ensure that we were warm on that ~ cold January night. ° The donations flowin: have been a tremen us help. No thanks could ever be enough or show how grateful we are! It’s con- ronting to see how well a. comauunity can come togeth- er and to see how caring peo- ple are — you read about rapes, murders and theft in the newspaper, well guess what? That’s not all that hap- pens in our community. Thanks again North Vancouver, and a special thanks to the rescue teams | and Donna Pinkowski that responded to our chaos. Judy Gavtreau North Vaticouver folding)1/2 loads pital’s emergency services during its seven-vear exis- tence. Running for dollars along with thousands of other locals te raise money for needed LGH projects and equipment is good for the heart and soul. Happy to do it, am I. Nothing like a good three- hour sprint to keep an ink- stained. newspaper wretch in shape, especially when such exertion can be harnessed for a beneficial consmunity pro- ject. The works of the founda- tion are therefore of keen interest. So word that it has approved a project to remod- el the hospital’s 13th Street entrance struck a number of nerves. Especially when the pro- ject weighs in at $500,000. Especially when it includes such embroidery as a waterfall fountain. Especially when 13th Street has long since stopped being the hospital’s main entrance. It’s more the back door. And an extremely serviceable one at that. Consider also that the hospital remains w.chout a whole lot of key medical equipment. A dialysis machine and an MRI machine spring immediately to mind. The funds for the 13th Street entrance project came from three separate donor estates. One of those estates specified that $100,000 be applied to upgrading the entrance. AN services. ON, Lube & Fitter Sally warranty: 21 pt. Safety check, 15 minutes - includes up to 5 htres of 1O0w30 Quakoerstate The other $400,000 was allocated to the project at the discretion of the foundation's board. So while a single donor held significant sway in the decision, four-fifths of it resided with the board. And it’s that four-fifths that I and a whole lot of other foundation donors, including aforementioned 9- 1-1 runners, have a difficult time swallowing. I know, I know: 9-1-1 funds go directly to fund hospital emergency services projects. But a donor is a donor is a donor. And for this foundation donor, the 13th Street remodeling job resides well down the list of hospital pro- ject priorities — somewhere to the south of painting the main acute care wing a bright shade of pink. Add to the aforemen- toned concerns about the ood health of the hospital’s funding decisions, the pur- chase fast year of a new lipo- suction machine when LGH faces far more pressing med- ical equipment needs. In the current health care funding crunch, cosmetics and cosmetic equipment have no rightful place at the front of any waiting lists. The foundation and its board perform yeoman’s ser- vice in helping maintain the quality of health care offered at what remains the North Shore’s community hospital. But on this issue its deci- sion has run sideways to what really matters at Lions Gate. —trenshaw@nsnews.com FAST! 1362 Marine Drive 980-2115 Sat 8:00am-6:00pm, Sun, 9.09am-5:00pm — Expires Feb, 9/2000 JS S.LAURSEN & draperies SON & blinds Ite. _ Serving the Lower Mainland for over 28 years werw.sldrapesandblinds.com Custom Rods, Upholstery & Bedspreads (Ask about our Seniors Disconst) For Free Estimate call 922-4975 or 987-2966 Drapery Labour $13.50 per panel lined. Zow Prices LET US PICK UP AND DELIVER YOUR LAUNDRY 985-9503 ather duvet -311.00 & Hours of operation Wed 9am - om fa Sat Jam - 8pm ° Sin 4am - ze a ~ BE Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fi'9am- 99m Worth yan Laundry & Dry Cleaning Service 111 East 1 ann » North Vancouver | (12th & Lonsdate) Sunday, January 30, 2000 — North Shore News — 7 Canadian Baha’I Community Mourns Death of Prominent Baha’I M aciame Ruhiyih Rabbani (Mary Maxwell) (1910-2000) This i is Faith To walk where there is no path To breathe where there is no air To see where there is no light This is Faith. _ To cry out in the silence, The silence of the night, And hearing no echo believe And believe again and again This is Faith. To hold pebbles and see jewels To raise sticks and see forests To smile with weeping eyes This is Faith. . Ta say: “God, I believe” when others deny, “I hear” when there is no answer, “I see” though naught is seen This is Faith. And the fierce love in the heart, The savage love that cries Hidden Thou art yet there! Veil Thy face and mute Thy tongue . Yet 1 see and hear Thee, love, Beat me down to the bare earth, Yet J rise and love Thee, Love!” This is Faith. Madame Ruhiyyih Rabbani (IGT CAIN NN TEE. Toronto (20 January 2U00) - The 25,000 member Bah: com: : munity of Canada begins holding hundreds cf local and_ regional memorial services across Canada aftér learning of the. death of the preeminent worldwide: Baha'i _ Canadian Madame Ruhiyyih Rabbani. Me Madame Rabbani died in her 90th year on nthe 19th of jamie ‘ in Haifa, Israel where the Baha'i World Centre is located. She. had resided there since her marriage in .1937.to the. world : head of the Baha'i Faith, Shoghi Effendi. Madame Rabbani: held senior positions in the Baha'i community and played'a major role in the development of the Baha’i comr::unity to its” current membership of more than five million with national 0 communities in over 180 countries. © a Originally from Montreal, where she was called Mary Maxwell, ..~ ‘she was the single child of well-known Canadian architect William Sutherland Maxwell and May Bolles. Madame Rabbani - took great pride in her Canadian’ roots, visiting Montreal fre- © quently in the course of her travels to 185 countries over her years of service to the Baha’i community and the causes she loved so much, world peace, the environment and the elimi-.. nation of prejudice of all kinds. Madame Rabbani was also a writer, publishing several ‘books, including “The Priceless Pearl” and “Prescription for Living” © and producing two documentary films, one ‘on the. Baha'i: World Centre in Haifa, the other on her travels’ in South J - > America and along the Amazon River. The Baha’i community of Canada celebrated its one hut: : dredth anniversary in Canada two years ago. It is a communi- ty devoted to the Baha’i ideals of world citizenship, the har- mony of science and religion, equality of women and men.‘and. : the elimination of prejudice. The Baha'i National Centre is in“ Thornhill, on the northern edge. of Toronto, with national .; offices in Ottawa and Quebec City, in addition to a number of . regional and local facilities.