I
PRINCE GEORGE
High today: 16 Low tonight: 7
Details page 2
Citizen
Serving the Central Interior since 1916
SATURDAY, JULY 29,1995 ' 80 CENTS (HOME.DELIVERED: 47 CENTS A DAY)
LIGHTNING ZAPS CITY STORE
Doctors OK patient limit
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen Staff
B.C. doctors have voted to impose a limit on the numbers of patients they can see in their offices in a day.
Their proposed limit now goes before the Medical Services Commission.
A ministry of health official said, though, if the limit has been agreed to by doctors, it’s unlikely the government will . turn them down.
Right now, doctors get paid for each visit to their office — about $!25 for a corisultation.
Under the B.C. Medical Association volume-limit proposal, a doctor would receive full payment for the first 44 patients in a day and half payment between 45 and 62 visits. After 62 patients, they would not be paid at all.
Based on a 10-hour day in the office — which the medical association is citing — 44 patients works out to 13.5 minutes per person.
“It’s a decision that is clearly in the best interest of our patients,” said BCMA president Dr. Victor Dirnfeld in a news release announcing the vote result.
The limit proposal includes
D,
’octors would get full payment for the first 44 patients in a day and half payment between 45 and 62 visits. After 62 patients, they would not be paid at all.
only general practitioners and not specialists such as children doctors, bone surgeons and brain surgeons.
It does not include office visits to do with pregnancy and excludes hospital emergency-room work. It does include visits to walk-in clinics. The limit also proposes an increase for senior visits.
Nearly 3,000 general practitioners voted on the proposal, with 62.2 per cent in favor and 34.7 against.
The idea is to discourage doctors from skimming — where they see only patients with minor problems such as sore throats. It would also prevent high-volume walk-in clinics doing the same.
Some doctors see up to 100 patients a day, but before the vote the head of the B.C.
Medical Association estimated the limit would affect only 400 doctors.
Prince George doctor Keith Phillips voted in favor of the limit.
When a doctor is seeing 60 to 80 patients a day, that’s overuse of the Medical Services Plan, and it’s not good, comprehensive care, he said.
Few doctors in the North reach the limits, said Phillips, who is the head of general practice at the hospital here.
But he said the limit could adversely affect the Spruceland walk-in clinic here, which has 35 or 40 local doctors working part-time at it.
Unlike the Lower Mainland, it’s the only after-hours care other than the emergency department at the hospital, he said.
If doctors have reached their limit in the office, they’re unlikely to want to work at the .flinic in the evening for free, added Phillips.
Health Minister Paul Ramsey is on vacation and was unavailable for comment but said earlier that he applauded the doctors for the move to set a limit on visits to the office.
HUGE BARGE TO PLY WILLISTON LAKE
Citizen staff
The largest boat ever to travel in northern British Columbia will be officially launched Sunday.
The 110-metre-long (360 feet) Williston Transporter, which has been under construction in Mackenzie for more than a year, will be launched by Transportation Minister Jackie Pement at 9 a.m.
The big boat, which can crash though ice a metre thick, will provide service to areas next to
Williston Lake which have been inaccessible from freeze-up in fall until the ice breaks up in spring.
The 32-metre-wide (110 feet) vessel will serve logging companies and mining firms and provide transportation for people who want to vacation where few people have gone before.
Access throughout the year is expected to expand economic development in the region, Lise Johnson of the B.C. Transportation Financing Authority said in a news release.
Marathon Fraser swim planned in September
SouthamStar Network
VANCOUVER — Fin Donnelly is diving into the Fraser River this September for the swim of his life — and the life of the river.
Beginning Sept. 6, the former competitive swimmer will travel 1,325 km in the salmon-bearing river clad in a wetsuit, with the assistance of river guides and a raft for dangerous areas.
The purpose of the “Fraser River Swim for Life” is to raise money for environmental projects along the river and increase awareness about the importance of clean water.
“This is a huge undertaking for me, and I’m really nervous about getting it done,” Donnelly said Friday on the shore of the Fraser.
“This is definitely going to be a challenge, because river swimming is not like ocean swimming. It’s not just the dis-
Facts about the Fraser River:
■ The Fraser River’s salmon industry is valued at $300 million a year.
■ More than two million people live in the Fraser Basin area.
■ Along with other side effects of urbanization, the river is threatened by pulp mill effluent and sewage outfalls. In the estuary one million cubic metres of untreated sewage are pumped into the river every day.
tance, it’s the river itself that you’re facing.”
He plans to spend 10 to 12 hours in the water covering 80 to 100 km each day. The swim will start at the headwaters in Goose Lake Provincial Park
near the B.C.-Alberta border, at the foot of Mount Terry Fox.
This location is important to Donnelly, who views Fox as a mentor.
After swimming west through McBride, Dome Creek and Penny, Donnelly will arrive in Prince George between Sept. 10 and 15>
After a rest day, he will continue on through Quesnel, Williams Lake, Lillooet, Yale, Hope and into the mouth of the river, arriving in Vancouver Sept. 24, B.C. Rivers Day.
“This kind of swim is the biggest challenge I’ve ever undertaken. . .1 hope to communicate and to raise awareness about the environment and water quality in the river and ocean to the forefront. We should question what people are doing and how it affects our daily lives and turn it around to make a difference.”
Music festival opens
Citizen photo by Chuck Nisbett
Alyssa Nielsen belts out a tune after the opening ceremonies of the fifth annual Salmon Valley Music Festival Friday afternoon. The three-day music festival is expected to attract 60,000 fans. It continues Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and Sunday at 11:30 a.m., running until 11 p.m. each night. More on festival, page 3.
by GORDON HOEKSTRA Citizen Staff
A broom, a brown dust pan and a cardboard box filled with broken glass were all that marked a lightning strike which shattered an entrance door at a convenience store in Prince George Friday evening.
That and the rain and the thick, dark ominous clouds hanging on the horizon.
At about 6 p.m. Amanda Hunter, who works at the Mr. G at the corner of Central and Fifth Avenue, saw a big flash of light.
“It just shattered the glass (door) in a million pieces,” said Hunter, who didn’t seem too shaken up by the incident and more bothered by the fact she had to sweep up the glass in the
pouring rain.
It’s the most exciting thing that’s happened in the three months she’s worked at the store, she said.
“It didn’t bug me too much,” she said with a laugh.
Hunter didn’t think anyone was in the store at the time but said everyone who walked in kept asking what happened to the door.
When she told them it was lightning, most responded with “really?”
One woman didn’t believe her, she said.
Store manager Janette Hammond, who’s worked for Mr. G since 1989, said she’s never heard of anything like it happening before.
She phoned the store during
the thunderstorm to tell the clerks if the power went off to lock up the store and wait.
Ten minutes later, said Hammond, she got a call and was told the door had been shattered by the lightning.
It’s a good thing nobody was standing out there, she said.
“If it had enough force to blow out the glass door, can you imagine what it would do to a person?”
The Prince George weather office says today’s morning show'ers should turn into scattered showers later in the afternoon with some sunny periods and a high of 16, dropping to 7 overnight.
Sunday should bring clouds with sunny periods and a high of 16.
INDEX
Ann Landers.............2!
Bridge..................30
Business...............6,7
City, B.C..............2,3
Comics ..................9
Coming events ..........21
Commentary ..............5
Crossword...............29
Entertainment 8,9
Horoscope...............30
Lifestyles..............21
Marketplace .........25-31
Movies...................8
Nation ..............10,15
Sports ..............17-20
World................11,16
ENTERTAINMENT
minutes
■ Waterworld is the most expensive movie ever made and will no doubt have millions more spent on publicity. Today we provide you with a capsulized version of a number of these reviews. Page 8
■ A huge break became a major setback for comic Norm MacDonald, but he survived and flourished. MacDonald was besieged with offers when he made his debut at the Just for Laughs festival 10 years ago, but ill
health forced him to put his career on hold. He came back, and is now one of only two cast members returning to Saturday Night Live. Page 9
RELIGION
■ One of the most popular Buddhist study centres in the world resembles a hunting lodge more than a Himalayan temple. The Bhavana Society monastery consists of a wooden prayer hall and 10 cabins tucked away in the woods of West Virginia. One of the monastery’s monks says the people of the area are nice, not at all like the gun-toting, moonshine-drinking hillbilly stereotype. Page 14
OPINION
■ Why is that when sporting fans are called on to sing their national anthem the result is a vague ‘cattlelike” sound, but the crowd at basketball games can chant “Air Ball” in perfect harmony when someone muffs a shot. Dave Barry column. Page 5.
HOMES
■ Prince George homeowners are more likely to renovate their kitchens than any other part of the house, according to findings of the Appraisal Institute of Canada.. The Homes section. Pages 22-24
NATION
■ After months of whittling down interest rates, major banks have announced they will raise mortgage rates across the board starting Monday. Page 15
CRIME
■ Susan Smith will be tormented in her own “lake of fire” for drowning her two sons, says her defence lawyer. He made the comment after a jury rejected the death penalty in favor of a life sentence for the South Carolina woman. Page 11
SPORTS
■ About 200 Prince George athletes are competing at the B.C. Summer Games in Penticton. Citizen sports editor Don Schaffer is there. Pages 17,18 and 20
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