sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

A large splash leads to an orca sighting

My husband and I reside in the Songhees area and were so excited to see a lone orca last December in the Upper Harbour from our kitchen condo window.

A few days ago we took a random drive up to Duncan and decided to check out Mill Bay on the way back.

Not far down that road when we spotted water, I was sure I saw a fairly large splash.

We spotted an area where a few vehicles had pulled over and I looked out and there was a pod of orcas.

I got several photos and enjoyed the moment. It was so calm and serene and a lovely temperature. Everyone who stopped was quiet and taking it all in.

A person in a kayak was getting a little close for my comfort to the orcas but must have enjoyed the adventure.

What majestic creatures orcas are.

Cathy Potter

Victoria

Gordon Dickson’s life was far from Skid Road

I wonder how deep Trevor Lautens was into his cups when he penned, “Tribute to Pat Carney,” published Aug. 17 in the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½.

His mean-spirited comment about my father (“a Vancouver Sun staffer who acquired then-chronic Newspaperman’s Disease and descended to Skid Road”) is fiction of the kind normally restricted to those sensationalist scandal sheets best suited as bird-cage liners.

Lautens either couldn’t be bothered with any pesky research, or didn’t deem my father worthy of having his name mentioned, so I’d like to educate him a bit.

My father, whose name was Gordon Dickson, did not end up on Skid Road. His home was a high-rise apartment overlooking Stanley Park, a world away from the Downtown Eastside squalour imagined by Lautens.

My father, who ran the city desk at The Province newspaper, hired Pat Carney as a cub reporter, the beginning of her long career in journalism. She married Gordon Dickson when she was 21.

When she became business columnist at the Vancouver Sun, my father entered law school at UBC, where my mother was taking part-time courses. He continued to work at The Province and we all lived in student row-housing.

Dad, after graduating with his law degree, became a criminal defence attorney with a downtown Vancouver office. He graciously declined an offer of an appointment to the bench as a magistrate.

In the meantime, my parents had built our home in Lions Bay and a few years later my brother, John, was born.

Later, after their marriage of nearly 15 years ended, my father moved to his West End apartment, where he remained until his death.

I’ll never know what motivated ­Lautens to disparage my father’s memory, or if he considered how hurtful his inaccurate words are to me.

Shame on you, Mr. Lautens.

Gordon Dickson deserved better.

Jane (Dickson) Reid

Pender Harbour

Hummingbirds persevere despite the dangers

Re: “In the battle of hummingbirds versus wasps, pick a side,” column, Aug. 27.

I was so pleased to open up the Islander on Sunday and read David Sovka’s column. I save it for Monday’s since there’s no physical paper that day.

What a joy to read Monday morning. So entertaining and informative.

As I sipped my tea, our hummingbird feeder, two metres from my window, was very, very, busy … similar to Tim Hortons at this time. At one point, a wasp chased a hummingbird attempting to get near the feeder.

Wasps are frequent invaders but the hummingbirds persevere.

Thank you for publishing the column … a breath of fresh air on a smoky day.

Sue Johnson

North Saanich

Simple health solutions are needed in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

Why would sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ not allow physician assistants to work in the health-care system? We are in a huge health-care crisis; the population in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ is growing; and lots more residents need medical care and a doctor.

The government is allowing nurse practitioners and pharmacists to help with the patient workload, then why not physician assistants?

A physician assistant works under the supervision of a licensed family practitioner or a specialist. This means the licensed practitioners are responsible for their patients and with the help of an assistant they can expand their practice and serve lot more patients who are struggling to find a doctor.

Which part of this simple logic our politicians and the Doctors of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ do not comprehend?

I would even go a step further and allow foreign medical graduates to work as physician assistant while they are working on sorting their degrees and credentials. This would be an excellent practical on the job test for them to prove their capabilities as well as establish themselves in learning the system here.

This would be a win-win solution for fast tracking improved continuous care for many people who currently don’t have a doctor.

Why is someone not thinking outside the box? Sometimes we complicate things that can be resolved with simple solutions.

If physician assistants are good enough to work in many parts of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, U.K. and the U.S., why not in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½?

Please find simple, faster and practical solutions for a major health-care crisis situations where wait times to see a doctor are unacceptably long. Someone has to take a lead here.

Mano Sandhu

Victoria

We need equal access for health-care

Canadian health care is premised on equal access for all. That is why practitioners are not allowed to charge for medically necessary services in order to jump the queue.

Yet we have a two-tiered system nonetheless. Those with a family practitioner, and those without. I understand in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ around 30 per cent are without a family doctor.

So those with a family doctor can phone and book an appointment, whilst those without have to use a walk-in clinic.

The one I use is not really walk-in — it’s phone-in at 8:30 a.m. on the dot. If you don’t get through, that’s it for the day.

Why not have all clinics forced to accept anyone entitled to sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ health services via walk in? That would level the playing field until the shortage of practitioners is rectified.

Roger Hough

Victoria

Facing a long wait for her chemotherapy

Suddenly it’s personal.

I have colon cancer. I waited 10 weeks for a colonoscopy to confirm the diagnosis.

I had surgery in Nanaimo Hospital on Aug. 1 to remove a cancerous growth and a foot and a half of my large colon.

For the best outcome, it is recommended that chemotherapy start within six to eight weeks from date of surgery. One week after my surgeon referred my file to sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Cancer I received my ID number and have been assigned a nurse co-ordinator.

I was advised that the earliest I might have an appointment with an oncologist and receive treatment will be 13 weeks from the date of my surgery.

Over the past several years, there have been numerous reports in the media of lengthy wait times in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ for treatment due to the reduced numbers of oncologists. Suddenly it’s personal.

Lynda Kaye

Parksville

Below the income needed to afford a home

Re: “We need to end the big business of poverty,” commentary, Aug. 25.

The commentary finds fault with an executive director working on homelessness issues earning a salary of $90,281. Let’s do some math.

According to Zumper.com, moving into a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver in August 2023, would cost, on average, $2,844 per month in rent.

A standard measure of affordability is that you should not have to spend more than 30 per cent of your income on housing. To make the math easier, let’s increase that to one-third: $2,844 times three equals $8,532.

So to afford a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver you should be earning at least $8,532 per month. That is $102,384 a year. I think we can all agree that $102,384 is more than $90,281.

The apparently greedy executive director responsible for homelessness issues can’t afford a home in Vancouver.

If we’re looking for greed in this system, I suggest we look elsewhere. A good place to start would be anyone who considers housing to be an investment.

This attitude carries with it the explicit belief that it should be more expensive for the next generation to live where you do.

Is it really so surprising that housing costs would go up, that people would be forced onto the streets, when so many of us have been infected with such a greedy philosophy?

Michael van der Kamp

Victoria

Go after fireworks to help reduce risk 

Re: “Careless smokers face steep fines for tossing butts in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½,” Aug. 25.

This got me thinking. Why not use this law and penalties to go after people setting off unauthorized fireworks?

Fireworks not only pose greater fire risks than a single cigarette butt, they are also a lot easier to find. With the sound and light show that accompanies fireworks, it should be very easy to find those responsible.

Hopefully, police forces wouldn’t be as reluctant to enforce this law instead of enforcing local bylaws, which appears to be beneath them.

The noise, pollution and fire risks of fireworks would be curtailed and law enforcement could make a tidy profit at the same time.

S.I. Petersen

Nanaimo

SEND US YOUR LETTERS

• Email: [email protected]

• Mail: Letters to the editor, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, 201-655 Tyee Rd., Victoria, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ V9A 6X5

• Aim for no more than 250 words; subject to editing for length and clarity.