Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 25

CITYPLIS ALBERTA FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2007 B5 Vegreville mayor on team overseeing troubled hospital EDMONTON JOURNAL St. Joseph closed to new admissions for using dirty instruments JODIE SINNEMA Journal Health Writer EDMONTON sue only last Friday, the day it mailed out letters to the 261 potentially infected women. Premier Ed Stelmach said he's not satisfied with the two-year delay and the college's explanation it couldn't speakup about the matter because of confidentiality legislation. He said he will be reviewing the legislation to see whether it impedes the ability of the college to protect the public and operate with transparency. "I'm going to do whatever I can to ensure that we earn the respect and trust of Albertans," he said.

"The issue now at hand is to get to the bottom of it. And we're in the field right now." With files from Markusoff jsinnemathejournal.canwest.com The insides of scopes used to examine patients were not properly scrubbed and brushed, potentially leaving human tissue and blood contaminating the tools. Former patients are being contacted and tested for HIV and hepatitis and C. The board members include: Mary Pat Skene, the CEO of the Grey Nuns of Alberta and former nurse administrator. I Muriel Dunnigan, a retired senior administrator with Edmonton Catholic Schools and former chairwoman of the Caritas Health Group board of directors.

I Dr. Fred MacDonald, an Edmonton physician. Mac Vinet, a semi-retired business owner and member of a physician recruitment committee for East Central Health region. I Richard Coleman, mayor ofVegreville. While the board is helping to clean up the hospital, it won't decide when the hospital can reopen to new admissions.

That is up to the medical officer of health for East Central Health, who originally shut down the hospital and the sterilization room. The women's clinicin Lloydminster has remained open since February 2005, when the College of Physicians and Surgeons first heard complaints about improper sterilization. The college informed the government about the is because of potential contamination from dirty tools. "These appointments will ensure the St. Joseph's General Hospital has the management capacity it needs to address the quality of patient safety and care in the hospital," Health Minister Dave Hancock said in a news release.

The board begins immediately to oversee infection-control procedures at the hospital and to make sure a proper management structure is in place to protect patients. Itwill remain in place foratleast six months and will work with the Health Quality Council of Alberta as it investigates why hospital instruments were not properly sterilized. The Alberta government has appointed five people to sit on the new management team that has taken control of the day-to-day operations at St. Joseph's General Hospital in Vegreville. Vegreville's mayor, an Edmonton doctor and a nurse administrator are part of the government-appointed board that will oversee the hospital after concerns surrounding improperly sterilized equipment were made public last week.

Asubsequenthealth scare followed this week when the government revealed 261 women who went to an obstetrics-gynecology clinic in Lloydminster must be tested for HIV, hepatitis and syphilis MDs have Jasper Avenue entertainment centre' open for business it 'Mega-bar in old Saveco Building called recipe for disaster BILL MAH journal Staff Writer EDMONTON obligation 'to speak out' i 1. 3 1 -f 9 i Cancer controversy leads to AMA motion JODIE SINNEMA journal Health Writer EDMONTON LARRY WONG, THE JOURNAL Michael Sainchuk is one of the owners of the new western nightclub, called Oil City Roadhouse, which opens Friday at Jasper Avenue and 107th Street. fall, John Day, owner of the Rochester and El Mirador apartments around the corner on 108th Street, unsuccessfully opposed the entertainment centre, calling it a "mega-bar" set for an area already becoming known for its late-night drinking spots. "This is a recipe for social disaster and will be a source of great disturbance, extra police work and extra security work," he wrote in a submission to the subdivision and development appeal board. One of his tenants echoed his concerns Thursday.

"I'm not a big fan," said Dustin Wald, a NorQuest College student. "It's a very nice, laid-back complex. Artists come here and relax and work on paintings, write their stories, but with this nightclub coming here you can hear the bass pounding until three or four in the morning." He said drunks will disturb the peace and could damage tenants' vehicles parked in the back. Sainchuk said bar owners have taken those concerns to heart and installed sound-absorbing ceiling tiles and insulation. Aformer special police constable was hired to train security staff.

He said the clientele will be older and more upscale than customers who frequent bars on Whyte Avenue, the trendy south-side strip plagued by late-night rowdyism. Jim Taylor, executive director of the Downtown Business Association, says Jasper Avenue won't turn intoaversionofWhyte because of downtown's different clientele, the distance between its clubs and ample parking. "I'll tell you what this club will do, it will put people on the street beyond five o'clock," he said. The club's opening is the latest sign of revitaliza-tion on Jasper Avenue, where "black holes" such as the Bay Building and the old CIBC building have been reborn, Taylor said. "The Saveco Building was the last black hole." bmahthejournal.canwest.com Depending on who's talking, the opening today of a "mega-bar" on Jasper Avenue will either breathe new life into the downtown or make life miserable for the neighbours.

The Oil City Roadhouse will become one of the city's largest nightspots. When the complex is finished, it will put a total of 995 seats in the long-vacant Saveco department store building at 10736 Jasper Avenue. A country saloon and mature nightclub opens today, while a separate dance club and pool hall, with its own entrance, will open in September on the third and fourth floors. The second floor will be rented out. As workers hung black-and-white prints on the wall, co-owner Michael Sainchuk talked about what the bar will bring to downtown.

"We're trying to create our own little entertainment district," said Sainchuk, whose group owns other nearby bars, such as the Bank, the Globe and Fluid. "Every downtown is bustling, it's busy and we want that to happen within Edmonton as well." The bar features a rustic, post-industrial urban-country theme. In one corner there's a mechanical bull; a giant television screen, made of 32 plasma TVs, fills a wall near the dance floor and stage for live bands. The Roadhouse will open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.

"Residents who live downtown are excited that this is going to happen." Passersby used to walking past an empty store turned their heads to lookinside the doors with the longhorn doorknobs. But not everyone is excited to see the change. Last Mini Remote Control TlMWiiAMM mm lifter INVESTOR ALERT TheAlbertaMedicalAssociationhas passed a unanimous motion expressing the rights of physicians to speak publicly about health issues they see in their communities. The motion came in response to the controversy surrounding Dr. John O'Connor, who raised concerns about elevated cancer rates in the tiny community of Fort Chipewyan in northeastern Alberta.

In February, Health Canada launched a complaint against O'Connor with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, saying he raised undue alarm among community members about health concerns without providing evidence for his claims. Dr. Gerry Kiefer, president of the Alberta Medical Association, said he has never met O'Connor and knows no details about O'Connor's work as a physician or about the federal complaint. But he said it's vital governments know doctors have an obligation to speak out about health concerns they see in their community practices. "If you look at the way pandemics have been discovered, it's through physicians speaking out from isolated clinical cases and then drawing attention to problems," Kiefer said.

"We need to make sure that physicians are not intimidated by government authorities or other regulatory agencies when they observe something and want to report that. "I don't know if Dr. O'Connor is doing anything right or wrong, in terms of his specific case, but I think in general terms, physicians need to have the ability to speakout on public health issues and that's not based on giving proof," he said. "That's based on clinical observations." Alberta Health says it has repeatedly asked O'Connor for patient files and proof that rates of rare cancers are, indeed, higher in the northern Alberta community. He has provided nothing, the department said, though he has claimed he has diagnosed three, four, even five cases of an unusual cancer called cholangiocarcinoma.

The province's study said only one case involved a Fort Chipewyan resident, which falls within expected rates. Kiefer said while it's not up to the doctor to produce proof before going puMcwim concerns, doctors must be balanced in their reporting. "You definitely need to make sure that when youmake observations that those are accurate observations and that those are accurate reports without fear-mongering," he said. "It's a double-edged sword." The medical association sent a letter outlining its motion to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta and federal and provincial health ministers. It sent a similar letter to its members in 2002, after Dr.

David Swann was fired as medical officer ofhealth by the Palliser Health Authority for speaking in support of the Kyoto accord. Swann was later offered his job back, but has since become a Liberal MLA. With regard to the new motion, Erik Waddell, spokesman for the federal health minister, said: "We agree in principle with the resolution. The bottom line is, if a physician sees a public health issue, we would want them to speak up." But Waddell added, "A physician speaking out should be able to back that up with evidence." jsinnemafathejournal.canwesl.com Sometimes the riskiest investments don't feel that way at all. The Alberta Securities Commission gives you the warning signs of an investment club that may be an unstable pyramid scheme and could take you by surprise.

If you recognize any of these warning signs: You've been invited to a meeting for a secret or private (or once-in-a-lifetime) opportunity The investment promises unreasonably high, annual rates of return You're pressured to put all of your money into the deal You don't understand the investment set up The club talks of moving funds offshore and frequently refers to tax avoidance You're encouraged to pursue the opportunity without seeking independent expert advice contact us before you risk your money. Call the Alberta Securities Commission at 1-877-355-0585 or visit albertasecurities.com to find out what questions you need to ask to protect your money. A SIC Alberta Securities Commission.