Letters, Jan. 12

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/01/2024 (1017 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Look inward, Squires

Re: Government housing shortchanged — for years (Think Tank, Jan. 9)

I try very hard to approach Rochelle Squires’ columns with a commitment to open-mindedness, recognizing her efforts to reconnect with the community and a potential electorate. As a former Minister of Housing in the Manitoba government, Ms. Squires has openly acknowledged her role as a “recovering politician” and she is well aware of the housing crisis faced by countless Manitobans today.

In her recent article, Ms. Squires highlights the need for more affordable housing, referencing the approximately 17,000 units of community housing owned by the government. However, it’s disappointing when she fails to recognize or address her past mistakes. Case in point is her failure to address her involvement in the private sale of Lions Manor, transferring 278 non-profit housing units for seniors to an out-of-province private entity. This decision has left the current residents of Lions Manor in a precarious situation in terms of affordability and accessibility, while the new owner benefits from significant profits.

This oversight illustrates a broader issue of a disconnect between those in influential positions and the challenges faced by marginalized communities. Such a lack of insight exacerbates the risks for vulnerable groups.

Ms. Squires, genuine recovery in the public eye involves acknowledging and taking responsibility for past mistakes and oversights. While your column in the Free Press provides a platform for critique, any commentary to the current political dialogue must first address acknowledging your previous leadership challenges. Only then can your criticisms of the current government, when offered, be fully credible.

John Young

Winnipeg

Health system can’t go on as is

Re: More beds for St. Boniface Hospital in bid to reduce ER strain (Jan. 10)

More beds at St. Boniface Hospital and Grace Hospital will definitely help with access block (when patients are kept in emergency rooms because of lack of other hospital beds), but the fact remains that Winnipeg needs more emergency rooms if it wants to cut wait times.

This of course is problematic because emergency rooms require things like intensive care units (ICUs). The three community hospitals all lost their ICUs and tertiary hospital status. Those spaces have been reconstructed for other purposes. They are having a hard time staffing the emergency rooms and ICUs that already exist.

It’s not as simple as just switching the urgent care facilities back to emergency rooms. Any reopening of emergency rooms is a long-term project that will require time, human resources, a lot of money and construction projects.

It would also require reconfiguration of beds in these facilities because they no longer have acute medicine wards. And what do you do about the subacute medicine beds that will be displaced? There’s still a need for that level of care — it doesn’t just suddenly disappear.

The government and the health authority need to start making some decisions soon. We’re wasting precious time and wait times continue to grow. And as I said, this is a problem that will require time to fix. Manitobans need a plan. The sooner the better.

Thirteen-hour wait times are unacceptable, access block is also unacceptable, and we’re going to have more critical incidents if we continue operating like this.

Shawna Forester Smith

Resident, Deer Lodge Centre

Winnipeg

Quicker discharges needed

In the many reports on ER wait-times, I rarely if ever read mention of the apparently frequent delay in being able to discharge patients in a timely manner.

As I was the main care-giver for my father (then in his late nineties), he experienced two occasions when, after receiving necessary and successful hospital care, he continued to occupy a much-needed medicine bed. In the first case, his home-care supports had been rightfully suspended while he was in hospital, but then took almost a week to be reestablished, before he could be discharged.

Understandably, the doctor who had done the surgery, was frustrated that dad’s ongoing use of the bed was delaying a necessary operation for another patient.

The second occasion, two years later, had my father waiting for over two weeks in a hospital bed, while waiting to be admitted to a (i.e. any) Personal Care Home, for which he had been panelled. As we try to understand and respond effectively to the immense strain on emergency rooms and the shortage of adequately staffed medicine beds, the medical system must also look to increase capacity for those agencies (e.g. home care, PCHs) tasked with efficiently caring for those discharged patients needing additional assistance.

I wonder what percentage of medicine beds are currently occupied for reasons similar to those my father experienced.

Gareth Neufeld

Winnipeg

Don’t over-emphasize manipulatives

Re: Missing the point of teaching math (Think Tank, Jan. 10)

Neil Dempsey states that I have a “lack of knowledge regarding effective practice” for teaching math. I have taught math for over 25 years and recently won a 3M National Teaching Fellowship for teaching excellence and educational leadership. I also host a podcast where I interview leading educators and researchers on evidence-based math teaching.

Although I did not write about manipulatives, Dempsey states that I am against their use. They should be used to introduce concepts, but not over-emphasized. The end goal should be fluency with math operations without manipulatives. If not, students will struggle with algebra or in any situation where they need to use math.

It is unsurprising that someone who advises teachers to use ineffective teaching methods is opposed to tests. After all, testing reveals to parents and the public when students have not learned.

My main recommendations for improving math achievement are straightforward. Students need a strong foundation with basic math skills before problem solving. Provide explicit instruction with feedback and significant practice. Measure outcomes through tests, and regularly inform parents of student progress.

The burden of proof lies with math program providers to present evidence that the program will improve academic achievement. The science of learning exposed the ineffectiveness of non-phonics-based reading practices, and it has similarly exposed misguided ideas for teaching math. Programs that are not aligned with the science of learning should not be purchased with public funds.

That Dempsey describes my evidence-based recommendations as “scary” and “harmful” reveals precisely why so many Manitoba students struggle with math.

Anna Stokke

Winnipeg

Don’t put bill on victim

Re: Burned up over $105K in firefighting costs (Jan. 10)

Once again, Winnipeg city council demonstrates its affinity for shortsightedness.

The new rules it enacted to recoup firefighting costs from certain landlords doesn’t address the root cause of the problem, regardless of how big a stick council wields. How the city can fail to recognize that Maria Suzuki, property owner of a house that has been repeatedly targeted by vandals, is herself a victim and not a perpetrator is baffling.

Despite following the rules for securing the vacant building with plywood over the windows and doors, she is being assessed a $105,000 fine because criminals have broken into the house and set fires. I wonder how the city can expect Ms. Suzuki to control the behaviour of criminals and the homeless when the Winnipeg Police and varied social services cannot.

That’s like expecting her to make the snow stop falling.

And so, in addition to the headache of having to deal with a rental property that cannot be rented, and mounting repairs and contractors, and the thousands of dollars it’s costing for repairs, Ms. Suzuki is being further victimized by the city for failing to control a social problem that the city itself cannot control.

A fine for being the victim of a crime. How typical.

Randy Clinch

Winnipeg