Letters, April 30

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/04/2024 (547 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PTSD affects many professions

Re: Do more to help first responders (Editorial, April 27)

Sincerest condolences to family and friends of Preston Heinbigner. It once again disheartens, but doesn’t surprise me that it takes a tragedy to enforce a positive change, this time for the caregiver.

I greatly applaud the editorial for bringing to light the the devastating injury of PTSD and explaining how it affects police officers, firefighters and paramedics. What this article fails to do is mention that PTSD also greatly affects nurses. The Manitoba Nurses’ Union released the results of a study they conducted and in it the identified that 40 per cent of nurses have symptoms of PTSD, yet they are not recognized or open about it due to fear of social stigma, therefore they suffer in silence.

As a former emergency nurse, I can testify to frequent exposure to vicarious trauma, yet nurses are excluded from PTSD supports such as Wounded Healers and now the provincial government supports.

Barbara McGhee

Winnipeg

Searching for silver linings

I want to start off by thanking both the food and the oil and gas industries for their good work to reduce our obesity issue and the emission of green house gases through their unfettered greed. I’m sure it wasn’t their initial intent, but it seems to have just happened.

I recently purchased one pound of potatoes at approximately $6; four potatoes in total. The cost was $1.50 per potato.

My initial though was wow! A buck fifty for a tuber that historically sustained the poor for centuries because of its affordability has now become a luxury item. I pity the poor. My second thought was thankfully, the food providers are protecting us from the excessive starch a potato puts in our diet. Along with the excessive prices of other essential vegetables; potatoes are now among the many vital products we need, but cause our waist lines to grow excessively. Thank you, food providers. Obesity will soon become a thing of the past.

Initially I was angry about your unfettered greed, but now I see your actual intent.

My other thought was, wow! I’m saving money, but alas, I realized I actually wasn’t. I was having to give what few dollars I had saved to the oil companies and the excessive price at the pump. I remembered the 14 cent a litre tax holiday the current NDP government gave us, and was subsequently snatched away from us by big oil when they coincidently raised gas at the pump by 14 cents just a few weeks later. Their greed knows no bounds I’m afraid. And yet I need my vehicle to drive to the local food bank to get some donated potatoes.

I sat back trying to see the positive in all this. And it struck me! I can’t afford to buy potatoes, but I can walk to the food bank to save money, to get donated potatoes and get some exercise. I can reduce my waistline and save the environment. All courtesy of two greedy corporations.

I’m sure the CEOs of these two greed-fed corporate giants didn’t see the benefits of their actions over top of their profit spreadsheets, but, thanks to their narrow perspective on the needs of the average person. They created a good.

Well done! You’re saving our health, and the environment. Just not our savings.

Brad McKay

Winnipeg

Commuter problems

Re: Time to talk about River and Osborne (April 29)

Interesting what Brent Bellamy didn’t mention.

He wrote of where the driver’s eyes should be when moving through a slip lane. He didn’t mention where the pedestrian’s eyes should be and not be. Too often pedestrians are on their phones even when crossing an intersection, doddling. I’ve witnessed pedestrians crossing with a light without looking around to ensure it’s safe to cross.

He didn’t mention the cyclists who do not obey trafffic laws and signals. Bellamy did not mention the proximity of a fire hall to River and Osborne and the impact a scramble intersection would have to response times. Nor did he mention the scenario when emergency vehicles could change a traffic light to green.

And he’ll never mention that the city would have been better served if the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor had been made a freeway for passenger and commercial vehicles instead of a ‘rapid’ transit route.

Kelly Ryback

Winnipeg

Peace for all

Re: City’s Jewish community marks extra-meaningful Passover this year (April 23)

As another member of the Jewish community — and a member of Jews for Social Justice and the Winnipeg branch of the United Jewish People’s Order — I would like to add to the perspectives of spokespersons quoted in Longhurst’s article on the extra meaning and importance of freedom commemorated by this year’s Passover holiday.

They spoke to concerns about Israeli hostages and soldiers, loved ones lost on Oct. 7, antisemitism, and a more palpable world brokenness for Jews. There was one reference to peace for all in the Middle East.

I share much of their concerns and hopes. I was hoping to also read concerns about Palestinian hostages, losses of Gazan peoples, anti-Arab racism, and the brokenness and occupation of Palestine.

The seders that I have attended emphasized a universal perspective of peace and freedom. While celebrating the liberation of Hebrew slaves, we also acknowledged the suffering and losses of Egyptian people. We discussed the importance of overcoming our own ethnocentric prejudices so that we could more dispassionately analyze the historical and underlying causes of Middle East and other conflicts.

Hopefully, more meaningful Passovers will foster empathy and collaboration for human rights and social justice for all, regardless of race, religion, or nationality. That would increase my hopes for a just peace for all in the Middle East.

Joel Kettner

Winnipeg

Protest’s point

Re: Pro-Palestinian encampment grows at McGill University (April 28)

A line in the article states, “critics argue the protests are antisemitic and leave Jewish students felling unsafe.” The article is accompanied by a photo of the encampment with a banner reading “Ceasefire!” which is what the protests are about.

The protests are not specifically antisemitic, but are about people killing people. The protesters are not exclusively Palestinian students but are joined by a diverse assembly of those who are horrified by the relentless bombardment by Israel of what are essentially defenceless civilians. Civilians who are now left without food, water, medical treatment and most importantly homes.

The previously mentioned one-word banner says it all. Stop the killing!

Wally Barton

Winnipeg

Problems in ‘hog alley’

Re: Let’s try a system that works — now (Think Tank, April 27)

I have reviewed some of the previous phosphorus studies that had been carried out on Lake Winnipeg during the past years, namely by Environment Canada, Manitoba Water Stewardship and Manitoba Conservation, for sources of pollution.

The conclusions that I arrived at reveal a situation that should not be ignored or taken lightly, for it discloses that Manitoba’s Red River system, although six times smaller in area and length than the U.S. portion of its Red River, contributes nearly six times more phosphorus, per linear kilometre, than the southern portion of the Red River area in the United States.

Often referred to as “hog alley,” it is the core of swine production in the province. It’s little wonder that the contribution of phosphorus would be extremely high. It was readily identified as a ‘hot spot” area, during the 2007 clean environment report.

Manitoba’s government has been using Band-Aids to deal with the situation; when what is really needed, is a tourniquet.

John Fefchak

Virden