Latest / VOCM On Demand / VOCM News Morning Update October 21st

Transcript

VOCM News Morning Update October 21st · VOCM On Demand

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Local news now, a VOCM News Update.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: I'm Sarah Strickland. The RNC is continuing to investigate the
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: disappearance of a well-known Torbay resident. Beth Fagan reports.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Dr.
• 0:14
  Speaker 4: Thomas Hall was last seen in the area of Marine
• 0:17
  Speaker 4: Drive Park in Puchkov on the evening of Monday, October 12th.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: An extensive search was conducted by land, sea, and air
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: with the help of search dogs, drones, the rovers, and
• 0:27
  Speaker 4: Coast Guard. RNC say while the active search has concluded,
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: any new information received will be thoroughly investigated. Police say
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: no foul play is suspected at this time. The RNC
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: acknowledges that missing persons are highly sensitive that require a
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: careful balance between investigative needs and a person's right to privacy.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: Anyone with information to help in the investigation is asked
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: to contact the RNC.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: The chief of orthopedics in the metro region is proposing
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: that the health authority create a dedicated center for hip
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: and knee surgery to help address lengthy wait times.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Dr.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: William Moore says urgent action is needed with approximately 2,800
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: patients currently waiting up to four years for surgery. He
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: says that number could balloon to 6,100 by 2030, given
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: the province's aging population. Moore says that's a lot of
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: people waiting a long time with pain and disability. He's
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: suggesting that instead of accommodating patients in a system while
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: competing with other health care needs, that the needs of
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: patients come first.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: So what I'm proposing here is certainly not a new
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: concept nationally. It exists in eight other provinces and has
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: for several years, and it's been quite successful in helping
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: decrease weight tons. And with respect to hip and knee replacements,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the patient population is fairly homogeneous. So you can really
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: design and help increase the efficiency by designing it specifically
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: for the delivery of those several procedures, including the post-operative
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: care and the discharge planning. That is really what we
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: are proposing, is trying to apply a well-delivered model that
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: exists in other provinces here in Newfoundland.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Moore says he's had conversations with both the current and
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: previous governments about the concept.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I would describe those conversations as positive in the acceptance
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: that the idea is good, but unfortunately movement has been slow.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Premier Tony Wakeham admits that the current wait times
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: for hip and knee surgeries are not acceptable.
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: Those solutions are not going to come from Confederation Billings.
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: They have to come from the people that work on
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: the system. So we need to go out and find
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: out exactly what's causing the backlog and And I know
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: part of the challenge, if we want to think about it, is, again,
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: access to long-term care beds. Because a lot of times
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: surgeries are held up not because the surgery can't be done,
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: it's because we have no acute care beds. Because on
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: any given day, there's almost 300 people in our province,
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: in our acute care beds, that really are waiting for
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: long-term care beds. So that's why we're so heavily working
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: on investing in more long-term care beds.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: New legislation related to immigration will be on the agenda
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: when the House of Assembly opens next week. Minister responsible
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Lynn Paddock says they have a couple of items that
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: they will bring forward. Paddock says some of Newfoundland and
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Labrador's policies are behind compared with other provinces.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: In the spring we did a pan-province engagement on immigration
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: to ensure that there is protection for our foreign workers.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: So you're going to see Some positive changes there to
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: ensure that we help newcomers coming into our province.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: The CEO of TechNL says data centers are not as
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: draining on the environment as some might think they are.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Concerns about such centers have been raised in other jurisdictions
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: with people worried about things like the amount of water
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: needed to run them. Andrea King pushes back against some
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: of those concerns, saying data centers use way less water
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: than the figures reported in some media. King has heard
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: that the amount of water used by data centers is
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: comparable to that of a golf course. She believes there
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: may actually be some environmental benefits that come with the facilities.
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: The actual heat that generates from data centers can be
• 4:20
  Speaker 6: used to heat commercial buildings or houses. So there's actually
• 4:23
  Speaker 6: on the flip side, not just environmental risks, there's environmental benefits.
• 4:27
  Speaker 6: Like that would lead to more efficient use of energy.
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: So you can't just pull one fact out and go
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: with that. So I think it's absolutely worth looking into
• 4:39
  Speaker 6: whether it makes sense.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Someone in Western Canada is waking up with a life-changing
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: amount of money. The record-breaking $ 90 million Lotto Max jackpot
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: went to one lucky Lotto player out West. There were
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: no big winners in Newfoundland and Labrador. The jackpot is
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: now reset to $ 20 million. That's your news. I'm Sarah Strickland.