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Show VOL 1, No. 11 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1981 SERVING WEST VALLEY CITY, KEARNS AND MAGNA FIFTEEN CENTS Magna to get paramedic service B REGINA COATS Timet Stuff MAGNA Three years ago, the Salt Lake County fire department decided to phase out its ambulance service because it was so costly. Today Magna's ambulance is the sole survivor of that decision, and county officials say they will replace it this June with a team of paramedics. Community response to what county fire officials call an upgrading of service has been skeptical. Personally, I like the emergency medical-technicians- Care Corp': Evangeline Southern Utah State Colletts Saburo, Palau lilaad; Jim Saltas, West Valley City; Rosie Fletcher, program coordinator; and Sylvia Laughter, Shonto, Arizona. Not pictured: Terry Mead, Moab. 'Care Corps' counsels fellow students for others CEDAR CITY-Ca- ring and the ability to listen have earned a group of Southern Utah State College students the reputation as the SUSC Care Corps. The four students Sylvia Laughter, Terry Mead, Evangeline Saburo and Jim Saltas form the core of an organization of peer counselors, students who are available to help other students with their problems. Many students relate better to other students than to professional authority figures, said Rosie Fletcher, project coordinator. The peer counselors make themselves available in the dormitories and other areas where students congregate and help them talk through their problems." The peer counseling project has evolved through Psychology 231, Crisis Intervention, and the accompanying lab. In class, students learn to deal with individual crises through effective communication, Fletcher said. They put this knowledge to practical use as peer counselors. Coordinated through Project Aha, a federally funded Special Services program at SUSC, students earn three hours credit for their involvement. The Care Corps helped present several campus workshops to discuss Project Alta, the SUSC Learning Center and other organizations on campus which help students towards fulfilling college experiences. Along with information on successful study skills and they let students know they were available to help with other, more socially-orienteproblems, said Fletcher, academic support coordinator for SUSC Special Services. These students have formed a core which will be expanded next quarter as g, d other become peer counselors, she said. The varied backgrounds of the four students this quarter have helped establish the big brother, big sister image with a wide variety of students including native Americans and foreign students. Jim Saltas,' a junior sociology major psychology minor at SUSC, wants to become a high school or college counselor. Ive learned that students from all walks of life need someone to talk to, to help them over the rough spots, the 1979 Cyprus High School graduate said. Saltas is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas G. Saltas, West Valley City. Sylvia Laughter, a senior sociology major from Shonto, Arizona, has spent much of her time as a peer counselor working with other native Americans. Being native American Ive learned to work with people Ive grown up with and also to understand those who come from different cultures, she said. The experience has helped me gain more insights and to understand a broader aspect of the field of social work." Laughter, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Laughter, Shonto, plans to work towards her graduate degree in social work at the University of Utah. Ive learned that every person is unique, that every person is special with his or her own strengths and weakness, said Terry Mead, a junior social work major from Moab. Mead, the daughter of Susan Mead, plans to eventually become a marriage counselor. Evangeline Saburo, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ngiramengior Saburo, Palau, has worked much of the quarter with other Pacif islanders and international students at SUSC. I love working with people. Many of them are discouraged, lonely and depressed being so far from home, and Im happy to be here to help, the junior sociology major said. She will work in the United States for a while after she graduates, then will go home to work with my people. Incest; a problem we don't want to face By REGINA COATS Tnta Children are becoming more aware that they can talk about their feelings, said Ed Nicholson, social worker at the Incest. Most people shudder at the Valley W est Social Services. mention of the word. Nicholson said, many times a child But national statistics show a dramatic will sense something is wrong, and say increase in the number of cases reported something about it to a friend who in each year for the past five years and turn tells his or her parent. Utah's population is no exception. Kids arent as quiet about it as they Frances Pur die, trainir.g specialist for used to be, he said. Theres been a the Utah Department of Social Services, real coming out of the woodwork. said the number of children being Nicholson attributes that awareness to sexually abused may range anywhere changes in society. He said television fiom to discusses sexual problems and increases Utah Social Services handled 237 cases awareness of problems and community of sexual abuse of children last fiscal issues. year alone and if nationwide trends conThe abuser is usually someone the tinue as in the past five years, that numvictim knows quite well, said ber win increase 50 percent next year. Nicholson. But, say social service workers, it is One of the problems social workers difficult to discern whether cases of in prosecuting abusers is that abuse are actually increasing or whether experience children the may be so emotionally hanthe trend can be more accurately attributed to an increased awareness and dicapped by their experinces as to make their testimonies unacceptable in the reporting of cases by victims, friends, courts, said Nicholson. or officials, neighbors, The only type of love these kids get abusers themselves. is sexual. They get the wrong type of said Purdie. The Nobody knows, statistics probably arent anything like love, a physical love that makes them really dependent, he said. the actual number. Though Nicholson said he works Incest, referred to by many social workers as the family secret is the mostly with children whose families are roost underreported form of child at low income levels, incest occurs in families of all incomes. abuse, said Purdie. He estimates that in the last month Its a loaded issue and it's just now he's been handling four to five cases starting to come out of the closet, said each month. Purdie. Its been really bad lately, sal one-in-fo- one-in-1- 0. Nicholson. The Valley West Social Services, 4115 West 5295 South, works with salt Lake County residents living from 2100 to 6800 South, as well as with all those west of Redwood Road, he said. There were few cases reported even said Nicholson, who has seen a definite increase in the number of sexual-abus- e cases reported through his office. estimated A 1955 nationwide-stud- y 1.9 cases per million, said Purdie. But just one year later, a second study estimated one-thiof the population experiences some form of sexual abuse 10 years ago, rd as children. Current estimates from the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect say as many as 100,000 cases occur each year. Every state in the nation has laws which require sexual abuse to be reported, said Purdie, but described Utah's law as excellent. Many states require only doctors and nurses to report sexual abuse, said Purdie. In Utah anyone who knows of or suspects sexual abuse is required to report it. Those failing to report may be fined S299 and spend six months in jail for misdemeanor, said Purdie. Utahs rate of incidence is about the same as in other states, rite said. But the cumber of reports is quite a bit higher than other states, she said. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 2 ," said Dorothy He said the Magna ambulance answers hundreds of calls while paramedics average only about 40 calls every few months because they respond only to life or death situations. Paris also criticized Barret's for ambulance coming fiom West Jordan to serve Magna residents. Barret said it lakes 10 minutes from West Jordan, but that's ridiculous," he said. But Galen Webb a Magna resident and Gold Cross Ambulance employee, said the Gold Cross ambulance that now responds into Magna from West Valley City when the Magna ambulance is out, responds with tunes of around five minutes. Gold Cross will continue to provide prompt response times if the Magna ambulance is permanently removed," said W ebb. Situations not classified as life or arm, or auto accident. time-estimat- McGuire, who is on the Magna City Council and works with emergency cases as a phlebotomist at a local hospital. I think we're better off to keep the EMT's who respond to all calls, said McGuire. Chick Paris, who worked 25 years on the county (ire department, nine of those years as fire chief, said the present death may not need the services chief, David Barrett, has declined to said Webb, and disclose the boundaries for the new paramedics provide, these situations could be easily handle by paramedic team. Gold Cross alone." I don't think they're giving us a fair Paramedics carry equipment and are shake and a lot of people stand behind trained to provide medical care far me out here, he said. beyond that provided by the emergency Paris is concerned that the new medical technicians on the ambulance. paramedic team, though better trained The sooner a paramedic unit gets to a than LM1 's, will cover a larger area and critical patient, the belter off that be less responsive to the needs of patient will be. Magna. , Paris said paramedics do not respond . "Paramedicsis are dispatched on thought to be a critical anything that to the average fall, cut, broken leg oi said Webb. life or death situation, These aie the situations that require immediate aticnuon and these are the situations that duectly benefit from the measures that only advanced paiamedics can provide. Ambulance service in Magna will remain the same until possibly July, said Shirl Mas field, deputy chiel of the Salt Lake County fire department. It is then scheduled to be taken out of service and replaced with paiamedics. The county decreed it would get out ot the ambulance service by then and Magna's ambulance is the only one still he said. in service. Masficld said sis paiamedics have already been hued and will be attending school trom January to June ot 19X2 in preparation lor duty in Magna. R. Rene Mol tilt, president ot Gold Cross Ambulance, a private ambulance service, said people are always apprehensive about change but once the countys tire chief has decided how to supplement the paramedic's services with ambulance services, he will be happy to answer questions trom the public. The count y lias done a good job in Magna, and should we come in, we would want to do as well," he said. We have not been contacted by duel Barrett, so I can't tell what he has planned. We've heaid a lot ot rumors bui we don't know lor sutc what will happen," Mol tut said. Businesses oppose correction centers both WEST VALLEY CITY-W- hile outgoing and incoming West Valley City officers continue to voice opposition to two proposed correctional centers both to be built near Decker Lake, state officials say they are not planning any changes. Bill Milliken, director of corrections, said building correctional facilities is always an emotional issue for citizens living near proposed sites. Initially there is always resentment and resistance, he said. But added that within a year of building a new facility the scare is usually gone. Milligen said statistics show in areas where correctional facilities are built, property rates have not dropped and crime has not risen. In fact, said Milligen, in six out of seven areas where halfway houses were built in Utah, the crime rate in the area around the building actually dropped. As for local opposition, Milligen said its not insurmountable at all. We find opposition in all sectors, but one advantage we have in Utah is that people want to help people. Its a humane culture we live in, he said. But a resolution drafted this week in West Valley City not only voices opposition to the building the two new correctional facilities, it says local businesses will not hire halfway house residents. There are jobs available in this area, said Milliken, who calls halfway house residents as dependable as mail delivers. One advantage a that we can assure they will be at work every day. The employer knows exactly what kind of person he's hiring because of our records on each resident," said Mulliken. West Valley City attorney Ron Green halgh said a resolution drawn up by the city opposes both the halfway house and the youth center, but is more adamant against the halfway house. All local businesses are opposed houses' need local ...and halfway businesses support so the residents can said Greenhalgh. These get jobs, people have to have jobs or they'll be out on the street again. Greenhalgh said he things state officials will override city oppositions, and will put in at least one center, but hopefully not both. The citizens legal action," quite likely take But said Greenhalgh. wiU theyll have to hire a private lawyer unless the new council votes to have the city attorneys office investigate the situation. The city has done all the citizens asked us to do... all we can do is provide a forum to meet in and news said Gerald Maloney, mayor-elecoverage, of West Valley City. 1 personally am in favor of the (youth detention) facility and the types of programs they are trying to implement, but would prefer the program be located elsewhere, said Maloney. to put Maloney said it is a halfway house in at Decker Lake when the primary purpose is to get jobs for inmates and local businesses say they ct wont hire them. will Maloney said the council-eleformally file a concurrence to the city ct commissions resolution. r i Inside, Opinion and commentary The General Store The General Store The General Store Community news Sports First birthday babies Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. Page 6. Page 7. Page 4. f f? |
