Thursday, March 13, 2008

Lilac Tea piece, WIP Part 1
5x7, coloured pencil on pastel board
Copyright Rita Woodburne

Lilac Tea piece WIP Part 2
5x7, coloured pencil on pastel board
Copyright Rita Woodburne



Today I was going to do a post on Van Gogh but instead would like to share something that is both funny and sad at the same time.

In the town closest to me, which happens to be Belleville, the current mayor has been working very hard to improve the healthcare facilities as well as get more doctors into our region since most folks out this way don’t have a family doctor, including myself. For all his hard work we thank him immensely as he’s already got 17 doctors signed onto the Doctor Recruitment Program (the first one will be opening his practice in October of this year I believe) and has helped re-work the current budget for the region to get more advanced equipment into the local hospital. One of the pieces of medical equipment the Quinte region has recently received is a new MRI machine.

The acquisition of the new MRI machine was big news because 1- I would think that regardless of where you live if your hospital received medical equipment of that size and price tag it would be news and 2- this is largely a farming and light industry community that is growing by leaps and bounds so anything that makes front page news is worth talking about... including the crowning of the Queen of the Furrow, but that story is for another day.

They talked about it on the radio for weeks. They wrote articles about it in the weeks leading up to its delivery. Then finally the big day came, the day the MRI machine was delivered. I believe the city closed off a portion of the road in front of the hospital specifically so this thing could be delivered and placed into the hospital in a timely manner (it is a monsterously large machine). When this happened you better believe the local papers were there to get pictures and talk to the hospital big-wigs. Myself, being a curious critter, waited until my local paper was delivered to see the pics and read the associated article.


Here’s where things get a little ironic.


Imagine my surprise when I saw the picture and realized just how big a machine this was. Then imagine my surprise when in the picture I saw just how many men it took to unload it. Then imagine my surprise when I saw one of the helpful workers smoking a cigarette while unloading the MRI machine.


And the quest for improved quality of health continues...


PS- The Lilac Tea piece is actually done. I'm just posting these WIP pics to coax you, dear reader, into coming back. ;)

4 comments:

Jennifer Rose said...

Love the purples in that piece! Is very pretty :D

I hated going for my MRI scan. Couldn't stop thinking that I had forgotten I had some piece of metal on me and it would come flying off, killing me and wrecking the expensive machine. :p It is good for a community to have one though, and good to read that any mayor is actually doing something about the doctor shortages in places.

People smoke at the hospital here right in front of the no smoking signs, and right under the cancer ward. >.< They are trying to find a way to get people to stop, everyone is saying fine people and actually enforce the no smoking areas and it would help (oops almost a rant, sorry)

Clare said...

Hi Rita,

The lilacs are going to be great. I love the close-up, zoomed in effect.
See you at the lilac tea and art show! If you don't know who I am, my blog is at www.bellevilleart.blogspot.com
Cynthia told me you had a great blog!

Lisa B. said...

I didn't leave, I just don't always leave a comment. :)

I love the color depth of the lilac. Can't wait to see the finished piece!

Rita said...

Jennifer- No prob, rant away! It always kills me when I see doctors and nurses smoking, I mean, c'mon!

Saga- Thanks for stopping by! I'm excited about the show too, just another sign that Spring is coming. :)

Lisa- The final piece will be up here soon enough. I was so excited to use my pinks and purples that I flew through this piece... I may need to do another one! :D