THURSDAY JANUARY 19, 2017
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If you have the flu, don’t go to emergency
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TIM KELLY tkelly@yrmg.com
Canada 150
If the flu has hit you, the best place to go is not your nearest hospital emergency room. Instead, visit your family doctor: if you don’t have one, head to a local urgent care clinic. But hundreds of sickly York Region residents have been packing local ERs over the past three weeks jamming up services and likely causing other patients to get the flu. Susan Kwolek, executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief nursing executive of Mackenzie l See GOOD page 2
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uReport the News Steve Somerville/Metroland
York Region hospitals are advising patients who have the flu to visit your family doctor rather than head to your nearest emergency room.
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TRANSIT
YRT bus confrontation a study in human behaviour LISA QUEEN lqueen@yrmg.com A couple of days after a video of a disturbing altercation on a YRT bus in Aurora went viral and continues to generate water-cooler talk, the incident serves as a study of human behaviour, especially in the age of social media, York Region psychologist and author Sara Dimerman says. On Jan. 14, a video was posted online showing a woman berating an elderly woman on a bus at Yonge and Wellington streets for about a minute and a half before disembarking. It’s not known what led to the confrontation. A woman at the family
home of the younger woman suggested the video did not capture the full scenario and added the resulting backlash has been difficult. Reaction to the video has been fierce, with many people suggesting the younger woman be harshly dealt with, some questioning why the person recording the incident taped it rather than intervene, many wondering whether others on the bus, including the driver, should have done more to come to the elderly woman’s defence. Some worried the visceral reaction to the younger woman has been out of proportion to the severity of the incident, especially if there are any mental-health concerns.
In today’s world of social media, often the first reaction of people to a noteworthy and even disturbing occasions is to record and post the incident rather than become personally involved, Dimerman said. "This distancing oneself, often behind the lens of a device may be symptomatic of a passive response to fellow human beings in distress. So, rather than engaging in actively helping, the engagement is at arms’ length and not as empathic," she said. "In addition, perhaps as a result of our overexposure Supplied l See INVESTIGATION
page 10
An investigation by York Region Transit is continuing into a confrontation in which one woman berated another woman on a bus in Aurora. A video of the incident was posted online Jan. 14.
COMMUNITY
10 York Region homes shot at in 8 months in troubling trend Markham home the latest in string of shootings JEREMY GRIMALDI jgrimaldi@yrmg.com Multiple Markham residents have become the latest victims in a string of incidents that is increasingly troubling police. Since May there have been 10 incidents of families having their homes including incidents in Markham, Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Aurora shot at. Although none of the frightening incidents have resulted in injuries, bar the Newmarket man who cut
himself after jumping out of a window, police are growing ever more concerned about the trend. "The worry is that these people are firing guns in residential neighbourhoods," said York police Const. Andy Pattenden. "People could be home, they could get the wrong house." In the latest Riseborough Circuit incident, there were nine people inside the rental home, including two children and seven adults. Police received the call on Monday, Jan. 16, shortly after 10:30 p.m. Police do not believe the act was random, calling it "targeted" as investigators have done in each individual case. l See NOTHING page 2
Steve Somerville/Metroland
The front window of a Markham home is boarded up after a shooting left residents in fear and police concerned about the troubling trend in the region.
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