Page 68 One man br oke tight grip of mines on health car e By Gregory Reynolds Since the frst hospitals in the Por - cupine Gold Camp were built by the mines and the staf f was on the compa ny pay - rolls, they controlled admissions. In one way or another , the companies actually controlled most medi - cal services and pro - grams. There were people who thought this had to change and it is believed they were behind a surprise de - cision in 1944 by the Ontario government It was an important year as T imm ins was made the home of the frst public health unit in the province that was created under new legislation. There had been health units for many decades and medical offcers but few municipalities bothered to appoint them. In the North, if a medical offcer was appointed, it was a part-time post with a small fee and the doctor had to earn a living. Basically they were powerless as municipal councils starved them for funds. The new legisl ation allowed a health unit to provide services on a regional basis. T wo townships, Whitney , which held the community of Porcupine, and T is - dale, which held South Porcupine and Schumacher , and the T own of T im - mins, were placed under the unit. (In 1946 Mountjoy T ownship was added. Eventu ally the responsibility of the unit was enlar ged to include the entire T erritorial District of Cochrane and Hornepane in Algoma District.) T isdale had the Dome and McIntyre Mines and T immins had the Hol - linger . The location of the big three mines was important. The government gave the Porcupine Health Unit the responsibility for a huge area but the doctor who headed it was up to the task. Dr . Graham B. Lane was a no-non - sense kind of guy and he pulled no punches in the feld of medi cal care. He was innovative and won many a battle over new programs with the province and area politicians, They had to foot the bills, as they still do today , and were never happy . A new junior reporter in 1959 was sent over to Dr . Lane’ s offce to question him on a program being instituted. He of fered the reporter a chair and then asked a question that left the reporter speechless. “Is this story going to ben - eft the community or hurt it” The reporter just stared at him. He explained if the story was going to be nega - tive, he had no time for the reporter . If it was to be pos - itive, then he would answer any question. The reporter then assured him he would write a posi - tive story that would ex - plain the program to the public and hopefully gain widespread support. He knew he was safe in making this promise be - cause the newspaper was a strong supporter of Dr . Lane. The doctor had written a column for the newspaper for a number of years about the unit, its programs and general health is - sues. In fact, the reporter grew to believe the edit ors were afraid of the doctor . He also believed local politicians def - initely were afraid of Dr . Lane. It was generally thought the province “The Porcupine Camp” 100 Y ears of Mining Page 66 Cont’d on pg. 68 Dr . Graham B. Lane