Aboriginal communities get ready for the new millennium

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What is all the talk about Y2K? What does it all mean?

According to the computer experts, it means that on New Year's Day computer technology problems around the world may occur and cause disruptions with everything from financial institutions to generating power. This concerns communities all across Canada and is being taken seriously enough by Medical Services Branch in Edmonton to ready Aboriginal communities in the province for any Y2K problems.

In the early 1960s, computer programmers took shortcuts when they created codes for dates. They were hoping to save computer memory so, instead of using four digit codes to record dates, they used two digit codes. So when the year 2000 comes, programs that were coded with two digit codes will not be able to distinguish the year 2000 from the year 1900 because both will read 00.

"We do not anticipate any major concerns whatsoever," reports Medical Services Branch regional communications director, Lance Beswisk. "Although the failure of power in our main systems is unlikely, we are still prepared if anything should happen," he said. "They are on standby generators, back-up generators to provide back-up power to the nursing stations in the event that there is a failure in the main power system," he said.

From the communities in the Blackfoot region to the communities of Garden River in northern Alberta, plans have been drawn up to educate people about Y2K. Workshops, symposiums, and community meetings are taking place throughout the province. Community health workers also have a list of supplies they are stocking up on in case there are problems in distribution at that time.

"We also have extra medications provided at all the nursing stations to ensure that there is no shortage created if there are any problems," said Beswick. "We've role played this situation. We've gone through exercises and through some of the scenarios that could occur," he said.