MLA: Health CEO must go
By BRIAN MEDEL Yarmouth Bureau
The Chronicle Herald
Sun. Nov 29 - 4:45 AM
MLA Harold (Junior) Theriault
Nurse practitioner Karen Snider
FREEPORT — A Nova Scotia Liberal MLA is demanding the resignation of the head of the Southwest Nova district health authority over an alleged attempt to discipline a nurse practitioner.
Harold (Junior) Theriault told 80 people packed into a community hall Saturday on Long Island that Blaise MacNeil, CEO of the district health authority, must step down because of the controversy involving registered nurse Karen Snider.
The Digby-Annapolis MLA also said Health Minister Maureen MacDonald needs to be on Long Island by Monday evening to deal with Ms. Snider and put her back to work.
Ms. Snider lives in Freeport on Long Island. But she hasn’t been employed by the Southwest Nova district health authority since October.
She recently built a home on the island and told residents she wanted to stay. She’s the first nurse practitioner to put down roots.
There was no problem with her clinical or medical skills, said Andy Moir of the Islands Health liaison committee
"We know that she was disciplined for speaking out about reduced hours at the clinic," he said Saturday.
"She was disciplined again for telling her collaborating physician that hours would be reduced, and disciplined again for discussing the hours of operation with fellow nurse practitioners. . . . We are all going to suffer because of this action."
Ms. Snider attended Saturday’s meeting and, for the first time since she was dismissed, spoke briefly.
"I enjoy this community. I enjoyed the work that I did and the people that I worked with," she told a hushed room.
"I can’t speak highly enough of the support and the confidence that all of you have exhibited to me. It’s still my goal to want to try and stay down here . . . and I really do appreciate all of the efforts."
Some in the community let their MLA know that the clinic’s clerical employee was overwhelmed with work.
"In the middle of September, I had some calls . . . saying, ‘The nurse practitioner needs a little help down here. She can’t deal with 1,500 people and do (the clerical employee’s) work too,’ " said Mr. Theriault.
He said he mentioned the concern in the legislature on Sept. 22, and the health minister said she was unaware of any such needs.
Mr. Moir said talks to have the nurse practitioner return to work seemed to have been proceeding.
He said Kevin McNamara, the province’s deputy minister of health, indicated recently that residents were close to getting her back.
But when Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union representatives arrived at a meeting, which included representatives of the district health authority, they were presented with a "confession" letter, said Mr. Moir.
"This came out of the blue. The union didn’t know it was coming," he said.
It was an apology to be signed by Ms. Snider before further talks could take place.
It was said at Saturday’s public meeting that the deputy health minister told Jim Thurber, warden of the Municipality of Digby, that he was unaware of the letter.
Mr. Moir said it appears to be the brainchild of someone in the district health authority.
"I know you all want to see it, and unfortunately I can’t do that for a couple of reasons," he told the crowd.
Mr. Moir said the letter was to be signed by Ms. Snider, then published in three newspapers and posted on the door of the community clinic.
He said the dispute was fuelled by an article Ms. Snider wrote in Passages, a community newsletter.
"In that article, what she said was true," he said.
"We’ve got a fine practitioner. Let’s get her back on the job."
( bmedel@herald.ca)
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Public Reaction to Turbines is Key...in Michigan
Study says large wind turbines to be local decision
By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle
November 29, 2009, 12:48AM
WEST MICHIGAN — Anyone seeing a blade from one of Michigan’s 83 utility-sized wind turbines being transported on the highway understands how “big” wind power can be.
Blades in the 150-foot range moved on special truck trailers are impressive sights. But how “big” wind will become in Michigan’s energy future is still an unknown.
Whichever way the industry turns, it will be up to local governments to decide where and how the big turbine towers will be built, a university research group concludes.
AP file photoA Grand Valley State University wind energy study says local governments will manage the building of wind towers, like this turbine in Huron County. It is one of 83 utility-scale wind turbines operating today in Michigan.A group of Grand Valley State University researchers has begun a wind energy study on the potentials and pitfalls of renewable power production in a four-county West Michigan shoreline region. The three-year study comes on the heels of a state mandate that 10 percent of Michigan’s electrical generation must come from renewable sources by 2015.
“The demand for renewable energy, and wind energy in particular, is growing rapidly,” the first report of the GVSU study states. “The challenge will be to supply the quantity of renewable energy needed to meet this demand in a manner that is economically, socially and environmentally appropriate.
“Though state government issued the renewable energy mandate, managing the deployment of wind energy facilities is left to local governments,” the report states.
Many township governments in the four counties — Muskegon, Oceana, Ottawa and Allegan — have responded with ordinances regulating utility-scale wind turbines. Thirty-seven of the 73 townships in the four counties have wind tower ordinances, with the highest percentage in Oceana County.
Grand Haven Township planners will hear from city of Grand Rapids officials at a public meeting Monday on a plan to put two 300-foot wind turbine towers on the city’s Lake Michigan Water Filtration Plant property on Lakeshore Drive.
GVSU researcher Erik Nordman — head of the Natural Resources Management program and chief wind study investigator — said public reaction to plans such as those in Grand Haven Township are key to the technology’s future in West Michigan.
“While one wind turbine might be viewed as a curiosity, the deployment of thousands of wind energy facilities required to meet various renewable energy targets will bring changes to the nation’s landscapes, communities and economies,” the initial GVSU wind report states.
As GVSU researchers continue to work on their wind study, public opinion will begin to be collected. The study team will have workshops and public meetings throughout the region next summer.
The wind study team has a Web site at www.gvsu.edu/wind and will establish social networking outreaches through Facebook and Twitter, Nordman said.
The wind study is supported through a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Sea Grant award through the state of Michigan. The next report is scheduled to be released in November 2010 and final reports in February and May 2011.
E-mail Dave Alexander at dalexander@muskegonchronicle.com
By Dave Alexander | Muskegon Chronicle
November 29, 2009, 12:48AM
WEST MICHIGAN — Anyone seeing a blade from one of Michigan’s 83 utility-sized wind turbines being transported on the highway understands how “big” wind power can be.
Blades in the 150-foot range moved on special truck trailers are impressive sights. But how “big” wind will become in Michigan’s energy future is still an unknown.
Whichever way the industry turns, it will be up to local governments to decide where and how the big turbine towers will be built, a university research group concludes.
AP file photoA Grand Valley State University wind energy study says local governments will manage the building of wind towers, like this turbine in Huron County. It is one of 83 utility-scale wind turbines operating today in Michigan.A group of Grand Valley State University researchers has begun a wind energy study on the potentials and pitfalls of renewable power production in a four-county West Michigan shoreline region. The three-year study comes on the heels of a state mandate that 10 percent of Michigan’s electrical generation must come from renewable sources by 2015.
“The demand for renewable energy, and wind energy in particular, is growing rapidly,” the first report of the GVSU study states. “The challenge will be to supply the quantity of renewable energy needed to meet this demand in a manner that is economically, socially and environmentally appropriate.
“Though state government issued the renewable energy mandate, managing the deployment of wind energy facilities is left to local governments,” the report states.
Many township governments in the four counties — Muskegon, Oceana, Ottawa and Allegan — have responded with ordinances regulating utility-scale wind turbines. Thirty-seven of the 73 townships in the four counties have wind tower ordinances, with the highest percentage in Oceana County.
Grand Haven Township planners will hear from city of Grand Rapids officials at a public meeting Monday on a plan to put two 300-foot wind turbine towers on the city’s Lake Michigan Water Filtration Plant property on Lakeshore Drive.
GVSU researcher Erik Nordman — head of the Natural Resources Management program and chief wind study investigator — said public reaction to plans such as those in Grand Haven Township are key to the technology’s future in West Michigan.
“While one wind turbine might be viewed as a curiosity, the deployment of thousands of wind energy facilities required to meet various renewable energy targets will bring changes to the nation’s landscapes, communities and economies,” the initial GVSU wind report states.
As GVSU researchers continue to work on their wind study, public opinion will begin to be collected. The study team will have workshops and public meetings throughout the region next summer.
The wind study team has a Web site at www.gvsu.edu/wind and will establish social networking outreaches through Facebook and Twitter, Nordman said.
The wind study is supported through a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Sea Grant award through the state of Michigan. The next report is scheduled to be released in November 2010 and final reports in February and May 2011.
E-mail Dave Alexander at dalexander@muskegonchronicle.com
Labels:
Michigan windmills wind energy
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Environment and Energy- Tough Choices, Decisions
From nova news now
Tough choices and difficult tradeoffs
Commentary: Environmental Gremlin
Article online since November 25th 2009, 19:51
Tough choices and difficult tradeoffs
Commentary: Environmental Gremlin
By Stephen Hawboldt
Over the next few years, Nova Scotians will be required to make some tough decisions on energy. The Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, unanimously endorsed in the Legislative Assembly in April 2007, sets very aggressive environmental preformance targets for the province.
With respect to climate change, greenhouse gas emissions must be 10 per cent below 1990 levels in only 11 years in 2020. Air quality targets require that nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and mercury emissions must be drastically reduced in a similar time frame. To learn more about the Act and progress in achieving the goals, visit: secondnature.gov.ns.ca
Obviously achieving these goals means, among other things, a sharp reduction in use of coal to generate the electricity we require. The Act stipulates that 18.5 per cent of the energy generated in the province will come from renewable sources by 2013.
Reports indicate that Nova Scotia Power is on track to achieve these targets using hydro, wind, solar, tidal, and biomass. Over the next few years, Nova Scotians are going to need to make some very tough choices with difficult tradeoffs.
Jamie Simpson, a professional forester associated Ecology Action Centre, recently toured a biomass harvest site in Upper Musquodoboit. The site is operated by Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corp., Pictou County, a company certified by Sustainable Forest Initiative for its sustainable forestry methods.
In an e-mail alert, Simpson declares, “I have never seen such destructive forestry.” He added, “not only was the forest cover completely removed, but even the forest floor was destroyed over most of the harvest area.” The photographs accompanying the alert bear witness to the destruction.
If this is an example of biomass harvesting for electrical generation, these harvest sites are tomorrow’s deserts. The sites are virtual wastelands devoid of anything that could support any life for many decades.
Tidal power is also surrounded by some very serious scientific questions. Dr. Mike Dadswell, an eminent marine biologists associated with Acadia University, is one of several prominent researchers who are concerned about the impact of the ocean floor turbines on fish stocks. They fear wholesale destruction of these resources.
Wind energy also faces very serious questions about noise, public health, and impacts on wildlife. A small wind turbine proposed for Sable Island to meet power needs on the island could not go forward because of its potential impact on wildlife.
Large scale solar is largely untested in the Maritimes. There is very little, if any, traditional hydro available in the province. Nuclear generation has very serious questions arising from the radioactive wastes created and public health questions.
Energy conservation presents some real opportunities that will be rewarded with significant economic gains. These savings are not enough to reach the required targets.
The targets are conservative if the threats of climate change are to be managed. If anything, the reduction targets for greenhouse gases will likely have to be increased.
Over the next three to five years, the energy future of Nova Scotia will need to be decided. Citizens will face some very tough questions and difficult tradeoffs.
STEPHEN HAWBOLDT is with Clean Annapolis River Project and writes a weekly column for The Annapolis County Spectator. Comments are always welcome and can be addressed to stephenhawboldt@annapolisriver.ca
Tough choices and difficult tradeoffs
Commentary: Environmental Gremlin
Article online since November 25th 2009, 19:51
Tough choices and difficult tradeoffs
Commentary: Environmental Gremlin
By Stephen Hawboldt
Over the next few years, Nova Scotians will be required to make some tough decisions on energy. The Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, unanimously endorsed in the Legislative Assembly in April 2007, sets very aggressive environmental preformance targets for the province.
With respect to climate change, greenhouse gas emissions must be 10 per cent below 1990 levels in only 11 years in 2020. Air quality targets require that nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and mercury emissions must be drastically reduced in a similar time frame. To learn more about the Act and progress in achieving the goals, visit: secondnature.gov.ns.ca
Obviously achieving these goals means, among other things, a sharp reduction in use of coal to generate the electricity we require. The Act stipulates that 18.5 per cent of the energy generated in the province will come from renewable sources by 2013.
Reports indicate that Nova Scotia Power is on track to achieve these targets using hydro, wind, solar, tidal, and biomass. Over the next few years, Nova Scotians are going to need to make some very tough choices with difficult tradeoffs.
Jamie Simpson, a professional forester associated Ecology Action Centre, recently toured a biomass harvest site in Upper Musquodoboit. The site is operated by Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corp., Pictou County, a company certified by Sustainable Forest Initiative for its sustainable forestry methods.
In an e-mail alert, Simpson declares, “I have never seen such destructive forestry.” He added, “not only was the forest cover completely removed, but even the forest floor was destroyed over most of the harvest area.” The photographs accompanying the alert bear witness to the destruction.
If this is an example of biomass harvesting for electrical generation, these harvest sites are tomorrow’s deserts. The sites are virtual wastelands devoid of anything that could support any life for many decades.
Tidal power is also surrounded by some very serious scientific questions. Dr. Mike Dadswell, an eminent marine biologists associated with Acadia University, is one of several prominent researchers who are concerned about the impact of the ocean floor turbines on fish stocks. They fear wholesale destruction of these resources.
Wind energy also faces very serious questions about noise, public health, and impacts on wildlife. A small wind turbine proposed for Sable Island to meet power needs on the island could not go forward because of its potential impact on wildlife.
Large scale solar is largely untested in the Maritimes. There is very little, if any, traditional hydro available in the province. Nuclear generation has very serious questions arising from the radioactive wastes created and public health questions.
Energy conservation presents some real opportunities that will be rewarded with significant economic gains. These savings are not enough to reach the required targets.
The targets are conservative if the threats of climate change are to be managed. If anything, the reduction targets for greenhouse gases will likely have to be increased.
Over the next three to five years, the energy future of Nova Scotia will need to be decided. Citizens will face some very tough questions and difficult tradeoffs.
STEPHEN HAWBOLDT is with Clean Annapolis River Project and writes a weekly column for The Annapolis County Spectator. Comments are always welcome and can be addressed to stephenhawboldt@annapolisriver.ca
Labels:
energy,
Nova Scotian environment
Invitation to Write Letters
From blog owner: North American health care systems appear to be in disarray. No one seems to be getting the health care they need or deserve. Canada has a "universal" health care system where health care is supposed to be provided "free" (through our taxes and premiums) to every citizen. Every worker in the health care system is needed to keep it functioning and to provide health care to those who need it, even in rural areas.
You can appreciate the devastating loss of a nursep. to a rather remote area where it may take up to two hours or more to get to a hospital or see a doctor. If you wish to read more on the issue, please read related posts on this blog. If you feel the urge to write out of empathy and compassion for the nurse practioner and the rural residents she served, please make your views known to the individual mentioned below. I am sure those of you all over Canada and all over the world as well can relate.
Thanks. From these remote communities.
The Minister of Health for Nova Scotia , I am sure, wants to know what your
thoughts are on the subject, and I am sure equally glad to hear from people
not just all over the province (and she is probably getting a lot of those
after the wonderful Editorial in todays Provincial paper) but just as much,
I am sure, from friends and former residents of this beautiful province
everywhere.(You can find that editorial also on the blog above.)
Maureen MacDonald health.minister@gov.ns.ca
Dan Mills
You can appreciate the devastating loss of a nursep. to a rather remote area where it may take up to two hours or more to get to a hospital or see a doctor. If you wish to read more on the issue, please read related posts on this blog. If you feel the urge to write out of empathy and compassion for the nurse practioner and the rural residents she served, please make your views known to the individual mentioned below. I am sure those of you all over Canada and all over the world as well can relate.
Thanks. From these remote communities.
The Minister of Health for Nova Scotia , I am sure, wants to know what your
thoughts are on the subject, and I am sure equally glad to hear from people
not just all over the province (and she is probably getting a lot of those
after the wonderful Editorial in todays Provincial paper) but just as much,
I am sure, from friends and former residents of this beautiful province
everywhere.(You can find that editorial also on the blog above.)
Maureen MacDonald health.minister@gov.ns.ca
Dan Mills
Health Care Travesty: Dan Mills
Subject: Save Our Nurse
Honorable Maureen MacDonald
Minister of Health
Nova Scotia Legislature
Halifax N.S.
Honorable and Dear Minister:
An atrocious deed has befallen the people of Digby Neck and Islands, in fact a truly wanton act of revenge towards them that one would never expect in a democracy such as ours, known world wide as the best country in the world -bar none- for love of neighbor and immeasurable kindness and hospitality one to the other, and always known for walking the extra mile.
The SWDHA has besmeared our reputation with that, the likes of which I have never seen in my three score plus ten and more, by signaling the equivalent of a death warrant upon people dating roots here fifteen generations, and perhaps even more, by what I see as a calculated depravation of consistent and basic health care. This Board is punishing a people and maybe with an act of spite!
This obviously incompetent, insensitive, and uncaring board have all but crippled Health Care in this area
leaving fifteen hundred people on the Islands, and hundreds more along the Neck, without the semblance of basic and ongoing care in the person of a much-loved Nurse Practitioner because she has refused to confess her sin manifested in an act of care and concern about dwindling resources in her clinic.
A pompous ass alone would exact such signed confession to be posted on the clinic door and on newspaper spreads across a Province. No man with heart would be so insecure, inhumane, and callous as to do that to the Nurse in question,or to any other nurse, and in so doing,break the communal heart of a people because that same agent of pomposity doesn't trust their judgment.
Some speak the name of CEO as pomposity personified.If this is the best that he can do, and the issue of employer and employee is no longer extant, the same is now in your corral, and it's time to put him out to pasture.And while you're at it,send the rest of the herd with him for had they had the courage,they would never have allowed this hideous piece of tripe to be uttered from his mouth.
Get a grip,Ms.MacDonald. This is the peoples province and not that of likely much overpaid bureaucrats.The people expect better. We demand it!
Daniel Mills
9396 Waterford
RR 4,Digby NS
BOV 1AO
902-245-5171
Honorable Maureen MacDonald
Minister of Health
Nova Scotia Legislature
Halifax N.S.
Honorable and Dear Minister:
An atrocious deed has befallen the people of Digby Neck and Islands, in fact a truly wanton act of revenge towards them that one would never expect in a democracy such as ours, known world wide as the best country in the world -bar none- for love of neighbor and immeasurable kindness and hospitality one to the other, and always known for walking the extra mile.
The SWDHA has besmeared our reputation with that, the likes of which I have never seen in my three score plus ten and more, by signaling the equivalent of a death warrant upon people dating roots here fifteen generations, and perhaps even more, by what I see as a calculated depravation of consistent and basic health care. This Board is punishing a people and maybe with an act of spite!
This obviously incompetent, insensitive, and uncaring board have all but crippled Health Care in this area
leaving fifteen hundred people on the Islands, and hundreds more along the Neck, without the semblance of basic and ongoing care in the person of a much-loved Nurse Practitioner because she has refused to confess her sin manifested in an act of care and concern about dwindling resources in her clinic.
A pompous ass alone would exact such signed confession to be posted on the clinic door and on newspaper spreads across a Province. No man with heart would be so insecure, inhumane, and callous as to do that to the Nurse in question,or to any other nurse, and in so doing,break the communal heart of a people because that same agent of pomposity doesn't trust their judgment.
Some speak the name of CEO as pomposity personified.If this is the best that he can do, and the issue of employer and employee is no longer extant, the same is now in your corral, and it's time to put him out to pasture.And while you're at it,send the rest of the herd with him for had they had the courage,they would never have allowed this hideous piece of tripe to be uttered from his mouth.
Get a grip,Ms.MacDonald. This is the peoples province and not that of likely much overpaid bureaucrats.The people expect better. We demand it!
Daniel Mills
9396 Waterford
RR 4,Digby NS
BOV 1AO
902-245-5171
Dan Mills on Nurse Practioner Issue
Sent: Saturday, November 28, 2009 9:28 AM
Subject: Recall Nurse Practitioner
Dear Editor:
In response to your poignant editorial this morning:
A departed friend many years ago saw conspiracy at every corner. He would have a field day with this Nurse Practitioner episode on Digby Neck and Islands, and the way people here have been treated in recent years by our elected politicians overall.
I mentioned to some friends yesterday that this makes the Age of the Scarlet Letter of years gone by look civilized. The DHA of this day is so much more cruel than they because this is an issue about the very health and well-being of a people, and transends any other issue of the day in this area, and this in a much more enlghtened day and age!
I now sense conspiracy afoot to close this region down. I wonder too if the lack of squeak or squawk from our local medical practitioners - and few they are indeed - makes them part of it? Don't you?
It's not all all uncommon that "an old boys club" mentality could feel threatened by a comptetent,no-nonsense,out-spoken female Nurse Practioner who has become the much loved darling by so many on these majestic islands they call home, and where they want to stay with adequate health care to live out their days!
It appears that the caring projected by the NDP just a few short months ago was nothing more than window-dressing to satisfy their quest for power and control. Mr. Dexter, and his minions surely know right from wrong and need to act, and bypass process, for common good indeed. The common good, in this case, is life itself. "Can" the DHA straightaway, Sir, and deal with the fallen pieces in due time. Surely their incompetency is all the cause you need.And then bury them.
Daniel Mills
9396 Waterford
RR 4, Digby NS
BOV 1AO
1-902-245-5171
Subject: Recall Nurse Practitioner
Dear Editor:
In response to your poignant editorial this morning:
A departed friend many years ago saw conspiracy at every corner. He would have a field day with this Nurse Practitioner episode on Digby Neck and Islands, and the way people here have been treated in recent years by our elected politicians overall.
I mentioned to some friends yesterday that this makes the Age of the Scarlet Letter of years gone by look civilized. The DHA of this day is so much more cruel than they because this is an issue about the very health and well-being of a people, and transends any other issue of the day in this area, and this in a much more enlghtened day and age!
I now sense conspiracy afoot to close this region down. I wonder too if the lack of squeak or squawk from our local medical practitioners - and few they are indeed - makes them part of it? Don't you?
It's not all all uncommon that "an old boys club" mentality could feel threatened by a comptetent,no-nonsense,out-spoken female Nurse Practioner who has become the much loved darling by so many on these majestic islands they call home, and where they want to stay with adequate health care to live out their days!
It appears that the caring projected by the NDP just a few short months ago was nothing more than window-dressing to satisfy their quest for power and control. Mr. Dexter, and his minions surely know right from wrong and need to act, and bypass process, for common good indeed. The common good, in this case, is life itself. "Can" the DHA straightaway, Sir, and deal with the fallen pieces in due time. Surely their incompetency is all the cause you need.And then bury them.
Daniel Mills
9396 Waterford
RR 4, Digby NS
BOV 1AO
1-902-245-5171
Save Our Nurse Meeting
Public meeting notesThere was an impressive turnout today in Freeport to discuss what comes next in the battle to keep Karen Snider as our nurse practitioner. It was particularly impressive because everyone is so busy gearing up for the beginning of lobster season…it says something about how important this issue is that several fishermen and crews took the time to come and listen and contribute.
People at the meeting called for an immediate public meeting with the Minister of Health to discuss ways to keep Karen in the community as our NP. Now that Karen is no longer an employee of SWDHA, there is no employer/employee relationship that the minister can say she has to respect. What the minister must decide is this: How to employ Karen, who is already here, in a community that needs a NP; a community that has already said Karen is the person we want. There are several models available for the Minister to select from. All she has to do is act, now that she no longer has to worry about interfering in a relationship between Karen and the SWDHA. The only options not available to her is through the DHA. We will not do business with them. Period.
As well, the meeting endorsed a call from MLA Junior Theriault, to have Blaise McNeil and the Board removed from the District Health Authority. The awful health care situation in Digby County will not get better with these people at the helm. They’ve had years to improve health care here. They have failed.
The strong feeling at the meeting is nobody from the Neck and Islands wants anything to do with the DHA. We have totally lost confidence in the senior management and the Board…especially after their bullying tactics through the “letter of confession” that they demanded Karen sign. Nobody should have to deal with a bully…especially a bully who’s been given control of our health care. So get rid of him, and the board that allows him to be a bully.
It was great to see Karen at the meeting. She had quite rightly kept out of it while there was still a chance of resolving this issue with the DHA. Now the DHA has made that impossible. The unfortunate thing is that Karen has already received some job offers, and is sending in her resume. She wants to stay here. It is her home. Maybe the minister of health will consider how bad her department is going to look when a highly regarded health practitioner is scooped by another province, eager to recruit a prized NP. The minister should act very rapidly. Thanks for everyone who came out.
Andy
People at the meeting called for an immediate public meeting with the Minister of Health to discuss ways to keep Karen in the community as our NP. Now that Karen is no longer an employee of SWDHA, there is no employer/employee relationship that the minister can say she has to respect. What the minister must decide is this: How to employ Karen, who is already here, in a community that needs a NP; a community that has already said Karen is the person we want. There are several models available for the Minister to select from. All she has to do is act, now that she no longer has to worry about interfering in a relationship between Karen and the SWDHA. The only options not available to her is through the DHA. We will not do business with them. Period.
As well, the meeting endorsed a call from MLA Junior Theriault, to have Blaise McNeil and the Board removed from the District Health Authority. The awful health care situation in Digby County will not get better with these people at the helm. They’ve had years to improve health care here. They have failed.
The strong feeling at the meeting is nobody from the Neck and Islands wants anything to do with the DHA. We have totally lost confidence in the senior management and the Board…especially after their bullying tactics through the “letter of confession” that they demanded Karen sign. Nobody should have to deal with a bully…especially a bully who’s been given control of our health care. So get rid of him, and the board that allows him to be a bully.
It was great to see Karen at the meeting. She had quite rightly kept out of it while there was still a chance of resolving this issue with the DHA. Now the DHA has made that impossible. The unfortunate thing is that Karen has already received some job offers, and is sending in her resume. She wants to stay here. It is her home. Maybe the minister of health will consider how bad her department is going to look when a highly regarded health practitioner is scooped by another province, eager to recruit a prized NP. The minister should act very rapidly. Thanks for everyone who came out.
Andy
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