Health Stories
Read Snapshots, stories of health care on Prince Edward Island, and sign up to receive them in your inbox.
“There’s really something to be said about the PEI charm,” said Amber Johnston, a nurse practitioner newly practicing on Prince Edward Island. “Everyone has been so lovely and happy to have us home.”
Amber and her husband moved to Cornwall, PEI in...
Image caption: Joelene Spencer
Joelene Spencer wasn’t sure what she would find when she arrived at the Women’s Wellness & Sexual Health Services clinic in Charlottetown. A walk-in clinic doctor had prescribed Nexplanon, a new type of birth control...
Islanders can access virtual health care services through their computer, smartphone, or tablet. You can connect with a PEI physician over a secure line for treatment of several conditions using text chat, audio, or video chat. Virtual care is a way to...
“Palliative care is about living,” said Blanche Ward, an integrated palliative care program social worker for Health PEI. “You can live with your life-limiting illness when provided the right support. We want people to have a more positive perception of...
PEI surgeon trained to install pacemakers to save Islanders from travelling
“I know this often gets debated in political circles but it’s just not possible or safe for us to offer every healthcare service right here on the Island,” said Dr. Michael...
“Coming from our backgrounds, in a business servicing the public, this is kind of the same,” said Tom Clark, a volunteer at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Emergency Department. “People are coming into a space when they’re not at their best, and you must be...
Health PEI physiotherapist Angela Carragher has been recognized by a national professional association for excellence in her service to Islanders.
The Canadian Physiotherapy Association (CPA) created the centenary Medals of Distinction in 2020 to...
Leon Robinson figured he wasn’t having a heart attack.
The 74-year-old Charlottetown man woke up early one Saturday morning last May. He and his wife were going shopping for a new car that afternoon, so he decided to clean out the old one. As he...
“There’s a real problem-solving element to this job, and I love that,” said Michelle Barton, the cancer patient navigator for Health PEI.
The health care system can be complex. It’s often difficult for patients to find their way to the care or...
Screening for colorectal cancer works. Just ask Dr. Rosemary Henderson.
“There’s no doubt about it. The screening program caught my cancer so early, my entire journey with cancer was a minor inconvenience that lasted a few months. It could have been...
A computerized tomography (CT) scan is an important tool for proper diagnosis of many illnesses and injuries.
In four short months, Gailyne MacPherson, director of Hospital Services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, along with staff, have dramatically...
One afternoon in early May, Islanders turned on the news to watch fire crews fighting a forest fire in Lakeside, PEI. Nurses from Unit 4 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital saw something a little extra.
“Our local hero!” wrote one nurse on Unit 4’s private...
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Staff Profile: therapeutic dementia worker Tabatha Gallant
"They are still people. It's not their fault that dementia is affecting them, and their humanity is intermixed in all that...
Conor Mullally’s journey with mental health is a long one with many stops along the way, but it’s one he’s not afraid to talk about.
“I think everyone experiences mental health, to an extent,” he said on the phone from his home in Souris, PEI. “Some...
The very fabric of home care is embedded with collaboration. It takes an enormous team of professionals to make the system work and to ensure the best quality of care for Islanders. As Crystal Praught, director of Home Care Services for Health PEI said...
“They did everything they could to direct you through your disease and to help you manage it,” said Peter Sprague, who has been dealing with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, for more than 14 years.
For those with a diagnosis, chronic...
“They really wanted to contribute. I said ‘leave it with me. We’ll make it happen.’”
It was more than a year ago when Leo Gallant heard the Canada Winter Games was looking for volunteers. Having been a volunteer for the 1991 games, he knew what kind of...
After moving to PEI and leaving her New Brunswick family doctor and specialists behind, Jill McDougall had concerns about maintaining her health and navigating the health care system on PEI. While on the wait list to receive a family doctor, Jill’s NB...
A new research project is providing parents access to tools to cope with anxiety and other mental health concerns. For parents across PEI, learning how to adapt during a pandemic has not been easy. COVID-19 has provided unique demands and challenges for...
After months of feeling sick and dealing with high anxiety and stomach problems, Phillip Homburg finally went to the emergency department. He assumed he had a severe case of the stomach flu.
“Due to my age and how long my symptoms had been happening,...
Collaboration between physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses is driving quality care and provides more access to patients in need at the Evangeline Health Centre.
Recently, a unique collaborative clinic on PEI has opened to decrease wait times and...
“A hospital is a perfect environment for a program like ours,” said Chloe Trevors, a job skills coach with Project SEARCH. “It’s such a diverse environment. In a lot of ways, it’s a contained community which requires many kinds of workers, from...
“In a hospital, bed space is often a challenge,” said Kayla MacRae, a physiotherapist with Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital’s Unit 1. “If you have hip or knee replacement surgery scheduled and there’s no free bed to admit you in, your surgery could be...
How a PEI tech company made booking lab tests much easier
“I feel like you could say this about almost every facet of health care, but the pandemic really did change everything for us,” said Brian Timmons, provincial director of Medical Laboratory...
Meet Health PEI’s Mental Health and Addictions Patient Navigator
Working as a counsellor at Community Mental Health and Addictions in Montague, Kaley Knox could see firsthand how difficult it can be for people to find the help they need. When she saw...
At just 21 years old, Bertha Butler knew she wanted to be a nurse. Bertha began her career as an LPN in 1974 and never looked back.
“Things looked quite different at the O’Leary hospital when I started,” she said.
While the services may have changed...
“Seeing people who are successful with their goals, the change in people, that’s why I do this,” said Devin Hornby. He’s an occupational therapist for Health PEI. “Just as rewarding is working with those who have complex diagnoses and seeing their...
"They are still people. It's not their fault that dementia is affecting them, and their humanity is intermixed in all that confusion. To make a connection in the humanity of the person goes a long way," said Tabatha Gallant.
Tabatha is therapeutic...
Patient support workers (PSWs), resident care workers (RSWs), and home support workers (HSWs) are an essential part of healthcare on PEI. Taking care of our most vulnerable residents, their work can be both emotionally and physically demanding; yet many...
Rachel Morgan’s three-year-old son Link has always been a good communicator. He’s just not much of a talker.
Image caption: Link and Rachel Morgan“Oh, he has no problem letting you know what he’s thinking!” said Morgan with a laugh from her home in...
“Our Patient Medical Home is like a soccer team,” said Dr. Mark-Antoine Parent with a grin. He’s a family physician at the Charlottetown Patient Medical Home (PMH).
“Behind us, we have a full team: the management that brought everyone together and...
Betty MacDonald may not think of herself as a hero, but her boss sure does.
“There is no doubt in my mind. When I think of unsung heroes of the pandemic, I think of Betty MacDonald. People need to know about her.”
– Alicia McCallum, temporary...
Three years ago, Sydney Powers began volunteering at Hillsborough Hospital. As a psychology student at the University of Prince Edward, she was interested in gaining practical experience. She also wanted to normalize conversations about mental health.
“...
Robin is a cook at Western Hospital in Alberton and is responsible for preparing breakfast, dinner and supper for patients. She also prepares meals for staff in the hospital cafeteria.
Robin is a Red Seal chef who has been working in the health system...
The PEI Secondary Stroke Clinic is making a difference.
Dr. Heather Williams could see things needed to change. She's a neurologist on Prince Edward Island.
“Before 2017, almost every patient who arrived at an Island emergency department with stroke...
PEI’s Glucose Sensor Program takes the pain out of diabetes management.
Will Gibbon just wasn’t interested in a glucose sensor to manage his diabetes. Now that he’s been using one for six months, he wonders what took him so long.
“I can be pretty...
The Provincial Dental Care Program is making a difference
Sally Ross was overdue for a new set of partial plates. After more than twenty years, her old ones had become so worn down they were affecting her bite. She would have replaced them sooner, but...
With a second provincial audiologist, wait times are dropping dramatically.
Kaitlin MacKay remembers all too well the stress of being PEI’s only provincial audiologist.
“I had a lot of sleepless nights,” she said. “For a long time, I struggled with...
Ann Millar knows first-hand what it feels like to have your life flipped upside down. Thirty years ago, her mother was given a life-altering diagnosis. In the difficult weeks ahead, one of the big hurdles was navigating the health care system.
“The...
The patient medical home model is working at the Kinlock Medical Centre.
Four years ago, a group of Charlottetown-area doctors came together for a meeting.
“We didn’t even have a name for what we were talking about, but we all knew the current system...
Louise Campbell gives back as a patient and family partner.
Louise Campbell is not a doctor. She’s not a nurse. She’s not a health care professional at all, and yet, she has an important voice in how health care is delivered on Prince Edward Island. ...
FLS Program aims to prevent life-altering injuries before they happen
Joan Adams’ family had planned their holiday in Nova Scotia for a long time.
“We had started talking about it during COVID, but we wanted to wait until we all felt safe,” she said....
A look at life inside PEI’s COVID unit
“For a long time, it felt like all the training we did to get ready for COVID was for nothing,” said Chelsea Chessman, the patient care coordinator of Unit 3 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). “But when the...