O’LEARY, P.E.I. - The O’Leary Community Health Foundation and the Town of O’Leary are teaming up to host an appreciation event for Dr. Herb Dickieson on Oct. 29.
Dickieson recently retired from a 29-year medical practice in O’Leary.
“His compassion and his commitment to his patients, staff and community has been exceptional,” said foundation chairwoman Eva Rodgerson.
She recalls Dickieson visiting her mother, a woman who hadn’t been to a doctor in over 20 years, describing how he knelt beside her and convinced her she needed to go to the hospital for medical care.
Rodgerson was on Community Hospital’s board of directors when Dickieson was hired as a medical doctor. Ironically, it was Rodgerson who unseated Dickieson after he made political history in becoming the first New Democrat elected to the provincial legislature. “The hardest thing when I ran was to run against Herb,” she said. “I liked him; I knew he was a hard worker.”
Dickieson, she said, dedicated 30 years of his life to serving residents of the O’Leary area and all of West Prince. Outside of medicine and politics, she said he took on many causes in support of area communities, recalling, in part, his campaign to stop local cuts to Canada Post.
“One could call on him any time of the day or night,” said Rodgerson.
Her view was shared by O’Leary Mayor Eric Gavin, who said O’Leary and West Prince are better places because Dickieson was part of them.
“What he did to help everybody,” he exclaimed, noting it didn’t matter whether it was three o’clock in the afternoon or three in the morning. “Hours and hours and hours of dedication.”
The Appreciation Day will be held 1:30-4:30 p.m. at the O’Leary Town Complex (the old hospital building) and is open to all.
