CHEERS and JEERS: Cheers to Device Doctors, the mobile phone repair shop in Charlottetown that donated a couple of phone charging units (valued at $500 each) to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s outpatients waiting room. The business is also in talks to provide more of these units throughout the QEH and in the Prince County Hospital in Summerside. We saw a similar act of kindness in March when the franchise owner of Pizza Pizza in Charlottetown delivered and donated enough pizzas to feed hungry patients waiting to see a doctor. The JEER in this is that wait times are so out of hand that the community has to step in and help people out. The province shouldn’t be relying on businesses in the community to make patients more comfortable while they wait long hours to see a doctor.
JEERS: To Charlottetown drivers for speeding in school zones. City councillors are looking at increasing the hours (past 5 p.m.) that the 30 km/h speed limit applies. More speed bumps would help as well as better enforcement from the police. Other, larger jurisdictions with deeper pockets have put photo radar in some school zones with signs telling drivers that they are entering a photo radar zone. Regardless, the city needs to find its own solution. It’s unfortunate because speed limits are clearly posted, and there is no excuse for breaking this law. The lower speed limits are there for student safety.
CHEERS: To the most recent Guardian intern Jensen Edwards, who leaves us after three weeks. Jensen did a great job, including helping out with the Guardian’s provincial election coverage. On Saturday, his story on the piping plover appeared on our front page as the weekend report. He just completed the final course requirements for a master of journalism degree from Carleton University, and is returning to his home province of British Columbia to get his start in the industry at a small newspaper. Best of luck Jensen.
CHEERS: To Olive Bryanton, who at the age of 82, graduated on Friday with a PhD in education from UPEI. The Hampshire resident is the university’s oldest-ever PhD recipient. Her scholastic journey began in the 1960s with a one-year practical nursing course at Hillsborough Hospital, and then she completed a bachelor of sociology (with a minor in Canadian Studies) at UPEI in the 1980s. She ended up working at UPEI in the Centre for Health and Aging, but her desire for further studies led her to complete a master’s degree in education in 2009 and now her PhD. Bryanton’s doctoral research involved 10 female participants (ages 85-92) and the supports they need to live in rural P.E.I.
