Lights and sounds spilled out of a Kent Street garage Oct. 11.
Inside were students in the School of Performing Arts at Holland College performing for the first time in their new rehearsal space.
Outside were fellow students, staff and dignitaries witnessing the grand opening of the garage.
SoPA students had awaited the chance to perform in the new space for months, said vocalist Jocelyn Reyome, whose impassioned Alicia Keys rendition closed out the ceremony.
“We were super anxious over the summer and we finally found out it was opening. We were jumping at the opportunity to perform.”
The original garage was built by the Duncan family, who owned the property for nearly a century. It required a full makeover, complete with new equipment and light and sound systems.
The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency provided $29,325 in funding for the project. Students from the college’s heritage retrofit carpentry program worked on the rebuild.
Performing arts students will make full use of the new facility, said Reyome, a Massachusetts native.
“It feels kick ass. A lot of other schools don’t have this opportunity to have such an up-to-date performing studio. We feel that we’re lucky and we definitely want to take advantage of it.”
Two of the program’s 11 ensembles performed during the opening with hits from Stevie Wonder and the Black Keys, among others.
Bahamian percussionist Josh Wright was impressed with the new space.
“The lights, even down to the sound, it’s perfect, absolutely perfect. (There are) things we can do in here and push ourselves a little bit further.”
Having another space to rehearse will help accommodate the more than 50 students in the program, said West Virginia guitarist Connor Mowery.
“It definitely opens things up. Now we have this nice, big extra practice space, so we have a lot more things going on at one time. Multiple ensembles can be practising all over campus at once.”
During his remarks, Charlottetown MP Sean Casey said he had “great admiration” for the performances on display.
“You can feel the creativity vibrating within these walls.”
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
PEI struggling to recruit psychiatrists
Suicidal patients could be turned away from the emergency room without receiving treatment due to the province’s psychiatrist shortage, says P.E.I’s chief of mental health and addictions.
Heather Keizer spoke to the standing committee for health and wellness Oct. 3 about the government’s plan to get back to a full complement of 15 psychiatrists. There are 9.5 full-time equivalent working on the Island now.
“It’s conceivable” a suicidal patient could be discharged from the ER without seeing a psychiatrist, Keizer said.
“We should have 15 psychiatrists on call in our emergency room. We have 4.7.”
That means there are now ER shifts with no psychiatric coverage. In the meantime, video conference sessions with off-Island psychiatrists are being used and ER physicians are “well-trained” in suicide risk assessments, Keizer said.
Mental health advocate Sarah Stewart-Clark said she was “very startled” to learn the extent of the shortage.
“I think we’ve all been working from this number (11) that was provided by the province.”
Part of the problem is, during past shortages, the province hired some psychiatrists who were less than suitable, Keizer said.
“Those who have exited have done so in response to a performance review.”
The province has been very accommodating to potential candidates, Henderson said, but that isn’t enough when contending with larger jurisdictions for psychiatrists, he added.
“We have to be more competitive than we are.”
Keizer has been busy interviewing candidates to fill P.E.I.’s recommended complement of 15 psychiatrists, with a focus on Canadian schools.
Committee chair Jordan Brown suggested the government should reach out to Islanders during their first four years of medical school and persuade them to specialize in psychiatry.
Visa issues have delayed the arrival of psychiatrist Dr. Mahesh Nachnani. Henderson told The Guardian on Sept. 3 Nachnani had already been practising on P.E.I. for two weeks.
When she worked in a similar-sized jurisdiction in Ontario, the region had six psychiatrists for a population of 150,000, Keizer said.
“The burden of illness was less. Since I moved here, I’ve seen more severe, more illness, more regularly.”
Mental health expert Todd Leader, who is consulting with Health P.E.I., said he used a work-around situation during a shortage in the South Shore Health Authority in Nova Scotia.
Psychiatrists spent some time each week taking consultation calls from family doctors to allow them to make informed medication decisions.
“It worked great and the doctors’ competence increased over time while we kept working on the psychiatry recruitment challenge.”
Although she approves of the suggested solutions, Stewart-Clark said it will take more than words to restore faith in the provincial government and its handling of mental health.
Heather Keizer spoke to the standing committee for health and wellness Oct. 3 about the government’s plan to get back to a full complement of 15 psychiatrists. There are 9.5 full-time equivalent working on the Island now.
“It’s conceivable” a suicidal patient could be discharged from the ER without seeing a psychiatrist, Keizer said.
“We should have 15 psychiatrists on call in our emergency room. We have 4.7.”
That means there are now ER shifts with no psychiatric coverage. In the meantime, video conference sessions with off-Island psychiatrists are being used and ER physicians are “well-trained” in suicide risk assessments, Keizer said.
Mental health advocate Sarah Stewart-Clark said she was “very startled” to learn the extent of the shortage.
“I think we’ve all been working from this number (11) that was provided by the province.”
Part of the problem is, during past shortages, the province hired some psychiatrists who were less than suitable, Keizer said.
“Those who have exited have done so in response to a performance review.”
“We have to be more competitive than we are.”
Keizer has been busy interviewing candidates to fill P.E.I.’s recommended complement of 15 psychiatrists, with a focus on Canadian schools.
Committee chair Jordan Brown suggested the government should reach out to Islanders during their first four years of medical school and persuade them to specialize in psychiatry.
Visa issues have delayed the arrival of psychiatrist Dr. Mahesh Nachnani. Henderson told The Guardian on Sept. 3 Nachnani had already been practising on P.E.I. for two weeks.
When she worked in a similar-sized jurisdiction in Ontario, the region had six psychiatrists for a population of 150,000, Keizer said.
“The burden of illness was less. Since I moved here, I’ve seen more severe, more illness, more regularly.”
Mental health expert Todd Leader, who is consulting with Health P.E.I., said he used a work-around situation during a shortage in the South Shore Health Authority in Nova Scotia.
Psychiatrists spent some time each week taking consultation calls from family doctors to allow them to make informed medication decisions.
“It worked great and the doctors’ competence increased over time while we kept working on the psychiatry recruitment challenge.”
Although she approves of the suggested solutions, Stewart-Clark said it will take more than words to restore faith in the provincial government and its handling of mental health.
“I think, after the past year, people have lost trust in our health minister and in Health P.E.I. to manage our mental health system. That trust has to be built back up and it can only be built back up by action.”
Psychiatrist shortage impacting ER patients
Growing up, Tristen Garnhum wanted to be a mechanic or a chef. Now the 19-year-old just wants to stay alive.
Diagnosed with Asperger’s, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, Garnhum is coping with a mental health crisis and a psychiatrist shortage is making things worse, says his mother, Melody.
He has been in and out of the emergency room since Sept. 25, but he has not been admitted.
On Oct. 3, he tried to hang himself in the ER bathroom.
He has gone entire days at the ER without seeing a psychiatrist and has attempted suicide before, Melody said.
“If they were to release my son today, I guarantee you within weeks I’d be burying him.
"Until now, he’s been fighting getting help. This time he’s asking for it. So I know the situation has drastically changed.”
The province has 4.7 full-time equivalent psychiatrists able to work in the emergency room at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and since Sept. 29 there have been shifts with no psychiatrist on call.
The government should have warned the public about the lack of psychiatric coverage, said mental health advocate Sarah Stewart-Clark.
“The fact that the health minister didn't make us aware of that and communicate their plan to get patients through this safely, that was very upsetting to learn.
“When we're not even able to cover call at the hospital, that's very troubling. We need to have coverage for the proportion of our population at a crisis point.”
The psychiatrists and physicians who are available aren’t doing enough to help Tristen, said Garnhum.
“I blame psychiatrists who don’t listen to the families, who don’t really listen to the patients and just shove medication.”
The situation is complicated by previous criminal charges that prevent Tristen from living with minors, which means he can’t live at home.
“(ER doctors) feel it’s a housing situation, not a mental health situation. Yes, the housing situation has aggravated his mental health issues. That I will not deny. But he’s there because of his mental health issues,” Garnhum said.
She has been told, however, Tristen will not be sent home without getting help.
Attempts to contact Health Minister Robert Henderson for help have gone nowhere, Garnhum said. She blames the provincial government for not providing enough funding to provide adequate psychiatric coverage.
“Robert Henderson should never have been handed that portfolio. He does not know how to manage it. He does not care enough. That portfolio deserves a politician who cares about people.”
Garnhum plans to continue fighting for change in the system, for her son and the many others who need help.
“My son is not a statistic. I’m not going to let my son become a statistic. He deserves to have a future.”
Diagnosed with Asperger’s, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, Garnhum is coping with a mental health crisis and a psychiatrist shortage is making things worse, says his mother, Melody.
He has been in and out of the emergency room since Sept. 25, but he has not been admitted.
On Oct. 3, he tried to hang himself in the ER bathroom.
He has gone entire days at the ER without seeing a psychiatrist and has attempted suicide before, Melody said.
“If they were to release my son today, I guarantee you within weeks I’d be burying him.
"Until now, he’s been fighting getting help. This time he’s asking for it. So I know the situation has drastically changed.”
The province has 4.7 full-time equivalent psychiatrists able to work in the emergency room at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and since Sept. 29 there have been shifts with no psychiatrist on call.
The government should have warned the public about the lack of psychiatric coverage, said mental health advocate Sarah Stewart-Clark.
“The fact that the health minister didn't make us aware of that and communicate their plan to get patients through this safely, that was very upsetting to learn.
“When we're not even able to cover call at the hospital, that's very troubling. We need to have coverage for the proportion of our population at a crisis point.”
The psychiatrists and physicians who are available aren’t doing enough to help Tristen, said Garnhum.
“I blame psychiatrists who don’t listen to the families, who don’t really listen to the patients and just shove medication.”
The situation is complicated by previous criminal charges that prevent Tristen from living with minors, which means he can’t live at home.
“(ER doctors) feel it’s a housing situation, not a mental health situation. Yes, the housing situation has aggravated his mental health issues. That I will not deny. But he’s there because of his mental health issues,” Garnhum said.
She has been told, however, Tristen will not be sent home without getting help.
Attempts to contact Health Minister Robert Henderson for help have gone nowhere, Garnhum said. She blames the provincial government for not providing enough funding to provide adequate psychiatric coverage.
“Robert Henderson should never have been handed that portfolio. He does not know how to manage it. He does not care enough. That portfolio deserves a politician who cares about people.”
Garnhum plans to continue fighting for change in the system, for her son and the many others who need help.
“My son is not a statistic. I’m not going to let my son become a statistic. He deserves to have a future.”
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