We just took new video of the Canada Games site at UPEI.
The 8 new parking spaces for the disabled are not there. On Thursday Wendy Guindon, according to an email quoted in yesterday’s update, was told by Greg Clayton, VP of UPEI maintenance, that UPEI was installing a total of 12 disabled parking spots for the Canada Games.
Health and safety of children takes a back seat to power and money games
from iPhone, Sunday 23 Aout 2009, Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, updated August 24th to correct picture
It is greed and power that drives Canada Games officials to hold the games at the start of the swine flu pandemic and despite a hurricane.
Friday and Saturday we got insane optimism.
We are prepared to continue the games no matter what claimed local Canada Games president Joe Spriet.
That CBC story reminds us of Caddyshack when the self righteous minister golfed during the rain then thunder and lightning.
June 3, 2007 (updated August 9, 2009)
Well I am surprised. I got an email from Barry Schmidl.
I sent him more than 20 and he sends me one.
The passing of disability activist Kay Reynolds Kay Reynolds, champion of rights for disabled on P.E.I., dies at 85 is an opportunity for the disability community to pause and reflect on her life and accomplishments.In the Parable of the Talents, Jesus said to the profitable servant “Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things.”If the Lord was handing out assignments, he looked on Kay and put her in charge of many things. Despite her personal disability, she accomplished almost the impossible during her life. We name the organizations she started or belonged to like the PEI Council of the Disabled and Pat and the Elephant as a proud list of our heritage on PEI.
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EDITORIAL STAFF
The Guardian
Kay Reynolds, a champion of the rights of the disabled in Prince Edward Island for more than half a century, died Thursday at the Prince Edward Home in Charlottetown. She was 85.
The funeral is to take place Monday from Central Christian Church at 11 a.m. Visiting hours are Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at MacLean Funeral Home Swan Chapel.
Reynolds fought for the rights of the disabled since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1949.
She was instrumental in the formation of the P.E.I. Council of the Disabled and the first Island Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society and had long supported the work of Pat and the Elephant, the specialized transportation service utilized by Islanders with disabilities.
She served as a member of that service’s board of directors and continually fought for funding to help preserve it.
For her work, she was named Islander of the Year, an award sponsored by The Evening Patriot.
Reynolds was born in Dartmouth, Oct. 11, 1923, was educated at Prince of Wales College, and graduated from the P.E.I. Hospital School of Nursing in 1945.
Reynolds was a young mother and professional nurse when she was first diagnosed with MS.
She was able to continue working professionally for five years after the diagnosis, but her deteriorating health forced her to leave her job and that’s when she began helping people in a different way.
Reynolds loved nursing, particularly working in the maternity ward so caring for others came naturally to her and she continued to do it.
She taught home nursing for St. John Ambulance and ran the nurses’ registry until an hour before she moved from her home to the Dr. Eric Found Centre. She later moved into the Prince Edward Home to live but remained active in various charitable organizations until just recently.
A Guardian story on Reynolds which ran prior to a 2000 fund-raising dinner in her honour for Pat and the Elephant stated:
“When Kay took on the challenge, there was no Council of the Disabled, no Multiple Sclerosis Society on the Island, virtually no wheelchair ramps, no automatic doors, disabled parking spaces, access to jobs, independent-living facilities, powered wheelchairs and scooters, no Pat and the Elephant transportation service . . . no recognition that those with challenges have an equal right to live a full life on their own terms.”
There have been many positive changes in the years Reynolds has fought for the rights of the disabled and in 1993 her contributions were recognized when an independent living centre in Charlottetown was named in her honour.
Her involvement and positive influence continue. She sat in the provincial legislature as part of a very vocal and successful lobby to obtain provincial government funding for the first drugs available to treat multiple sclerosis.
Reynolds says the growth of Pat and the Elephant is one thing that gave her a sense of great satisfaction. It means she and many others have their independence and can contribute to their community.
She served until just recently on the board of Pat and the Elephant, the Council of the Disabled, Kay Reynolds Centre and the Quality Control Council for the Beach Grove and Prince Edward homes.
Reynolds insists she is simply one of many doing this work but she inspired many to get involved and to see their abilities, not their disabilities.
In a previous article, Heart and Stoke lobbying for early treatment, we covered the advocacy campaign of the Heart and Stroke foundation to get a new stroke treatment unit.
What a sharp contrast with the highly ineffective work done by the PEI Council of Persons with Disabilities who advocate for nothing and no one.
Heart and Stroke are organized around this one goal. Stoke victims and other local well known people have been writing letters to the newspapers. The letters are well informed, lead you to their conclusion. Comrie appears in public and speaks on their behalf.
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