Health Minister Hears From Pharmacists, Fire Departments at Strait Area Stop

PORT HAWKESBURY - Nova Scotia's Minister of Health and Wellness, Michelle Thompson, received questions and comments from Strait Area pharmacists and emergency responders as part of the Port Hawkesbury stop on her provincewide community consultations on health care delivery. 

Flanked by several members of the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) and the province's Department of Health and Wellness (DHW), Thompson heard from Michael Hatt, the owner-operator of Medicine Shoppe Port Hawkesbury and the developer of a mobile vaccination clinic for COVID-19 and influenza, as well as Paul Shears, the chief of the West Bay Road Volunteer Fire Department and an executive member with the Strait Area Mutual Aid Association (SAMAA).

Also featured on this week's edition of Roundtable is an interview by host Adam Cooke with Nova Scotia's Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Brian Comer, regarding the department's recent partnership with the Tranquility video counselling service to provide virtual-care options for those struggling with anxiety and depression issues. Comer and his colleagues are hoping that the provision of weekly 30-minute counselloing sessions to those struggling to receive psychiatric care at local emergency departments will help these people receive the immediate attention they need while clearing up logjams in community ERs. 

The episode concludes with a profile of Ukrainian-born journalism student Yuliia Kovalenko, who is now among the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) participants at Winnipeg's U Multicultural Channel through the auspices of the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS). Kovalenko, who was taking university training for her journalism career in Kiev when Russian forces invaded the country last February, quickly relocated to Poland and then sought out opportunities in Canada. She now feels that the country has welcomed her warmly and could wind up becoming her home for the foreseeable future, even if peace is restored to her home country in the weeks and months to come.