Tag Archives: Health Care

MyPEI Account

I had a health test recently, the results of which I would receive in the mail. Not having heard anything by this morning, I wondered for the thousandth time in my life why the results couldn’t be available to me online. I decided to search “PEI patient medical records” to see if there has been any update on this long-promised service.

I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon a pilot project for MyPEI and MyHealthPEI, where PEI residents can signup for early access to both online government and health services. I gathered the ID I needed to register, quickly moved through the easy online verification process, which included me saying my name in a video that is uploaded to their system to be reviewed by someone somewhere (verification in person is also available at Access PEI locations), and within a couple of hours, my account was active.

I haven’t had much time to look around on the MyPEI site (don’t think there’s actually much there yet), but the MyHealthPEI site (which seems to be provided by Telus Health) contained a list of my immunizations back to 2013. The Lab Results section was empty, but I found a notice that said they will be making results available for tests starting with those taken in March 2025.

The My Health Links section seems to be rich with links to resources on a wide range of topics. I’ve always found the Health PEI website a bit awkward to navigate – you sometimes need to know what you are looking for to look for it! – but this is well laid out.

In the end, I didn’t find what I wanted this time, but am hopeful that soon the days of waiting for medical tests to show up in the mail will be a thing of the past. The adoption of electronic medical records has been a long and bumpy process for the PEI health system, so this is a positive and important step.

PEI Provincial Election 2023

Our provincial election, called six months early of the October fixed election date, limped to a close yesterday. We had the lowest voter turnout in my lifetime, just under 70%, which would be seen as a great result in other jurisdictions but is considered pretty dismal here. The Progressive Conservative party strengthened their majority, and the Green party lost their official opposition status to the Liberals. No NDP candidates were elected.

Here are my tepid election takes:

  • I knew nothing about the NDP leader, Michelle Neill, before the election, but thought she was extremely relatable and well prepared for the televised leaders’ debate. Her concession speech last night was sincere, positive and classy. I hope she sticks around. Only the NDP and PCs fielded a full slate of candidates, and I’m sure her presence will help build the party over the next four years.
  • There was much consternation on Twitter about why the MLA for my riding, Ernie Hudson, was reelected. He has been the Minster of Health and Wellness for the past couple of years, a time of extreme stress on our health care system. #PEIpoli folks couldn’t understand how anyone would vote for him as everyone seems to think he has done a terrible job in the health portfolio, but I challenge anyone to name one PEI health minster who has ever been well liked or thought to be doing a good job. I can’t think of one, and I’ve met them all in the past 20 years of fighting for access to health care for our area. It’s a cursed position, and I think given to people with very thick skin or someone the premier dislikes. Our health system should be run by those hired to do so, and the politicians made to keep their unskilled hands out of it, but the meddling continues and health ministers rightly pilloried. The people in Hudson’s riding are afraid their small hospital in Alberton will be eliminated, so voting for the candidate from the party almost guaranteed to form government only made sense. He’s a good constituency politician, having worked as a political aide before running himself, and he’s a nice guy to boot.
  • Left-leaning votes keep splitting between the NDP and Greens, and I wish the two parties would work together. I would like to see proportional representation finally come to PEI, and a temporary Green/NDP alliance might make that happen. Both parties have difficulty finding strong candidates, and we desperately need more progressive voices in the legislature. I doubt if there would be much support for this idea in the two parties, but politics is a game, with teams and players and colours and logos, and the old parties play it very well. To win you have to think and move strategically, and use what resources you have to your advantage.
  • I imagine many people in urban PEI don’t realise there are still patronage jobs being handed out in rural parts of the province, thinking that practice died out with the Ghiz government. It did, for the most part, but there are still some seasonal jobs that are “influenced” by MLAs. They expect your loyalty (ie. vote) in return for your job, and if you don’t show up to the polls in a timely manner, you will be reminded and a car will be dispatched to give you a ride to the polls. Politicians will deny this, of course. At least there isn’t someone standing outside the polls with bottles of rum and $20 bills as in the misty days of yore (or maybe there are, but no one offers them to me!)
  • Health care, lack of affordable housing and the high cost of living were the main election issues, while the climate crisis barely got a mention. I understand those who are living in poverty and struggling to make ends meet might not have the climate at the top of their list, but there are many on this island who are doing alright, and don’t seem at all concerned that their children and grandchildren will be inheriting a world that will be challenging at best and unlivable at worst. It is a disconnect I will never understand.

Richard Hinton

A lovely home care nurse just visited, on what is generally a holiday for most people, to give my mother her second COVID-19 vaccine booster. While she waited to make sure my mother didn’t have an adverse reaction to the injection, we had a great chat about health care and the changes to home care over the years.

The PEI Home Care Program is one of those health care services that most people don’t know much about until they are thrust into a situation where they need it. They provide a wide range of services, from nursing and personal care to physiotherapy and adult day programs. My mother only started to receive visits from them last year, and it has been a wonderful help to our family.

The Summerside office has had a health equipment loan program for many years, so if you need something like a walker or commode chair on a short-term basis, you can get one free of charge from their collection. The equipment must be kept in excellent shape, so requires fairly frequent replacement, and some things are quite pricey.

Being part of a couple of groups who raise funds for health care needs, I asked how easy it was to get the funding from government to keep that equipment updated. She said they actually get a lot of the funding from something called the Hinton Fund. I asked if that was connected to former Summerside lawyer Richard Hinton, and she said it was.

After the nurse left, I explained to my mother about the Hinton Fund, and the connection to Richard Hinton. Then I thought about today’s date, and realised it was 66 years ago today that my father, Harold, bought the property where we now live. The lawyer who did up the paperwork was Richard Hinton.

Hinton’s law office was on Summer Street in Summerside, a lovely old house I have been in a few times as our current lawyer once had his office there. Only recently did I learn that the house was built by my GGG uncle, Robert W. Sharp, brother of my GG grandfather, the fabulously-named George Washington Sharp. More PEI connect-the-dots!

Cedar Lodge Receipt
Cedar Lodge Receipt From Richard Hinton 1956