The West Prince Health Telehospice Project took home a gold medal, and the PEI 911 Civic Addressing Project received a bronze at the Distinction 2000 Awards which were presented at the Government Technology Exhibition (GTEC) conference in Ottawa earlier this month. The Distinction 2000 Awards are designed to formally recognize leadership, innovation and excellence in the management and use of information and information technologies within the public sector. The two projects and their committee members were selected out of a field of 200 outstanding individuals and teams from all levels of government nominated by their colleagues.
The West Prince Health Telehospice project received a gold medal for innovative services. Through the use of a video-conferencing system, terminally ill patients in West Prince now receive 24-hour-a-day care in the comfort of their own home. The program allows the nurse or doctor to visit with the patient via a patient station located in the home. The station provides both audio and visual contact between the patient and health care provider, and enables monitoring of such things as blood pressure, heart and lung sounds, weight, temperature, blood glucose and oxygen. The service is designed to give the dying person and their family the kind of reassurance and support which is crucial when the choice to die at home has been made.
"It is an honour for PEI to receive such an award in health care technology, especially considering that we were competing with several larger provinces," said Premier Pat Binns. "I think this project had particular appeal because it has a direct impact on patient care. Although it is the only one in Canada, its simplicity gives it the capacity to be used in many other areas of patient care."
The PEI 911 Civic Addressing Project received a bronze medal in the same category. Since the early 1990's, all properties in PEI have been digitally mapped in a modern geographical information system (GIS). The GIS graphic system is integrated with the Property Assessment Tax System (PATS) and the Computer Hosted Registry Index System (CHRIS). For the purpose of a 911 system, all existing civic address points in PEI's 17 municipalities had to be confirmed and geo-referenced, and new civic address points had to be assigned and geo-referenced outside the 17 municipalities. The committee coordinated the assignment of civic numbers to over 65,000 improved properties since it began this work in January of 1999. The project has earned Prince Edward Island the distinction of being the only province or state in North America to have total geo-referencing addressing within a jurisdiction.
"I would like to personally congratulate the members of the PEI Civic Addressing Committee who have worked tirelessly over the past 18 months to ensure that each improved property on Prince Edward Island has a standard civic address. The work to link this data base to the GIS system and Island telephone numbers has certainly been crucial to the implementation of our new 911 Emergency Response System," said Premier Binns. "I am particularly pleased to see innovative technology projects of this calibre receiving such well-deserved, national recognition," he said.
Ken Ezeard, CEO, West Prince Health; John Martin, Community Development Coordinator, West Prince Health; Larry Avery, PEI 911 Administration and Terry Scott, Taxation and Property Records, Provincial Treasury, represented Prince Edward Island at the awards dinner and accepted the medals on behalf of their committees.
For more information on the Government Technology Exhibition (GTEC) conference held in Ottawa visit their web site at: www.techgov.com