An evening talk on Salt Spring Island for friends, families, parents and grandparents about the need for eldership, not just retirees. June 4th, 7-9 PM at the United Church. "If you get to something like old age and if you don’t retire, you are one sure thing in a storm tossed life, and an old tree that could give shade for the young ones to rest beneath." - Stephen Jenkinson Young people need and deserve real recognition of their worth and purpose in life, and a living example of enduring discernment and courage for the hard and often empty times that are upon us all. The esteem of parents and friends can only go so far: elders must bring the rest. Grandparents must be grand not only for their children’s children, but for all the young ones coming into the world now. Their status as grand people comes from having wrangled wisdom from experience, and from having become elders more than senior citizens. Grandparents must now be elders even – especially – when no one asks i…

The important work, this workshop for men of ages proposes to facilitate is at the root of what needs to happen to create a regenerative culture. Boys in our society lost the opportunity to be initiated by wild earth under the tending care of the elders for at least the last 3000 years. This fact, I believe, is at the core of why our society has been so destructive toward wild nature and indigenous cultures all through history and is reaching today a point of unprecedented global crises. There are no new places and people to colonize and consequently there is to transfer the grief of our loss to somebody or somewhere else. To be able to recover the important cultural container that will nurture young boys into mature adult developing a self who deeply care for the well being of people and nature, men today, need to experience themselves the level of connection to the wild, their community and self that only initiatory events are able to provide. The genetic imperative …

Lady Minto Hospital Foundation has made a new investment, a sort of “heart monitor”, if you will. It doesn’t rely on fancy bells and whistles but it is everything to do with our inner core. And it requires your participation. Helping Hearts is a new program and it is an investment in our staff, nurses and doctors. It is our sincere effort to recognize the work that they do on a daily basis to provide the best patient care possible with the resources that they have available. Here’s how the program works. If there is someone who made a difference in the quality of your care or the care of a family member during your recent hospital visit at Lady Minto Hospital, tell us your story and show your gratitude by making a donation in their name. It could be one of our doctors or nurses. Maybe it’s our Facilities Department that maintains the grounds and the building to make the hospital a physically comfortable environment. Did our admitting staff work to efficiently proce…

Walk into the Endoscopy Room at Lady Minto, on a Tuesday, and you’ll find yourself in the midst of bright lights. The procedure is an endoscopy, which includes colonoscopies and gastroscopies. The cast includes the great OR teams of Lady Minto Hospital nurses and doctors. The leading man…Dr. John Morse, the specialist behind all this activity. How did Salt Spring Island end up so lucky to have access to his services? John Morse and his family had been living up in Yellowknife for the past 18 years. During this time, Dr. Shane Barclay was working part time in Fort Simpson and they became friends. Apparently the conversation went something like, “if you ever get tired of working in the north and want to work in BC, let me know.” Eventually a move south became very appealing and the Morse’s moved to Maple Bay. Thus began the talks about Endoscopy at Lady Minto Hospital. Salt Spring Island has kept him very busy. A year ago, Dr. Morse began commuting from Maple Bay every Tues…