Miramichi Blog

New Year's baby welcomed at the Miramichi Regional Hospital

The Miramichi Regional Hospital welcomed its New Year's baby at 11:52 p.m on January 1. A baby girl, Georgia was born to Melanie Robertson and Jimmy Browne of Miramichi weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces. Georgia is a sister to brothers, Mason and Cole.

As part of the New Brunswick Medical Society's 2009 Safe Start Program, family physician Dr. Moses Rambaran, presented Georgia and her mother with a new infant car seat. The NB Medical Society presents an infant car seat to the first New Year's baby born in each hospital as part of its Safe Start Program. The program reinforces the importance that children need to be properly restrained in motor vehicles.

Labels: hospital, Miramichi

Author Appearances Includes Miramichi Stop

Labels: arts, event

David Adams Richards Up for a GG
David Adams Richards

The Canada Council for the Arts announced the finalists for the 2008 Governor General's Literary Awards yesterday and a Miramichier is among the nominees.

David Adams Richards is nominated in the fiction category for The Lost Highway. The Canada Council for the Arts statement said, "The Lost Highway is an intimate and compelling psychological portrait of a lost soul. David Adams Richards writes with an overarching humanity that points to our foibles with sympathy and humour. His open, honest and supple prose creates a world we at once recognize and see anew."

Richards is one of only three writers to have won both the fiction and non-fiction awards for Nights Below Station Street in 1988 and Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi in 1998, respectively.

The finalists include authors from ages 28 to 77, several previous finalists and three first-time finalists who are journalists. The awards are in the categories of fiction, non fiction, poetry, drama, children's literature (text and illustration) and translation.

A total of 1,469 books were nominated for this year's awards. Thirty-two of the 73 finalists are nominated for the first time. At least nine of the finalists are under the age of 35. The themes of mortality, war and place figure prominently in several of the books.

Canada Council for the Arts funds, administers and promotes the Governor General's Literary Awards. Each winner will receive $25,000 and a specially-bound copy of the winning book. The publisher of each winning book will receive $3,000 to support promotional activities.

Non-winning finalists will each receive $1,000 in recognition of their selection as finalists, bringing the total value of the Awards to approximately $450,000.

The winners will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. EST at the McCord Museum of Canadian History in Montreal.

Labels: arts, awards

Miramichi to host palliative care education day

The Miramichi Extra Mural Program will host a palliative care education day for health care professionals working in palliative care today. The sold out event will have Joy Ufema, an internationally recognized lecturer on palliative care provide information about the "Dying Patient as a Person."

Joy Ufema is a clinical specialist in death and dying and is considered a pioneer in the development of programs for hospice and palliative care. She is currently a clinical specialist at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, Maryland, USA , and at Harford Memorial Hospital in Havre de Grace, Maryland. She is the founder and director of AIDS Hospice House and an honorary member of the National Society of Registered Nurses in the United States.

"We are very privileged and excited to have Joy Ufema as a key note speaker at our education session," says Connie Doucet, palliative care coordinator of the Miramichi Extra Mural Program. "She is a dynamic and inspirational speaker and is at the grass roots of palliative care. Her warm and giving personality is evident to anyone who has seen her speak or read her books."

The education day is funded through the Department of Health, corporate and community sponsors.

Labels: event, hospital

Frye Festival Writing Contest for Students

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, the Great- West Life / London Life Writing Contest is open to high school students province-wide! Check out the new themes and write to win $100, $300 or $500! This year, there will be two distinct categories for creative writing and essays, so express yourself in your own style. The deadline for entries is December 12th.

The Great-West Life – London Life Writing Contest provides student authors the opportunity to demonstrate their writing skills.

Prizes are $500 first place, $300 second place, and $100 third place. Participating schools will also receive one ballot per submission (max. 15) to be placed in a draw for a prize of $500 toward the purchase of books.

Download PDF for full details.

Labels: arts, contest, youth