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ShareCadboro Bay resident wins accolades for work in palliative, pain care
By Roszan Holmen - Saanich News
Published: November 05, 2008 3:00 PM
New Cadboro Bay resident Helen Hays has just returned from a trip to Edmonton where she received the Order of Excellence.
Presented by the Lieutenant Governor, the award honours her work advancing palliative care in the province where she spent her career.
Hays established the first palliative care unit in Alberta in 1982. She ran it for seven years and won the Order of Canada for her work in 1986.
She later established a non-cancer pain treatment centre, for those injured on the job or suffering from other afflictions such as severe migraines.
Pain must be treated on an individual basis, said Hays. There is no one recipe for each patient but for most, it can be reduced quite a lot, she added.
"I've had a very interesting life, I must say I've very much enjoyed the work I did," said Hays, who is now fully retired.
In March of 2008, Hays moved from Edmonton to Cadboro Bay.
What brought her here, she says, is "A very old friend, who is now a widower, so we thought we would, as he calls it, share our pensions."
rholmen@saanichnews.com
