Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Serenity now, oh wait only between 9 - 5
Canada's smallest province has managed to right a HUGE wrong. The Government of Prince Island has reversed a Tuesday decision to switch the provincial suicide hotline from a 24 hour service to a 9 to 5 operation.
The bad publication relations that were garnered from this short-term decision or FLIP-FLOP will relax in time, but the flap definitely was unnecessary. The Government of PEI was paying a New Brunswick company $30,000 to monitor the line and decided that it couldn't afford the cost.
The irony of the original decision is almost too much. The very time that people most need support - after hours, in the middle of the night - would have been the times when people would have been rerouted to 911 or asked to call back during business hours. However, during the day, there are more supports and lots of other activity.
A $30,000 annual expenditure is embarrassing, even in PEI. The province is running a budget of close to $1.0 B. Good to see the government was quick to admit their mistake since it is clear that a crisis can happen
The bad publication relations that were garnered from this short-term decision or FLIP-FLOP will relax in time, but the flap definitely was unnecessary. The Government of PEI was paying a New Brunswick company $30,000 to monitor the line and decided that it couldn't afford the cost.
The irony of the original decision is almost too much. The very time that people most need support - after hours, in the middle of the night - would have been the times when people would have been rerouted to 911 or asked to call back during business hours. However, during the day, there are more supports and lots of other activity.
A $30,000 annual expenditure is embarrassing, even in PEI. The province is running a budget of close to $1.0 B. Good to see the government was quick to admit their mistake since it is clear that a crisis can happen
# posted by Shaky @ 11:11 p.m. 
