DO YOU HAVE SOMEONE IN YOUR FAMILY THAT IS MENTALLY ILL AND NEEDS HELP TO STAY ON THEIR MEDICATIONS? DO NOT COUNT ON THE NEW P.E.I. COMMUNITY TREATMENT ORDER TO HELP YOUR LOVED ONE!

YOU NEED TO STEP UP NOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE! YOU MUST CONTACT YOUR MLA AND MEDIA TO VOICE YOUR DISPLEASURE. THE P.E.I. CTO BILL WILL BE PASSED POSSIBLY MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2023 IF YOU DO NOT TAKE ACTION NOW!

ISLANDERS DESERVE THE MODERN GOLD STANDARD NEW BRUNSWICK CTO, NOT THE SILVER STANDARD PROPOSED P.E.I. CTO. I HAVE SUGGESTED THAT THE P.E.I. GOVERNMENT CUT AND PASTE THE N.B. CTO. I BELIEVE THAT WE SHOULD LEGISLATE THE CTO CORRECTLY THE FIRST TIME!

YOU WILL BE SORRY IN THE FUTURE, IF THIS BILL IS LEGISLATED. ACCORDING TO DR. RICHARD O'REILLY, RENOWN PSYCHIATRIST FROM LONDON, ONTARIO, THE PROPOSED P.E.I. CTO IS THE MOST RESTRICTIVE IN CANADA. IT TIES THE HANDS OF CLINICIANS AND WILL MAKE MANY ISLANDERS INELIGIBLE FOR A COMMUNITY TREATMENT ORDER. DO YOU REALLY WANT THIS TO HAPPEN?

I am saddened to hear that the proposed P.E.I. Community Treatment Order received 2nd Reading.

Our son, Andrew Bryenton, happens to be one of the INELIGIBLE mentally ill patients.
COMPARISONS P.E.I. CTO TO N.B. CTO:
1. Previous hospitalization.
PEI: at least 2 involuntary admissions AND a total of 30 days as involuntary inpatient.
NB: 1 admission of any duration OR none if there is a “pattern of behaviour” that is likely to cause serious harm or deterioration. Alberta has a similar provision to NB.

Andrew would clearly QUALIFY under the N.B. Community Treatment Order but NOT QUALIFY under the P.E.I. Community Treatment Order.

Andrew has one admission at the Humber River Hospital and P.E.I. will probably disqualify that hospital because the admission is out of province. That will be another battle for me to fight!  Remember, MAMA BEAR WILL NEVER GIVE UP!

Minister Mark McLane, Minister of Health and Addictions supported an inter-provincial ministerial order for a medical transfer on clinical assessment. That was wonderful news! Andrew is now admitted to the Hillsborough Hospital, Charlottetown, P.E.I. under the care of his psychiatrist.

It is possible that Andrew will terminate his medications upon discharge due to anosognosia, a symptom of his mental illness. He does not realize that he is seriously ill and refuses assistance and medications.

I have been lobbying for many months for a P.E.I. Community Treatment Order knowing that it may be a difficult task keeping Andrew on his medications after hospital discharge.

I received an e-mail from Dr. John Gray. He attached a CTO Evolutions and Comparisons document authored by Dr. John Gray and Dr. Richard O’Reilly, psychiatrist. It compared the proposed P.E.I. CTO to the New Brunswick CTO.

They advised that the N.B. CTO was the best in Canada and that the proposed P.E.I. CTO has too many restrictions to be effective for patients and clinicians. I recommended that the P.E.I. Government cut and paste the N.B. CTO. I consider the N.B. CTO to be the Gold Standard and the P.E.I. CTO to be the Silver Standard.

I told the politicians that Islanders deserve and need the Gold Standard CTO. I contacted the Premier of P.E.I., Dennis King and the Minister of Health and Addictions, Mark McLane as well as other politicians and the media.

Minister of Health and Addictions, Mark McLane supported the Ministerial Order for Andrew's medical transfer, only to have Andrew NOT BE ELIGIBLE for the CTO to keep him on medications. Does this make sense to you? 

I want to point out that it is not just me, Dr. Richard O'Reilly and Dr. John Gray that have grave concerns about the P.E.I. proposed CTO. The P.E.I. Green Party, under the leadership of Karla Bernard, also has been asking questions and lobbying for changes to the proposed P.E.I. CTO.

There are many Andrews who need a CTO. Are you willing to stand by and let the P.E.I. Government legislate a substandard CTO that may not be able to assist your loved one?   There will be no silver lining to this crisis if the SILVER STANDARD CTO is legislated.  I have courageously raised the awareness and now it is up to you!

Here are the contacts:
Premier Dennis King premier@gov.pe.ca 902-368-4400
Minister of Health and Addictions, Mark McLane mamclaneminister@gov.pe.ca 902-368-5250
Lisa Thibeau Deputy Minister of Health and Addictions lthibeau@gov.pe.ca 902-368-5290
Krista Shaw Assistant Deputy Minister Mental Health and Addictions kdshaw@ihis.org 902-368-5250
CBC Compass compass@cbc.ca 902-629-6403 Talkback 18006801898
The Guardian newsroom@theguardian.pe.ca 1-800-267-6397

Here is a letter from a mother from Nova Scotia to Minister Mark McLane. Laura Way is well-versed in mental health legislation and international law or policy like the UNCRPD.

Good Day Minister McLane,
My name is Laura Way and I am a Mother of a loved one with untreated severe mental illness. I am writing to you today to ask for your support of the Gold Standard version of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs), as proposed by Marlene Bryenton and Drs John Gray and Richard O'Reilly.

This version will ensure that folks with untreated or escalated severe mental illness and lack of insight will not continue to fall through the cracks. I would hope that after witnessing the horror that the Bryenton family has had to endure in order to get their loved one appropriate care - that you would not want to put another family through something similar. Yet that is exactly what the CTO version you favour, supports.

Andrew's case, although heartbreaking, is not as rare as you may believe. With a population of 173,787 persons on the Island and the prevalence of schizophrenia at 1.8% you have approximately 3128 persons affected provincially. Since schizophrenia is a chronic illness a person will need support throughout their lifetime. The CTO version you have endorsed to vote through will create accessibility problems for those who need it most.

For example, what if a person has had one hospitalization only but due to lack of awareness refuses treatment or medications? What if that person then decides to live homeless while clearly psychotic? What if that person was your son or daughter? You see where I'm going with this.

Evidence based research supports the early and effective treatment of psychotic illnesses to promote better clinical outcomes. The longer one remains untreated the more cognitive damage will occur. Treatment resistance (the persistence of symptoms despite being on medication) is another consequence of cognitive damage due to prolonged untreated psychosis.

Minister McLane, I know it was important for you to look at clinical records before agreeing to sign Andrew's medical transfer. It sounds like you are a person who looks at the facts and does not make decisions based on emotion. Based on that, I hope you will entertain the highly regarded and respected medical opinions of Drs O'Reilly and Gray who remain two of Canada's preeminent experts on schizophrenia and mental health legislation, respectively. Certainly these men have experience in various places across Canada and have seen first hand from a professional capacity the damage that poor mental health legislation can create with regards to those with severe mental illnesses being unable to access timely and effective mental health care.

Please listen to these experts - the lives of many Island families and their severely mentally ill loved ones are in your hands.
Sincerely,
Laura Way

Dr. Richard O'Reilly and Dr. John Gray have prepared and sent a comprehensive EVOLUTION AND COMPARISONS document at no charge to the P.E.I. Government. Dr. O'Reilly has offered to speak to the P.E.I. officials by telephone. And most recently, Dr. O'Reilly offered the opportunity to hold a virtual meeting. These doctors want the best CTO granted to the residents of P.E.I. and have gone to great lengths to try to assist. Why are the P.E.I. Government officials not listening to what they have to say? I doubt there is anyone on P.E.I. with Dr. Richard O'Reilly's qualifications as a specialist in this field.

This song has helped me throughout the past months. It is titled GOD WILL MAKE A WAY! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zo3fJYtS-o

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