Ontario Health Coalition names recipients of the Dan Benedict, Ethel Meade and Volunteer Awards

Each year the Ontario Health Coalition gives awards to those who have made an exceptional contribution to the protection of public health care.

"The award recipients have often worked almost full-time hours as volunteers to protect local health services and our public health care system," said Dora Jeffries, coalition chairperson. "We want to recognize their exceptional contribution to their home communities and our province."

Dan Benedict Awards

After serving in World War II, Dan Benedict earned his Doctorate in Economics. Dan acted as an adjunct professor of graduate studies in sociology and a visiting professor of political science at York University. He also taught industrial relations at McMaster and Laval Universities. The Paid Education Leave Program of the Canadian Auto Workers, the largest single adult education program for working people in Canada, was his brain-child. Dan also made significant contributions to worker education in Latin America. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 1998. He was a founding member and served as co chair of the Ontario Health Coalition. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Coalition of Senior Citizens' Organizations. Dan's contributions to global social justice are truly extraordinary and he is warmly remembered from Canada to Europe to Latin America.

The Daniel Benedict Award is given annually to the person or persons who - working with one of the local health coalitions - best embodies Dan Benedict's spirit of extraordinary community activism and commitment to the protection and extension of Public Medicare.

This year's recipients are: Barbara Barry - Muskoka Perry Sound Health Coalition Marion Burton - Peterborough Health Coalition Wendy Holliday - Friends of the Ajax/Pickering Hospital Barb Maki - Thunder Bay Health Coalition Anne Marie MacInnis - Sudbury Health Coalition Shirley Roebuck - Save Our Sydenham, Wallaceburg Sue Saltzer - Yellow Shirt Brigade, Fort Erie Pat Scholfield - People's Health Care Coalition, Port Colborne Karen Ward - Peterborough Health Coalition

Ethel Meade Award

Ethel Meade, PhD (Eng. Lit.), has been a long-standing community activist on health care issues and has held numerous leadership positions. Her knowledge of the health care system in Ontario is encyclopaedic and she has been involved in developing policy options to benefit patients in her areas of particular passion, including home and community care. She has been both a board member co chair at OCSCO (Ontario Coalition of Senior Citizens' Organizations); vice-chair of Care Watch Toronto; chair and founding member of the Ontario Health Coalition; member of Senior Secretariat Seniors' Liaison Committee; and member of the Ontario Association of Social Workers' Committee on Issues of Aging.

The Ethel Meade Award was created upon Ethel's retirement from the Ontario Health Coalition Board of Directors. The award, to be presented each year at the Ontario Health Coalition's Health Action Assembly, is to be given to the person whose research and/or policy work has made a crucial contribution to the public health care system and the fight to protect it.

This year's recipient is Carol Kushner, Health Policy Analyst and researcher.

Volunteer Awards:

Given to those whose volunteer contribution to the Ontario Health Coalition has been exceptional.

This year's recipients are: Pam Beck, Toronto Patty Chmelyk, Brampton Jim McDowell, Brampton Dorothy Sauras, Toronto