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A FRIEND IN NEED OF AN ENDOSCOPY
IS A FRIEND INDEED
BY BEN DOVER
UNLESS YOU HAVE SOME SORT OF ODDBALL
FETISH, WAITING AROUND ALL MORNING FOR A
STRANGER TO SHOVE A CAMERA DOWN YOUR
THROAT OR UP YOUR ARSE ISN’T YOUR IDEA
OF A GOOD TIME.
It’s a good way to ruin your day, is what it is.
But, Capital District Health Authority
mouthpuppet John Gillis is now confirming that
FLORIFAMOUS NEVILLE
FIRED ME, CANCER
PATIENT CLAIMS
BY ROSE PETALS
DOREEN SEMADENI, THE FORMER MANAGER OF MY MOTHER’S
BLOOMERS, SAYS SHE’S SHE FILED A COMPLAINT WITH THE N.S. HUMAN
RIGHTS COMMISSION AGAINST FLOWER SHOP OWNER NEVILLE MACKAY,
ALLEGING THE CELEBRITY FLORIST FIRED HER ONE WEEK AFTER SHE
RETURNED TO WORK FROM BREAST CANCER TREATMENT.
Doreen tells me Neville dismissed her on August 5, after three years of
employment. She was not on salary.
Originally hired as a floral designer, Doreen was promoted to manager
some two years ago, following Vance Carroll’s departure.
Doreen claims she received no earlier warnings, or any indications
from her fastidious and flamboyant petal pushing boss that he was dissatisfied
with her work.
“I was in charge of the store, obviously, when he was away. And he
was away a lot.”
Doreen says she returned to the Spring Garden Place flower boutique
on July 27 after three weeks of unpaid recuperation, following her
initial surgery.
“I still wanted to work. I really liked my job, and I do need to make a living.
Now I have nothing,” the 61-year old tells me.
Married to former Delta Barrington hotel manager Peter Semadeni,
Doreen says she cashed in her holiday pay to cover her extended absence
from work.
Diagnosed in June, the Scottish native tells me she informed Neville
she planned to work around her treatments.
“I worked right up until my surgery,” she quietly notes.
Shelburne native Neville was “very shocked” by her diagnosis, she
adds.
Known for his tireless charitable work, and regularly featured on C-
100, Breakfast Television, and between the sheets of the wedding
publication Duly Noted, Neville is a prominent local fundraiser for the
Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
Each November he hosts the star-studded “An Evening with Neville and
Friends,” to raise awareness and thousands of dollars for breast cancer
research. He has a well-deserved reputation for his many philanthropic
endeavours.
According to Doreen, Neville told her to “take all the time I needed, and to
take care of myself,” and sent her flowers at home while she recuperated.
Neville’s mother sent her a card as well.
The indefatigable Neville was in Mississippi at a trade show, but gave
not only will a visit to the Endoscopy Clinic at
the VG ruin your day, but somebody else’s as
well.
John advises that starting earlier this month,
the CDHA introduced a new policy dictating that
those undergoing endoscopy procedures will
be required to have a friend or family member
wait with them. If a patient arrives without a
minder, I understand that the procedure will
automatically be rescheduled for another day.
HEALTH
&
BEAUTY
John says that nurses found they were collectively
spending up to six hours per day trying
to track down rides home for patients.
“It’s certainly a resource issue,” he tells me.
A similar policy, says John, has been enforced
in other departments, like oral and opthamology,
for years.
Neville
MacKay
word via his new shop manager that he had received my detailed email,
and promised to contact me before deadline. But at presstime I had not
heard Neville’s side of the story.
In late August, Doreen underwent radiation therapy, a development
she describes to me as “unexpected.”
In a recent case before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, a
property management company in Toronto was ordered to pay $20,000
to an employee, a single mom with breast cancer, who was fired after
she revealed her diagnosis.
Does Frank Know?
atlanticfrank@eastlink.ca
SEPTEMBER 28, 2010 ATLANTIC CANADA FRANK 15