Nurse comes out of retirement until solution found for Pelee Island health care woes

By Pat Bailey

Marlene Pierce has been coaxed out of retirement to help fill a void in health care on Pelee Island — for the interim.

Pierce's summer retirement caused an uproar on the island when her 24-hour on-call care was no longer available. Instead, residents were forced to call 911 if an 'emergency' developed when the clinic was closed.

During her shortlived retirement, Pelee Island Mayor Rick Masse said paramedics received 26, 911 calls from residents or visitors, and in a few circumstances, a helicopter was called in to airlift patients to the mainland.

Masse described the past two months on the island as "very stressful, a very difficult state for my community and the residents".

But Tuesday morning, Sept. 20, Masse announced a deal has been worked out with Pierce to come out of retirement temporarily— at least until Dec. 31.

"My comfort level has been relieved somewhat now that our community of Pelee Island will be provided with the emergent and urgent care through this collaborative model worked on with Harrow Health Centre and the Ministry of Health," said Masse.

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