Dolores LeVangie is a Master of Arts (Island Studies) student who has travelled to Chiloe Island, Chile. This island is roughly the same size as PEI with a population of around 150,000. Dolores travelled to the remote Williche community of Tweo, which is located on the southern tip of Chiloe and only accessible by boat. In March 2010, she returned to the island to do ethnographic field work for her Master's degree, working at the Williche Health Centre and travelling with the health team doing interviews in various communities.

Dolores plans to examine how “islandness” influences the effects that modernity has on illnesses and treatment in island populations. This research will explore how living on an island impacts the effects that post-colonialism, modernity, and capitalism have on types of illnesses of island populations and how this impacts the medical systems of islands...

Students in UPEI's School of Nursing work to promote public health through their clinical placements in health centres, public health offices, hospitals, and manors across Prince Edward Island. In the fall 2009 semester alone, UPEI placed 240 students all across these clinical sites. Fourth-year nursing students also provided much-needed assistance with H1N1 vaccination clinics in November. They worked in public health offices in Charlottetown, Summerside, and Souris, and in various schools across the province.

Since 2000, UPEI’s staff, faculty and students have donated over 1,500 units of blood to the Canadian Blood Service through on-campus clinics and visits to the CBS Charlottetown Centre.

For over five years, Dr. Jean Mitchell, Associate Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, has been involved in running an action research program with youth between the ages of 12 to 18 years in Hillsborough Park in Charlottetown. In addition to research, an after-school program, aimed at disadvantaged youth, has been running for over three years.

Mitchell has acquired Federal funding of $50,000 to start the program, while continuing to advocate with the community for funds from municipal and provincial governments and local organizations, such as Rotary, for the continuation of the program. A unique aspect of this project is that UPEI students have been volunteering for the past five years. Two of those students are now doing doctoral studies on youth-related topics and this year a student is undertaking an honours degree in youth and education.

The Canadian Tobacco Control Research Initiative (CRTCRI) was conducted at one Prince Edward Island intermediate school by the Comprehensive School Health Research Team (CSHRT). The team surveyed adolescent-aged students’ beliefs and perceptions surrounding the physical and social environmental factors at school which influence students’ decisions to remain smoke-free.

More recently, the School Health Action Planning & Evaluation System / Youth Smoking Survey – Prince Edward Island (SHAPES/YSS-PEI) was implemented in the 2008-09 school year across PEI (grades 5-12 - census sample). The School Health Action Planning and Evaluation System collected data on physical activity, healthy eating, tobacco use, and mental fitness. In the upcoming school year (09/10), we are proposing to meet with schools to discuss their feedback reports, identify areas for improvement, and...

Dr. Janet Bryanton, principal investigator from the School of Nursing, is partnering with the PEI Reproductive Care Program and the PEI Department of Health to conduct a feasibility study on the PEI Perinatal Database. This database houses perinatal information on all PEI mothers and newborns, since 1990, including those giving birth outside of PEI. It holds a wealth of population-based provincial data that are not collected by any other mechanism. PEI is one of only five provinces in Canada with an established provincial perinatal database. The specific objectives to be addressed are:

1. Determine the current barriers to accessing data from the PEI Perinatal Database by researchers outside the Department of Health;
2. Investigate the processes and policies that must be put in place to allow access to the PEI Perinatal Database (i.e., release protocols, privacy, and...

Maritime Quality Milk is a research and service centre within the Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI. The Centre has an integrated research and service capacity that is unparallelled in the Canadian dairy industry. Maritime Quality Milk marries the traditional agriculture and agri-food industry with innovative bioscience by collaborating with a network of 750 dairy producers and more than 300 farmers, industry partners, and associated research partners to improve milk quality.

Link to website: www.milkquality.ca/

Farmers Helping Farmers is a PEI-based non-governmental organization that partners with East African farm groups to improve agricultural production for sustainable development within communities. UPEI maintains a strong connection to this organization and has partnered in international development projects since 2004.

Students work with family-related professionals in these organizations as part of their professional practice course. The field placements give students many opportunities to integrate theory with practice in a supportive setting. Students’ tasks mirror those of the family professionals who serve as field placement supervisors to the students. Since this program began, 48 various organizations have hosted students from the Family Science and Child and Family Studies Programs.

Third-year students volunteer for a total of 32 hours during the fall semester. Fourth-year students require a total of 80 hours per semester in both the fall and winter semesters.