Long-time Pique reporter Alison Taylor has been nominated for a Jack Webster Award in journalism for a feature titled "Healing Hands."
The cover-feature explored the work of the Whistler Health Care Centre, "an island of calm efficiency and innovation in the centre of North America's busiest ski resort."
During the course of her investigation it was revealed that budget restraints could result in cuts to all the all-important orthopedic services offered in Whistler. The feature led to a series of news stories covering the proposed budget cuts, the public response to them and the eventual decision by health officials to not only keep the current level of services but expand them in the future.
Of the total 18,643 ER visits to the centre in 2011 a staggering 43 per cent — or 8,199 — were orthopedic injuries.
To read the feature go to www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/healing-hands.
Photos for the feature were taken by Bonny Makarewicz.
Jack Webster spent a total of 68 years in the news business, forty of them in Canada and 27 of those on open-line radio and television broadcasts.
He won most of the major Canadian radio and television awards. He was a "reporter's reporter." In 1987, he was inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame and was later appointed a member of the Order of Canada.
In 1986, a group of community-minded citizens organized a salute to Jack Webster on the occasion of his retirement from active journalism in British Columbia. Over 1,000 guests enjoyed the gala dinner filled with humorous stories, touching remembrances and, most of all, Jack's Scottish brogue and insight into life around him.
From the proceeds of this successful dinner, the Jack Webster Foundation was established as a permanent tribute to Jack. The mandate of the Foundation is to promote and honour excellence in journalism in British Columbia. For these many years, the Foundation has recognized journalists for outstanding work at its annual Webster Awards Dinner where a unique glass statue, known as a "Webster," is presented along with a cash prize. "Websters" are considered the measure of journalistic excellence in British Columbia.
