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Paradise, CBS, Carbonear residents named ‘Seniors of Distinction’

By Staff/November 4, 2021

Rose Andrews of Carbonear, Dorothy Mary Senior of Paradise and Paul F. Smith of Conception Bay South are among this year’s winners of the provincial Seniors of Distinction Awards.

Patrick W. Moore of Corner Brook and Clyde Russell of Stephenville were the other two seniors honoured.

Rose Andrews was born in Southport in 1950. “Rose’s life has been built around helping others. Whether working in a nursing home; serving as a Guide leader, Kinette or member of her church community; caring for her husband, Gerald, since an adverse health event in the late-1990s; advocating for inclusion; or helping to provide better futures for youth in Africa, Rose has demonstrated a strong and consistent desire to help others,” said John Abbott, the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development in announcing the award recipients.

Moores’ advocacy on behalf of persons with disabilities has supported the creation of Blue Zone parking in Carbonear, as well as an upgraded lift for persons with disabilities and gender-neutral change rooms at the local swimming pool,” Abbott added.

“When her youngest son’s studies took him to Ghana, Africa, he saw the need for a community school in the area. Rose and Gerald were supportive of this project and provided personal financial support, as well as conducted fundraising to help make the school a reality,” said Abbott. “On a trip to Ghana to mark the opening of the school, Rose and Gerald met a family who had adopted quadruplets and pledged to support them financially. Upon returning home to Newfoundland and Labrador, Rose found two other sponsors to join her and Gerald in supporting this family. Rose and Gerald also financially supported a biological son of this family as he made his way through university and set up a scholarship fund for others in the area.”

Dorothy Mary Senior was born in Winterland on the Burin Peninsula in 1956. She worked for nearly 40 years in the province’s health care system. For more than five years, she used this professional background, combined with her personal experience as a patient, to bring a patient voice and perspective to the Newfoundland and Labrador Support for People and Patient-Oriented Research and Trials Unit’s Patient Advisory Council.

In addition to her role as part of the Patient Advisory Council, Senior is involved in many other health research-related activities to help ensure the patient perspective is recognized and understood,” said Abbott. “Described as having helped ‘shape the foundation of client and family centered care at Eastern Health,’ she maintains an ongoing role in policy development, quality improvement initiatives and improving communication between patients, family and staff,” he added.

Senior is a patient representative on the Hospital Services Committee, one of the six committees established for Health Accord NL. “In this role, Dorothy, along with the other committee members, is responsible for making recommendations for hospitals, health centres and the provincial ambulance system to address issues such as the location of health services, information system requirements, acute care standards, improving the ambulance system and reducing hospital care for patients who could more appropriately receive community or other care,” said the minister.

Paul F. Smith was born in St. John’s in 1949. Throughout his life, Smith has been involved in the community, said Abbott, having served as a Beaver and Cub Scout leader, as a member of the Knights of Columbus, and as a volunteer at St. Edward’s Parish in Kelligrews. Smith was also a member of the former Roman Catholic and Avalon East School Boards along with other school and community-related boards. He is a long-serving volunteer with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, where he developed and maintained the foundation’s longest running volunteer-led event, Bowl for Heart, and is a member of the Partridge Forever Society.

“Paul is best known, however, for his work as builder, coach and executive in softball,” said Abbott. “Paul’s work with minor softball started in 1987 when he began coaching his sons in the Kelligrews Minor Softball League. In 1993, he founded the Conception Bay South (CBS) Minor Softball League for boys and girls who had graduated from Kelligrews Minor Softball giving them the opportunity to continue the sport. In the decades that followed, Paul’s involvement with the sport grew and he received many awards and recognitions.”

Smith was named Town of CBS Citizen of the Year in 1997. In 1998, he was awarded St. John’s Minor Softball’s Ray Hazeltine Memorial Award for the individual who has demonstrated selfless commitment to the game of softball. In 2017, he received Softball Canada’s Rose Hodgson Volunteer of the Year Award and was inducted into the CBS Sports Hall of Fame.

“Congratulations to the truly remarkable seniors being recognized as this year’s Seniors of Distinction,” said Abbott. “While each of these seniors are unique in their own way, they all share the same passion and dedication to improving the well-being of individuals and communities. Let us all take some time today to celebrate the older persons and seniors in our lives and thank them for their wisdom and sacrifices over the years that have helped shaped this place we call home.”

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