University student Patrick Hickey also of St. John’s will receive the 2017 Young Humanitarian Award for his contributions to address youth mental health issues.
Furey and Hickey will receive their awards at the Power of Humanity dinner, a fund-raising event scheduled for Nov. 15, at the St. John’s Convention Centre, with proceeds supporting Canadian Red Cross services in the province.
Furey, a graduate and faculty member of the School of Medicine at Memorial University, is the president of Team Broken Earth, a volunteer medical task force created in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Red Cross noted in a news release.
The group now has three chapters in the province and includes more than 200 volunteer physicians, nurses and physiotherapists located across Canada.
He has also promoted Team Broken Earth across the country.
“Dr. Andrew Furey has personally travelled to Haiti more than 20 times where together with Team Broken Earth volunteers has made significant contributions to improved healthcare capacity including education and training for local medical professionals,” said Rhonda Kenney, provincial director of the Canadian Red Cross. “He also led the effort last year where Team Broken Earth provided free eye and ear exams in St. John’s to newly arrived Syrian refugees.”
Patrick Hickey was still in Grade 11 at Holy Heart of Mary High School when he helped organize a school-wide event on mental wellness and later founded the Metro Youth Mental Health Committee, a student group with representatives from all 13 high schools in the St. John’s area, the Red Cross noted.
In Grade 12, he organized a two-day youth mental wellness conference attended by more than 600 students from some 30 schools, the first event of its kind in the province.
He now attends Western University in London, Ont., as a Ralph M. Barford Loran Scholar, receiving $100,000 toward studies including internships in the areas of enterprise, public policy and Community development. He was the 2015 Youth of the Year for St. John’s and has been honoured provincially as Youth Volunteer of the Year.
“Patrick Hickey’s work to raise awareness and support around youth mental health locally in Newfoundland and Labrador is impressive enough,” Kenney said. “But he’s also helped organize related events in Canada’s North and has served on advisory committees for Kids Help Phone, the Movember Foundation and the minister of Health and Community Services, all of which is over and above his educational studies.”
