Physician becomes Prince Albert Citizen of the Year 2007

"She is a physician who has gone above and beyond the call of duty, especially in the advancement of the health of women of Prince Albert and northern Saskatche-wan ... I find it simply amazing that she delivered approximately 270 (babies) in Prince Albert this past year," Ajay Krishan, one of her nominators, wrote in a letter to The Prince Albert Kinsmen Club and the Daily Herald.

Dr. Lalita Malhotra has won Canada's highest civic accolade and counts the 2007 Prince Albert Citizen of the Year as one of her greatest honours.

Last Wednesday she was named the Prince Albert Citizen of the Year by The Prince Albert Kinsmen Club and the Daily Herald.

Malhotra was awarded the Order of Canada in 2006 and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2001.
But this new honour is very important to Malhotra, who has called Prince Albert home for 32 years.
"This is the biggest honour Prince Albert can give me ... When your own community honours you like this, it is totally different. I am very touched, very emotional."

As an obstetrician, Malhotra is known in the province for delivering an stunning average of 250 babies a year.

"Every baby is a thrill and it keeps me going. I feel every child is a challenge to me and it is a learning experience every day. I have no intention of giving up."

Read the rest of the story here

Tailor-made food supplements disputed by Science

From A to zinc, the choice is endless.
Should you choose single vitamins or a multivitamin? Or how about a special formula for stress, fitness, women, men or seniors?

Wouldn't it be great to know exactly which supplements are right for you?
That's what laboratories that specialize in 'body chemistry balancing' promise.
For several hundred dollars, they claim to identify vitamin and mineral deficiencies from a simple blood and urine test.

For David and Cheryl Solomon of Dollard des Ormeaux, nutritional testing takes the guesswork out of the perennial question of whether they're getting the proper vitamins.

Six months ago, the couple and their three sons, age 6 to 11, underwent testing by NutriChem, an Ottawa company founded by pharmacist Kent MacLeod that sells personalized nutritional supplements.

"The beauty of it is he'll customize the vitamin for the individual," said David Solomon, 38, who takes 20 capsules a day, containing vitamins, minerals, fish oils and amino acids.

Cheryl and the boys each take between seven and 10 capsules a day of custom-made supplements.

"This is not a jack-of-all-vitamins," said Solomon, an advertising manager for the Suburban newspaper.
"Until you get tested, you don't know what's right and what's wrong."

The family spends $1,000 a month on supplements. The initial test cost $600 per person.

"In the last few months I've been taking it, I feel fabulous," said Solomon, who used to suffer from chronic indigestion.

"Several doctors said, 'You're getting older. Your body is changing.' "

Solomon, who also takes prescription medication for his digestive problems, said the nutritional supplements have helped him digest food better and boosted his energy.

MacLeod provides personalized care that is sorely lacking in the health care system, according to Solomon, who regards the cost of the vitamins as a long-term investment in his health.

"It's about get in, get out as fast as possible," he said of mainstream medicine. "We wait until we break down before we take care of something."

"This is the future," said pharmacist MacLeod, who founded NutriChem in 1981 and now provides nutritional testing and supplements to 20,000 families around the world.
The company mails out kits for blood and urine samples, which customers return to Ottawa for testing.

Many people are vitamin-deficient because of poor diet or problems absorbing nutrients from food, said MacLeod, whose customers range from middle-aged women with depression to professional hockey players.

They hear about NutriChem from the Internet, referrals by alternative health practitioners and word of mouth.

"Ninety percent of the Canadian population is not getting one or more essential micronutrients," he said.
"There are people running around with no gas in the tank."

MacLeod got into the nutritional-supplement business 27 years ago by creating vitamin cocktails for children with Down syndrome.
He later expanded his practice to include children and adults with conditions from autism to depression, high-performance athletes and people simply seeking optimum health.

But experts dispute the claims of companies that perform nutritional testing......................

Read the full story here

Burnout drives many women out of medicine

Across all health care occupations, from nurses to pharmacists to dental technicians, roughly 80 percent of the workforce is female, according to Statistics Canada.

It's becoming increasingly common as more and more women pursue medical careers, and it's the latest twist on what may be the country's most critical health care issue: the doctor shortage.

But the physician population has always been male-dominated, and this influx of women will add fuel to the doctor crisis in Canada.
Female doctors commit fewer hours and fewer years to the medical system than males, and family duties are at least one reason why.

Despite their demanding careers, women are still given the bigger proportion of child care, housekeeping and elder care, but this pressure comes with a price.

"Burnout"drives many women out of medicine altogether, and with five million Canadians currently without a family doctor, things are only getting worse.

A 2005 survey found that just 23 percent of Canadians were able to see a physician the same day they needed one, placing this country last among the six studied, including the U.S., Britain and Australia.

Canada's doctor-patient ratio is among the worst of any industrialized nation: with just 2.2 physicians per thousand people, it ranks 24th out of 28 OECD countries, which iswell below the average of three.
Among the G8 countries, Canada even ranks dead last when it comes to physician supply.

Source: CNW Group

Editor's opinion:
"A conclusion could be that husbands of women that pursue medical careers, are not contributing to the household and child care sufficiently."

Brampton Civic Hospital apologizes for cutting in wrong leg

The chief of staff at Brampton’s criticized Civic Hospital has now officially apologized to the 72-year-old Amar Kaur Brar, whose wrong leg got cut by a surgeon, her family says.

The doctor, who sliced open Amar Kaur Brar’s right leg when he should have cut into her left, has also expressed his regret.
The apologies came after the family filed a formal complaint with the Brampton Civic Hospital ombudsman over the incident.
Her 21-year-old granddaughter Kanwaljot Brar said it has left her formerly agile grandmother in serious pain and handicapped as she now has to recover from incisions on both legs, on top of a broken bone.

“Before the complaint they didn’t apologize. Now they have apologized,” she said. “They do the mistake and after they say sorry. That’s not good.”

A spokesperson at Brampton Civic was unable to confirm yesterday whether these verbal regrets were issued.
Despite requesting a new physician, Amar Kaur Brar was today back under the care of the surgeon who performed the procedure.

"The reduced holiday staffing levels at Brampton Civic made it impossible to have another doctor on the job," Kanwaljot Brar said.
“He’s taking care of her, but after the vacation is over another doctor will be given to her,”

The alleged mistake is the latest in a string of controversies that put Brampton Civic under fire since it opened its doors amid much fanfare last October.

Two patients have died and their families believe it was due to complications caused by long waits for proper care.
In November, Harnek Sindu, 52, perished of pancreatitis 10 days after waiting 12 hours for a bed when he presented with abdominal pain and only last month it was Amerjit Narwal, 42, who succumbed to a stroke.

Calling the two deaths “unacceptable,” Health Minister George Smitherman last week appointed a supervisor to assume control of William Osler Health Centre, the hospital network responsible for Brampton Civic.
A citizen’s group, billing itself as Bramptonians for Better Health Care, held a thousand-person protest last month and is now organizing a petition calling for more funding, better staffing levels and the opening of more beds at a hospital serving one of Canada’s fastest growing communities.

Group spokesman Rajinder Saini, who is also editor of Parvasi Weekly, called the latest incident “unbelievable.”
“It’s tragic, there is outrage in the community. They are losing confidence in the hospital.”

While the apologies were appreciated, Ms. Brar said they come as cold comfort to her grandmother, who arrived in Canada from India last summer and now remains hospitalized.

“She just started crying,” reported her granddaughter.
Mrs. Kaur Brar slipped and fell on the stairs on Christmas day, fracturing her left leg.

Related articles:

Brampton Civic Hospital operates on wrong leg

Brampton Civic hospital has cost $340 million more than planned

Brampton Civic Hospital under fire

Solution donor shortage right under nose of Canadian Blood Services

Earlier this week I reported that Canadian Blood Services needs more blood donors (click here to read the article)

The following article proofs that some solutions to that problem are right under their noses and it might be time to do something about the ancient rules and regulations for giving blood!

Namely, Some Canadian university groups are speaking out loud over what they feel are outdated and discriminatory screening practices for blood donors.

Several student groups and gay rights activists say they're particularly concerned about Canadian Blood Services' lifetime ban against blood donations from gay men.
Their concerns largely stem from sections of a lengthy questionnaire potential donors need to fill out.

Question No. 18 of the blood agency's questionnaire asks potential male donors if they have had sex with a man, even once since 1977.
If the answer is yes, even if the person has practiced safe sex and is in a monogamous relationship, they are instantly deemed ineligible to donate.

"It makes people believe that, yes, gay men are likely to have HIV, likely to have AIDS," Andrew Brett, advocacy and outreach co-ordinator at the University of Toronto's student union in Mississauga, told CBC News.
"It kind of makes it official, and it's like official discrimination."

The student federation doesn't condone banning blood drives on campuses. But Brett said some campuses have canceled their blood donor days.

Lorna Tessier, director of public relations with Canadian Blood Services in Ottawa, said she hasn't heard of any cancellations.

Canadian Blood Services said it's reliant on student donations.

"We are very dependent on being able to do blood donor clinics in universities," said Dr. Margaret Fearon, executive director of medical microbiology at the blood agency.
She said students are mistaken to see the policy as a gay rights issue.

"People who receive blood have a right to safe blood. People do not have a right to donate blood. It's a privilege, really."

Many countries are struggling with the issue, in addition to Canada.
In the U.S., a lifetime ban on men who have had homosexual encounters was upheld earlier this year, even though the American Red Cross recommended a change.

According to Tessier, Canadian Blood Services has begun research into whether more specific questions about risky behavior would be a better addition to the screening process.

Dr. Steven Klinman, senior medical advisor with the American Association of Blood Banks, said that a lifetime ban isn't necessary because HIV testing is so accurate now.
But he also said recent sex between men still presents a risk blood agencies can't ignore.

Source: CBC News

Related Article:

Canadian Blood Services needs 'New Blood', literally!

York University needs to improve Medical Education

Originally designed as a feeder school for the University of Toronto, York University has managed to break away, except when it comes to medical students who are still forced to leave after completing their undergraduate degrees.

According to York University’s mission statement: “We promise excellence in research and teaching in pure, applied and professional fields.”

Since York’s founding in 1959, however, a strong emphasis has been placed on the arts and fine arts, while future doctors have moved on to other schools for further education.

Canadian universities do not have enough medical schools to keep up with the growing need for professional doctors.
Only four medical schools have been created in Canada since 1959, and only one since 1968. During this same time, the population of Canada grew 178 percent from 18 million to 32 million.

According to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the average general practitioner in Canada works 51.4 hours per week.
From 1979 to 2003, the average Canadian workweek dropped from over 34 hours per week to around 33 hours per week.

Despite doctors working over 50 hours per week, many Canadians still have a hard time trying to find family doctors and wait times at hospitals have increased dramatically.

Meanwhile, Canada has seen a reversal of the brain drain of the mid 1990s, which saw its peak with around 1.5 percent of Canadian doctors leaving Canada to work in the United States, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Fortunately, 2006 was the third year in a row that saw a brain gain, with 238 doctors returning from abroad and only 207 leaving.
This only represents 0.05 percent of Canada’s 62,307 practicing physicians, which is not nearly enough of an increase to significantly affect hospital wait times, overworked doctors or the lack of family physicians.

The average age of doctors in Canada continues to increase, reaching 49 in 2006, with only 23 percent of doctors in Canada being under 40 and 19 percent being over 60.
The need for young doctors has never been greater, and in order to fill this need Canada needs more medical schools.

Most of the schools York competes against, including the University of Toronto, McMaster University, the University of Western Ontario and the University of Ottawa, all have quality medical schools.

York has managed to compete with and often surpass the big established programs with its business and law faculties, now it needs to do the same with a medical school.

After all, shouldn’t an interdisciplinary university strive to give their students everything that is possible, instead of simply taking the easy route and sticking to what they know best?

Source: Excalibur

Alzheimer Society kicks-off Brain Health awareness campaign

This January, the Alzheimer Society is challenging all Canadians, young and old, to make brain health a personal commitment as it kicks off its nationwide awareness campaign, 'Heads Up for Healthier Brains!'

"In 2007 we helped people make the connection between healthy living and a healthy brain," says Scott Dudgeon, chief executive officer of the Alzheimer Society of Canada.
"Now we are asking Canadians to make the commitment to do the things that will help keep their brains healthy, things that can also help to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease."

Making the commitment is easy.
It can involve the entire family, and include activities such as challenging your brain, being socially active, choosing a healthy lifestyle, and protecting your head from injury.
It is never too soon, or too late, to make changes that will maintain or improve your brain health.

For people already living with Alzheimer's disease, these kinds of activities go a long way in improving quality of life, as well as delaying the progression of the disease.
"Across the globe, top scientists are continuing to focus their efforts on the prevention of Alzheimer's disease, and much of this research is happening right here in Canada," says Dr. Jack Diamond, scientific director of the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

"In just the last year we have learned so much more about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, and the need to keep your brain active."

The Alzheimer Society is making its own commitment to helping Canadians improve their brain health with the launch of BrainBooster, an online gym of challenging games and puzzles designed to increase mental performance.
The gym also features brain boosting recipes and simple exercises to get people moving.

Canadians can access the gym by visiting www.alzheimer.ca.
Once there, they can also sign up with their personal 'brain' pledge and enter the 'Puzzled about Alzheimer's Contest,' showcased in the Feb/Mar issue of Homemakers and Madame magazines, as well as their online sites.

Source: CNW Group

Canadian Blood Services needs 'New Blood', literally!

As we continue through the holiday season, there's one gift that's always in demand: blood.

About every minute, someone in Canada needs a blood transfusion.

It's disturbing to learn then that a sizable portion of the population can't donate needed blood or bone marrow because they don't speak English or French.

Apparently, Canadian Blood Services can't accept blood from these people because of concern over their inability to accurately answer sensitive questions about their health and lifestyle that could affect the safety of the blood supply.

The service says it doesn't have either the staff to translate applications or nurses who speak multiple languages.

In a province where more than a quarter of the residents don't speak English or French as a first language, it's a significant issue.

Especially since the best chance of finding a match for some products like bone marrow is within a recipient's own ethnic group.

We'd have thought Canadian Blood Services would try harder to accommodate our multi-racial and multi-lingual reality. The language barrier isn't one that can't be overcome.

As far as safety is concerned, while many questions asked of donors help to pre-screen blood, afterwards the blood itself is tested for hepatitis, AIDS and a variety of other diseases.

The existing pool of blood donors is becoming older and fewer.
If the Canadian Blood Service hopes to do its job in the future, it's going to have to make changes.

We need new blood, literally!

This year, in British Columbia , Canadian Blood Services will need to collect 1,200 red blood cells or platelet donations by January 4th to help meet hospital needs.

For all of Canada, call Canadian Blood Services at 1-888-2-DONATE (1-888-236-6283) for blood donor clinic information, eligibility information or to book an appointment.

Source: Chilliwack Times

Two great stories about Canadian health care professionals

Here are two interesting stories I came across, about two Canadian health care professionals who have been active elsewhere in the world to share knowledge with their local health care professional counterparts.

Both are on their own, unique mission:

The first is Dr. Laura Louie, a naturopathic doctor from Vancouver, who set up an acupuncture clinic for HIV infected people in Thailand.

"It's Tuesday morning and Louie is only a few days off the plane from Canada when she arrives at the Mae On Clinic, bright and early so she can consult with head nurse Unchalee Pultajuk before the patients start arriving for the weekly HIV-acupuncture clinic."

"........Patients move from the acupuncture beds to a chair where a Tui Na massage completes their treatment. The traditional Chinese massage is done with bare hands -- "with healing, touch is so important"

The second is Dr. David Chaulk, a pediatrician from Alberta, who teaches Yemeni health care professionals the advanced knowledge from Canada and to help them catch-up.

“When I first arrived in Yemen and began teaching it was easy to have a feeling of superiority — for lack of a better word,” Chaulk said. “As Canadian physicians we have far better education, far superior training and more experience."

"..........You see two children to a bed, two patients with one intravenous infusion going to both patients and extremely malnourished, dehydrated and dying children that would be in intensive care units in Canada lying on a bed, being cared for primarily by the parents and with no monitoring equipment or any type of modern medical devices..........."

Enjoy reading the full stories (just click on their names)

Canadian girl's medication for rare disease not completely covered by health care system

Renee Stocks, a four-year-old Canadian girl from a suburb of Ottawa, was diagnosed with the medical disorder 'Glutaric Acidemia type II', also called GA II, only two-and-a-half years after the first clinical signs of her illness appeared.

The very rare disease prevents the human body from producing enzymes needed to breaking down dietary fats and proteins into forms than can easily be handled by the body.
Without these enzymes, fats and proteins build up and will cause damage to the brain, liver, lungs and kidneys.

Had Renee been tested at birth, she could have been put on a strict diet that would have reduced her chances of serious health problems later in life, according to Frank Frerman, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Her parents had no idea anything was wrong with her until she became seriously ill at 9 1/2 months.
She was rushed to the hospital by ambulance after vomiting and a high fever that left her slumped over in her baby seat and then spent 72 days in intensive care on life support.

“We were passed from medical service to medical service, trying to find out what was wrong with her,” Renee's mother, Ms. Stocks said.

On Renee's third birthday, following a series of tests, including organ and muscle biopsies, the family got the bad news when a hospital in Colorado confirmed that Renee had GA II.

Renee's language development was behind her peers but she has since caught up with the help of speech therapy. However, she is taught at home instead of attending junior kindergarten classes at school, because the risk of coming in contact with a sick child is too high.

The Stocks have had to refinance the family home to help pay for Renee's special diet and put other plans on hold, including a summer vacation and finishing the basement.
The high carbohydrate diet prepared by the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto includes fake chicken fingers and macaroni and cheese.

To restrict the amount of amino acids, which Renee cannot break down, the diet adds components of protein individually.
Ms. Stocks said the federal government recently agreed to pick up the tab for the diet.

But her big worry is how the family will pay for the experimental drug Renee started taking on December 1st.
The drug, known as L-3-Hydroxybutyrate, was developed by a Belgian doctor, Johan Van Hove, who now works at the Colorado lab, and costs $200 a day.

It is known as an orphan drug because the cost is not covered by private insurance plans or the Ontario government.
It is also well beyond the reach of what her husband, Andrew, earns as a paramedic.
Local residents recently held a fund raiser for the family, raising $14,200, enough for a two-month supply of the drug.

“I'm not bitter at the government for not funding this because I understand that there has to be checks and balances in place,” Ms. Stocks said. “But it is our only hope.”

Source: Globe and Mail

Editor's opinion:

"So, why exactly is this not covered by our system, why is she not urgent?
Why does someone that smokes (by choice) and gets lung cancer, receive proper and medical help covered by the system and the parents of this innocent little girl, without ever getting a choice of being healthy, have to carry the heavy financial load for treatment of their daughter??
ANGER and DISBELIEF, are the first words that come to mind.........."

Doctors of Ontario urge smokers to quit smoking in 2008

Ontario's doctors are encouraging those who smoke to make 2008 the year they quit.

Doctors and other primary care providers have been working with patients to help them develop a plan to quit smoking and can help increase the chances of success.

"Doctors understand that smoking is a serious addiction and we want to provide patients with the support they need to become smoke-free," said Dr. Ken Arnold, President-elect of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA).
"The beginning of a new year is always a good time to renew your commitment to improving your health and to make the decision to quit smoking for good."

The OMA is offering the following tips for individuals who are looking to quit smoking:

• If you smoke, avoid exposing others (especially children) to second hand smoke
• Never smoke in a car with children present
• Nicotine Replacement Therapies, like nicotine gum and the patch, will help you deal with the cravings. Keep nicotine gum with you at all times. It's available over the counter at pharmacies
• Remove ALL cigarettes and ashtrays in your home and car
• Regular exercise can help calm you down and relieve tension
• Make an appointment to see your doctor to discuss how they can help
• Make a resolution that you're going to have a healthy and smoke-free 2008

Tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of death and disease in Canada.
One in every four deaths from heart attacks and strokes in Canada is caused by smoking, and tobacco use causes about 30 percent of all cancers in Canada and more than 85 percent of lung cancers.
In Ontario and each year 16,000 patients die prematurely because of smoking.

"Make a commitment to be smoke-free in the New Year to keep you, and those around you, healthier in 2008," said Dr. Arnold.

"Everyday doctors treat patients whose health is compromised from smoking, which is why we have been advocating so strongly to protect Ontarians from tobacco use and second-hand smoke."

Editor's opinion:

"Does anyone know anyone who quit smoking with the 'help' of nicotine patches or gum?
You could get addicted to those instead and they don't solve the problem anyways.

Nicotine, the main addictive substance in tobacco products, is processed by the human body in a few hours, hence the need to light up a new one after approximately and averagely an hour.

If a smoker quits smoking cigarettes their body is in complete control.
Many smokers quit smoking cigarettes daily but they never experience any physical problems.

Even chain smokers hardly ever wake up in the middle of the night to 're-fuel', unlike a Heroin or Cocaine addict who often wake up at night to feed the addiction.

A smoker can simply spend a couple of hours watching a movie in a theater or being on an airplane, without having a cigarette and without shaking, screaming and sweating.
This shows clearly that smoking cigarettes is not at all a physical addiction!

There are always smokers who claim that they cannot sit for such long hours without cigarette while I'm sure they never even tried it or are simply lying about it, it's called addictive behavior.
This, in my opinion, only tells us that smoking is a mental addiction.

Therefore quitting smoking doesn't require products that only prevent your body to be in a state of total nicotine neutralness as a starting point to deal with the more important job: the bending of the lies your telling yourself in your mind why you shouldn't quit or just not yet.

Take it from an extreme, 2-packets-a-day, EX-smoker since 7 or 8 years (don't really remember!).
There is another painless, effortless, inexpensive and effective way to quit, since it deals with the mental and not the physical part of the addiction.

Believe it or not, it only requires to read a very amusing book, written by Allen Carr, called "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking"

It was the most valuable, yet in-expensive present I ever gave myself."

Source: CNW Group

Brampton Civic Hospital operates on wrong leg

A Brampton family is frustrated after their 72-year-old grandmother had the wrong leg cut open during Christmas Day surgery at the city's new hospital.

But residents demanding better hospital care say the alleged medical mistake is one more in a long list of complaints they've heard since the Brampton Civic Hospital opened last October 28th.

Amar Kaur Brar, 72, fractured her thigh bone when she slipped from the stairs at the family's Brampton home, her granddaughter Kanwaljot Brar, 21, told The Sun yesterday.

"She just missed one stair and fell down," Brar said.
The family took her to the emergency room at Brampton Civic where doctors told them her left leg was broken and surgery was needed.

"In the operating room, doctors cut Amar's right leg open," Brar said, adding the cut ran almost the entire length of her grandmother's thigh.

When they realized that the bone in Amar's right leg was okay, they stitched her up and performed surgery on her left leg, she said.

"She's in so much pain now," Brar said. "She can't move either leg ... she can't move at all."

Doctors told the family after surgery that they opened the wrong leg, she said.
Along with the pain, Amar has been confused and disoriented since the operation.
She remains in the hospital with her son Gurcharan Singh Brar at her side.

"We don't know what to do now for her," Brar said.

The issue is further complicated because Amar arrived in Canada from India in August and wasn't issued a health card until Thursday.
Brar said the family isn't certain if they will have to pay for the hospital care up to that point.

This week's incident comes a few weeks after 1,000 residents took to the streets protesting conditions at the hospital, where they claim patients wait up to 12 hours in the emergency room only to deal with understaffed and insensitive health-care workers.

In response to inquiries about Amar's case yesterday, the hospital issued a statement.
"William Osler Health Centre's top priority is the well-being and safety of our patients and staff," the statement reads.

The centre is made up of Brampton, Peel and Etobicoke hospitals.

In order to protect patient privacy, the hospital said it could not comment on the specific case. "We cannot release any information about a patient or any information about the care provided to a patient without his or her written consent," the release states.

The hospital does have a quality of care committee, a patient incident reporting system and a patient safety committee in place to respond if an incident occurs.

"We're following all of our processes with regard to this case," hospital communications director Gillian Williams McClean said.

Rajinder Saini of Bramptonians for Better Health Care said the incident is another in a long list of complaints the group has heard about the hospital.

"Things are not good at this new facility," Saini said.
"They use excuses like shortages of funds and staff." He called operating on the wrong leg an 'unbelievable' mistake."

"She had swelling on the broken leg, they had X-rays, they had everything," Saini said.

Media attention focused on the hospital in November when Brampton resident Harnek Sidhu, 52, allegedly waited 12 hours for a bed before he died of pancreatitis 10 days later.

Following the protests in early December, the province stepped in and appointed a hospital supervisor.

Amid the problems at the new hospital the future of the old hospital, Peel Memorial, remains uncertain.
Protesters have maintained the fast-growing city needs both hospitals to serve the burgeoning population.
A plan for the old site, that has been temporarily closed when the new hospital opened, is being developed.
Two public meetings, one January 9th at the Pearson Convention Centre and January 17th at Courtyard by Marriott on Biscayne Court, have been scheduled.
Both meetings start at 7:30 p.m.

Source: Toronto Sun

Related articles:

Brampton Civic hospital has cost $340 million more than planned

Brampton Civic Hospital under fire

Death Calgary baby raises awareness need for bone marrow and blood donors

The heartbreaking story of a baby from Calgary called Evan Pogubila who died from a rare immunodeficiency disease, captivated the whole of Calgary this year.

While the Pogubila family is still coping with grief, Evan has left behind a legacy his family is carrying forward, increasing awareness of the need for blood and bone marrow donors to help save lives.

"It's just before bedtime, but little Jordan Pogubila shows no signs of slowing down for the night. Wearing a pink sleeper covered in butterflies, her strawberry blond hair cut into an adorable bob, she captivates all around her as she dances to the pop song playing on her parents' stereo," says her mom Melanie as she smiles at her exuberant toddler.

If life had gone the way it should, the 19-month-old's twin brother Evan would be right beside her, bopping along to the music in that amusing toddler way.

Instead, a box sitting on the living room side table, his photograph on the outside and his cremains within, look down upon this happy family scene.

Last June 26th, the wide-eyed heart breaker of a baby died, after a courageous battle against severe combined immunodeficiency disease, also known as SCIDs.

Evan was the only known child in Western Canada with SCIDs, a condition first brought to the public eye in 1976 in a TV movie called The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.

Like David Vetter, the real-life boy who inspired the film, Evan spent most of his short life living in solitude from the rest of the world.

Caused by a genetic defect, the condition is the most rare, and deadliest, of the primary immunodeficiencies.
Any contact with others, including his twin Jordan, could compromise what little immune system Evan had.

Read the full article here

Medical Honey back in the health care game

Amid growing concern over drug-resistant super bugs and non-healing wounds that endanger diabetes patients, nature's original antibiotic honey, is making a comeback.

More than 4,000 years after Egyptians began applying honey to wounds, Derma Sciences Inc., a New Jersey based American company with branches in China and Toronto, that makes medicated and other advanced wound care products, began selling the first honey-based dressing this fall after it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

It is called Medihoney, it's made from a highly absorbent seaweed-based material, saturated with Manuka honey, a particularly potent type that experts say kills germs and speeds healing.

Also called Leptospermum honey, Manuka honey comes from hives of bees that collect nectar from manuka and jelly bushes in Australia and New Zealand.

Derma Sciences now sells two Medihoney dressings to hospitals, clinics and doctors in North and South America under a deal with supplier Comvita LP of New Zealand.Derma Sciences hopes to have its dressings in U.S. and Canadian drug stores in the next six months, followed by adhesive strips.

Comvita, which controls about 75 percent of the world's Manuka honey supply, sells similar products under its own name in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, where such products have been popular for over a decade.

"The reason that Medihoney is so exciting is that antibiotics are becoming ineffective at fighting pathogens," said Derma Sciences CEO Ed Quilty.

"Another big advantage is that the dressings' germ-fighting and fluid-absorbing effects last up to a week, making them convenient for patients being cared for at outpatient clinics or by visiting nurses."

"They also reduce inflammation and can eliminate the foul odors of infected wounds," he said.

Honey dressings and gels, as well as tubes of Manuka honey, have been gaining in popularity overseas, fueled by scientific reports on their medical benefits and occasional news accounts of the dramatic recovery of a patient with a longtime wound that suddenly healed.

Read the rest of the article here

Canada recruits hundreds of Practical Nurses from Jamaica

Hundreds of Jamaicans were recruited in October to work in health care, the construction and hospitality service sectors in British Columbia through the Ministry's Canadian Overseas Employment Programme.

The group included mainly certified practical nurses, but also a group of pipe-fitters, welders, and carpenters.

Over the years, Jamaicans have been recruited to work in Ontario, Montreal, Quebec and New Brunswick on the Overseas Farm Work Programme but this is the first time that employees are being requested for the health care, hospitality and construction sectors.

Canada will be recruiting approximately 2,000 practical nurses by the end of 2008.

As part of the recruitment programme, there is a partnership between the Okanagan College and the HEART/NTA, to ensure the certification of workers so that they will be ready to go directly into the workforce once they arrive in Canada.

Source: JIS

Revolutionary new Hypothesis about Human Memory

When it comes to human memory, it seems that Canadians are endowed with a special gift of owning the right to unravel its mystery.

The currently pursued hypothesis is based on the proposals made by Donald Hebb, a psychology professor from Canada.

Recently Dr. Kunjumon Vadakkan, also a Canadian, has come up with a new hypothesis named as “Semblance Hypothesis”.

Back in 1949, Professor Hebb proposed that when two neurons fire together then the junction between them, named synapse, undergoes changes.

Since then scientists all around the globe were struggling more than half a century to put together these pieces of synaptic change puzzle to find answers for memory.
Even though experiments conducted thereafter proved changes in synapses, sufficient mechanism for memory was not found.
Alternative proposals for the mechanism of memory also couldn’t find answers.

Scientific nature of memory requires theoretical suggestions similar to that in Physics, followed by laboratory investigations to test it.

Dr. Vadakkan now says that our memory is from “systematic functional illusions” occurring at the shared post synapses and exneurons.
The physician turned biochemist from Kerala state in India came to Canada after spending some years of research in India.
He has received a PhD in Physiology and Neuroscience from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Kunjumon Vadakkan's brand new “Semblance Hypothesis” about the human memory is now published as a book

Read the full explanation about the hypothesis here

Alberta bans smoking completely

In November, the provincial government of Alberta passed Bill 45, 'The Tobacco Reduction Act', with support from all sides of the House.
Each year Alberta spends more than $470 million on health care costs associated with tobacco use.

"This prompted the introduction of Bill 45," said Shannon Haggarty, spokesperson for Alberta Health and Wellness.

A recent report, released by 'Campaign for Smoke-Free Alberta', says Bill 45 will reduce absenteeism, sick leave and disability from tobacco use.

Alberta is shedding the image of the "Marlboro man" as it gears up to introduce one of the strongest tobacco laws in Canada and the world.

The bill will make all workplaces and establishments completely smoke-free and will also ban tobacco retail displays and promotion, along with removing tobacco sales from pharmacies, health care settings and post-secondary institutions.

Bill 45 is set to protect all Albertans from the effects of second-hand smoke and will be implemented in three parts.

1. Coming January 1st, all work and public places will be smoke-free
2. On July 1st, 2008 all power walls will be banned
3. On January 1st, 2009 there will be a complete ban on tobacco products in pharmacies, post-secondary institutions and other health-care facilities.

“The minister has said a number of times that we are losing a lot of people through the effects of smoking and second-hand smoke,” said Haggarty, adding there is also an economic issue of people missing time from work.
Each year, Alberta employers lose more than $1.3 billion from lost productivity.

“The different parts of this bill make it a world-class policy,” said Kim Tradewell, a member of Lloydminster Action for Smoke-Free Places.
She added there is only a handful of jurisdictions such as Ireland, Iceland, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Northwest Territories and Nunavut that have gone this far.

Source: Meridian Booster

Almost 80% of Canadians wary of Plastic Surgery

Almost eight out of ten Canadians would not have a face lift, droopy eyelids fixed or unwanted fat suctioned from their body, even if they could afford it.

This is the conclusion of the latest poll about plastic surgery, conducted in the wake of several high-profile cosmetic surgery deaths.

The Ipsos Reid survey for CanWest News Service and Global National found only 20 percent of 1,000 adults surveyed agreed with the statement, "If I had the means and ability, I'd have cosmetic surgery done."
Seventy-nine percent disagreed and one percent didn't know or refused to answer.)

Similar surveys in the United States suggest approval of such procedures is at an all-time high, with more than half of Americans in favour of surgical enhancement.

"I think that, with what's happened in the news in Canada, people here are a little bit more worried about plastic surgery," says Frank Lista, medical director and founder of the Plastic Surgery Clinic in Mississauga, Ontario, and past president of the Canadian Society of Aesthetic (Cosmetic) Plastic Surgery.

Last September, 32-year-old Krista Stryland, a real estate agent and mother of one, died in a hospital emergency room following a liposuction procedure performed by a family doctor who advertised as a cosmetic surgeon.

Stryland's death raised fresh alarms over untrained and unqualified doctors in Ontario performing cosmetic surgery and the increase in risky procedures being done in private "corner store" clinics.

Read the rest of the story here

Growing trend Multiple Births in Canada

There is a growing trend of multiple births in the western world.

According to Multiple Births Canada, between 1974 and 1990 the incidence of twins rose 35 percent, triplets climbed 300 percent and quadruplets skyrocketed 400 percent.

In the last five years alone, according to Statistics Canada, the incidence of triplets has increased 14 percent across the country.

"Primarily it's because of reproductive technology," said Dr. Bill Mundle, medical director of the Windsor Regional Hospital maternal fetal medicine department.

"People who are having trouble getting pregnant will often go through treatment, though sometimes they get more than what they bargained for."

This year, on January 7th in Vancouver, Canada's first set of sextuplets were born, eclipsing the country's famed Dionne quintuplets, born May 28th, 1934.
Not all the sextuplets survived, however.

Multiple-birth children are often born prematurely, which is why the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority will soon limit the number of multiple births which reproductive-technology doctors in the United Kingdom can produce.

Heather McAuley, president of the Parents of Multiple Births Association Windsor Essex County, said another reason more twins and triplets are being born is because the average age of women having their first children is rising.
Older women produce multiple-birth children more often than younger women.

Source: Times Colonist

Lung disease COPD dramatically undiagnosed

New research from the Lung Association shows chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a group of devastating respiratory conditions including emphysema and bronchitis, is dramatically undiagnosed.

About 1.5 million Canadians are diagnosed with COPD, while another 1.6 million are living with the disease without knowing it. The 3 million Canadians living with COPD is double previous estimates.

COPD is also prevalent among younger baby boomers.
One in seven, aged 45 to 49, or 375,000 Canadians, may have the disease.

COPD sufferers lose their lung function gradually, so they may not bring any specific complaints to their doctor, said Dr. Alan Kaplan, a Richmond Hill family doctor and chairman of the Family Physician Airway Group of Canada.

"Because you lose it slowly, you don't realize it," he said.

Kaplan said prevention, namely quitting smoking, is the best way to tackle COPD. He also called for better early diagnosis in Canadians, particularly smokers, over 40 with recurring symptoms such as coughs and respiratory infections.

"We can't reverse it. We can't stop it. We can slow its progression," Kaplan said.

Source: Sun Media