Poverty is a significant public health concern affecting approximately 10% of Canadians. Recommendations to eliminate poverty have focused on areas of income, housing, access to food, and early childhood development. Calls for government action and provision of resources to healthcare professionals have been issued. Notably, educating medical trainees to address poverty has been absent from the discussion. …
This is a story about Mr. D, a lovely 85-year-old gentleman who I cared for on our General Internal Medicine service. He suffered significant cognitive impairment due to both dementia and the deposition of protein in his brain caused by chronic inflammation (known as cerebral amyloidosis). He also had advance prostate cancer. As a consequence …
John Bradford always prided himself on being psychologically tough. After all, he needed to be. As one of Canada’s top forensic psychiatrists, he analyzed some of the country’s most high-profile murderers including Paul Bernardo, Karla Homolka and Robert Pickton. In order to keep healthy and reduce stress, Bradford exercised regularly and played competitive squash and …
At the end of January, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) announced almost $10 million in new funding to address type 2 diabetes, with a focus on screening and the ‘promotion of healthier lifestyles.’ There is a lot to celebrate in this announcement, particularly community-based screening initiatives. And who could complain about …
E-cigarettes have exploded onto the market in recent years and there are multi-billion dollar questions swirling around them. Advocates say that they offer a safe and effective smoking cessation aid while opponents are concerned that they may erode the success of decades of tobacco reduction efforts. E-cigarettes have the appearance of tobacco cigarettes and simulate …
Greg Price died at the age of 31. His death may have been preventable had he been diagnosed and treated earlier for testicular cancer. He was left alone to navigate the health system and follow up on referrals, while experiencing major delays and the absence of communication and information. His journey through the health system, …
Dear Healthy Debate community, I’m pleased to announce that Healthy Debate is launching a new feature today – a podcast we’re calling The Rounds Table. Healthy Debate’s articles and opinion pieces are aimed at a general audience, but we also produce more specialized content in the form of our patient-focused Personal Health Navigator. While the …
It’s a weekend shift in a Canadian Emergency Department. On a stretcher lies a woman in her sixties. She has, just this week, been diagnosed with an advanced cancer. Her symptoms crept up on her, unnoticed or passed off as the result of inactivity during a long cold winter. These multiple niggling things had finally …
Vaccination programs are based on the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Since 2007 Canada has had a vaccination program for the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) administered to girls, although the age of vaccination varies by province: Grade 5 in Alberta and Grade 8 (with catch up until Grade …
Virtual care (where the provider and patient are separated in space and sometimes in time) is a natural next step in technological innovation for healthcare. Increasing care virtualization has the potential to improve quality of life for patients while increasing the healthcare system’s efficiency but it presents substantial challenges for clinicians and policy makers. The …
It is no secret that Canada suffers from an inequitable distribution of health professionals. A 2012 report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information revealed that 18% of Canadians live in rural and remote areas, yet only 8% of doctors live in these regions. The lack of access to medical services in rural communities contributes …