Anna
access to care
From Alzheimer’s to heart attacks, loneliness in seniors has serious health effects
Medical tests: Why ‘no news is good news’ can be dangerous
Doctor on demand apps let you skip the waiting room. But experts urge caution
Address transphobia in Canada’s health system
The Canada Health Act emphasizes that all Canadians are entitled to the same level of care. This does not appear to be the case for transgender patients, many of whom face barriers when seeking gender-affirming medical treatment. There are many disparities in health care access between transgender patients and their cisgender counterparts (cisgender denotes people …
Laura T
Should registered nurses prescribe drugs?
Why do so many nursing home residents end up in emergency departments?
This January, Sylvia got a call from a nurse in her mother’s long-term care centre. Her mother, Angela, woke up “extremely agitated and crying in pain,” so the nurses sent her to the emergency department. Sylvia was worried about how her 92-year-old mom, who has dementia, would react to the trip – the lights, the …
What does “access” to primary care really mean?
In the early 2000s, government reforms in Ontario mandated that family physicians provide greater after-hours services for their patients. Family doctors were also incentivized to ensure patients obtained the majority of their primary care from their own family doctor. In some ways, the reforms were successful. Today, more primary care clinics are open evenings and …
When it’s a zebra: Does Canada need a rare disease strategy?
Ian Stedman always wore long sleeves and pants to hide his rash. As a child, he didn’t go swimming with other kids. He’d miss a few days of school each month because of severe joint pain and headaches. He spent his childhood and early adult life “bouncing around from doctor to doctor.” No one knew …
More Ontarians should have access to team-based primary care
In our family medicine practice, we regularly ask patients to give us feedback on how we’re doing. They tell us, over and over, that one of the things they like best about our practice is the teamwork – how much they love their doctor but also their social worker, or nurse, or dietitian. And how …
Health care system stigmatizes and discriminates against transgender people
When Lucas Silveira – then going by his female name – told his Toronto-based family doctor he identifies as male, the doctor’s discomfort was palpable. She stumbled over her words, and then said, “I don’t really know how to help you,” recalls Silveira, a musician with the rock band The Cliks. The doctor agreed to …
Telemedicine on the rise across Canada
It’s still far from routine, but telemedicine is quietly growing across Canada. Last year, a pilot project with a portable robot was launched in Saskatchewan. And telemedicine programs in Ontario have been growing by around 30% per year for the last several years, according to David Jensen, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health. Telemedicine can …
Stigma around dementia prevents people from accessing health care
Mary Beth Wighton has many good days. Like mother’s day, when her 20-year-old gave Wighton and her partner fishing licenses and the three spent the day looking out over the dock, laughing and casting out. She also has tough moments, like when she realized that she could no longer pay household bills on her own. …
The rise of the private patient advocate
After bouncing around doctors’ offices in an effort to treat her debilitating back pain, Maureen had become discouraged with the lack of progress. She had seen multiple specialists yet nothing seemed to provide relief, and she began to feel disillusioned as she struggled to navigate the health care system. “I seemed to be spending a …
Ontario families struggle to find services for children with autism
Linda Cheung, a mother of two children with autism in Toronto, counts herself lucky. When her now-teenage sons were diagnosed with autism, there were virtually no wait lists for some autism services. But her family still struggles at times to access the services they need, and sometimes pays out of pocket for these services while …
Prescription drug coverage: how does Canada compare?
When Jennifer* was laid off, it wasn’t paying the mortgage she was worried about – it was paying her drug bill. The $24,000-a-year cost of Enbrel, used to treat her rheumatoid arthritis, had been covered by her employer. She remembers sitting in the boardroom being told she had been let go, thinking, “I’m going to …
Is Ontario’s reliance on donations to fund hospital infrastructure fair and sustainable?
In 2010, after a regional needs assessment for medical imaging, the Pembroke Regional Hospital was approved by its Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) to purchase a new MRI scanner. This new machine will allow the city and neighbouring region’s residents to be scanned locally, instead of having to drive as much as 3 hours each way …
Ontario’s private outpatient lab sector needs overhaul, say critics
Ontario’s system for funding private medical laboratories has been controversial since it was set up almost two decades ago. Now, facing critics who have only gotten louder, the government may be considering reform. In her mandate letter after last year’s election, Premier Kathleen Wynne asked Health Minister Eric Hoskins to “explore opportunities to optimize quality …
Free e-book: A patient’s guide to navigating Ontario’s health care system
Ontario’s health care system can feel like a maze. The system has become so complex that even people who work in it every day often struggle to navigate it. So for members of the public – who often encounter the system at a time of crisis – it can be hopelessly confusing and frustrating. In …