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Featured

Revealed: The increase in Canada’s social value from getting more active

The benefits of engaging in sport and physical activity on an individual level may seem obvious, but if you add them up on a national level, you find enormous savings to the Canadian taxpayer and economy through. Moreover, it demonstrates Canada could reap even more rewards from encouraging more people to get active. These are the conclusions of the Fitness Industry Council of Canada (FIC). Two conclusions: The total value of health savings generated by sport and physical activity in 2019 was CAN$23.4 billion. Over 2.2 million cases of health conditions were prevented in 2019, as a result of sport and physical activity, including over 600,000 each for Coronary Heart Disease, Type 2 Diabetes, and Depression. Here’s the other side. The report – using the most recent data from before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic – shows the costs of not being physically active. This highlights the benefits to

David Holt August 17, 2022

Featured

Life without a doctor

The Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) is launching a campaign to raise awareness of the critical issues facing the province’s healthcare system.

Simone Waters April 12, 2022

Health

The controversy over the new Alzheimer’s drug

Just last week, the FDA approved a new drug for treating Alzheimer’s in the United States, Aduhelm. It is not approved in Canada yet, but there’s a storm of controversy over whether it is even effective at all, or at least in the ways intended. This week three scientists on the FDA’s independent neurological drug advisory panel resigned however, stating that the clinical trial data was flimsy at best with one scientist telling the New York Times, “This might be the worst approval decision that the FDA has made that I can remember,” Dr. Aaron Kesselheim. The independent panel had voted to reject the drug with ten “no” votes and one “uncertain” vote. The FDA doesn’t have to listen to the panel, they’re there for a secondary opinion only. Actual regulation of drugs and medical devices is made in-house by FDA scientists. The claim by the manufacturer is that the

Simone Waters June 16, 2021

Health

Research starts into COVID-19 and Long-Term Care Homes

As most Canadians know, COVID-19 has hit long-term care facilities (LTC) across Canada hard. From Halifax to Vancouver. The data shows that LTC’s account for about 60% of deaths from the virus and 70% if we include retirement homes. And it’s not just the residents that are getting the virus, it’s the care workers as well. As we seek to understand why, the federal government, through the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF) is providing $5.8 Million to support two studies that will investigate the various aspects of immunity and how people are responding to vaccines in LTCs. For now, these studies are focusing on Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. Although Atlantic Canada was hit hard in LTCs it would seem that part of the country, as usual, is not being included in the studies, which is odd given Nova Scotia itself has one of the highest ageing populations in Canada.

Alex Hurst March 3, 2021

Health

Smartphones and healthcare

Already smartphones, from iPhone to Android, are playing a key role in our health and they’re going to play an even bigger role. Smartphones today are packed with all kinds of sensors, advanced software and cameras that are getting better every day, including many smartphones that use LiDAR (Light emitting Radar) such as that found in the new iPhone 12 Pro and coming to other smartphones. If you have an Apple Watch then you’ve got yet another health device that can connect with your iPhone for even more health monitoring. Right now, most smartphones can check your blood pressure, monitor heart rate and in some cases with a smartwatch, monitor your blood oxygen level (Apple Watch only for now.) But the uses for healthcare are developing rapidly. One app from skincare company Marianna can look at blemishes and skin conditions and recommend products. They use Artificial Intelligence to analyze photos.

Giles Crouch December 23, 2020

Longevity

How SciFi has caught up to our health

The future of health and medicine includes a lot of science fiction that is getting real—fast. GEOGRAPHY used to be about mapping the world, cereal was breakfast food and robots built cars on the assembly line. Now, maps are used for genetic code, cereal provides a better boost than Viagra, and robots can dig you out of a natural disaster. Every day the stuff of science fiction creeps closer to reality. Ray Kurzweil is doing it, lab tests on men prove it, and with stores such as Wal-Mart selling it, you can afford it! Read on for a laundry list of cool technologies that point the way to a new era of health and medicine. Eat this: Bio printed meat First on the list is bio-printed meat. The idea of synthetic meat first appeared on an episode of Star Trek: Jean Luc voices his desire for meatloaf and seconds later a plate

Jennie Graham October 7, 2020

Health

Should terminally ill patients have access to Psilocybin?

Known to many as “shrooms” or “magic mushrooms”, it may well be this could be a breakthrough medication for terminally ill Canadians. In Canada, Psilocybin (Sy-le-sy-bin) mushrooms, of which there are over 200 species, are illegal as a Schedule III drug under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. But they have become a hot topic across the country as an effective treatment for terminally ill patients. One 52 year-old Saskatoon man with terminal cancer suffers greatly from anxiety and is asking the federal government for the right to use Psilocybin to treat his anxiety. He’s tried other medications and therapies, but they’ve had little effect. A recent poll by TheraPsil, a non-profit advocacy group based in Victoria, BC, indicates that 59% of Canadians support the use of this drug when it comes to those who are terminally ill. Studies by world-class medical organisations such as Johns Hopkins, NYU and UCLA

Alex Hurst June 24, 2020

Health

Collaboration to assist the homeless in Toronto

he COVID-19 pandemic is bringing the operations of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to Canada for the first time. MSF provides emergency medical humanitarian assistance to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or who do not have access to medical care. A non-profit with medical program in 70 countries, MSF is collaborating with Inner City Health Associates (ICHA), Canada’s largest healthcare organization specializing in the care of people experiencing homelessness, at Toronto’s first COVID-19 recovery site for the homeless. MSF brings its medical, technical and logistical advice and extensive global experience leading responses to major infectious disease outbreaks, as well as a commitment to humanitarian principles. ICHA is the clinical services lead for caring for people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 outbreak. The 400-bed COVID-19 Recovery Site, slated to open soon, is the product of collaboration across many agencies dedicated to caring for people experiencing homelessness who have contracted

Alex Hurst April 14, 2020