How to Become an Osteopath in Canada: Complete Career Guide

 If you’re interested in healthcare and enjoy helping others feel better, becoming an osteopath might be a great career for you! Osteopaths are healthcare professionals who focus on treating the body’s muscles, bones, and joints. They use a hands-on approach to help relieve pain and improve overall health. This guide

Tips to Keep Your Customized Hoodies from Fading

 Nobody likes their hoodie losing its original color after discoloration due to the scorching sun. But we rarely focus on proper care of our apparel to ensure they maintain their original allure. By prioritizing care techniques, such as washing in cold water and avoiding harsh detergents, your custom hoodie Toronto

Get Flexible With City of OM Yoga Fest

 Ottawa Life’s Festival City Series is back! We'll provide a unique look at some of your favourite events. We’ll go beyond the music with artist interviews, volunteer profiles, concert reviews and spotlights on the tastes, sights and sounds of the festival season.  Your city! Your festivals! Like a good sunscreen, Ottawa Life

Physician-assisted Dying Should not be a Substitute for Adequate Care and Supports for People with Mental Health Problems

 The federal government committee looking at physician assisted dying released its long-awaited recommendations recently to much debate. The permissive approach it recommends reflects the spirit of the Supreme Court of Canada declaration that the prohibition of physician assisted dying violates the fundamental human right to make one's own decisions about

Rising Rates of Kidney Failure Signal Need for Public Health Strategy

 As many as 40 thousand people in Canada are affected by kidney failure – a problem that is increasing across the country, with significant consequences for our health system.   A report released this month from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy projects an increase of 68 per cent in

Putting children’s health and resiliency on the national agenda

 By Chris Harper Last year, at a camp in southern New Brunswick, I met Evan. Before turning eight, he had bounced from foster home to foster home. He was sent to camp without a bathing suit or sufficient lunch. Regardless, Evan smiled constantly, excelled in school and had a striking sense of compassion.

Dear Health Minister Philpott — We Need Leadership In Medicare Restored

 Dear Minister Philpott, It is fantastic news that as a family doctor you are our next federal health minister.  You will know very well that our healthcare system shows its age.  Born in the middle of the 20th century, its primary focus on doctors and hospitals is outmoded as technology

Current Patchwork of Funding Policies for Children’s Medicine in Canada Needs Critical Attention

 You are the parent of a sick child.  You have a limited budget and you must decide to buy the medicine the doctor prescribed for your child or provide food and shelter for your family instead.  What do you do? Sadly this dilemma is one too many Canadians are facing.

What’s Missing from Ontario’s New In-Vitro Fertilization Funding Policy?

 Children of IVF deserve to know their genetic history After a week of uncertainty and some confusion, the Ontario Ministry of Health finally announced its policy on in-vitro fertilization (IVF) funding – but the details remain minimal.  What we know for certain so far, and what has been met with

We Need a Radical New Approach for Kids in Care

 Families seeking support services should not have to worry their children will be taken away from them Six advocates for First Nations children have gone on a symbolic hunger strike at the Manitoba Legislature to try to raise awareness across the country about Manitoba’s broken child welfare system. Why? Well, here’s one

Try Orange Grove’s 14-Day Skin Care Challenge

 Are you in need of a spa day but don’t have time to make the trip? Orange Grove is bringing the spa to you with two weeks of easy tips and tricks! You’ll learn about everything from beauty to building flexibility with this online event. Starting on June 22, Orange

Ambulance Fees are an Obstacle on the Road to Care

 Imagine you’re a physician seeing a six month old child in clinic. She has a fever and cough, she’s working hard to breathe and her oxygen levels are falling. You know she needs assessment in the emergency room and requires transportation in an ambulance in case her condition worsens en route.

When is it Okay for Doctors to Let Someone Die?

 By Dr. Charles J. Wright The long overdue public, medical, legal and political debate on end-of-life care is now well underway in Canada. Medical journals and the general press are commenting regularly on the subject, the Canadian Medical Association is changing its ethics guidelines, Quebec has decriminalized assisted dying and

How Canada Fails People with Mental Illnesses

 Canada Needs Improved Access to Mental Healthcare Services In any developed country, politicians and clinicians are struggling to improve quality of care while reducing costs of healthcare systems. To remedy this, groups of doctors across North America--including here in Canada--have banded together to create lists of medical procedures or tests

Be Spellbound with the Magic of the Arthritis Society

 Do you believe in magic? The Arthritis Society is hosting an evening of wonder and awe at the National Gallery of Canada with Spellbound, in support of childhood arthritis. On Thursday, March 12, the National Gallery’s Water Court will be magically transformed into a spellbinding street fair. Featuring the entertaining

Quebec’s proposed health reform Iignores best evidence

 By Paul Lamarche, Réjean Hébert and François Béland Mega-mergers in healthcare don’t save money or improve health outcomes Quebec’s Bill 10’s objectives are the improvement to the access and quality of health and social services in the province, while diminishing bureaucracy and increasing efficiency. To accomplish these objectives, the proposed law

It’s Time to Include Dental Health in the Healthcare System

 Canada’s most vulnerable populations have the highest rates of dental pain, decay, disease and the worst access to care. There are many reasons why some Canadians choose not to go to the dentist, but a new report released recently from the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) found that cost

How Healthcare is Rationed Differently in Canada and the United States

 No country can afford to give every citizen every healthcare services. By Trudy Lieberman As an American journalist sitting in a Toronto coffee bar, I began chatting--as I often do in another country--with people about their healthcare system. One employee taking people's orders was about to go off duty and

New Hospital Funding Model is a Leap of Faith

 Activity-based funding may discharge patients from hospital ‘quicker but sicker’ Most Canadians probably don’t realize that health care in Canada is quietly undergoing a major transformation in funding that could significantly impact patients.  Three provinces—Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia—are implementing a new funding model for hospitals and other provinces are

Ontario Spends More than $11 billion a Year on Prescription Drugs

 Why an income-based drug plan would not be good for Ontario’s economy or its seniors Ontario spends $11 billion per year on prescription drugs. Nearly half of this is spent on medicines used by senior citizens, a group that receives public subsidies for nearly all of their prescription drug costs

The Canadian Doctor Who Prescribes Income to Treat Poverty

 By Trudy Lieberman Last fall when I visited Canada, I met a Toronto doctor named Gary Bloch who developed a poverty tool for medical practitioners. The tool assesses what patients might need other than prescriptions for the newest drugs. Bloch's idea was to zoom in on the social determinants of

How to Manage Time and Reduce Holiday Stress

 You hear a lot about peace and joy at this time of year, but seasonal pressures can make it difficult. Parties and get-togethers are usually fun, but many require baking, wine-buying, or a special outfit. Then there are the presents to buy for everyone – all while navigating crazy traffic

Federal Government Moves to Strip Power from Top Public Health Scientist

 Demoting Chief Public Health Officer more about politics than promoting health Buried in the current omnibus budget bill being studied by parliament this week is a plan to demote the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada. He will no longer hold a deputy minister rank, he will have no direct

Private Delivery of Healthcare Can Work in a Publically Funded System but Comes with Risks

 What the rest of Canada can learn from Alberta’s experience If you look at an old map of Canadian healthcare policy, just near Privatization Island is a big warning: “Here be dragons.” So it proved for Alberta Health Services last month when a seemingly innocuous decision—to swap the tender for

Naturopathic and Conventional Medicine Team Up to Fight Cancer

 The Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre (OICC) and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) have been given a $3.85 million research grant to look into the effects of naturopathic medicine combined with conventional medicine. The two Ottawa-based institutions will be researching the effectiveness of different types of medicines used in conjunction with one