Rationing care in Canada and U.S. in the face of COVID-19

 By Jennifer L. Herbst As an American health law and ethics scholar, I have spent the last several weeks working with colleagues in U.S. hospitals, medical schools and state legislatures trying to provide guidance and assurance to frontline healthcare workers anticipating the surge in COVID-19-related patients. We’re trying to figure

Spartan Bioscience: Ottawa’s superhero of DNA testing

 By now you’ve probably already heard of COVID-19 but you may have missed a March 31st announcement about a $73 million investment by the federal government in an Ottawa company called Spartan Bioscience. History may record that date as a major turning point in the global fight against the pandemic.

Ottawa YMCA-YWCA works to reduce the spread of COVID-19

 Due to the threat of COVID-19, Ottawa’s YMCA-YWCA has partnered with Ottawa Public Health to help slow the spread of the virus. They are working together to implement preventative measures to reduce the threat of the coronavirus spreading in the Taggart Family Y’s Shenkman Residence. Four families and one individual

Lifting restrictions before it is time may cost lives

 George Petrolekas Like castaways over the past six weeks, isolation has created in us the marooned an overwhelming desire to return a sense of normalcy. Beyond people’s everyday lives the restart of the economic engines of the country is at stake. So, there are three issues; when do we relax

How the mother of invention turned out to be a global pandemic

 By Michael Burns Car companies are using assembly lines to make ventilators. Beer makers are brewing up hand sanitizer. All around the world companies are stepping up, using their expertise and resources to pivot from their current businesses to create the resources we need to fight COVID-19. What we need

The COVID-19 pandemic and the danger of social media

 By Marc Kealy Take a tour on any social media site and any number of posts appear from the most generalist of social media “experts” on how best to manage through the COVID-19 Pandemic. Let’s be clear, we are in the throes of a pandemic – defined clearly as an

Mistakes have been made. Lessons must be learned.

 by Walter Robinson COVID-19 combines the economic shocks of the Spanish Flu, the ‘Dirty Thirties’ and World War II all into one. The impact on people’s lives, the global economy and society will echo for generations. Despite 20 years of worldwide disease outbreaks – SARS, H1N1, MERS, Zika – we

Advance care planning more important now than ever

 By Amy Doyle Advanced care planning – decisions about what you’d like your end of life care to look like – have always been important, but COVID-19 has made such discussions more important now than ever, particularly for those in their senior years. The virus has significantly more serious outcomes,

Ottawa Life Magazine’s COVID-19 coverage

 Love and hope in a time of COVID By Marc Kealey Help each other in adversity to build a community of common health for mankind By Cong Peiwu, Chinese Ambassador to Canada Handbook of COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment By OLM Staff What I learned from the COVID-19 response in Sweden

Help each other in adversity to build a community of common health for mankind

 By Cong Peiwu, Chinese Ambassador to Canada The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading all over the world. In today’s era of deep global interconnection, no country can stay immune to the pandemic. Therefore, it is the shared responsibility of the international community to protect the health and well-being of mankind. G20

Handbook of COVID-19 Prevention and Treatment

 China’s Zhejiang University School of Medicine releases book on combating the coronavirus. In order to win this battle against COVID-19, we must work together and share our experience around the world. The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine treated 104 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 over a

Ottawa’s Tom Green performs Isolation

 Ottawa comedian Tom Green isn’t letting COVID-19 slow him down. His latest endeavour, a song to fit the mood of the world at the moment, was released last night on his Instagram. Isolation is soothing and smooth and goes down like a late-night limoncello — sweet and calming. The song

Councillor Shawn Menard launches COVID-19 financial guide

 Link to user guide of financial support and other programs being offered by all levels of government. Shawn Menard, Ottawa city councillor for Capital Ward has launched a helpful user guide to support and other programs being made available to citizens as a result of the COVID-19 calamity. In a

Using the Emergencies Act to ramp up testing and track COVID-19

 By Colleen M. Flood, Teresa Scassa The Prime Minister is called upon almost daily to explain why the federal government has not invoked the Emergency Act. Canadians perceive the COVID-19 pandemic to be an emergency and rightly so. The problem is that the Act can only be employed when an

Get the Government of Canada Covid-19 app now!

 On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) assessed COVID-19 as a pandemic. The Canadian government of Canada has been keeping Canadians informed with daily briefings from Prime Minister Trudeau and Canada's Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam.  Covid-19 remains a serious threat to all Canadians. In response, the government

Seniors with frailty will be hardest hit by COVID-19

 Check in on seniors in your community and help them prepare for the long-term consequences of COVID-19 by John Muscedere As the Prime Minister addressed the nation, from his quarantined residence in Ottawa, he echoed what public health officials have been saying: Listen to your health care providers, practise social

Populism and pandemics

 By Kumanan Wilson It wasn’t supposed to play out this way. The world had entered into a grand bargain in 2005 with the approval of the revised International Health Regulations (IHR). Countries had essentially ceded some sovereignty to the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to best protect each other

G20 meeting signals the end of the beginning of Covid-19

 China, Russia, UK and other countries call for the world to fight the virus together   Last Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hosted an emergency video conference summit of the world’s 20 major industrialized nations (G20). He urged them to adopt a war-time plan to tackle the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

Heart to Heart: How Covid-19 can strengthen your family

 Question Heart to heart with Adele- How Covid-19 can strengthen your family! Dear Adele, The Coronavirus pandemic is frightening us greatly. My husband and I have been glued to the television set all day and all night for weeks, switching from channel to channel, trying to understand the magnitude of

Canada is at war with COVID-19: We must survive and prosper again

 by George Petrolekas If there ever was a time to address issues in a apolitical fashion, this is the time. What should unify us is that we are all pitted against a common threat, that does not discriminate between us. Equally, that we are all united in a vision of

Don’t leave older Canadians behind in COVID-19 preparedness

 (Kingston, 03/15/20) — There are approximately 1.5 million Canadians living with frailty right now and they are at an increased risk for severe, adverse health outcomes from even minor illnesses and injury. They will be hardest hit by COVID-19. Dr. John Muscedere, an intensivist and respirologist at Kingston General Hospital and

The coronavirus and a glimmer of optimism – China will bounce back

 by Noah Fraser, BEIJING, China (March 3, 2020) Workers roam the near-abandoned streets with disinfectant, sprayed liberally from tanks loaded onto their backs. Tables at those restaurants that have bothered to re-open are adorned with signs reminding diners to wear their masks when “not consuming”, on penalty of the manager