???????Death’s tug of war with mystery and science

 By Al Etmanski An obsession with ‘present mindedness’ wipes out concerns about past or future. ~ Harold Innis I count myself as lucky to have been born when death was still pretty much a mystery, more the prerogative of poets and other artists, philosophers and religious teachers than of scientists and

“What happens to our sons and daughters with disabilities when we die?”

 By Al Etmanski Canada’s Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) is the first poverty-fighting tool for people with disabilities in the world. This remarkable example of federal/provincial/territorial cooperation, which was created in 2008, has already changed the lives of more than 150,000 Canadians with disabilities. Unfortunately, the RDSP is only reaching 29 per cent of those eligible. And

Including the family in children’s literacy education

 By Erin Schryer and Nicole Letourneau In Canada, two out of five adults – that’s nearly nine million people – cannot read well enough to perform everyday tasks. Reading difficulties start early. It is very well established that children who are not reading well by the end of grade one

Purdue Pharma given free reign in Canada as it is sanctioned in the United States

 By Nav Persaud and Andrew S. Boozary Purdue Pharma recently announced that it will stop advertising opioids to doctors in the United States after pleading guilty to misleading marketing more than a decade ago. This is a major, albeit belated, departure from the company’s playbook of marketing opioids aggressively to physicians. A

Do taxi drivers lack access to essential medicines because our MPs have it?

 By Nav Persaud The MPs mulling options for publicly funding medications this week will likely take their sweet time. There is no rush for them because they already have the type of publicly funded access to medications that is being contemplated for other Canadians. While approximately three million Canadians do not take

A New Health Accord Needs to Include Better Planning

 Why a new health accord needs to include better planning for health human resources. There is growing talk of a new Health Accord between the federal government and the provinces and territories. This is such good news -- great news, in fact. If I were asked to have one thing

Moving Forward on Health Care Reform

 Why more money for health care is not the answer In the Speech from the Throne and since, the new Liberal government has clearly said it is ready to re-engage with the provinces and territories on health care. This is a welcome development. For most of the past decade, the

Why it’s time for a National Autism Strategy

 Over a year ago, I was invited to celebrate World Autism Awareness Day on Parliament Hill.  It was attended by a dozen or more Senators from both major parties, political staffers and invited guests mostly from autism non-profit organizations.  I expected a predictable ‘feel good’ event about how far we’ve

Five Ways We Can Reduce Suicides in Canada

 Why a suicide prevention strategy needs to include injury prevention Despite recent headlines, Canadian rates of suicide and attempted suicide have remained largely unchanged over the last several decades (11 per 100,000).  What has changed is that we’ve seen increasing rates of suicide in the Canadian military recently, after stable

What Should be Covered by our Publicly Funded Healthcare System?

 Patients and doctors need to learn the difference between ‘need’ and ‘want.’ All across Canada provincial governments are grappling with ever growing healthcare demands in the face of shrinking resources.  Our enviable publicly funded health system is now well into a downward spiral of unenviable disrepair.  As patients are becoming

How Doctors Can Tackle the Their Patients’ Poverty Without Leaving the Office

 Can a question asked in a doctor’s office contribute to ending poverty for patients and their families?  This is what we asked ourselves 10 years ago, as we set out to convince health providers to tackle poverty. There were two factors that pushed us into this work: first, the evidence

Many Patients with Chronic Health Conditions Also Have Mental Health Issues that Go Undiagnosed and Untreated

 We need to better integrate physical and mental health services Our health system often divides mental health from physical health into distinct silos of care and treatment, yet no such mind-body duality exists in actual patients.  Many individuals with chronic health conditions simultaneously experience mental health issues -- and the

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.