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Showing posts from December, 2023

B.C. Supreme Court pauses legislation banning drug consumption in public spaces, citing 'irreparable harm'

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A British Columbia Supreme Court Justice has granted a temporary injunction against the B.C. NDP government's legislation banning all drug use in a wide range of public spaces, pausing the law three days before it was set to come into force.

Dentists, hygienists unsure how national free dental care plan will work

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Canada has begun rolling out its national dental care plan, with some seniors eligible to receiving free dental care by May. But there are still many unanswered questions about how the plan will work for those who provide the services — and whether it will be administratively and financially viable for dentists and hygienists to take part.

Wearable technology trend now includes healthy people tracking their blood glucose. Is it worth it?

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Technology originally designed to help people with diabetes manage their blood sugar levels has joined the wearables trend.

ERs across Quebec operating well over capacity

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Emergency departments are packed beyond capacity across Quebec as respiratory viruses bring in more people and add stress to an already understaffed health-care system.

These record-setting Toronto-area twins were never expected to survive. Now, they're nearly 2

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The twins were born in March 2022 in Toronto, at a combined weight of 750 grams, or 1.65 pounds. They now hold a Guinness World Record, but more importantly, they’ve alive — and will soon celebrate their second birthday.

This Winnipeg scientist is using viruses to fight drug-resistant superbugs

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Steven Theriault is convinced he has the solution to an urgent global public health threat — antibiotic resistance. But he can’t get his bacteria-killing viruses approved through what he calls Canada’s rigid and outdated regulatory system.

Want to cut back on your drinking? Here's some expert advice

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If you'd like to cut back on drinking, experts say there are many ways to do it — or to assess whether your relationship with alcohol has become a problem.

Is Canada ready to expand medical assistance in dying? Liberals will face that choice with deadline closing in

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Mumbai doctors blame pigeons for spike in lung disease

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Doctors in India's most populous city are sounding the alarm over what they say is a fivefold increase in cases of a severe inflammation of the lungs called hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Experts link the spike directly to Mumbai's growing pigeon population, since their droppings are the leading cause of the disease in India.

'A remarkable era': Groundbreaking innovations in treating spinal cord injury offer new hope for patients

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Neurosurgeons are optimistic that promising new treatments — including a microsurgery technique pioneered in Toronto and brain implants that let a paralyzed man walk — will soon help more people with spinal cord injury regain their mobility and quality of life.

Canada's first South Asian physician, Dr. Gurdev Singh Gill, dies at 92

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Dr. Gurdev Singh Gill, of New Westminster, B.C., made history in 1958 when he became the first Indo-Canadian medical doctor.

Manitoba's health minister, top doctor plead for heath-care workers to pick up shifts over holidays

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Manitoba's health minister and chief provincial public health officer are asking health-care workers to consider picking up shifts over the holidays, with intensive care units already over capacity and an increase in respiratory illnesses expected over the holidays.

All I want for Christmas is to eat solid food: A throat cancer patient's wish

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After Glenn Deir's surgery this summer, he lost the ability to chew and swallow food. As his recovery proceeds, his culinary world is opening up far beyond the liquid supplements that have kept him alive.

Death toll rises to 7 from cantaloupe salmonella outbreak in Canada

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The agency says there have been 164 lab-confirmed cases of salmonella in eight provinces linked to Malichita and Rudy brand cantaloupes so far. Quebec has been hardest hit with 111 of those cases.

A mysterious respiratory illness is affecting dogs, but tests show no new pathogens: U.S. officials

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Common causes of canine infectious respiratory disease found in genetic sequencing in wave of infections that have alarmed pet owners, agriculture officials say.

The federal government increased her disability payment. Then Nova Scotia reduced it by the same amount

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After a Spryfield, N.S., woman received a small increase to her Canada Pension Plan disability payments to reflect the cost of living, she was shocked when the Nova Scotia government decreased her provincial payments by the same amount. One lawyer says this practice can keep disabled people in deep poverty.

Therapists at Hamilton mental health clinic describe exodus of staff, tears at office, 'oppressive' meetings

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At least 11 therapists left the Hamilton Public Health-run clinic over three years after a change in management, according to nine former clinic staffers who spoke with CBC Hamilton as part of a months-long investigation.

2 doctors told him he had a fatal disease and wouldn't live until Christmas. They were wrong

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A Winnipeg man who was misdiagnosed with a fatal disease by two different doctors says anybody believed to have a life-threatening condition should be sent to a specialist in the field for final determination. A neurologist at Sunnybrook Hospital agrees.

Teens cut off from longtime therapists amid changes at Hamilton mental health clinic: ex-staff

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As part of a CBC Hamilton investigation, nine former Child and Adolescent Services staffers shared concerns over changes to clinic care that they say impacted patients. The city says the moves at Child and Adolescent Services aligned with the province.

Influenza, RSV put pressure on Alberta Children's Hospital as case counts climb

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Alberta Children's Hospital is facing an influx of kids with respiratory viruses so it's adding capacity in an effort to meet demand.

Alleged fake nurse charged with forgery and impersonation on Vancouver Island

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Police on Vancouver Island say a woman has been charged with forgery and impersonation after she allegedly applied for a nursing job with fake documents.

Just 15% of Canadians got updated COVID vaccines this fall, new figures show

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While Canadians raced to get vaccinated against COVID-19 early in the pandemic, only 15 per cent of the population had their updated shot this fall. But the virus is still spreading — and the WHO just identified a new, rapidly spreading 'variant of concern' called JN.1.

'Stuck in a cycle': Providers say disjointed mental health care failing to meet needs of Black youth

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New research shows that systemic racism is preventing young Black people from receiving proper mental health care, and that mental health organizations are not facilitating enough connections with Black-led care groups.

Social networks are key to good health. That has some doctors seeking strategies to cure loneliness

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Loneliness is a global health concern that affects a quarter of the world's population, knows no age or boundaries and can change our physiology.

Concern rises over number of Canadian seniors going lost or missing due to dementia

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While fewer older adults were reported missing during the COVID-19 pandemic, police forces in Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are among those that have seen an increase this year in missing people over the age of 60.

This COVID study has been tracking immunity for 3 years. Now it's running out of money

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A long-running Ottawa-based study into COVID-19 immunity has unearthed promising insights on the still-mysterious disease, one of its lead researchers says — but she's concerned over how much longer the work will be funded.

Average time on hold for 911 in Toronto was 1-2 minutes for at least 100 days this year

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In January 2022, a CBC Toronto investigation revealed how lengthy 911 wait times are more than one-offs in Canada's largest city amid staffing shortages. Now nearly two years later, internal reports have revealed wait times on hold for 911 in Toronto have only grown longer and are happening more frequently.

Mistreatment of Dalhousie medical residents is common and underreported, study says

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As part of the peer-reviewed study, medical residents in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island were interviewed and surveyed about their experiences during their on-the-job training after becoming doctors.

These are the ways rural Canadians are more vulnerable to climate change

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Compared to urban dwellers, rural Canadians are more vulnerable to climate change in many ways and face challenges to adaptation, says a new federal government report. And rural doctors and health researchers say climate change has been having a big impact on health in rural communities. Here's a closer look.

Toxic drugs. Climate change. A health-care crisis. Here are the health stories we're watching in 2024

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From toxic drugs to climate change, CBC health and science reporters have chosen the stories they will be watching in the year ahead.

Public Health Agency of Canada confirms 6th death from cantaloupe salmonella outbreak

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The Public Health Agency of Canada on Friday confirmed a sixth death tied to a salmonella outbreak caused by the consumption of contaminated cantaloupes.

Low uptake of new COVID-19 vaccine among New Brunswickers

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Only about 14 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have received the new COVID-19 vaccine designed to target the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant, figures from the Department of Health show.

LifeLabs customers can now apply for up to $150 in compensation for data breach

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Canadian residents whose personal data was compromised in a 2019 LifeLabs data breach can now apply for up to $150 in compensation from a multi-million dollar class action settlement approved in October. 

'Perfect storm for disease has begun' in Gaza, overwhelmed doctors say

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A lack of food, clean water and shelter have worn down hundreds of thousands of traumatized people and, with a health system on its knees, doctors and aid workers say it's inevitable epidemics will rip through the enclave.

Hospital surge beds added as pressure grows in Alberta's intensive care units

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Alberta hospitals are squeezing in extra intensive care unit beds as respiratory viruses surge and ICUs fill up. Alberta Health Services has added 17 adult surge beds since last week — 12 in Edmonton and 5 in Calgary— bringing the total to 240.

Ontario vastly expanding where booze can be sold in move to modernize alcohol retail market

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Starting in 2026, Ontarians will be able to buy beer, wine, cider and seltzers at convenience stores, big box outlets, some gas stations and more supermarkets, marking a major overhaul in how alcohol is sold in the province.

Seniors spend thousands on dental work, suffer in pain or wind up in ERs. Will Canada's plan help?

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The new Canadian Dental Care Plan is being hailed as a step in the right direction that could help to keep people healthier as they age and out of crowded hospitals — although experts are watching closely to see if it lives up to those early hopes.

Surrey Memorial Hospital leasing motel to house patients to ease overcrowding

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The health authority that oversees one of B.C.'s busiest hospitals is looking at leasing transitional housing for patients who no longer need urgent care, hoping that moving those patients off-site will reduce the overcrowding that's plagued the hospital for months.

As Canadians bid farewell to Reader's Digest, one woman says the magazine changed her life

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Elisabeth Baugh opened the magazine in 1982 to find a life-changing solution for her facial difference. She still has a copy of that same issue today.

'No longer any doubt,' says Soleiman Faqiri's family as inquest deems Ontario jail death a homicide

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Soleiman Faqiri’s deadly restraint by Ontario jail guards in 2016 has been deemed a homicide — words his family has waited to hear for nearly seven years, since he died shackled, pepper sprayed and covered with a spit hood face down on a cell floor.

'They're all back': B.C. medical experts warn of seasonal illness 'tridemic'

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A range of viral and bacterial infections are all back in circulation and medical experts are reminding British Columbians to take proper precautions to prevent community spread this Christmas.

'A perfect baby girl': Inquiry examines methamphetamine death of Edmonton infant

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Briella Johanne Brooks died on July 24, 2019, after she was found unresponsive in her family's Edmonton home. She died from methamphetamine toxicity, but it's not clear how she ingested the drug.

Ottawa launches $13B dental-care program with kids and seniors first up for coverage

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The federal government unveiled its new dental-care plan on Monday — a $13-billion insurance program that will start covering routine dentistry costs next year for people who meet a certain income threshold.

80,000 Quebec nurses join public sector strike for 4 days

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The Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), which represents 80,000 health-care professionals, is striking for the third time this year to demand better salaries and work conditions.

Federal dental insurance program to be phased in starting May 2024, government officials say

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The new federal dental insurance plan will be phased in gradually throughout 2024, with the first claims likely to be processed in May, government officials said ahead of a formal announcement scheduled for Monday morning.

Bariatric surgery saved my life. But it wasn't the 'easy' way out of weight loss

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Mireille Cadet thought getting bariatric surgery was going to be hard physically. But she wasn’t prepared to face backlash from people who thought she was cheating her way through weight loss.

How to access the new RSV vaccine, and how much will it cost? Your questions answered

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This year, for the first time, a vaccine is available to help protect older adults against RSV, which is like the common cold for some but can also lead to respiratory infection and hospitalization. We answered some of your questions about the RSV vaccine and how to access it.

Many Canadians experience hearing loss and don't know it. Here's how to prevent and treat it

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Experts say that losing your hearing and not getting that loss treated can lead to social isolation, loneliness and even cognitive decline. Hearing aids can help, and there are ways to prevent hearing loss in the first place.

Does microdosing magic mushrooms help people with mental health issues? Science is trying to find out

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Researchers are exploring the effects and safety of psilocybin in tiny doses.

How a hospital is doing hip replacements in 35 minutes

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Toronto’s Humber River Hospital has started using a new model to get more hip replacement patients through the operating room. CBC’s Christine Birak breaks down how hyper-throughput surgeries work and why the hospital says it's the type of innovation provinces should invest in.