Thinking Outside the Crisis: Inequity and Triage
Far from being a “great equalizer,” Covid-19 is exposing the deeper inequities in our healthcare systems and the populations they serve.
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People may be living longer, but they suffer from lack of a genuine health care system
Canadians are living longer, with current life expectancy now averaging 81. Statistics Canada reports that last year 750,000 Canadians were in their 80s and 305,000 in their 90s, with women significantly outnumbering men in both categories. (Of the 305,000 nonagenarians, more than 200,000 are female.) But StatsCan can’t measure the well-being of these senior citizens. One of its recent studies found that the health of most Canadians starts to deteriorate at the age of 69, but the extent and cause of that decline varies considerably at the individual level and is not measureable. Obviously, it depends on the different internal and external determinants of health that affect each of us, and whether we can exert any control over them. People who choose a self-indulgent and dissolute lifestyle can shorten their life-spans to 70 or much sooner. But even when we eat nutritious food, exercise, and do our best to nurture…
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Moving toward true universal health care
Canada’s public health care system could soon be expanded to cover prescription drugs.
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Comprehensive health care still lacking in Canada
Jimmy Kimmel deplores “pay-or-die” health care system in U.S., but coverage in Canada lacking, too.
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Why are we still waiting for midwifery legislation?
Despite years of promises, why are Newfoundlanders and Labradorians still among the last Canadians without it?
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Paul Davis, P3s and the democratic deficit
Does an outgoing regime, in its dying days, have the right to forfeit our collective future?
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Groups to premiers: Force Harper on new Health Accord
Groups lobbying in St. John’s this week say provinces will lose $36 billion in federal health care funding over next decade if premiers don’t pressure the Harper Government to renegotiate a new Health Accord, and that the lack of Medicare support could push Canada to a two-tiered system.
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Town hall implores Canadians to resist Harper Government’s massive health care cuts
As part of a broader privatization agenda, Stephen Harper and the federal Conservatives have stealthily cut $36 billion in federal funding for health care. On Monday people gathered in St. John’s to discuss the implications for NL, and how to fight back.
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Short term daddy
When you ask someone if they have children, sometimes the answer is a complicated one.
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First-rate health care for second-rate citizens?
There’s a disparity in the cost of medical treatment for those in rural communities, and it needs to be addressed.
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Public health care facing its greatest threat
Failure to renew the Canada Health Accord threatens us all. This province needs to join others in speaking out.
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Turning back the clock
When you live far from your support networks, aging and nostalgia take on a different meaning
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Mother Midwife
Midwifery saves money and lives. Why is Newfoundland and Labrador lagging so far behind the rest of Canada?
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Long term caring
Elder care strategy needs to be a higher priority in this province. Here’s how we can start.
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The debate over Health Care
“I think the minister is denying the fact that we do have a mess and when I say that it’s not my word people inside the health care system are continually saying to me: our health care system is a mess,” said NDP Lorraine Michael during yesterday’s debate on the health care system. Michael, who believes there are major problems with our system, is calling for a full independent review of it. Health Minister Jerome Kennedy says an independent review would inevitably lead to recommendations that rural services should be cut. “There was an external review done in 2004 and if we had followed the recommendations at that time then there would be no rural health care left,” said Kennedy. “I really don’t know why Ms. Michael believes a review today would be any different … They’ll try to streamline and create efficiencies,” he said. “I can predict that that’s…
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Province-wide signing bonus policy for physicians being developed
VOCM is reporting that the Department of Health is currently in the process of developing a Signing Bonus Provincial Policy to help standardize and bring consistency to the recruitment of physicians across the province. Health Minister Jerome Kennedy said that different health authorities offering different bonus packages was a strategy that had to end, and that if there’s a hard-to-fill position, regional authorities are now being told to approach the Department for approval. Kennedy noted that all signing bonuses offered up to recently are being honoured. Source: VOCM
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MDs want Feds to get to business with new health accord
A 2004 health accord agreement which took 4 years to hammer out expires in just 3 years, and now Canada’s doctors at the Canadian Medical Association’s meetings in St. John’s are calling on the federal government to start negotiating a new deal. The 2004 agreement between the provinces and Ottawa set universal goals, including reducing wait times, improved access, home care, better drug benefits and more electronic records. “We would really like to see now, meaningful, thoughtful action as we head to that accord. We want the first ministers to get together very soon and start to set the groundwork for a transformed health care system as we head into the health accord,” said CMA president Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull. Source: CBC
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