It’s just after six o’clock on a frigid Ottawa morning.
The sun won’t rise for another hour, but Dr. Alykhan Abdulla is already racing against the clock.
He’s been studying his patient’s charts throughout the weekend, preparing for some very long days at his small family practice in Manotick in the city’s south end.
“I’m contemplating all the things where I’m going to potentially have problems with. And that always makes me feel a little worried and anxious,” said Abdulla.
He worries he might miss something that could have grave health consequences. That fear has changed the way he feels…
kaiser family foundation jobs
Prescription for housing? California wants Medicaid to cover 6 months of rent
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration is struggling to contain a worsening homelessness crisis despite record spending, is trying something bold: tapping federal health care funding to cover rent for homeless people and those at risk of losing their housing.
[–States are barred from using federal Medicaid dollars to pay directly for rent, but California’s governor is asking the administration of President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, to authorize a new program called “transitional rent,” which would provide up to six months of rent or temporary housing for low-income enrollees who rely on the state’s health care…
Could COVID trigger ‘face blindness’? Plus, the most common anxiety orders, explained, and more health news
Could COVID trigger ‘face blindness’?
The list of symptoms that can strike long COVID sufferers has just gotten a little longer, and a little more mysterious: Researchers are reporting a case of “face blindness” related to the syndrome.
The condition, known medically as prosopagnosia, causes a very specific impairment: trouble discerning one face from another. Even the once-familiar face of a loved one might as well be a stranger’s.
Typically, face blindness arises from damage to the brain’s face-processing network, after a head injury or stroke, for example, said Marie-Luise Kieseler, a researcher at the Dartmouth College Social Perception Lab…
Veterinarian Karen Fine says we can learn a lot from pets: Shots
Anton Petukhov/Getty Images
Anton Petukhov/Getty Images
Veterinarian Karen Fine continues to be amazed by her patients, despite the fact that she’s been in practice for 30 years. Take, for example, the feral cat she had to capture in a net, who was suffering from an overgrown claw that had been punctured and infected his paw pad.
“I knew that I could give him antibiotics for the infection, but it wasn’t going to stop until I trimmed that claw,” Fine said.
Just as Fine was contemplating how to best access the infected paw, her feline patient stretched it out to her…
The Board of Health holds meeting in Millersport
The Fairfield County Board of Health held a meeting March 8 in the Millersport Schools District Auditorium. Members of the Board of Health are Steven Kapetansky, MD, MPH, President; Brian Oliver, President of ProTemp; Tina Childers and Teresa Wood. Time was given for public comments. Two variance requests were discussed. Division Reports were given by Health Commissioner R. Joseph Ebel, MS, MBA, REHS, and the Health Department Leadership team. Several personnel were congratulated at the end of their probation. A public question and answer forum and board members comments concluded the meeting. The next board meeting will be held at…
Alberta wildfires: Experts address long-term mental, physical impacts of smoke
Summer in Alberta: another day, another smoke-filled sky.
A shift in wind direction pushed smoke from the wildfires in northern Alberta — near High Level and Fort Chipewyan — and the Northwest Territories south into central and southern Alberta.
“The bulk of the ongoing wildfire activity in our region is in the northern extreme of the province,” said Justin Shelley, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.
He said there’s been quite a bit of fire activity and the wind shift transported the smoke south.
“It’s widespread across the province as of today,” Shelley said Friday.
He said wind…
Fixing the family doctor shortage in Canada
Whether you have a family doctor or you’re looking for one, chances are you have had to endure long wait times to see them or find them.
Last year, the Angus Reid Institute reported there were six million Canadians without a family doctor, and a third of them said they had been searching for more than a year.
And even for those who are part of the lucky group who has one, their wait time probably ranges from days to weeks to get an appointment.
Danielle Martin, a family physician and chair of the department of family and community medicine…
Judge holds Washington state in contempt for not providing services to mentally ill people in jails
A federal judge has found Washington state in contempt and ordered it to pay more than $100 million in fines for failing to provide timely psychiatric services to mentally ill people who are forced to wait in jails for weeks or months.
[–In her order released late Friday, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman said the Washington Department of Social and Health Services has been violating the constitutional rights of these people since 2015 due to a “lack of foresight, creativity, planning and timely response to a crisis of its own making.”
[–The ruling stems from a federal lawsuit…