obama care

Posted in

Experts call for a collection of racial and Indigenous identity in health care

A group of experts says all provinces and territories should collect data on racial and Indigenous identity to help address inequities in care, and the best way to do that is when someone applies for a health card or renews it. Doctor Andrew Pinto, lead author of a commentary published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, says Black and Indigenous patients have less access to care. He says allowing them to voluntarily provide identity data could help track racism in the health-care system. Pinto, who is founder of the non-profit Upstream Lab at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, says…
by Irma•
Posted in

New research reveals the impact of different species and their traits on human well-being

Credit: Martin Dallimer/University of Kent New research has revealed for the first time that well-functioning ecosystems are crucial to human health and well-being, with human-biodiversity interactions delivering well-being gains equating to substantial health care cost-savings, when scaled-up across populations. Published in Nature Sustainabilitythe Kent-led study, which is part of the project Relating Subjective Well-being to Biodiversity (RELATE), set out to understand which components of nature and biodiversity play a particular role in human well-being. The team, which was led by Professor Zoe Davies, analyzed the effects of species’ traits, based on people’s feedback following a series of workshops, to identify…
by Irma•
Posted in

England’s health service says it won’t give puberty blockers to children at gender clinics

LONDON — The publicly funded health service in England has decided it will not routinely offer puberty-blocking drugs to children at gender identity clinics, saying more evidence is needed about the potential benefits and harms. The National Health Service said Friday that “outside of a research setting, puberty-suppressing hormones should not be routinely commissioned for children and adolescents.” People under 18 can still be given puberty blockers in exceptional circumstances, the NHS says, and a clinical study on their impact on kids is due to start by next year. Four new regional clinics are due to open later this year.…
by Irma•
Posted in

ER staff say recruit more doctors, nurses or risk worse conditions

Resuscitating trauma patients on the floor of emergency rooms and examining sick people on stretchers instead of beds has become an increasingly tough reality for staff, says the head of a group that represents ER physicians across the country. Dr. Michael Howlett of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) said overcrowding in emergency departments has worsened as patients who fear going to hospital during the pandemic are now sicker and many more people no longer have family doctors. “Seeing patients in hallways, on floors for resuscitation, is a real crisis in health care in a first-world country,” said Howlett,…
by Irma•
Posted in

Minden ER to close in 1 week, but residents say fight for ‘safe and accessible’ health care not over

An emergency department in Minden, Ont., is slated to close in one week but residents say they will keep up the pressure on the province to make sure the closure is not permanent. “We are not statistics,” Richard Bradley, a resident, told CBC Toronto on Thursday. “We are determined. The only statistic we want to be is the town that saves its ER. We pay the same taxes as everybody else does. We deserve and demand that we have safe and accessible health care.” Haliburton Highlands Health Services (HHHS) announced in April that it would close the emergency department at…
by Irma•