Group items tagged

Colin MacLean

October 16, 2014

Jason Woodbury, president CUPE Local 3324, which represents paramedics employed by Island EMS, is concerned about some aspects of the province’s plans to treat Ebola. Colin MacLean/Journal Pioneer

by Maureen Taylor (Show all posts by Maureen Taylor) October 20, 2014

The Timmins Daily Press Tue Oct 21 2014

OTTAWA -- Health Minister Rona Ambrose says no more Canadian health workers will be going to West Africa to help in the fight against Ebola until "medical evacuation is guaranteed." She said the countries most affected by Ebola don't have the necessary equipment to deal with an influx of health-care workers who could become infected with the virus. Canada has an agreement with a U.S. charter, but other countries have similar arrangements with the same company. "It's one thing to have an arrangement, but if there was more than a few people sick, a number of countries would be in a very difficult position," Ambrose said Monday. The government's reaction to the international crisis has already sparked criticism from some medical groups. The federal government's "paltry" response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa leaves it significantly responsible if a case arrives in Canada, Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE (OCHU), said earlier in the day.

Pham was 1 of 2 nurses infected while treating Thomas Eric Duncan

Oct 24, 2014

The first nurse diagnosed with Ebola after treating an infected man at a Dallas hospital is free of the virus.

by ROB URIE

Thomas Duncan didn’t have health insurance when he entered Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital with Ebola. The hospital claims that he was initially turned away because important information about his condition didn’t find its way to the admitting physician.

Posted on October 15, 2014

The Peterborough County-City Health Unit claimed it couldn’t afford to make overdue pay adjustments in September for its smallest bargaining unit. The question is, does it have the resources it needs to respond to the next big virus?

CMAJ October 7, 2014 vol. 186 no. 14 First published May 26, 2014, doi: 10.1503/cmaj.140035

Vanessa Gruben, LLB LLM, Reed A. Siemieniuk, MD, Allison McGeer,

Over the last few years, there has been increasing discussion about the importance of influenza vaccination for health care workers. There is consensus that all health care workers should receive the influenza vaccine annually,1–4 but the actual vaccination rates in this group remain below 50%.5,6 In response to this low rate and the evidence that vaccination of health care workers is associated with improved patient outcomes, an increasing number of expert and professional groups recommend that annual influenza vaccination be a condition of service in the health care industry.7,8

Oct 18, 2014

Hamilton Spectator

Housekeepers refused to clean the room of a suspected Ebola patient at McMaster Children's Hospital and called in the Ministry of Labour to investigate a lack of training and knowledge about proper equipment.

If the Ebola outbreak were in Calgary…21/October/2014 09:00 AM Toronto, Ont. – “ If the Ebola outbreak were in Calgary the federal government would likely act, because people would be dying on the floors and at the doorways of overwhelmed hospitals, in their homes and on the streets. Canada would call out desperately for help and we would want that call to be answered from around the world. Today our federal government again turned its back on Africa and African lives, “ said Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE.Minister of Health Rona Ambrose has announced that no additional medical personnel would be encouraged to go to West Africa until their medical evacuation could be guaranteed. Medical evacuation can cost $150,000 per patient transfer. In response to the problems of the cost and complexity of medical evacuation and the scarcity of airplanes, which can safely effect medical evacuation of a patient with Ebola, U.S. medical emergency planners are building additional treatment centres in the affected countries, for medical personnel.

Federal government’s response to Ebola crisis is negligent, inhumane and insufficient20/October/2014 01:02 PM

Toronto, Ont. – If Ebola comes to Canada, the federal government will share significant responsibility, says Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE (OCHU). “ The Harper government’s laissez-faire attitude towards Ebola is evidenced by its refusal to provide mobile hospitals to stricken African nations, its refusal of formal requests for personal protective equipment which were then sold off and its failure to mobilize our nation’s healthcare resources fully behind the fight against Ebola in Africa”.“ We cannot just wait for Ebola cases to appear in Canada. This virus must be fought and contained at its source, in West Africa. The federal government’s $65,000,000 contribution is woefully inadequate and shames us. Hospitals in West Africa are overwhelmed and many patients are dying in squalid conditions. It’s time for the federal government to marshal Canada’s health human resources, as Cuba has done and to fund and staff up mobile hospitals in the stricken nations.”

2014-09-26

Kevin Tyrell, the regional vice-president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (left) and personal support worker Dorothy Winterbrun says chronic understaffing at the province’s long-term care facilities is taking its toll on workers and patients.

THUNDER BAY -- Dorothy Winterburn says personal support workers and registered practical nurses at Ontario’s long-term care facilities shouldn’t feel like they’re putting in time on the assembly-line floor. But until the provincial government lives up to its pledge to return mandatory staffing levels and agrees to provide a minimum of four hours of daily attention to each patient, levels of care are going to continue to slip. It’s leading to bed sores, infection, incontinence, abuse and unsafe work practices, the survey reveals. Incoming patients are also not always being screened for infectious diseases, including C. difficile and VRE, often leading to unnecessary outbreaks.

October 17, 2014

B.C.'s health minister issued a letter to health workers late Friday addressing concerns that have been raised about the health care system's preparedness for possible Ebola patients in B.C.

'They get the shot' and '3 months later their brain is gone'

bill introduced to the California Assembly after a measles outbreak infected more than 100 people that would no longer allow parents to exempt their children from vaccines because it goes against their personal beliefs.

Kennedy charges information about the dangers of vaccines has been suppressed because of the influence of pharmaceutical companies.

WHO training on personal protective equipment (PPE) that was delivered by WHO. Photo courtesy of WHO/M.A. Heine   The World Health Organization (WHO) is publishing a series, "Ebola Diaries," with first-person accounts of WHO staff and others deployed to the field for Ebola response since the first cases were reported in West Africa on March 23, 2014.    Dr. Cota Vallenas talks about her experiences in the early days of the Ebola outbreak as an expert in infection prevention and control. She reminds us that healthcare workers are among the most vulnerable and a cultural change is needed around self-protection to ensure these frontline workers don’t become infected.

Dec 2, 2015

Lack of adequate provincial funding for hospitals is again forcing cuts to patient care at Elisabeth Bruyere Hospital, says Brian Grant, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 4540. Grant will hold a media conference tomorrow (Thursday, December 3) at 10 a.m. outside the hospital at 43 Bruyere Street to highlight the impact of the most recent cuts. 

Five years ago, the 56-year-old kindergarten teacher from Brooklyn, N.Y., was given the antibiotic clindamycin, which was supposed to prevent a dental infection. Instead, the drug wiped out much of the “good” bacteria in her gut that normally keeps “bad” bacteria in check. Without that protection, harmful bacteria in her belly ran rampant, triggering an intestinal infection so severe that doctors had to perform emergency surgery to remove her colon. Despite that desperate, last-ditch effort, “within 10 days of taking those pills, my mother was dead,” says Lillis’ son, Christian.

October 20, 2015

By Jennifer Graham

REGINA – Health officials in Saskatchewan say health-care workers won’t be forced to get a flu shot or wear a surgical mask while caring for patients. The Medical Health Officers’ Council of Saskatchewan says getting the shot or wearing a mask will be voluntary this flu season while health authorities review a ruling from Ontario.