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Heather Farrow

Sad history of our 'Indian hospitals' - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/...249911118

hospital aboriginal research

shared by Heather Farrow on 22 Jun 16 - No Cached
  • St. Catharines Standard Wed Jun 22 2016
  • "Why can't they just let it go?" This is a common refrain heard when talking about First Nations issues in Canada that does nothing to address the problems the country faces. At this point, I think most Canadians understand, and hopefully respect, that our aboriginal brothers and sisters were atrociously treated by the federal government for a shamefully significant portion of our history. Forced Christianization. Residential schools. The refusal to recognize treaty rights. The deliberate attempt to extinguish aboriginal culture. None of it can be denied by any thinking person.
  • However, Canadians as a culture, as a body politic, still have a difficult time grasping the legacy of it. We look at a place like Attawapiskat in 2016, and cannot draw the links between the past and the present. What do, for instance, residential schools have to do with teenagers in a First Nations community forming suicide pacts? Kids in Attawapiskat today didn't attend those schools, so why is the issue brought up when taking about what is happening now? Why can't people today just put the past behind them where it belongs? History, however, is like ripples in a pond. Some events can shape people or entire communities for generations. And when it comes to Canada's First Nations communities, that history isn't just about events from 200 years ago. They exist in living memory.
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  • Brock University history professor Maureen Lux has documented a part of this recent past in her new book, Separate Beds: A History of Indian Hospitals in Canada, which describes a period from the 1920s to 1980s, when the nation effectively had two health-care systems - one for aboriginals and one for everyone else.
  • In these hospitals, First Nations patients often received substandard care in facilities that were, in Lux's words, underfunded by design. Some patients were experimented on by surgeons using outdated and ineffective treatments for illness like tuberculosis, leaving them disfigured. "It was all part of an attempt, frankly, to prevent white Canadians from having to share hospital space with aboriginals," she said. Although there were so-called Indian hospitals prior to the mid-1940s, they didn't really take off until after the Second World War ended. This was the period where Canada began to move toward universal health care. While the politicians argued over what that might look like, federal funding was made available to build hospitals. Lux said that by 1948, that money created more than 46,000 new hospital beds in Canada. At the same time, the federal Indian Health Service was responsible for a separate, segregated hospital system for First Nations communities.
  • Unlike the facilities for non-aboriginal Canadians, these hospitals were not new buildings, but established in army bases Ottawa no longer needed. The pay for medical staffin these hospitals was low, attracting doctors and nurses who, Lux said, "could not get a job anywhere else." Lux tracked how tuberculosis patients were treated in these Indian hospitals compared to the rest of the nation, and the results are chilling. Prior to the 1950s there were few effective treatments for tuberculosis. Beyond bed rest, there were some surgical attempts, including deflating lungs and removing ribs, to halt the disease.
  • "But that was never very effective, but at the time there were no other options," Lux said. "But by the 1950s, you have effective antibiotics and instead of staying at the hospital, most times you were given your meds and sent home." Unless you were an aboriginal person. The prevailing attitude was that First Nations people could not be trusted to take their medications, so they were kept in hospital and, instead of using antibiotics, doctors continued to use ineffective, invasive treatments. In fact, First Nations people could not even use Canada's proper hospitals. Prior to national health care, Canadians still needed private health insurance. So if an aboriginal person came to a hospital, they were asked how they would pay. Usually the answer was the Indian Health Service, which only paid for treatment in Indian hospitals. Patients often died. If an aboriginal person was in a facility far from home, the federal government would only pay for them to be buried at the nearest grave yard, rather than be sent home for a funeral. Lux said many First Nations people were buried in unmarked graves in the back of graveyards as a result.
  • The decommissioning of this segregated system didn't start until 1968 with the arrival of universal health care, but some facilities continued to operate until the 1980s. Lux said in a few remote communities, a few of the hospitals still exist, although they operate more as medical clinics than hospitals. The point is there are First Nations Canadians alive today who were treated in those hospitals, and would have been subjected to poor, even dangerous, care simply because they were aboriginals. So when someone asks why, when it comes to First Nations issues, the past cannot be left in the past, you can tell them it's because that history is very much alive for many people. And until we learn to deal with the reality of that, nothing is going to change. Lux's book is available from the University of Toronto Press and on Amazon.
Govind Rao

Leaders want to turn anger into votes; With sway in 51 ridings, aboriginal communities ... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246471|tost|20150708|224411535

from heather federal election aboriginal

shared by Govind Rao on 08 Jul 15 - No Cached
  • Toronto Star Wed Jul 8 2015
  • Aboriginal leaders hope to harness a wave of First Nations outrage to push people to vote and sway the results of this fall's federal election. Despite historically low rates of election participation, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde says there are 51 ridings across the country where aboriginal voters could play a key role. Nearly half of them are held by the ruling Conservatives, according to a list produced by the national aboriginal group. "Fifty-one ridings can make a difference between a majority and a minority government. People are starting to see that," Bellegarde told a general assembly of the AFN in Montreal.
  • "Show that our people count. Show that our people matter. Show that we can make a difference. Show that our issues will not be put to the side." Those who were in attendance say the recent findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission examining the legacy of residential schools, the continued push for an inquiry into the large numbers of missing and murdered aboriginal women, and a lingering feeling of empowerment from the 2012 Idle No More protests has spurred a new determination among aboriginals across the country.
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  • "I don't see how we can go another four years with this government, frankly. The past nine years have been disastrous in terms of us as First Nations accomplishing what we set out to do for our peoples. A lot of that has to do with the failure of First Nations policy in this country," said Ghislain Picard, the AFN's regional chief for Quebec and Labrador. Rarely has First Nations anger translated into such pragmatic talk, but aboriginal leaders will have to change a political culture that has traditionally shied away from involvement in federal and provincial politics with just three months left between now and the Oct. 19 election. "I know these are not our governments, but this is a strategic vote," said Grand Chief Patrick Madahbee of the Union of Ontario Indians, which represents 39 First Nations in the province.
  • Madahbee criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper for signing trade deals that involve resources pulled from the land without the consultation or agreement of First Nations. But such complaints will receive little traction with federal parties if aboriginal people maintain their low-rates of election participation, he said. "The Indo-Canadians, the Chinese Canadians ... There's a whole number of groups that have learned that already. They have mobilized and they have influence. Right now we're being ignored." Bellegarde said the AFN is looking for politicians to implement the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, call an inquiry into the large numbers of missing and murdered aboriginal women and end a 20-year funding freeze for aboriginals that has contributed to problems with aboriginal health, housing and education that other Canadians never have to experience. "Invest in the fastest-growing segment of Canada's population, our young men and women. Invest now and there will be huge rates of return on investment in the future," Bellegarde said.
  • Both New Democratic Party Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau spoke at the AFN meeting Monday and committed to improving the relationship between the federal government and aboriginal people. Both noted the fact that they had prominent and numerous aboriginal candidates who will be running for their parties in the next election. "Aboriginal Canadians have understood for 10 years now what happens when their voices are not heard by the political process, when they are written off as they are by this Harper government," said Trudeau.
  • It's a hopeful sign for Tyrone Souliere, of the Garden River First Nation in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., who has taken it upon himself to lobby chiefs and band councils to get their people registered to vote in the October election. Founded in frustration with the federal Conservative government, Souliere estimates there are some 30,000 eligible aboriginal voters in Ontario alone who could be harnessed to advance the cause of indigenous people in the coming election campaign. His efforts are focused on educating eligible voters about the issues and on what they steps they need to take to ensure they can cast a ballot in the election, following changed to the Elections Act that place higher standards on what can be used to confirm one's identity. "The only way to change how the government treats us is to change the government and to get that message to the politicians that there's a block of votes in Indian country and it will be available to the one party that will best represent treaty, charter and indigenous rights in Parliament," Souliere said.
  • "That's the goal." What the leaders say Tom Mulcair promises: Every government decision will be reviewed by a cabinet committee to ensure they respect federal responsibilities toward aboriginal people. Increasing federal funding for aboriginal education so that it rivals that spent on non-aboriginal children in Canada. Federal environmental assessments for resource development projects will become more rigorous. Justin Trudeau promises
  • There will be a legislative review that scraps or amends laws dealing with aboriginals that are deemed to be a violation of a section of the Constitution that affirms aboriginal rights. A guaranteed annual meeting between the prime minister and First Nations leaders. The 2-per-cent freeze on aboriginal funding will be lifted to make more money available of the likes of education, health and housing.
Irene Jansen

Landscapes of First Nations, Inuit and Metis Health 2010 - 0 views

www.nccah-ccnsa.ca/...ndscapesofHealth_final_web.pdf

aboriginal

shared by Irene Jansen on 25 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • Irene Jansen on 25 Oct 11
     
    an updated version of the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health's (NCCAH) 2006 document Landscapes of Indigenous Health. provides information on the national organizations working in First Nations, Inuit, and/or Métis health, and reviews relevant literature and research released in 2007 and 2008. The objective of this document is to map the current landscape of research in Canada on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis health, as well as the current health priorities of national organizations working in the field.
Heather Farrow

Angus, Bennett to fly to Attiwapiskat, MPs get emotional during late-night debate on su... - 0 views

www.hilltimes.com/...58531

aboriginal suicide

shared by Heather Farrow on 18 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • More funds and youth involvement are crucial for a long-term solution for remote First Nations communities, says NDP MP Charlie Angus.
  • Monday, April 18, 2016
  • PARLIAMENT HILL—NDP MP Charlie Angus, who is flying to Attawapiskat First Nation on Monday with Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett to meet with Chief Bruce Shisheesh, is calling for immediate action to provide critical services to the 2,000 residents of this northern Ontario community located in his riding.
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  • We need to stabilize the situation in Attawapiskat in terms of making sure they have the health support they need,” Mr. Angus (Timmins-James-Bay, Ont.) told The Hill Times last week. “We need a plan to get people who are needing help in any of the communities to get that help.”
  • A rash of attempted suicides prompted Mr. Angus, who’s also the NDP critic for indigenous and northern affairs, to call for an emergency debate on the ongoing suicide crisis in the James Bay community of about 2,000. As a result, the House of Commons convened until midnight last Tuesday for an emotionally charged discussion on mental health services following a string of incidents in northern reserves in recent months. Several MPs choked up during their statements, recounting suicide incidents in their ridings and personal lives.
  • Sometimes partisan politics need to be put aside and members need to come together to find solutions to prevent another unnecessary loss of life,” Conservative MP Todd Doherty (Cariboo-Prince George, B.C.) said during the debate. NDP MP Georgina Jolibois (Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, Sask.) said the suicide rate went up in her home community of La Loche in northern Saskatchewan after a shooting spree that killed four people last January.
  • Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette (Winnipeg Centre, Man.) recalled visiting the northern Manitoba Pimicikamak Cree Nation, which declared a state of emergency over a series of suicide attempts last month.
  • Mr. Angus made an emotional appeal to action in his opening remarks during the emergency debate. “We have to end the culture of deniability whereby children and young people are denied mental health services on a routine basis, as a matter of course, by the federal government,” he said. Eleven people attempted to take their lives in Attawapiskat two Saturdays ago, prompting the First Nation to declare a state of emergency—the fourth one since 2006. There has been more than 100 suicide attempts in the reserve since the month of September, many of which involved children. The community has been plagued by flooding and several housing crises in recent years.
  • Eighteen mental health workers were dispatched to Attawapiskat on Tuesday, including two counsellors, one crisis worker, two youth support workers, and one psychologist. While there is no set timeline, they’re not expected to leave for at least two weeks, said Health Canada assistant deputy minister Keith Conn during a teleconference last week.
  • Some of the people treated for mental health problems last week had previously been airlifted out of the community for assessment before being sent back after their examination, according to Mr. Conn. This past Tuesday, at least 13 people, including a nine-year-old child, had made plans to overdose on prescription pills as part of a suicide pact. The Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service apprehended them before sending them to the local hospital for a mental health assessment.
  • Mr. Conn said he’s heard criticism of the mental health assessment process from Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Bruce Shisheesh. Individuals who are identified as likely to commit suicide are typically sent to a hospital in Moose Factory, Ont., to be psychologically evaluated by a psychologist or psychiatrist. They are then discharged and sent back to the community, where some try to take their life again. Mr. Conn said Health Canada does not “control the process,” but he personally committed to review the mental health assessment effectiveness.
  • No federally funded psychiatrists were present in the region prior to the crisis, despite reserve health-care falling under the purview of the federal government. Mr. Conn said the Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA), a provincial health unit servicing communities on the James Bay coastline, is usually responsible for the Attawapiskat First Nation following an agreement struck with the federal government about 10 years ago.
  • A mental health worker position for the reserve has been vacant since last summer, in part because there’s a lack of housing for such staff. The community has been left without permanent, on-site mental health care services. Since then, the position has been filled by someone already living on reserve. During the emergency debate in the House last week, Health Minister Jane Philpott (Markham-Stouffville, Ont.) emphasized the need for short- and long-term responses to the crisis.
  • We need to address the socio-economic conditions that will improve indigenous people’s wellness in addition to ensuring that First Nations and Inuit have the health care they need and deserve,” she said. Ms. Philpott pointed to the Liberal government’s budget, which includes $8.4-billion for “better schools and housing, cleaner water, and improvements for nursing stations.”
  • “Our department and our government are ensuring that all the necessary services and programs are in place,” she said during the debate. “We are currently investing over $300-million per year in mental wellness programs in these communities.” Yet, Mr. Angus said the budget includes “no new mental health dollars” for First Nations communities. In addition to allocating more funds for mental health services to indigenous communities, Mr. Angus said there needs to be a concerted effort to bring in the aboriginal youth in the conversation.
  • We need to bring a special youth council together,” he told The Hill Times on Wednesday. “We need to have them be able to come and talk to Parliament about their concerns, so we’re looking at those options now.” Emotion was audible in Mr. Angus’ voice when he read letters he received from Aboriginal youth during the emergency debate, which expressed a desire to work with the federal government to solve the crisis.
  • The greatest resource we have in this country is not the gold and it is not the oil; it is the children,” he said. “The day we recognize that is the day that we will be the nation we were meant to be.” Mr. Angus met with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett (Toronto—St. Paul’s, Ont.) earlier in the week to discuss potential long-term solutions to the suicide crisis. “I’ve always had an excellent relationship with Carolyn Bennett, and as minister we’re trying to find ways to work together on this, to take the tension down, to start finding solutions,” Mr. Angus said. Mr. Angus criticized “Band-Aid” solutions that have been thrown at First Nations issues over the years and said there needs to be a “transformative change” this time.
  • That’s where we have to move beyond the positive language to actually the brass tacks,” he said. During the emergency debate, Mr. Angus supported the idea of giving more resources to frontline workers such as on-reserve police, and health and treatment centres. 0eMr. Angus’ riding sprawls from shores of the Hudson Bay to the Timiskaming district on the border with Quebec, an area roughly equivalent in land size to that of Guinea. He holds two constituency offices in Timmins and Kirkland Lake.
Govind Rao

Canada can afford universal pharmacare - no more excuses - 0 views

www.cmaj.ca/...475

from heather pharmacare cma

shared by Govind Rao on 20 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • Matthew B. Stanbrook, MD PhD, Deputy Editor
  • Correspondence to: CMAJ editor, pubs@cmaj.ca See also page 491 and www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.141564 Canadians embrace universal public health care as a core national value. We are proud to say that we live in a country that ensures access to health care for all, regardless of means — the problem is, that statement isn’t true. A gaping hole in our supposedly universal system is the lack of public coverage for prescription drugs for most Canadians. Many Canadians face drug costs they can’t afford, forcing them to either take their medicines less often than prescribed or do without them entirely, with predictable adverse health consequences.1
  • Universal pharmacare has been recommended by virtually every national study and Royal Commission from the time medicare was first introduced in Canada to the 2002 Romanow Report, yet we still don’t have it. Governments past and present have defended their inaction on this issue by arguing that pharmacare would cost too much. Although it’s not clear that there was ever good reason to assume that would be true, providing scientific evidence to refute such a claim requires a study with access to comprehensive data about the sources and magnitude of drug costs, prescribing patterns and the effects of introducing universal drug coverage from the experience of other national and international jurisdictions.
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  • In their recent CMAJ article, Morgan and colleagues present just such a study.2 Using recently available national data on drug use and costs, they report an economic model that estimates the cost of implementing national public drug coverage. The model anticipates several key evidence-based consequences of universal pharmacare. Patients who were previously unable to access drugs would now receive them, which would drive up costs. However, the greatly enhanced purchasing power of a single national third-party payer would be expected to confer an ability to negotiate substantial reductions in the prices of many drugs, as other countries have experienced and as Canadian provinces are already trying to achieve through collaboration. The model also assumes that patients would incur modest copayments, as is the case in other countries with universal pharmacare.
  • The bottom line? The best estimate would require the federal government to spend an extra $1 billion per year. That’s a lot of money, but considering that federal transfers for health care to the provinces and territories amount to $35 billion — not to mention everything the federal government spends directly on health — relatively speaking, it’s not that much of an increase. As with all modelling studies, these estimates rely on assumptions, and the associated uncertainties mean that costs could be higher — as much as $5.4 billion per year in the worst imaginable case. Equally, though, national pharmacare could well result in net savings for government — perhaps as much as $2.9 billion per year.
  • Morgan SG, Law M, Daw JR, et al. Estimated cost of universal public coverage of prescription drugs in Canada. CMAJ 2015;187:491–7. Abstract/FREE Full Text
  • A small number of drug classes are key drivers of overall costs and would continue to be so with or without pharmacare. Some (e.g., biologic agents) represent classes in which many emerging new therapies are expected to arise. Thus, the $1 billion estimate might not be stable going forward. But knowing this information may now enable policy-makers to develop specific interventions focused on reducing the impact of these key cost drivers even further.
  • Although the Canada Health Act has long enshrined the value of equitable, public health care coverage for all Canadians, its enactment by governments to date has been hypocritical in the absence of pharmacare. Canada has the dubious distinction of being the only country with universal health care coverage, but not universal pharmacare. As we have said before,3 the time to end this hypocrisy is long overdue; all of our peer nations have already done so. The moral case for universal pharmacare has always been apparent. With a strong economic case for pharmacare also evident, there can be no more excuses for delay. In this election year, it is especially timely for Canadians to demand that their next government enact national pharmacare.
  • Tang KL, Ghali WA, Manns BJ. Addressing cost-related barriers to prescription drug use in Canada. CMAJ 2014;186:276–80. FREE Full Text
  • Even more striking are the potential benefits to the private sector: no matter what, it would save a lot of money from pharmacare. Currently, nearly half of all drug expenditures in Canada are incurred by the private sector, divided almost evenly between individuals, whose costs would drop by more than half under pharmacare, and private drug plans, whose current costs for nearly all prescription drugs would disappear completely. Of note, a big chunk of public savings would arise from what governments presently spend on private drug coverage, such as for civil servants. With projected savings like these, one would expect that private companies, governments and individuals alike should be clamouring for pharmacare.
  • tanbrook MB, Hébert PC, Coutts J, et al. Can Canada get on with national pharmacare already? CMAJ 2011;183:E1275. FREE Full Text
Govind Rao

Time to put pharmacare back on national agenda - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/...210575445

from heather pharmacare ontario government drugs

shared by Govind Rao on 16 Dec 14 - No Cached
  • Toronto Star Tue Dec 16 2014
  • I have been passionate about national pharmacare and breaking down barriers to health care since entering medical school 30 years ago. Since becoming Ontario's Minister of Health, I have been determined to put pharmacare back on the national agenda. It's undoubtedly one of the most important steps we can take to rededicate ourselves to the principle of universal access to health care. And it's why I put the issue of national pharmacare on the front burner at the meeting with my provincial, territorial and federal colleagues earlier this fall.
  • Saskatchewan blazed a path forward for public health insurance in the 1950s, and the rest of our country had no choice but to take notice. This led to the formation of a Royal Commission, and after years of engaging the public it came back with the underpinnings for our most revered national symbol: medicare. Even in 1964, as medical advances were just starting to take shape, the Commission strongly recommended public insurance for prescription drugs. Regrettably, this suggestion was never taken up, and it is a gap in universal coverage that too many Canadians live in 50 years later.
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  • As happened with the birth of medicare, we will need collective leadership to see pharmacare move past a pipe dream. As citizens, we believe that every person must have access to health care regardless of their ability to pay. There may simply be no more Canadian a value. This also means that no Canadian should have to choose between putting food on the table or filling their latest prescription. As a public health doctor, I've had the privilege of working for two decades in a community clinic that serves a population struggling with poverty, unemployment and housing challenges. Too often I have treated patients who I knew were having trouble affording the essential medications I would prescribe. This can certainly lead to uneven health outcomes, and with one-in-10 Canadians unable to afford the medication they need, this is a gap in our health care system that we no longer can afford to ignore
  • While a pharmacare program would lessen such inequalities across our country, it also makes good economic sense. There is now a surfeit of evidence for significant cost-savings. Recent reports from the Canadian Federation of Nurses and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives peg those savings at around $11 billion each year. How? A national pharmacare program would allow the federal government, along with the provinces and territories, to buy medication in bulk. This would help lower the prices of medication and give us all more leverage as we negotiate drug prices with unified purchasing power.
  • Currently, we pay more for medications than citizens in almost any other Western nation. Put another way, it's akin to Canadians paying $60 dollars for a cup of coffee at Tim Horton's when comparing international prices. This is a serious value gap, and it also puts us at odds with our peers: Canada remains the only industrialized country with universal health insurance but no national pharmacare strategy for its citizens. The provinces and territories have already demonstrated that we can help close the gap to life-saving medications by negotiating together through the Pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance, which will now have its headquarters here in Ontario. We have started to see substantial savings, but there is more we can do as a country.
  • I was encouraged by federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose's commitment after raising the need for a national pharmacare program, and Ontario has been asked to lead these discussions. Success will hinge not just on continuing the conversation, but political courage. After all, such a program will require leadership from both the federal and provincial/territorial levels. We will need to work together, in partnership, to embrace this idea whose time has come. It took political will in a province to write the first chapter of medicare. I believe the momentum is building across the country for the next chapter: national pharmacare. And I'm confident it's a chapter we can write together.
  • Dr. Eric Hoskins is Ontario's Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.
Govind Rao

Study reveals increasing life-expectancy gap between First Nations an nd non-aboriginal... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246199|ntgm|20150820|227465846

from heather aboriginal

shared by Govind Rao on 20 Aug 15 - No Cached
  • The Globe and Mail Thu Aug 20 2015
  • Members of First Nations communities are more than twice as likely to face an early and avoidable death than other Canadians, with the greatest risk faced by native women and young adults, according to a new benchmark study by Statistics Canada. The sweeping study, using data from the 1991 long-form census, racks mortality rates of 61,220 ative adults and 2.5-million on-aboriginal Canadians over a 5-year period.
  • The results show a trend that idened over the course of the tudy, with the First Nations roup significantly more likely to ie before they reached their 5th birthday and from prevenable conditions. Diabetes, disorers linked to alcohol and drug se, and injuries were the leadng causes. "Closing the gap in the quality of life between First Nations and Canada has to be our national priority," Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said in a statement to The Globe and Mail. "This report provides further evidence of what we know: The gap has not changed over time and it is killing our people."
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  • Native men were twice as likely to die prematurely from avoidable causes and native women were 21/2 times as likely, the study found. The highest risk was found among First Nations members between 25 and 34 years of age. The risks for both men and women fell substantially when education and income were taken into account, suggesting, the researchers conclude, that socioeconomic factors "explain a substantial share" of the disparity. The new numbers follow the report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission earlier this year, which identified lingering health effects as a legacy of residential schools, and called on the federal government to take action to close the health gap and to provide sustainable funding for aboriginal healing centres and the integration of indigenous medicine in health care. For Josee Lavoie, the director of the Manitoba First Nations Centre for Aboriginal Health Research at the University of Manitoba, the results are sadly familiar.
  • She called the numbers "shocking," but suspects they actually underreport the disparity because the census undercounts aboriginal people, who represent a disproportionate percentage of the country's homeless population and those that are "highly mobile." "To me, this is compelling evidence that we need to take serious the recommendations of the [Truth and Reconciliation Commission]," said Dr. Smylie, director of Well Living House, an indigenous action research centre at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital. It is also important, Dr. Smylie said, to remember the link between alcohol and drug use and unresolved complex trauma when looking at the causes of death. The Statistics Canada study covers the period between June, 1991, and the end of 2006, and includes individuals 25 and older. It divides "avoidable mortality" into two groups: preventable deaths caused by factors such as injuries; and treatable mortalit
  • which is a death that potentially could have been averted by screening, early detection and successful treatment, such as tuberculosis and female breast cancer.
Govind Rao

AFN chief urges aboriginal people to vote, even though he does not - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246199|ntgm|20150903|228460408

from heather aboriginal federal election

shared by Govind Rao on 03 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • The Globe and Mail Thu Sep 3 2015
  • The Assembly of First Nations says aboriginal voters could be deciding factors in as many as 51 ridings and, in a close race, could determine the outcome of the Oct. 19 federal election - if they actually cast ballots. But AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde might have undercut his organization's campaign to mobilize aboriginal voters with a frank admission that he's never voted in the past and doesn't intend to do so this time either.
  • "It's a very personal choice," Mr. Bellegarde told a news conference Wednesday. He said he's never voted because he's been in various First Nations leadership roles and wanted to preserve the appearance of impartiality. Moreover, Mr. Bellegarde said he was following the advice of First Nations elders who advised him against voting, arguing that the Crown has treaty obligations that must be honoured no matter which party forms government.
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  • "If you have to choose, then you lose that impartiality and non-partisanship," he said. At the news conference, Mr. Bellegarde unveiled the AFN's election priorities, to which it wants all parties to commit. The priorities - including increased funding for First Nations education, training, child welfare, health care and police services, creation of a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and an action plan to address violence against aboriginal women - are aimed at "closing the gap" between aboriginal people and other Canadians. "First Nations are a major factor in this election," Mr. Bellegarde said. "Our voices matter, our priorities matter and our votes matter." Mr. Bellegarde later acknowledged his own refusal to vote might hurt his message "a little." Nevertheless, he still expects turnout among aboriginal voters to increase, due to social-media campaigns that are engaging young aboriginal people and education campaigns launched by the AFN and others.
  • "Out of respect for those old people, I think that's why I haven't voted." Such views are not uncommon among aboriginal peoples and are at least partly responsible for abysmally low turnout in elections. Elections Canada estimates that the average turnout for eligible voters on First Nations reserves is 44 per cent, well below the overall 61 per cent turnout in 2011. Pressed by reporters to explain how he hopes to encourage others to vote if he won't do it himself, Mr. Bellegarde suggested he'll "revisit" his decision to refrain from voting. But in an in... terview a short time later, he dug in his heels, stressing his need to remain strictly neutral so that he can work with whomever forms government.
  • The AFN has sent voting kits to all First Nations chiefs, with information on how to get ballot boxes to remote locations, the voting process and the new rules on identification each voter will need to produce. The Conservative government's Fair Elections Act requires every voter to produce two pieces of ID, one of which must include the voter's address. Experts have warned the proof of residency rule could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters, particularly those on reserves where there are often no addresses. To overcome that new hurdle, which Mr. Bellegarde called "voter suppression," the AFN's voter kit includes a form letter that chiefs or band managers can sign to verify residency for eligible voters.
Govind Rao

Let Blood Services lead the way - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|242663|ntnp|20150414|218428860

from heather pharmacare cbs drugs

shared by Govind Rao on 14 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • National Post Tue Apr 14 2015
  • I magine having to choose between putting food on the table or buying necessary medication. Research suggests this is the case for one in 10 Canadians who can't afford to fill their prescriptions. Canada is the only country with universal health care that does not also have universal drug coverage. Even for those who do have private or public drug coverage, there are discrepancies in what and who is covered from province to province. Canadians also pay more for drugs than citizens in almost any other Western nation. These are just a few of the arguments that have reignited calls for a national pharmacare program. It is not a new concept, but one that is gaining traction as leaders are turning over every stone to "bend the cost curve" in health care downward. In a recently published study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), health economists and researchers concluded a universal drug program could actually save Canadians billions of dollars. Great savings are achieved by pooling provincial and territorial needs and resources to increase buying power, eliminate duplication and establish a platform for collaboration and cost-sharing. If health-care leaders are looking for proof that provinces and territories can do more together than they can on their own when it comes to the provision of life-saving and enhancing drug therapies, they need look no further than the blood system they created close to 20 years ago.
  • Many are aware that since its creation in 1998, Canadian Blood Services has been in the business of collecting, processing and distributing blood components in all provinces and territories outside Quebec. But few realize we have also been running a national formulary of biological drugs, providing universal and equitable access to plasma-derived medicine at no cost to patients for nearly two decades. Our organization has sole responsibility for managing a national portfolio of plasma-derived products and their synthetic alternatives worth about $500 million a year. These life-saving pharmaceuticals are used to treat people with hemophilia and other bleeding disorders, patients with inherited and acquired immune disorders, burn and trauma victims, and many others. A national, scalable, cost-shared infrastructure and logistics network ensures the right product gets to the right patient, at the right time.
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  • Our approach to managing this drug portfolio is based on best practices in public tendering. This means we provide a competitive, transparent mechanism to achieve best pricing. In fact, governments are benefiting from Canadian Blood Services' success in negotiating an estimated $600 million in savings over five years through 2018 - a testament to the value of pan-Canadian buying power and proof of concept of one of the arguments in the CMAJ study. Some detractors of tendering suggest it can put supply at risk by placing all the purchaser's eggs in that one proverbial basket. However, in our process, we avoid single-sourcing whenever possible, not only to encourage competitive pricing, but to ensure security of supply. Carrying multiple brands of a product, purchasing them in smaller, diverse lots, and negotiating a dedicated and guaranteed "safety stock" are all measures we take to mitigate risks to supply disruption.
  • We have also focused on product choice by incorporating stakeholder (physician and patient) input where appropriate in our tendering processes. Through our medical directors, we provide expert advice when a physician has a patient-based issue that could benefit from an additional specialist perspective - added value for patients and health systems. We also independently qualify new suppliers and audit them periodically, adding another layer of vigilance and product safety for patients. We are often aware early on of supplier issues in bringing products to market or maintaining adequate Canadian supplies, which helps to mitigate the risk of shortages. Because of our governance structure, once a plasma-derived drug is accepted in our portfolio, it becomes available in all jurisdictions. This practice effectively reduces geographic or financial barriers to care, and is consistent with the principles of universal access informing the Canada Health Act and medicare. Equitable access also encourages consistency of practice, and fosters pan-Canadian dialogue on best practices for optimal product utilization. Canadian Blood Services collaborates with health-system leaders, including governments, transfusion medicine physicians and others, to help ensure appropriate utilization and to further control costs.
  • By offering our experience, we are not proposing Canadian Blood Services should bulk-purchase other drugs or that our model is a "cookie cutter" solution to apply to national pharmacare, in part or in whole. Rather, we are suggesting there are important lessons from our 17 years' experience that can be leveraged, and that a national drug program is not only possible - it is already being done, with significant benefits to patients and health system funders. A system that ensures no Canadian patient is left unable to afford life-saving medication, while at the same time driving down system costs, is not only good politics, it's good policy. National Post Dr. Graham Sher is CEO of Canadian Blood Services.
Heather Farrow

Implementing assisted-dying legislation in a social policy vacuum - Policy Options - 0 views

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suicide legislation

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  • As Canada’s aging population grows, our assisted-dying dying legislation cannot stand in isolation – the federal government must do its part to ensure doctors, health-care providers and families receive adequate options and pathways for care at the end of life. So, what are some of the social policies that are needed to support the assisted-dying dying legislation? In its nationwide consultations, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) identified the importance of advance-care planning (ACP), palliative care, long-term care, home care, a national seniors’ strategy, and research and investment in Alzheimer’s as parallel issues to assisted dying.
  • While the medical and legal frameworks for ACP are a provincial jurisdiction, the federal government should at a minimum support the forthcoming assisted-dying dying legislation by investing in ACP education and training for health-care professionals and launching public awareness campaigns. We have a lot to learn from other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom’s Gold Standards Framework training institute and Australia’s National Framework for Advanced Care Directives.
  • While there are innovative models of delivering palliative care, actual access to high-quality palliative care varies by region and health provider. We need a Pan-Canadian palliative and end-of-life care strategy. In 2014, NDP MP Charlie Angus successfully moved such a strategy in Private Members’ Motion M-456. Dealing with issues of access, funding and standardization, Angus’s motion was nearly unanimous, but nonbinding. It calls for support for family caregivers and increased access to home-based and hospice-based palliative care. Canada’s assisted-dying legislation would only be strengthened with national direction on palliative care, which is long overdue.
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  • Calls for a Canadian national seniors’ strategy intensified in 2015 – everyone from the CMA to the IRPP held consultations across the country, identifying key issues and laying impressive groundwork for a future strategy. Lack of political will, however, holds us back – discussion of a national seniors’ strategy during the federal election was very limited, and it is still a political black box. An effective seniors’ strategy would provide a framework for all of the issues I have described – access, affordability and advance planning.
  • The long-term-care sector will be a critical partner for implementing, supporting and evaluating assisted-dying requests when the proposed legislation becomes law. Home-care workers and health-care providers in long-term-care facilities, alongside family members, are often the last to care for dying patients outside hospital settings. For many Canadians, long waiting lists to access limited long-term-care spaces are a significant barrier. Regional disparities in access, quality and affordability also exist, and multiple advocacy organizations have emphasized the need for national leadership on issues of elder abuse and neglect in long-term-care facilities.
  • A national senior’s strategy will be essential to improving seniors’ quality of life, supporting families and caregivers, and planning for Canada’s rapidly aging population. Canada currently has one geriatrician for every 15,000 Canadians, and there are significant gaps across the country in the quality, cost and access to care.
  • May 24, 2016 
  • ith Canada’s assisted-dying dying legislation currently before Parliament, it becomes increasingly urgent for the Liberal government to make substantive commitments to policies and programs that will support this sea change in the health-care system.
Cheryl Stadnichuk

Ontario pledges $222-million to improve First Nations health care - The Globe and Mail - 0 views

www.theglobeandmail.com/...article30145129

aboriginal health ontario

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  • Ontario has pledged to spend $222 million over three years to improve health care for First Nations, especially in the north where aboriginal leaders declared a state of emergency because of a growing number of suicides.The Liberal government also promised to contribute $104.5 million annually — after the initial three years — to the First Nations Health Action Plan, which will focus on primary care, public health, senior’s care, hospital services and crisis support.
  • The James Bay community of Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency
  • in April because of an increasing number of suicides and suicide attempts, especially by young people.“We have learned from the recent health emergency declarations that communities need support in times of crisis and need to know that they can count on the provincial government,” Health Minister Eric Hoskins said Wednesday.“So we will establish dedicated funding, expanding supports including trauma response teams, suicide prevention training, positive community programming for youth, and we will fund more mental health workers in schools.”
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  • Canada ranked No. 8 last year on the United Nations human development index, but the same indicators would place indigenous people in Canada at about 63, added Hoskins.“These inequities can no longer be ignored,” he said. “It’s not up to First Nations to right the wrongs of colonization. Government must invest in meaningful and lasting solutions so communities can heal and have hope.”
  • The Ontario plan will increase physician services for 28 communities across the Sioux Lookout region in the north by up to 28 per cent, and establish up to 10 new or expanded primary care teams that will include traditional healing.There will also be cultural competency training for front-line health-care providers and administrators who work with First Nations communities, more public health nurses and a dedicated medical officer of health.The government says it will also increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables for about 47,400 indigenous children, and expand diabetes prevention and management in northern and remote communities.
Govind Rao

Who belongs? First Nations will decide - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246199|ntgm|20150522|221008038

from heather aboriginal

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  • The Globe and Mail Fri May 22 2015
  • n recent months, the Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawake, Que., has re-opened discussion on its controversial 1984 membership law. The renewed debate has been accompanied by provocative developments: Protests outside homes, eviction notices sent to "foreign" residents, accusations of racism from the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and a lawsuit challenging the membership law in court.
  • This fraught terrain has confused and outraged Canadians, partly because the story has lacked context and nuance in the media. While unique in many ways, Kahnawake is one First Nation among many grappling with these issues. After the failure of the 1969 White Paper on Indian policy and its assimilative prescription to eliminate Indian status and bands, the federal government has been pursuing a slightly amended policy of devolution: First Nations are asked to assume more administrative control of programs and services, from education and health care to housing and infrastructure, but with inadequate resources.
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  • Corresponding to the devolution process have been revisions to the Indian Act as it relates to Indian status. From the "honorary white man" policy of the 1850s, Canadian legislation has intended to unmake Indians in the legal sense. Much of this strategy has focused on attacking women, removing their status if they marry a non-status Indian, which resulted in the disenrollment of tens of thousands of individuals who rightfully belonged within their nations. In post-Charter Canada, the Indian Act was successfully challenged and amendments in 1985 and 2011 partly ended the discrimination, precipitating a surge in the "official" First Nation population.
  • While much has been made of the "marry out, get out" provision at Kahnawake, the membership law, as well as many other First Nation membership laws, is more complex. The objective is to separate Indian status from band membership and take control of the latter from the federal government. "Membership" in this sense includes residency qualifications, electoral rules and treaty rights, eligibility guidelines on business operations and even burial plot designation. In reserve politics, or "reserve nationalism" as Audra Simpson calls it, this might be described as citizenship and even immigration policy. In a general sense, it is about who belongs.
  • There are two extremes in this conversation. The "exclusive" membership perspective views lineage as the crucial qualification to belonging. Citizens must be descended from indigenous peoples, inculcated in indigenous culture. They exclude those with weak lineage or none at all, especially if taking up land or resources. Of course, communities today have increasing numbers of both groups. About three-dozen of those who share this conservative approach to membership at Kahnawake are responsible for taking the initiative to evict non-indigenous people from the community.
  • The "inclusive" perspective advocates for a more open community not necessarily delimited by strict ancestral connection but inter-community relationships. It is the far more common practice among indigenous peoples (extending the rafters of the longhouse, the ever-expanding circle, etc.). Non-indigenous people who can make a contribution to the community while reflecting indigenous values should be welcome. In the case of Kahnawake, a handful of these inclusive proponents are appealing to the Quebec Superior Court to protect this view. In many ways, the debate revolves around claims of authenticity: a contentious notion after 150 years of Indian policies that have cultivated artificial governments and islands of reserved lands, imposed patriarchy and domesticated sovereignty.
  • Indeed, indigenous peoples would be justified in evicting white people from the little land we have left if that were the case. But this is a crude simplification.
  • Despite the opinions of pundits or politicians on the allegedly racist law at Kahnawake (or elsewhere), this is fundamentally about people passionately and earnestly working towards visions of community well-being amid very real, long-standing and external constraints. This is about striving to be Kanien'keha:ka or Anishinaabe in a place traditionally hostile to that very proposition. Hayden King is Anishinaabe from Beausoleil First Nation. He is the director of the Centre for Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University. Jessica Deer is a Kanien'keha:ka from Kahnawake. She is a reporter for The Eastern Door.
Irene Jansen

CMAJ: BC First Nations to run own health system Oct 19 2011 - 0 views

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aboriginal bc

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  • NEWS October 19, 2011 View PDF BC First Nations to run own health system Advocates for more First Nations authority over health care delivery say it will improve health services in remote and rural communities. Photo credit: ©2011 Thinkstock Health officials should wait to see how a landmark agreement that gives First Nations in British Columbia the mandate to plan and deliver their own health services plays out before handing over authority in other jurisdictions, aboriginal health experts say. It would be “foolish” for other provinces to “jump in with both feet first” to sign similar agreements when they’re presented with “a real opportunity to do some research and evaluation and find out how it works and what are the pitfalls and mistakes that will inevitably get made” as a consequence of the transfer, argues Malcolm King, scientific director of the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples’ Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Govind Rao

"National Checkup" panel debates the pros, cons and questions surrounding a universal d... - 0 views

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from heather pharmacare drug

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  • THE NATIONAL Thu Mar 19 2015,
  • WENDY MESLEY (HOST): All that medicine isn't cheap either. Canadians spent an estimated 22 billion dollars a year on prescriptions in 2013, almost twice what they spent in 2001. One in ten struggle to afford it. It's big business and big drug companies know it, spending billions marketing it right back to you. VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN (ANNOUNCER): (Advertisement) Ask your doctor if Lunesta is right for you. WENDY MESLEY (HOST):
  • So are we over- or under-medicated? Is the high cost of prescription drugs failing to help Canadians in need? And what should we be watching for next? So we'll start with that middle question, like, who is not covered? Who is falling through the cracks? You must all see this in your practices? Danielle, what are you seeing? DANIELLE MARTIN (FAMILY PHYSICIAN, WOMEN'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL): In fact, millions of Canadians have no drug coverage whatsoever and millions more don't have adequate coverage for their needs. In my practice I see it all the time among the self-employed, people who are working in small businesses, people who are working part-time and don't have employer-based coverage. It's the taxi drivers, it's the people who are working in a part-time job, but it's also middle-income people who are consultants or working in small businesses who don't have coverage. So this isn't just a problem for the poor. It's a problem for people across socioeconomic lines.
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  • WENDY MESLEY (HOST): It's funny, you know, we hear our health plan discussed in the United States and now you talk about our socialized medicine and it's sort of until you have a health problem, you assume everything is covered. But who falls through the cracks that you see, Samir? SAMIR SINHA (GERIATRICIAN, MOUNT SINAI/UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK): Yeah, I mean, I treat a lot of older patients and those who are 65 and older generally are covered by a provincial drug plan. But, you know, I'm seeing more and more, especially after the recent recession, we have people who are closer to that age who lose their jobs and if they lose their jobs and they were relying on private drug coverage plans, they are not covered. And then they find themselves they can't afford their medications, they get sicker and they literally have to wait and be sick until they can actually get their medications.
  • WENDY MESLEY (HOST): What are you seeing, David? DAVID HENRY (PROFESSOR, DALLA LANA SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO): I think this is right and it's a surprise to somebody from outside of Canada to find that in a country with a good comprehensive care system, there is not drug coverage. So patients with chronic disease, for instance diabetics, ironically in the city where insulin was discovered, are relying on free handouts from their physicians to provide what is really an essential medication; it's keeping them alive. WENDY MESLEY (HOST): Who do you think is falling through the cracks? What are you seeing?
  • CARA TANNENBAUM (GERIATRIC PHYSICIAN, PHARMACY CHAIR, UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL): The vulnerable population in my mind are older adults with multiple medical conditions who are taking 5, 10, 15 medications at the same time and have to pay the deductible on that. And that adds up for a lot of them who don't have a lot of money to begin with, so they start making choices about will I take my drugs until the end of the month? Will I take every single medication that I have to? Do I really need those three medications for my high blood pressure, or can I let one go? And that could have effects on their health. WENDY MESLEY (HOST): Well, you mentioned diabetes, David. We heard earlier on "The National" this week from a woman in B.C. She has diabetes. That's a life-threatening disease if it's not looked after. This is what she said.
  • SASHA JANICH (PHON.) (DIABETES PATIENT): Roughly about 600 to 800 bucks a month. I don't get any help until I spend at last 3500 a year and then they'll kick in, you know, whatever portion they decide to cover. WENDY MESLEY (HOST): So, David, that's really common? People on diabetes aren't fully covered?
  • DAVID HENRY (PROFESSOR, DALLA LANA SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO): Well, they're covered to a degree in B.C., but it's what we call the co- payment level that they have to make even under an insurance program. In Ontario, they don't have any insurance at all. They're going to pay the full market price if they don't have insurance through their employer, and they may lose that if they're out of work. WENDY MESLEY (HOST): What are you seeing? What's not covered? Give me an example. DANIELLE MARTIN (WOMEN'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL):
  • Well, actually, one thing that I think is surprising to a lot of people is the variability in coverage among public drug plans in Canada. So something that's covered, even if you're covered under a public drug plan, for example if you have cancer and you have to take chemotherapy outside of the hospital, in many Canadian provinces that's taken care of. In Ontario, for example, it's not. And I think that many Canadians are surprised to discover, imagine the, you know, enormous stress of a cancer diagnosis, that on top of that you're going to have to pay out of pocket at least to very… sometimes to very, very high levels, in fact. WENDY MESLEY (HOST): Samir? SAMIR SINHA (GERIATRICIAN, MOUNT SINAI/UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK): And even just the other day, I just was debating with a pharmacy about the cost of some vitamin D. I have a person who's under house, he's on social assistance, and they said: We'll give you a free blister pack, you know, so he can sort his meds. We'll give you this. And we were actually, you know, working out a pricing system so this guy could even afford something so that he wouldn't break bones and actually have a fracture down the road. So it's amazing how some of the basic things we think are important aren't even covered. WENDY MESLEY (HOST):
  • Well, we saw that the drug costs have almost doubled in the last 11, 12 years. Is part of the problem… there's only so much, it seems, money to go around for prescription drugs. Is part of the problem that there's too many… some drugs are too easily available while people who really need them are not getting them? And there's marketing playing into that. We see a lot of ads in the last ten years. Check this out. VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN (ANNOUNCER): (Advertisement) We know a place where tossing and turning have given way to sleeping, where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. And Lunesta can help you get there.
  • UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Advertisement) Anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. I stopped kidding myself. VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2 (ANNOUNCER): (Advertisement) Talk to your doctor about your risk. VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN (ANNOUNCER): (Advertisement) Ask your doctor if Lunesta is right for you.
  • DANIELLE MARTIN (WOMEN'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL): Well, I think it's probably not divided properly and I also think that we need to be very mindful of the ways in which advertising and marketing, whether it's direct to patients or consumers as we often consume from the American media on our television screens, or whether it's direct to physicians. So, you know, in fact, even in the U.S. under the Affordable Care Act, physicians are now required to declare any amount of money that they take from the pharmaceutical industry. We have no such sunshine law here in Canada. Don't Canadian patients want to know if your doctor has had their vacation or their last meal or their speakers' fees paid by the company that makes the drug they have just prescribed for you? WENDY MESLEY (HOST): Well, we saw in those ads they'll say: Ask your doctor. Is there a lot of pressure and is that contributing to the number of pills on the market? SAMIR SINHA (GERIATRICIAN, MOUNT SINAI/UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK):
  • Well, it's a huge amount of pressure, I think, you know, for… you know, if you're a doctor that relies on information or supports from pharmaceutical representatives, for example, then there is that pressure that you're put under, there is that influence that you have. But also, we know that if your patient asks you specifically and says, you know, what about this medication, you may say, well, it's easier to prescribe you that medication if that's what you really want. But there's actually five things you can do to improve your sleep and actually avoid being on that medication, but we don't get asked for that. WENDY MESLEY (HOST): But I want to be like the lady with the wings.
  • SAMIR SINHA (GERIATRICIAN, MOUNT SINAI/UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK): And that's what I hear: Why can't I be like that? But I think it's important to think about the other options. WENDY MESLEY (HOST): David, what do you think? DAVID HENRY (PROFESSOR, DALLA LANA SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO): I would like to focus a little bit on the prices that are being paid. We talked about usage and whether drug use is appropriate. There's also the price that is paid. Canada is paying too much. And if we can just return for a second or two to the idea of a national program, there's a huge advantage in being the sole purchaser on behalf of 35 million people, as it would be with a national program in Canada. And we know from experience you can reduce drug prices by 30, 40 percent. That's billions of dollars a year. WENDY MESLEY (HOST):
  • That's a political debate that you have launched and I hope that it gets taken up by the politicians. Who is buying these drugs? We have seen that there are more people having trouble getting drugs, more people using drugs. Who is it? DANIELLE MARTIN (WOMEN'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL): That are taking prescription drugs in Canada? WENDY MESLEY (HOST): Yeah. DANIELLE MARTIN (WOMEN'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL):
  • Well, you know, interestingly over the last decade, we have seen an increase in prescription drug use in every single age category. So the answer is we all are. We're all taking more drugs than our equivalent people did a decade ago and I think… WENDY MESLEY (HOST): Teenagers? DANIELLE MARTIN (WOMEN'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL): Absolutely, teenagers and the elderly and everybody in between. And so the question really becomes: Are we any healthier as a result? You know, in some cases we're talking about truly life-saving treatment that are medical breakthroughs and, of course, we all want to see every Canadian have unfettered access to those important treatments. In other cases we may actually be talking about overdiagnosis, overprescription and as you say, Cara, sort of chemical coping of all different kinds. And I think that's what we need to kind of get at and try to tease out. WENDY MESLEY (HOST):
  • Well, and the largest group of all on prescription drugs right now, Cara, are the seniors. CARA TANNENBAUM (GERIATRIC PHYSICIAN, PHARMACY CHAIR, UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL): The seniors, yes, and I'm very passionate about this topic because sometimes I see patients come into my office on 23 different drug classes, and that's when we don't talk about what drugs should we add but what drugs can we take away, and the concept of de-prescribing. And imagine if we could get people who are on unnecessary drugs, because as you get older you get added this drug and a second drug and this specialist gives you this and that specialist gives you that, but then there starts to be interactions between the different drugs that could cause side effects and hospitalization. And maybe it's time to start asking, well, what's the right drug for you at this time, at this age, with these medical conditions? And personalized medicine is something that we have been talking about. It would be nice if we could introduce that conversation into therapy and not just drug therapy, but all therapy. Maybe the drug isn't needed. Maybe physiotherapy is needed or a psychologist or better exercise or nutrition. So I think it's really a bigger question. WENDY MESLEY (HOST): Samir?
  • SAMIR SINHA (GERIATRICIAN, MOUNT SINAI/UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK): Exactly. I mean, in my clinic the other day I had a patient who was on eight medications when she came with me, and… WENDY MESLEY (HOST): This is a senior? You deal with seniors as well. SAMIR SINHA (GERIATRICIAN, MOUNT SINAI/UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK): Absolutely. And when she left my office, she was thrilled because she was only on two medications, mainly because some of the medications are prescribed to treat the side effects of other medications, for example, or the indications for those medications were no longer valid in her. But we added some vitamins and we just balanced things out appropriately. And she was thrilled because, as Cara was saying before, the co-pays, the other payments that one needs to pay for medications you don't want to take, that's a problem as well. WENDY MESLEY (HOST): We're going to take a short break, but we have one more discussion area which is: What are the next challenges that Canadians might face with prescription drugs? We'll be right back.
  • (Commercial break) WENDY MESLEY (HOST): Welcome back to our "National Checkup" panel. Danielle Martin, Samir Sinha, Cara Tannenbaum and David Henry are all here to talk about the next frontier. So we're hearing all of this exciting new science marches on and there's all of these new drugs, new treatments. Everyone wants them or everyone who needs them wants them, but they're expensive, right, Danielle? DANIELLE MARTIN (WOMEN'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL): They can be extremely expensive. So, you know, what we call these blockbuster drugs coming onto the market, some of them truly do represent breakthroughs in medical treatment and in some cases they can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. So they really are very expensive. But what I think many people may not realize is that the number of drugs coming out, even the expensive ones that are truly breakthroughs, is still a very small portion of the drugs coming out on the market. Many, many drugs that are being released and are expensive are marginally, if at all, really any better than their predecessor. So just because it's new and fancy and costs a lot doesn't necessarily mean that it's all that much better.
  • WENDY MESLEY (HOST): So what's going to happen, David? DAVID HENRY (PROFESSOR, DALLA LANA SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO): We need to find a plan. These drugs may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nobody can afford that individually. Tens of thousands, rich people can afford them but the average person cannot. So there's really no way we can cope with these unless we've got a plan and, in my view, it has to be a national plan. And the advantage of that are that when you're buying or you're subsidizing on behalf of 35 million people, you're going to get better prices and your insurance pool that covers these costs is much greater. So the country can afford drugs that individuals can't.
  • WENDY MESLEY (HOST): Samir, what do you see as the new frontier here? SAMIR SINHA (GERIATRICIAN, MOUNT SINAI/UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK): I think the new frontier is going to be more personalized treatments in terms of how do we actually treat cancers, how do we treat certain rare conditions with more personalized treatments. WENDY MESLEY (HOST): Because it's very exciting, right? You have this cancer that's not that common and then you hear that there's a treatment for it and you want it. SAMIR SINHA (GERIATRICIAN, MOUNT SINAI/UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK): And it has the possibility of alleviating a lot of suffering from unnecessary treatments that may not actually be… you know, be effective. But I think this is the challenge. If we want to be able to afford these, if we actually work together we're actually more able to afford them when we bulk-buy these medications. But the key is going to be that, you know, this is where the future is going and we're going to have to figure out a way to pay for them.
  • WENDY MESLEY (HOST): What are you looking forward to? CARA TANNENBAUM (GERIATRIC PHYSICIAN, PHARMACY CHAIR, UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL): I'm really looking forward to seeing all these new treatments that we have spent decades researching. You know what the investment in health research has been in order to find new targets for drugs, in order to increase quality of live, in order to cure cancer, and then to send a message, oh, sorry, we're not going to give them to you or you can't afford to pay for them, then I think there is a lack of consistency in the messaging that we're giving to Canadians around equity for health care. So you could get your diagnosis and you could see a physician, but we way not be able to afford treating you. So I think this is something we need to think about it. It's very exciting, I think we live in exciting times, and looking at different funding strategies to make sure that people get the appropriate care that they need at the right time to improve their health is really what we're going to be looking forward to. WENDY MESLEY (HOST):
  • Tricky, though. It's a provincial jurisdiction, you've got to get all the provinces to agree to a list, and the list is getting longer. DANIELLE MARTIN (WOMEN'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL): Absolutely. I mean, I think actually one of the big myths out there about drug plans is that higher-quality plans are the ones that cover everything. And, in fact, that's not true. You know, we can use a national plan or a pan- Canadian plan or whatever you want to call it to target our prescribing and guide our prescribing in order to make it more appropriate, and that's another way that we're going to save money in the long run. WENDY MESLEY (HOST): Well, I learned a lot tonight. I hope our audience did too. Thanks so much for being with us. DANIELLE MARTIN (WOMEN'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL): Thank you.
Govind Rao

Assembly of First Nations - News & Media - Latest News - 16/3/22 AFN National Chief Say... - 0 views

www.afn.ca/...budget-a-significant-step-in-c

from heather aboriginal federal budget

shared by Govind Rao on 23 Mar 16 - No Cached
  • March 22, 2016 
  • Today’s federal budget is a significant step in closing the gap in the quality of life between First Nations peoples and Canadians and beginning the process of reconciliation, Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Perry Bellegarde says. 
  • The 2016 federal budget unveiled today is an historic $8.4 billion over 5 years in investments in Indigenous issues
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  • Health;
Irene Jansen

NDP Supplementary Report to the Standing Committee on Health's Review of Progress on th... - 0 views

www.parl.gc.ca/...Publication.aspx

accord health committee ndp

shared by Irene Jansen on 23 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • the unilateral Liberal cutbacks of 1995 – the greatest single cut ever to our public health care budget – had played out in service cuts and personnel shortages leading to longer waits for medical procedures
  • The 10-year Plan was a call for renewal.  It recommitted governments at all levels to the principles of the Canada Health Act and to making strategic improvements in 10 key areas to strengthen health care. 
  • The Health Council told the Committee “These accords have laudable, much needed and ambitious goals.  But have they had the broad national impact that government leaders intended?  In short, the answer is no.”
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  • the Health Council told us, there remain “clear disparities in the availability of publicly-funded homecare across the country”
  • The Health Minister, ignoring the 80% of Canadians who want more home and community care added to the health system, has stated flatly that he is “not going to get involved” in home care because he sees it as a provincial matter.  As if to underscore his point, the government has dismantled the Secretariat set up in 2001 to coordinate the development of a national strategy on end-of-life care.
  • the government has been sitting on the report of the Wait Times Advisor for two full years.  Positive recommendations, including a more multidisciplinary approach and gender analysis, have been side-tracked. 
  • the federal government’s silence while for-profit forces have exploited public concern over wait times to resurrect their false promise of salvation through parallel for-profit care
  • after developing the Framework for Collaborative Pan-Canadian Health Human Resources Planning, the action plan so urgently needed has hit the doldrums
  • The Health Council has said planning remains “fragmented”
  • urgent need to address the health deficit faced by aboriginal Canadians with improvements to both health services and the determinants of health for aboriginal communities
  • Although the 10-year Plan includes health care in Northern communities and has incorporated the 2004 Blueprint for Aboriginal Health, the Health Council reports that “preventable health problems… continue to be of concern across the country”, and that “relatively little funding seems to have flowed”.
  • the federal government’s decentralized approach to national health care priorities has resulted in the loss of a national vision for health care and a directionless, leaderless renewal process at the national level
  • We recommend, therefore, that the federal government commit itself to a national, pan-Canadian, system-wide approach to public health care renewal anchored in Canada Health Act principles and enforcement, and with the jurisdictional flexibility and asymmetrical federalism found in the 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care.
  • We recommend, therefore, that the government take urgent actions to get the Plan back on track in each of its areas of focus as quickly as possible, including: acting on the recommendations of the 2006 Interim Report of the National Pharmaceutical Strategy and the Report of the Wait Time Advisor; advancing the action plan under the Framework for Collaborative Pan-Canadian Health Human Resources Planning; energetically pursuing the objectives of the 2004 Blueprint for Aboriginal Health (most particularly where it relates to measures under direct federal jurisdiction); working with the provinces and territories to re-establish the Advisory Committee on Governance and Accountability as a functioning part of the renewal process; and convening a meeting of ministers of health to identify roadblocks that are impeding progress and to develop strategies to overcome these obstacles. 
  • the Canada Health Act, our main tool in protecting public health care, to which the 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care is committed, is being undermined through inadequate monitoring and enforcement
  • The for-profit health industry continues to grow unabated
  • The Canada Health Act annual reports to Parliament do not reflect this due to their limited scope and the government’s failure to make improvements identified by the Auditor General back in 2002.
  • We recommend, therefore, that the Health Minister fully enforce the Canada Health Act by: setting data collection standards for reporting and enforcement that capture all for-profit activities that may impact on public health delivery; working collaboratively with the provinces and territories to fill gaps in reporting; stipulating that federal transfers should only be used for non-profit health care delivery; and removing any requirements that health infrastructure endeavours consider for-profit options such as public-private partnerships.
Irene Jansen

MPs call for national palliative care strategy - 0 views

www.canada.com/...story.html

federal government palliative

shared by Irene Jansen on 23 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • On Thursday, a cross-party parliamentary committee agreed with Woelk, saying the patchwork system of end-of-life care must be replaced with a national palliative-care strategy.
  • The committee's nearly 200-page report recommends the federal government create a palliative-care secretariat that could ensure end-of-life care is available to anyone across the country.
  • Other nations, such as Georgia and Poland, have national strategies for end-of-life care, but not so in Canada, the report said.
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  • Currently, palliative care is only available for up to one-third of Canadians, the report found, and sometimes care isn't provided evenly in the same city.
  • Conservative Harold Albrecht, who co-chaired the committee along with Joe Comartin of the NDP
  • The report, titled Not to be Forgotten, provides a list of 14 recommendations that also address ways to prevent suicide and elder abuse.
  • also recommending the federal government create a national secretariat for suicide prevention and an office of elder abuse under the watchful eye of the minister for seniors
  • The recommendations include sections for First Nations, Inuit, Metis and rural communities
  • The committee's suicide prevention ideas mirrored guidelines recommended by a the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention. Its blueprint for suicide prevention was first released in 2004 and updated in 2009
  • The report is the culmination of about a year of work from the ad hoc committee, which was formed by MPs with a personal interest in the issues and funded out of their office budgets.
Govind Rao

Address huge public health coverage gaps - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246243|gumr|20151015|231429264

from heather Ontario determinants pharmacare medicare

shared by Govind Rao on 15 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • Guelph Mercury Thu Oct 15 2015
  • It's time to tackle root causes of health inequities As Canadians, we are justifiably proud of our publicly funded health-care system. It is, arguably, the single-most powerful expression of our collective will as a nation to support each other. It recognizes that meeting shared needs and aspirations is the foundation on which prosperity and human development rests. We can all agree that failing to treat a broken leg can result in serious health problems and threats to a person's ability to function. Yet, we accept huge inequities in access to dental care and prescription drugs based on insurance coverage and income. Although the impacts can be just as significant, dental care isn't accessible like other types of health care, and many Canadians don't receive regular or even emergency dental care. Many others have no insurance coverage for urgently needed prescription medications and may delay or dilute required doses due to financial hardship.
  • Demand for dental care among adults and seniors will only increase as the population continues to grow in Ontario. From 2013 to 2036, Ontario's population aged 65 and over is projected to increase to more than four million people from 2.1 million. It is time all Canadians had access to dental care. This necessitates federal and provincial leadership in putting a framework together to make this possible. Dental health problems are largely preventable and require a comprehensive approach for all ages that includes treatment, prevention, and oral health promotion.
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  • Low-income adults who do not have employer-sponsored dental coverage through a publicly funded program - and most don't - must pay for their own dental care. Because the cost is often prohibitive, too many adults avoid seeking treatment at dental offices. Instead, they turn to family doctors and emergency departments for antibiotics and painkillers, which cannot address the true cause of the problem. In 2012, in Ontario alone, there were almost 58,000 visits to Ontario hospital emergency rooms due to oral health problems. Why is access to dental care essential now?
  • A person's oral health will affect their overall health. Dental disease can cause pain and infection. Gum disease has been linked to respiratory infections, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, poor nutrition, and low birth weight babies. Poor oral health can also impact learning abilities, employability, school and work attendance and performance, self-esteem, and social relationships. It is estimated that 4.15 million working days are lost annually in Canada due to dental visits or dental sick days. Persons with visible dental problems may be less likely to find employment in jobs that require face-to-face contact with the public.
  • Why is there such a difference in coverage? In short, dental care and pharmacare were not included within the original scope of Canada's national system of health insurance (medicare), and despite repeated evidence of the need to correct this oversight, is still not covered today. Instead, we are left with a patchwork of private employer-based benefits coverage, limited publicly funded programs, and significant out-of-pocket payments for many. Publicly funded dental programs for children and youth do exist for low-income families, including the dependents of those on social assistance. Most provinces and territories have some access to drug coverage, mostly for seniors and social assistance recipients, and there is some support for situations where drug costs are extremely high.
  • Pharmaceutical coverage in Canada remains an unco-ordinated and incomplete patchwork of private and public plans - one that leaves many Canadians with no prescription drug coverage at all. This has many negative consequences including: Three million Canadians cannot afford to take their prescriptions as written. This leads to worse health outcomes and increased costs elsewhere in the health-care system.
  • One in six hospitalizations in Canada could be prevented through improved regulation and better guidelines. Medicines are commonly underused, overused, and misused in Canada. Two million Canadians incur more than $1,000 a year in out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs. The uncontrolled cost of medicines is also a growing burden on businesses and unions that finance private drug plans for approximately 60 per cent of Canadian workers. Canada pays more than any comparable health-care system for prescription drugs. We spend an estimated $1 billion on duplicate administration of multiple private drug plans. Depending on estimates, we also spend between $4 billion and $10 billion more on prescription drugs than comparable countries with national prescription drug coverage plans.
  • Affordable access to safe and appropriate prescription medicines is so critical to health that the World Health Organization has declared governments should be obligated to ensure such access for all. Unfortunately, Canada is the only developed country with a universal health care system that does not include universal coverage of prescription drugs. From its very outset, Canada's universal, public health insurance system - medicare - was supposed to include universal public coverage of prescription drugs. The reasoning was simple. It is essential to deliver on the core principles of "access," "appropriateness," "equity" and "efficiency." Building universal prescription drug coverage into Canada's universal health-care system, based on the above principles, is both achievable and financially sustainable.
  • A public body - with federal, provincial and territorial representation - would establish the national formulary for medicines to be covered. This body would negotiate drug pricing and supply contracts for brand-name and generic drugs. Importantly, it would use the combined purchasing power of the program to ensure all Canadians receive the best possible drug prices and thereby coverage of the widest possible range of treatments. To patients, the program would be a natural extension of medicare: when a provider prescribes a covered drug, the patient would have access without financial barriers.
  • To society, universal access to safe and appropriately prescribed drugs and access to dental care will improve population health and reduce demands elsewhere in the health system. The single-payer system will also result in substantially lower medicine costs for Canada. In short, Canada can no longer afford not to have a national pharmacare program and a national dental care program. Disclaimer: The Guelph and Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination is a non-partisan organization. However, the poverty task force does have ties with two Guelph federal party candidates. Andrew Seagram, the NDP candidate, is a current member of the task force and Lloyd Longfield, the Liberal candidate, is a past member.
Irene Jansen

Oct 1 National Seniors Day says CHA - 0 views

www.cha.ca/index.php

seniors canada

shared by Irene Jansen on 23 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • Irene Jansen on 23 Jan 12
     
    Ottawa, Friday, September 30, 2011: On October 1, 2011, the 2nd Annual National Seniors Day, the Canadian Healthcare Association applauds the generous contributions of Canada's seniors to building our families, our communities, our workplaces and our country. Canada's seniors are active mentors and leaders living healthy and productive lives. However, some need support from continuing care services including home, respite, and facility-based long term care. To address present and future needs, the Canadian Healthcare Association believes that a national strategy integrating continuing care with other parts of the health system must become a priority.
Irene Jansen

National Nursing Week - May 9 to 15 < Health care, Nursing | CUPE - 0 views

cupe.ca/...national-nursing-week-9-15

pn cupe nursing week

shared by Irene Jansen on 23 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • In a letter sent to health care sector locals, CUPE National President Paul Moist and CUPE National Secretary-Treasurer Claude Généreux wish a happy Nursing Week to all of CUPE’s nursing team.
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