Solutions to the care crisis from the Frontier centre

Let start to define the challenge and see how the rest of the world deals with it. Information is the first step in crafting a made in Canada soultion. Q-J

More health news from Ontario - Beware of Toronto Hospitals

Hamilton: "Deadly virus found in Ontario hospitals
"

CTV.ca | Ethical debate surrounds Mtl. kidney transplant

CTV.ca | Ethical debate surrounds Mtl. kidney transplant: "They're playing God,' Jacobovici, who will be at Tuesday's news conference, said in an interview from Los Angeles.
'They're sentencing hundreds of Canadians, thousands of Canadians, to death every year.
'Right now, if you give blood in Canada, you're a hero. And if you want to give a kidney, you're suspect.' "

Macleans.ca | Canada Switchboard | Columnists | Diagnosis: critical

Macleans.ca | Canada Switchboard | Columnists | Diagnosis: critical: "Diagnosis: critical
Our health-care delivery system is ailing, but there is a prescription that might work
MARY JANIGAN
In the end, it is the patients and their kin who will ensure health-care delivery is reformed -- despite lingering resistance within the medical establishment. Hospitals have become too dangerous for casual use: the ailing should be able to avoid them whenever possible. A"

Doctor's have a problem

Hamilton

The Ontario Medical Association has estimated that 1.2 million Ontarians in both rural and urban areas don't have access to a family physician. The Health Ministry considers 142 communities medically underserviced.

On Monday, the specialist coalition said Health Minister George Smitherman needs to dig deeper.

''We're in very serious danger in Ontario of the whole system collapsing, sooner than later,'' said Hughes. ''There has to be some ability to get more money into the system and Smitherman needs to figure out how to do that.''

The contract, which goes to the OMA's 24,000 members for a non-binding telephone referendum starting Tuesday, will put at least another $2.4 billion in doctors' pockets.

The Tech Guru: Dr. Gerard Burns

Hi Tech is the answer to the challenge More business week
The Tech Guru: Dr. Gerard Burns

The Digital Hospital

This Business Week article is truly inspiring and could be a blueprint of the future.
Do we have the will to do it in Canada? This is a positive challenge for Canadians. QJ
The Digital Hospital

Anti-obesity pill promising: second study

Wed Mar 9,12:09 PM ET Health - AFP



ORLANDO, United States (AFP) - A European study appears to confirm earlier results of tests on an experimental pill against obesity from French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventi, researchers said.

Use of the drug saw average weight loss of 7.2 kilos after nearly two years' treatment, compared with 2.5 kilos in a placebo group, said diabetologist Luc Van Gaal.


Presenting conclusions from the study he led at the American College of Cardiology's annual meeting, Van Gaal said: "The majority of the weight that was lost at one year is still maintained after two years" with "only a slight increase" during the second year.


Van Gaal, the department head and professor of medicine in the department of Diabetology, Metabolism and Clinical Nutrition at the University Hospital in Antwerp, Belgium led the study in Europe of 1,507 significantly obese people.


The girth size in people in the study group shrank an average 8.5 centimeters after one year. On average, one year later, they had gained one centimeter on the waist.




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ProActive Rants

political commentary
ProActive Rants

To your better health- use fruit and vegtables

MSN Hotmail - Message: "SOME BROCCOLI EACH DAY KEEPS SERIOUS TROUBLES AWAY
The buzzwords several years ago were 'functional foods,' referring to the health benefits derived from certain foods. What a concept -- food as 'medicine.' In particular, entries on the 'food-is-good-for-you' list include apples and cruciferous vegetables -- broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, bok choy and kale. According to several new studies (as well as some older ones), these foods are particularly helpful for fighting certain types of cancer.
AN APPLE A DAY
Did you know that apples -- those delicious, versatile, beautiful fruits -- actually are 'natural born cancer cell killers' and more, too? Researchers at the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Strasbourg exposed cancer cells to apple antioxidants. They found that one type of antioxidant that is prominent in apples, procyanidins, was particularly effective in triggering cancer cell deaths. The French team then did a second-stage study for which they exposed laboratory rats to colon-cancer-causing substances and then fed one of two groups of rats the apple procyanidins for six weeks. The rats that fed on the antioxidant developed half as many precancerous lesions as the group on regular feed.
An earlier cell culture study at Cornell University also demonstrated that apple extract inhibited colon cancer cells, but this study reports that the effectiveness seems to come from not just one, but all antioxidants contained in apples, especially those in the skin. A recent Cornell review of the literature on apple research showed that apples also are protective against several other types of cancer, "

SmokeOutHypocrisy.com Manitoba's Provincial Smoking Restriction Is Bad Public Policy

This is a real treat and laugh and shows that some people do not like getting "screwed" by "their" government officials that they pay with their hard earned taxes. Smoke out hypocrisy is a refresing , original joy to read from the West. Enjoy the link -it will make you laugh, satire or provocative otherwise , this is definately a good read -pure primative wit yet effective. ( Not one politically correct or publically funded tree was used in producing their effective rant-chuckle)
SmokeOutHypocrisy.com Manitoba's Provincial Smoking Restriction Is Bad Public Policy: "Aren't you mad at the Government too. YOU BET The NDP should have had the courage to stand up to these special interest groups and tell them that the province cannot afford this legislation. They should have told the province the truth about healthcare funding and put people's lives ahead of politics. We need politicians who are compasses - not weathervanes.
Who else is getting screwed by this legislation?
HEALTH INSPECTORS These poor guys don't want any part of this. Do you think that they want to go into a bar on a Friday night that is full of farmers - who have had a bad crop - and are half-cut and give them all tickets for smoking. These folks wanted to protect our food and water supply, they didn't sign on to be lifestyle cops.
Who is getting screwed the worst?
CANCER PATIENTS If I were a cancer patient I would be enraged. Every year cancer becomes a more treatable disease. But the drugs and technology to fight this disease need money. So why are the groups that are supposed to be looking after cancer patients doing everything they can to take money out of healthcare? For example, did you know that:
The Manitoba Division of the Canadian Cancer Society spent over $"

Medical advocacy ( Medical overmedication )

MSN Hotmail - Message: "Never assume that a hospital or a nursing staff or a doctor's office will do any coordinating of the big picture. Patients with complicated health challenges need an advocate to help do that for them. " from the Health Gain Forum and Health Science Institute

Sometimes you need someone in your corner.

In an Internet Broadcasting Systems (IBS) article titled "Over- Medication Sickens Seniors," geriatrician Dr. Mary Cohan discusses several problems that I've addressed in previous e- Alerts. For instance, many elderly patients require the care of specialists and end up visiting more than one doctor on a regular basis. When several doctors prescribe different medications, the chances for adverse drug interactions increase, along with the risk of side effects.

And here's the disturbing result of that trend:A recent survey revealed that older patients suffering from side effects or adverse interactions account for 20 percent of all emergency room visits.
A friend of mine named Jan experienced this very situation with her father who had multiple health problems. In deep frustration, Jan and her family wondered why all of the specialists couldn't get on the same page. It slowly dawned on her that the doctors had no motivation to do so; to each of them her father was just one of many patients who required attention for a few brief minutes at a time.

Finally, she and some family members organized and insisted on a joint conference between four different specialists. It was quite difficult to match up their schedules, so the family had to be persistent in scheduling and rescheduling. When the meeting finally took place, two of the doctors realized that some of their prescribed drug therapies needed immediate adjustment.
Obviously, her father couldn't have handled this situation on his own. Which brings us to this simple health care tip: Get an advocate.
Many patients - especially those who are elderly or who have multiple health problems - need someone to step forward and coordinate their health care. That advocate doesn't need to be a health care professional, they just need to be diligent in asking hard questions, following up on the answers, and making sure that all of the doctors involved are aware of the entire scope of diagnoses, tests, prescriptions, dietary recommendations, etc.
Never assume that a hospital or a nursing staff or a doctor's office will do any coordinating of the big picture. Patients with complicated health challenges need an advocate to help do that for them.