East West Information

Alberta government to try to prohibit COVID-19 mask mandates in schools, Smith says

The Alberta government is moving to try to prohibit any COVID-19 mask mandates in schools, Premier Danielle Smith said Saturday morning.

October 30, 2022

Oct 30, 2022

Without a family doctor? Physicians offer some short-term solutions

Millions of Canadians are without a family doctor. While they look for a primary care provider, physicians have some tips on how to help people manage their health.

October 30, 2022

Oct 29, 2022

Ebola spreads in Uganda as country waits for experimental vaccine

There is no known treatment for the new Sudan Ebola virus strain rapidly spreading in Uganda, but there’s hope an experimental vaccine could be going into arms in the next few weeks.

October 29, 2022

Oct 29, 2022

Artificial sweeteners are touted as an alternative to sugar — but research casts doubt on their safety

Researchers behind a large-scale nutrition study out of France say they’ve found associations between consumption of artificial sweeteners, like aspartame and sucralose, and cardiovascular disease and cancer.

October 29, 2022

Oct 28, 2022

For many restaurant workers, health benefits are rare. Amid an 'existential' labour shortage, that's changing

Amid an unprecedented labour shortage, a small but growing number of restaurant owners are expanding health and dental benefits to workers — an indicator of the lengths businesses are taking to convince people to apply and to stick around.

Oct 28, 2022

'Grave danger' of further shortages unless more done to attract, retain physicians: Doctors Manitoba

The physician advocacy organization Doctors Manitoba is recommending five steps to government the group hopes will help the province recruit and retain staff in a health-care system that continues to lose workers.

Oct 28, 2022

2 new COVID-19 subvariants are growing twice as fast as B.A.5 in Ontario, public health agency says

Public Health Ontario says the proportion of the new BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 Omicron subvariants in the province is growing twice as quickly as the dominant BA.5 strain.

Oct 28, 2022

Marketplace tests 5 popular foods with healthy-sounding claims that may be too good to be true

The packaging on some food items makes big, bold health claims, so a CBC Marketplace investigation puts food labels to the test, revealing whether they deliver — and how slick marketing may be convincing Canadians to buy them, say experts.

Oct 28, 2022

This mom sits outside her child's school all day. She wants more help for students with disabilities

A single mom says she's resorted to waiting outside of her daughter's north Toronto high school in case the teen needs help going to the washroom. She's looking for answers from her daughter's school and the board, She's also calling for systemic ch...

Oct 27, 2022

Air Canada to cover cost of passenger's broken wheelchair, nearly 2 months after damaging it

Air Canada will cover the cost of a new wheelchair after a disability advocate found hers damaged following a flight to an accessibility conference in September.

Oct 27, 2022

Ontario's COVID-19 hospitalizations highest in 8 months; 121 new deaths reported

Ontario is reporting 121 new COVID-19 deaths and 1,921 hospitalizations over the past seven days — the highest reported hospitalization rate since February.

Oct 27, 2022

Nova Scotia prepares to launch new health-care work and training programs

The province has reached a deal to create a bridge program for internationally trained medical lab technicians. Another pilot project will see physician assistants employed in emergency departments.

Oct 27, 2022

It's Disability Employment Awareness Month, but still lots of room for improvement, say advocates

Agata Gawron doesn't know if she should disclose her disability while looking and applying for work.

Oct 27, 2022

Alberta surpasses 5,000 total COVID-19 deaths

There were 28 more COVID-19 deaths in Alberta reported over the past week.

Oct 27, 2022

'Perfect storm' has Albertans waiting long hours in backlogged hospital emergency rooms

Wait times can vary by hospital and depend on the time of day, but can sometimes range from two hours to 17 hours.

Oct 27, 2022

First responders detail dangers of closing Thunder Bay, Ont., street outreach services before winter

First responders in Thunder Bay, Ont., are expressing disappointment and concern as they approach a winter without life-saving outreach services in the northwestern Ontario city.

Oct 26, 2022

Sask. woman recovering from addiction fears for her sister as drug crisis sweeps through province

Saskatchewan is on track for another year-over-year increase in drug toxicity deaths.

Oct 26, 2022

Ebola infects 6 schoolkids in Uganda as outbreak grows

Six schoolchildren in Uganda's capital have tested positive for Ebola, the health minister said Wednesday, marking a serious escalation of the outbreak declared just over a month ago.

Oct 26, 2022

Climate change has broad effects on health-care systems, medical journal says

When you have to shut down a hospital operating room because there's so much wildfire smoke your instruments can't be kept sterile, you know climate change is affecting health care.

Oct 26, 2022

China begins deploying COVID-19 booster vaccine administered orally

The Chinese city of Shanghai started administering an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday in what appears to be a world first.

Oct 26, 2022

What to know about RSV, a virus surging among young children in Canada

Children’s hospitals in Canada are seeing an increase in cases of a common respiratory virus that can cause severe illness in infants. Here's what you need to know.

Oct 25, 2022

Doctor thinks of quitting, cancer patient faces long wait during 'overwhelming' weekend in Winnipeg hospitals

A Winnipeg physician says his emergency department is reaching its breaking point and, for the first time, he's thought of quitting.

October 25, 2022

Oct 25, 2022

Family asks coroner to reopen investigation of woman found dead on floor of Montreal hospital ER

Candida Macarine's family says a coroners investigation 'inexplicably failed' to examine the case in a thorough manner.

October 25, 2022

Oct 25, 2022

Amid increased suicide numbers, Labrador City resident calls for better mental health and addictions services

Keith Fitzpatrick says while mental health and addiction services in Labrador West have improved in recent years, much remains to be done to ensure people have good access to care.

October 25, 2022

Oct 24, 2022

Uganda says 9 more Ebola cases confirmed in Kampala, urges vigilance

Uganda has reported nine more Ebola cases in the capital Kampala, bringing the total number of known infections to 14 in the last two days, the health minister says.

Oct 24, 2022

Canadian medical journal acknowledges its role in perpetuating anti-Black racism in health care

Canada's premier medical journal says it's eager to address the role it plays in perpetuating anti-Black racism in health care and spark the broader change needed to dismantle structural barriers to equitable care.

Oct 24, 2022

Research, remedy and regulation: the changing dynamics of psychedelic therapy in Alberta

Earlier this month, Alberta announced new regulations for the use of psychedelics in therapy. Researchers and health-care professionals are increasingly exploring how drugs like ketamine can be used for mental health treatment.

Oct 24, 2022

Preventable bed sore contributed to this man's painful death, and they're on the rise

Ken O’Leary acquired a bed sore ‘the size of an avocado’ while in an Ontario hospital — contributing to a painful death. He is one of thousands of Canadians who develop the excruciating and potentially deadly sores every year, after being admitted t...

Oct 23, 2022

This streamlined OR gets people into surgery faster. Now, other hospitals want to copy it

When a surgeon saw patients stuck waiting for orthopedic surgeries, he designed a better operating room that's publicly funded to do the procedures faster and more efficiently. It's a model other hospitals are interested in copying.

October 23, 2022

Oct 22, 2022

Why this woman is fighting to get more help for people with long COVID

Susie Goulding knows what it's like to have long COVID. She's been dealing with symptoms since March 2020 and has been pushing governments to better recognize long COVID.

October 22, 2022

Oct 22, 2022

Most of the people N.B. quietly removed from its COVID death totals had the virus when they died

New Brunswick health officials retroactively removed 46 people from its COVID death totals last week even though records show 31 had the virus listed as a "cause of death" on their official death registration forms. As well, the deaths wou...

October 22, 2022

Oct 21, 2022

Customer complaints about infections prompt spa east of Toronto to close its pools

A new spa in Whitby, Ont. has closed all of its pools in the wake of reports by customers of skin rashes, flu symptoms, ear infections and inflamed lymph nodes.

October 21, 2022

Oct 20, 2022

Massive recall issued for dry shampoo products over cancer risk

More than a million dry shampoo products from Bed Head TIGI, Dove and Tresemmé are being recalled across Canada due to the detection of a cancer-causing chemical.

October 20, 2022

Oct 20, 2022

Key public health decisions made in N.B. in February informed partly by false death counts

Dozens of missing COVID-19 death records revealed by the New Brunswick government last week caused health officials to mislead themselves about when fatalities from last winter's Omicron wave had peaked just as they were faced with critical decision...

October 20, 2022

Oct 20, 2022

Hearing aids just got dramatically cheaper in the U.S. Will it happen in Canada?

Hearing aids just got dramatically cheaper in the United States, now that major retailers and pharmacies are permitted to sell them without a prescription. The change has many Canadians wondering whether it will happen in this country.

October 20, 2022

Oct 19, 2022

Northern B.C. patients wait just to get on a wait list as HR reports show doctor shortage continues

Human resources reports from B.C.'s Northern Health authority, long plagued by staffing shortages and ER closures, offer the latest glimpse into Canada's ongoing health-care crisis.

Oct 19, 2022

B.C. health minister promises 'stronger oversight' of health professionals as new legislation tabled

B.C.’s health minister has introduced a long-awaited piece of legislation that will overhaul the province’s system for regulating everyone from doctors to dental hygienists, promising increased accountability for health professionals and improved tr...

Oct 19, 2022

Ontario quietly changes LTC rules; visitors no longer have to mask in resident rooms

Ontario has quietly changed mask rules for long-term care homes, no longer requiring visitors or caregivers to wear them when alone with a resident in their room.

Oct 19, 2022

'Unprecedented rise' in cholera outbreaks prompts WHO to switch vaccine strategy

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it will temporarily suspend the standard two-dose vaccination regimen for cholera, replacing it with a single dose due to vaccine shortages and rising outbreaks worldwide.

Oct 19, 2022

N.L.'s premier asked doctors to contact him directly about working in the province. They had a lot to say

Their names are redacted for privacy reasons. But their experiences trying to practise medicine in Newfoundland and Labrador are not. Here is what they told Andrew Furey in recent months.

Oct 19, 2022

Monkeypox conspiracy theories spread rapidly on TikTok, says U of A researcher

New research from the University of Alberta tracked conspiracy theories about monkeypox on TikTok that made false claims about everything from vaccines to Bill Gates.

Oct 19, 2022

First Nations man had 'quite good' chance of survival if taken to hospital instead of cell, inquest told

Don Mamakwa of Kasabonika Lake First Nation had a 97 per cent chance of surviving the night if he had been brought to hospital instead of a Thunder Bay, Ont., police cell in August 2014, an emergency-room physician tells an inquest.

Oct 18, 2022

Polio may resurge globally, WHO says, as countries pledge funds

Various governments pledged $2.6 billion US on Tuesday toward a global plan to again try to eradicate polio, following its comeback, the World Health Organization says.

Oct 18, 2022

Facing a fall COVID surge, Tam calls on Canadians to get their bivalent booster shots

Canada's chief public health officer said Tuesday that Canadians should get their dose of a recently authorized bivalent vaccine to stave off a fall resurgence of COVID-19 — a development that could prompt the return of some pandemic-relat...

Oct 18, 2022

Alberta Health Services board member resigns in response to premier's plan to replace directors

With the looming threat of firing hanging over their heads, at least one Alberta Health Services board member has resigned.

Oct 18, 2022

For one year, I desperately chased sleep. Once I stopped trying, it found me

Saniya Warwaruk tried — and abandoned — pills, potions and breathing exercises in her year-long battle with insomnia. Finally, she realized her own anxiety about not sleeping was fuelling the flames.

Oct 17, 2022

What 2 new studies reveal about long COVID in Canada

Two new large-scale reports, one published by Statistics Canada and the other in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, are giving a clearer picture of the long-term impacts of COVID-19 infections on Canadians and the health-care system.

October 17, 2022

Oct 17, 2022