During her campaign for leadership of the UCP party, Danielle Smith made clear her plans to overhaul Alberta Health Services (AHS). She threatened to fire the entire AHS board and appoint an interim health commissioner reporting directly to herself and the health minister. While concentrating power into her hands, she says she wants to decentralize health careContinue reading “Alberta Health Services needs strengthening, not dismantling”
Category Archives: Health
Primary health care in crisis
Primary care is the corner stone of a high-functioning health care system. Yet, many Albertans are struggling to find a family doctor, or if they are lucky enough to have a family doctor, to get an appointment in a timely fashion. In response to this crisis, the UCP government announced the Modernizing Alberta’s Primary Health CareContinue reading “Primary health care in crisis”
Food for a healthy planet and healthy people
Agricultural land covers 40% of the global land mass and food production accounts for up to 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Now more than ever we have to pay attention to how we eat in order to keep ourselves and our planet healthy. Agriculture continues to encroach into forests and other carbon rich ecosystemsContinue reading “Food for a healthy planet and healthy people”
Cleaning up our act on plastic pollution
They are convenient, inexpensive and versatile but plastics are harming our health and our planet. Recognizing the damaging effects of plastic pollution, the federal government recently announced regulations limiting single use plastics. But they do not go far enough to protect human health or ensure environmental sustainability. Eighty billion tons of plastics have been producedContinue reading “Cleaning up our act on plastic pollution”
Rethinking our understanding of mental health and mental illness
Canadians were in a mental health crisis well before the COVID-19 pandemic. But as with many other things, the pandemic served to shine a spotlight on the depth and breath of this serious issue. According to Statistics Canada, a shocking 1 in 3 Canadians suffers from mental illness during their lifetime. Five to 10 percentContinue reading “Rethinking our understanding of mental health and mental illness”
Road traffic deaths are preventable
When a pedestrian is killed crossing the highway on the way to “community” housing, it is not an accident. It is death by design – or some would say – a lack of design, and we all have blood on our hands. From the urban planners who designed the housing project in its current location,Continue reading “Road traffic deaths are preventable”
Effective Policy Needed to Reduce Alcohol-Related Harms
Many of us welcomed in the New Year with a glass of our favourite alcoholic beverage, even if in muted celebration this year. Alcohol is an ubiquitous and accepted part of our culture, associated with times of festivity, socializing with friends and family and relaxing after a hard day at work. While there are social,Continue reading “Effective Policy Needed to Reduce Alcohol-Related Harms”
The opioid crisis rages on
In the last five years, there has been an alarming increase in deaths related to opioid overdoses. Over 22,000 Canadians – the majority of them in the prime of their lives – have succumbed to fatal overdoses since 2016. These numbers are comparable to lives lost in Canada due to COVID-19 infections, yet we areContinue reading “The opioid crisis rages on”
Children and Youth in Mental Health Crisis
On October 19, 2021, the American Association of Pediatrics declared a national emergency in children’s mental health. They cited soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma and loneliness in American children and youth as reasons for this unprecedented declaration. The picture is no less grim in Canada. Even before the pandemic, poor mental health was rankedContinue reading “Children and Youth in Mental Health Crisis”
Climate change is a health crisis
As we cope with extreme heat waves and unpredictable wildfires this summer, it is hard to deny that climate change is a reality. With record setting high temperatures in many places in the West, this stretch of hot weather is a searing reminder of how human actions are affecting our planet. If global warming continuesContinue reading “Climate change is a health crisis”
The Engaged Citizen 