New MRI now operating at Huntsville hospital, bringing scans closer to home
Huntsville District Memorial Hospital marked a major milestone with the official opening of its new MRI suite.
The opening was celebrated on Monday by hospital staff, donors, dignitaries and community members. It's a significant moment for local health care, officials stated, marking the end of a five-year journey and a $10 million fundraising campaign led by the Huntsville Hospital Foundation.
"'I am so happy that Muskoka is among the first of the 49 new MRI machines the Ontario government is adding across the province, alongside our District Stroke Centre in Huntsville,' noted Cheryl Harrison, President and CEO at Muskoka Algonquin HealthCare (MAHC).
Harrison said the MRI would reduce wait times, improve patient outcomes, and support local care. 'No more long drives out of the region. No more delays in diagnosis. This MRI is changing the game,' Harrison added.
Until now, patients had to drive to Orillia, Barrie or beyond to have an MRI scan. The new machine will perform roughly 5,000 scans per year, which is expected to save patients over 700,000 kilometres of travel and more than 7,000 hours of driving.
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40 minutes ago
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N.L. prepares for upcoming Canada Games amid measles outbreaks across the country
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Canada Standard
an hour ago
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Alcohol sales changed subtly after Canada legalized cannabis
Before Canada legalized recreational cannabis in October 2018, it was unclear how the change might affect beverage alcohol consumption. Would consumers drink less or more after cannabis became legal? Drinking might decrease, for example, if people used cannabis in place of alcohol. That switch potentially could reduce alcohol-related harms. But economically, it would mean any gains in the cannabis industry would likely come at the expense of alcohol producers. Conversely, drinking might increase if people used alcohol along with cannabis. That could boost alcohol industry profits and government tax revenues, but at the cost of increased health risks of both substances. In response to this uncertainty, some businesses diversified. One alcohol producer bought a cannabis grower, while a cannabis firm took took over several beer brewers. Research from the United States into the relationship between alcohol and cannabis use is inconclusive. 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But there were no obvious effects from 2018's cannabis legalization. We also compared monthly sales during the 12 months before legalization versus the 12 after. This included national average sales by liquor retailers and beer producers. In both cases, sales trends showed no significant changes in October 2018. However, this research on Canada-wide sales was mainly designed to detect large changes. To find subtler ones, I focused on the province of Nova Scotia. When Canada legalized cannabis, most provinces banned liquor stores from selling it to avoid tempting alcohol drinkers into trying cannabis. Nova Scotia did the opposite. Its government-owned liquor corporation became the main cannabis retailer. After legalization in October 2018, most provincial liquor stores kept selling only alcohol, but some began selling cannabis as well. This unique situation prompted me to study the province's sales. I focused on the 17 months before and 17 months after legalization. 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Consider the immediate sales drop at alcohol-only stores - this could suggest some consumers switched from alcohol to cannabis right after legalization. Meanwhile, the lack of a drop at cannabis sellers might mean some consumers simply changed where they shopped. Instead of visiting their local alcohol-only retailer, they went to cannabis sellers to shop for alcohol and cannabis together. The cannabis sellers' ongoing growth might reflect people increasingly buying cannabis from licensed stores instead of illegal dealers. They went to those stores to buy weed, but picked up some extra booze while they were there. My research so far has focused on the initial post-legalization period, from October 2018 to February 2020. I plan to study later periods next, when cannabis retailing was more widespread and perhaps more influential. That will be more challenging, however, because COVID-19 arrived in March 2020. The pandemic disrupted sales of alcohol, though not of cannabis. It will be tricky to separate cannabis effects from pandemic ones, or from Canadian consumers' evolving drinking habits in general. My guess is that cannabis legalization had little short-term impact on existing drinkers overall. Most Canadians didn't suddenly consume cannabis with their cabernet or replace vodka with vapes. Instead, we might see gradual long-term shifts. Young Canadians now reach legal age in a context where cannabis and alcohol are both allowed. Some folks who previously would have started drinking alcohol might now choose cannabis instead, or in addition. For now, alcohol drinking is still three times more common than cannabis use. Whether that continues, only time will tell.
CTV News
2 hours ago
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Study: health of U.S. children deteriorating
Winnipeg Watch A new study looking at the overall health of U.S. Children leads MedicalWatch for July 8, 2025.
