Canada's emergency room crisis is worse than we thought
Because there's no centralized data on how common closures are across Canada, it's challenging to parse out how bad the problem is. As part of The Globe's Secret Canada series, health reporter Kelly Grant, investigative reporter Tu Thanh Ha and data editor Yang Sun analyzed data on emergency room closures across Canada. Kelly and Ha are on the show to talk about how widespread these closures really are, what it means for people living in those communities and what kinds of solutions are possible.
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Globe and Mail
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- Globe and Mail
Ontario long-term care worker charged in death of resident given wrong medications
A woman has been charged in connection with the death of an elderly man after a medication dispensing error in a Northern Ontario long-term care residence. Michelle Biglow, 62, faces a count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, the Ontario Provincial Police said in a statement Monday. The name of the woman charged by the OPP matches that of a registered practical nurse who resigned from the College of Nurses of Ontario on March 28 of this year. The OPP said the charge stemmed from the death last year of a 93-year-old man living at a long-term care facility in the town of Iroquois Falls. The police said an incident occurred on May 17, 2024 that caused 'medical distress' in the man. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died on May 24. No further details were provided, but the only LTC facility in Iroquois Falls is the 69-bed South Centennial Manor. According to a source, the case involved medications wrongfully dispensed at South Centennial. The Globe and Mail is not disclosing the name of the source because they were not authorized to speak with the media. According to a report by the Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care, an inspection was conducted at South Centennial between June 4 and 6, 2024 after a medication incident involving a resident. 'A registered staff member administered medications to several residents and did not follow the home's medication administration policies,' the report says. 'As a result, one of the residents received the wrong medications causing a change in their health status.' The report added that a second staffer responded to the problem by giving the resident a medication that was also not appropriate for them. Both staffers acknowledged that they had failed to make sure that the resident wouldn't receive the wrong medications, says the report, dated June 12, 2024. 'Failure to ensure that registered staff members followed the home's medication policies and that drugs administered to residents were prescribed for them, resulted in harm to a resident and put other residents in the home at risk of harm due to unsafe medication practices,' the report says. The document also mentioned that a staffer was involved in two separate medication incidents over a month. It was not clear from the report whether this was one of the employees mentioned in the other incident. The LTC's licensee, Anson General Hospital in Iroquois Falls, was ordered to ensure that registered staff who administer drugs be trained on the home's policies relating to medication management system. The licensee was also asked to audit medications administration three times a week for at least a month. A follow-up report, dated Aug. 26, said the home had complied with the previous inspection's orders. Iroquois Falls is 70 kilometres northeast of Timmins. According to a funeral home notice, 93-year-old Roger Sauvé of Iroquois Falls died on May 24, 2024, at Anson General Hospital, in Iroquois Falls. He was a long-time paper mill employee and member of Knight of Columbus who was survived by five children, 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. The source confirmed that Mr. Sauvé is the man who died at South Centennial. A director at South Centennial Manor declined to comment, hanging up the phone without disclosing her name. Paul Chatelain, Anson General Hospital's chief executive officer and long-term care administrator, didn't respond to voicemail and e-mail messages.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Amid a parvovirus outbreak in part of Ontario, here's what a Canadian veterinarian says dog owners should know
Tonya Dixon's puppy Sassy prepares to receive deworming medication at a free dog vaccine clinic to combat a canine Parvovirus outbreak on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in the Tenderloin in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger) Recent outbreaks of canine parvovirus (CPV) in Ontario led to spikes in online searches for information on the dog disease. Asked about the outbreak earlier this summer in London and about the prominence of CPV in Canada, an expert says it's a fairly common and persistent disease. Tracy Fisher, a veterinarian from Regina and the president-elect of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, told that the frequency of cases varies every year. How do dogs get parvo? CPV, or parvo, is a disease that first appeared in dogs in 1978, according to Veterinary Centers of America (VCA)'s Canadian division. 'The virus that causes this disease is similar to feline panleukopenia (feline distemper); the two diseases are almost identical,' the website for VCA Canada, a network of animal hospitals, says. 'However, that has never been scientifically proven.' The primary source of infection is through the ingestion of the feces of already-infected dogs, according to VCA Canada. It can also be easily transmitted through contact with the hair or feet of infected dogs or with objects contaminated by the infected feces. The virus first enters the tonsils or lymph nodes of the animals, where it invades lymphocytes – a type of white blood cells –which later carry the virus through the body to places like the bone marrow and the lining of the intestines, VCA Canada said. This disease is particularly problematic in animal shelters due to the high number of unvaccinated dogs being kept together. Parvo symptoms The main signs of CPV are severe vomiting and diarrhea that often come with a powerful stench, and contain mucus and blood. Infected dogs can suffer from loss of appetite, fever and depression, according to VCA Canada. It is most common in unvaccinated dogs who are less than one year of age, they said. It is generally not fatal, but there is a much higher fatality rate for some breeds, including the rottweiler, doberman pinscher, Labrador retriever, American Staffordshire terrier and Arctic sled breeds, according to animal hospital group. Fisher said severity and survival also depend on the age of the dogs who are infected. 'Very young puppies almost never survive. If they are not given any supportive care, their survival rates can be as low as 20 to 30 per cent,' she said. Parvo treatment Unfortunately, there is no treatment for the disease available in Canada, Fisher said. But if they are hospitalized and given the right kind of supportive care, the survival rate can be upwards of 80 per cent, she explained. 'The traditional treatment is just supportive care, very intense supportive care,' Fisher said. 'So, we would have that animal hospitalized on intravenous fluids, controlling the nausea, controlling their blood sugar levels, antibiotics to prevent secondary infection. It's quite intensive.' A new treatment has been conditionally approved in the U.S. for CPV. It could potentially be used to treat the disease in puppies and dogs that have been exposed to the disease, according to veterinary publication website It is not available or approved yet in Canada, Fisher said, but she called the U.S. approval a promising sign. 'It's a monoclonal antibody. That means is that we're providing these animals with antibodies directly for the parvovirus,' Fisher explained. 'We're really excited about the promise of this, because parvo is such a miserable disease.' But the vaccines have gotten better and more effective with time, which has helped keep the problem under control, she added. How common is parvo in Canada? Fisher said she treats approximately two or three cases a year at her practice in Regina. Outbreaks are usually localized to certain area, she said. In late June, a London housing community faced a CPV outbreak that prompted local veterinarians to launch an on-site mobile clinic, offering testing and vaccinations for the residents' dogs at a lower cost. In December, an outbreak in Windsor led to the death of 14 dogs, CTV News reported. And a Winnipeg dog rescue organization warned owners last fall about a possible outbreak in parts of Manitoba. Fisher's advice to pet owners is that the most effective treatment for CPV is prevention. Get your dogs vaccinated on time, especially puppies, she said. With files from CTV News London's Reta Ismail and CTV News Windsor's Robert Lothian, and CTV News Winnipeg's Jon Hendricks
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Interior Health issues region-wide drug advisory for toxic, synthetic opioid
Interior Health has issued a drug advisory for all municipalities within its boundaries. Interior Health has issued a drug advisory warning of a toxic drug circulating within its boundaries. According to a release from the health authority Monday, an increase in the detection of carfentanil, a synthetic opioid approximately 100 times more potent than fentanyl, has been noted in Down (opioid) samples over the past month. Alongside the carfentanil, the samples also frequently contained benzodiazepines and tranquilizers, the health authority said. The combination of opioids with these substances amplify the effects of the drugs and significantly heightens the risk of overdose and death. The health authority said if drugs are going to be used they should be checked first, regardless of how they are administered. Checking sites are available to be viewed online. Interior Health covers a large area in B.C. and spans 59 incorporated municipalities, stretching from the U.S. border in the south to Williams Lake in the north, and from Lytton in the west to the Alberta border in the east.
