Older adults dying from unintentional falls
Older adults dying from unintentional falls
A new report shows older adults are dying more from unintentional falls leads MedicalWatch for June 19, 2025.
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CBC
4 hours ago
- CBC
Health minister confident deal will be reached to prevent mass resignations at St. Clare's
Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister said she wasn't fond of the approach, but she expects a deal is "imminent" with a team of doctors who threatened a mass resignation at St. Clare's Mercy Hospital in St. John's. Krista Lynn Howell told reporters Friday afternoon that her department has been working with the provincial health authority and the medical association to find a solution to the problems with internal medicine at the city's second-largest hospital. The five internists warned of an "impending crisis" following the loss of the medical residency program at the hospital — stripping away valuable coverage for 24/7 patient care. "I may disagree with the tactics that were deployed to get us to this point today," Howell said. "But nobody has thrown down and went home. So we do believe that we're in a place right now where a resolution is imminent and we're confident the plan will resolve this issue." Howell gave no particulars, instead deferring to Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NLHS) and the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA). In a brief comment, Kyle Rees — a lawyer retained by the five doctors — said he's encouraged. "I know the parties are working on it, and that's a positive development. It's something that needs to be taken seriously, and it sounds like that's happening." Doctors threatened resignation before News of the resignation notice caused a frenzy on Friday, but it wasn't the first time the team of physicians has threatened to walk away. CBC Investigates has obtained a letter dated Jan. 1, 2024, in which the internal medicine team at St. Clare's wrote to the premier's office and threatened to withhold services within 20 days. They cited reasons such as "administrative burden, limited resources and an overwhelming patient load," as well as compensation "significantly lower" than the national average. "We understand that our decision to withdraw services may cause inconvenience and disruption to both N.L. Health Services and our patients," they wrote at the time. "However, we firmly believe that this step is necessary to draw attention to the urgent need for change." The letter did not result in a job action — which is prohibited under their collective agreement — but three of the five signatories to the letter no longer work at St. Clare's. Barry Petten, the Progressive Conservative health critic, said he wasn't surprised by the new resignation letter sent on Monday. He said he's had contact with internists from St. Clare's going back to the first resignation threat last year. Petten said he knows the doctors reached out to the last three health ministers — including Premier John Hogan. "And yet, no action," he said. "This is not a new thing. Eighteen months later, there's no action." Howell acknowledged the issue has been ongoing, but said talks have been happening for several months. She said a plan to address their concerns was well underway before they were told the residency program was coming to an end, creating a new problem to overcome. Residency program axed over lack of supervision, MUN says In a statement on Friday, Memorial University said it made the decision to cut the residency program "in the best interest of our residents' training and well-being." The statement said the university's medical school had concerns about "a lack of adequate support and appropriate supervision" for residents, leading to the entire program being terminated. Spokesperson Chad Pelley said some modifications were made as concerns were raised, but they weren't enough to satisfy national standards during an accreditation review last November. Formal notice was given in early 2025, outlining the issues that needed to be resolved. The internal medicine residency at St. Clare's will come to an end on July 1. Howell, meanwhile, said the residency program is important to the hospital, and she's hoping to see it restored in the future.
CTV News
6 hours ago
- CTV News
Many forget the damage done by diseases like whooping cough, measles and rubella. Not these families
Jacque Farnham, 60, left, walks with her mother, Janith, 80, to the Visual Arts Center at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls, S.D., on May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Shelby Lum) SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — In the time before widespread vaccination, death often came early. Devastating infectious diseases ran rampant in America, killing millions of children and leaving others with lifelong health problems. These illnesses were the main reason why nearly one in five children in 1900 never made it to their fifth birthday. Over the next century, vaccines virtually wiped out long-feared scourges like polio and measles and drastically reduced the toll of many others. Today, however, some preventable, contagious diseases are making a comeback as vaccine hesitancy pushes immunization rates down. And well-established vaccines are facing suspicion even from public officials, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, running the federal health department. 'This concern, this hesitancy, these questions about vaccines are a consequence of the great success of the vaccines – because they eliminated the diseases,' said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 'If you're not familiar with the disease, you don't respect or even fear it. And therefore you don't value the vaccine.' Anti-vaccine activists even portray the shots as a threat, focusing on the rare risk of side effects while ignoring the far larger risks posed by the diseases themselves — and years of real-world data that experts say proves the vaccines are safe. Some Americans know the reality of these preventable diseases all too well. For them, news of measles outbreaks and rising whooping cough cases brings back terrible memories of lives forever changed – and a longing to spare others from similar pain. Getting rubella while pregnant shaped two lives With a mother's practiced, guiding hand, 80-year-old Janith Farnham helped steer her 60-year-old daughter's walker through a Sioux Falls art center. They stopped at a painting of a cow wearing a hat. Janith pointed to the hat, then to her daughter Jacque's Minnesota Twins cap. Jacque did the same. 'That's so funny!' Janith said, leaning in close to say the words in sign language too. Jacque was born with congenital rubella syndrome, which can cause a host of issues including hearing impairment, eye problems, heart defects and intellectual disabilities. There was no vaccine against rubella back then, and Janith contracted the viral illness very early in the pregnancy, when she had up to a 90 per cent chance of giving birth to a baby with the syndrome. Janith recalled knowing 'things weren't right' almost immediately. The baby wouldn't respond to sounds or look at anything but lights. She didn't like to be held close. Her tiny heart sounded like it purred – evidence of a problem that required surgery at four months old. Janith did all she could to help Jacque thrive, sending her to the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind and using skills she honed as a special education teacher. She and other parents of children with the syndrome shared insights in a support group. Meanwhile, the condition kept taking its toll. As a young adult, Jacque developed diabetes, glaucoma and autistic behaviors. Eventually, arthritis set in. Today, Jacque lives in an adult residential home a short drive from Janith's place. Above her bed is a net overflowing with stuffed animals. On a headboard shelf are photo books Janith created, filled with memories like birthday parties and trips to Mount Rushmore. Jacque's days typically begin with an insulin shot and breakfast before she heads off to a day program. She gets together with her mom four or five days a week. They often hang out at Janith's townhome, where Jacque has another bedroom decorated with her own artwork and quilts Janith sewed for her. Jacque loves playing with Janith's dog, watching sports on television and looking up things on her iPad. Janith marvels at Jacque's sense of humour, gratefulness, curiosity and affectionate nature despite all she's endured. Jacque is generous with kisses and often signs 'double I love yous' to family, friends and new people she meets. 'When you live through so much pain and so much difficulty and so much challenge, sometimes I think: Well, she doesn't know any different,' Janith said. Given what her family has been through, Janith believes younger people are being selfish if they choose not to get their children the MMR shot against measles, mumps and rubella. 'It's more than frustrating. I mean, I get angry inside,' she said. 'I know what can happen, and I just don't want anybody else to go through this.' Delaying the measles vaccine can be deadly More than half a century has passed, but Patricia Tobin still vividly recalls getting home from work, opening the car door and hearing her mother scream. Inside the house, her little sister Karen lay unconscious on the bathroom floor. It was 1970, and Karen was 6. She'd contracted measles shortly after Easter. While an early vaccine was available, it wasn't required for school in Miami where they lived. Karen's doctor discussed immunizing the first grader, but their mother didn't share his sense of urgency. 'It's not that she was against it,' Tobin said. 'She just thought there was time.' Then came a measles outbreak. Karen – who Tobin described as a 'very endearing, sweet child' who would walk around the house singing – quickly became very sick. The afternoon she collapsed in the bathroom, Tobin, then 19, called the ambulance. Karen never regained consciousness. 'She immediately went into a coma and she died of encephalitis,' said Tobin, who stayed at her bedside in the hospital. 'We never did get to speak to her again.' Today, all states require that children get certain vaccines to attend school. But a growing number of people are making use of exemptions allowed for medical, religious or philosophical reasons. Vanderbilt's Schaffner said fading memories of measles outbreaks were exacerbated by a fraudulent, retracted study claiming a link between the MMR shot and autism. The result? Most states are below the 95 per cent vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks. 'I'm very upset by how cavalier people are being about the measles,' Tobin said. 'I don't think that they realize how destructive this is.' Polio changed a life twice One of Lora Duguay's earliest memories is lying in a hospital isolation ward with her feverish, paralyzed body packed in ice. She was three years old. 'I could only see my parents through a glass window. They were crying and I was screaming my head off,' said Duguay, 68. 'They told my parents I would never walk or move again.' It was 1959 and Duguay, of Clearwater, Fla., had polio. It mostly preyed on children and was one of the most feared diseases in the U.S., experts say, causing some terrified parents to keep children inside and avoid crowds during epidemics. Given polio's visibility, the vaccine against it was widely and enthusiastically welcomed. But the early vaccine that Duguay got was only about 80 per cent to 90 per cent effective. Not enough people were vaccinated or protected yet to stop the virus from spreading. Duguay initially defied her doctors. After intensive treatment and physical therapy, she walked and even ran – albeit with a limp. She got married, raised a son and worked as a medical transcriptionist. But in her early 40s, she noticed she couldn't walk as far as she used to. A doctor confirmed she was in the early stages of post-polio syndrome, a neuromuscular disorder that worsens over time. One morning, she tried to stand up and couldn't move her left leg. After two weeks in a rehab facility, she started painting to stay busy. Eventually, she joined arts organizations and began showing and selling her work. Art 'gives me a sense of purpose,' she said. These days, she can't hold up her arms long enough to create big oil paintings at an easel. So she pulls her wheelchair up to an electric desk to paint on smaller surfaces like stones and petrified wood. The disease that changed her life twice is no longer a problem in the U.S. So many children get the vaccine — which is far more effective than earlier versions — that it doesn't just protect individuals but it prevents occasional cases that arrive in the U.S. from spreading further. ' Herd immunity ' keeps everyone safe by preventing outbreaks that can sicken the vulnerable. After whooping cough struck, 'she was gone' Every night, Katie Van Tornhout rubs a plaster cast of a tiny foot, a vestige of the daughter she lost to whooping cough at just 37 days old. Callie Grace was born on Christmas Eve 2009 after Van Tornhout and her husband tried five years for a baby. She was six weeks early but healthy. 'She loved to have her feet rubbed,' said the 40-year-old Lakeville, Indiana mom. 'She was this perfect baby.' When Callie turned a month old, she began to cough, prompting a visit to the doctor, who didn't suspect anything serious. By the following night, Callie was doing worse. They went back. In the waiting room, she became blue and limp in Van Tornhout's arms. The medical team whisked her away and beat lightly on her back. She took a deep breath and giggled. Though the giggle was reassuring, the Van Tornhouts went to the ER, where Callie's skin turned blue again. For a while, medical treatment helped. But at one point she started squirming, and medical staff frantically tried to save her. 'Within minutes,' Van Tornhout said, 'she was gone.' Van Tornhout recalled sitting with her husband and their lifeless baby for four hours, 'just talking to her, thinking about what could have been.' Callie's viewing was held on her original due date – the same day the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called to confirm she had pertussis, or whooping cough. She was too young for the Tdap vaccine against it and was exposed to someone who hadn't gotten their booster shot. Today, next to the cast of Callie's foot is an urn with her ashes and a glass curio cabinet filled with mementos like baby shoes. 'My kids to this day will still look up and say, 'Hey Callie, how are you?'' said Van Tornhout, who has four children and a stepson. 'She's part of all of us every day.' Van Tornhout now advocates for childhood immunization through the nonprofit Vaccinate Your Family. She also shares her story with people she meets, like a pregnant customer who came into the restaurant her family ran saying she didn't want to immunize her baby. She later returned with her vaccinated four-month-old. 'It's up to us as adults to protect our children – like, that's what a parent's job is,' Van Tornhout said. 'I watched my daughter die from something that was preventable … You don't want to walk in my shoes.' The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Laura Ungar, The Associated Press
CBC
12 hours ago
- CBC
What charging for COVID-19 vaccines means for Albertans going forward
When the province announced that most Albertans will have to pay for COVID-19 vaccines themselves going forward, the phones at Mohamed Elfishawi's two Edmonton pharmacies started ringing. "People are scared," Elfishawi said during an interview at his south Edmonton location, describing the calls he's had from clients – especially seniors. Earlier this month, the province announced it would only cover vaccines for particular high-risk groups: people living in care homes and group settings, those receiving home care, people on social programs such as AISH, and immunocompromised individuals. Everyone else will have to pay an estimated $110 if they want the vaccine. Accessing the shot will also be more limited: in the near future, pharmacists like Elfishawi will no longer be allowed to administer them, they will only be available at health clinics. Alberta's new path makes it an outlier in Canada, prompting questions about why the province has diverged from national recommendations on vaccines, what the timeline is for rolling out the new distribution system and whether or not the vaccine can be added to group health benefit plans. Will group benefits offer coverage? The United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) is already in talks with employers, seeking to get COVID immunization coverage added to group health benefits. "But even if they do, what that means is that it will fall onto the insurance companies, which will mean increased premiums both for employees and employers," said Heather Smith, UNA's president. UNA is also looking into benefits covering the cost for its staff. If it can't get sorted out in time for the fall rollout of vaccines, Smith said they plan to offer reimbursement for employees who pay to get immunized. Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers' Association, said they are exploring options through insurance, but he has also written to ministers asking them to reverse the decision. "We have policy around this that teachers should get vaccinations provided to them because they're working in congregated settings with students," Schilling said. "We know we have overcrowded classrooms." Alberta Union of Public Employees vice-president Bonnie Gostola calls the plan to charge for the shots a "slap in the face" to members working in roles like hospital porters, housekeeping, and other service roles. "Workers that barely make above minimum wage — $110 is one day pay for those members – it's excessive, especially when they are also responsible for looking after other people," she said. Gostola said AUPE has been telling workers this is an occupational health and safety issue, and that it believes the employer needs to take on the responsibility of covering the cost of vaccines. Some employers are suggesting other avenues for staff. The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority said in a statement that its workers will be able to use their employee health care spending account to pay for the shot. A complex change For people who do have health benefits, getting COVID vaccines added to group benefit coverage won't be simple. Alberta Blue Cross – a non-profit insurance provider that runs government coverage programs as well as private plans – has been getting inquiries from both employers and plan members about covering the vaccines. "We are waiting for more information on the COVID vaccines — including the cost and specific details on the way Albertans will access and be charged for the COVID vaccine — before we can make a decision regarding private plan coverage," said Blue Cross spokesperson Sharmin Nault Hislop in a statement. "The change is complex and there are a lot of factors at play." Hislop explained that it's not a simple internal decision as private plans have many different designs, some including vaccine coverage and some that don't. The organization also has an internal drug review process that needs to be done to determine if and how it can add COVID-19 vaccines to its roster of covered medications. U.S. comparison There is variability in the types of health care and medications publicly covered province-to-province. For example, shingles vaccines are free for older adults in some jurisdictions but not others. But changing access to COVID-19 shots, which were freely available across the country for so long, creates a compelling case study, said Jamie Daw, an assistant professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "I think it's not something that anyone expected access would be taken away," Daw said. "I think that's sort of part of this broader conversation about sort of privatization in the Canadian health-care system more generally, and how we should grapple with it and what policies and regulations might be needed in cases like this." Daw said that in the United States, about 90 per cent of Americans can still get COVID vaccines for free — covered by private insurance, and Medicare and Medicaid programs. Unlike Canada where following the isn't required, the U.S. has federal regulations requiring that certain vaccines be fully covered by public and private coverage. Diverging from NACI's recommendations The province said in the 2023-2024 respiratory virus season, 135 million worth of doses went to waste. For the upcoming season, Alberta has ordered 500,000 doses – some of which will be given for free to the identified high-risk groups, and the rest available for purchase to help Alberta recoup the coast. Most Albertans will soon pay about $110 for a COVID shot 1 day ago Duration 2:43 With Alberta soon to end free COVID-19 vaccines for most residents, there's growing concern about cost, coverage and access — especially for vulnerable seniors. When provincial funding ends, most Albertans will have to pay an estimated $110 per dose. A statement from Minister of Primary and Preventive Health Services Adriana LaGrange's office this week said the decision still offers protection to vulnerable Albertans, and takes low uptake of the vaccine by the general population into account. And while Lagrange's office said the province was informed by NACI's recommendations on vaccines, it decided not to offer free vaccines to a number of high risk, priority groups that NACI identifies because of "Alberta's specific needs," such as uptake trends. Those high-risk groups not being offered free vaccines include all people over 65, pregnant people, Indigenous people, members of racialized and other equity-denied communities, and health-care workers and other care providers in community settings. The exclusion of people over 65 is particularly concerning to Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta. She said it's a major deviation from NACI's recommendations, which do take cost to provinces into consideration. "It doesn't really endorse using the vaccine very strongly from a public health perspective if they're not covering it," Saxinger said.
