Archive for the ‘Health care’ Category
Prince Edward Island an incredible shrinking island
Government declares distance from Brackley Beach to Charlottetown now only 2.6 km
New PEI with estimated land size when Brackley is 2.6 KM from Charlottetown (details may vary)
Update – Several electoral districts wiped off the map, and again since Brackley and Brackley Beach are not one in the same
Property values in Central Queens County plummeted on Saturday, September 4th when Gail Shea Minister of Fisheries and Robert Vessey said they were connecting Brackley Beach to Charlottetown with 2.6 km of biking and walking trails.
“Residents of Brackley will benefit from enhanced public access to transit alternatives thanks to the completion of 2.6 km of trail development connecting the Community of Brackley and the City of Charlottetown.” Prince Edward Island News Release. (see note)
All fine and good for the folks of Brackley, who will be able to walk to work in Charlottetown.
My wheelchair can go about 15 km so I will be able to get to the beach without a ride, even if the ramp isn’t wheelchair accessible. Read the rest of this entry »
People are dying under patronage management at QEH
Should Premier Ghiz’s buddy be managing the largest hospital on PEI without the credentials
Video copyright CBC News
When you watch the CBC video of QEH Executive Director Rick Adams, it’s hard not to cringe. He gratuitously notes he has only been at the hospital for two years as if to wash his hands of the death of Faye Carter.
Adams was appointed to his job June 20th, 2008 according to the Charlottetown Guardian, five months before Faye Carter died after routine surgery.
Adams does candidly admit the oversight committee to review her death was not in place under his watch and still isn’t in place. He also admits her death might have been due in part to a shortage of nurses. Does he look like an assertive leader of a hospital or like a mild mannered accountant? Read the rest of this entry »
Island sleeps sound knowing health care is in good hands
Another tale of everyday life in the Department of Health, Archaeology and Aboriginal Affairs
Carolyn Bertram, PEI Minister of Healthcare and Wellness
by Donnie St Pierre, QEH ER Waiting Room
La Ministre Bien Aimée was in a rage. The 72 inch plasma screen television beside the Canaletto on the south wall of her office was freeze-framed to the moment she so unconvincingly assured viewers that we have a really good health team on PEI. Still reeling in her mind was the incomprehensible gabble which preceded it – incomplete sentences, stutters, false starts, statements without conclusions. Her eyes blinked and swivelled like a frog suddenly caught in the landing lights of a 747. Her glorious smile was nowhere to be seen.
She grabbed the 4th century BC Etruscan vase with the Cloud Forest orchid flown in that morning from Ecuador and hurled it at the screen. Fragments bounced off the Michelangelo bronze of The Hospitalier on the plinth which has come from the Parthenon, and came to rest on the 9th century Isfahani silk rug on which it stood. Read the rest of this entry »
PEI Health Information System Out of Control
The PEI Health Information System is out of control with a spiraling budget likely to exceed $150 million and no end in site.
A Begin Consulting Services mystery company
Updated – With thousands of families needing a primary physician and ER in crisis, what is the government doing with scarce health dollars? It’s like a family facing bankruptcy but buying one of those fancy plasma TV’s – why not, they’re on sale.
The computer system is supposed to compensate for doctor’s bad handwriting according to press reports. I don’t think doctors’ handwriting is going to be cured by a computer, if that is even a problem.
Announced to cost $10 million, the current budget is $50 million with no end in site. Is this another Gun Control project?
As a former software developer and computer executive, I can assure you from hard experience these projects are usually out of control and no amount of money will fix them.
Anyone with a shred of common sense does not buy the first of anything. The Province is the guinea pig for the software developer with taxi meter running overtime at tens of millions per year. Read the rest of this entry »
700 children born with genetic disabilities due to cousin marriages every year
Intra-family marriage is dangerous as it increases risk if genetic defects
Research shows the number of cousin marriages has risen dramatically in the UK over the last three decades image: ALAMY
By Rebecca Lefort, Telegraph.co.uk
The problem is worst among children born in Britain’s Pakistani community, where more than half of marriages are between first cousins, and children are 10 times more likely than the general population to suffer genetic disorders.
The medical risks of first cousin marriages include higher rates of infant mortality, birth defects, learning difficulties, blindness, hearing problems and metabolic disorders.
As adults, the children born from first cousin marriages are at increased risk of miscarriage or infertility. A third of children affected die before their fifth birthday. Read the rest of this entry »
Disability Community Needs PALS in 2011
Scrapped mandatory census cuts even deeper for disability advocacy group
Laurie Beachell, national co-ordinator of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities
Council of Canadians with Disabilities – Statistics Canada’s Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) is the most important and comprehensive source of disability statistics in Canada and is seen as a best practice model internationally. CCD is concerned that Human Resources Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has not yet committed funding for a PALS for the 2011 census.
It is crucial that PALS continue so that governments and community have the information and research needed to develop good policy and programs. It should be noted that upon ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Canada will be obligated to collect data on the socioeconomic status of persons with disabilities.
PALS and its predecessor HALS have been, and remain, extremely valuable survey tools. No other survey provides the range and depth of statistically reliable information about:
PEI must learn from Ontario’s Culture of Secrecy
Need proof that Health PEI’s secretive ways are a recipe for abuse, just look to Ontario, which is once again showing itself a poor role model for our little Island.
Premier Robert Ghiz, leading a culture of secrecy
By Paul MacNeil, Eastern Graphic – Last week Ontario’s Ombudsman ripped the culture of secrecy fermented in the four years since the Ontario government created politically appointed health boards to run the health care system.
Sound familiar? It should. Robert Ghiz recently adopted a similar system here. The Liberal Premier created Health PEI, hand-picked its board and is allowing it to operate in absolute secrecy. In essence the premier is saying one third of PEI’s total budget of $1.4 billion can be spent in secret.
Related: Secretive nature of fledgling bureaucrats raises questions
This is the very issue that drew the ire of Ontario’s Ombudsman. He described the local boards as ‘sneaky’. In one case he determined a board held ‘illegal secret meetings’ to discuss emergency room closures and health care structuring.
In addition the Ombudsman concludes health authorities have made a mockery of public consultation, while building a new, and expensive, bureaucracy around the health boards.
Sound familiar? Read the rest of this entry »
PEI makes the Drudge Report
Prince Edward Island goes from hero to goat in two weeks
Premier Robert Ghiz, leading PEI on a two week ride from hero to goat
It’s like the story of the person who spent all their money partying and then didn’t have money for rent and food.
July 12th, 2010 Prince Edward Island was a hero of the Regis and Kelly show. Two weeks later we are featured in a story on the Drudge Report, Pregnant Canadian Woman Miscarries after 3 hours in waiting room.
“Prince Edward Island’s medical system, and the local newspaper, The Guardian, has made The Drudge Report. A woman miscarries in the emergency waiting room. The husband finally drives here to another hospital 45 minutes away. There’s probably a cheap comment to be made about Canadian healthcare, but I think I’ll let this woman’s unfortunate experience speak for itself.”
“I’ve waited in that very same emergency room at QEH on more than one occasion, either for myself or someone else. Once I went suffering from what turned out to be an acute gallbladder attack. Once they had apprised that I was not having a heart attack, I was left to wait. With a gnawing pain driving me up the wall. This was in the middle of the night. I waited from around 3 to 6 am. At about 5 I got to lie on a bed, which meant I was “next”.” Read the rest of this entry »
No More ADHD
Doctor says ADHD is not well treated by Ritalin and other drugs
by Dr. Mary Ann Block
Author, No More ADHD:Ten Steps to Help Your Child’s Attention and Behavior without Drugs
Because of my medical training, my goal as a physician is to look for and treat the underlying conditions causing the patient’s problem, rather than just covering up those symptoms with drugs. I have seen and treated thousands of children from all over the United States, who had previously been labeled ADHD and treated with amphetamine drugs. By taking a thorough history and giving these children a complete physical exam as well as doing lab tests and allergy testing, I have consistently found that these children do not have ADHD, but instead have allergies, dietary problems, nutritional deficiencies, thyroid problems and learning difficulties that are causing their symptoms. All of these medical and educational problems can be treated, allowing the child to be successful in school and life, without being drugged. Read the rest of this entry »
Why didn’t the QEH and Bertram say they were sorry
Humility is the best response yet the government only knows how to stonewall
Health Minister Carolyn Bertram, never having to say you're sorry
When parents like the Handrahans experience a deep and sad loss, why can’t the hospital or the Minister just say “We’re sorry.”
That’s the right and decent thing to do when someone has suffered. It’s not an admission of guilt or liability. People in power who are sure of themselves and understand crisis management simply express regret.
It’s easy to do and helps the family get over its’ loss and move on.
Now everyone is running to circle the wagons and protect themselves. Even the nurses, who are by role caring health providers, can’t say “We feel for you loss. We are deeply saddened and sorry.”
Of course, the buck stops at the Premier’s office who are past masters of passing the buck. No doubt the Premier has enjoyed himself on the golf course this summer getting a good tan while allowing PEI to drift off into infinity.
La Ministre Bien Aimée rages Tracey Vessey faces intolerable wait in QEH ER
Another tale of everyday life in the Ministry of Health and Archaeology
Thank God for transparency and accountability. Democracy at work at Health PEI and in the Department of Archaeology Attend their next meeting and ask what went wrong.
By Donnie St Pierre, QEH ER
La Ministre Bien Aimée was in a rage. Both the Grauniad and the CBC were running headlines about the intolerable wait suffered by a resident of York in the QEH Emergency Room.
Tracey Vessey suffered a hangnail and had a totally unacceptable wait of 15 minutes before a top surgeon could be called off the golf course and flown by helicopter to deal with the emergency. Suppose she emails her sister?
As the scandal builds, it appears that the accountant who purports to run the QEH is missing in action and Dr. Rosemary Henderson, acting executive director of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital blurted out that a “full investigation” was taking place. Mme La Ministre was enraged.
There will be no such thing. A full investigation would ask intolerable questions such as “Why was a new ER opened without the staff to man it?” and “Why has the province refused to fund the positions necessary to man the new expanded ER?” Read the rest of this entry »
Incompetence at QEH proves deadly
Pregnant woman miscarries after being ignored in QEH Emergency Department
Michael and Christine Handrahan, baby lost waiting in ER (Guardian photo by Nathan Rochford)
Christine Handrahan, nine weeks pregnant, drove from Peakes when she felt ill. There she sat waiting in the new expanded Emergency wing of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown.For three hours she waited but no help was given to her.
She was bleeding through her clothing but no one bothered to give her care. One can hardly imagine her nightmare.
Frustrated and worried she might be losing the baby, she and her husband left for Prince County Hospital in Summerside, 45 minutes away.
There she was treated and told she had miscarried. The couple were heart broken and exhausted from their ordeal in PEI’s new and improved Health PEI.
The poor excuses and finger pointing start at the minister’s office and go on down to the nurses. No one on PEI is responsible for health care.
“We were very pleased to see the facility open in mid-June. Certainly, the facility offers a much better environment for everyone compared to the older one,” said Health Minister Carolyn Bertram who seems destined for Air-Head of the Year on health care. Read the rest of this entry »
20th Annivesary of the Americans With Disabilities Act
54 million Americans have a disability and are protected by the ADA, 4 million Canadians are still waiting
President Bush signed the ADA into law
PRLog - The civil rights of Americans living with disabilities were passed into law 20 years ago on July 20, 1990 by President George Bush Sr in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The law was meant to ensure that people with disabilities would not be discriminated in their employment, government services, housing and in the community. It granted them rights similar to the Civil Rights Act.
During the intervening years, the US Courts narrowly restricted the application of the ADA. President George Bush Jr. pushed through Congress and the Senate 1,100 pages of amendments to the ADA to ensure the law did protect them. The ADA Amended was signed by President Obama in 2009. Read the rest of this entry »
