In this article, Donna Kennedy-Glans describes what she learned when she sat down with Dan Williams, Alberta’s mental health and addiction minister, to discuss Alberta’s “compassionate” drug plan. “The aim is to not just reduce the harm caused by drugs but to create the conditions for addicts to recover. In doing so, he [Williams] and others are helping to redefine what it means to be compassionate.”
All goes goes into effect on September 1, 2024. Are we ready?
In Alberta, there is much discussion taking place concerning addiction, overdose and treatment. Part of the reason for this because of how the provincial government has chosen to address these issues.
Not surprisingly, many people are not in favour of the direction the government is taking. One of these individuals is Bonnie Larson, a doctor who has worked with people experiencing homelessness for 15 years.
According to Larson, “Alberta’s model is unique in that it excludes harm reduction from the continuum of care. As such, it is a system akin to an extension ladder that is missing the first 10 feet of rungs. Lacking entry-level steps that meet people where they are with non-judgmental care, patient-centredness and barrier-busting pragmatism, the ROSC ladder is impossible for most to even mount, let alone climb.”
Please consider reading Larson’s article, “They’ll Always Be Everyone’s Someone to Me.” It is time well spent.
If you have not already watched this video, you may wish to do so.
I debated posting this. But the article by @globeandmail about the proposed “Compassionate Intervention Act” in Alberta is just wrong. It’s hypocritical and wrong. #ableg #abpoli #abhealth #harmreduction #drugpoisoningcrisis #opioids pic.twitter.com/dYXGhsRdXd
— Dr. Shazma Mithani (@DrShazmaMithani) April 18, 2023
With COVID-19 at the fore of many people’s minds, other things can be overlooked. Unfortunately, this is seemingly the case for drug overdoses. According to Avery Haines in her article, “‘Man, I’ve seen a lot of people die’: Canada’s other health crisis,”
In the first nine months of 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, nearly 1,700 people died from overdoses in Ontario alone. That’s a 55 per cent increase over last year. In Alberta, during that same time period, more people died from overdoses than from COVID-19.
Click here to read more.
Undoubtedly, there are occasions when we cannot find the right word to use, use the wrong one or are at a total loss of words. To some people and in some situations, such a word error may be seen as no big deal. However, this may not be the case, as Lorna Kay Thomas discusses in her blog post, “A Small Victory: Changing the CBC’s use of “drug abuser.”
Today, December 16, 2019, is the day that Vanessa’s Law takes effect. What this means is that starting today, all hospitals in Canada must report serious adverse drug reactions and medical device incidents. This is a very special day for patient safety in Canada!
https://www.patientsafetyinstitute.ca/en/toolsResources/Vanessas-Law/Pages/Public-Vanessas-Law.aspx
“Not my loved ones,” you might be thinking, and I hope you’re right. It’s certainly easier to believe, as I once did, that the opioid crisis is some far-off threat, like a flood or fire in another province. The reality is that it may be bigger and closer than many of us want to admit. (Excerpt from a cbc.ca opinion piece written by Katherine Steinhoff.)
Read the full article here.
As you may be aware, more and more residents from the US are purchasing their prescription drugs from Canada, due to the lower prices. While this is increasing sales for pharmaceutical companies and their associates, there is a something more important that must be considered. Namely, what effect are the sales of Canadian medicine to our US neighbours having on Canada and we Canadians?
According to a number of professional groups, the outcome of these prescription sales may result in drug shortages Canada. This, in turn, can have negative repercussions on the healthcare of Canadians. As a letter sent by groups representing patients, health professionals, hospitals, and pharmacists to Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor states, “‘The Canadian medicine supply is not sufficient to support both Canadian and U.S. consumers…The supply simply does not, and will not, exist within Canada to meet such demands.”of the potential for increasing drug shortages.'” Read more about this here.
Rather than focusing on who was at the 'national pharmacare forum' perhaps the focus should be on why others (e.g., patients, physicians etc.), were not present? #pharmacare #cdnpoli #healthcare https://t.co/fywRcMoN1C
— Patients 4 Change (@Pts4Chg) May 20, 2019
The importance of the patient is becoming more recognized in the healthcare sector. However, in many instances, including the pharmaceutical area, the patient is seen as simply something to talk to or to talk about.
According to a recent blog post by Mike Rea, this stance is limited and limiting in terms of who patients are and what they have to offer. As he asks in his post.
But, instead of talking to patients, what if we started listening? Not just to what they ‘need’, but what else they want? There are so many incredible groups out there now – potent patient groups (MMRF, MDA, Savvy Patients and more), who want to talk to us, who want to share. But, start to listen, and there will be a hundred hands that go up to stop you doing that.
Click here to read the full article.
