Alberta’s ‘compassionate’ drug-policy

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?

‘Everyone’s Someone’ to Me

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.

Photo from https://www.avera.org

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.

How to Fix Healthcare?

Healthcare is a concern for many people. In this X thread, Dr. Meddings identifies what is needed to improve healthcare in Alberta. According to him, “[t]here is nothing magical about how to fix our healthcare system. There is no ‘private’ in here and it is all currently doable given political will.”

Please watch: Involuntary Treatment

If you have not already watched this video, you may wish to do so.

Season of Change

I’ve been a gardener most of my life. The three people that instilled this love of growing things in me were my mother and godfather and a former next door neighbor who Mom was good friends with. Mom was mostly into growing flowers in and outside of the house. My godfather grew roses (which he won awards for) and had an extensive vegetable garden. Mrs. V. the next door neighbor, could grow anything. She grew all kinds of flowers and some veggies.


While many of the techniques and knowledge that I gained from them helped me along my gardening path, I had to learn a lot of new stuff when I moved to Calgary. The climate is much colder in the wintertime and much more variable in the warmer months. The fickleness of springtime can sometimes lead to a total loss of one’s potential seasonal crops if they are caught in a cold and/or unseasonable spring.


The two times in my life that gardening has proven to be a real sanity saver are when I was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and in 2020 when the world faced the Covid 19 pandemic. Gardening during these times gave me a sense of control when all seemed out of control. Feeling the energy from the ground as I sat or kneeled when I planted the seeds calmed me. The warmth from the sun on my head and shoulders massaged me in no way that any masseuse could.


With both times my ability to travel was limited so I knew that I had to find things to do at home. Not being content with activities that didn’t have some kind of “work” element attached to them, I knew that gardening would help with that. The exercise from the physical work strengthens my muscles, the vitamin D from the sun boosts my mood better than any antidepressant ever could.


After a gardening session I often sit in my swing on the back deck with a cool drink and take in the scene around me. Just this afternoon I watched a mother sparrow and her not quite totally fledged little one land on my fence so that she could feed him/her. A mother robin with a worm in her beak paused on my fence on her way back to her nest. A grey squirrel chased a magpie while running along the top of a neighbour’s fence all the while screaming with a mouthful of food. A family of six young magpies who can now finally fly properly flit between the trees, squawking at each other. Their sibling spats usually involve food as their parents have now left them to fend for themselves.


After a rather raucous start in the spring with all the birds declaring their love for each other and staking out their claims for nesting sites, all is much quieter now because most of the birds are raising their young and want to keep them safe by not revealing the whereabouts of the nest.
In another month or so, my garden will start to produce in earnest, and I will be pressed to keep up with all the bounty by canning, freezing and pickling things. At the same time the last few fledglings will be learning to fly and the birds that normally are in the mountains will return. I notice the seasons change not only by my garden and the weather, but by the birds as well.


The garden and the birds were not affected by my cancer diagnosis nor by the covid 19 pandemic. Life for them goes on as the seasons change.

Mid summer garden

Just Learn to Live With COVID?

As greater emphasis is being placed on “getting on with life” or at the very least “learning to live with COVID-19” people who are immunocompromised, disabled or have medical issues that put them or those they care for at risk are being isolated, alienated, ostracized and ignored by much of society. In an article entitled, “Those who are Disabled and Immunocompromised need to be supported, not ignored,” Eva Williams describes this new reality. According to her, “The way that vulnerable people are currently being treated is nothing short of barbaric.” Click here to read Williams’ article.

Burned out, demoralized and calling for change

“Primary care is the bedrock foundation for our healthcare system and the collapse of this will have after shocks felt at all levels of health care delivery. Having a family physician means promoting preventative medicine, doing outpatient work ups re directing care away from overwhelmed ER departments when appropriate, providing earlier more manageable disease diagnosis, collaborating with specialist and ensuring you get the best care possible. We are instrumental in decreasing the number of in patients and over capacity at the hospital. We help transition patients to short stay units, long term care or follow up on our discharged patients, and some of us even do house calls for the infirm. Good care means taking initiative and ensuring our patients don’t fall through the ever enlarging cracks in the system.”

Click here to read the full article.

How Safe is Your Care?

If you are interested in patient safety and have some personal experiences to share, here is an opportunity that might be on interest to you.

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