Health

The senior lead physician of a Saskatchewan Medical Association program that provides help for rural doctors is speaking out on the challenges they face, after a number of temporary rural emergency room closures forced by a shortage of medical professionals in the province. "We tend to get the feeling that from an emergency perspective … the importance is placed on just keeping the door open, not necessarily, you know, keeping the door open when we are adequately staffed," Dr. Francois Reitz said in an interview Tuesday, as he was coming off a 24-hour emergency room shift.Reitz works with the medical association's rural relief program, which provides short-term locum relief to general and family doctors working in rural communities with fewer than five practising physicians. The workload f...

Canada continues to see an alarming rise in measles cases in 2025.Through the spring, the virus spread most intensely in Ontario. But after over 2,200 cases, hundreds hospitalized and one measles-related death, it seems to be dwindling in that province.Now, Alberta's seeing a spike, with almost 1,300 confirmed cases so far. With every province except Newfoundland and Labrador reporting cases of measles, here are some common questions from CBC readers, viewers and listeners — answered. I've had measles as a child. Am I safe from getting infected again? Most likely yes, says the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).  It says those who have had a past measles infection should be immune against another one, as long as they have a normal immune response. I've lost my vaccination records. Shoul...

As federal dental care expands to cover most uninsured Canadians, providers say some procedures are being bogged down by paperwork and processing delays.Health Canada says 52 per cent of requests for pre-authorized dental work between November 2024 and June 2025 have been rejected.While the vast majority of claims don't need pre-authorization, it's required for more complex and often more expensive procedures, like crowns or partial dentures. Clinics must submit extra documentation like X-rays and dental charts to show the work is medically necessary before it can be covered and completed."There's been a lot of confusion for dentists who send in what we would normally send in to a private plan, and it comes back rejected," said Dr. Bruce Ward, a Vancouver dentist and president of the Canad...

This First Person article is the experience of Joana Valamootoo, who's originally from Mauritius and now lives in Regina. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ. This story is part of Welcome to Canada, a CBC News series about immigration told through the eyes of the people who have experienced it.There was a chill in the air on the autumn day when I finally found the courage to ask my husband to take me to the emergency room. All week, constant dark and intrusive thoughts had been chasing me, telling me to end my life and hurt my baby, while my whole body was feeling intense physical pain.As a new mother in a new country, it was hard to ask for help. I wondered, "What if they decide to take my baby away from me? What will my family think of me? What will...

Day 65:26Social media is full of videos about syncing your workout regime to your menstrual cycle. Does it work?Cycle syncing helps Simone Saunders feel prepared. The practice of tracking each phase of the menstrual cycle is being promoted online as a way to optimize personal exercise and lifestyle regimes.Saunders, a registered social worker, uses it to inform her choices around exercise, wellness and work by knowing the symptoms she's come to expect during her cycle. Whether that's scheduling in more rest during her luteal phase, or reducing her in-person workload when she knows her period is coming, it's become part of building her monthly routine."In paying attention to that for myself, I noticed that it allowed me to plan my life a lot better," said Saunders.The menstrual cycle's effe...

A pocket of unvaccinated children in northeast B.C. allowed cases of measles in the region to spread "like wildfire," says B.C.'s deputy provincial health officer, Dr. Martin Lavoie.He made the remarks during a provincial update on the disease that has seen multiple exposures reported in and around Fort St. John, including at an elementary school, emergency room and prenatal clinic."If the virus finds people who are not immunized, it will start infecting," Lavoie said during the July 10 presentation given to media.Over the past weeks, he added, "the virus has found communities or pockets of population that are large enough in numbers to allow the virus to all of a sudden, I would say, explode or start like a wildfire ... and then it takes some time before it dies off and runs its course."T...

ChatGPT and similar artificial intelligence tools can sometimes answer patient questions accurately, but Canadian medical researchers caution that the information needs to be carefully checked before acting on what you see. The researchers' advice comes as the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) hosted a media briefing this week, discussing DIY information sources — from search engines to social media to chatbots — and their impacts, as well as what patients can do instead.It's important to warn people now, said Dr. Valerie Primeau, a psychiatrist from North Bay who leads inpatient and community programs for mental health and addictions, because patients are increasingly turning to AI tools.The chatbots give convincing and empathetic results — but the information might be fake."I have patien...

This First Person column is written by Keerthy Vinukonda, who lives in Toronto. For more information about First Person stories, see the FAQ.I rushed to the bus stop just after midnight after a busy shift at a pizza shop supervising the staff and making sure the orders were prepared correctly. It wasn't my ideal job — I had earned a pharmacy degree in India — but it was one of the few that would put an international student like me on track for permanent residency. As the minutes crept by and no bus appeared, I realized I had missed it. After another 30 minutes of standing around in -15 C, the next bus finally arrived to take me to the subway. It was 2 a.m. by the time I finally walked down the steps to my basement rental. Cold winter moments like this made me question my choices and wheth...

Danielle Lake has been sober for about six months. After spending five years addicted to opioids and a year on the streets, she made the decision to stop."One day something clicked in my brain saying, like, I can't do this anymore," Lake told CBC News. "I wasn't doing it for the high, I was doing it so that I wasn't sick."Lake said she was lucky. She never overdosed."I've seen a lot of people pass away from this stuff and it's like they say, a pandemic, and it's crazy how many people just are dying."In 2024 in Canada, 7,146 people died from apparent opioid toxicity, and the unregulated drug supply is continually evolving."Often these samples have multiple fentanyl analogs, multiple non-medical benzodiazepines and sometimes veterinary tranquilizers all mixed together," Richelle Booker, a fo...

A family from Langford, B.C., hoping to extend the life of their little girl, who has a rare disease, has been rejected again for coverage of medication that costs about $1 million a year. Charleigh Pollock, 9, suffers from neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 2, also known as CLN2 or Batten disease, a rare and terminal genetic disorder that causes multiple seizures every day, eventually causing brain damage. Pollock's mother, Jori Fales, says that she's "disgusted" with the decision not to renew the coverage.Fales sobs in a social media video, saying that there's been a "complete disregard" for the life of her nine-year-old daughter, who suffers from Batten disease.Fales posted the video moments after B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne announced there would be no change to an expert commit...