Health

Nearly two years after the Alberta government announced its sweeping plans to restructure health care in the province, the transformation continues and some health workers say they're still struggling to keep up with demand on the frontlines.According to the Alberta government, more than 16,000 Alberta Health Services staff members have been transferred to four new health agencies (Acute Care Alberta, Primary Care Alberta, Recovery Alberta and Assisted Living Alberta) since the reorganization was announced in November 2023.But the changes don't stop there.Five health zones have yet to be replaced by seven health corridors.Several additional organizations will be created later this year to oversee cancer care, organ donation and transplant care and emergency services.And details remain limi...

Health officials say a salmonella outbreak linked to deli meats sold at grocery stores and in prepared sandwiches has expanded.The Public Health Agency of Canada says 84 people have gotten sick since April, and there have now been nine hospitalizations.That's about a dozen more illnesses and two more hospitalizations since the agency's last report in late June.PHAC says the infections are linked to Rea brand Genoa Salami Sweet, Rea brand Genoa Salami Hot and Bona brand Mild Genova Salami.The Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled the products in Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba on June 10.While most of the illnesses reported are in Alberta with 67 people sickened, the outbreak also affects Ontario, where 15 people have been ill, as well as Manitoba with one person sick. One illness reported...

In one week, Patrick Cully will find out whether his five-year-old daughter Scarlet will be able to continue the life-changing therapy she's relied on for more than a year — or if long waitlists and a lack of funding will halt her progress.On June 23, the Federal Court ordered Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) to issue a decision by July 18 about whether it will continue to fund the therapy for Scarlet, who was diagnosed with Level 2 autism spectrum disorder (ASD).Scarlet, who lives in Thunder Bay, Ont., with her family, is a member of Batchewana First Nation — an Ojibway community east of Sault Ste.The three levels of ASD reflect the amount of support a person needs. A diagnosis of Level 2 ASD means Scarlet, who has severe speech delays, has significant challenges in social communication a...

6 hours agoNewsDuration 3:28A group of cyclists led by Darrell Fox left Stanley Park in Vancouver in early June to honour the 45th anniversary of his brother’s attempt to cross Canada on foot to raise money for cancer research. On Thursday, Darrell rolled his way to the end of his journey — the monument where Terry began his Marathon of Hope in St. John’s. The CBC’s Jeremy Eaton was there.

For nine weeks, the residents of Dawson Creek, B.C., have been without a doctor of obstetrics and gynecology. The most recent obstetrician-gynecologist (ob-gyn) left the small northern community this spring, and although there are some alternatives, anyone with high-risk needs now has to drive one hour north to Fort St. John.The Northern Health Authority said it is actively recruiting to fill the vacant position, which served the census area of about 17,000 people.It said anyone who needs care can contact the Chickadee Clinic in Dawson Creek, a maternity clinic with nurses, midwives and doctors who can support families through pregnancy and postpartum. For those with more serious needs, they'll have to go further afield. This comes as B.C. faces a shortage of health-care workers throughout...

Some Alberta hospitals are triaging probable measles patients in their vehicles, as the province's outbreak continues to grow. Harkening back to the COVID-19 days, patients showing up at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital in south Edmonton with measles symptoms are now being triaged in the ambulance bay rather than waiting for isolation rooms. Janet Laurie, a spokesperson for Covenant Health, said in an email that it expedites the process and ensures patients receive the care they need. She added that the process was in place in many other sites in Alberta.Dr. Stephanie Smith, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alberta Hospital, said the triage system being used adds an "extra layer of caution" that also protects other patients in the emergency department.She said the syst...

Last year, researchers said they had identified a link between wildfire smoke and increased risk of dementia. Now, they're retracting the study, published last November in the journal JAMA Neurology, after discovering a mistake in how they coded the data. "It was a very small error. We had a single 'or' symbol, where we should have had an 'and' symbol in thousands of lines of code," said Joan Casey, one of the co-authors of the study. They've corrected the error, crunched the data again and republished their paper. Now, the authors say their findings suggest a much more subtle link between wildfire smoke and dementia. "We now have a nuanced finding in the corrected result," said Casey, who is a professor in the school of public health at the University of Washington. Initially, Casey and h...

Winnie Byanyima is trying to hold onto hope in the face of what she calls unbelievable cruelty. She is the director of UNAIDS, the United Nations agency that, until recently, was on track to meet its target of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. But now, as President Donald Trump's second administration rapidly and dramatically scales back U.S. foreign aid contributions, UNAIDS is instead predicting in a new report that there will be six million new HIV infections and four million additional deaths within the next four years alone."It's just so cruel," Byanyima told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. "It was not necessary to withdraw funding for life-saving services so suddenly."But these dire predictions, she says, are not set in stone. The fight against HIV/AIDS can get back on tr...

A Winnipeg family physician is accused of mishandling, losing or delaying the transfer of medical files, sometimes resulting in delayed access to medical care — and in one case, leaving a patient on the hook for thousands of dollars in medical bills at a U.S. hospital because the insurance company didn't receive the necessary documents."I felt like dying," former patient Helena Friesen said in an interview. "I sat and cried. I called my daughter. I said, 'What am I going to do? I don't have that kind of money sitting here.'"Friesen is one of several people who told CBC about their experiences with Dr. Christina Winogrodzka, a general practitioner with Birchwood Medical Clinic in Winnipeg.In multiple interviews, current patients, former patients and former staff members described experience...

Residents in some rural Saskatchewan communities say closures forced by a shortage of doctors and nurses have left them without access to emergency room services, forcing residents to travel long distances in critical moments."The closures are just … coming one after the other," said Angela Silzer, who runs Interlake Human Resources Corporation, a non-profit organization and group home for adults with intellectual disabilities in Watrous, southeast of Saskatoon.Silzer's facility is across the street from the local hospital, which has had to close its ER dozens of times since the start of the year."We're really concerned if we need emergency services," Silzer said. Some of her patients have serious health issues that could require immediate attention. In that case, Silzer would have to take...