Health

When Paddy Peters visits his wife's grave, he says he thinks about her battle with cancer and the unique challenges she faced compared to patients in southern Ontario.The chief of Pikangikum First Nation, a remote Ojibway community more than 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, has no running water in his home."She had to endure going outside to the outhouse when she was sick," said Peters. "My wife passed away without ever seeing running water in our house."Peters was first elected into office when he was 30 years old. He turns 69 in a few weeks and said his community is dealing with the same infrastructure challenges as when he started."It really just annoys me as a leader, why the same issues are still on the table in regards to water and wastewater services in my community," Peters...

A global study from UNICEF suggests many Canadian kids are unhappy, with social struggles such as bullying and difficulty making friends among the sources of their anguish.UNICEF's 19th Report Card suggests one in five youth in Canada face frequent bullying, one in five are lonely and one in four struggle to make friends.It blames bullying in particular for a drop in life satisfaction reported by 15-year-olds, down three percentage points to 76 per cent since 2018.That marks Canada's biggest slide among categories examined by the report, which compares the well-being of Canadian children to those in other wealthy countries between 2018 and 2022.Despite being among the 10 wealthiest countries studied, Canada ranked 19th out of 36 countries overall, landing toward the bottom end for adolesce...

The Dose26:51What do women need to know about hair loss?London, Ont.-resident Marcy Gallant began losing her hair when she was around five years old. The alopecia advocate says she woke up one morning and noticed hair on her pillow. Her mother investigated and found a bald spot, and Gallant was soon diagnosed with alopecia areata, a condition sometimes called spot baldness. Over the course of the next decade or so, Gallant embarked on a journey that included numerous doctor visits. Her alopecia areata grew into alopecia universalis, and she eventually lost all the hair on her body. "When I was a kid, whether it was at school or at soccer, I was always constantly thinking about it," said Gallant, who co-ordinates youth engagement and special projects at the Canadian Alopecia Areata Foundati...

British ColumbiaA Federal Court judge has tossed out a challenge that would have stopped the killing of about 400 ostriches on a British Columbia farm that suffered an outbreak of avian flu.Farm suffered avian flu outbreak but owners have argued they did not pose wider riskThe Canadian Press · Posted: May 13, 2025 5:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 33 minutes agoA group of B.C. ostriches, some of whom tested positive for avian flu, will likely have to be killed following a federal court ruling. (Submitted by Katie Pasitney)A Federal Court judge has tossed out a challenge that would have stopped the killing of about 400 ostriches on a British Columbia farm that suffered an outbreak of avian flu. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency ordered the cull late last year after the avian flu outbreak, but ...

Warning: This story contains images some might find disturbing.He's looking for a normal life, an education, a career and independence. A life where he is not hospitalized every two months due to severe hidradenitis suppurativa.At age 23, James King has spent more time getting surgeries and in the hospital recovering than most spend in a lifetime. He says he's sick of it."It's been a struggle on my well-being, it's been a struggle on my mental health and my physical overall health as well," King told CBC News. "Unfortunately, there's been points where I've been bedridden with this, points where I can't get up with this."Hidradenitis suppurativa is a long-term skin condition that causes abscesses and scarring on the skin. According to the Canadian Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation, the ex...

Recent reports of privacy breaches involving medical records — including a case in which two health-care workers viewed the records of a woman one of them had been in a relationship with — illustrate vulnerabilities in the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority's electronic medical record system.The Northwest Territories Information and Privacy Commissioner issues reports on cases in which an investigation yields evidence of intentional and unauthorized access to private health information, commonly known as "snooping." This year, Commissioner Andrew Fox publicly reported two distinct cases of snooping in electronic medical records. They both involved employees of the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority (NTHSSA). An electronic medical record (EMR)...

The province is making it easier and faster for nurses from the U.S. to get registered in B.C., in an effort to bring more health-care workers north. During a news conference on Monday, Premier David Eby said "uncertainty" related to U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration creates an "opportunity" for the province to recruit much-needed doctors and nurses. Eby said American health workers thinking about coming to B.C. will be valued, respected and will have the opportunity to care for people based on what they need, not on their earnings. "You'll be part of building healthy communities in the best place on earth, and you are very welcome here," he said. "President Trump's loss is British Columbia's gain."American nurses can apply to the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives withou...

A Quebec coroner is recommending that diphenhydramine — an antihistamine and sedative sometimes used to sleep better — should be better managed in pharmacies after the overdose death of an 18-year-old man south of Montreal in December 2023.The young man, whose identity is not revealed in the report made public, died of acute diphenhydramine poisoning at his home in St-Mathias-sur-Richelieu.On the morning of Dec. 11, 2023, the man was found by his mother in his bed, unconscious and laying on his back.Toxicological analysis found the man had a lethal level of diphenhydramine in his blood.The drug is the sedating ingredient in some over-the-counter antihistamines including the brand Benadryl, among others.The coroner found the circumstances surrounding the death raise questions about the unco...

It's been 51 years since St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton carried out its first living donor kidney transplant. Since then, the hospital's living kidney donor program has grown into one that's "large and flourishing," according to the program's medical lead.But Dr. Seychelle Yohanna said while the program remains "very dedicated to helping patients get living donor kidney transplants," increasing the number of living donors to keep up with demand has been a struggle.Yohanna said the hospital carries out between 120 to 160 transplants each year, but only about 30 per cent of the kidneys are from living donors. "So, clearly there are not enough organs to meet the demand, not enough supply for demand," Yohanna told CBC Hamilton. "As the program and as the province we're working tirelessly to ...

First Nations leaders are urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to tackle a number key priorities in the first 100 days of Canada's new Parliament."All these priorities are in line with Prime Minister Carney's stated priorities, namely: economic development, housing, infrastructure and continued progress on reconciliation," Sen. Paul Prosper, who represents Nova Scotia, said in Ottawa on Monday.Prosper's requests are supported by chiefs across Nova Scotia and Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse, who appeared at the news conference by video."Canada Strong cannot be successful without the full participation of First Nations people across this beautiful country," Woodhouse said, referencing a Liberal slogan from the last election campaign.The new session of Parliament b...