Health

Five years after the province identified its first COVID-19 case, Albertans are being urged not to lose sight of those still struggling with its devastating impacts.In a moment few Albertans will forget, Dr. Deena Hinshaw — Alberta's then chief medical officer of health — took to the podium on March 5, 2020, to announce that a woman in her 50s had tested positive after returning from a cruise. It was the province's first presumptive COVID-19 case.Since then, 6,691 Albertans have died due to the illness. And while deaths and hospitalizations have dropped significantly, COVID-19 continues to kill hundreds of Albertans every year."This is not a disease that has come and gone. It's unfortunately something that's left its mark on Alberta," said Craig Jenne, professor in the department of microb...

It's been almost five years, but family members of Canadians who died of COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic often feel as if they are frozen in 2020.It pains them that they couldn't hold the hands of their parents, siblings, spouses and friends in the final moments of their lives. Instead, they said goodbye over speaker phone, or through a glass window. They watched as body bags were wheeled out of long-term care homes, and some held modest funerals outside as it snowed.Ahead of the five-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring a global pandemic on March 11, The Canadian Press spoke to five people who lost someone they loved as the virus started circulating in those frightening early days.Since then, more than 60,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Canada based o...

Measles is a respiratory disease caused by a highly contagious virus that's more infectious than influenza, chickenpox or COVID-19.Measles illnesses tend to be mild, but the severity can range from ear infections and pneumonia to swelling of the brain called encephalitis — which can lead to convulsions, deafness or intellectual disability. In one case in Ontario in 2024, measles led to the death of a child under age five."I'm concerned in that the overall vaccination coverage is much lower in Canada than is needed to stop measles in its tracks," said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer.Measles symptoms include: Fever. Cough. Red, watery eyes. Runny nose. Koplik spots — small, white spots that occur on the inside of the cheeks. A rash that usually begins as fla...

The Cure is a CBC News series examining strategies provinces and territories are using to tackle the primary care crisis.With Canada currently in the depths of the cold and flu season and COVID continuing to spread year round, frustrated doctors say they don't want to waste time writing notes to excuse people from school or work. In fact, most doctors across the country want sick notes for minor illnesses eliminated altogether."Come on people, these are grown-ups," said Dr. Rita McCracken, a family physician and primary care researcher based in Vancouver. "If they have a cold and they are spewing germs and they're making a good call to stay home from work, they don't need to bring those germs into my office to get a note so that you can feel better about them not coming to work."An estimat...

Manitoba has become the first province to sign a pharmacare agreement with the federal government.The province will be getting $219 million over four years for universal coverage for diabetes medication, contraceptives and other medical supplies.Manitoba already covers prescription birth control, so coverage for the new remaining products will begin in June, the province said.The agreement will help close gaps in the health-care system, federal Health Minister Mark Holland said Thursday during the announcement at the Women's Health Clinic in Winnipeg."I want 100 years from now people to look back at this moment and say, 'This is where it started,' the journey of making sure everybody got the medication that they needed," he said.The federal government passed legislation setting the basis f...

Another high ranking Alberta Health Services official has been ousted and hundreds of staff are being transferred to the province's new acute care agency, as the government continues its complete overhaul of the health system while embroiled in a contract procurement controversy.On Tuesday, 425 Alberta Health Services (AHS) staff members were told their positions will be transferred to Acute Care Alberta as of April 1.A memo, signed by AHS interim president and CEO Andre Tremblay and obtained by CBC News, reveals workers from a variety of teams are being moved, including those involved in surgical care, planning and performance, patient safety and some contracting and commissioning work related to chartered surgical facilities.In addition, CBC News has confirmed that Penny Rae, the chief i...

Ontario identified 78 new measles cases over the course of two weeks, public health officials said Thursday, calling it the largest outbreak the province has seen in almost 30 years.The new cases bring Ontario's total this year to just over 140, far surpassing the 101 total infections recorded in the province between 2013 and 2023.Dr. Sarah Wilson, a public health physician with Public Health Ontario, said the last time there was a sizable outbreak in the province was 2008 when there was a total of 58 cases."This is the largest measles outbreak that we've experienced in the province of Ontario since measles was eliminated from Canada in 1998," Wilson said.Almost all of the new cases are connected to an interprovincial outbreak that began in October, which has sickened177 people in Ontario ...

Andrea Hancock says she understands that people are angry with her daughter — she's angry too — but she says the 19-year-old is also severely unwell, and she warned police, social workers, doctors, shelter workers, therapists — even the neighbours — that her daughter was dangerous.  "I said, 'Somebody is going to get hurt ... she's going to die or somebody will die,'" she said this week during an exclusive interview in her home in Greenfield, N.S., a rural community about 130 kilometres west of Halifax. She said her daughter, Elliott Chorny, has struggled with mental illness since she was a child. Chorny managed her condition with medication and therapy when she was younger, but her health declined while dealing with physical health problems, relentless — and sometimes violent — bullying, ...

As It Happens7:03For the 1st time in Canada, surgeons are putting teeth in patients' eyes to restore sightWhen Brent Chapman's doctor first pitched him on the idea of having one of his own teeth surgically embedded in his eye to restore his sight, he says he felt "a little apprehensive."But then he spoke to a woman in Australia who had undergone the same procedure to tremendous success. "She had been completely blind for 20 years, and is now snow skiing," Chapman, 33, of North Vancouver, said. "I know it sounds a little crazy and science fiction-y."Chapman, who is blind in both eyes, is one of three Canadians undergoing osteo-odonto keratoprosthesis (OOKP) — or as it's more commonly known, tooth-in-eye surgery — at a B.C. hospital this week.It involves removing a patient's tooth, usually t...

The Saskatoon Fire Department responded to nearly 50 reported overdoses in the past week, prompting an alert from the government.In an overdose alert, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health said Saskatoon Fire responded to 25 overdoses in the city on Tuesday and Wednesday, then another 23 from Friday morning to Saturday morning. The alert did not state if any of those overdoses were fatal. Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon says an additional five people overdosed within its safe consumption site on Friday, much more than the one or two overdoses every few days they usually see.According to Prairie Harm Reduction, some of the drugs that are causing the overdoses could contain drugs that aren't opioids — given they tested drugs that contained benzodiazepines — and will not respond to naloxone...