Health

The British Columbia government has created 18 new beds dedicated to long-term involuntary care at a Metro Vancouver mental health facility.The new beds at Alouette Homes in Maple Ridge, B.C., are designed for people who need involuntary care under the Mental Health Act outside the criminal justice system, Health Minister Josie Osborne told a news conference on Tuesday."I want to be clear that while Alouette Homes is located next to the Alouette Correctional Centre, it is not the same as the involuntary care beds that were opened last month at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre," Osborne said."Those were beds designed specifically for individuals in custody, but Alouette Homes is different. It's for people living with complex mental health disorders who need long-term therapeutic care in ...

As communities battle out-of-control fires in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, thousands of residents — including those in surrounding regions — are being exposed to wildfire smoke, increasing their risk for short- and long-term health effects. To date, more than 25,000 people have been forced to evacuate from the three provinces. Over two million hectares have burned so far this wildfire season, which typically runs from May to September. The smoke plumes are heaviest above northwestern Ontario and central Manitoba, but have also spread into the Upper Midwest in the United States, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.Satellite data also shows that smoke has crossed the Atlantic Ocean into parts of Europe, with more to come this week.Exposure to wildfire smoke — especially...

WARNING: This article references sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.Some rape crisis centres are reporting a big jump in calls since the start of the high-profile trial of five former world junior hockey players accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a London, Ont., hotel room in 2018.At the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region, there's been a 25 per cent spike in the number of women asking for help or to talk about their own experiences with sexual violence, said Karley Doucette, the centre's education and communications manager. "We're seeing a little bit of everything on the support line," she said. "We have survivors in the community who are retraumatized by what they're reading and seeing in the ne...

As the Canadian Dental Care Plan expands this week to include all eligible age groups, 35 per cent of Canadians report they've skipped or reduced dental visits, a new survey suggests. Dental care was the most commonly delayed health service, according to the survey released Tuesday.The Canadian digital insurance company PolicyMe carried out the online survey of 1,500 adults in partnership with the Angus Reid Institute from May 9-12.More than half of Canadians (56 per cent) said they're delaying health appointments due to costs, with some skipping appointments."They're skipping as a result of cost," said Andrew Ostro, CEO and co-founder of PolicyMe in Toronto.Young adults aged 18 to 34 were the most affected of respondents, according to the survey, with 66 per cent saying they were delaying...

The B.C. Crown corporation that oversees the care of developmentally disabled people will have its home-share program independently reviewed after an inquest into a starvation death earlier this year.Florence Girard, a woman with Down syndrome, weighed about 50 pounds when she died in 2018 in the Port Coquitlam home of Astrid Dahl, a caregiver funded through Crown corporation Community Living B.C. (CLBC).After the week-long inquest into Girard's death in January, a jury made 11 recommendations to CLBC, including better pay for front-line caregivers and changes to support family members of a vulnerable individual who want to care for their relative in their home. CLBC, the corporation that oversees the care of developmentally disabled people, was created in 2005. It is in charge of caring f...

A recently released RCMP audit says its 911 dispatch centres across the country are struggling with severe staff shortages and burnout, putting front-line Mounties and the public at risk. Described as the lifeline for officers in the field, the RCMP is responsible for 17 operational communications centres, where dispatchers field calls in almost every province and all three territories. They also help with national security files. Dispatchers are often the first point of contact for the public in emergencies and provide critical support for officers responding to those calls.But new findings suggest the dispatch centres — known as operational communications centres or OCCs — are in a state of emergency themselves. "Staffing shortages limit the effectiveness of the OCCs and could potentiall...

For decades, Sherri Topple's world was overshadowed by the crushing weight of depression that no medication or therapy seemed to fix.It wasn't until she tried ketamine therapy that she finally felt a sense of relief. At her worst, the Nova Scotia woman says she could barely muster up the energy to take a shower. "You look at the shampoo bottle and think, 'It's just too far. I can't reach,'" said Topple. "So you stand there with the water running and cry and think, 'What the heck is wrong with me?'" But after completing a clinical trial through Dalhousie University and receiving five doses of ketamine back in January, she said everything changed."I have a life back. I have a better life back than what I've ever had," said Topple, who now enjoys painting, gardening and writing — hobbies she ...

A Charter challenge to B.C.'s Mental Health Act, over a provision that groups say denies patients the ability to consent to treatment, is now being heard in B.C. Supreme Court nearly a decade after it was first filed.The challenge, filed by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities and other plaintiffs, was first made in 2016 over the act's "deemed consent" provision, which states that anyone with involuntary status under the law is presumed to have agreed to psychiatric treatment.The first hearing day was Thursday, and those involved say it's likely to continue for several weeks.Supporters of the challenge say that deemed consent removes safeguards that ensure a patient is being treated humanely, and violates the Charter's rights to life, liberty and security for everyone.They argue that...

Price Carter is planning to die this summer.The 68-year-old has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He knows it will take his life eventually; before it does, he intends to die on his own terms with his family at his side."I was told at the outset, 'This is palliative care, there is no cure for this.' So that made it easy," he said in an interview from his home in Kelowna, B.C.Carter said he's always known that medical assistance in dying would be an option "that I would exercise if I could, if needed to."He has that option, in large part, because of his mother.Lee Carter, daughter of Kay Carter, speaks at a press conference on doctor-assisted death legislation, Bill C-14, while her brother, Price Carter, listens on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in April 2016. Lee and Price led the ...

Edgewood, B.C. isn't usually the sort of place that would be on the radar of high-ranking White House officials. On the west shore of Lower Arrow Lake and surrounded by the Monashee Mountains, it's a roughly 200-kilometre drive from Kelowna, B.C., on a winding road. An unincorporated community, the latest census put it at a population of 235 people working in farming, forestry and tourism.But since December 2024, it's been making international headlines over the fate of a group of ostriches living on one particular farm near the end of a rural road: Universal Ostrich, owned by Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski and whose spokesperson is Katie Pasitney, Espersen's daughter.In December, Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) officials were tipped off that some of the large birds on the farm ha...