Health

In the fall provincial election campaign, Premier David Eby and NDP candidates made bold promises for investments to improve the health-care system in order to address staff shortages and gaps in vital services.But patient groups and health-care workers who spoke to CBC News say they are disappointed to see several key campaign promises absent from this year's budget, including money for new hospital towers in Nanaimo and Langley and the creation of a catheterization lab for cardiac care in Nanaimo.Donna Hais, chair of the Fair Care Alliance, said that while she was happy to see the province's "recommitment" to funding a cancer centre and long-term care in the region, she feels the lack of investment in promised services will take a significant toll on the health of central and north Vanco...

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Feeling frustrated and helpless in the face of the chaos surrounding tariffs and politics in general these days? Well, there's a valid reason for that, and you're not alone. Between Canada's current political situation and U.S. President Donald Trump boasting about his "swift and unrelenting action" since taking office, his on-again-off-again tariff war targeting Canada and his threats to make this country the "51st state," it's enough to make anyone feel like they've aged a decade in the last few months. CBC News has heard from plenty of people sharing the anxiety, dread and fears they feel about the tariff war, Trump's policies and what seems like an unending onslaught of bad news. "I get completely obsessed with the news and my anxiety goes through the roof," said Saskatoon resident Tra...

An Ontario court has approved a historic $32.5 billion settlement that will see three major tobacco companies compensate provinces, territories and ex-smokers in Canada.In a ruling released today, Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz called the approval a "momentous achievement in Canadian restructuring history."The settlement was first proposed in October after years of mediation between the companies — JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges and Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. — and their creditors, which include plaintiffs in two Quebec class-action lawsuits as well as provincial and territorial governments.It was unanimously approved by creditors in December and faced its final hurdle — approval from the court — over several days of hearings that began late la...

Nine cases of measles have been confirmed in Hastings County, and the local health unit is warning of community exposure.The South East Health Unit advised of a measles exposure that occurred at the Central Hastings Family Health Team in Madoc, Ont., between 11:11 a.m. and 1:11 p.m. last Thursday. The health unit is working with the medical centre to identify possible contacts.Measles is a highly contagious virus and spreads easily through the air when an infected person breathes, coughs, sneezes or talks, the health unit said in a Wednesday afternoon news release.Measles symptoms begin anywhere from one to three weeks after exposure and include fever, runny nose, cough, drowsiness and red eyes, the health unit said.Small white spots may appear on the inside of the mouth and throat, and a ...

WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.Robert Williamson says he remembers watching his parents lose their only source of income as his neighbours started to get sick.Now, he's sick, too, but his hope is that his grandchildren won't suffer the same symptoms he does.Williamson, like roughly 90 per cent of residents in Grassy Narrows First Nation, has been impacted by mercury poisoning that dates back to the 1960s and '70s, when the Dryden Paper Mill dumped about nine tonnes of the toxin into the English-Wabigoon River System in northwestern Ontario.Drummers gather for the groundbreaking ceremony of the long-awaited Mercury Care Home in Grassy Narrows First Nation in northwestern Ontario, on Wednesday. (Sarah Law/CBC)On Wednesday, he joined fellow mercury sufferers in a groundbre...

Public health officials are warning some 2,500 people they may have been exposed to blood-borne infections at a Toronto gynecology office where medical tools were not properly cleaned.Toronto Public Health said in a letter to patients that during a four-year span beginning in October 2020, tools at Dr. Esther Park's clinic in the High Park neighbourhood weren't cleaned properly, resulting in a "very small chance" that bacteria and viruses could have been passed from one patient to another. Zahra Bakhsh was one of the patients who received the letter with the news that she could have been exposed to hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV."I was enraged, I think I spent most of the day in shock and I felt quite ill by the end of the day," Bakhsh told CBC Toronto."I felt numb. I still do right now,...

In a small auditorium at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, about a half-dozen cancer patients sit, getting tips on how to deal with hair loss during chemotherapy. It's not an unusual workshop for cancer patients — except that every patient in the room is under 40.It's part of a program at the cancer hospital, created for those who get diagnosed in their 20s and 30s. Cancer in this age group was once considered an anomaly, but recent research from the Lancet suggests that's changing in the U.S. Seventeen of the 34 most common cancers diagnosed between the ages of 25 to 84 are on the rise among millennials, as well as younger Gen-Xers — and it's not exactly clear why. A cancer diagnosis in a patient's 20s or 30s is still relatively rare, but the number of people getting cancer ...

The federal government is moving to add PFAS, a class of thousands of chemicals used in a wide range of products from food containers to clothing, to the official list of toxic substances, in light of growing scientific and public concern about the substances in Canada and around the world.PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are man-made chemicals used for their water and heat resistant properties. They are widely used in many everyday products — such as packaging, cosmetics and textiles — along with industrial uses like water-repellent coatings and firefighting foam. Often referred to as "forever chemicals," PFAS have also increasingly been linked to human health problems, such as increasing cancer risk and causing reproductive issues. The same qualities that make them useful al...

1 hour agoNewsDuration 2:51Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault announced on Wednesday that the federal government is proposing that PFAS be added to the list of toxic substances under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Asked why Ottawa hasn’t moved faster to ban these substances, Guilbeault said the government is ‘trying to go as fast as we can within the confines of the laws and regulations.’ Source link