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Forced to the frontlines of mental health: Police have become the new first responders for vulnerable Canadians
Sunday, October 27th, 2019
… a mobile program called HealthIM, which gives police a medical checklist to assess a person’s risk level for self-harm, harm to others and an inability to care for themselves. If they decide to take the person to hospital, the information is sent ahead to a waiting triage nurse, so the medical team knows to expect them and can review the police assessment of the patient. Police can access the program from their cars or via smartphone.
Tags: disabilities, Health, homelessness, mental Health, multiculturalism, poverty
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
To improve health care, we need to plan our work force of the future
Friday, October 25th, 2019
We need to rethink our traditional approach of strictly controlling the number of health workers we educate and train and turn to oversupply, knowing that many will be wooed away… One in five nurses in Canada leaves their job each year, and the turnover costs are enormous… [We must] ensure jobs are meaningful, appropriate and, most of all, that there are people to fill the posts that are so essential to our care.
Tags: budget, globalization, Health, ideology, mental Health, women
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
UN report blasts ‘abhorrent’ housing conditions of Canada’s Indigenous people
Monday, October 21st, 2019
… housing conditions for Indigenous peoples around the world are overwhelmingly abhorrent and too often violate the right to adequate housing,” the report reads. “(Indigenous people) are more likely to suffer inadequate housing and negative health outcomes as a result, they have disproportionately high rates of homelessness and they are extremely vulnerable to forced evictions, land-grabbing and the effects of climate change.”
Tags: housing, Indigenous, jurisdiction, standard of living, women
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Who deserves mental health? It should be everyone
Friday, October 18th, 2019
As the Canadian Mental Health Association’s research has shown, more than half of us consider depression and anxiety to be at “epidemic levels” and yet 1.6 million Canadians feel they’re going untreated. The CMHA has called for a federal parity act to bring mental-health spending “into balance” with spending on physical health (right now, only 7.2 per cent of health-care spending goes to mental health).
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, Health, ideology, mental Health
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Want a competitive capitalist economy? Choose big government
Friday, October 18th, 2019
North Americans decided to make a choice between big corporations or big government, and favoured the former; Europeans realized that big government was the pathway to keeping corporations competitive and was good for consumers and society. We should not be looking at life as a choice between big, activist government or a successful market economy. To achieve the second, we need more of the first.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Debates | 1 Comment »
What we can actually do about climate change
Friday, October 18th, 2019
Using existing technologies, all new vehicles added to taxi (traditional or app dispatched), post office, courier and utility fleets could be mandated to be electric. And there are thousands of General Motors workers in Oshawa, Ont., who would love the chance to build those vehicles… The industry was clear it could succeed economically while meeting simple and enforceable targets… government must lead the creation of new work in those communities.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | 1 Comment »
Where do the major parties stand on family and child care?
Thursday, October 17th, 2019
Besides the rising cost of housing, child care fees are a major source of financial pain… child care often costs another rent- or mortgage-sized payment… The rates of individuals diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and autism spectrum disorder continue to edge higher… Several of the major parties have pledged to support families caring for individuals with disabilities, but to date, their promises have largely been “piecemeal,” falling far short of the concerted, large-scale efforts that are needed..
Tags: budget, child care, disabilities, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
More than 30 people arrested in multi-province human-trafficking investigation
Thursday, October 17th, 2019
From 2009 to 2016, there were 1,099 reported incidents involving a human-trafficking offence, with incidents rising steadily since 2010… The vast majority of trafficking victims are women under 25… “[The victims] are broken inside… They’ve suffered severe stress and oppression… They need therapy, counselling, individual supports… We need our governments to understand that there needs to be more investment in this.”
Tags: budget, crime prevention, jurisdiction, women, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
The (Conservative) platform that dare not speak its name
Tuesday, October 15th, 2019
Scaling back infrastructure spending could have consequences, but they won’t be immediate, and they may be hard for voters to spot… the Conservatives are raising taxes. Yes, really. They’re promising a 3-per-cent tax on foreign social-media platforms, search engines and online marketplaces, inspired by similar levies in Europe… The Conservatives would also give the Canada Revenue Agency $750-million a year to figure out who isn’t paying as much tax as they should.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
First and foremost, the homeless need housing
Monday, October 14th, 2019
Despite some notable success stories, most people don’t magically get better when housing is available… people with severe mental-health issues, substance-use disorders and the other illnesses and social challenges that come along with them need a lot of support… Housing first is a way of saying we haven’t given up on people and on the belief that homelessness can be, if not eliminated, at least managed more effectively and humanely.
Tags: disabilities, economy, Health, homelessness, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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