Posts Tagged ‘Health’
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
Never forget the dignity and courage of our essential workers
Friday, May 15th, 2020
One hopes, in particular, that a main takeaway of this whole experience is that we’re permanently reminded that work is imbued with dignity and is something to be valued. It’s important not just for the economy but for the character of the people. It’s a key a source of our individual meaning and self-worth… from doctors to grocery cashiers — who acted heroically and helped us get through it… They stepped up when we needed them most. And we should let them know that we know it.
Tags: Health, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
When it comes to long-term care, what matters more than ownership is accountability and responsibility
Tuesday, May 12th, 2020
The profit motive works in our market system. But what works for Walmart — relentless cost-cutting pressure on suppliers and minimal staffing ratios for low wage part-timers — is hardly an optimal model for nursing homes where part-time, underpaid caregivers are responsible for safeguarding people, not products… There is no excuse for not regulating and inspecting comprehensively, annually and aggressively. Surely that is the primary role and responsibility of government
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Counterpoint: Protect our domestic supply by shutting down the paid-plasma industry
Tuesday, May 12th, 2020
The fact that the federal government gave blood brokers licenses to export plasma out of cash-strapped New Brunswick and Saskatchewan has been nothing less of an embarrassing policy blunder — one that was based on the fundamental lie: that blood brokers would contribute to our national blood supply. They do not. The fact is that the private paid-plasma model is being systematically abandoned throughout the world.
Tags: globalization, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
The case for putting seniors’ care under the Canada Health Act
Sunday, May 10th, 2020
One of the most critical undertakings by governments across the country over the past five to 10 years has been reining in runaway health care budgets. And most governments have been successful in doing so. Adding long-term care to health budgets would be a serious blow to those efforts. Then again, maybe Canadians can agree that this is something that needs to be financed… “It would be the first big expansion of our medicare system that has happened in decades…”
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
COVID-19 has exposed ugly failings of our politics. Here’s how Ottawa can build on the lessons of the pandemic
Saturday, May 9th, 2020
COVID-19. It has proved that the Employment Insurance system is out of step with today’s workforce. It has stirred questions about globalization and whether international supply networks are truly a virtue in times of desperate need. It has spurred plodding bureaucracies, known for their cautious approach to issues, into impossibly speedy policy decisions to rush aid to Canadians. And it’s left Canadians with a deficit hangover… the pandemic has laid bare problems and blown up old ways of doing things.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, Health, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
For-profit nursing homes have four times as many COVID-19 deaths as city-run homes, Star analysis finds
Saturday, May 9th, 2020
A resident in a for-profit home has been about 60 per cent more likely to catch COVID-19 and 45 per cent more likely to die than a resident in a non-profit home. A for-profit resident has also been about four times more likely to catch COVID-19 and four times more likely to die than a resident in a municipally run home… Overall, for-profit homes make up less than 60 per cent of long-term-care homes in the province, but they account for 16 of the 20 worst outbreaks.
Tags: Health, housing, jurisdiction, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | 1 Comment »
Neo-liberalism may be another COVID-19 victim
Friday, May 8th, 2020
Overall, neo-liberalism seemed to be working. The developed world got its foreign-made goods at bargain basement prices. The workers of the developing world were usually exploited. But at least they had jobs… Now we have a pandemic that strikes right at the heart of globalization… Global supply chains may work in neo-liberal theory. But in the real world of disease, fear and sharp practices, these supply chains are strikingly vulnerable.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, Health, ideology, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Gun control is a Canadian value I was proud to adopt
Friday, May 8th, 2020
… the science is clear: jurisdictions that have more stringent restrictions on access to guns — including bans on assault weapons — have less gun injury and death. Canada’s assault weapons ban is backed by 15 medical associations, two national women’s organizations, survivors’ groups, mayors, police chiefs, and the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime… Let us not fall prey to hollow arguments about “gun rights” and “self protection” or opportunistic political posturing.
Tags: crime prevention, Health, rights
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
This is the model for long-term care we need and deserve
Friday, May 8th, 2020
… all organizations need adequately paid and trained staff to accomplish their mission… Another prerequisite is non-profit personal care… we want to minimize the incentives for underservicing… There are two major strategies for LTC reform. The first is a different LTC institution. The second is to move LTC to the community… the Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly… PACE provides all needed health services at home 24/7… let’s save billions of dollars in bricks and mortar with a Canadian version PACE.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, featured, Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates, Equality Debates | No Comments »
It took a deadly pandemic to get Toronto to embrace a faster way to build affordable housing
Wednesday, May 6th, 2020
Toronto council endorsed a plan to build 250 units of housing for people in the shelter system. The units, funded by a combination of municipal and federal cash, will be built using a modular process, constructed off-site then shipped to Toronto where they can be hoisted up by cranes and snapped together like Lego pieces.
Tags: budget, Health, housing, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates, Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Recent Comments