Quebecers Are Still Smoking

Quebecers Still Lighting Up In Spite Of Smuggling Crackdown -- CTV

MONTREAL — The celebrated crackdown on cigarette smuggling has done little to reduce smoking in the province, according to the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control.

Co-director Flory Doucas is now calling on authorities to intensify efforts to reduce smoking in the province.

Doucas urges more measures to make smoking less attractive to consumers, particularly young ones. She would like to speed the process involved in putting unpleasant images on cigarette boxes. The photos depict illnesses suffered by smokers.

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My Comment: With Montreal's surrounding Indian reservations selling cigarettes unencumbered .... what do you expect.

Superhospital's Cost Might Double

MUHC executive director Arthur Porter visits the Glen Yard, future site of the megahospital, in April 2008. Photograph by: ALLEN MCINNIS, GAZETTE FILE, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

Projected at $800M in the 1990s; MUHC dismisses report of soaring price tag as rumour.

At a public meeting in September, Arthur Porter could hardly contain his joy as he announced that after years of delays, the future hospital of the McGill University Health Centre was finally going to be built.

At precisely noon on Dec. 3, he said, the MUHC would choose the winning bid to construct the $1.12-billion hospital in the city's west end. And the following morning, he added, everyone would be invited to a sod-turning ceremony at the construction site, the former Glen railway yard.

Well, Dec. 3 has come and gone with no announcement, and there was no sod-turning on Friday.

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My Comment: I guess that they think we are fools. In my entire life, not one government project or program ever met its budget guidelines. Their costs were always more by a factor of 2x plus. I expect the super hospital costs to go down the same route, if not more.

In the long term people are going to die from this lack of leadership from the government to get this project going .... 10 years and counting .... who are these people and why are we paying their salaries?

Doctors Resign En Masse Over Uranium Exploration

From The Montreal Gazette:

MONTREAL - Twenty doctors have handed in their resignations at the Centre hospitalier régional de Sept-Îles, LCN reports.

In an open letter addressed to Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc, the physicians say they have quit, as a group, to protest plans to build an uranium mine on the North Shore.

The protest comes on the heels of the introduction new government mining legislation, which does not impose a moratorium on uranium exploitation in Quebec.

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Update: Twenty Quebec doctors quit over construction of uranium mine in remote town -- CTV

My Comment: I love Sept-Iles. Its isolation and frontier atmosphere has always been an attraction to me .... especially seeing the ships that pass through on their way into the Atlantic ocean.

This resignation of 20 doctors will severely impact the region .... and to replace them will take a very long time.

H1N1 Measures Curb C. Difficile In Quebec

Photo: A health worker applies disinfectant to her hands at a Montreal hospital. (CBC)

From CBC News:

The fight against the swine flu seems to be having another positive effect in Quebec hospitals — combating the deadly C. difficile bacteria, Dr. Alain Poirier, the province’s chief public health officer, said Friday.

Last month, Quebec hospitals registered their lowest rate of infections from C. difficile in five years. And the swine flu pandemic may be partially responsible, Poirier said.

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My Comment: Cleanliness and disease .... another example (among many) that proves that there is a correlation.

Nurses Union Slams Health Minister

Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc is taking heat over comments made this week.
Photograph by: Francis Vachon, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

Quebec Health Minister's remarks 'contemptuous'.

MONTREAL - Angered by what it described Wednesday as “scornful” and “contemptuous” remarks about front-line nurses working 12-hour shifts at the province’s H1N1 vaccination clinics, Quebec’s largest nursing union has demanded a full retraction from Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc.

“We want a formal apology from the minister,” Régine Laurent, president of the Federation Interprofessionelle de la Santé du Québec, told reporters at an afternoon news conference.

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Update: Nurses demand apology from health minister -- CBC

My Comment: Dumb .... what a stupid and dumb thing to say.

Lakeshore ER Overcrowded

Because the ER at the Lakeshore General Hospital is overcrowded, people are being asked to turn to local clinics instead.

From CTV News:

The Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe Claire is asking people to avoid heading to its emergency room, which is currently filled beyond capacity.

"This decision is justified by the unusual number of patients that came to the emergency. The emergency will remain open but will have to prioritize people with a critical health condition," according to a news release.

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My Comment: Do not get sick. Do not get sick. Do not get sick .....

Crisis In Elder Care Targeted

Stephanie Allain, a geriatric nurse at the Montreal Jewish General Hospital, helps a patient get ready to be released from the emergency ward in Montreal. Photograph by: Allen McInnis, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

600 new beds coming, but more than 2,000 seniors are on the waiting list.

MONTREAL – The Quebec government plans to open more than 600 long-term care beds in Montreal next year to address the city’s crisis in elder care.

Still, the Montreal Health and Social Services Agency confirmed Monday that 700 elderly patients are waiting in hospitals to be transferred to nursing homes. And another 1,429 seniors are living at home waiting to move into government-run or subsidized long-term care centres.

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Will Ottawa Cede Veterans Hospitals To The Province?

Canadian forces veteran Fernand Léveillé (L) gets handed a bowling ball by volunteer Terrence Jones during a bowling session for veterans at the Ste. Anne's hospital for veterans in Ste. Anne de Bellevue near Montreal Monday, March 23, 2009. The session is one of many activities organised by the liason centre at the hospital, which offers many services to vets who do not live at the hospital. Photograph by: Phil Carpenter, The Gazette

Veterans' Families Lash Out -- Montreal Gazette

Ste. Anne's hospital; They fear care will suffer if Ottawa cedes control.

They fought for their country in the Second World War and survived.

Claude Renaud, 86, was an air force navigator. Marvin Silver, 86, was a Spitfire pilot.

Both are ill, and their families are happy with the way they're treated at Ste. Anne's Hospital, the veterans' facility in Ste. Anne de Bellevue that houses 415 elderly soldiers.

But now that Ottawa has opened exploratory talks with Quebec on transferring what is the last of Canada's veterans hospitals to provincial control, the families are worried.

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My Comment: I do not blame the veterans for being concerned. Provincial care is different, and will not compare with what the Feds can offer. In my fathers case, my biggest beef with the Provincial system was that he was often treated in a French environment even though he could not speak the language. As a stroke victim .... he always had trouble communicating his wishes as well as his needs. I am not sure, but I would bet that many of these veterans are English .... and they do not want to be put into the French system. But even if they were French .... as I said .... the Fed system is vastly superior to the Provincial one.

To My American Readers .... A Taste Of Quebec's Socialized Health System

Eliza Abbaszadeh miscarried during the 15th week of her pregnancy. She says she'll never go back to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Photograph by: Phil Carpenter, The Gazette

Montreal Woman Left Alone During Miscarriage At Royal Vic -- The Montreal Gazette

Hospital nightmare; No doctor came as husband helped her deliver dead fetus.

MONTREAL - When the painful contractions started, Eliza Abbaszadeh knew she was losing her baby.

Doubled over in pain and bleeding profusely, she went to the Royal Victoria Hospital looking for help and guidance.

Instead, Abbaszadeh, 31, was put in a room where she and her husband, Philippe Doyon, were left alone, afraid and helpless as she delivered a 12-centimetre fetus during the 15th week of her pregnancy.

Doyon wiped the blood off her legs and took the fetus out of the birth canal.

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Quebec To Retest 600 More Breast Cancer Samples

Photo: Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc announced Thursday more than 600 additional samples taken from Quebec breast-cancer sufferers will be tested to ensure the women are receiving proper treatment. (CBC)

From The CBC:

A total of 2,730 test results called into question.

More than 600 additional samples taken from Quebec breast-cancer sufferers will be tested to ensure the women are receiving proper treatment, health officials confirmed Thursday.

Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc announced last month that 2,100 samples would be re-examined after a study revealed faults in the province's breast-cancer testing.

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Montreal Hospitals Bursting At Seams

Lakeshore General Hospital

From The Montreal Gazette:

Summertime, and waiting is lengthy.

Off-season flus and closed beds mean this month is not the ideal time to wind up in hospital.

And annual summer vacations tax a hospital system already suffering from dwindling personnel: There isn’t a floor, unit, operating block or clinic without staff shortages, said Lise Therrien, president of the nurses union at Sacré Coeur Hospital, which recently went on a recruiting mission for about 100 nurses, student nurses and auxiliary aides.

“We’re at full capacity. But the patients aren’t any less sick,” Therrien said. “And when you’re down one or two nurses per unit or floor, it shows.”

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Update: One more Quebec death related to H1N1 -- CTV

Isotopes Testing Takes Hit In Quebec

The shutdown of Ontario's Chalk River reactor has created a shortage of medical isotopes. Photograph by: Ottawa Citizen, Canwest News Service

From The Montreal Gazette:

As many as 12,000 Quebecers have had their cancer and cardiac tests put off because of a shortage of medical isotopes, the province’s top nuclear medicine specialist said yesterday.

What’s more, scores of thyroid cancer patients have been deprived of radiotherapy involving isotopes that are no longer available.

“No one has died in Quebec because of this crisis, but if it continues, that could happen,” warned François Lamoureux, president of the Association de médecins spécialistes en médecine nucléaire.

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My Comment: My advice .... do not get sick.

Montreal Hospitals Cancel Tests Due To Isotope Shortage

Montreal General Hospital

From The CBC:

Montreal hospitals are starting to cancel important diagnostic tests because of a shortage of medical isotopes.

"There's no escaping it," said Jean Soucy, the head of nuclear medicine at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM). "It's a crisis and it's impacting directly on health care."

The world supply of isotopes — used in a range of diagnostic tests for cancer, cardiac, liver, kidney, lung and brain diseases — has been cut in half since Canada's Chalk River reactor was shut down for repairs last month.

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Shriners Want Land From MUHC

A group of Shriners members look on as Gary Morrison, chairman of the board of governors of the Montreal Shriners, announces that the Shriners will build a $100-million hospital on the site of the former Glen railway yard, right next to the future MUHC hospital during a press briefing in Montreal on April 1. Photograph by: Allen McInnis, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

Site promised for hospital; Talks continue, but official warns project could return to drawing board

Senior Shriners are angry that the McGill University Health Centre hasn't given them the deed to five acres of land they were promised to build a new hospital for children with bone disorders.

Ralph Semb, chairman of the board of trustees for the Shriners Hospitals, told The Gazette yesterday that "nothing is being built yet, and we haven't spent any money."

On Tuesday, Gene Bracewell, the long-time imperial treasurer of the Shriners, declared the Montreal project is "on hold" until the economy turns around.

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Breast Cancer: Anatomy Of A Scandal

Ronald Onerheim, chief pathologist at St Mary’s Hospital, is seen in front of a screen showing a magnified image of breast cancer on June 5, 2009. Photograph by: Phil Carpenter, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

It will be weeks before Lauren Wolfe finds out whether her tissue samples will need to be retested for breast cancer. It will be months more before hundreds of Quebec women will finally get an answer: did I get the right treatment?

The provincial health department has ordered 2,100 new tests after a tiny pathology study exploded on the Quebec scene last week, suggesting that 15 to 30 per cent of breast cancer tests were botched – throwing patients in a panic about the reliability of their tests and health status.

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Some Breast Cancer Patients Will Be Rescreened

Photo: Frequent mammograms appear to detect breast cancer tumours that may otherwise spontaneously regress without treatment, the study suggests.

From CTV News:

Nearly 2100 Quebec women should have their breast cancer tests re-screened, according to a committee of experts assembled by the provincial health minister Yves Bolduc.

The committee wants samples retested for those who have invasive breast cancer and who tested negative for one of the treatment options-- Herceptin.

However, the experts are saying that they do not believe the tests are wrong, but that it would be a good idea to check just in case.

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Province Unsure Whom To Retest For Cancer

Dense breast tissue can cloud tumours on mammography.
Photograph by: Andreas Rentz, Getty Images

From The Montreal Gazette:

'Should be done as soon as possible'.

Quebec women seeking reassurance about potentially erroneous breast cancer tests face an agonizing wait. The provincial government still has no clear answers on which patients should be retested - nor does it know when those answers will be available.

Yesterday, the Quebec College of Physicians dismissed a controversial cancer study while simultaneously calling for provincewide standardization of laboratory techniques and urging the creation of a committee of experts to assess women at risk from botched tests.

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Quebec Considers Monitoring Breast Cancer Treatment Tests

Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc speaks to the media about the report
on Thursday, May 28, 2009. Photo from CTV.

From The CBC:

Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc has called an emergency meeting with officials this weekend to discuss a troubling study about breast cancer treatment in the province.

The study, conducted by the province's pathologists association and released this week, suggests as many as one out of five women with breast cancer may not be receiving the right treatment because of problems with hormone receptor tests, used to identify certain types of malignant tumours.

Bolduc plans to meet with epidemiologists to review the study's results and discuss whether hormone receptor testing should be more closely monitored in pathology laboratories.

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Update #1: Quebec knew of alarming breast cancer study for a month before its release -- CTV

Update #2: Quebec minister denies he was slow to react to cancer warning -- Montreal Gazette

My Comment: Government mandated health care ..... at its worse.

3 Years Needed To Cut ER Wait Times: Health Minister Yves Bolduc

The Jewish General Hospital is ahead of the curve. Serving one of the oldest populations in Canada, it has already created the kind of specialized programs other hospitals will need in 10 or 15 years. Think of its approach as 'low tech but high touch.' Photograph by: JOHN MAHONEY/ THE GAZETTE

From The Montreal Gazette:

Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc says he needs three more years to significantly cut long stays in the province’s crowded hospital emergency wards.

“It’s unacceptable to spend 48 hours in the emergency ward,” Bolduc was quoted Tuesday in La Presse. “My goal is to eliminate (those long stays) one day. But for now, the goal is to reduce (stays of 48 hours or more) by 30 per cent in three years, which means a 30-per-cent improvement in the efficiency of our emergency wards.”

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Drug Costs Smother Health Care In Quebec

A pharmacist pours pills removes pills from a counter at a Jean Coutu pharmacy in downtown Montreal. Photograph by: Phil Carpenter, Gazette file photo

From The Montreal Gazette:

Quebec spends far more on prescription drugs than any other province or territory in Canada – a factor that’s to blame for spiralling health-care costs, a new study reveals.

More disturbing, Quebec has gone from spending the least of any province on medications in 1985 – as a percentage of its total health-care expenditures – to the most last year, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

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