Brittney Griner's supporters react to her 9-year prison sentence in Russian drug case

Liz Roscher
Thu, August 4, 2022

A Russian court on Thursday found Phoenix Mercury player Brittney Griner guilty on a drug smuggling charge, and sentenced her to nine years in prison. Griner has been detained since Feb. 17, when she was detained at a Russian airport when authorities found a vape cartridge containing hashish oil in her luggage. Griner was also fined $1 million rubles, which is approximately $16,300.

Griner's wife, teammates and fellow WNBA players, as well as athletes from all over sports, have been calling for her release ever since. The U.S. government recently proposed a prisoner swap that would have released convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout from jail in the U.S. in exchange for Griner and fellow jailed American Paul Whelan, who is currently serving a 16-year sentence for espionage.

After Griner's nine-year sentence was handed down, President Joe Biden released a statement calling her continued detention "unacceptable."

The WNBA and NBA released a joint statement about Griner's sentence.

As did the WNBA Players Association and the Mercury.

Griner's agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, wrote in a three-part tweet:

"Today’s sentencing of Brittney Griner was severe by Russian legal standards and goes to prove what we have known all along, that Brittney is being used as a political pawn. We appreciate and continue to support the efforts of [President Joe Biden] and [Secretary Antony Blinken] to get a deal done swiftly to to bring Brittney, Paul [Whelan] and all Americans home. Bringing Brittney and Paul home is the sole objective, and as such, we should use all available tools. We must remain focused and unified.

"This is a time for compassion and a shared understanding that getting a deal done to bring Americans home will be hard, but it is urgent and it is the right thing to do."

There was also a showing of both outrage and love from her many supporters, who are hoping she'll continue to be strong until the U.S. negotiates her release.

Several reporters tweeted important information about the true context of Griner's sentence, noting that after her appeals are exhausted, the U.S. government can then work toward getting her home.

Ottawa apologizes for 'radical social engineering' experiment on First Nation

Wed, August 3, 2022 


PEEPEEKISIS CREE NATION — Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller delivered an apology on behalf of the federal government to a Saskatchewan First Nation for an “experiment in radical social engineering” that forced a farming colony on the community's land.

Miller spoke in Peepeekisis Cree Nation, in southeastern Saskatchewan, saying Canada failed to protect the nation’s interest in the land and created divisions in the community.

The First Nation was home to the File Hills Colony, which is a little acknowledged part of Canada’s residential school history.

As part of the scheme, residential school graduates from Manitoba and elsewhere in Saskatchewan were transferred onto the Cree Nation’s land without the community’s consent.

Miller says the actions led to a loss of culture through restricted access to land and household visits, as well as a ban on cultural practices.

The First Nation agreed to a $150-million federal settlement last year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2022.

The Canadian Press

Close encounter with humpback whale terrifies — and delights — B.C. family

Fri, August 5, 2022 

Aleks Mount was whale watching off the coast of Vancouver Island with his family on Tuesday when a humpback whale got up close and personal. (Aleks Mount - image credit)

A B.C. family had a thrilling experience off the coast of Vancouver Island when a humpback whale spent almost an hour rubbing up against their boat, spinning around, and flapping its fins.

Aleks Mount was whale watching with his family on Tuesday, northeast of Campbell River, when the whale got friendly.

When they first spotted the humpback about 100 metres away, Mount said he immediately shut off his engine, intending to keep his distance.

But the whale dove underwater only to resurface less than a minute later below their boat.

Mount said he and his family were at first terrified of the creature, which he described as the size of a school bus.

"All it has to do is flip its tail and the boat will be in the air."


Mount's video footage shows the whale spinning and flipping around just inches from the boat, occasionally spraying them from its blow hole.

"I could just touch it. It was just rubbing gently against the boat, going under, coming out," said Mount, who has been an enthusiastic whale watcher for about four years.

Mount realized he could not escape as he did not know how the whale would react to the sudden sound of the engine, and was worried the boat's propeller may cut the whale.

So they watched and waited.

Aleks Mount

Luckily, Mount said, the whale only hit the boat once with its fin, leaving a slight bend in the boat's railing and a few minor scratches.

A marine specialist later identified the humpback to Mount as a young male named Neowise.

Mount said they are very lucky that the whale was so aware of its body and didn't do more damage.

"I'll forget my name and who I am before I forget this ... it felt really special sharing that moment," said Mount.

Gentle giants

Andrew Trites, director of the marine mammal research unit at the University of British Columbia, said despite hearing a few recent reports of humpbacks engaging with boats, this is the closest one he has seen.

"Nothing quite as extra special as this one," said Trites.

Trites believes the whale may have been attracted to the boat's depth sounder — a device that measures the depth of the water below a boat by emitting sound.

This high frequency noise is similar to the sound whales use to communicate, according to Trites.

"For the humpback whale, this appears to be another living being that's almost its own size, it's something it can interact with," said Trites.

Aleks Mount

Mount confirmed his depth sounder was on before he shut the boat off when he spotted the whale.

Trites said whales may not have full control over where their tail and fins are flopping, causing a potentially dangerous situation.

"These are gentle giants, but they can do a lot of damage unintentionally ... it could be potentially lethal," said Trites.

Trites said humpback whales were hunted to near-extinction about a century ago, and have only started re-appearing off B.C.'s coast in the past 20 years.

As people encounter whales more, Trites said education is crucial to developing a mutually respectful relationship with the creatures.

He recommends boats keep distance — switching off a boat's depth-sounder could be one way to do so, he said — and go at a slow pace when they spot a whale.

Whale you be mine?

It is typical for young male humpbacks to engage in playful behavior, according to Trites.

He said while these humpback whales mate in the winter when they travel South, young males will often spend time practicing their love songs prior to mating season.

"It may well have been that this young male was actually singing to the boat," said Trites.

"They've got to practice with someone, why not a boat?"

FASCISTS CREATE CRISIS
Italy's Salvini pledges to move migrant centers to N. Africa

Thu, August 4, 2022 


MILAN (AP) — Italy’s firebrand former interior minister, Matteo Salvini, put migration at the center of his electoral campaign during a visit Thursday to Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa, a gateway for tens of thousands of people crossing the perilous central Mediterranean Sea to Italian territory each year.

Salvini pledged to move screening centers for people seeking political asylum to northern Africa, in a bid to prevent economic migrants from pouring into Italy. He said just 15% of current arrivals qualify as refugees.

He also voiced concern that a migrant reception center on Lampedusa was nearing collapse due to overcrowding, calling it “unworthy of a civilized country.”

Salvini distinguished between those who qualify for asylum, saying “they cannot be massed on the ground on mattresses in 40-degree heat,″ and those who do not: ”We cannot throw open the doors of Italy to thousands of clandestine migrants who are not fleeing war,″ he said.

Salvini is pledging a return to his tough-on-immigration policies should the right-wing coalition win the Sept. 25 parliamentary vote. The early elections were forced after his right-wing anti-migrant League party, along with two other parties, yanked their support for outgoing Premier Mario Draghi’s 17-month-old pandemic unity government.

During Salvini’s short but dramatic tenure as interior minister in 2018-19, migrant arrivals in Italy dropped sharply as he pursued policies of deterrence, including long government delays in assigning safe ports to rescue ships. He is currently on trial in Sicily, charged with kidnapping in one such case, while the charges were thrown out in another.

“I think in 2018-2019 Italy was a safer country, more protected, more normal, more European,″ Salvini said. ”Lampedusa is the gateway of Europe. It cannot be the refugee camp of Europe.”

While his League led the right-wing coalition in Italy's 2018 election, it sank in popularity after joining Draghi’s consensus government. It is now lagging badly in the polls behind another right-wing coalition partner, the far-right Brothers of Italy led by Giorgia Meloni.

That leaves Salvini fighting for political relevance. If the right-wing coalition wins the Sept. 25 vote, the leader of the party with the most votes would be tapped as premier to form a new government.

Meloni is seeking to become Italy's first female premier, but Salvini is not counting himself out.

Not everyone on the island of Lampedusa was keen to be part of Salvini’s electoral rhetoric.

The island’s mayor is worried about the impact on tourism, and insists the current system of transferring migrants to Sicily and beyond was averting the emergency situations experienced during the peak arrival years from 2014 to 2016.

With new arrivals daily from Libya and Tunisia, migrants typically spend less than 24 hours on the island.

“The crucial element is not to slow down or jam the transfer to the mainland,” Mayor Filippo Mannino told The Associated Press on Thursday.

A handful of aid workers and activists held a sit-in in Lampedusa ahead of Salvini’s arrival, displaying banners disputing his depiction of an island swamped by migrants.

“Whoever comes to Lampedusa, doesn’t see migrants. There is no emergency. The only emergency is for the migrants who are at the (migrant center),″ said Luca Casarini, an activist and chief of mission on Mare Jonio Italian rescue ship. He accused Salvini of propaganda to gain votes ”on the skin of people ... who die at sea, who are much worse off than us.”

Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman with the Italian offices of the International Organization for Migration, said while migrant arrivals are up this year by about one-third over 2021, they are still well below the 120,000 to 180,000 registered annually from 2014-2016.

“These are not emergency numbers. We are not facing a numerical emergency. But we are facing a humanitarian emergency,’’ Di Giacomo said, citing 905 people who have died or gone missing at sea this year.

____

David Lohmueller in Lampedusa, and Paolo Santalucia in Rome contributed.

___

Follow all AP stories on global migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration.

Colleen Barry, The Associated Press

Italy's Salvini puts focus on migration ahead of Sept. vote

Thu, August 4, 2022 


MILAN (AP) — Italy’s former firebrand interior minister, Matteo Salvini, is campaigning to get his old job back with a stop Thursday on Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa, the gateway for tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Italy each year across the perilous central Mediterranean Sea.

Salvini is sounding the alarm that the migrant reception center on the island, which would rather be known as a summertime tourist destination, is “collapsing,” with more than 1,500 people crammed into a space designed, by his count, for 357.

“An absolute shame for Italy and for Europe,” Salvini said, accusing his successor of hiding the actual numbers of migrants coming through Lampedusa with transfers to Sicily and elsewhere.

Salvini is making immigration a key part of his campaign for Italy's parliamentary election next month. The Sept. 25th vote came after his right-wing anti-migrant League party, along with two other parties, yanked their support for outgoing Premier Mario Draghi’s 17-month-old pandemic unity government.

During Salvini’s short but dramatic tenure as interior minister in 2018-19, migrant arrivals in Italy dropped sharply as he pursued policies of deterrence, including instituting long government delays in assigning safe ports to rescue ships. He is currently on trial in Sicily, charged with kidnapping in one such case.

While his League led the right-wing coalition in Italy's 2018 election, it sank in popularity after joining Draghi’s government. It is now lagging in the polls behind another right-wing coalition partner, the far-right Brothers of Italy led by Giorgia Meloni.

Now, Salvini is fighting for his political relevance. If the right-wing coalition wins the Sept. 25 vote, the leader of the party with the most votes would be tapped as premier to form a new government and lesser parties will vie for Cabinet seats. Meloni is seeking to become Italy's first female premier.

Not everyone on the island of Lampedusa is keen to be part of Salvini’s electoral rhetoric. The island’s mayor is worried about the impact on tourism, and insists the current system of transferring migrants to Sicily and beyond was averting the emergency situations experienced during peak arrival years of from 2014 to 2016.

“The crucial element is not to slow down or jam the transfer to the mainland,” Mayor Filippo Mannino said.

Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman with the Italian offices of the International Organization for Migration, said while migrant arrivals are up this year by about one-third over 2021, they are still well below the 120,000 to 180,000 registered annually from 2014-2016.

“These are not emergency numbers. We are not facing a numerical emergency. But we are facing a humanitarian emergency,’’ Di Giacomo said, citing 905 people who have died or gone missing at sea this year.

____

David Lohmueller in Lampedusa, Sicily and Paolo Santalucia in Rome contributed.

___

Follow all AP stories on global migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration.

Colleen Barry, The Associated Press

Ex-con uses what he learned behind bars to launch consulting service for new inmates


Wed, August 3, 2022

Darin Edwards and Amy-Rae Goodman of St. Albert have started a consulting service for current and soon-to-be inmates.

During the 23 years he spent behind bars, Darin Edwards witnessed multiple murders and assaults.

When he learned about the prison consulting industry in the U.S., he saw an opportunity to use his unique insight to create a career while helping those entering the system to stay safe.

A consultant is often someone who has served a prison sentence and is hired to brief convicted individuals on what to expect when entering and exiting the correctional system.

Edwards and business partner Amy-Rae Goodman co-founded DeadEyes.NoLies Inc. seven months ago. The business is based in St. Albert, Alta., a small city located on Edmonton's northeast edge.

Submitted by Amy-Rae Goodman

The catalyst was in 2001 when Edwards, then aged 19, witnessed a prison riot at Drumheller Institution, 132 kilometres east of Calgary. That incident resulted in a friend being killed.

Of the violent incidents he saw during his time behind bars, Edwards noted: "It was just one thing that just cascaded down the line and ended up getting them killed."

Services offered

DeadEyes.NoLies offers a variety of services such as cleaning up their online image, learning to advocate for parole and reduced sentencing, and following their correctional plan.

For individuals returning to the community, the business helps connect them to community services, housing and job planning.

The business charges for its services on a case-by-case basis, which is based on services provided and an individual's ability to pay. There is paralegal on staff who can provide additional legal assistance.

While conducting research before starting DeadEyes.NoLies, Edwards only came across one other Canadian prison consulting business: Toronto's Canadian Prison Consulting Inc., which was founded in 2010 by Lee Steven Chapelle.

Chapelle, who spent more about 20 years bouncing in and out of institutions in Quebec and Ontario, said the idea came to him in 2007 when he was serving as chair of an inmate committee.

Chris Young/The Canadian Press

Chapelle said he often interacts with people who are entering the system for the first time.

"They wish they had that knowledge prior to when they were going through court," he said.

"There was a lot of buyer's regret ... and it really did indicate to me that there was a void between defence counsel, whose job is the best result in a courtroom ... and the correctional system."

In the past 12 years, Chapelle has developed connections within the legal world to bridge these gaps by offering consulting services that are focused on accountability.

He said he handles an average of 25 clients at any given time. Clients pay about $300 for his services.

"You need to understand and attain insight into what led you to that point, in order to move forward not only to do your time, but to get over and not go back."

Booming business in the U.S.

The United States, which consistently ranks as having the highest incarceration rate in the world, has a well-established prison consulting industry.

Consultants have been used by the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Martha Stewart and even some individuals facing charges related to the Capitol riot in 2021.

The U.S. spends more than $80 billion each year to keep roughly 2.3 million people behind bars, according to a 2018 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In comparison, Statistics Canada reported that 37,854 adult offenders were incarcerated in federal and provincial correctional institutions in 2018/2019.

whitecollaradvice.com

Justin Paperny is co-founder of White Collar Advice, which is a U.S. crisis management and federal prison consulting firm.

Paperny, who served a 18-month sentence in federal prison when he was sentence in 2008, co-founded the firm formally in 2009 with his business partner Michael Santos, who had been in the prison system for 26 years.

"The United States continues to send a lot of people to prison, we're the world leader and white collar crime investigations have grown over the years," he said.

"People are finding more ways to prepare and educate themselves, so there's a market for it [consulting]."

System of violence

Molly Swain is a member of Free Lands Free Peoples, an Indigenous-led anti-colonial penal abolition group. The Edmonton-based group provides support for prisoners while advocating for the abolition of police and the penal system.

She said the nature of prison consulting highlights the violence that is prevalent in a broken system.

"This is a service that is definitely filling a void." Swain said about DeadEyes.NoLies Inc.

"We know the Prairies have incredibly high rates of incarceration, particularly of Indigenous people, but of marginalized people generally," Swain said.

Swain is concerned that prison counselling is only provided by private businesses, making it out of reach for people who cannot afford it.

"It does create a scenario in which it renders it more palatable for the violence of prison to be unaddressed on a systemic level."

Ukrainian medical workers frustrated by 'silence' on Nova Scotia licences

Thu, August 4, 2022 at 3:00 a.m.·4 min read

Oksana Hatlan, a Ukrainian nurse, sits with her nine-year-old daughter in Truro, N.S. (Anam Khan/CBC - image credit)

Some Ukrainian medical workers who fled the war for Nova Scotia say they are frustrated by how hard it is to get approval to work in their new homeland.

Nova Scotia called for Ukrainian medical workers through the Support for Ukraine program, which says, "Are you a Ukrainian health care worker looking to practice in Nova Scotia? There may be a great career already waiting for you!"

The program helps Nova Scotia Health hire nurse practitioners, registered nurses and licensed practical nurses.

Ukrainian refugees were also drawn by the Physician Stream, a provincial program seeking immigrant physicians to fill jobs Canadians and permanent residents have been unable to.

But many Ukrainian refugees say these programs aren't working.

"For now, it's only silence," said Oksana Hatlan, who nursed in an intensive care unit in Ukraine for 14 years. She and her nine-year-old daughter were drawn to Nova Scotia by the Support for Ukraine program. Her husband is still in Ukraine.

"They announced that two months ago and since then, silence. So I'm not sure if it works."

Ukrainians are facing numerous challenges navigating the medical licensing process.

That has meant weeks of waiting for a response from officials, from the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Nova Scotia, and for the medical diagnostic test needed for immigration so they can begin applying for jobs. The cost of medical licence fees adds to their list of worries.

Paul Poirier/CBC

Hatlan moved out of her host family's residence within two weeks of her arrival in Truro, N.S. In that time, she found a job in the local hospital as a care team staff member.

She said community members and neighbours have bent over backward to ensure she settles in well. However, the province isn't making use of the medical workers it has at its disposal, she said.

Hatlan said she cannot consider studying full-time to upgrade her qualifications because she needs to work to make ends meet.

"It is very important for health-care workers not to be left out of our profession. We must improve knowledge, skills, learn English and gain new experience," said Hatlan.

Alison Graham, a councillor in Truro, hosted Hatlan and her daughter. She said after she learned she was a nurse, it motivated the entire community to help out, recognizing that an investment in a nurse is an investment in the community.

"We've done our part. Now it's time for the province to step in and do their part," said Graham.

Health minister wants to streamline process

Over a month ago, Health Minister Michelle Thompson said Nova Scotia is looking to recruit Ukrainians to fill various health-care roles. She acknowledged the process wouldn't be easy because of the credentialing process.

On Tuesday, Thompson told CBC News that folks can reach back out to the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment if they haven't heard back from them.

She said the hiring process is cumbersome and some of the common issues are unequal credentials and a lack of English skills.

"We do want to streamline the process upholding public safety as the colleges are designed to do, but also, moving people into meaningful professions," said Thompson.

Thompson said things could be done differently around credentialing to retain health-care workers in the Atlantic provinces, but how that is done remains to be seen.

Recently, Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister met with Ukrainian refugee doctors following similar reports. The province is designating someone to help Ukrainians navigate the process and will also pay the licensing fees.

'What should they do?'

CBC

Daria Vinnytska landed in Nova Scotia from Ukraine nearly two months ago.

She practised as a diagnostic radiologist for over 15 years in a Ukrainian hospital, but her postgraduate training was 20 per cent of what is required in Canada.

She could go through nearly five years of postgraduate training, or possibly work as a clinical assistant. Neither is appealing nor makes sense to her.

Vinnytska chose Nova Scotia because of the Physician Stream.

"The system and all this official organization, they are working very slow and that is the problem," said Vinnytska. "Any immigrant waiting in Canada, what should they do?"

The Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment said it is working on a streamlined approach that helps with recruitment.

Dr. Gus Grant, CEO of the college of physicians and surgeons, told CBC News that the Nova Scotia Health Authority referred 69 medical professionals trained in Ukraine. Most of them are currently not in the province.

The college issues licences to allow physicians to practise medicine in the province. Grant said the college found 26 applicants were clearly ineligible for licensure of any form, and 10 were possibly eligible for a clinical assistant licence.

"There is no bespoke approach for Ukrainian physicians in particular," said Grant.

Canada has a strict licensing procedure for physicians that must be met, said Grant, but that is not to say international medical graduates with experience cannot help in some way.

'Rename it Doug Ford Urgent Don't Care': Ontario medical workers, residents furious as healthcare crisis spreads

Elisabetta Bianchini

Thu, August 4, 2022 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is maintaining that the province's healthcare system is meeting the needs of people in the province, as emergency and intensive care units in hospitals have been forced to shut down or reduce operations.

"There's a log-jam but 90 per cent of the patients are getting taken care of when they're going into the hospital," Ford said at a press conference on Wednesday, specifying that surgeries are happening at about 90 per cent of pre-pandemic level.

"Nine out of 10 people going into emergency departments are being taken care of."

The premier added that for emergency departments specifically, patients are being "taken care of" within eight hours.

The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) indicated that about 25 hospitals in Ontario were forced to reduce operations over the long weekend due to staff shortages.

University Health Network's Toronto General Hospital is under a "critical care bed alert" in its Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit and Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit, where they are at total bed capacity or do not have the human resources necessary to keep all the physical critical care beds open safely.

Ford continues to call for increased funding from the federal government, while a report from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO), released in April, found that the province's spending on health care, per person, was the lowest in Canada.

The premier also stressed on Wednesday that the staffing shortages in hospitals, particularly among nurses, is not specific to Ontario.

This isn't unique to Ontario. This is happening across the country, it's across the world, we need more people involved in health care.Ontario Premier Doug Ford

"We're in need of more nurses, as many as we can get."

People across Ontario, including health experts and professionals, have taken to social media to call on Ford's government to address the hospital staffing crisis.

 

NOVA SCOTIA

MLA calls for more information about efforts to address emergency department closures

Thu, August 4, 2022 

Annapolis MLA Carman Kerr wants officials from the Health Department and Nova Scotia Health to visit his area to provide an update on efforts to address chronic emergency department closures. (Robert Short/CBC - image credit)

Carman Kerr understands emergency department closures are a reality across Nova Scotia and across the country as the health-care system copes with worker shortages and burnout.

But the MLA for Annapolis is concerned about the lack of information for people in his area about what's in the works to address chronic closures in Annapolis County.

"We're pushing for more information," the Liberal MLA said in a phone interview Thursday.

"We, the public, would like to know what's going on, what's the plan, what's been tried, what has failed, where are we going — those kinds of questions."

The collaborative emergency centre at the Annapolis Community Health Centre in Annapolis Royal is closed 24/7, while the emergency department at Middleton's Soldiers Memorial Hospital is only open each day from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Michael Gorman/CBC

That leaves people in the area requiring urgent care to drive to the emergency department in Digby — a site that deals with its own closures at times — or Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville.

Kerr wants officials with the Health Department and Nova Scotia Health to come to the area for public information sessions to help people understand what's happening and what are realistic expectations.

"I think people can handle a lot," he said. "We've been through a lot as Nova Scotians and we're no different down here. So I think people deserve the courtesy for the decision makers to be straight.

"The fact that there's no communication is the problem. It just builds the anxiety and the stress."

Like most emergency departments experiencing closures, Kerr said the problem in his area often has to do with the availability of doctors and or nurses.

In Annapolis Royal, there are also problems with the availability of X-ray services and reliable ambulance service, he said.

Plan in the works for Annapolis Royal

One option could be to bolster services at the hospital in Digby to ensure more consistency there, but Kerr said that's the kind of thing officials should be discussing with the public.

On Thursday, it was announced the emergency department at Digby General would be closed overnight on Saturday and Sunday, as well as several times next week.

A spokesperson for the health authority said in a statement that officials recognize the difficulty the uncertainty creates for people in Annapolis County, but plans are in the works to provide "the highest level of service we can for the community" in the fall.

"Nova Scotia Health is working on an interim walk-in service for the site a couple of days per week," John Gillis said in the statement.

"Details are coming together and we will share information with the community as soon as possible. We have a planning table established to begin to explore future models of care for the Annapolis Community Health Centre."

Gillis said officials with the health authority have had multiple meetings since the spring with community leaders, community agencies, pharmacists and systems partners. In the interim, he said nurses have been reassigned to support the Digby emergency department being opened. More resources have also been invested in the primary care clinic in Middleton.

Along with adds in community papers and flyers to inform the public where they can get care, Gillis said health authority officials expect to hold community stakeholder sessions in the fall and they've offered to attend a municipal council meeting.

Closures are a common problem

The problems in Annapolis County are hardly unique.

This week alone there are emergency department and after-hours clinic closures in Shelburne, Liverpool, Wolfville, Tatamagouche, Pugwash, Glace Bay, New Waterford, Baddeck, Port Hawkesbury, Canso, Neils Harbour, Middle Musquodoboit, Musquodoboit Harbour and Sheet Harbour.

Although some closures are scheduled, many of them are not. And while pressures on the system have been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency department closures have been a chronic problem in Nova Scotia for years.

More recently, reports are increasing of people leaving emergency departments without being seen because of the long waits they are experiencing.

Health Minister Michelle Thompson said in December that she's looking to maximize available resources to provide the best possible service to people across the province.

The reality is some emergency departments are much busier than others. The government introduced urgent treatment centres in North Sydney and Parrsboro as a way to help those communities, a model that could be expanded elsewhere.

Thompson said at the time that it is important for communities to be informed and involved with what's happening in their respective areas as steps are taken to try to improve the system.

UCP Alberta ends Edmonton hospital hallway medicine directive to combat patient surge


Thu, August 4, 2022



EDMONTON — Alberta Health Services says it has ended the emergency directive calling for some patients in Edmonton hospitals to be treated in hallways.

The order was enacted earlier in the week to reduce pressure on emergency departments while AHS worked to place some patients in other hospitals or care facilities.

AHS says that work is now done, and that the surge came as it was dealing with high demand following a long weekend, staffing shortages and higher numbers of patients due to COVID-19.

It notes pressures on the health system are being seen across Canada and around the world.

The Opposition NDP says that while this is true, Alberta’s government made a chaotic staffing situation worse by ripping up the master contract with doctors and trying to cut nurses’ pay.

NDP critic Sarah Hoffman says she worries what this means for the fall, when respiratory illnesses are more prevalent and the patient load in hospitals tends to increase.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2022.

The Canadian Press

Ontario healthcare is 'an absolute disaster': Things are only going to get worse for hospital staffing, medical experts say

Elianna Lev

Thu, August 4, 2022

Ontario’s medical system is currently in crisis, according to several medical professionals, which in turn is impacting the province in many aspects.

According to the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA), about 25 hospitals across the province had to scale back services over the August long weekend as a direct result of staffing shortages. Despite being the country’s most respected professions, nursing and doctor job positions across the province and Canada are desperately understaffed. One million people in Ontario (and 5 million in Canada) don’t have a family doctor. Meanwhile, paramedics say their response time is slowing as a result of offload delays. Medical staff across the board are experiencing exhaustion, overwhelmed by a workload directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Rose Zacharias, president of the Ontario Medical Association, describes the healthcare system in the province in an “extreme crisis state,” something she says isn’t surprising.

We had gaps in the healthcare system before the pandemic, so dealing with the crisis of COVID as we have for the last two-and-a-half years has put us into the situation we’re in now with doctor shortages and ER department closures.

Dr. Rose Zacharias, President of Ontario Medical Association

Mike Sanderson, chief of the Hamilton Paramedic Service and the treasurer of the Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs, says paramedics have had the same issues with COVID-19 and self isolation as the rest of the community, which has impacted their availability for staffing. He says another challenge they’re currently facing is the increase of call volumes, which continue to go up, anywhere from five to 20 per cent, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

“That creates additional workload and stress, along with other challenges,” he says.

Hospital offload delays in services in both large and small rural communities are creating significant challenges that are leading to crowded hospitals, where paramedics have to keep patients in hallways for long periods of time until the hospitals are able to accept them.

Recruitment is also proving to be challenging, as the pandemic has impacted class sizes and the number of people coming out of school.

“Many services are in the process of hiring and trying to compete for the same employees,” he says.

Sanderson says he doesn’t expect much to change in the fall, and anticipates another few years until things get back to pre-pandemic “normalcy”.

“I think it’s going to be a challenging fall, I wouldn’t paint a rosy picture,” he says. “But hopefully we’ll be able to start to recover…it’s really going to take a concerted effort.”

Ontario healthcare is 'an absolute disaster'

Cathryn Hoy, president of the ONA, calls the current state of healthcare in the province “an absolute disaster.” When it comes to nurses, she says the provincial government needs to be doing more to retain them, namely paying them more.

While the government has offered $5000 of retention funds to nurses who take a job in Ontario, Hoy says the move doesn’t make sense.

“There’s 30,000 jobs out there, why do you have to give someone a bonus to take a job,” she asks. “That’s a waste of healthcare dollars. The (nurses) who’ve been through the thick and thin of COVID aren’t getting any of those dollars.”

She also wants to see the province repel Bill 124, pre-pandemic legislation that is meant to limit compensation for publicly funded organizations. She says more nurses are compelled to take work through agencies, rather than work for healthcare employers like hospitals, because they’ll get paid more, regardless of experience or years working.

“If you pay RNs, they’ll come back,” she says. “They want to live in their communities, they want to live close to home.”

It's not just medical professionals who are expressing their concern. Many are taking to social media to address the health care situation in Ontario.

Zacharias with the Ontario Medical Association says they’ve written a “prescription” for the Ontario government on potential solutions. Some key priorities include catching up with backlogs, investments in mental health and addiction services and an investment in a public health strategy. 

The entirety of the recommendations can be seen at Betterhealthcare.ca

 

Unions representing thousands of Ontario healthcare workers have unveiled a five-point plan that they claim will help fix the current staffing crisis at hospitals across the province.

 

Unions representing 70,000 Ontario hospital workers demand action amid staff shortages

Jul 21, 2022

CBC News

Canadian Medical Association President Dr. Katharine Smart discusses the state of the country's health-care system and the political will to seek solutions to address what she calls a 'crisis.'

  

A Collapse of Ontario's Health Care System? | The Agenda

Jun 24, 2022

The Agenda with Steve Paikin

Despite a two-year pandemic and the strain it put on Ontario hospitals, medical staff are reporting that what is happening in emergency wards throughout the country is worse now than at the height of the various COVID-19 outbreaks. We ask, is Ontario's health-care system on the verge of collapse