HELP Ottawa: Faith Communities and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Banner hanging at Orleans United Church Written by Colleen Mayo-Pankhurst In early 2020, a new term entered the international lexicon: COVID-19. By March 15, many public spaces in Ontario, including places of worship and schools, were ordered to close and residents were asked to do something called “social distancing”. There was a run on toilet…
Read MoreWong: ‘Death-ed’ – Learning about end-of-life issues must be a lasting legacy of COVID-19
Photo by US NAVY via Reuters. Article by Dr. Michael Wong via the Ottawa Citizen. “As we look towards the future, what will be the legacy of COVID-19? Experience has always been our teacher. We learned to make vaccines from smallpox. We learned first-hand the importance of personal protective equipment from SARS. We learned to…
Read MoreMacDonald and Busing: Let’s work on caring for Canada’s millions of caregivers
PHOTO BY YVES HERMAN / REUTERS by Jane MacDonald and Nick Busing “It’s hard for us to be isolated from family, friends, sports, physical activity, choirs … we are all suffering and dealing with this crisis in different ways. Imagine if you were also a caregiver for a family member or friend. A family/friend caregiver is…
Read MoreWill The Pandemic Finally Make Us Talk About Palliative Care?
By Zi-Ann Lum “OTTAWA — In the thick of the pandemic, Dr. Paul Hacker drafted a palliative care plan to manage a patient’s physical and emotional pain that his grandchildren were going to forget about him after he was gone. The man was dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — more commonly known as ALS or ‘Lou…
Read MoreOpinion: COVID-19 should be a wake-up call for seniors. After the pandemic, it’s time for planning
Photo by Christinne Muschi/Reuters. Article by Sandra Martin. “Back in the naïve days of early March, I bristled when the adult children of a widowed friend threatened to pack her off to the countryside to wait out the pestilence. I could feel the generational tectonic plates shifting in favour of a cohort of kids whose…
Read More‘I Cried Multiple Times’: Now Doctors Are the Ones Saying Goodbye
Photo by Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times. Article by Joseph Goldstein and Benjamin Weiser “The elderly coronavirus patient arrived at the Manhattan hospital extremely sick and rapidly deteriorating. Dr. Marissa Nadeau, an emergency medicine physician on the night shift, had little time to ascertain his wishes. “The patient, gasping for breath but alert, made it clear he…
Read MoreHELP Ottawa During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Written by Colleen Mayo-Pankhurst and Hayley Miloff Nothing is the same; yet the important things remain. Now that we have all caught our breath and are beginning to adjust to a ‘new normal’, the HELP Ottawa team wants to reassure you that we are proceeding with the compassionate community research project having made all of…
Read MoreBusing and Hanvey: This is the time to talk about your health care and end-of-life wishes
Canadians urged to plan ahead for end-of-life decisions as toll from COVID-19 builds
Photo by CHRIS YOUNG/THE CANADIAN PRESS. Article by Wency Leung. “As the death toll of the coronavirus pandemic mounts, some doctors are encouraging Canadians to plan for serious illness and possible death now, rather than leaving family and medical staff to make those difficult decisions once they become ill. “Having discussions around serious illness and…
Read MoreWhat would Dr. Hinshaw do? She would take a break – so she can get back to the important work at hand
by Stephen Legault “What can people working to stop the spread of COVID-19 learn from Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer, Deena Hinshaw? Besides how to provide a calm, steady and reassuring voice in a time of global crisis, we can learn how to take care of ourselves when we’re trying to save the world. “During her…
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