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New partnership allows Midland’s Georgian Bay General Hospital to offer cardiac care

Jul 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Residents in Midland, Penetanguishene, Tiny and Tay are now able to have cardiac diagnostic procedures completed at their community hospital.

Midland’s Georgian Bay General Hospital (GBGH) has partnered with Barrie’s Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) to begin offering echocardiography services. 

“In the first year of the partnership, we anticipate nearly 1,100 patients will be able to receive echocardiograms at GBGH, reducing their need to travel out of our area for this service,” said Gail Hunt, president and chief executive officer of GBGH. 

An echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart which produces two- and three-dimensional images of the heart structure and function. This low-risk imaging procedure can assist in the diagnosis of heart murmurs, valve function, cardiac masses, hypertension and heart disease. 

“We are very pleased to partner with RVH on this initiative, based on their depth of experience in cardiac care and for the benefit of providing this important service to our community. Offering echocardiograms at GBGH directly aligns with our strategic priority to grow our programming to align with community needs,” Hunt said.

The partnership, which launched on Oct. 5, will see an RVH cardiac sonographer conduct echocardiograms in GBGH’s diagnostic imaging department. The service will be available to GBGH inpatients and patients in the community who are referred by a physician. It will be provided at GBGH on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday each week.

“As the regional health centre, RVH is committed to providing exceptional care closer to home through important partnerships like this one with GBGH,” said Janice Skot, president and chief executive officer at RVH. “By leveraging the expertise of RVH’s regional heart program, patients can have great confidence in the skill and accuracy of the diagnostic study, without having to travel for care.”

GBGH and RVH have launched partnerships over the past three years to improve the quality of health care and increase the variety of services GBGH can offer to patients.

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Funding for $2.4 million principal pandemic pay will come from savings on supply teachers, professional development, TDSB says

Jul 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The Toronto school board will fund the $2.4 million in extra pay being given to principals and vice-principals for their pandemic planning work by using savings from budgets for supply teachers and professional development.

In a fact sheet provided to the Star by TDSB Chair Alexander Brown, the board said it decided in late July to open schools earlier and needed administrators there to implement COVID-19 health and safety plans, as well as respond to parent “requests for information, which was immense at this time.”

It says principals, vice-principals and office staff in high schools returned a week early — on Aug. 17 — and elementary administrators were recalled Aug. 24, and notes that both office and caretaking staff “were paid for this scheduled time.”

“As principals and vice-principals are 10-month employees, an operational decision is made by senior management to pay them for returning earlier and on a designated date consistent for all schools in the elementary and secondary panel in order to safely reopen their schools given the additional demands related to health and safety, training of staff, re-staffing of schools,” the fact sheet says.

“While they are expected to work in order to properly close and open their schools, this unique summer saw their attendance required at a much earlier time (e.g. 5 to 10 days) and it is determined to recognize that by paying them for 3.75 days.”

The estimated cost of $2.2 million to $2.4 million “is considered a cost associated with the 2019/2020 school year as it occurred in August, (and) will be paid for using funds recovered as a result of significant savings attained during that school year for items such as (but not limited to) supply teachers, professional development and utilities.”

Brown, who said trustees were not aware of the additional payout as well as lieu days, has said more details will be shared at a Tuesday finance committee meeting.

A handful of boards across the province are believed to be giving the pandemic bonus to principals, including the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board.

The Toronto Catholic board is not providing its administrators with any additional pay.

Vice-principals make about $110,000 a year and principals $130,000, and they work a week or two past the end of the school year and usually have the remainder of the summer off. They do not claim for any overtime worked during the school year.

The Toronto board is to all principals and vice-principals, regardless of whether they returned early or worked every day, although the head of the Toronto School Administrators’ Association said while attendance was not taken, he was not aware of any absences.

Asked about the issue Monday, Premier Doug Ford said “everyone went above and beyond. I’ll have to dig into it with the minister of education and get the full details.”

However, he said, “if there is one thing that’s working throughout the whole system — I think a lot of things are working — but it’s the schools. They’re working and I have to give credit where credit’s due. As for the bonus, I’ll have to look into that.”

Brown has said the money is to recognize that “the task of reopening our schools this year was overwhelming, often frustrating and difficult. Many people ended up putting in more hours than one can imagine.”

Leslie Wolfe, who is president of the local unit of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, plans to address the controversy at Tuesday’s meeting. She has called the extra pay an outrage, and that it comes as “the board says it has no money for additional teachers.”

About 24 teachers could be hired with $2.4 million.

Wolfe has said her members “are feeling very demoralized by the board’s recognition of principals and vice-principals and not the front-line education workers and teachers.”

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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‘Immediately stop using’: Toy sold at Toys R Us stores across Canada recalled due to choking hazard

Jul 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

A toy widely sold at Toys R Us stores in Canada has been recalled over concerns it could create a sharp edge or choking hazard.

This recall involves a Droplets Submarine Wind-Up Bath Toy, a blue and white submarine toy with a small figure seated inside.

The propeller blade part of the toy can break off causing small parts and sharp edges and possibly a choking hazard, Health Canada said in its

As of November 6, 2020, the company has received no report of incidents in Canada, and no report of injuries and reported that 590 units of the affected product were sold at Toys R Us stores in Canada from August 2020 to November 2020.

“Consumers should immediately stop using the toy and return to any Toys R Us Canada store for a full refund,” Health Canada states.


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A spin class became a superspreader event. Why are fitness instructors excluded from workers’ compensation if they fall ill on the job?

Jul 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Back injuries, knee pain, shoulder problems — and now, .

They are daily risks faced by fitness instructors and personal trainers across the province. But unlike millions of employees in other sectors, gym staff are not entitled to workers’ compensation when they get sick or hurt on the job.

It’s a long-standing exclusion to the workers’ compensation system that critics say needs urgent change, especially in light of a that may have exposed upwards of 2,500 people to COVID. Two staff members at the studio contracted the virus.

“Our bodies are on the line,” said Toronto-based group fitness instructor Vidya Sri. “The laws are completely out of date.”

Under current provincial legislation, gyms and fitness studios are exempt from mandatory workers’ compensation coverage. That means they do not need to pay insurance premiums to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board — and their employees cannot access benefits following a workplace accident or illness.

Gyms can voluntarily opt into the workers’ compensation system. There are 1,653 fitness establishments in Ontario, according to Statistics Canada; of those, 24 have elected to provide compensation coverage to workers, data from the WSIB shows.

Coverage means workers are eligible for loss-of-earning or health-care benefits following a work-related illness or injury.

A 2019 report on working conditions in the Ontario fitness sector by Larry Savage, a professor of labour studies at Brock University, found nearly a third all instructors and trainers had sustained an injury on the job. Half reported not having paid sick days.

“The lack of WSIB coverage and paid sick days make gym and fitness club workers less willing to disclose illness or injuries out of fear of reprisal or loss of income,” Savage said.

“The pandemic only makes this bad situation worse by increasing the likelihood that clients and other workers will contract COVID-19 if gym and fitness club workers decide to come in to work sick in order to avoid loss of pay.”

As part of his research, Savage told the Star he made inquiries with the Ministry of Labour about the history of the gym exclusion but “no one could or was willing to explain” why it existed.

Around 76 per cent of Ontario workplaces are required to pay into workers’ compensation. Legislative change is needed to amend the list of excluded employers. When asked if the government is considering reform, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour said workers’ health and safety was its “top priority.”

“With only a handful of exceptions, those workplaces that aren’t subject to mandatory coverage can choose to purchase coverage from the WSIB,” the statement said.

Planet Fitness outlets account for 10 of the gyms that voluntarily signed up for coverage, according to the WSIB’s data. Other than F45 Guelph, part of a relatively new but popular fitness chain, none of the gyms that opted into the workers’ compensation system are major players. (Other establishments included the “Orillia Agricultural Society” and “Retro Rollers.”)

In response to questions from the Star, Hamilton SPINCO founder Michelle August said the company “launched one of the most comprehensive, robust and disciplined strategies to fight COVID-19,” and is “deeply committed to its team” but did not detail support available to infected employees.

“We know that there may be more questions, but at this time SPINCO will not provide further comment on this matter and instead, we will turn our undivided attention to working as expediently as possible with our public health agency,” August’s statement said.

GoodLife Fitness president and chief operations officer Jane Riddell said the company was not required by law to pay into WSIB, but has “developed a robust health and safety division and offers a benefits program that provides medical coverage.”

“GoodLife is firmly committed to the health, safety and well-being of all our associates,” Riddell said.

Michael Labovsky, a personal trainer at GoodLife, said while his employer provides a long-term disability program, staff don’t have short-term disability benefits — making unpaid leave the only option following most injuries or illnesses.

Unionized personal trainers at the gym have up to five paid sick days depending on tenure, but non-union group instructors have none. Many choose not to split the copay on GoodLife’s benefits program because they cannot afford it, Labovsky added.

“If you are well enough to be ambulatory, you are at work training clients,” said Labovsky, who is also president of the Toronto local of Workers United representing GoodLife personal trainers.

In the event of contracting COVID-19 on the job, most trainers would have to rely on federal income supports, said Labovsky. But workers’ compensation benefits are funded through employers’ insurance premiums — and don’t impact the public purse. (By linking premium rates and accident rates, the system is also meant to incentivize employers to keep workers safe.)

Even if the exemption isn’t fixed by lawmakers, Labovsky says GoodLife should voluntarily opt into the workers’ compensation system.

“It is a massive company and they employ so many people,” he said.

Sri, who has worked at numerous gyms for the past decade, said she has never had an employer who provided workers’ compensation coverage. And she has experienced the consequences first hand: in 2016, she developed nodules on her vocal chords due to the strain of in-class instruction. In addition to taking two months of unpaid leave for surgery, she says she paid at least $1,500 out of pocket for rehabilitation like vocal coaching, speech pathology and medication.

Gyms in Toronto recently closed back down as part of stricter lockdown measures mandated by the province — which is also reviewing COVID-19 protocols for the fitness sector after the SPINCO outbreak.

Sri says returning to work is particularly worrying for group fitness instructors. Most instructors hold multiple jobs and travel between several studios to earn a living, a higher risk activity amid the pandemic.

“The prospect of getting sick is very scary,” she said.

But for Sri, juggling several roles is a necessity: she estimates that relying on one group instructor job would earn her just $500 a month.

Precarity is an additional risk factor during the pandemic, said one GoodLife trainer who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal.

“Trainers will come to work with the flu,” the worker said. “That’s what this system forces us to do, because it’s either do that or don’t get paid … from a public health perspective, that’s not great.”

Sri said she feels relatively confident in the COVID precautions taken by gyms — but less so in the safety net afforded workers during the pandemic and beyond.

“WSIB is crucial for the work that we do,” she said. “When you think about where WSIB (is) mandatory for employers, you think construction, the textile industry. But we’re also putting our bodies on the line every single day.”

“We treat health and wellness as the best thing for our clients,” she added. “But employees don’t get the same benefit.”

Sara Mojtehedzadeh is a Toronto-based reporter covering labour-related issues for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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Happy Dayz brings the bud to downtown Orillia

Jul 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Ontario’s budding recreational cannabis industry is sprouting downtown with the recent opening of Orillia’s first retail cannabis shop.

Customers visiting Happy Dayz can choose from multiple varieties of dried cannabis, along with a range of pre-rolled products, concentrates, edibles, beverages, topicals, and CBD.

Bongs, pipes, rolling papers, and vaping equipment are among an assortment of other items on offer, along with Happy Dayz-branded hats, hoodies and shirts.  

In operation since 2007, Happy Dayz has enjoyed a longtime presence in the city’s core, having sold cannabis-related accessories at the same location before expanding its inventory to include cannabis and other products.

Friendly Stranger Holdings Corp. purchased the business in 2019.

The local shop is the first of what is expected to be several cannabis retail stores in Orillia.

Happy Dayz

TYPE: Cannabis retailer

PRODUCT RANGE: Dried flower, extracts, edibles and more.

HOURS: Sunday to Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Thursday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m..

PHONE:

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Toronto’s curb-lane patios on the Danforth and elsewhere must soon be packed up

Jul 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The curbside patios and bicycle-lane bump-outs along Danforth Ave. that drew widespread acclaim this summer are about to be packed up.

The city’s Planning and Housing Committee voted Tuesday to extend patio season in Toronto until May 2021, with the exception of patios that were set up in curb lanes.

Those must be closed in the next few weeks, to allow winter road clearance to swing into action as soon as the snow begins to fly.

“As much as we would love to leave the patios in the curb lanes, all of those patios will come out,” said Mayor John Tory, at a press conference Tuesday morning. “We have to plow the roads when it starts to snow.”

All curb locations for CafeTO, including those on Danforth Ave., must be removed before Nov. 15, according to the city. All ActiveTO cycling network locations, including the Danforth, are scheduled to remain in place until the fall of 2021.

When curb-lane patios along Danforth Ave. are removed, the bike lanes will be realigned to the curb to match the rest of the cycling corridor. Parking and loading opportunities that were temporarily removed to provide patio space will be reinstated.

Restaurant owners were doubtful Tuesday that extending the patio program will provide a significant source of revenue during the coldest months of the year, adding to the financial problems has already created for them.

“They’re not really giving us anything unless we have some miracle Indian summer and it’s 25 degrees in the first week in November or December,” said George Markakos, who owns Factory Girl on the Danforth. “Then it would be wow — we’re still open — but that’s very unlikely.”

He was able to take advantage of the patio program this summer that gave restaurants more latitude when it comes to setting up tables in curb lanes, sidewalks and parking lots, by setting up an additional 50 tables outside, including in the curb lane. He’s grateful for that; without it, he would be much worse off financially today.

But he wouldn’t have continued operating in the curb lane even if the city would have permitted it.

He doesn’t think extending the patio season in a city with a cold winter climate is likely to bring in extra business, even if he were would be able to put out heaters — and moving heaters inside at the end of the day just isn’t practical, because they’re so large and heavy.

“This is Canada. Outdoor dining in below-zero weather is just not an option,” said Markakos, who has run as many as three restaurants at a time in Toronto and was hoping to retire before the pandemic hit and his business began operating at a loss.

Restaurateur David Currie of Le Paradis, said while being able to expand his patio during the summer was helpful, he’s not sure keeping it open in winter will be practical. Most of the food, unless he served just piping hot soups and stews, would be cold by the time it got to the table. All it would take would be a cold wind to make an outdoor patio inhospitable in winter, even with heaters.

“It’s hard to make a business plan out of this,” he said.

In the end, he said, it will depend on what kind of enclosures will be allowed and how much they will cost — Tory even raised the possibility of permitting bubble enclosures, but details of what will be permitted have not been finalized.

The matter is likely to be discussed in the context of the city’s recovery plan Wednesday at executive committee. The recommendations approved Tuesday, including looking at options for providing shelter on winter patios, will be considered by city council on Oct. 27.

James Rilett, a spokesperson for Restaurants Canada, said restaurants need capital to invest in winter patios and after months of reduced business due to restrictions brought on by the pandemic, they don’t have any capital reserves left.

“We’re almost eight months into this now, and some restaurants have accrued so much debt it will be hard to invest in something that they’re not sure if it’s going to work out or not,” he said. “There is a feeling of hesitancy.”

Tony Elenis, chief executive of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association, said efforts to extend outdoor dining are better aimed at making indoor dining safe.

“Extending the patio season is welcomed — it has a good intent,” said Elenis, whose association represents operators about 11,000 Ontario hospitality businesses. But to do it well, it would end up resembling an indoor space, which would be subjected to the same restrictions on dining in that restaurants are currently facing.

“The focus should be to work in making the indoor room safer and increasing consumer confidence,” he said.

He added that a safety accreditation program for restaurant and bar staff and improving the federal COVID Alert app would help.

With files from David Rider

Francine Kopun is a Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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3 things Ontario’s new COVID-19 modelling data tells us

Jul 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Ontario has released its latest COVID-19 modelling projections, changing its outlook considerably since it released its last set of projections on Oct. 29. 

“The spread of the pandemic at this point is quite significant,” said Dr. Adalsteinn Brown, dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, as he presented the latest modelling data on Nov. 12. “Given a relatively consistent volume of testing, case rates are rising substantially. This is challenging and dangerous news for the health system.”

During the last update in October, Premier Doug Ford expressed optimism that the province was moving away from the worst-case scenario, even going so far as to call the update “good news.” Ontario recorded 934 new cases of COVID-19 and 10 new deaths that day, and was projected to see, at most, about 1,200 cases per day by mid-November. 

The province blew past 1,200 daily cases on Nov. 8, with 1,328 new cases, and reported a record 1,575 new cases on Nov. 12.

Here are three things you need to know about Ontario’s newest modelling projections.

The curve

Despite the provincial government’s confidence in October, Ontario is not flattening its epidemic curve. 

COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen by 61 per cent in the past three weeks, and the number of outbreaks has risen by 57 per cent in the past week. Mortality rates are also rising in long-term-care homes. 

“Long-term-care home resident mortality is increasing and as community spread continues, outbreaks will increase,” Brown said. “And as outbreaks increase, the risk of mortality in long-term-care homes will continue to increase.”

Ontariocurve This graph by COVID-19 MC charts the path of Ontario’s epidemic curve in the coming weeks if the province maintains a daily COVID-19 infection rate of 5 per cent. – COVID-19-MC graphic

Brown said the province is currently experiencing a COVID-19 case growth rate of four per cent, and compared our epidemic curve with those of several European countries struggling to flatten their curves despite imposing lockdown measures, including France, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Germany. 

If Ontario’s growth rate continues at three per cent, its epidemic curve will surpass France’s before the end of December. If it continues at five per cent, which Brown said tracks closer to our current growth rate, our epidemic curve will soon exceed those of France, the U.K. and Germany. 

The projection

At a growth rate of three per cent, Ontario could see 3,000 to 4,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day before the end of December. At a “fairly optimistic” growth rate of five per cent, Brown said the province could see between 6,000 and 7,000 daily new cases. 

Ontario’s intensive care units have a capacity threshold at which they need to reduce access to care for non-COVID-19 patients. That threshold is 150 ICU beds, meaning care is reduced once 150 ICU beds are occupied by COVID-19 patients.

At both projected growth rates, Ontario will have exceeded its ICU occupancy within two or three weeks. 

Before the end of December, Brown said, all projected scenarios have Ontario exceeding 200 ICU beds, with 450 beds occupied by COVID patients in the worst-case scenario.

The call-to-action

Dr. Dirk Huyer, Ontario’s chief coroner, said during the Nov. 12 announcement that most of Ontario’s outbreaks can be linked to social gatherings like Halloween parties, weddings, worship events, after-work get-togethers and other similar gatherings. 

For this reason, Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, called on Ontarians to avoid gatherings and limit their outings to essential trips, especially in COVID-19 hot spots. 

“You need to understand that by going out in congregate settings, you can put yourself at risk,” he said, reminding Ontarians to use proper hand hygiene and follow public health guidelines.

“The numbers are in front of us, the task is in front of us, and the solution we’re aware of.”

Williams did not announce any new containment measures by the province.

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Guns, ammunition and cocaine seized from Tiny Township residence

Jul 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Southern Georgian Bay OPP executed a search warrant at a Balm Beach Road residence on Nov. 19 and seized a number of unauthorized firearms, ammunition and a quantity of cocaine.

Local OPP were joined by members of the community street crime unit, central region emergency response team and OPP tactics and rescue unit when they executed the warrant around 11:30 p.m.

Attending officers located and arrested three occupants without incident. A fourth person arrived at the residence during the search and was also arrested.

As a result of the investigation, a 55-year-old man, 31-year-old man, 27-year-old man, all of Tiny Township, were arrested. The three are facing 15 charges including: unauthorized possession of a prohibited and restricted weapon, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a loaded restricted firearm and careless storage of a firearm.

A 24-year-old Midland man has been charged with possession of cocaine.

All four men are currently being held in police custody, waiting to appear for video bail hearings. They will all appear in court in Midland at a future date.

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As Pfizer finishes COVID-19 vaccine testing, Elliott reveals how many doses Ottawa and Ontario are expecting

Jul 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The completion of human trials on one of the leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates has ratcheted up speculation about when Canadians might be able to start rolling up their sleeves.

Pfizer and BioNTech announced Wednesday they had finished the final round of human trials on their candidate — testing they say found the vaccine to be 95 per cent effective with no serious safety concerns.

After a at results last week, the experimental vaccine is now the first to complete the clinical testing process, having been tested on more than 40,000 people at 150 sites scattered across the United States, Germany, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil and Argentina since July.

The results still must be peer-reviewed, which means independent scientists look at the data before the results are published.

“The study results mark an important step in this historic eight-month journey to bring forward a vaccine capable of helping to end this devastating pandemic,” Albert Bourla, Pfizer chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

U.S. company Moderna, which is using similar technology to Pfizer, has also announced promising early results for its vaccine candidate in recent days, though its testing is .

Pfizer said it hopes to submit to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for “emergency use” approval within days; but for Canadians, it will be Health Canada that has the final say on whether or not to approve this vaccine for use, after a review process that has already begun.

Before the vaccine is approved, federal scientists will go through all of the testing results, ask any questions they have, and make a decision based on whether they conclude the dose is both safe and effective against coronavirus.

If the vaccine passes approval, Canada has an advance-purchase agreement for 20 million doses.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said the province is gearing up for the expected vaccine.

“We are expecting that we will receive shipments from both Pfizer and Moderna,” Elliott said Wednesday at Queen’s Park.

Though there has been no confirmation on the point from the federal government, an Alberta health ministry official told the Star recently that vaccines, once available, will be .

“The doses for Canada — we expect to receive four million doses between January and March of the Pfizer vaccine, two million for Moderna — of which we anticipate that we (in Ontario) will receive 1.6 million of Pfizer and 800,000 of Moderna,” Elliott said.

In Alberta, provincial Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced on Twitter that province is expecting its per capita share of 465,000 doses from Pfizer and 221,000 from Moderna, with the first shipments to arrive early in the new year.

When asked directly to confirm the dates and numbers, federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu would only say it was “really exciting” that Canada is well-positioned to receive millions of doses from both companies.

“There are a number of steps to go through before we actually get to the point of distribution, including the regulatory review with Health Canada to ensure the safety of both vaccines.”

If true, six million doses arriving early next year would be significant amount, says Dr. Prabhat Jha, an epidemiologist and professor of global health at the University of Toronto, but significant questions remain about who would get them.

To put the number in context, he points to the World Health Organization, which estimates it would take 4.3 billion doses to vaccinate all the seniors, health-care workers and people with high-risk conditions in the world. (That number assumes two doses per person and 15 per cent wastage.)

Jha notes that, roughly adjusting for population, Canada would need about 20 million doses to do the same, so this number would get us almost a third of the way there.

Canada’s National Advisory Council on Immunization , which are roughly in line with WHO guidelines, but the final distribution decisions will be up to the provinces and territories.

“Getting excited about six million doses sounds great,” he said. “But we need to think about who it would be delivered to.”

“The sound decisions here would be made not by short-term politicians, but by dispassionate, boring epidemiologists and technocrats to really say, ‘What what would be the appropriate tradeoffs here?’”

While any vaccine will need a stamp of approval from Health Canada, the department has taken steps to expedite the approval process.

The federal government has made what’s called a “rolling submission” an option for companies working on COVID-19 vaccine. Through this process, rather than waiting until all testing is done to walk it over to federal government scientists, a company can share things such as safety data and test results as they go. Pfizer and BioNTech applied for a rolling submission last month.

Still, an exact timeline for vaccine delivery remains unclear. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he hopes to have a vaccine available in as early as the first quarter of next year.

According to Pfizer, its results show that its vaccine, which requires two doses, is 95 per cent effective beginning 28 days after the first shot.

The Pfizer results suggest good news for seniors: Experts had worried that vaccines tend to be less effective in older adults, but Pfizer says the efficacy in those over 65 has also been over 94 per cent.

The dose was “well tolerated” by the thousands of volunteers, according to the company’s statement. The only adverse event, noted in more than two per cent of people, was fatigue (3.8 per cent) and headache (two per cent).

The company expects to produce as many as 50 million doses in 2020 and as many as 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

Although this vaccine has raised eyebrows for the cold temperatures in which it must be stored, Pfizer said it is “confident” in its “experience, expertise and existing cold-chain infrastructure.”

Pfizer said it has developed specially designed shipping containers that use dry ice to keep the temperature around -70 C. The containers can also be used as storage for 15 days, if the dry ice is refreshed.

Elliott acknowledged there will be challenges with the vaccines currently seen as front-runners.

“There are significant issues with respect to the Pfizer vaccine in particular,” she noted, referring to the temperature at which it must be stored.

“People do have to receive two doses 21 days apart. This is a major logistical challenge, but we have an entire group within the Ministry of Health right now that are planning for that as soon as we receive those shipments from the federal government.”

With files from Robert Benzie and The Canadian Press

Alex Boyd is a Calgary-based reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:

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‘We have a major problem’: Investigation finds ‘pervasive racism’ against Indigenous people in B.C. health care

Jul 26, 2021 , , , , by shlf

VICTORIA—The Métis leader whose warning initiated what’s being touted as the first complete review of racism in a Canadian health-care system is now calling on the rest of the country to follow British Columbia’s lead.

Daniel Fontaine, chief executive officer of the Métis Nation British Columbia, says he’s not surprised that a report released Monday has found pervasive, systemic racism against Indigenous people in his province.

The groundbreaking report has the potential to initiate a Canada-wide reckoning on something Indigenous people have known their whole lives: that health-care racism and discrimination is hurting them and their health.

“It may be the first, but I daresay it won’t be the last of its kind in Canada,” Fontaine said of B.C.’s investigation. “It has national significance. Every province and territory in the country should be looking at it to ask them some tough questions.”

Racism is hurting the health of Indigenous people and leaving them more harshly affected by health crises, including the opioid crisis and the , the independent, groundbreaking probe released Monday in B.C. found.

The report details harrowing accounts shared with the investigative team from dozens of Indigenous people who describe forms of racism and discrimination that hindered their ability to access health care, and exposed them to damaging stereotypes and assumptions.

There was a case of an 11-year-old girl whose doctors did not seem to trust her word that she had not been drinking. A woman living on the Downtown Eastside was detained under the mental health act when she was mistakenly assessed as suicidal. One 57-year-old Indigenous man, later diagnosed to have two cracks in his pelvis after a fall, reported being ridiculed by two nurses and told he was fine.

When the man argued, security was called, and he spent the night in jail, instead of getting treatment.

What these examples illustrate, said Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, who led the investigation at the province’s request, is a health-care system that is unsafe for Indigenous people and that regularly paints them with a number of stereotypes instead of treating them with dignity and proper care.

“What it looks like are abusive interactions at the point of care; verbal and physical abuse; denial of service,” said Turpel-Lafond, a well-known Indigenous lawyer and former B.C. advocate for children and youth. “We have a major problem with Indigenous-specific racism and prejudice in B.C. health care.”

Turpel-Lafond said her team’s recommendations could provide a blueprint for the rest of the country for rooting out racism and discrimination.

The B.C. probe was initiated in June, after Fontaine alerted deputy health minister Stephen Brown about allegations that health-care workers in an emergency room had played a game they called “Price is Right.” That involved them guessing the blood-alcohol level of mainly Indigenous patients before they received treatment, and about a swath of complaints by health-care workers of alleged racist incidents against Indigenous people.

The meeting prompted B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix to call the investigation..

Turpel-Lafond said the investigation did not find evidence of an organized “Price is Right” game, but that it unearthed an even more insidious picture of a system rife with racism and prejudice that is making the B.C. health-care system an unsafe place for Indigenous people.

The report, called , is based on input from 9,000 people, including Indigenous people and health-care workers.

“It is shocking but not surprising to read those incidents throughout the … report and to ask: Why did it take Métis nation to trigger this report a number of months ago?” Fontaine said Monday.

He said clues to answer that question lie within a theme of Turpel-Lafond’s recommendations, which outline an urgent need to have Indigenous people at the table in health-care authorities and political bodies making decisions about health.

“Where we get vindication around bringing this up is in this report. It raises the spectre of systemic racism throughout the entire health-care system,” he said.

Now that the Turpel-Lafond report is out there, he said there’s no way people in positions of authority can deny how widespread and deep-rooted racism is in health care — across Canada.

Turpel-Lafond said a second report, a data analysis of Indigenous-specific health outcomes, will be released in the next month.

The report’s 24 recommendations deal with implementing systems and cultural expectations to root out implicit and explicit racism in B.C.’s health-care system, including the creation of a B.C. Indigenous officer of health and an associate deputy minister of Indigenous health at the provincial government.

Dix on Monday offered an “unequivocal” apology for the findings of racism in the report, and vowed to implement recommendations immediately, including by introducing new Indigenous health liaisons in each of the province’s health authorities.

Indigenous leaders were quick to express their support for the recommendations, saying they were especially urgent in view of the pandemic.

“There is no time to wait; the current COVID-19 pandemic necessitates constant engagement by First Nations with the health-care system, and we categorically demand a safe health-care system for our people at this time and going forward,” reads a portion of a statement by the First Nations Leadership Council.

The in hospital earlier this year also served to highlight the barriers Indigenous people face to getting care.

Joyce Echaquan, an Atikamekw mother of seven, died soon after she filmed herself from her hospital bed in late September while she was in clear distress and pleading for help. Toward the end of the video, which was streamed live, two female hospital staff enter her room and are heard making degrading comments, including calling her stupid and saying she’d be better off dead.

The video has sparked widespread indignation, several inquiries and a lawsuit from Echaquan’s family against the hospital in Joliette where she died.

With files from Bayleigh Marelj and The Canadian Press

Alex McKeen is a Vancouver-based reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: