Health

Left to right, Jaden Lee, Matthew O’Connell and Samantha Paluch, members of the youth action team holding up their harm reduction awards. (Courtesy of Island Health)

Promoting drug prevention wins Greater Victoria kids an Island Health award

‘The momentum of the youth action team continues to have positive ripple effects’

Left to right, Jaden Lee, Matthew O’Connell and Samantha Paluch, members of the youth action team holding up their harm reduction awards. (Courtesy of Island Health)
Hazy skies over Terrace on July 8, as Environment Canada issued an air quality statement for the city amid wildfire smoke across northwest B.C. (Kevin Shenanaganz Bolton/Facebook)

Wildfire smoke highlights need for better ventilation in public spaces

Experts say estimates indicate wildfires will increase 25 per cent by 2030

Hazy skies over Terrace on July 8, as Environment Canada issued an air quality statement for the city amid wildfire smoke across northwest B.C. (Kevin Shenanaganz Bolton/Facebook)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participates in a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, on January 5, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Feds looking for input on new law to improve safety in long-term care

Legislation is also a condition of the Liberals’ supply-and-confidence deal with the NDP

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participates in a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, on January 5, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
B.C.’s only FASD clinic is located in The People Place in Vernon. (Bowen Assman- Morning Star Photo)

Lack of funding to sink B.C.’s only FASD clinic in Vernon

“If we close, patients with FASD will be lost and will be hard or impossible to recreate.”

B.C.’s only FASD clinic is located in The People Place in Vernon. (Bowen Assman- Morning Star Photo)
Candide Dias and Karen Lundgren from Victoria’s Cool Aid Society stand inside Victoria’s second mobile health unit, which will deliver more health-care services and outreach to vulnerable populations in Greater Victoria. (Natasha Baldin/News Staff)

Greater Victoria’s second mobile health clinic added to help vulnerable

Cool Aid Society and Telus Health partner

Candide Dias and Karen Lundgren from Victoria’s Cool Aid Society stand inside Victoria’s second mobile health unit, which will deliver more health-care services and outreach to vulnerable populations in Greater Victoria. (Natasha Baldin/News Staff)
The Victoria Foundation’s annual Community Grants Program supports registered charities and other qualified groups whose work benefits community well-being within the capital region. (Pixabay)

Victoria Foundation distributes a record $4.9M to nearly 200 organizations

The record donations are a part of the Victoria Foundation’s Community Grants Program

The Victoria Foundation’s annual Community Grants Program supports registered charities and other qualified groups whose work benefits community well-being within the capital region. (Pixabay)
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment says a nine-year-old B.C. boy who died from asthma exacerbated by wildfire smoke is the face of the climate crisis in Canada. The St. Mary’s wildfire is shown in this handout image provided by the B.C. Wildfire Service. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-BC Wildfire Service

Asthmatic B.C. boy who died amid wildfire smoke called ‘face of climate crisis’

B.C. doctors group says Carter Vigh’s death underscores urgent need to protect vulnerable people

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment says a nine-year-old B.C. boy who died from asthma exacerbated by wildfire smoke is the face of the climate crisis in Canada. The St. Mary’s wildfire is shown in this handout image provided by the B.C. Wildfire Service. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-BC Wildfire Service
Dr. Keith Yeates, a neuropsychologist at the University of Calgary, poses in this undated handout photo. Yeates has a study published in the online medical journal Pediatrics that says kids who suffer concussions don’t suffer a drop in IQ. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - University of Calgary, Riley Brandt

Canadian study says concussions don’t affect kids’ intelligence

University of Calgary-led research finds there doesn’t appear to be an alteration in a kid’s IQ

Dr. Keith Yeates, a neuropsychologist at the University of Calgary, poses in this undated handout photo. Yeates has a study published in the online medical journal Pediatrics that says kids who suffer concussions don’t suffer a drop in IQ. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - University of Calgary, Riley Brandt
Arti and Anton are shown in this undated handout photo. The dogs recently graduated from a rigorous training program that allows them to sniff out the potentially deadly C. difficile bacterium on surfaces before it can even sicken the most vulnerable patients at hospitals in Vancouver and beyond. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Vancouver Coastal Health

Dogs trained to detect potentially deadly superbug at B.C. hospitals

C. difficile is the most frequent cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitals and long-term care homes

Arti and Anton are shown in this undated handout photo. The dogs recently graduated from a rigorous training program that allows them to sniff out the potentially deadly C. difficile bacterium on surfaces before it can even sicken the most vulnerable patients at hospitals in Vancouver and beyond. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Vancouver Coastal Health
A customer walks down a grocery store’s drinks aisle in Newcastle, Ont. on Thursday July 13, 2023. The Canadian Cancer Society and Health Canada are reviewing the World Health Organization’s classification of aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Doug Ives

Stay within aspartame limits, cancer society says in wake of WHO findings

Canadian advice offered after World Health Organization reports sweetener ‘possibly carcinogenic’

A customer walks down a grocery store’s drinks aisle in Newcastle, Ont. on Thursday July 13, 2023. The Canadian Cancer Society and Health Canada are reviewing the World Health Organization’s classification of aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Doug Ives
(Stock photo) A Victoria nurse has been disciplined. (iStock photo)

Victoria nurse won’t be fired for snooping into patient records, leaking info

Nurse was also “not honest” with bosses over actions

(Stock photo) A Victoria nurse has been disciplined. (iStock photo)
Barb West, Yana Hempler, Danielle Mulligan and Heather Williams pose for a photo at the day 10 finish line. (Natasha Baldin/News Staff)

Saanich runner finishes 10 marathons in 10 days for Victoria hospitals

Goal is to raise $1 million

Barb West, Yana Hempler, Danielle Mulligan and Heather Williams pose for a photo at the day 10 finish line. (Natasha Baldin/News Staff)
A person draws out Moderna vaccine at a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Kingston, Ont., Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) says people should get another COVID-19 booster in the fall if it’s been at least six months since their last dose or COVID-19 infection. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg

Immunization panel recommends Canadians get another fall COVID-19 booster

Shot recommended if it has been more than 6 months since your last

A person draws out Moderna vaccine at a COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Kingston, Ont., Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022. Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) says people should get another COVID-19 booster in the fall if it’s been at least six months since their last dose or COVID-19 infection. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
City of Toronto officially proclaim June as Pride Month in Toronto and raise the Progress Pride flag at City Hall in Toronto on Thursday, June 1, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Advocates want national standards for LGBTQ identities in medical records

Push underway for inclusion of gender, sex and sexual identity information in health records

City of Toronto officially proclaim June as Pride Month in Toronto and raise the Progress Pride flag at City Hall in Toronto on Thursday, June 1, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Workers hold flowers given to them as they watch as 150 nursing union members show support at Orchard Villa Long-Term Care in Pickering, Ont. on Monday, June 1, 2020. The National Institute on Aging found provincial long-term care standards vary drastically across the country and in some cases fall far short of the new national standards released earlier this year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Provinces falling short of national long-term care standards: report

Not a single province or territory covered everything the national standard calls for

Workers hold flowers given to them as they watch as 150 nursing union members show support at Orchard Villa Long-Term Care in Pickering, Ont. on Monday, June 1, 2020. The National Institute on Aging found provincial long-term care standards vary drastically across the country and in some cases fall far short of the new national standards released earlier this year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
Sukinder Mangat of Richmond, B.C., shown here in this undated handout image, has been waiting for a kidney for 11 years but kidneys donated in that province are being sent elsewhere in Canada because there are not enough surgeons to transplant them in B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

Lack of B.C. transplant surgeons means donated kidneys sent elsewhere

Doctors say between 8 and 10 surgeons are needed in B.C. to keep organs in province

Sukinder Mangat of Richmond, B.C., shown here in this undated handout image, has been waiting for a kidney for 11 years but kidneys donated in that province are being sent elsewhere in Canada because there are not enough surgeons to transplant them in B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO
Principal Scientist Denise Cecil retrieves supplies while working at UW Medicine's Cancer Vaccine Institute Thursday, May 25, 2023, in Seattle. Vaccines under development at UW Medicine are designed to work for many patients, not just a single patient. Tests are underway in early and advanced breast cancer, lung cancer and ovarian cancer. Some results may come as soon as next year. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

The next big advance in cancer treatment could be a vaccine

The next big advance in cancer treatment could be a vaccine. After…

Principal Scientist Denise Cecil retrieves supplies while working at UW Medicine's Cancer Vaccine Institute Thursday, May 25, 2023, in Seattle. Vaccines under development at UW Medicine are designed to work for many patients, not just a single patient. Tests are underway in early and advanced breast cancer, lung cancer and ovarian cancer. Some results may come as soon as next year. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
FILE - This Tuesday, April 3, 2018 file photo shows a closeup of a beam scale in New York. High-dose oral versions of the medication in the weight-loss drug Wegovy may work as well as injections at paring pounds and improving health, including hard-to-treat people with diabetes, according to research released Sunday, June 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)

No more needles? A daily pill may work as well as Wegovy shots to treat obesity

What if treating obesity could be as easy as popping an effective…

FILE - This Tuesday, April 3, 2018 file photo shows a closeup of a beam scale in New York. High-dose oral versions of the medication in the weight-loss drug Wegovy may work as well as injections at paring pounds and improving health, including hard-to-treat people with diabetes, according to research released Sunday, June 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)
UBC mental health study will create a support resource for men (BPD file Photo)

Peer support to better men’s mental health at core of new B.C. study

Approximately one of every five men in Canada will experience mental health challenges

UBC mental health study will create a support resource for men (BPD file Photo)
A man holds a joint while smoking cannabis, in Vancouver on Wednesday Oct. 17, 2018. Statistics Canada says nearly five per cent of cannabis users are at risk of developing an addiction to the drug, according to a survey of households. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Risk of cannabis addiction higher for young men, people with anxiety

StatCan survey finds nearly 5 per cent of users at risk

A man holds a joint while smoking cannabis, in Vancouver on Wednesday Oct. 17, 2018. Statistics Canada says nearly five per cent of cannabis users are at risk of developing an addiction to the drug, according to a survey of households. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck