Will health care be around for the baby boomers?

-by Jennifer Derwey

As people age, health care and prescriptions can become a large part of their concerns and their monthly costs. A poll from the Canadian Medical Association shows that,

The survey of Canadians aged 45-plus shows that 78 per cent of them are worried that they will not be able to access necessary health services like homecare and long-term care in a timely fashion when they need them.

Will these fears be realized by funding cuts to health care in Canada? And if so, will it impact Canadian legislation on euthanasia if health care becomes less accessible for our aging population? 

Long term and home care are a vital part of the Canadian health care system, and access to these services must be maintained and even improved if we are going to continue to provide quality health care to Canadians. 

A ranking by the World Health Organization in 2000 placed Canada 30th in terms of their health care system, and yet Canada came 10th in expenditure per capita. 

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization_ranking_of_health_systems_in_2000)

"CMDA physicians: Dr. Kent Brantly is not a hero. He is living the normal Christian life."

From the CMDA,

Bristol, TN,  August 4, 2014--The Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), the nation's largest faith-based association of healthcare professionals, today issued the following statement on the controversy surrounding bringing Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, both suffering from Ebola, back to the U.S. for treatment.
"As a physician who has dealt with deadly epidemics in Africa where I served as a missionary and then as the first medical director for Samaritan's Purse, the risk of causing an Ebola epidemic by transporting these missionaries to the U.S. is so close to zero that it is incalculable," noted CMDA CEO Dr. David Stevens. "Unlike bird flu and other dangerous viruses, Ebola requires direct contact with bodily fluids from a patient to transmit the virus. It is not passed by coughing or casual contact, and every precaution has taken place."
Kent Brantly has been a member of CMDA since he started medical school where he was a dynamic student leader. He had a call to healthcare missions from a young age and participated in many short-term mission trips overseas. Last year at this time, he was at CMDA's headquarters in Bristol, Tennessee where Dr. Stevens and other staff helped train Dr. Brantly, his wife Amber and a group of other young professionals who were preparing to serve as new missionaries with Samaritan's Purse.

"Kent has been called a 'hero.' Of course he is in the sense of having courage and great strength of character, but he would tell you that he is just living the 'normal Christian life' that every Christian should live. He is simply a Christian disciple 'denying himself, taking up his cross and following Jesus' as Christians have done for millenniums (Matthew 16:24). He is simply laying down his life for others as Christ laid down his life for him," said Dr. Stevens.
Stevens, who personally dealt with the outbreak of AIDS in Africa and wiped out an epidemic of relapsing fever in Sudan, added, "Last week we trained 20 more young healthcare professionals and their spouses who are going all over the world to serve as missionaries. Two of them are going to the same hospital in Liberia where Kent and Nancy were infected. I challenged them saying, 'You will not live in fear of disease, suffering and even death if you die to self before you go.' That is not extraordinary; it's the normal Christian life that every Christian should live."

Dr. Stevens joined Karl and June on Moody Radio Chicago on Monday, August 4 to discuss this topic and help explain the low risk of the spread of Ebola in the U.S. You can listen to his live interview at www.cmda.org/ebola. To schedule an interview with Dr. Stevens, please contact VP for Communications Margie Shealy at communications@cmda.org or 423-844-1047. For more information about CMDA, please visit www.cmda.org.

Dr. Paul Saba to fight euthanasia in court

From Ville Marie Online,

Written by Deborah Rankin for VMO
Friday, July 18th, 2014
Dr. Paul J. Saba, a Quebec family physician who filed a lawsuit against Quebec's 'right-to-die legislation' in May along with co-plaintiff Lisa D'Amico, a handicapped person, is due to appear in Montréal Superior Court next week to discuss preliminary issues regarding the case, according to his lawyer Dominique Talarico.
The President of the Coalition of Physicians for Social Justice is warning parents that if the law isn't overturned, euthanasia will likely be extended to children and people with mental health problems, as is  already the case in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Noting that the Quebec Human Rights Commission has recommended that the controversial practice be extended  to minors, as well as vulnerable adults who are not apt to give informed-consent, Saba said that many "innocent persons" will die needlessly because of errors in diagnosis, poor prognosis, and lack of access to palliative care and adequate social services. In the case of an emancipated minor of 14 years of age or older, they could petition the courts to end their life, arguing that the current regime of "medical aid in dying" is discriminatory.
Dr. Saba said that the Quebec Government has turned a "deaf ear" to rational arguments in favor of a pre-determined agenda. "Euthanasia is not medical treatment," he stressed. "The Québec Government does not have the right to legislate euthanasia as a medical practice.
Euthanasia is against all the laws of this province and this country." 

Read the article in full here: http://www.villemarieonline.com/paul-saba-to-fight-euthanasia-in-court

New chairs bring smiles

Original Article by Melanie Tucker | melt@thedailytimes.com |

An extra special donation to Trinity Dental Clinic in Maryville has the entire office smiling.
Last week, the nonprofit, nondenominational Christian ministry that provides dental care for those who are uninsured or under-served, was the recipient of two state-of-the-art dental chairs, thanks to a grant from Delta Dental of Tennessee. The chairs, which were made in Italy, are the first of their kind to be installed here in the U.S.
Philip Grace and Greg McCarter of Dental and Technology Specialists, did the installation.
The chairs these replaced were 30 years old, said Benalee Hutsell, office manager at Trinity. There are still two more of those antiquated chairs in use. 

(source: http://www.thedailytimes.com/community/trinity-dental-receives-grant-for-new-chairs/article_c93d9bfc-6a9f-5b3e-96f0-2557822f135f.html)

Thank You: Dr. Robert Patton

Dr. Robert Patton 

Bob is a pediatric dentist in Vancouver. Bob treats those children who for one reason or another who are not able to go to a regular dentist. He has provided a lifetime of service to CMDS Canada. He has served on the national board for over 40 years. He has also served as President of the Vancouver Chapter for many years. The weekend of the CMDS National Conference, Bob formally resigned from the Board. CMDS Canada thanks Bob for his years of faithful service. We will really miss his wisdom and sense of humor.
God bless you Bob for your generous gift of yourself.

*Watch for an article on Dr. Robert Patton in the next edition of the CMDS Canada magazine, Focus.

Action Item

Protect the human rights of physicians. Vote "Yes!" in the poll, and give your input on the Physicians and the Ontario Human Rights Code policy currently under review here: http://policyconsult.cpso.on.ca/?page_id=3403

Physicians and the Ontario Human Rights Code | CPSO

policyconsult.cpso.on.ca

Do you think a physician should be allowed to refuse to provide a patient with a treatment or procedure because it conflicts with the physician’s religious or moral beliefs?

Improving palliative care, a solution for all

Father Raymond J. de Souza writes in the National Post,

There are increasing numbers of those among us who are frail and ill, growing weaker under the burden of disease or years. How will our public policy and common culture respond? The Angus motion recognizes that many Canadians do not desire heavily medicalized final weeks or months, but a more personal preparation for death, preferably accompanied by their loved ones at home.

Our health care system does not provide such alternatives readily. It is designed to make expensive, invasive treatments accessible. So it does, forcing many at the end of life to endure treatments that are unduly burdensome in circumstances that are often impersonal. Palliative care for the dying seeks to treat pain and discomfort, but to allow, as much as possible, a preparation for death that respects the dignity of the person and those close to him.

The lack of adequate palliative care across the country is a failure of our health care system to respond to actual patient needs.

(Read the full article here: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/05/28/raymond-j-de-souza-instead-of-legalizing-euthanasia-try-improving-canadian-palliative-care/)