Health & Wellness

TORONTO — A new index is being created to measure the well-being of Canadians, which will go beyond what we learn about ourselves from economic indicators like the GDP.
The new Canadian Index of Wellbeing will measure eight areas of life, including health, education, state of the arts and standard of living, says Roy Romanow, chair of the non-partisan and independent institute that will produce the index.

GENEVA — The World Health Organization said Tuesday a spike in swine flu cases in Australia may push it to finally announce the first flu pandemic in 41 years. It also expressed concern about an unusual rise in severe illness from the disease in Canada.
WHO’s flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the agency wanted to avoid “adverse effects” if it announces a global outbreak of swine flu. Fukuda said people might panic or that governments might take inappropriate actions if WHO declares a pandemic.

TORONTO—Ontario Health minister David Caplan rejected calls for his resignation yesterday over a spending scandal at embattled eHealth Ontario—a day after its top executive was abruptly removed from her job.
The agency, tasked with creating electronic health records, has come under fire for questionable spending and awarding nearly $5 million in untendered contracts.

TAMPA, Fla. — With much of her lower body consumed by cancer, Leslee Flasch finally faced the truth: The herbal supplements and special diet were not working.
“I want this thing cut out from me. I want it out,” she told her family.
But it was too late. Her rectal cancer — potentially curable earlier on — had invaded bones, tissue, muscle, skin. The 53-year-old Florida woman could barely sit, and constantly bled and soiled herself.
“It was terrible,” one doctor said. “The pain must have been excruciating.”

TORONTO — A new study touts the benefits of multivitamins for women during pregnancy, suggesting that they’re associated with a significantly reduced risk of babies with a low birth weight.
The study — known as a meta-analysis — pulled together data from 13 previous studies comparing babies whose mothers took multivitamin supplements to those of women who took only prenatal iron-folic supplementation or a placebo.
The findings from Dr. Prakesh Shah and colleagues at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto were published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

TORONTO — Computers have long been linked to repetitive strain injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, but the equipment is increasingly being blamed for other physical harms, especially among young children.
A U.S. study shows that the number of people seeking emergency treatment for cuts, bruises, strains and head injuries from computer-related mishaps has soared over the last decade or so.

TORONTO—eHealth Ontario’s top executive will receive nearly $317,000 in compensation after being removed from her position amid a scandal over $5 million in untendered contracts and questionable spending, officials confirmed yesterday.
Sarah Kramer, whose appointment as president and CEO of the agency was revoked yesterday, will receive the equivalent of 10 months’ salary under an agreement reached with eHealth’s board, officials said.

WINNIPEG—The emergence of swine ’flu on a remote northern Manitoba reserve is a wake-up call for governments to address poor living conditions and improve health care for aboriginals, the community’s chief said yesterday.
David McDougall of St. Theresa Point First Nation said there are two confirmed cases of swine ’flu on the reserve. Another 21 people are in hospital suffering from ’flu-like symptoms.
As a result, some people in the community of 3,200 are wearing masks and most are avoiding large get-togethers, he noted.

TORONTO — A new survey says Toronto teens need more sexual health education.
It says teens are engaging in risky sexual behaviour but aren’t getting the information they need to protect themselves from sexually-transmitted infections.
The survey of 1,216 teens ages 13 to 18 is a joint project of Planned Parenthood Toronto, York University, the University of Toronto, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Toronto Public Health.
It found 83 per cent of respondents had never accessed sexual heath-care from a doctor or a clinic, many because of concerns over confidentiality.

Doctors in Britain are warning that too many users on a trampoline at the same time can lead to injury.
The doctors at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School in Dundee analyzed 50 cases of trampoline injuries that showed up at the emergency department over a six-week period.
In a letter published in the British Medical Journal, they wrote that the most important factor associated with trampoline injury is having multiple users on a trampoline at one time.
And perhaps not surprisingly, the lightest person is five times more likely to be injured.