'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
An emergency room physician is urging governments to address the country’s shortfall of health-care workers in light of the recent temporary shutdowns of emergency departments and the staffing downsizing at others.
The Canada Day long weekend saw two Ontario hospitals shut emergency room doors owing to a staff shortage, while other hospitals across the country struggled with “bed block,” where there were more patients than beds to send them to.
Dr. Lisa Salamon says that a backlog of surgeries, along with increased demand from patients after two years of avoiding hospitals, are overwhelming hospitals. For example, at Toronto’s Michael Garron Hospital, more than 300 people a day are seeking medical help, an increase of 40 to 50 per cent from pre-pandemic times.
“I'm seeing such astronomical volumes come through our emergency departments … 10 to 20 per cent more than you know, even at peak flu season, never mind in the summer in June and July, where we usually have lower volumes,” Salamon told CTV’s Your Morning on Wednesday.
“It's higher than we've ever seen before.”
New Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 might cause a fresh wave of infections in the upcoming months, potentially increasing the number of hospitalizations, especially among unvaccinated individuals and those with limited immunity, epidemiologists have warned.
Salamon says that without immediate government support, patients can expect to continue to see emergency room closures and long wait times for ‘quite some time.’
“There are proposals for … independent ambulatory centres to help with the backlog of surgical procedures, but that's going to take some time and the government needs to act right away,” she said.
“We have a new government-elected health minister (in Ontario), and they really need to partner with our organizations in order to solve this problem. You know, pretty quickly.”
But as bad as the wait times currently are, Salamon says they are a symptom of a deeper problem that is system-wide across the country.
“A lot of people don't have family doctors and that's a huge problem,” she said.
The Canadian Medical Association has also raised this issue and say that the cracks in Canada’s primary care system stemming from a lack of family doctors is leading to more patients seeking care at emergency rooms.
“I think really probably the No. 1 priority that government needs to focus on is really trying to fix the family doctor shortage. And also make sure that every Ontarian has a team along with their family doctor to take care of their health.”
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.