BREAKING Veteran TSN sportscaster Darren Dutchyshen has died
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57.
For desperate parents looking for children’s painkillers amid a country-wide shortage, they have the option to use a pill cutter on adult-sized pills to create smaller doses, according to a Toronto-based family doctor.
But the process has to be done very carefully using a proper tool, and can’t be done roughly by hand, said Dr. Marla Shapiro, CTV News medical specialist and associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Though one million bottles of children’s medication are being imported into Canada this week, many parents don’t have time to wait for those to show up on pharmacy shelves and need remedies now for children battling fevers, said Shapiro on CTV News Channel Tuesday.
"This has been going on for months now, with no immediate answer in sight, we're hearing there'll be a million boxes on the shelves within a week, but yet it is still ongoing," she said.
The federal government announced Thursday that it has tapped into foreign supply chains to bring one million bottles of pain relievers to Canada. The supply, including liquid ibuprofen and liquid acetaminophen, will be given to hospitals, community pharmacies and retailers.
Parents are being reminded children not in respiratory distress should not be admitted to the emergency room due to an influx of patients across the country. The pressure applied to hospitals is due to what some experts are calling, a "multi-demic" of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza and COVID-19.
Children's hospitals across the country are stretched thin as many are operating at or over 100 per cent occupancy with wait times sometimes exceeding 24 hours. Some non-emergency surgeries had been delayed to alleviate pressure.
"If you can't keep your fever down it leaves parents really feeling quite desperate and anxious," Shapiro said.
In the absence of children's medication to wane the fever, Shapiro says parents can carefully convert adult dosages to younger kids.
She says children under 12 pounds are the most difficult to give medication to since there is no adult conversion. In those instances, she advises parents to speak to pharmacists.
"We do these conversions for infants, and then in the older children, we actually can take adult preparations either acetaminophen or ibuprofen and do an appropriate weight check to see how do I convert these medications," Shapiro said.
The process of cutting pills has to be done very carefully using a proper tool.
She stressed the importance of doing the conversions accurately and with the proper tools to avoid overdoses.
"You really have to get an appropriate pill cutter, don't try and do this by hand, because it's going to be inaccurate," Shapiro said.
For children between 50 to 70 pounds, she said parents can give one adult dose to curb a fever. Shapiro said there are differences in doses per weight with both acetaminophen and ibuprofen.
"If you're looking at ibuprofen …six to eight hours (in between), if you're looking at acetaminophen, you're looking at four to six hours in terms of dosing, but a maximum dose per day must be observed," she said.
Experts say more children (and adults) are getting sick this year because their immune systems have not been exposed over the last two years. This coupled with three viruses circulating, parents want to understand how to boost immune response.
"It is about exposure and building your immunity," Shapiro said. "With the exception of vitamin D, unless there's a particular reason your child has malabsorption or something like that, there really is no magic bullet to boost the immune system here."
Shapiro said most vitamins can be absorbed through a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables and to ensure children are sleeping and exercising, to boost immune systems.
To prevent becoming sick, she encourages everyone to continue wearing masks, to frequently wash hands and to social distance.
Veteran TSN broadcaster Darren 'Dutch' Dutchyshen, one of Canada’s best-known sports journalists, has died. He was 57.
A Montreal father who kidnapped his daughter who has autism and lied to police when they asked where she was should serve three years in prison, a Crown prosecutor said.
Many Canadians found a message from the Canada Revenue Agency this week as they received their first direct deposit for the Canada Carbon Rebate.
A medical examiner says a Massachusetts teen who participated in a spicy tortilla chip challenge died from ingesting a substance 'with a high capsaicin concentration.'
Auto technology has evolved and many newer cars use wireless key fobs and push-button starters instead of traditional metal keys. But that technology also makes things easier for thieves.
Scientists from the University of Western Australia and Kelpsie Geociences in the U.K. say they were surprised to discover an underwater camera caught video of a rare deep-sea squid.
Although a global workers' treaty has been in force in Canada since January, an employment lawyer believes it won't do anything more to protect employees from violence and harassment.
The Saskatchewan RCMP wants you to know it’s not targeting drive-thrus to ticket people for using their fast food reward apps.
The Slovak interior minister said Thursday that a 'lone wolf' has been charged in the shooting that seriously wounded Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.
When Adam Kirschner wrote 'Slap Shot,' he never imagined the song would be embraced by his favourite team.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.