Contributor Podcast: Health Justice Radio Collective

It is estimated that about 1-3% of the Canadian population lives with a developmental disability (DD). This refers to people with limited cognitive abilities and adaptive functioning which have their onset before the age of 18. The causes of DDs are varied and often unknown and can be a combination of both genetic and environmental factors (for example trauma during birth). This population often has specific health concerns and can be complex yet rewarding patients to work with. On this week's show, we spoke with Dr. Bill Sullivan, a family doctor at the Surrey Place Centre in Toronto, about health care for people with DDs. Dr. Sullivan is leading a provincial initiative to improve the health and quality of life for people with DDs through training and resource development for primary health care providers. On the show, we speak about how having a DD can affect one's health outcomes as well as specific health concerns that members of this population might have. We learn that there are surprisingly few health care providers that specialize in care for this population. How can we improve upon this lack of training and education? Tune in to find out.

On February 20th, HJRC in collaboration with Health Providers Against Poverty, YWCA and CFMU 93.3 FM brought the 2013 Homelessness Marathon to Hamilton. The marathon is a live national 14 hour radio broadcast about Homelessness and Housing Issues, heard across the country by over 40 campus community radio stations with a focus on the voices of those directly impacted. According to a 2011 report prepared by the Social Planning and Research Council, in Hamilton, shelter usage by women is increasing, while shelter use by men is decreasing. There are 195 men only beds, 127 for women, 90% of which are specifically designated for women fleeing violence . Women’s shelters routinely turn away clients owing to lack of capacity. On today's episode of HJRC, we speak with six courageous women who tell us how precarious housing in Hamilton has impacted their health.

What is the difference between our bodies getting sick and our brains getting sick? It seems obvious that these should be seen as similar processes. Why does stigma still exist against mental illness, but patients are not discriminated against for having medical conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure? Current research on brain physiology is shedding light on the biological causes of mental illness. One thing we know for sure is that although illness is not the patient’s fault, or due to any weakness in character, stigma often prevents them from seeking and receiving care. However, perceptions about mental illness are slowly changing as it is receiving more attention in the media. Today, we speak with Dr. Joseph Ferencz, the head of psychiatry at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, about the nature of mental illness and how to dispel some of these myths and stigmas.

Today, we feature a unique obstetrical health resource in our community.

Residents in MP Kelly Block’s riding of Saskatoon Rosetown Biggar were surprised in mid October when they found a flyer in their mail boxes celebrating the end to “unfair” benefits for refugee claimants. The flyer states, “They’ve had free prescriptions, Not anymore.” The mail-out was from MP Kelly Block’s office, and it had her constituents along with defenders of health care for refugees upset. Dr. Mahil Brin-damour, a pediatrics resident Block’s said, “It’s biased and misleading. It’s trying to pit Canadians against this vulnerable group.” Block for her part has since said that the mailout, “wasn’t meant to be divisive.” The mail-out refers to cuts to healthcare services for refugees that were implemented on July 1st of this year, despite opposition from over 17 health associations across the country including the College of Family Physicians and the Canadian Medical Association. A rally on October 20th to oppose Block’s mail out attracted over 400 people in Saskatoon. On October 22nd, Dr. Mahil Brin-Damour took her fight to parliament hill along with students from the University of Ottawa’s medical school. On today's episode of HJR, we take you there.

“Health care workers should be deciding what care people need based on their illness—not their income, refugee status, religion or anything else.” - Dr. Tim O'Shea, 2012 Following last week's show on the cuts to refugee health care funding in Canada, we attended the "We Refuse to Cooperate" campaign in Bayfront Park on Saturday September 29th. Dozens of community members, students and health care professionals gathered to demonstrate their support for equal access to services. It was an event aimed at mobilizing awareness and enacting change for the many patients affected across Hamilton. Today, we hear from three passionate activists about the clinical and financial effects of the cuts, and where things may go in the future.

In late April of this year, the federal government announced it would make sweeping cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program – a program that provides access to healthcare for refugees in Canada. On May 11th over 90 doctors occupied Member of Parliament Joe Oliveri’s office, demanding the cuts be reversed. In June, rallies took place in 14 cities across the country. Frustrated by being seemingly ignored by the federal government, and having exhausted other means of communicating with Members of Parliament, physicians began disrupting news conferences. In response to this unprecedented mobilization of the health sector, the federal government quietly backtracked on some of the cuts. Refugee claimants no longer have access to medications, despite the fact that they often arrive in Canada with nothing. A diabetic refugee claimant arriving in Canada with little or no resources will not have access to life-saving insulin he or she may need, for example. Furthermore, refugee claimants from countries deemed "safe" or supposedly democratic, which the government believes are unlikely to produce refugees, will have no preventative care and no access to meds unless it is deemed a threat to public safety. Today, activist and pediatrician Dr. Samir Shaheen-Hussein returns to the show to talk with us about whether the cuts could have been predicted, their ideological underpinning, this summer's mobilizations, and the "We Refuse to Cooperate," campaign. Find out about the launch of "We refuse to Cooperate" in Hamilton (Sept 29, 1-4 pm @ Bayfront park) and the new org, Hamiltonians for Migrant and Refugee Health here.

Naturopathic Medicine is and broad inclusive field. It is a distinct system of primary health care that addresses the root causes of illness, and promotes health and healing using natural therapies. It supports your body's own healing ability using an integrated approach to disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention that includes: acupuncture/asian medicine botanical medicine Physical medicine Clinical nutrition Homeopathic medicine Lifestyle counselling Naturopathic Doctors are highly educated primary care providers who integrate standard medical diagnostics with a broad range of natural therapies. This dynamic field often attempts to address healthcare issues through a different approach though with the same ultimate aim of providing patients with the tools to improve their quality of life. This week on Health Justice Radio we have a very special guest here to talk to us about her own personal journey in the field of naturopathic medicine. A recent graduate of McMaster University in 2010, and currently attending the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, our guest has a unique perspective on the field of naturopathic medicine informed by her experiences within and outside of school. This week on Health Justice Radio, we are honoured to have Anne Hussain here to tell us about her personal journey in the field of naturopathic medicine, and her perspective on the many hot button issues surrounding the field at the moment. She recognizes the critical importance of naturopathic medicine as a facet of healthcare delivery and could help shed some light into the challenges that await training traditional doctors as they step into the workforce and attempt to work in conjunction with naturopathic doctors to improve health care outcomes.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is a new form of therapy used for many psychological disorders. It was developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan at the University of Washington. Dr. Linehan has suffered from mental illness herself and has been dedicating herself to helpingwalk out of their emotional shadows. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy was initially used to help individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder but is now used for people who have trouble managing their emotions, suicidal thinking or behaviour, self-injury, Bipolar Personality Disorder, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol or drug problems, eating disorders, chronic feelings of emptiness, etc. DBT is a combination of mindfulness meditation and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Mindfulness helps the person acceptance of themselves and their situation and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy helps to change behavioural patterns. Two central goals in DBT are “learning to bear pain skillfully” and “creating a life worth living”. In this interview we spoke with Sheri Van Dijk about DBT and her experience as a DBT provider in Newmarket, Ontario. Sheri has written several books on DBT including: Calming the Emotional Storm. This is an easy to read introduction to the dialectal behaviour therapy skills that can help readers to keep calm in the face of distressing emotions. Don’t Let Your Emotions Run Your Life for Teens. This DBT workbook can help all teens with depression, anxiety, anger, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder, take charge of their feelings. The Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Skills Workbook – for Bipolar Disorder, using DBT to regain control of your emotions and your life. The Bipolar Workbook for Teens. This book helps youth develop expertise and resources for managing bipolar disorder. [audio http://www.radio4all.net/files/nbozinoff@gmail.com/4298-1-HJRC_2001-10-24.mp3]

There are about 35,000 people living with Down Syndrome in Canada. As a diverse nation, we claim to include people of all cultures, ethnicities, and intellectual and physical abilities. But the data we see from prenatal screening and diagnosis outcomes don’t seem to reflect this. According to research conducted by Dr. Brain Skotko, an estimated 92% of women in the US who are prenatally diagnosed with a fetus with Down Syndrome choose to terminate the pregnancy. Between 1989 - 2005, there was a 49% decrease between the expected and observed rates of infants born with Down Syndrome. Why is this so? Is it based on underlying societal judgments and expectations, telling us what type of people we should value? Or is it simply due to insufficient information and resources provided to parents at the time of decision-making? These trends not only affect those already living with Down Syndrome, but have implications for the future of our ‘diverse’ Canadian society. On this show, we discuss important aspects of prenatal screening and diagnosis with Dr. Ashleigh Molloy, the President of the Down Syndrome Association of Toronto. His promotion of inclusion and human value are important messages that should be heard by all.

On the eve of the confidence vote for the Ontario provincial budget, provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath is ramping up the pressure to negotiate key budget changes in exchange for NDP support. If the Liberals fail to garner NDP support for the budget, they’ll be thrown back into an election, something political pundits say the McGuinty government wants to avoid at all costs. Foremost among Andrea Horwath’s demands has been a proposal for a new tax bracket for Ontarians earning more than 500 000 dollars annually. The NDP has calculated that the new tax bracket would raise $570 million in revenues for the province. Polls indicate that Ontarians are overwhelmingly in favour of the proposal. Talking about increasing taxes has been a politically taboo topic for as long as most of us can remember. The very fact that it is now being discussed in the mainstream media, and as a serious policy possibility, has many people excited. The new organization, Doctors for Fair Taxation (D4FT), a group of physicians calling for more progressive taxation in Canada, is being credited with bringing the issue to the forefront. Since launching their website on March 22, 2012, D4FT have had numerous op-eds, TV and radio appearances. Their slogan, “Tax us, Canada is worth it!” has caught on as physicians put themselves forward as a group who are willing to be taxed more progressively if it means maintaining current public services. On today’s episode of Health Justice Radio, we speak with Tanya Zakrison, steering committee member of Doctors for Fair Taxation and a trauma surgeon at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital.

25 000 migrant workers are brought into Canada every year under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), a federal program established in 1966. 66% of these workers are in Ontario, 13% in Quebec and 13% in British Columbia. In the Niagara region, there are about 6000 migrant workers originating from Jamaica and Mexico. We spoke with Jackie Barrett-Greene who is the Newcomer Support Coordinator at AIDS Niagara and has been working with migrant workers in the Niagara region. We spoke about the barriers that migrant workers face, including access to health care services, transportation, language barriers, long work hours and work place safety. If you would like to contact Jackie, you can find her at AIDS Niagara. To get involved or learn more about Niagara migrant workers advocacy, check out the Niagara Migrant Workers Interest Group. Lastly, you can find directions to the Migrant Workers Walk-in Clinic in Virgil here. Thank you for tuning in!

Indian philosopher Krishnamurti once said, “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” The public’s understanding of mental illness today is based on a theory emphasizing chemical imbalance. But has our focus on brain chemistry removed mental illness from its social context? We know for example, poverty is a significant risk factor for poor mental health. We also know that more unequal societies experience more mental health problems. Understanding mental illness as part of a chemical process has aided tremendously in removing stigma from mental illness, but have we gone too far? By removing mental illness from its social context, by medicating chemical imbalances, are we actually medicating a profoundly sick society? On Health Justice Radio today we speak with clinical psychologist and author Dr. Bruce Levine about a recent blog post of his entitled, “Why anti-authoritarians are diagnosed as mentally ill.”

Two of the UN’s Millennium Development goals for 2015 are to improve maternal and child health. We often associate these goals with developing countries, but do we ever think about the barriers facing mothers and children right here in Hamilton? The Code Red “BORN” series analyzed different neighborhoods in the Hamilton area in terms of infant health outcomes. It found that areas with low income and poor education suffered effects including increased rates of teen pregnancy and low birth-weight babies. Poverty in Hamilton exerts devastating effects not only on mothers, but also on their children. But don’t fret, it’s not all bad news. There are wonderful programs available to mothers and pregnant women in the community. In this episode of the Health Justice Radio Collective, we spoke with Kit Young-Hoon about the Hamilton Prenatal Nutrition Project, a weekly group that provides support, education, advice, and a healthy meal to pregnant women and new mothers.

In an age of austerity, a time when public discourse related to healthcare revolves around which services to cut, its difficult to imagine that at one time in Canadian history, medicare was seen as just one part of a just society. The other part, was social assistance reform but it wasn't immediately clear what reform would look like. Between 1974 and 1979 in the small town of Dauphin, Manitoba, the government of Canada conducted one of the country's most interesting social experiments: MINCOME. MINCOME was a guaranteed annual income field experiment targeted at the working poor. During the experiment, town residents received a minimum annual income regardless of whether or not they worked. That is, the working poor would receive their salary in addition to an income from the government. At the time, it was thought that such a system would eliminate the so-called welfare-trap which some argue dis-incentivizes the transition from social assistance to low-paying wage labour. The experiment was cut short however, owing to a change in government and rising program costs associated with stagflation of the late 1970s. The data from the experiment was never analyzed. Now, 30 years later, health policy analyst and Professor, Evelyn Forget looks back at the data in her paper "The Town with No Poverty" to find out what effect a minimum annual income had on the health of individuals in the community of Dauphin, Manitoba. We speak with her today.

This week we spoke with Mary Ellyn Parker about living with a rare medical condition called Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia. She worked as a nurse in the Niagara Region for over 30 years and in 2001 she was diagnosed with HHT. She spoke about the challenges of finding a diagnosis for her symptoms and the experiences of switching from being someone who is used to giving care to now having to depend on others. A critical message that Mary Ellyn spoke about is the importance of physicians listening to patients and really hearing what they have to say. To understand more about Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia go to Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Foundation International. If you would like to contact Mary Ellyn you can reach her at mellyn1@hotmail.com.

Are all members of our society regarded equally? As much as we’d probably like to say yes, we know that various types of discrimination do still exist. We usually associate discrimination with certain ethnic groups. But what about age groups, including the elderly and adolescents? Teenagers are often assumed to be naïve, self-centered, and prone to take risks. The media portrays them as a group involved with crime, drugs and alcohol. But are these fair representations? Or are they simply assumptions that are helping to perpetuate the misunderstandings we have about adolescents? In this episode of the Health Justice Radio Collective, Alison spoke with Dr. Jean Clinton, a child psychiatrist with Hamilton Health Sciences and a long-term advocate for children’s health. She speaks about the dynamically developing adolescent brain, and why teenagers in particular need to be supported by our society as opposed to shunned.

Healthcare promotion has been described by the American Journal of Health promotion as “the science and art of helping people change their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health”. As many of you know, there are immense disparities in the provision and access to healthcare services globally. These can be attributed to differing community and individual risk factors when it comes to the prevalence of diseases and illnesses, and gaps in knowledge between healthcare providers and members of the community. This new and burgeoning field attempts to bridge these disparities and accommodate the various tensions that resource scarcity imposes on us when tackling healthcare issues and provide people with the tools to help themselves improve their quality of life.   This week on Health Justice Radio we have a very special guest here to talk to us about her own personal journey in the field of healthcare promotion. A recent graduate of McMaster University, Pari Chowdhary has held a variety of positions in the non-profit sector ranging from a stint with Free the Children as a Program Coordinator for a Youth Media program to her current role as a health promotion coordinator with Halton Healthcare services in Oakville, Ontario. Her multiple positions in diverse disciplines has allowed her to witness firsthand the aforementioned disparities in socioeconomic indicators across communities. She recognizes the critical importance of health promotion as a facet of healthcare delivery and could help shed some light into the challenges that await training clinicians and educators as they step into the workforce. If you would like more information about Health promotion research you can visit the American Journal of Health promotion’s website at www.healthpromotionjournal.com. If you wish to learn more about our collective, you can visit our website at www.healthjusticeradio.com. Thank you for listening to Health Justice Radio.

More than 90,000 people are currently living with HIV in the UK and globally an estimated 33.3 million people have HIV. More than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007 have died from the virus, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history. On December 1st, we celebrated World AIDS day, a day where people worldwide had the opportunity to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. This week on Health Justice Radio we talk about current developments in AIDS treatments and researcher with Dr. Mark Wainberg. Dr. Wainberg is a prominent Canadian AIDS researcher and activist. He was former President of the International AIDS Society and was instrumental in founding the Canadian Association for HIV research. Dr. Wainberg and his collaborators were the first to identify the antiviral capabilities of 3TC or Lamivudine, a first-line drug in HIV therapy in 1989. He is currently the Director of the McGill University AIDS Centre at the Montreal Jewish General Hospital where he is also a Professor of Medicine and Microbiology. If you would like more information about HIV and AIDS please visit the website www.AIDS.gov which contains a lot of useful links and information on the impact of this disease. If you wish to learn more about our collective, you can visit our website at www.healthjusticeradio.com. Thank you for listening to Health Justice Radio.

Issues in child abuse consistently become local, national, and even international news stories. Instances of physical or sexual abuse create a journalistic “shock factor” that attracts attention from the public, and therefore, readership. But in doing this, are we ignoring those types of abuse that are actually the most harmful to children? Emotional abuse and neglect are prevalent in our society and have serious consequences on the healthy development of our kids. On this episode of HJRC, we spoke with Dr. Anne Niec, a pediatrician and child/adolescent psychiatrist at McMaster University. She is the Director of the Child Advocacy and Assessment Program in Hamilton. She helps give us a better understanding of the different forms of child abuse, how we can recognize them, and what we can do to prevent incidences of abuse from occurring.