Scarborough-Rouge merger comes with costly conditions
The merger of The Scarborough Hospital (TSH) with the Rouge Valley Health System (RVHS) will not come cheap. Last night the hospital boards approved the idea of merger but only…
opseudiablogue
Jumping into the fire
The last few days appear to suggest the brave new world of health reform is not unfolding as it theoretically should. The news is all around us: another violent death…
Scarborough-Durham: A journey to protect health care
Tomorrow the Ontario Health Coalition is inviting Scarborough and Ajax residents to go on a journey to protect their health care. Much attention has been paid to the proposed merger…
Afraid of losing control — a found message from HealthAchieve
At this year’s Ontario Hospital Association HealthAchieve the organizers hired a graphic artist to illustrate many of the sessions. After each session, participants were invited to look at the graphic…
Health Links attract huge audience at HealthAchieve
There was a kind of sliding sound and then a rattle as a woman fell to the floor during Tuesday afternoon’s session of the Ontario Hospital Association’s HealthAchieve. When someone…
Few anti-stigma campaigns based on evidence — Stuart
“Mental health is set aside as that other kind of health care we don’t want to talk about.” – Asante Haughton, one of three youth featured in the Ontario Shores…
Robots replacing workers in health care
His or her name is Casper. Casper is really an “it.” Casper is also the future we need to start talking about – one where humans get replaced by machines.…
Frontenanc Community Mental Health a case study in empty promises
You would think these would be the best of times for community health care providers. The Wynne government is freezing base hospital funding and telling Ontarians that they can instead…
Social Determinants: Low income second leading cause of death in Canada
Dr. James Dunn makes it clear that wealth not only is a key determinant of a person’s health, but it is stratified so that each economic level outperforms the one…
Social Determinants: Have we designed physical activity out of our cities?
OPSEU’s head office is located about a brisk 15 minute walk from the Leslie subway station in Toronto. The building is located in a business park in which thousands of…
How much longer can Ontario dance around nursing home staffing needs?
Ontario has been remarkably resistant to the idea of staffing standards in long-term care. Staffing is a major determinant of quality in long-term care – something even the most casual…
Poking the beast – “P” word missing from reform talk
The problem with discussing health care sustainability is there is no definition of what that means. Data would suggest that our health care spending is not out of control –…
CLC TV ads promote unions, fairness
When we talk openly about our unions, others listen. Let’s face it, for all the warts, unions have done an incredible job in securing and maintaining many of the things…
Social Determinants: Poll indicates widespread support for indexing minimum wage
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce likely surprised everyone when they suggested in September the best way to adjust the minimum wage is to automatically link it to the cost of…
Gone — Saying farewell to Perram House (video)
October 5th two artists known as the Department of Public Memory held a memorial service with a twist. Perram House used to be an 8-bed hospice where many of Toronto’s…
Impact of trade agreement may spark renewed interest in universal public drug plan
Last week Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente said the Harper government’s “consumer friendly” agenda was at odds with the pharma provisions in the new European trade agreement. As critics…
Private Donations: Such an odd thing to say
It was such an odd thing to say. October 5th the two artists known as the Department of Public Memory held a memorial to Perram House, an eight-bed hospice that…
Privatization: The “big bad mistake” Ontario is intent on repeating
“The stealth privatization of Ontario’s gas plants over the past decade set the stage for the inevitable payouts that we now face for decades to come.” – Martin Regg Cohn,…
Debunking the fat cat myth: fed real wages stagnant over the last decade
Oh those fat cat public sector workers. Last week we wrote about the ongoing campaign by right-wing organizations to portray the public sector as lazy, overpaid, and pampered. The problem…