Catégorie : Autres – Others

It’s why I moved to a rural practice in Eastern Ontario in the first place. Working as a family physician in a bigger city like Ottawa, I found I was spending my time playing traffic cop — referring patients to one specialist or another — and I wanted to use the skills and training I had worked hard to develop while collaborating with patients and other providers, including medical specialists, physical therapists, mental health workers and pharmacists.

Even though more than six million Canadians live in rural communities, there aren’t enough health care professionals who want to live in the country. Specialists are frequently clustered in city centres and team care is often unevenly distributed. There just isn’t the same level of access to medical care and services outside of urban centres. This has become even more apparent as the COVID-19 pandemic has spread, and the resulting need for physical distancing has made in-person visits with health care professionals more challenging.

One way we are closing the gap is through innovative digital technologies. Where once there was no other option than to drive 100+ kilometres to see the doctor, now some chronic conditions can be monitored through Bluetooth devices and consultations can happen through a secure telehealth platform. This has also opened the door to virtual visits with specialists to determine if in-person care is needed, saving patients time, travel and the associated costs. 

At our practice, we use a secure online platform to share test results with patients. In addition to the convenience this can offer, patients also tend to feel more empowered and engaged with their health care planning.

Additionally, our clinic has begun using e-prescribing. With PrescribeIT, a secure, online prescription service from Canada Health Infoway, prescriptions are transmitted digitally from the clinic to the pharmacy. 

PrescribeIT reduces the need for in-person physician or nurse practitioner visits and enables vulnerable populations to limit their time outside, thereby reducing their risk of infection at a time when we’re all being encouraged to stay home. Following the virtual consultations with my patients, I send prescriptions electronically to the patient’s pharmacy of choice and, often the prescription is ready to be picked up when they arrive at the pharmacy. Pharmacies can also request prescription renewals electronically, so there is no need for another visit with a physician and there is no delay as there is with faxes.

Even as urban centres continuously grow and densify, there is no indication that rural communities are getting any smaller. What digital health can do is bring us closer together, reduce our distances through virtual options, and improve the way we work together. This team approach in patient safety and care is especially critical during times of crisis like we’re currently facing with COVID-19.

These modernized approaches help bring our community of health care professionals together, communicating and collaborating with our different experiences and perspectives, but always with the goal of providing the best care for patients.

The April 16 event took place in the evening with federal MP Francis Drouin acting as the host, MPP Amanda Simard as a guest co-host, and Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, chief medical health officer for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) as guest of honour and the main speaker in the end as he answered numerous questions from local residents asking about COVID-19 and what they should do or needed to do to get through the pandemic situation.

“The goal was to give information out,” said Drouin during a later interview, “and to receive information from constituents.”

Drouin noted that the pandemic prevents his usual practice of holding public information meetings for GPR residents on specific issues. He and Simard combined their mutual constituent databases to organize the virtual town hall event. A company was contracted to do an automated telephone call-out to GPR residents before the virtual town hall.

The result was that more than 5000 constituents called in during the Thursday evening event, with more than 1200 staying connected for the entire hour-long town hall session.

Drouin noted that there were some “technical difficulties” with some callers getting disconnected during the virtual town hall. Also, he observed, some GPR residents hung up when the automated call-out contact system phoned them. Drouin said the call may have been mistaken for a “robo-call” or automated telemarketer.

“No, not really,” said Mayor Guy Desjardins during a phone interview today (April 22).

Emma Michelle, une mère de famille d’Embrun n’en croit pas ses yeux. Depuis une semaine, elle a assisté à la naissance d’une initiative qui fait beaucoup de bien aux citoyens d’Embrun.

Nous vivons des incertitudes, des angoisses, des deuils. Nous nous remettons également en question et nous interrogeons sur «l’après-Covid».

Cette crise sanitaire est une tragédie humanitaire, mais n’oublions pas son origine: la transmission d’un animal sauvage à un être humain.

Notre système économique est basé sur la surexploitation des ressources humaines et naturelles, jusqu’à qu’il ne reste plus rien. Nous bouleversons l’équilibre de la nature en lui soutirant ses trésors plus rapidement qu’ils ne se régénèrent. Pourtant, nous avons besoin de la nature pour nous nourrir, nous abriter, nous transporter, nous soigner.

Pendant que nous sommes confinés, la nature revit, reprend la place que nous lui avons volée. La pollution a fléchi avec le ralentissement des usines, la diminution du transport terrestre et du trafic aérien. Les eaux de Venise sont plus claires. Pour la première fois depuis 30 ans, les Indiens ont pu voir l’Himalaya. Les Chinois ont pu apercevoir le ciel bleu et le soleil lumineux. La pandémie nous convoque à une rencontre avec nous-mêmes et à une révision de notre mode de vie.

Si cette crise est si difficile à vivre, c’est parce que nous ne l’avons pas préparée. Nous n’avons pas écouté les avertissements des scientifiques.

Pour une rare fois, nous mettons notre confiance entre les mains de la science, nous suivons les directives de nos gouvernements et nous acceptons les mesures ambitieuses, drastiques, difficiles, parce  que nous avons confiance que ces décisions sont prises pour notre sécurité.

Or, une autre crise se déroule, sous nos yeux: la crise climatique, accompagnée du déclin de la biodiversité. Celles-là, nous en sommes avertis. Les conséquences sont même déjà visibles et ressenties. Aujourd’hui, prenons soin de nos ainés. Demain, au sortir de la crise, pensons au futur de nos enfants.

Nous avons une occasion unique – qui n’arrive qu’une fois par siècle – de relancer notre société et notre économie sur des bases sociales, éthiques, environnementales, solidaires. Saisissons-là!

Le 22 avril était le Jour de la Terre. Faisons preuve d’ambition et de résilience : faisons en sorte que chaque jour soit le jour de la Terre.

*Emmanuelle Larocque est une résidente de Limoges, Doctorante en Service social à l’Université d’Ottawa et « mère au front pour Estéban et Dalianne »

All eight mayors took a moment during the April 22 session of the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR) to reflect on the incident and express their condolences for their counterparts in five communities in the province. Residents in Portapique,  Wentworth, Debert, Shubenacadie, and Enfield are still suffering the psychological aftershock of a series of killings and arson incidents that began Saturday April 18 in Portapique and ended Sunday April 19 100 kilometres away in Enfield when Gabriel Wortman, 51, the man responsible for the murders died during a shootout with RCMP.

The United Counties of Prescott-Russell council (UCPR) gave unanimous support during its video-teleconference session today (April 22) to a proposal from Economic Development and Tourism Director Carole Lavigne for a $36 million project to create a regional food hub and processing plant for local produce and livestock.

« On reçoit en volume 25% de plus de matières recyclables!, a expliqué Grégory Pratte, responsable des affaires sociales chez Tricentris, lors d’une entrevue téléphonique lundi. Qu’est-ce qui cause une telle hausse? «Les gens cuisinent plus à la maison, a-t-il fait valoir. On voit plus de sacs de farine et de levure, de contenants d’œufs, de lait, etc.» C’est sans compter les boites et enveloppes de livraison d’entreprises en ligne comme Amazon.

« Quand ils ont fermé les restaurants, il y a eu chez les producteurs de lait un surplus de 25 millions de litres de lait sur le marché que les hôtels, les écoles, restaurants, etc. ne prenaient plus », explique Nathalie Malo, en pleine transformation de lait en fromage.