CFN

She is the first dental assistant to have mercury poisoning recognized as an occupational illness.  She is also the first dental assistant to receive compensation for mercury poisoning in Norway, as a result of a lawsuit that began 20 years ago.

The precedent setting case has raised alarm bells and dental assistants in Sweden and Denmark are now speaking out, disclosing their mercury caused illnesses and demanding compensation.

Meanwhile, here in Canada and the United States our medical and dental professionals are in denial. Health Canadarefuses to make a ruling to declare that mercury in dental fillings are extremely toxic and unsafe.  Can you believe that once the amalgam is removed from old fillings, there are strict protocols for its removal in hazardous waste containers, but millions of people are walking around with a mouth full of the stuff? Amalgam fillings contain at least 50% mercury!

Research shows that the mercury does indeed mix with saliva all of the time in your mouth. Mercury can cross the blood-brain barrier, which means that the unborn are at risk while in the womb if the mother has mercury in her system.

Some dentists and other professionals in the U.S. have spoken out against the dangers. Dr. Boyd Haley, Dr. Andrew Cutler and Dr. Mark Breiner have identified about 40 symptoms of mercury poisoning, including conditions like extreme fatigue and a weakened immunity.

On a personal note, I have had 12 ‘silver’ amalgam fillings removed by a holistic, mercury free dentist in Ottawa and I’m feeling a whole lot better.(realitycheck.typepad.com)

Next time you or your children go to your dentist for a filling, consider asking for a white composite filling and avoid the extreme hazards of amalgam fillings. Don’t wait for your doctor or your dentist to inform you that amalgam fillings are dangerous. It’s not going to happen.

The more people who become aware of this information, the harder it will be for Health Canada to keep the lid on the truth.

(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)

Sales of contraband cigarettes in Canada constitute a sizable component of the tobacco market, note the authors. This illegal trade is associated with a loss in tax revenue and an array of illicit activities that involve gangs and organized crime. Concerned Canadians have called for action: some have urged governments to lower tobacco taxes in the belief that lower relative prices for the legal product would induce smokers to switch away from illegal to legal cigarettes, perhaps increasing tax revenues.

To assess the impact of different policy approaches to the problem, the authors model consumer choices under four policy scenarios: (i) decreasing taxes on the legal product; (ii) boosting the price of the illegal product through an intensified crackdown; (iii) a combination of (i) and (ii); and (iv) decreasing the price of discount cigarettes closer to that of the contraband product.

The authors’ modeling adds welcome rigor to research into the impact of taxes on the tobacco market. Among their main findings:

• Tax reductions on legal cigarettes would have only a modest impact on the share of the illegal product, cause a decline in tax revenues and result in a small increase in total consumption;
• For tax policy to drive out the illegal market, tax reductions would have to be substantial. But such tax reductions would reduce tax revenues dramatically and increase overall consumption;
•  However, if the price of the illegal product could be raised with extra legal or enforcement pressures on suppliers, then the market share of the illegal product would decline.

The authors  emphasize that tobacco tax policy should be based not only on its impact on the quantity of cigarettes purchased, but also on the social, legal and enforcement costs associated with the illegal supply.

For the study go to: http://www.cdhowe.org/a-taxing-dilemma-assessing-the-impact-of-tax-and-price-changes-on-the-tobacco-market/17623

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The boxes are being placed at the hospitals and the police stations.

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I wonder what this program costs?

Mary Anne Pankhurst – South Glengarry Ontario

(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of this site, their staff, or sponsors.)

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Pharmacies have always provided this service free-of-charge and this Medical Arts Pharmacy radio commercial is presently running in Cornwall.

 MedicalArts_Spring

CFN

“The fact that my parents and maternal uncle (Maxville-born Conservative MPP, Osie Villeneuve) played such integral roles in establishing the Manor, given Maxville is where I was born, and given Medical Arts’ 44-year relationship with the Manor, I believed a documentary would be the best way to tell and preserve the story for future generations,”  Harry Haramis said.  

Approximately seven minutes long, the documentary was edited down from more than two hours of interviews with Nick and Marion Haramis (recently named Cornwall’s citizens of the year), Dr. T.A. Jaggassar (who has been the residence’s physician since the Manor opened in 1968), as well as Medical Arts pharmacists/owners, Harry Haramis, Josee Lemay and Suzie Pilon.

Written and narrated by communications consultant and journalist, MaryAnne Pankhurst (South Glengarry), and filmed and produced by Kevin Lamoureux of KAV Productions (Cornwall)

CFN

Pelzer is perhaps best known for ‘A Child Called “It”: One Child’s Courage to Survive’, the best-selling auto-biographical book which chronicles how he was beaten and starved at the hands of his unstable alcoholic mother. Until school authorities rescued him at the age of 12, he was treated as a slave, rather than a family member and a thing rather than a person.

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Pelzer says:

“I know what it’s like to be less than zero.”  Upon visiting his birth mother several years later, she admitted that she would have killed him in 1973 except for one fact – she didn’t know what to do with “its” body.

As a result of this treatment, one might expect Pelzer to be bitter and somewhat dysfunctional, yet that’s not the case. He’s had a successful career and raised a family. The depth of his Catholic spirituality shines forth in his words: “God is great. If you’re righteous you’ll prevail; sometimes it takes time.” And later: “Allow greatness to happen. Allow Him to come into your heart .”

His recovery is in no small measure as a consequence of the help he received from a social worker and foster mother who challenged him to become the best version of himself. The foster mom was quoted as saying: “I love you, David, but I can only help you so far. You have to learn to help yourself.” The woman had him stand in front of a mirror for 30 minutes daily to practice speaking; he’d been locked in a basement until age 12 and hadn’t learned the skill until that point.

To people still dealing with attempts to cope his advice is:

“Do what you have to do for now. … Be a survivor, not a victim. … just don’t swallow hatred.”

It’s clear that resilience is his focus, not abuse.

To others who’ve suffered emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse, concerning recovery he offers: “I love you; God loves you, but how bad do you want it? … You need to purge. … I don’t care about what you want; I care about what you need … I don’t care how you got here. Let’s move forward. Let’s be our best.” Paraphrasing Bill Cosby, he cautions that the antithesis is to be a hurting person who hurts other people and that:  “Cancer never sleeps.”

To those of us in the community who care about and support children, Pelzer exhorts: “If you’re righteous, it may take a generation or two, but you will prevail.”

For information about how you can be involved in the May 21^st Bike-a-thon Plus please follow this LINK

CFN

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Pictured above are left to right Ava Aitkens – artist, Amber Jette – artist, Sharyn Duffey – Fundraising Coordinator the Canadian Cancer Society, and Leita Lazare – artist. These paintings are now decorating the Canadian Cancer Society’s office.

CFN

The topic?  Elder Abuse and the challenges nurses have to deal with especially when their oaths and duties to their patients can potentially come into conflict with that of their employers.

Always an interesting comment from Ms Brunning.

Video Interview from April 11, 2012

Ms Brunning had an article appear in the RNAO which we reprinted here on The Cornwall Free News  LINK  where she talked about the Diane Shay case which exposed Cornwall CAO Paul Fitzpatrick’s lying to the media and how difficult whistle blowing can lead to; especially when it’s the person in charge of whistle blowing that’s being punitive.

From her story which was a case of alleged Elder Abuse at the Senior’s home run by the City of Cornwall:

… Shay asked Ontario’s Ministry of Health to appoint an external monitor to provide ongoing whistleblower protection because the City’s chief administrative officer, one of the retaliating managers, misled the public and the media when he was quoted  in print as stating that resident abuse had not been found.  In addition to Lodge management again not recognizing the resident abuse, that statement  also inferred that Shay stirred up a fuss about nothing.

 How big an issue is Elder Abuse becoming and do you think Mr. Fitzpatrick should be held accountable for his role in the Diane Shay and other cases he’s impacted and alleged by city Councilor Andre Rivette to have cost the community $1.4 Million dollars?

You can post your comments below.

Nurse Protester Christopher Cameron

CFN – As we draw near the two month mark of the Bilingual Nurse Protest of the Cornwall Ontario Community Hospital’s implementation of the French Language Services Act patterns seem to be evolving.

One that a core of nurses have issues over not either being able to be hired as a Unilingual English nurse, and if so not only attaining full time employment status, but being able to gain promotions.   Anecdotal evidence has been presented of individual nurses having worked part time for as long as twenty years without gaining full time status.

What started out with one nurse speaking out led to Dr. Dany Tombler of the Hospital writing a letter to the editor that led to further controversy.    From one nurse the protest peaked at hundreds coming out for a rally.

South Stormont Deputy Mayor reads Dr. Tombler’s Letter at SD&G Counties session.

Politically the City of Cornwall has buried its head saying it’s not the city’s issue to get involved in although Councilor Clement (rumbled to either be the next mayor of Cornwall or getting a judgeship depending on whom you speak with) being the only councilor to attend some of the meetings.

Likewise our MP Guy Lauzon, and MPP, Jim (my handshake is worthless) McDonell are hiding or fuddling on the issue.

South Stormont Council voted to withhold monies to the hospital until some discussion and movement could take place.   They not only have been vilified for taking this action, but their requests for the United Counties of SD&G and City of Cornwall to follow suit were met with timid rejection.    While in private supporting South Stormont, fear of a backlash from Francophone voters in the area have turned them from leaders into the led.

Clarity is something that’s been missing from this debate which has turned into a huge Language battle instead of an issue that should be discussed.

The hospital has failed hugely from its refusal to grant interviews to answering questions so slickly that some people forget what the topic of the question was.

Reporter

Madame Periard what is 2+2?

Helene

Blue, and we at CCH are very proud of the quality of our blue and I personally resent your insinuations that we don’t do our best to make sure our Blue serves the public to the best of our abilities as mandated by the Province of Ontario.

Reporter

Say what?

I know.  That’s a bit satirical, but here are some video clips from the meetings in South Stormont and at the Counties and you see if you can make sense out of what Ms Periard is spouting?

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Mayor McGillis and Nurse Chris Cameron

There are now over 2,000 signatures on petitions regarding this issue and at the two month mark the only real movement by Ms Periard and the Hospital seems to be inspired by Tim Hortons changing the names of the sizes of their cups in that they have said that they will be changing the classifications of  French skills.

Meanwhile the protesters stand their vigil and keep adding signatures hoping that the Province will step in as they did in Ottawa.    The oddest thing about this process has been the silence of the nurses unions and nurses themselves.

The excuse that nurses fear for their jobs is simply running thin and many feel that for this protest to have any impact more will have to step forward.

At the session this week a busload of people from Alexandria decided to show their support.  Mostly seniors.  One woman saw me with my camera and emotionally shared in French that the hospital should not stop serving the public in French.   I did my best with my French to speak with her.  She either couldn’t or wouldn’t speak any English back; her husband came over and it boggled my mind that someone would travel from Alexandria to Cornwall on a school bus to protest over an issue that was never on the table.

Is changing French being an asset instead of a requirement something that unions would really go to arbitration over?   Everyone agrees; at least from the protesters I’ve heard from and talked with that patients should be served in French if they request that, but based on actual requests for such service is it really necessary to suggest as the hospital has that 100% of front line staff should be Highly proficient in the French language?   Does it make sense that it’s only ok to hire or promote unilingual English speakers if a French speaker can’t be found for a position?

Of course it’s not easy to run a hospital.  There are huge challenges with budget cuts, funding needs, unions, crazy demands from MP’s for special service occasionally,and such, but when you’re facing a 2,000 plus signature petition shouldn’t hospital leadership doing more than simply reading off of cue cards after two months?

This not need a language war.  Outside groups and agencies need not make hay in the media over something that should never have grown to what it is today.   Good management gets ahead of an issue and smart management realizes that reasonably happy employees that have some sort of sense of fairness perform better than others.

And that the public; which really wants to support the hospital are being cheated by such arrogant verbiage and over management from the likes of Helen Periard.

I’ll end this piece with some wise words from Dr. Lorne Sharf.    It’s funny, but in Dr. Tombler’s initial letter to the editor he mentions essentially how the board rejected the position of the Doctors on this issue.    Maybe it’s time to listen to our Doctors and Nurses more and less from well coiffed over payed Bureaucrats especially as we the taxpayers have to pay the freight?

As Dr. Sharf pleaded.    ”Please let us do our job.”

You can post your comments below.

CFN

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Pictured above are from left to right, Sharyn Duffey, Fundraising Coordinator, Linda Halliday, Public Affairs Officer Ontario power Generation and Carolyn Bourassa, manager Canadian Cancer Society.

Also the Maxville Curling Bonspiel raised $2,341 for The Canadian Cancer Society who they wish to thank.  The event which was held on March 9^th raised $2341.00.

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Pictured above are Sharyn Duffey, Canadian Cancer Society Fundraising Coordinator and Catherine Kippen, Event Organizer Maxville Curling Bonspeil.