2 Manitoba regional health authority leaders sacked as province releases financial audits
The audits, done by consulting firm Deloitte for fiscal years from 2019-20 to 2023-24, discovered a "disconnect" between the province's order to improve health-care culture and decisions made by system leaders, Uzoma Asagwara said in a news release Wednesday.
All of Manitoba's regional health authorities were examined, except for Southern Health-Santé Sud, after the province commissioned the audits in March 2024, the release said. All but one of the health authorities reported year-after-year deficits in the audits.
The accumulated deficits are the result of a culture in Manitoba's health-care system that fails to distribute funds to the front lines, deprioritizes patients and ignores front-line health-care workers, Asagwara said.
Temporary leaders for two of the health authorities that underwent the audits were also announced on Wednesday.
Chris Christadoulou has been named interim CEO of Shared Health, the organization said in a news release. He's replacing Lanette Siragusa, who served as head of the health authority since April 2023 after becoming a familiar face in Manitoba during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jane Curtis, who previously led Southern Health-Santé Sud, has been named interim CEO of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, a news release said. She's replacing Mike Nader, who had been in the role since April 2021.
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Toronto Sun
8 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
LILLEY: CSA pushes for mandatory masking in all health settings
Get the latest from Brian Lilley straight to your inbox A member of the medical staff listens as Montefiore Medical Center nurses call for N95 masks and other critical PPE to handle the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on April 1, 2020 in New York. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images) Are you ready to wear a mask every time you visit your doctor or go to a hospital? That's a recommendation soon to come from the Canadian Standards Association backed by several activist groups. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The CSA is conducting public consultations on the issue until Aug. 19. The proposal would be that patients, staff and medical personnel would be required to wear an N95 respirator mask – not those little blue surgical masks – at all times. Part of the proposal would exempt some areas of a hospital; for example, if it was just in use by administrators and not open to patients. The activists backing this, though, believe that isn't good enough and want the exempt areas limited or done away with all together. The idea is likely to gain support from some groups but don't expect everyone in the medical community to be on board even though supporters claim this idea is backed by the best science. One specialist in the infectious disease area reached out to express their opposition, adding many doctors don't like this. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It has caused massive waves in the infection control community because even they think it's ridiculous,' the doctor said. Thankfully, for those who believe in sanity, pronouncements from the CSA aren't binding on hospitals or doctors' offices. The CSA is a private organization and while a recommendation from the organization can carry some weight, it's not backed up by law. 'There are no plans to adopt or implement such a requirement in Ontario,' said Jackson Jacobs, a spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones. Alberta's health ministry also has no plans to make masks mandatory. 'At this time, decisions regarding mask use will continue to be guided by site-level leadership, provincial health agencies, and operational teams based on local context and clinical judgment,' a spokesperson for the province's Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Masks have become very political since the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommended video We all know those people, on both sides of the divide, who can't let go of those dark days. For many it has resulted in not being able to function in public without wearing a mask. You can see these people walking along the street, through parks or driving their car all alone with a mask on. It's more of a security blanket and a political statement than a medical device. Still, supporters are dressing this idea up as settled science. An international coalition of highly political doctors calling themselves The World Health Network has been organizing a campaign to support making this measure mandatory. 'The World Health Network (WHN) supports the draft CSA Z94.4-25 standard, which establishes a science-based framework for the selection, use, and care of respirators across workplaces, including health care,' the WHN statement reads. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Let's be clear, the WHN believes that wearing N95 masks all day everyday should extend to other workplaces as well, but they are adamant in their support of a CSA guideline calling for mandatory use in health settings. 'It establishes that all health-care workers must wear respirators (minimum PL1) in health-care facilities and during delivery of care, except in designated low-risk zones determined by qualified airborne transmission risk assessment,' their statement reads. One of the backers of the WHN is a Calgary-area doctor named Joe Vipond. If that name rings a bell it's because during the pandemic, Vipond was a strong critic of the Kenney government, supported every stronger lockdowns and opposed any easing of restrictions. He was highly visible in the media without ever exposing his strong NDP ties, including nearly $20,000 in donations to the Alberta NDP. Now, he and his official sounding group want the CSA to recommend mandatory N95 masks in all health settings and then for governments to use their legal and regulatory authority to make that a reality. There are people who need to wear masks for health reasons; there is no medical basis for me to wear a mask for a doctor's appointment or in-patient service in a hospital. There is no need for nurses, doctors and support staff to be forced to wear these devices over a gruelling shift. Let's hope medical officials and provincial health authorities take a pass on this idea. Weird Opinion Columnists Columnists Toronto & GTA
National Observer
9 hours ago
- National Observer
Distant Covid cousin correlates with calamitous oyster die-offs
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Global News
18 hours ago
- Global News
Alberta government accused of being anti-science over COVID-19 vaccination plan
'Dangerously short sighted.' That's how the President of the Alberta Federation of Labour, Gil McGowan, describes the Alberta government's new COVID-19 vaccination strategy. Starting today, Albertans who want to get the COVID-19 shot this year, will need to pre-order the vaccine — and they'll need to pay for it out of their own pocket. The province announced the plan back in June, after the federal government put the provinces in charge of buying COVID-19 vaccines, as is routine with other immunization programs. Albertans who place an order through the Alberta vaccine booking system will be sent a reminder in early October to book an appointment to get the shot. View image in full screen Visitors to a Medicine Shoppe pharmacy in Edmonton are invited to scan a QR code for a link to a website where they can pre-order this year's Covid vaccine. Global News Another change this year is the vaccine will only be available through a public health clinic and not a pharmacy, as it has been in previous years. Story continues below advertisement Provincial health officials won't say how much the vaccine will cost, but when the change was announced the province said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimated the cost of the vaccine at $110 per dose. The province claims it will still pay for some Albertans to get immunized against COVID-19, including those who have compromised immune systems, people on social programs and seniors living in a congregate setting. 2:18 Majority of Albertans to pay for COVID-19 vaccine In a statement emailed to Global News, Alberta's Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services called the new policy 'a responsible, targeted approach to COVID-19 immunization.' Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Making COVID-19 vaccines accessible to those Albertans at highest risk of severe outcomes will reduce hospitalizations and deaths in those populations and help curb the spread of COVID-19,' the statement said. View image in full screen The president of the Alberta Federation of Labour describes the changes the province has made to this year's Covid vaccination program as 'dangerously short sighted.' Global News However, the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, Gil McGowan, describes the provincial government's new strategy as 'not a vaccine roll out. It's actually an anti-vax strategy, dressed up as a vaccine role-out strategy. A wolf in sheep's clothing.' Story continues below advertisement 'Covid is not a cold, it's not the flu,' McGowan said. 'It's a multi-system disease that can do real serious damage.' McGowan agrees with the government's decision to provide the vaccine to seniors and medically vulnerable people, but he said the government also needs to consider occupations when deciding who gets priority access to the vaccine. 'So healthcare, education, and basically any workplace where workers are doing a lot of frontline contact with large groups of people — from our perspective, representing workers, that is a gross omission because people working in workplaces like healthcare and education, they're at much higher risk of infection and reinfection' McGowan said. 'From our perspective, you know, it's clear to us that the provincial government is really not serious about encouraging vaccine uptake.' McGowan pointed to the ongoing measles outbreak in Alberta —which has surpassed the entire United States in the number of confirmed measles cases — as a cautionary tale of what could happen with COVID-19. View image in full screen So far, provincial health officials haven't said how much Albertan's will be charged for the vaccine, but pointed to an estimate from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that pegged the cost at $110 per dose. Global News NDP health critic Dr. Luanne Metz accused the UCP government of being anti-science, anti-vaccination and anti-public health. Story continues below advertisement 'It's totally political,' Metz said. 'Every other province in this country is making vaccines available to their residents. Many are making them available to anyone who lives there.' 'This government is limiting them. Eighty-seven per cent of doses lasts year were given in a pharmacy, which is very convenient for people,' Metz added. 'Now they're asking people to register, and on top of that most people are going to have to pay for the vaccine and it won't be covered by insurance.' 2:14 Critics push back against Alberta COVID-19 vaccine report When the government announced the new COVID-19 immunization strategy in June, Premier Danielle Smith said that $135 million worth of vaccines expired or were wasted last year because fewer Albertans chose to get a shot. The Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services says that 'only 13.7 per cent of Albertans received the COVID-19 vaccine last year.' McGowan responded, saying, 'To make individual Albertans, the vast majority of individual Albertans, pay for access to their vaccine, is going to depress vaccine uptake. From our perspective, that seems to be exactly what the government intends to do.'
