Alzheimer walk raises more than $60K
Sunday's 40th annual Walk for Alzheimer's in Springwater Twp., raised more than $60K for Alzheimer Society Simcoe County.
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CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Firefighters climb stairs at Brookfield Place to raise awareness and funds to fight cancer
One year ago Sunday, Tony Cianfarani, a member of the Stettler Fire Department, was in a bad place – in hospital, with Stage 3 colon cancer. 'I had very bad infection from the chemotherapy, and I was very close to actually dying,' Cianfarani said. 'I had a fever of 105. I spent three nights in the hospital, and I was on IV antibiotics.' Sunday, Cianfarani was one of 500 or so firefighters who climbed close to 1400 steps at Brookfield Place to raise funds to support Wellspring Alberta, an organization that helped him during his cancer treatment. 'I leaned on my firefighter family a lot when I was going through all this, and they were super supportive,' he said. 'I also leaned on Wellspring, and these programs are there for people like us, and definitely use them. 'Don't be scared to use them for sure.' Calgary fire chief Steve Dongworth was among the firefighters climbing stairs Sunday and said that cancer is a reality for firefighters. Steve Dongworth, June 8, 2025 Calgary fire chief Steve Dongworth participated in the Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge Sunday (Tyler Barrow, CTV Calgary) 'We have, you know, an ongoing toll of firefighters who pass away during due to occupational cancers.,' Dongworth said. 'We've had over 50 now in Calgary. It's unfortunately a number that keeps climbing. So there's a real recognition (that) the hazards of firefighting cause cause cancer, for sure.' Hundreds of firefighters from across Alberta, Canada and around the world joined the event Sunday to raise awareness and funds for Wellspring Alberta. And one of them was Cianfarani, one year to the day after nearly dying. 'it's just crazy that only a year later, I'm about to climb a skyscraper, and I'm in the best shape that I've been in in years since my 20s. 'So, yeah, it's just It's unbelievable that I'm actually here,' he added. 'And I don't think that the gravity of the of the events hit me yet, but I think when I get to the top of the stairs, it will. Dongworth took the challenge too –and finished the 57-floors of steps. 'It wasn't as much fun in the stairwell, but it's okay,' he said. 'It's a very great cause. It's great exercise. 'It's a great day.' All the support programs offered through Wellspring Alberta are free. For more about the Firefighter Stairclimb Challenge, go here. With files from CTV's Tyler Barrow
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
People call this hotline when they use drugs alone
An anonymous hotline has fielded over 20,000 calls from people across Canada who want support when using drugs alone, and as CBC's Jennifer La Grassa uncovers, the callers who rely on the National Overdose Response Service (NORS) are not who you might think they are.
Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Problematic smartphone use resembles a behavioural addiction, researchers say
Anita Hagh couldn't stop pressing the corner of her phone screen where the Facebook app used to be. It was about five years ago, and she had deleted the social media platform from her cellphone. It was like muscle memory, she says, having clicked on the app countless times so she could scroll for hours through random online groups. She realized she had been losing out on sleep while scrolling and made the difficult decision to delete the app. 'After deleting it, I was very much thinking it was still there, kind of like a phantom limb situation,' said the 28-year-old post-doctoral researcher at McGill University's department of integrated studies in education. Hagh, who is researching the addictive nature of social media, said she believes she was likely experiencing what's called 'problematic smartphone use' or phone addiction. Jay Olson, a post-doctoral researcher in the University of Toronto's psychology department, led a 2023 global study that surveyed more than 50,000 people about their smartphone habits. He said it's an emerging problem. 'Normal smartphone use would become problematic when it starts negatively affecting your daily life and in different ways,' said Olson. 'It might make you feel depressed. It might be interfering with your sleep or your concentration.' Some young adults are showing symptoms of problematic smartphone use, Olson said, as they've never seen a world without phones or have spent most of their lives with the devices. 'Smartphones started to become more popular around 2009,' he said. 'A bunch of kids across the world got these phones. And so now we're starting to see what some of these effects might be.' It's harder for older generations to understand the magnitude of the problem and how using phones can become an ingrained habit, Olson added. '(They) haven't grown up using smartphones and social media for the majority of their free time throughout the day,' he said. Venture Academy, a private school for troubled teens with locations in Barrie, Ont., and Red Deer, Alta., offers treatment for problems including 'electronic addiction.' Gary Su, a clinical therapist with the school, said in an interview from Calgary that smartphone use has made the lives of many of his young clients more complex. 'We are seeing a very unique phenomenon,' he said. 'Things seem to be a lot more volatile or more extreme. Kids are exposed to things just way too early for their age. And it's harder to trace, because everything online is anonymous.' He said some students are using their phones so much they have difficulty socializing. Some don't leave their bedrooms for hours, because they're busy texting after school, he said. Su said phones stop others from spending time with their families, and online bullying has become rampant. Some are also sharing intimate photos and details at an earlier age, which continues to haunt them years later due to the permanent nature of the online world, he said. 'I see a lot of family just come in because of phone addiction or problematic phone use,' Su said. 'I feel for the parents. Most of us are not tech geniuses.' Problematic smartphone use hasn't been officially classified as an addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the reference book used by mental health professionals around the world. 'There isn't consensus among researchers right now,' said Olson, adding it's because the problem is so new. However, he said there is some agreement that problematic smartphone use shares similarities with different behavioural addictions. 'So often people report this compulsion, like when they wake up, they have to check their phone right away,' Olson said. 'They can't stop themselves.' Su said some of his patients could be classified as phone addicts. 'Addiction is when you are doing something that you know has negative consequences and you can't stop yourself from using it,' he said. 'I see a lot of youth I work with fit in that category. I tend to not label it, because labelling is not doing any good.' Olson said there needs to be more discussion about smartphone habits. Cellphone bans in schools across Canada are a good start, Olson added, but more needs to be done by governments, such as putting age limits on social media platforms. 'I certainly think that it's an important contributor to this decline in mental health that we're seeing,' he said. Hagh said she's keeping track of her phone habits, as she's still on social media for her research. 'It is very addicting. These platforms have been optimized to capture as much attention ... and arguably create an addiction. 'It's kind of like having to watch a train crash or a car crash,' she added. 'You just can't look away.'
