Beyond 20/20: Alberta optometrist urges regular eye exams for overall health
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'Vision is often overlooked,' said Dr. Cristy Franco, lead optometrist of the neuro-rehabilitative and pediatric Vision Therapy Clinic at Airdrie Family Eye Doctors.
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'We don't think about it.'
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Speaking at an event hosted by the Alberta Association of Optometrists at Major Tom on Tuesday, Franco emphasized that eye exams play a critical role in not only vision care, but overall health. Many serious eye conditions can develop with no symptoms until it's too late, she said.
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Routine eye exams are about much more than having perfect vision, Franco said.
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'You might be able to see 20/20, but something might be happening inside your eye that you don't know,' she explained. 'But if we can treat it and catch it early enough, then up to 80 per cent of those conditions are preventable and treatable.
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'One in seven Canadians will experience a serious eye health issue in their lifetime,' she said, yet many people delay or skip regular checkups.
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'A routine eye exam is about part of your regular eye health, but also a part of your regular overall health,' she added.
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Debunking common myths
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According to Franco, perfect vision does not mean perfect eye health.
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'There's a lot of things that are happening that have no signs or symptoms until it's far too late. And at that point, we have a much harder time treating it,' she said.
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She warned that some conditions develop quietly with no warning signs, and emphasized the importance of early detection made possible through routine exams to prevent and treat conditions.
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'Getting in early preventative care, that's the number one thing that we can do,' she said.
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Franco warned that many children might have vision issues that go undetected because they don't know anything else.
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'A child has never seen in another way, this is how their vision has always been,' she said. 'They don't know what to compare it to.'
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She noted that one in four school-aged children suffers from a vision issue, which can have broader impacts on a child's learning and development. Regular eye exams are key to catching these problems, she said.
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Vancouver Sun
2 days ago
- Vancouver Sun
Shooter who opened fire on CDC headquarters identified as 30-year-old Atlanta man
ATLANTA — Investigators identified a 30-year-old man from suburban Atlanta on Saturday as the person who opened fire on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, killing a police officer and spreading panic through the health agency and nearby Emory University. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the shooter Friday was Patrick Joseph White of Kennesaw, Georgia. Officer David Rose of the DeKalb County Police Department was shot and mortally wounded while responding. No one else was hit, although police said four people reported to emergency rooms with symptoms of anxiety. Many CDC employees sought cover in their offices as bullets strafed the agency's headquarters. Police say White opened fire at the campus from across the street, leaving gaping bullet holes in windows and littering the sidewalk outside a CVS pharmacy with bullet casings. The attack prompted a massive law enforcement response to one of the nation's most prominent public health institutions. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. At least four CDC buildings were hit, Director Susan Monarez said in a post on X, and dozens of impacts were visible from outside the campus. Images shared by employees showed bullet-pocked windows in multiple agency buildings where thousands of scientists and staff work on critical disease research. 'We are deeply saddened by the tragic shooting at CDC's Atlanta campus that took the life of officer David Rose,' Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said Saturday. 'We know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,' his statement said. Some laid-off employees rejected the expressions of solidarity Kennedy made in a 'Dear colleagues' email, and called for his resignation. 'Kennedy is directly responsible for the villainization of CDC's workforce through his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust,' Fired but Fighting said. Hundreds of CDC staffers sheltered in place during the shooting and many couldn't leave for hours afterward on Friday as investigators interviewed witnesses and gathered evidence. The staff was told to work from home or take leave on Monday. CDC workers already faced uncertain futures due to funding cuts, layoffs and political disputes over their agency's mission. 'Save the CDC' signs are common in some Atlanta-area neighborhoods, and a group of laid-off employees has been demanding action from elected officials to push back against the Trump administration's cuts. This shooting was the 'physical embodiment of the narrative that has taken over, attacking science, and attacking our federal workers,' said Sarah Boim, a former CDC communications staffer who was fired this year during wave of terminations. 'It's devastating,' said Boim. 'When I saw the picture of those windows having been struck by bullets I really lost it,' she said, her voice cracking. A neighbor of White told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that White spoke with her multiple times about his distrust of COVID-19 vaccines. Nancy Hoalst, who lives in same cul-de-sac as White's family, said he seemed like a good guy' while doing yard work and walking dogs for neighbors, but would bring up vaccines even in unrelated conversations. 'He was very unsettled and he very deeply believed that vaccines hurt him and were hurting other people.' Hoalst told the Atlanta newspaper. 'He emphatically believed that.' But Hoalst said she never believed White would be violent: 'I had no idea he thought he would take it out on the CDC.' A voicemail left at a phone number listed for White's family in public records was not immediately returned Saturday morning. The gunman died at the scene, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Friday, adding: 'we do not know at this time whether that was from officers or if it was self-inflicted.' He had been armed with a long gun, and authorities recovered three other firearms at the scene, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation. Rose, 33, was a former Marine who served in Afghanistan, graduated from the police academy in March and 'quickly earned the respect of his colleagues for his dedication, courage and professionalism,' DeKalb County said. 'This evening, there is a wife without a husband. There are three children, one unborn, without a father,' DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said. Outside the complex that includes four floors of apartments above the CVS store, some people came Saturday to witness what had happened. Sam Atkins, who lives in Stone Mountain, said gun violence feels like 'a fact of life' now: 'This is an everyday thing that happens here in Georgia.' The newly-confirmed Monarez hailed the police response and called off in-person work on Monday, telling staff in a Friday email that the shooting brought 'fear, anger and worry to all of us.' Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Montreal Gazette
2 days ago
- Montreal Gazette
Pickleball's popularity is rising rapidly in Montreal. So are the injuries
The first pickleball game Bernadette Reichert ever played was going great until the last three minutes. She remembers the date — Feb. 13 of this year — because it was the day before Valentine's Day. Friends invited her to try the sport seemingly everyone had been talking about for years. Reichert, an active 66-year-old, fell in love with it immediately. Easy to learn, fast-moving, social: 'I really, really, really enjoyed it,' she said. She played for almost 90 minutes at the municipal courts in Kirkland. Then her opponent lobbed a ball wide, and instead of letting it go, she reached too far and fell sideways. At first she thought it was nothing, even though fellow players told her: 'You don't look so good.' Gripping the steering wheel as she drove to a hair appointment after the game, she noticed a sharp pain in her wrist. When she arrived, her hairdresser said: 'You don't look so good.' Reichert sat down and fainted. She had broken two bones in her wrist. 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'I'm not sure if I cracked a rib or just bruised it, but that was an unusual one.' She was out for two months. Early in her pickleball career she played a match without stretching first and tore the soleus muscle in her calf. That injury also cost her two months. 'A lot of the people that we play with are ex-athletes from other sports, so we have this assumption in our aging brains that we're still the 20-year-old athlete we once were,' she said. 'And we may not take the right preparations for stretching and so on.' The slightly addictive nature of the sport may also play a role, notes Barry Samberg, the owner of Club PKL in Pointe-St-Charles. With mostly experienced players coming to his centre, they don't see many injuries, he said. But they do see overuse, with people playing as long as four hours at a stretch. When players are tired, they're more prone to making sloppy moves that can lead to injury. Backs often bear the brunt of overstraining. Another no-no is improper footwear. 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Yoga is also good for increasing flexibility. 'You can have strong legs, but if you can't react properly and you can't move your leg quickly to the side or turn your trunk to avoid a ball or hit a ball, that's when we can pull muscles,' athletic therapist Peter Levidis said. A common refrain among pickleball victims is that they were wearing running shoes before tragedy struck. The rapid side-to-side movements of the sport require a court shoe that's low to the ground to lessen the chance of rolling an ankle, and has lateral support and good traction. Court shoes are good for indoors. For outdoors, tennis shoes work, as do shoes specifically designed for pickleball. It's also a good idea to find a paddle that is a comfortable size and weight.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Pharmacare at risk
Opinion The federal Pharmacare plan appears to be in jeopardy. In the spring election, Mark Carney promised that he would protect Pharmacare and other valued health care services if he won — contrasting his commitment to protect health care with the cuts that Canadians could expect if they elected Pierre Poilievre. It worked, and Canadians gave the Liberals another term with Carney at the helm. Now in power, the Carney government seems to be backtracking from this promise. As Canada faces unprecedented economic threats from the United States' trade policy, Pharmacare is being increasingly framed as a luxury we cannot afford. But Pharmacare is health care. Access to prescription drugs is life saving and medically necessary, not something that's simply 'nice to have' in times of plenty. Manitoba was the first province to sign onto the federal Pharmacare plan. It's a deal that's worth over $200 million in federal funding. That's a lot of money that provides a lot of help to Manitobans who need it. Still, the current federal Pharmacare plan is far from perfect. It's limited in its coverage, typically only applying to diabetes treatments and contraceptives. In Manitoba, due to the provincial government's leadership, the plan also covers hormone replacement therapies. As important as it is, this limited coverage was only meant to be the first step in developing the federal Pharmacare plan. In this first phase, the federal government committed to signing deals with all the provinces and territories to develop a truly national Pharmacare system. The past federal government set aside $1.5 billion for this initial phase of the program. So far, only Manitoba, PEI, BC, and the Yukon have signed on. Establishing a universal, single-payer Pharmacare plan across the country was always supposed to be the second phase of the federal Pharmacare deal. The new federal health minister is now saying that this is a different government, with a different set of priorities and circumstances. The Liberals claim they will protect the existing deals, but with so few provinces and territories signed on, the whole program could be at risk of being eliminated. Even if the established deals do hold, there is little chance of expanding Pharmacare to offer universal coverage if the federal government is no longer committed to completing the first phase of the program. This is an issue of fairness. It is about adherence to the letter and spirit of the Canada Health Act (CHA). The CHA establishes that all Canadians deserve a common standard of health care services, regardless of which province they live in. A deal that only includes three provinces and one territory doesn't meet that important benchmark. As it currently stands, the federal Pharmacare plan is neither universal nor comprehensive, with access to the program determined by your postal code, not your medical needs. If they are willing to backtrack on their commitment to truly protect Pharmacare for all Canadians, what else will the Carney Liberals try and push through in the name of defending against Trump's tariffs and the economic upheavals they bring with them? Are federal health transfers next on the list of broken promises? What about the Canadian Dental Care Plan? In these challenging times, with much talk of nation- building projects, we must ask ourselves: what kind of nation-building are we investing in? Why is universal health care — so prized by Canadians — not a fundamental plank of this government's planned response to Trump and his threats to Canadian sovereignty? No one is denying that things are tough right now. The cost of living continues to rise. Tariff threats from the United States are becoming realities and jeopardizing the livelihoods of many Canadians. Now more than ever, with so much economic uncertainty and risk of job losses, people need to be able to depend on the public health care system. Manitoba has a Pharmacare deal, for now. But it will take leadership and political will to keep the existing program intact and to push for its full expansion into a system that offers all Canadians universal prescription drug coverage. Thomas Linner is the provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition.
