Latest news with #CanAge
Global News
14 hours ago
- Health
- Global News
As B.C.'s over-50 population grows, advocates want the shingles vaccine covered
Seniors' advocates are calling on the province to pay for the shingles vaccine. Currently, the shingles vaccine is not covered under B.C. MSP but it is funded in some other provinces for certain age groups. The vaccine is recommended for adults aged 50 and older and according to studies is more than 90 per cent effective. Almost 40 per cent of B.C.'s population is over 50 and physicians warn that shingles, which is a debilitating condition itself, can lead to other, more serious health concerns. Victoria-based physician, Dr. Wayne Ghesquiere, said any barriers to vaccination should be removed. 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 'Removing any obstacle to getting the vaccine, sometimes cost is an obstacle, the number-one obstacle is actually a health-care provider recommending the vaccine and educating the public what are the risks of shingles and the benefits of it,' he said. Story continues below advertisement 'That's the number-one obstacle. Patients just aren't aware of the risks that they have.' 1:53 N.S. to cover cost of shingles vaccine for residents 65 and older starting end of May Two doses of the vaccine are usually required and in B.C., the cost is approximately $150 per dose. B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne said they are always open to discussions about what should be funded by the government. 'I think that's an excellent question in terms of the impact shingles as a disease can have on people and their health,' she said. Seniors' advocates would like to see the vaccine covered under MSP. 'The only thing standing in the way of British Columbia providing it is having the political will to do so,' Laura Tamblyn Watts, founder and CEO of CanAge said. Story continues below advertisement 'And making sure that we are standing up for science.'
Edmonton Journal
17 hours ago
- Health
- Edmonton Journal
Experts call on Alberta to make shingles vaccine more easily accessible for seniors
Article content As Alberta's senior population continues to grow, experts are asking the province to lower the barrier to receive shingles vaccinations. 'It's a kick-you-while-you're-down disease,' said Anjli Acharya, a pharmacist who specializes in vaccines and immunizations. Shingles is a viral infection that can cause painful rashes with blisters on an area of the body. It is caused by the same virus as the chicken pox, which can lie dormant inside anybody who contracted it in the past. Article content The dormant virus can reactivate when someone's immune system becomes compromised due to age, stress, or illness. 'The shingles virus can reactivate because it is sitting on the nerve ending of any of us that have had chicken pox in the past,' Acharya said. One in four people will likely contract the virus once they reach 50. By the age of 80, the risk increases to a one-in-two chance. This inflammatory infection can also exacerbate conditions including diabetes, kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and heart disease. Shingles vaccinations like Shingrix help prevent complications that stem from contracting the virus. This includes post-hepatic neuralgia, a nerve condition that can occur following a shingles infection. In Alberta, the vaccine is not covered for seniors. Two doses of Shingrix in Alberta would cost $360 for the full series of treatment separated over six months. Article content Acharya has never heard why the provincial government will not cover the vaccine, which is often a challenge for the subset of individuals who cannot afford it. 'From a socioeconomic perspective, a vaccine at this cost will often put individuals that have other determinants of health at higher risk,' she said. 'From a clinical perspective, I would really prefer that everyone have shingles vaccine coverage because those patients, who are more vulnerable, higher risk, have chronic disease, or are living on a fixed income are less likely to afford the shingles vaccine.' President of CanAge, Laura Tamblyn Watts, said with increased costs of living and many seniors on fixed living, the cost of Shingrix is more than what people can afford. 'We know the single biggest deterrent for getting a vaccine like Shingrix is simply the cost,' Watts said. Article content If the shingles vaccine becomes easily available in the province, Watts said this can prevent seniors from making trips to the hospital due to the virus. Currently, it is estimated around 60 per cent of Alberta's senior population has not been inoculated. 'Across the country, we're having more older people, so even if that percentage stayed the same, the real number of people we have to treat with shingles is going to rise,' Watts said. From working with seniors, community groups, and health-care organizations, Watts said the people need to convey their need for the vaccine to elected officials. 'It is important that you write to your local representative, and it's important that you tell the premier, that this is a priority,' she said. The shingles vaccine is funded in Alberta for adults who are pre- or post-solid organ transplant or post-stem cell transplant, since they are at higher risk for complications. Article content 'Alberta Primary and Preventative Health Services considers several factors when determining vaccine funding, including a disease's epidemiology, vaccine effectiveness for specific age groups, cost, and the resources needed for an immunization program,' Maddison McKee of the office of the Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services. While the vaccine is safe and effective, shingles itself is not highly contagious like measles or influenza, as it does not spread from person to person. 'Most provinces do not cover it at present; a few cover it for specific age groups or others. Instead, many jurisdictions focus on funding the vaccine for high-risk populations,' McKee said. More information on the shingles vaccine can be found online by visiting Latest National Stories
CBC
28-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Manitoba sets date to establish long-promised seniors' advocate office
Social Sharing The long-promised Manitoba plan to establish an independent seniors' advocate, who would examine health care, social services and other programs that affect older generations, is finally set to go ahead. But not for several more months. The government will proclaim legislation on Nov. 1 that will open the door for the advocate to be appointed, said Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara on Friday. An advocate's office was a campaign promise by both the NDP and the Manitoba Liberals in the lead-up to the 2023 election. After forming government, the NDP made it a key commitment in the mandate letter for Asagwara. Once appointed, the advocate will set up an independent office of the legislature to examine individual complaints, as well as systemic issues faced by seniors and elders, similar to the provincial advocate for children and youth. The seniors' advocate will also be required to make reports and recommendations to the legislature in a public manner. The recommendations could be on a wide range of government services, including health care, housing and government programs and supports, Asagwara said in a news release from the province. Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of the Canadian seniors' advocacy organization CanAge, called the announcement "a huge victory for Manitoba seniors," adding CanAge is "very encouraged that this government is starting to put the pieces in place to address the needs of its aging population. In other provinces where there are already seniors' advocates, "real change has started to happen," she said in an email to CBC News. Connie Newman, executive director of Manitoba Association of Senior Communities, called the advocate position "a good thing," but not the be-all and end-all. "The more ears that are on older adult issues [the better]. It should help us all," she said. But Newman is worried the establishment of the office will make the public and government feel like everything is being taken care of, when "there's a lot of issues out there," and the new office won't solve them all. "That's my biggest fear," she said, adding she is concerned the office won't be funded enough for the amount of work it will likely face. Those aged 65-plus "dominate the landscape" in terms of population numbers, she said. While the advocate can deal with policy issues, it can't solve others faced by seniors, such as the isolation and growing mental health issues many face — or, more simply, general courtesy toward seniors as they learn to live in a society that seems to be forgetting them, said Newman. "We, as the public have to be nicer. There's things people can do, like helping an older person cross the road," she said.
CBC
09-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
5 years after first cases, Manitoba families who lost loved ones to COVID-19 still feel missed moments
Social Sharing Retired nurse Valerie Alderson doesn't find herself thinking back to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic anymore, but when someone brings it up, "it's a flashback of what has happened." That includes the death of her 82-year-old dad, Lloyd Hodgins, who was sent to the hospital after breaking his hip in a fall and died not long after of COVID-19 complications, in November 2021, "all alone, without anybody," because of pandemic rules at the time restricting hospital visitors. "Both my sister and I were vaccinated. We could have had our masks on, visors on, gown on, gloves on to be with him," said Alderson, 63. "I always think it's important that when you have a loved one go … for someone to be there, whether it's to hold their hand, to wipe their face, to sing a song, to read poetry, whatever. Because the hearing is the last thing that goes on any person that's passing away, and then they're gone." Justin Dusik's family also went through that experience. The 34-year-old said he never got the chance to say goodbye to his grandparents, who both died in their 80s within less than two weeks of each other in 2021. When his grandpa died, his three sons had to watch over a video call as he took his last breaths, Dusik said. "To me, it's almost heartless, where you don't get the basic human decency to be in person to comfort that loved one during a tough time in their life or to, you know, hold a hand, say your goodbyes," Dusik said. "But during the pandemic, we didn't get that opportunity. So people passed away alone. People passed away without saying their goodbyes or letting their last thoughts be known." While both have been able to move on, they said they still in a way carry those times with them almost five years after Manitoba's first presumptive COVID-19 cases were reported in March 2020. "In the end, you can't reconcile that. You never get that opportunity again with that person," Dusik said. "But there was nothing we could do about it at the time." It's a phenomenon that became fairly common during parts of the pandemic — and a policy choice one advocate says "really broke people emotionally" and that may have been approached differently, in hindsight. "It's hard to explain the terror that you have by having one of your loved ones taken away or locked up and having absolutely no idea if they're alive or dead or if they're in a critical condition," said Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of national seniors' advocacy organization CanAge. "We had people for whom their spouses were hospitalized, and they couldn't really even get a hold of them, not even on the phone, to find out what was happening to them — and then days later, finding out that they were on ventilators." Tamblyn Watts said looking back, "one of the things we learned very quickly was how important social connection really was," calling it "as important as really the medical care itself." Instead of relying on "blanket no-visitor policies," she said facilities like hospitals could have instead focused on reducing risk by using good hand washing and personal protective equipment and ensuring everyone was vaccinated. 'Huge psychological impact' Another effect of those policies was felt by health-care workers, who were forced to be gatekeepers of people's access to their loved ones. "The level of trauma that they were experiencing was also something that we didn't talk enough about," Tamblyn Watts said. Alderson, who during the pandemic worked as a home-care nurse, said she knows first-hand the "huge psychological impact" the pandemic had on everyone, from workers to patients. During the height of visitor restrictions, there were days when she may have been the only person some of her patients saw, she said. "They felt isolated," she said. "They couldn't go to church. They couldn't walk down the hallway in the apartment building to go visit their friend." Dusik said while to the best of his knowledge, the hospital staff who dealt with his grandparents "were quite accommodating and did their best to be compassionate as professionals," he thinks they "might have been a little hampered by the policies at hand or dictated by the government." "I know doctors and nurses are human just like the rest of us, so if they would have been able to accommodate those requests, I think most of them would have," he said. While the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic's effects may now seem far in the past, some — like retired nurse Alderson — said they worry about how Manitoba's strained health-care system will address what comes in the future. "I fear what's going to happen in 25 years, when I may need it more than what I have now," she said. She hopes facilities like long-term care homes, hospitals and clinics "have learned from their experience in regards to protecting the staff and the patients." Seniors' advocate Tamblyn Watts said she also worries about some of the more recent changes to policy around mitigating the effects of COVID-19, including the Public Health Agency of Canada's announcement that the provinces and territories will take over purchasing their own supplies of vaccines. "This was a defining moment in our lives. And if you look at the things that we need to learn from, COVID-19 is not something that we can turn our heads away from.… It's still around, and so is RSV and so is pneumonia, and so are all kinds of other infectious diseases," Tamblyn Watts said. "We'll break our health-care system with another pandemic unless we put preventive health in place. And we are doing the very opposite right now."
