Frequent contributor Alex Kronstein continues his series on the social determinants of health, all the things that can make you sick that aren’t strictly speaking medical in nature, things like poverty, bad housing, your job, and more. Today Alex looks at social exclusion.
New contributor Cathy Boyce, who lives in New Brunswick, takes a look at the fentanyl crisis on the East Coast and considers the totally inadequate response of the Maritime provinces.
Homelessness, housing in bad repair and malnutrition can make you sick, both physically and mentally. Yet when we talk about healthcare we rarely talk about addressing root causes and mostly focus on things like wait lists and doctor shortages. Although tremendously important issues, we should not forget about these social determinants of health, says regular contributor Alex Kronstein.
Everything is harder when you’re poor and by yourself, and needing surgery, including eight weeks of rest to recover, often is a major source of stress. Who is going to go to the food bank for you? How about the laundry? And what about the loneliness? Kendall Worth reports on his meeting with a woman who is facing this scary scenario.
Some residents of Emerald Hall,a locked psychiatric ward in the Nova Scotia Hospital, have no reason to be there, except for it being a convenient solution for the province. Their human rights case is crawling along because Community Services is using stalling tactics, a community living advocate charges.
Just in time for the provincial election Alex Kronstein continues his investigation of the social determinants of health with a look at education and early childhood development. This is very important stuff.
You often don’t get sick in a vacuum. Having a stressful job, a mind numbing job, or maybe one that doesn’t make you feel appreciated, are all things that affect your health. The same is true for being unemployed. For part two of a series on the things that make you sick contributor Alex Kronstein focuses on unemployment and job security, and employment and working conditions.
A group of people concerned about the quality of care in Nova Scotia’s long term residences rallied at Northwood Manor in Halifax this afternoon. More care beds, more trained staff and healthier food are among their demands. Ultimately they are asking for a halt to the ongoing loss of dignity and respect for our seniors.
New contributor Catherine Meyers reflects on the state of mental healthcare in Nova Scotia and the death of her husband at a young age, a death that may well have been preventable. “There are still too many situations like the one I experienced, where people, especially youth, don’t get the right kind of mental health care.”
A survey about matters vitally important to the African Nova Scotian community was sent to all provincial candidates. We talked with Jalana Lewis, spokesperson for the initiative, and posted the survey on line.