The Ontario Medical Association is set to present a new ad campaign, and have already released a list of “key health priorities” in advance of the provincial election later this year.
The summary of the list contains a couple of mentions to mental health care specifically. The OMA points out that people with mental illness tend to have complex health needs, and require health services more often, however only 1 out of 3 gets the care they need. They also highlight service gaps for young people and the negative effects this has on families. The ad campaign is said to focus heavily on mental health issues.
After having posted the other day about the Toronto mayor’s anti-homeless attitude, I heard statements on the radio that afternoon from Ontario’s Minister of Health Deb Matthews, commenting on the need for more community and supportive housing to address homelessness and mental health issues in the province. At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what I heard. I’ve searched and searched, and can’t find any links or articles about this. She has discussed these issues in the past however, and has a good track record of linking poverty and health issues.
Speculation continues as to the mental health status of Richard Kachkar, the man accused of killing police officer Ryan Russel by running him down with a stolen snowplow. While this story and ones such as the Arizona shooting seem to have led to some discussions about preventative mental health care and assessing risk of violence, I fear they are sometimes drowned out by the fascination of spectacle and political rhetoric. It’s especially disappointing in both cases to hear such frequent use of terms like “psycho” “crazy” “nutbar” etc. as though those offensive labels somehow explain why a person would commit these types of crimes.
The CBC radio program The Current has been running a great series on mental health. It is available to listen to online, or as a podcast.
Showing posts with label cbc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cbc. Show all posts
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Breaking News
Yesterday on my lunch break, I decided to go to my old credit union to close an account. It was an old savings account with a couple hundred bucks sitting in it, that had been inactive for a couple years. The credit union is a little out of the way (part of the reason I stopped going there) so I had been putting this task off for some time.
They’d had some major renovations since I was there last, and had sleek new counters and fancy leather couches. They had also installed some of those clear markers of 21st century affluence, flat screen TVs. These days of course, we can watch TV everywhere from the queue in the coffee shop, to the self-serve gas pump. Much like all those other places, these screens (the one in particular that I could see while waiting for the teller to process my information) displayed a combination of ads for the credit union and their products, and “news headlines” from an online source.
My eyes invariably fell for this trap, and wandered over to the screen as I waited at the counter. I read “Martin Streek, the Toronto DJ respected for his knowledge of the alternative rock scene, has been found dead in his Toronto home.” Hmm. I thought that guy died a while ago. Maybe I’m thinking of the wrong person.
“Prime Minister Steven Harper should not have accepted communion at Romeo Leblanc’s state funeral.” Now I know that didn’t just happen. Several other “news items” popped up, confirming my suspicion – these headlines are over a year old! I looked them up when I got back to the office – yup, we’re talking July 8, 2009! Was I the only one seeing this?
Ah, technology: the way of the future. Needless to say, I was happy to walk out the door with my cash in hand, enjoying having the last laugh on this financial institution.
They’d had some major renovations since I was there last, and had sleek new counters and fancy leather couches. They had also installed some of those clear markers of 21st century affluence, flat screen TVs. These days of course, we can watch TV everywhere from the queue in the coffee shop, to the self-serve gas pump. Much like all those other places, these screens (the one in particular that I could see while waiting for the teller to process my information) displayed a combination of ads for the credit union and their products, and “news headlines” from an online source.
My eyes invariably fell for this trap, and wandered over to the screen as I waited at the counter. I read “Martin Streek, the Toronto DJ respected for his knowledge of the alternative rock scene, has been found dead in his Toronto home.” Hmm. I thought that guy died a while ago. Maybe I’m thinking of the wrong person.
“Prime Minister Steven Harper should not have accepted communion at Romeo Leblanc’s state funeral.” Now I know that didn’t just happen. Several other “news items” popped up, confirming my suspicion – these headlines are over a year old! I looked them up when I got back to the office – yup, we’re talking July 8, 2009! Was I the only one seeing this?
Ah, technology: the way of the future. Needless to say, I was happy to walk out the door with my cash in hand, enjoying having the last laugh on this financial institution.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Case Study #2
Client histories never cease to be interesting and surprising. Although I know we should always view our clients as a “whole” person who is dealing with an illness, when you have only known a person while they are SICK it can be easy to forget that they also have/had a LIFE.
One client on my case load is a 50-ish man originally from Vietnam. In the time I have known him, he has been very stable but somewhat “low” functioning. He struggles with comprehension, insight, and ADL’s. On the other hand, he’s got incredible financial management skills, and exceptionally beautiful handwriting. He hasn’t been able to maintain employment for many years at this point, although we’re working on that.
In the late 70’s in Vietnam, he was a young man studying physics and math at university. I knew from his hospital records and his own reports that he and most of his family came to Canada in 1980, and he had to leave university without completing his degree. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia several years after immigrating, and eventually dealing with his illness contributed to the break-up of his marriage, and caused him to lose contact with his son.
Blame it on my youth, but I somehow never put it together that the time he talks about in Vietnam was just post-war. And he lived through whatever terrors that had brought. Obviously I don’t have any details, but this all came to mind when I was listening to a recent CBC Rewind broadcast about Vietnamese boat people. This was his experience too. I don’t know if he came on a boat or what, but I know he was sponsored by a Mennonite group, who were among the earliest supporters of the refugees.
Knowing this will not likely do much to change how I work with this person week after week. And I understand that this general knowledge doesn’t provide any insight as to his individual experience. But it does provide me with some new perspective when he talks about his past. And it’s a good reminder (for me) just to keep in mind that this guy has had struggles other than trying to keep his kitchen clean.
One client on my case load is a 50-ish man originally from Vietnam. In the time I have known him, he has been very stable but somewhat “low” functioning. He struggles with comprehension, insight, and ADL’s. On the other hand, he’s got incredible financial management skills, and exceptionally beautiful handwriting. He hasn’t been able to maintain employment for many years at this point, although we’re working on that.
In the late 70’s in Vietnam, he was a young man studying physics and math at university. I knew from his hospital records and his own reports that he and most of his family came to Canada in 1980, and he had to leave university without completing his degree. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia several years after immigrating, and eventually dealing with his illness contributed to the break-up of his marriage, and caused him to lose contact with his son.
Blame it on my youth, but I somehow never put it together that the time he talks about in Vietnam was just post-war. And he lived through whatever terrors that had brought. Obviously I don’t have any details, but this all came to mind when I was listening to a recent CBC Rewind broadcast about Vietnamese boat people. This was his experience too. I don’t know if he came on a boat or what, but I know he was sponsored by a Mennonite group, who were among the earliest supporters of the refugees.
Knowing this will not likely do much to change how I work with this person week after week. And I understand that this general knowledge doesn’t provide any insight as to his individual experience. But it does provide me with some new perspective when he talks about his past. And it’s a good reminder (for me) just to keep in mind that this guy has had struggles other than trying to keep his kitchen clean.
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