There will be blood…

WHAT DO CITIZENS in Hong Kong know that we don’t? The city of untold millions is bracing for a fourth wave of the pandemic. And in Alberta, we’re being told to get ready for the second.  Unlike the first go round, when our provincial government and public sector unions assured Albertans “we’ve got your back,” there’s a sickening … More There will be blood…

Repost from CBC: My father’s death, and why we all need to think about what we cost the health-care system

In the midst of my personal grieving, I’m grateful to a health-care system that made my father comfortable in his dying days. He didn’t feel vulnerable. He wasn’t a specimen on a table. He died with dignity.

I am thankful for a system where other people helped pay the price to make that happen. At yet, at the same time, I recognize we can and must create a better system. We need to face reality, but face it together — let’s open up a real conversation.

When it comes to our health-care system here in Alberta, we have choices. We are confronted with hard choices. Collectively, and individually. We can keep pussy-footing around and hope things just get better.

Or we can recognize our blind spots, and take steps in the direction of improving how we actually deliver health care in our province.

But to do so, we must, must, move beyond the way we currently frame the discussion. We need new ideas in the marketplace of ideas. We Albertans need to think about our personal, individual costs to the system. And we also need the marketplace. … More Repost from CBC: My father’s death, and why we all need to think about what we cost the health-care system

Brain Health: Of course we can do better

My great-grandfather Maurice Elliott died in 1944 after the uninsured barn on their farm burned to the ground. He left behind his widow and nine children.  

Only as an adult did I come to know his death was a suicide. It wasn’t my grandmother or father who told me. For them, it was a deeply buried secret. 

We now have the science available to look at someone’s brain in an MRI and diagnose whether or not that person is depressed.  

With other health challenges—cancer, heart disease, kidney stones–we rely on diagnostic tools and trust the science.

How do we get to that same level of certainty and acceptance with brain health? … More Brain Health: Of course we can do better