LGBTQ youth face additional mental health pressures associated with stigma and discrimination It’s now widely known that the Ontario Ministry of Education will be reverting to the 2010 sex education curriculum to teach our youth – despite widespread criticism. What’s worse is youth in grades 7 and 8 will actually be taught the 1998 […]
Individuals with developmental disabilities are living longer than ever A combination of better medical care and good lives in the community have led to longer life expectancies for individuals with a developmental disability – that’s a good news story. But many are now outliving their parents who have taken care of them over their lifetimes. […]
Postpartum OCD is frequently misdiagnosed and misunderstood – but it is treatable In January, a new mother in California became part of a viral Facebook post that described her baby’s four-month postpartum checkup. As a result of the thoughts she shared with her health care providers, the police were called and she was escorted […]
Alberta behind on leveraging art in healthcare The long-promised new Calgary Cancer Centre is finally breaking ground at Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. The $1.4 billion state-of-the-art facility will have 12 radiation vaults, 160 in-patient beds, more than 100 patient exam rooms and more than 100 chemotherapy chairs. But will patients still feel like they […]
Three years ago, comic icon Robin Williams was found dead. His death was subsequently confirmed by California police as a suicide. The coverage was overwhelming: articles, blog posts, live coverage, television segments and an outpouring of emotion over social media. There have been similar public responses even more recently with the deaths of Chris Cornell, frontman for […]
Many Canadians can hardly wait for the day that the recreational use of marijuana becomes legal. As a medical doctor, I’m far less enthusiastic. I worry about two things: the experimental nature of marijuana in medical practice and the public health consequences of legalized marijuana. Before you write me off as overly prudish or an […]
Women get sicker, but men die quicker. It’s an adage that no one seems to question. That there is a gender gap in life expectancy seems to be accepted without wondering why. Why is it that, according to Statistics Canada data, men’s average life expectancy is 4.7 years shorter than women’s? In Manitoba, the difference […]
Political scientist Shannon Sampert says not enough is being done to help the group of Canadians who are most likely to die by suicide — men, especially those who are middle-aged.
Originally published in the Winnipeg Free Press on April 27, 2017 When there is talk about suicide, most people envision a young person struggling with mental health. While that may be the No. 1 cause of death for people under the age of 20, those most likely to die by suicide are middle-aged men. This […]
The suicide rate for men in Canada is three to four times higher than women.
This rate increases even more in certain subgroups such as gay men, indigenous men or veterans.
