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Dipika Damerla: Facebook

#DipikaDamerla, #SeniorsCommunityGrant, #HabitatforHumanity, #EneUnderwood, #

Toronto, Sep 26 (Canadian-Media): Ontario is providing more opportunities for seniors to be active, healthy and engaged in their communities with an expansion of its successful Seniors Community Grant program.

Dipika Damerla, Minister of Seniors Affairs, was at Habitat for Humanity's build site on Pinery  Trail in Scarborough to announce that the province is once again accepting applications for innovative projects that help seniors live active and healthy lives.

Habitat for Humanity received a Seniors Community Grant of $8,000 earlier this year to help expand its volunteer program and get 50 seniors in the Kingston region involved in helping to build affordable housing in the community.

Habitat for Humanity: Facebook

​Now in its fifth year, the program has supported more than 1,300 local projects, helping approximately 435,000 seniors across the province. This year, organizations can apply for up to $100,000 for projects that are larger in scope, leverage partnerships and have the potential to benefit more seniors over time.

“Habitat for Humanity GTA greatly relies on the time, talent and passion of senior volunteers to help ensure we can continue our work for more working, low-income families each year. We are thrilled to see the Government of Ontario increasing their support for organizations like ours who are engaging seniors in their efforts to build stronger communities,” Ene Underwood, CEO, Habitat for Humanity Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto and its adjoining cities).

Ene Underwood: Facebook

“The Seniors Community Grant program has a track record of success. By working at the community level, the province is helping to ensure that seniors are staying active and connected. Hundreds of projects completed over the past four years have focused on volunteerism, learning, social inclusion, mental well-being and physical activity, creating a positive impact on seniors in their community,” Dipika Damerla, Minister of Seniors Affairs was quoted by media as saying.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

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Toronto, Sep 19 (Canadian-Media):  In the event of the rising epidemic of opioid crisis in Ontario, Dr. Eric Hoskins, Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care issued the following statement today: 

"The opioid crisis in Ontario is a tragic and growing issue, one we are continuing to work diligently to combat. As part of our government's commitment to openness, transparency and evidence-based decision-making, we are continuing to make relevant data widely available, including to health care providers and planners working on the front lines, as well as to the public. 

Today, we have updated the Interactive Opioid Tracker with data from April 1 - June 30, 2017. As part of the $222 million announced last month to fight the opioid crisis, Ontario is making $21 million immediately available to help community-based addiction organizations in their response to this crisis. In addition, our government is making fentanyl testing strips available that can identify whether a substance contains fentanyl. These strips will at first be made available at all current supervised injection services and pop-up sites and will be evaluated for further distribution. We know that our work isn't over -- we continue to work closely with our partners, increasing access to treatment and supports as we fight this public health crisis together."

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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Wikinforms

#HealthCanada, #HealthManotoba, #JanePhilpott, #codeine, #Ontario, #Dr.DavidJuurlink

​Ottawa, Sep 12 (IBNS): Following last year’s example of Manitoba Health, Health Canada -- department of the government of Canada with responsibility for national public health – had decided to move forward to ban over-the-counter sales of low-dose codeine medication, a widely used opioid linked to abuse and dependency, media reports said.

Any medications containing codeine, reported Health Canada, would be available to the public only with a doctor's prescription, CBCNews Reports said.

Canadians had reportedly been asked to comment on Health Canada's proposed regulations until Nov. 8.

Although the health-care system would be greatly burdened by this move, reported Health Canada, patients would be getting better medical advice about using codeine.

Dr. David Juurlink, a drug safety researcher at the University of Toronto, who had for long advocated for a prescription-only model, was reported to say that low-dose codeine products have little medical purpose.

Dr. David Juurlink: Facebook

Juurlink had tweeted: 1. Codeine is an irrational drug; 2. OTC codeine is crazy; 3. ASA/acetaminophen ↑ toxicity; 4. Canada should undo this

Jane Philpott, the then Health Minister of Canada, had stressed last year itself that rules on over the counter codeine should be tightened and had said,

"While a prescription may not be needed today, codeine can produce drug dependence and has the potential for being abused. This practice must be stopped, and so I will also introduce regulatory changes that will propose requiring a prescription for low-dose codeine products," Philpott told a Toronto conference in June 2016.

Dr. Jane Philpott: Facebook

According to official reports, in 2015 about 600 million low-dose codeine tablets, or about 20 for every person in the country, were sold in Canada.

It was also reported that between 2007 and 2015 more than 500 people in Ontario alone were admitted in addiction treatment centres due to adverse effects caused with non-prescription codeine.

Low-dose codeine tablets should be kept behind the counter at drugstores and pharmacists are also supposed to carefully monitor the sales of this medication.

But in spite of reported warnings from medical experts for decades about the potential harm of codeine, A Toronto Star investigation in 2015 reportedly found sale of more than 100 codeine products in Canada, and about half of them without prescription.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)