In the Caribbean, colonialism and inequality mean hurricanes hit harder
Hurricane Maria, the 15th tropical depression this season, is now battering the Caribbean, just two weeks after Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc in the region. The devastation in Dominica is “mind-boggling,” wrote the country’s prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, on Facebook just after midnight on September 19. The next day, in Puerto Rico, NPR reported via member station WRTU in San Juan that “Most of the island is without power…or water.” Among the Caribbean islands impacted by both deadly storms are Puerto Rico, St Kitts, Tortola and Barbuda. In this region, disaster damages are frequently amplified by needlessly protracted and incomplete recoveries. Nor were the effects of a 7 magnitude earthquake that rocked Haiti in 2010 limited to killing some 150,000 people. These are not isolated instances of random bad luck. Risk, vulnerability and poverty The country is among the Western Hemisphere’s poorest in large part because of imperialism. Geography and gender No place for politics
Alberta Health Services signs $459-million deal for massive new technology system
The Alberta Health Services board has approved a $459-million deal with a U.S. technology giant to equip the health authority with an advanced clinical information system. The agreement with Wisconsin-based Epic Systems Corp. includes the installation of software that will form the new Connect Care network, along with ongoing support and staff training. “When you come to some of these large system implementations, there are really only a few vendors capable of doing something like this,” AHS president and CEO Verna Yiu said late Thursday following the board’s vote. “They (Epic) are very well-known and very well-established and they have a lot of expertise around big system implementation.” Epic’s website says the company currently supports electronic medical records for 190 million patients. For patients, the initiative is touted to provide a single medical record that can be accessed at any point in the health system, including by patients themselves. kgerein@postmedia.com
Terms and Conditions of the Homelessness Partnering Strategy
Terms and Conditions of the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) for 2014-2019 provide broad program parameters. On this page Introduction The Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) is a unique community-based program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness. It provides direct funding to communities across Canada to support their efforts in addressing local needs and specific homelessness priorities. Since its inception, the HPS has been encouraging communities to adopt a more mature approach to homelessness and has supported them in shifting away from emergency responses and focussing instead on longer-term solutions. Despite many successes in addressing homelessness over the past decade, homelessness remains a persistent issue. Evidence demonstrates that Housing First is an effective approach to reducing homelessness, and that it also often leads to a reduction in the use of other public services. These terms and conditions provide broad program parameters. 1.0 Authority Grants
Multilevel Interventions To Address Health Disparities Show Promise In Improving Population Health
Big data opens door to big possibilities in health care
The average Canadian lives in a world filled with almost limitless digital connections. Activity trackers monitor our steps and heart rate. Smartphones track our habits and browsing history to bring us personalized ads from retailers. Even home appliances are going “smart” with many now transferring information online. In our digital age, information is the new currency. Now health innovators are taking the lessons learned in commerce and applying them to health care. “There is a complete revolution in health care on the way, and I don’t think many would disagree with that,” said Lawrence Richer, an associate dean of clinical research at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. Richer is one of several researchers at the U of A dipping his toe into the deep waters of big data with the belief it will provide new solutions to difficult problems. What is big data? Big data is information that is huge and complex. “We are going there but we are not there yet.
Hospital Emergency Care & Homelessness | The Homeless Hub
Access to health care is a human right. In Canada, we enjoy a system of universal health insurance and yet, many Canadians are left without services other Canadians can access with relative ease. For individuals experiencing homelessness, the ability to maintain one's health can be compromised by the impact of deteriorating health and obstacles, which often prevent them from getting the critical help they need. Health & Poverty In Canada, our publicly funded health care service is a cornerstone of our society -- it is central to the health and well-being of the general population. Canada Without Poverty provides us with a helpful snapshot by demonstrating the link between poverty and health: Health & Homelessness Considering the points provided above, it is obvious that poverty is strongly correlated with poor health and increased health care costs overall. Hospital Emergency Care & Homelessness Coupled with this, use of hospital emergency care is a costly expense. Considerations
Developing a Multilevel Approach to Improving Population Health
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, yet heart disease is largely preventable through healthful lifestyle practices. Effective prevention requires more than just educating people on how they can live healthier lifestyles; it’s critical for a community to support its citizens in their efforts to do so. Inspired by this, the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation (MHIF), Allina Health, New Ulm Medical Center (NUMC), and the rural community of New Ulm, Minnesota, teamed up to create Hearts Beat Back: The Heart of New Ulm Project (HONU). This population-based prevention demonstration project aims to reduce heart attacks and heart disease risk factors over 10 years among the New Ulm population. Recognizing the complex web of personal, institutional, and societal factors that influence an individual’s heart health, HONU leaders implemented a multilevel population health strategy. Key aspects of this strategy included: Health outcomes
Digital Content Curation: More Important Than Ever!
Feature image sourced from the Public Domain shared by Coltsfan I’ve been a fan of digital content curation for a long time. I’ve blogged about it on many occasions; first waxing lyrical about Diigo way back in 2011, then celebrating the new year in 2013 by suggesting resolutions to use curation to manage content overload and then reflecting on curation as an art form last year. So what could I have left to write about, five years after my original post, and is digital content curation even relevant half way through 2016? I have been reflecting on this question for a few days now, and I have come to the conclusion that there is still a lot that may be written about this topic, much to be learned, and that it is more relevant now than ever before. There has been, however, a slight change in focus for my writing on digital content curation. Teaching students how to curate digital resources is a meta-skill, that actually requires them to be digitally literate in a number of different ways.
