Use the force, Chippy!

Taking a little break out of reading like a mad woman for my MA. I had a very interesting seminar about epistemology on Monday. I won’t get too philosophical about it, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the difference between ‘truths’ and ‘facts’. Its fascinating how we can use words so interchangeably but there are subtle and important differences in meaning. Sometimes I love semantics.

But, thats not what I wanted to share today. I have a huge addiction to cute animal pictures (I check CuteOverload.com religiously) and this gallery was just too cute not to pass along! May the force be with you, Chippy! It begs the question… how on earth did they get the chipmunk to sit still and wear an action figure?

No excuses

I will post more often… I will post more often… I will post more often… Let me keep repeating that mantra and see how well this goes

I do have a bit of exciting news though! I’ve said before that I work at the University I graduated from, well… I will be doing my Master’s degree part time while working. It will be a Master of Arts in Applied Health Sciences. I have my first class tomorrow! Its a thesis based program and I have some vague ideas for a thesis but who really knows how many incarnations I will have before I defend!

On another note, looks like we will be having an election up here this fall. Joy.

Oh the things people believe…

From this website:

Majority of Americans Believe Health Care Reform ‘Myths’

• 67 percent of respondents believe that wait times for health care services, such as surgery, will increase (91 percent of Republicans, 37 percent of Democrats, 72 percent of Independents).

Mmm… there may be some truth in this, at least initially. If you have more people using the system, there will be a rough period while the system changes and acclimates. I can’t believe that wait time for surgeries would be increased dramatically though, I could see wait times for general care/health clinics increasing though. Wait times are a major complaint in Canada, but we have a “single payer” system up here. Drastically different.

• About five out of 10 believe the federal government will become directly involved in making personal health care decisions (80 percent of Republicans, 25 percent of Democrats, 56 percent of Independents).

HA! Who really makes your personal health care decisions now? In an ideal world your health care decisions would be made in consultation between you and your health care practitioner(s) (this could include your family doctor, specialists and any complementary/alternative practitioners that you may visit). As it is, a lot of the choices that you have in your health care decisions are dictated by companies whose main motivation is to turn a profit. Yes, that is a highly jaded and highly simplified comment.

• Roughly six out of 10 Americans believe taxpayers will be required to pay for abortions (78 percent of Republicans, 30 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of Independents)

No, just no. There are laws against this. I think this comes from some fear of surpluses being shifted over to programs which perform and support abortion (eg. Planned Parenthood). I find it more than a bit distasteful that the same people who are so scared of the government making personal health care decisions for them are advocating that the government make personal (reproductive) health care decisions for others. My own personal thought is that a woman (or couple) should not be prevented (be it access to facilities or financial constraints) from having a legal abortion (or accessing contraceptives).

• 46 percent believe reforms will result in health care coverage for all illegal immigrants (66 percent of Republicans, 29 percent of Democrats, 43 percent of Independents).

How did this one sneak in there? Smacks of fear mongering. Again, what is being proposed is not a “single payer system” (and even in Canada you have to either buy private health insurance or you go without if you are eligible for one of the provincial health insurance plans). The US gov’t is not “giving” health coverage to people in the public plan, they are purchasing it. I have no idea what the regulation would be on illegal immigrants opting in to such a plan. I’m guessing if they do not have a legal status in the US they will probably avoid any actions that would encourage to deport them though.

• 54 percent believe the public option will increase premiums for Americans with private health insurance (78 percent of Republicans, 28 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of Independents).

Increased competition means increased cost? Really? I thought it was the opposite. ‘Nuff said.

• Five out of 10 think cuts will be made to Medicare in order to cover more Americans (66 percent of Republicans, 37 percent of Democrats, 44 percent of Independents).

I wonder about this one… if this is referring to what I think it is referring to… (shifting money away from the Medicare program to subsidize the “public health insurance option”) then this one is a tough one to answer because any cuts to the Medicare program are not popular. Period. That being said, if unnecessary tests (tests that do not improve health and are not needed to diagnose an illness) and referrals/visits were eliminated from a program, there would be a natural surplus available in said program that could be used effectively in other programs. Its not a cut, per se, but it is semantics my friend, semantics.

The fact of the matter is… at present we spend far more than any other country on healthcare and we aren’t reaping the benefits of this. There need to be changes! It is far more important to get something that might not work perfectly in place than to continue on the path we are currently on.

Not so good at this, eh?

I wrote this on Aug. 19, and I’ve been debating if I should post this or not… I would rather discuss health than politics but I think this is probably important. I will be turning off comments on this post, I dealt with political backlash enough during my Undergrad years (aka the Bush years) in Canada. Without further ado… Continue reading »

Gives me hope

A couple days ago my friend Kim introduced me to a website called ‘Gives me hope“. It was a refreshing change to read real peoples’ positive stories.  So, because I’m very, very sleepy (it has been a long week), I’m going to share two articles that GMH.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6721590.ece

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090806/ap_on_re_us/us_clinton_hiv_drugs

There are inarguably many other challenges (social, medical, and logistical to name a few) to controlling the transmission and treatment of HIV/AIDS worldwide but that gives me hope that for an increased number of people it will no longer be a death sentence.

Small changes, big benefits?

I’ve been a little delayed in posting and this will be a short one. I’m back home visiting my parents.

I’m a news junkie so I will leave you with something I read on Yahoo today. This caught my eye because the last time I went grocery shopping back home I walked through the mall and noticed that there is an ongoing campaign to promote breastfeeding. I think this is a great thing! Not only does it help with building an infant’s immune system but there is statistical data suggesting it may play a part in preventing diabetes and obesity later in life and may help with allergies. Its also good for the mother, helps with bonding, has health benefits and on a side note its a semi-effective birth control method and may help with weight loss

But wow… breastfeeding could save 1.3 million lives! What a staggering number for what seems like such a simple action.

Getting to the point

When I first got the idea in my head that I wanted to have a blog, it was because I wanted a forum to babble about issues that interest me. My academic background, as you can see from my profile, is Health. Community Health to be precise. In my undergrad studies I took courses in Health Promotion, History of Medicine/Disease and Development of Healthy Communities. On Monday I turned in the capstone project to the last course of a Certificate in Field Epidemiology (excellent program if you are so inclined: look here). So from now on I am going to try to blog once every day or two about some issue or news article that I am passionate about. Please be forewarned, I have lots of interests, I believe that health is more than simply biological and hereditary and that social, political and environmental issues (a.k.a. social determinants of health) have an important place in the discussion surrounding health (and improving it!).

That all being said… today I read an article about a study from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.  This study looked at the results of other studies (side note: this type of study is called a meta analysis) over the past 50 years which examined the difference in nutritional content between organic and commercially produced foods. Well, the results suggest there is no significant difference! Does this mean that we are wasting money buying organic? Well, perhaps not. This study does not address the issue of pesticides, whose effects on human health in the long term are not fully understood.

If you are concerned about pesticides, and want to get the most “bang for your buck” with organic fruits and veggies, the Environmental Working Group has a list of the “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15″. Have a look.

Oh and… don’t use tanning beds.

Vacay in Montreal!

So… almost 6 years ago I moved from the US to Canada to go to school. Because I have lived here for so long I hold great affection for Canada, ironically I don’t often spend Canada Day in the country. Canada Day falls on the 1st and Independence day is the 4th, so I often have a long weekend to go home and visit my friends and parents. This year my best friend and I went to Montreal We had quite the sightseeing and gastronomic experience

For a quick summary… we flew in on June 30 and got in just in time to drop off our bags (we stayed on Amherst Street, fairly close to UQAM) and to see Stevie Wonder perform at Jazz Fest. The rest of the week we saw all of the sights; Mont Royal and the neighborhood around it, Little Italy and Jean Talon Market, Old Montreal, Jean Drapeau Park, the Olympic Village, fireworks at Le Ronde and shopping on St. Catherine street. And the food… oh… the food… bagels, poutine, beavertails (its a dessert not part of an animal), creton, pizza, montreal smoked meat sandwiches… Yum! It was probably good that we were walking around so much!

I’m still working on editing/sorting my pictures, so they will come in a future post.

Adventures in Driving

Well, I’m back in St. C after going back to my hometown. My Mom’s birthday is coming up so I went home to visit. I had a lovely time there and also saw some very good friends (and a friend’s absolutely adorable 9 month old baby girl).

On the way back, to keep myself entertained, I started cataloging the things I had seen while driving.

A few of the more memorable things are:

• approximately 60 miles of construction
• 1 angry turkey in a field
• white tailed deer in a pen
• roadkill
• license plates from: Michigan, Ontario, Quebec, Illinois, Ohio, Texas, Georgia, New York and a terrible BMW driver from New Jersey
• an empty GM plant
• speeders pulled over by police (in one case, 3 within approximately 100m)
• fields, trees, lakes and rivers
• rain
• 2 sunsets
• a couple vineyards

And as an aside, on this trip I also experienced the irony of John Mellencamp’s “Authority Song” playing while going through customs.

Lia’s Socks

Before going to Florida (Video from that trip here: Clearwater Marine Aquarium) I knitted a pair of socks for my Tante Freerkje and started on a second pair for my cousin, Lia.

Here is my finished product and the pattern (after the cut):

Continue reading »