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Cancer surgery delays caused by COVID-19 could lead to shorter life spans: study – Global News

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Cancer surgery delays brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic could affect long-term survival for many patients, a new Canadian study shows.

Among the challenges faced by Canada’s health-care system more than two years into the pandemic is the backlog of delayed surgeries and procedures that could take years to clear.

The new Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) study adds to the growing body of evidence examining the unintended consequences of the pandemic on patients with cancer.

“Although de-escalation of cancer surgeries during the pandemic may be required to protect vulnerable populations and create health-care capacity, these slowdowns are associated with a risk of unintended harm,” the study, published March 21 in the CMAJ, says.

Using real world data on cancer care from 2019 to 2020, the research examined the impacts of delays on those awaiting surgery before and during the first six months of the pandemic, with a focus on the province of Ontario.

The simulated model population comprised 22,799 patients waiting for cancer surgery before the pandemic and 20,177 patients during. The mean wait time for surgery before COVID-19 was 25 days, which was bumped up to 32 days during the pandemic.

The study looked at those receiving non-emergency surgery, including those with breast, gastrointestinal, genital and urinary, gynecological, head and neck, liver and gallbladder, lung and prostate cancers, and found that during the first half a year of the pandemic, a total of 843 years of life of cancer patients across Ontario could be lost as a result of delays.

“Although our model was a simplification of the diverse disease trajectories,” Dr. Kelvin Chan, the senior author of this study and a medical oncologist at Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, said that “the notable differences in survival by disease site” draws attention to the “need for measures of surgical prioritization during pandemic-related slowdowns.”

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At the beginning of the pandemic, Ontario, like other provinces, asked its hospitals to ramp down elective surgeries so the province could prepare to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

During the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, the province again put non-urgent surgeries on hold before resuming them at the end of Jan. 2022.

A report by the Ontario Medical Association last month found the backlog in Ontario alone was more than one million surgeries. Before Ontario’s second surgery shutdown, the association estimated it would take over two years to clean the backlog.






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The new research estimated that 4,639 patients were on the waitlist for surgery on the first day of the pandemic in Ontario. This included 158 patients with liver and gall bladder cancers and 1,619 patients with genital and urinary cancers.

The study also estimated that 140 new patients would be added to the surgery wait list every single day.

“The health-care response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario was driven by an intention to protect vulnerable populations of patients and reserve adequate health care resources to manage a potential surge of patients with COVID-19,” the study said. “We have shown the unintended consequences of this policy intervention in Ontario.”

“We showed variation in loss of life-years across cancer disease sites.”

With a hypothetical 60 per cent reduction in operating room resources for cancer surgery in the first six months of the pandemic, wait times increased up to 21 days, compared to pre-pandemic, the study found. This translates to an overall total of 1539 years taken off the lives of cancer patients across the province of Ontario.

Cancers with a higher risk of progression, like liver and gall bladder and head and neck cancers, were among the largest variation in life-years lost per patient.

READ MORE: Half million less surgeries performed since pandemic began

Another study from the beginning of the pandemic, in part completed by Western University professor Janet Martin, projected that 28.4 million surgeries worldwide could be cancelled of postponed in 2020 alone.

Each additional week of cancellation could result in a further 2.4 million cancellations, the research said.

Over half a million fewer surgeries were performed across Canada during the first 16-months of the pandemic, compared to previous years, a Canadian Institute for Health Information report from the end of last year suggests.

About 560,000 fewer surgeries were performed between March 2020 and June 2021 compared to the previous 16-month period through 2019, according to health data compiled and analyzed by CIHI for the report.

Ontario had a 76 per cent decline in surgeries in April 2020 compared to a year before — the sharpest drop of any province or territory in that hard-hit month.

Manitoba’s delay grew to over 161,000 diagnostic and surgical procedures as of mid-February of this year, according to Doctors Manitoba, a group representing the province’s doctors.

In Quebec, hospitals across the province had to reduce surgeries by about 50 per cent at the height of the Omicron wave. Dr. Francois Marquis, the chief of intensive care at Montreal’s Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital, said Friday it will take months for the hospital to bring surgical waiting lists to their already daunting pre-pandemic levels.

“The hospital is not working full speed,” he said. “There are not enough surgeries, there are not enough patients being admitted. You still have rooms that are closed because we don’t have enough nurses and (respiratory therapists).”

Marquis says catching up is a challenge, given the number of nurses that have retired, left the field or transferred. But by working efficiently to streamline procedures, he’s happy to say that the hospital hasn’t cancelled a single surgery recently.

Read more:

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Last week, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and some 40 organizations representing health workers called for urgent government action to address issues facing the ailing system.

“While governments and Canadians are hoping to move past the pandemic, an exhausted, depleted health workforce is struggling to provide timely, necessary care to patients and make progress through a significant backlog of tests, surgeries and regular care,” CMA president Katharine Smart said in a statement following an emergency meeting.

“Careful management of health care resources is critical during times of resource constraint to mitigate unintended consequences,” the study echoed.

— With files from the Canadian Press

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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What’s the greatest holiday gift: lips, hair, skin? Give the gift of great skin this holiday season

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Give the gift of great skin this holiday season

Skinstitut Holiday Gift Kits take the stress out of gifting

Toronto, October 31, 2024 – Beauty gifts are at the top of holiday wish lists this year, and Laser Clinics Canada, a leader in advanced beauty treatments and skincare, is taking the pressure out of seasonal shopping. Today, Laser Clincs Canada announces the arrival of its 2024 Holiday Gift Kits, courtesy of Skinstitut, the exclusive skincare line of Laser Clinics Group.

In time for the busy shopping season, the limited-edition Holiday Gifts Kits are available in Laser Clinics locations in the GTA and Ottawa. Clinics are conveniently located in popular shopping centers, including Hillcrest Mall, Square One, CF Sherway Gardens, Scarborough Town Centre, Rideau Centre, Union Station and CF Markville. These limited-edition Kits are available on a first come, first served basis.

“These kits combine our best-selling products, bundled to address the most relevant skin concerns we’re seeing among our clients,” says Christina Ho, Senior Brand & LAM Manager at Laser Clinics Canada. “With several price points available, the kits offer excellent value and suit a variety of gift-giving needs, from those new to cosmeceuticals to those looking to level up their skincare routine. What’s more, these kits are priced with a savings of up to 33 per cent so gift givers can save during the holiday season.

There are two kits to select from, each designed to address key skin concerns and each with a unique theme — Brightening Basics and Hydration Heroes.

Brightening Basics is a mix of everyday essentials for glowing skin for all skin types. The bundle comes in a sleek pink, reusable case and includes three full-sized products: 200ml gentle cleanser, 50ml Moisture Defence (normal skin) and 30ml1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum. The Brightening Basics kit is available at $129, a saving of 33 per cent.

Hydration Heroes is a mix of hydration essentials and active heroes that cater to a wide variety of clients. A perfect stocking stuffer, this bundle includes four deluxe products: Moisture 15 15 ml Defence for normal skin, 10 ml 1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum, 10 ml Retinol Serum and 50 ml Expert Squalane Cleansing Oil. The kit retails at $59.

In addition to the 2024 Holiday Gifts Kits, gift givers can easily add a Laser Clinic Canada gift card to the mix. Offering flexibility, recipients can choose from a wide range of treatments offered by Laser Clinics Canada, or they can expand their collection of exclusive Skinstitut products.

 

Brightening Basics 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut, available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.

Hydration Heroes 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut – available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.

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Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

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LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Pediatric group says doctors should regularly screen kids for reading difficulties

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The Canadian Paediatric Society says doctors should regularly screen children for reading difficulties and dyslexia, calling low literacy a “serious public health concern” that can increase the risk of other problems including anxiety, low self-esteem and behavioural issues, with lifelong consequences.

New guidance issued Wednesday says family doctors, nurses, pediatricians and other medical professionals who care for school-aged kids are in a unique position to help struggling readers access educational and specialty supports, noting that identifying problems early couldhelp kids sooner — when it’s more effective — as well as reveal other possible learning or developmental issues.

The 10 recommendations include regular screening for kids aged four to seven, especially if they belong to groups at higher risk of low literacy, including newcomers to Canada, racialized Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. The society says this can be done in a two-to-three-minute office-based assessment.

Other tips encourage doctors to look for conditions often seen among poor readers such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; to advocate for early literacy training for pediatric and family medicine residents; to liaise with schools on behalf of families seeking help; and to push provincial and territorial education ministries to integrate evidence-based phonics instruction into curriculums, starting in kindergarten.

Dr. Scott McLeod, one of the authors and chair of the society’s mental health and developmental disabilities committee, said a key goal is to catch kids who may be falling through the cracks and to better connect families to resources, including quicker targeted help from schools.

“Collaboration in this area is so key because we need to move away from the silos of: everything educational must exist within the educational portfolio,” McLeod said in an interview from Calgary, where he is a developmental pediatrician at Alberta Children’s Hospital.

“Reading, yes, it’s education, but it’s also health because we know that literacy impacts health. So I think that a statement like this opens the window to say: Yes, parents can come to their health-care provider to get advice, get recommendations, hopefully start a collaboration with school teachers.”

McLeod noted that pediatricians already look for signs of low literacy in young children by way of a commonly used tool known as the Rourke Baby Record, which offers a checklist of key topics, such as nutrition and developmental benchmarks, to cover in a well-child appointment.

But he said questions about reading could be “a standing item” in checkups and he hoped the society’s statement to medical professionals who care for children “enhances their confidence in being a strong advocate for the child” while spurring partnerships with others involved in a child’s life such as teachers and psychologists.

The guidance said pediatricians also play a key role in detecting and monitoring conditions that often coexist with difficulty reading such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, but McLeod noted that getting such specific diagnoses typically involves a referral to a specialist, during which time a child continues to struggle.

He also acknowledged that some schools can be slow to act without a specific diagnosis from a specialist, and even then a child may end up on a wait list for school interventions.

“Evidence-based reading instruction shouldn’t have to wait for some of that access to specialized assessments to occur,” he said.

“My hope is that (by) having an existing statement or document written by the Canadian Paediatric Society … we’re able to skip a few steps or have some of the early interventions present,” he said.

McLeod added that obtaining specific assessments from medical specialists is “definitely beneficial and advantageous” to know where a child is at, “but having that sort of clear, thorough assessment shouldn’t be a barrier to intervention starting.”

McLeod said the society was partly spurred to act by 2022’s “Right to Read Inquiry Report” from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which made 157 recommendations to address inequities related to reading instruction in that province.

He called the new guidelines “a big reminder” to pediatric providers, family doctors, school teachers and psychologists of the importance of literacy.

“Early identification of reading difficulty can truly change the trajectory of a child’s life.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.

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