Health
Christmas trees
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Discarding used Christmas trees into the city dump is wasteful, but there are eco-friendly ways to dispose of them or give them a new life.
Perhaps the cutest way to deal with a tree involves feeding a herd of goats at Aurora Farms in St. Norbert.
“Christmas trees are a great green boost for the goats in the winter. They love the taste of the needles and bark, and they also love using the branches to scratch themselves!” the farm posted on its Facebook page.
Trees can be dropped off at 4265 Waverley St. between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. any day of the week. While the farm is closed due to COVID-19, people can watch the animals from inside their vehicles.
The Forks is also accepting trees to help decorate its “winter wonderland” skating trails. The dropoff site is located in the parking lot behind the CityTV building.
The City of Winnipeg also offers a recycling option for trees dropped off at designated locations before Jan. 31.
Locations include:
Brady 4R Winnipeg Depot, 1777 Brady Rd.
Charleswood Centre, 3900 Grant Ave.
Kilcona Park, Lagimodiere Boulevard and McIvor Ave.
Kildonan Park, 2015 Main St.
Pacific 4R Winnipeg Depot, 1120 Pacific Ave.
Panet 4R Winnipeg Depot, 429 Panet Rd.
St. James Civic Centre, 2055 Ness Ave.
St. Vital Park, 190 River Rd.
A pick-up option is available for the city’s recycling program through SSCOPE, a non-profit that provides jobs to people living with a mental health illness through environmentally friendly programs. The service costs a small fee and can be arranged by calling 204-987-6300.
The city estimates that in 28 years, approximately 390,000 trees have been diverted from the landfill through the recycling program.
Decorations and tree bags must be removed. Wood chip mulch will be available free of charge, while quantities last, at all Let’s Chip In depots (except the 4R Winnipeg Depot locations) starting in early January. You must take your own container.
Source: | The Star – Toronto Star
Health
B.C. now has three clinics for ‘long-hauler’ COVID-19 patients with lingering symptoms – The Globe and Mail
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Katy McLean, a COVID-19 ‘long-hauler’ in Vancouver, on Jan. 22, 2021.
DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
British Columbia has launched a network of three clinics offering specialized treatments for COVID-19 patients still suffering from an array of ailments months after testing positive for the virus, with researchers using evidence from this care to better understand the long-term effects of the disease.
On Friday, a group of local health authorities announced units already operating at Vancouver General Hospital and St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver have now been joined by one this week at the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre in Surrey, still the B.C. community reporting the most new cases each day.
As the pandemic nears its first year in Canada, health authorities across the country are grappling with how to treat those patients, who refer to themselves as long haulers. Alberta has announced three similar clinics, while Ontario has one in Toronto and one in London.
Getting the jab done: When can Canadians expect to get a COVID-19 vaccine?
Most patients at the trio of B.C. clinics will see a doctor at the facility three months after they first feel ill and then have follow-up visits after six months and then a year. “We’re truly building this plane as we’re flying it and we haven’t reached the 12-month mark,” said Zachary Schwartz, head of the recovery clinic at Vancouver General Hospital.
Though the scientific research to date varies, Jesse Greiner, the head of St. Paul’s clinic, told The Globe and Mail that a leading study showed up to 13 per cent of patients in the United Kingdom self-reported still having symptoms a month after first getting ill. A further 4.5 per cent reported having at least one symptom a month further along, and 2.5 per cent still felt sick at 12 weeks.
In B.C., 56,455 people were listed as recovered in the province’s Friday update, which means more than 1,400 people could still be fighting coronavirus-related symptoms three months or longer after first noticing them.
Dr. Schwartz, whose clinic began seeing long haulers in November, said the most common problem among patients is serious fatigue, but many also experience insomnia, ringing in their ears, tremors or a foggy brain.
“It’s a very individual disease, and everyone has a different history and story to them which makes treatment very difficult,” he said.
For Katy McLean, a Vancouver officer manager, her current experience is comparable to her recovery from a bad concussion once suffered after she fell down the stairs. More than four months after she first tested positive for coronavirus, the 42-year-old still finds it impossible to walk more than 10 minutes at a time and has to write everything down because of short-term memory loss.
“I feel like I have a brutal hangover every day and like I’ve smoked several packs of cigarettes,” she said.
Still, she said she is feeling positive after recently reducing her work hours to 80 per cent of full time. Ms. McLean has found success managing her fatigue by setting intentional goals for each day. She said she is also incredibly grateful to live with her partner, who is a nurse.
“If I had been living alone I think I probably would have had to go live with a family member because that’s how much my function has been impaired,” she said.
Dr. Greiner, the internist who is in charge of the clinic at St. Paul’s Hospital, said the most important treatment to date has been educating people about how their activities can lead to their symptoms flaring.
Often, people experience a worsening of their ailments two to three days after they exert themselves heavily while recovering, he said. But mental and emotional stress can also kick off these bouts of bad symptoms, he added. His clinic has seen 160 patients since it opened in the fall.
“The learning that happens from doing this over and over again really just takes time … listening to patients and really trying to hear their stories and understand what their suffering is and where it’s coming from,” Dr. Greiner said.
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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Health officials in B.C. say the risk of COVID-19 transmission in long-term care and in communities remains too high to lift restrictions, as they announce nine more people have died from the virus in the last 24 hours.
In a joint statement Friday, Health Minister Adrian Dix and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced 508 more people have been contracted the coronavirus in the last 24 hours.
On the heels of an announcement of how the province will proceed with immunization, Dix and Henry remind British Columbians that following guidelines and public health orders continue to be critical.
“We need to remember our risk remains high right now, even as we protect more and more people with vaccine. We are not at the point where we can lift restrictions in our community or long-term care,” they write.
“We must continue to use our COVID-19 layers of protection and do all we can to stop transmission in our communities right now.”
BC’s #covid19 update Jan 21
The good:
Steady (but still high) new cases
Active cases & ppl isolated trending down
LTC outbreaks going down
The bad:
Avg of more than 10 ppl dying every day in January
Acute care outbreaks still high
Better but a long way to go#bcpoli @NEWS1130 https://t.co/bNNqec8GoA pic.twitter.com/RBWbOY2ajH— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) January 22, 2021
So far, 110,556 doses of the vaccine have been administered. Of those, 2,202 are second doses.
A new outbreak has been declared at the North Fraser Pretrial Services Centre in Port Coquitlam, and outbreaks have been declared at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, and Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster.
A total of 315 people are hospitalized, 74 are in intensive care.
Health
Coronavirus: Dr. Bonnie outlines B.C.'s mass immunization plan | Watch News Videos Online – Globalnews.ca
Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry outlines the COVID-19 vaccine rollout schedule and when British Columbians can expect to start receiving their doses. The province says the goal is to provide 7.4 million doses and will prioritize vaccines based on age.
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