The Most Important Thing That’s Probably Missing From Your Backyard
About Nicole Apelian, Ph.D
I am a mother, an herbalist, a survival skills instructor, and a biologist. I graduated with a degree in Biology from McGill University and further developed my herbal skills in the wilds of the Kalahari. I lived there for years with one of the oldest cultures on Earth, the San Bushmen. The San still live off what the land provides in terms of food and medicine, and many of them live well to a ripe old age without ever taking pills or seeing the inside of a hospital.
But the thing that got me deeply involved with plant medicine, was my own disease.
When I was just 29 years old, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. MS is an incurable autoimmune condition that makes your own immune system attack the brain and spinal cord. I was in constant agony, most of the times in a wheelchair.
The Western treatment prescribed by my doctors didn’t provide much relief. For the last 20 years, I’ve been managing my MS using the natural remedies that I grow myself in my backyard. I went from being pushed in a wheelchair to being healthy and fully alive. So much so that in 2015 I survived for 57 days straight in the wild on the History Channel’s TV show Alone.
I turn to my small backyard pharmacy whenever I’m in pain, catch a cold, have fever, keep a wound from getting infected, and so on. I haven’t stepped foot in a pharmacy in a very long time. I have all I need here in my backyard for me and my two kids.
A Complete Natural Pharmacy in Your Backyard
I made this Medicinal Garden Kit because I wanted to empower other people to take their health into their own hands, just as I did.
I think everyone should have a medicinal garden in their backyard. I see no reason to take something made in lab, when you can first try a natural remedy you grow at home. You can easily go and pick the remedy you need at any time. Your backyard pharmacy will be there for you even in times of crisis when regular pharmacies might be closed or looted.
Imagine stepping into your backyard and looking at your new colourful medicinal garden. Your backyard will smell of fresh lavender and chamomile.
You can pick any of these medicinal plants and turn it into the remedy you need.
I’ve gathered all the seeds for 10 herbs, inside the Medicinal Garden Kit. All these seeds have been handpicked from the very best plants, as I wanted nothing less than premium quality seeds.
With your seeds kit, you’ll also receive a FREE copy of Herbal Medicinal Guide: From Seeds to Remedies. This guide will show you how to turn these 10 plants into tinctures, ointments, salves, poultices, decoctions, infusions, essential oils —all in minute detail so you can follow our guide even if you’ve never made an herbal medicine in your life.
The 10 Medicinal Plants You’ll Have in Your Backyard:
Chicory – The Painkilling Plant You Should Grow in Your Backyard
This is the wild plant that Native Americans used to look for more than any other. They’d harvest and use chicory to make a natural painkilling extract for a wide range of physical discomforts, especially stiff and achy joints. And so can you! The root is rich in chicoric acid (CA), a plant compound with potent anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties but no risk of addiction. If our pharmacies ever run dry, having even a small patch of chicory growing in your own backyard will provide relief.
Add 1 Tbsp of ground chicory root to your coffee or tea. It’s a prebiotic and natural laxative that will help move things along and regulate your bowels.
Chicory is a very good soil builder in your garden, pulling nutrients up from deeper in the soil with its long taproot and then returning them to the surface when it dies back.
Chicory Salve for Pain Relief, Chicory Coffee for Better Digestion, a Decoction for Adrenal Fatigue, Chicory Infusion for Sinuses, Anti-Fungal Poultice, Liver Protection Tincture
Yarrow – The Backyard Wound Healer
You always want to have a quick and reliable way to stop a wound from bleeding and help prevent infection. Yarrow does both, and it really saved my knuckle. On day 42 of Alone, I accidentally cut my hand while gutting a fish. The wound was very deep and most likely would have gotten infected since I had no antibiotics with me.
Luckily, I found some yarrow and wrapped it around the wound. The bleeding stopped in minutes, and my wound healed so well that now there’s barely a scar left. Since then, I always carry a pouch of dried yarrow with me, just in case. A yarrow tincture, when applied to your skin, acts as a natural and effective way to repel mosquitos and other insects.
If you ever get a toothache, try chewing on a fresh yarrow leaf as it will numb the area and provide needed relief.
The beautiful yarrow flowers attract beneficial insects like bees and ladybugs, which eat aphids and other pests and also help pollinate your plants.
Infused Yarrow Oil for Swelling and Varicose Veins; Stop Bleeding Poultice; Yarrow Tincture for Burns, Cuts, Bruises, and Insect Bites; Yarrow Salve for Old Scars; Yarrow Elixir for Menstrual Cramps and Heartburn; Yarrow Tea for Digestive Upsets
California Poppy – Better Than Sleeping Pills
California poppy helps support a restorative, deep sleep like we enjoyed as children, when falling and staying asleep for at least eight hours each night were both effortless. Why risk the addiction of prescription sleeping pills when you can make your own Sleep Tea from this plant?
I usually drink it before bed and then doze off soon after, while I’m reading or watching TV. You could not wake me up easily; my kids have tried a few times. Now, if your bout of insomnia is of the more serious nature or you’re suffering from PTSD, just turn California poppy into a more concentrated sleep tincture. That should do it.
Gather any of these: leaves, flowers, or stems. Cut finely, add to a cup or pot, and pour hot water. Let it steep for about 10 minutes. Drink warm just before bed for deep, uninterrupted, and restful sleep that night.
With extremely high levels of pollen production, the poppy is an important food source for beneficial insects. It also needs very little water, so the other plants will get more.
Deep Sleep Tincture, Analgesic Salve, Sleep Tea Blend, California Poppy Decoction for Head Lice, California Poppy Vinegar, California Poppy Infusion
Marshmallow – The Most Powerful Plant for a Healthy Digestive System
When most people hear marshmallow, they tend to picture the white fluffy treat commonly roasted over a campfire. Traditionally these were made from the root of the marshmallow plant, a powerful medicinal herb that you’ll want to grow yourself at home. Its leaves and root are antibacterial, and most importantly, they contain a sap-like substance called mucilage.
As the marshmallow mucilage goes down through your digestive tract, it will coat your stomach, intestines, and colon with an additional protective layer, soothing inflammation it finds along the way. That’s why this tea also helps people with stomach ulcers and digestive disorders, such as heartburn, indigestion, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, or Crohn’s disease.
Pull out a few marshmallow roots, wash off the dirt, and add them to a glass jar or cup. Cover with ice-cold water and let the mucilage extract for a few hours. Drink for a soothing and restorative effect all along your digestive tract, from mouth to colon.
Painted lady butterflies are attracted to it, and native pollinators cover its blossoms all summer long.
Cold Root Infusion for Heartburn and Reflux, Stomach Tea, Marshmallow Poultice for Skin Repair, Decoction for Stubborn Coughs, Throat Syrup, Marshmallow Salve
Chamomile – The Natural Antibiotic
My grandmother used to grow chamomile in her garden. She would pick the flowers in early autumn, dry them on old newspapers, and store them in mason jars. She saw this plant as a real “heal-all.” If I’d get pinkeye, she’d put a warm compress dipped in chamomile tea over my irritated eyes. If my stomach hurt, she’d make me drink the tea, and I’d soon start to feel better.
It’s very soothing, and it helps relax your digestive muscles. You can also use this plant to make your own chamomile oil, which is still probably one of the best natural skin remedies out there. Researchers believe that’s because chamomile oil can penetrate even the deep layers of your skin, where true healing takes place.
Take a handful of dried or fresh chamomile leaves and add them to a warm bath. Step inside to relax your entire body, especially sore muscles, and aching joints.
Chamomile is known as “The Gardener’s Doctor” as it has the power to heal and enhance the growth of the plants around it.
Chamomile Compresses for Irritated Eyes, Stomach Tea, Infused Chamomile Oil for Wounds and Skin Ulcers, Chamomile Tincture for Sciatica and Rheumatic Pain, Eczema Salve, Chamomile Sitz Bath for Hemorrhoids
Evening Primrose – A Natural Remedy for Skin and Nerves
This plant is called evening primrose because its flowers open at sunset. Each bloom lasts for only one night. Our forefathers would use it to make a poultice for bruises, wounds, and skin eruptions. Turns out they were right. This plant contains two substances our skin needs but cannot produce on its own (gamma-linolenic acid and linolenic acid).
They’re also very important for the membranes of nerve cells, and that’s probably why more and more people with unresolved nerve pain are turning to this plant. Evening primrose can also help to balance out hormone levels. If you ever feel like you’re constantly fatigued, you gain weight inexplicably, or you’re simply unable to tolerate hot or cold temperatures like you used to, then you might be dealing with a hormonal imbalance.
Grab a leaf or root of the plant and crush it to make a poultice. Apply it directly to a wound or skin rash to promote healing.
This plant provides food and attracts numerous species of hawk moths, which tend to move pollen farther than bees or birds, as well as butterflies and bumblebees.
Infused Evening Primrose Oil for Skin and Nerves, Anti-Bruise Poultice of Native Americans, Evening Primrose Tea for Digestive Issues and Mood Swings, Revitalizing Body Balm, Lung Tonic, Cough and Sore Throat Mixture, Cold-Pressed Seed Oil
Lavender – The Perennial Anti-Inflammatory Herb
You’re probably familiar with how this aromatic plant can keep moths from dining on your winter wardrobe. But if you use it medicinally, it can offer so much more! A recent double-blind study concluded that lavender oil cuts down anxiety to the same extent as taking a 0.5 mg daily dose of Lorazepam, a popular anxiety drug.
A lavender tincture used alongside a regular antidepressant can help you recover from mild to moderate depression a lot faster and lower the chance for a relapse. And if you just rub a few drops of lavender oil on your scalp every day, it will improve blood flow, strengthen hair follicles, and even help with lost hair. That and the divine scent it has is why I like to mix it with my shampoo.
Gather some fresh lavender from your garden and put it in a small herb pouch. Place the pouch inside your sleeping pillow or under your mattress. It will ward off mosquitos and other insects and help you fall asleep faster.
Just as it banishes bugs from your closet, it also banishes pests from the garden. It’s also one of the best companion plants out there, helping many others reach their full potential. It attracts many species of butterflies, including painted ladies, woodland skippers, and tiger swallowtails.
Lavender Sleep Tincture; Lavender Tea for Anxiety; Lavender Oil for Fungal Infections, Acne, Dry and Blotchy Skin, and Psoriasis; Lavender Hair Mask; Lavender Salve for Chapped Lips, Cracked Cuticles, Rough Elbows, and Feet
Echinacea – The Most Powerful Immunity Plant You Should Grow
When it comes to our health, the immune system is king. A strong one might save you even if you’re very sick and have no medicines available. A weak immune system might not, even if you have all the best medicines and doctors by your side. There’s no better plant for taking care of your immune system than echinacea.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking that supplements bought at the health store can even compare with the natural medicines you can make from organic plants you grow yourself. That’s true for all plants but especially for echinacea, which has fallen prey to its own popularity. It is one of the most counterfeited natural supplements out there. So why risk a bad batch that will do little more than a placebo? Better to grow your own patch.
Dig up some echinacea roots and slice them rather thinly. Put them in a pot with water and let everything simmer for 30 minutes. Drink hot for an immune boost at the first sign of a cold or any other illness.
Echinacea helps keep plants moist and prevents weeds from spreading and taking over your backyard pharmacy.
Immune-Stimulating Echinacea Tincture, Antiseptic Mouthwash, Echinacea Tisane, Echinacea Oil for Inflammation, Anti-Germ Skin Salve, Root Decoction for Pains and Aches
Calendula – The Herb You Need to Keep Close During Dark Times
Before I ever came across calendula in my natural practice, I had heard about it from my grandfather. He was always working around the house, tinkering on his projects, and one day he accidentally cut his leg to the bone. Stubborn as he was, he refused to go see a doctor. He tied it with a thick cloth and just poured my grandmother’s calendula extract on it each time he would dress the wound. Believe it or not, it healed in weeks!
I later found out about other uses for this powerful backyard helper. I make a calendula salve to speed up healing and minimize scarring for wounds, scrapes, cuts, sores, burns, and scalds and to deal with all manner of rashes or insect bites. As a tea, calendula does something really unique and important. It moves lymphatic fluid and cleanses your lymphatic system from the mucky remnants of old infections and the metabolic waste we all accumulate over time. This is absolutely vital for continued good health and something no modern drug does, to the best of my knowledge.
During the Civil War, calendula flowers were packed directly into open wounds, and they were used by surgeons when dressing wounds to promote healing and prevent infection.
Calendula helps repel insect pests and benefits the soil by forming active relationships with soil fungi.
Calendula Flower Infused Oil for Most Skin Problems, Calendula Salve to Rub Over Wounds and Scars, Calendula Soak for Itches and Rashes, Calendula Tea for Sore Throat and Mouth Ulcers, Calming Calendula Spray for Burns, Tea for Irritated Eyes and Stomach, Protective Skin Lotion, Calendula Extract for Skin Ulcers and Eczema, Anti-Inflammatory Ice
Feverfew – Nature’s Aspirin for Fevers and Migraines
With feverfew in your backyard, you’ll always have a way to deal with a cold, lower a fever, or fight off migraines. This plant is a powerful anti-inflammatory, and people have used it to deal with inflamed and painful joints. Parthenolide seems to be the plant compound responsible for its medicinal power. The highest concentration of parthenolide is found in the flower heads and leaves, so the easiest way to use this plant is to chew them raw so they release the parthenolide flowing inside.
But it is not the most effective.
In the brochure, I’ll show you exactly how to make the Anti-Migraine Tincture from your backyard feverfew. A few drops in your coffee or tea should be enough for some headaches as well. You’ll also see how an extract from feverfew flowers can prove a potent pain reliever for articular and neuropathic pain.
Chew some of its leaves raw whenever you have a fever or feel a migraine attack is about to strike (very important to use before it does).
Feverfew repels pests, hides other plants from them, and also attracts beneficial insects such as hoverflies and tachinid flies to your garden.
Oil for Inflamed Joints, Natural Insect Repellant, Anti-Migraine Tincture, Salve for Eczema, Rosacea and Acne, Feverfew Tincture, Feverfew Febrifuge Tea, Feverfew Compress for Bruised Skin
What You’ll Find in Your Medicinal Garden Kit
Inside your Medicinal Garden Kit, you’ll find 10 smaller packages with each type of seed. In total you’ll get 2,409 high-quality, NON-GMO seeds packaged right here in the US.
Even if you’ve never planted anything before, you’ll have no trouble growing these 10 plants. You will find details on how to plant, grow, and harvest each one in the free Herbal Medicinal Guide: From Seeds to Remedies that you’ll receive with your Medicinal Garden Kit.
You cannot find these 10 seeds in one package anywhere else. Before I made it, I had been looking for something like this for a long, long time.
BUT, that doesn’t even matter, because you are investing in something much more important: your health! If you want to treat yourself naturally, than this is the medicinal garden you want to have in your backyard.
Don’t take your health for granted like I did. Do not wait for it to deteriorate, to do something about it. One day it might be too late. Click on the button below now to get this amazing medicinal garden in your backyard and start taking care of your health naturally.
Planting a medicinal herb garden will open a new exciting chapter in your life as you discover the healing power of plants. But even so, if you don’t want to plant them now, for any reason, you can keep the seeds for when you feel the time is right.
I know a few people who grabbed three Medicinal Garden Kits each, just to store them in case of a crisis that affects our medical system and the pharmaceutical chains. These Medicinal Garden Kits are perfect for people who want to be more self-reliant and for those who are preparing for the worst of times.
With your Medicinal Garden Kit, you’ll always have one reliable, safe, and completely free natural alternative within easy reach. All these healing plants are good companions for vegetables and fruit trees, but you can also plant them in the front yard as they are very beautiful.
Most of the medicinal herbs found in the kit are perennials that die in the winter and re-emerge in the spring or self-seeding annuals that become well-established after the first year.
So your medicinal garden will keep coming back year after year, without having to replant it. With the kit you are purchasing a lifelong backyard pharmacy.
365 Days Money-Back Guarantee
And because I have such faith in the Medicinal Garden Kit, it comes with a full 365 days money-back guarantee.
But my guess is you’ll never want a refund, because these seeds and the 10 plants they create will end up saving you A LOT more money in the long run than what you’re paying for them today.
So, click on the button below to get your medicinal garden kit, risk free!
I wish you the best on your journey to natural health.
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TORONTO – Health Canada has authorized Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine that protects against currently circulating variants of the virus.
The mRNA vaccine, called Spikevax, has been reformulated to target the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron.
It will replace the previous version of the vaccine that was released a year ago, which targeted the XBB.1.5 subvariant of Omicron.
Health Canada recently asked provinces and territories to get rid of their older COVID-19 vaccines to ensure the most current vaccine will be used during this fall’s respiratory virus season.
Health Canada is also reviewing two other updated COVID-19 vaccines but has not yet authorized them.
They are Pfizer’s Comirnaty, which is also an mRNA vaccine, as well as Novavax’s protein-based vaccine.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
TORONTO – Sanniah Jabeen holds a sonogram of the unborn baby she lost after contracting listeria last December. Beneath, it says “love at first sight.”
Jabeen says she believes she and her baby were poisoned by a listeria outbreak linked to some plant-based milks and wants answers. An investigation continues into the recall declared July 8 of several Silk and Great Value plant-based beverages.
“I don’t even have the words. I’m still processing that,” Jabeen says of her loss. She was 18 weeks pregnant when she went into preterm labour.
The first infection linked to the recall was traced back to August 2023. One year later on Aug. 12, 2024, the Public Health Agency of Canada said three people had died and 20 were infected.
The number of cases is likely much higher, says Lawrence Goodridge, Canada Research Chair in foodborne pathogen dynamics at the University of Guelph: “For every person known, generally speaking, there’s typically 20 to 25 or maybe 30 people that are unknown.”
The case count has remained unchanged over the last month, but the Public Health Agency of Canada says it won’t declare the outbreak over until early October because of listeria’s 70-day incubation period and the reporting delays that accompany it.
Danone Canada’s head of communications said in an email Wednesday that the company is still investigating the “root cause” of the outbreak, which has been linked to a production line at a Pickering, Ont., packaging facility.
Pregnant people, adults over 60, and those with weakened immune systems are most at risk of becoming sick with severe listeriosis. If the infection spreads to an unborn baby, Health Canada says it can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth or life-threatening illness in a newborn.
The Canadian Press spoke to 10 people, from the parents of a toddler to an 89-year-old senior, who say they became sick with listeria after drinking from cartons of plant-based milk stamped with the recalled product code. Here’s a look at some of their experiences.
Sanniah Jabeen, 32, Toronto
Jabeen says she regularly drank Silk oat and almond milk in smoothies while pregnant, and began vomiting seven times a day and shivering at night in December 2023. She had “the worst headache of (her) life” when she went to the emergency room on Dec. 15.
“I just wasn’t functioning like a normal human being,” Jabeen says.
Told she was dehydrated, Jabeen was given fluids and a blood test and sent home. Four days later, she returned to hospital.
“They told me that since you’re 18 weeks, there’s nothing you can do to save your baby,” says Jabeen, who moved to Toronto from Pakistan five years ago.
Jabeen later learned she had listeriosis and an autopsy revealed her baby was infected, too.
“It broke my heart to read that report because I was just imagining my baby drinking poisoned amniotic fluid inside of me. The womb is a place where your baby is supposed to be the safest,” Jabeen said.
Jabeen’s case is likely not included in PHAC’s count. Jabeen says she was called by Health Canada and asked what dairy and fresh produce she ate – foods more commonly associated with listeria – but not asked about plant-based beverages.
She’s pregnant again, and is due in several months. At first, she was scared to eat, not knowing what caused the infection during her last pregnancy.
“Ever since I learned about the almond, oat milk situation, I’ve been feeling a bit better knowing that it wasn’t something that I did. It was something else that caused it. It wasn’t my fault,” Jabeen said.
She’s since joined a proposed class action lawsuit launched by LPC Avocates against the manufacturers and sellers of Silk and Great Value plant-based beverages. The lawsuit has not yet been certified by a judge.
Natalie Grant and her seven year-old daughter, Bowmanville, Ont.
Natalie Grant says she was in a hospital waiting room when she saw a television news report about the recall. She wondered if the dark chocolate almond milk her daughter drank daily was contaminated.
She had brought the girl to hospital because she was vomiting every half hour, constantly on the toilet with diarrhea, and had severe pain in her abdomen.
“I’m definitely thinking that this is a pretty solid chance that she’s got listeria at this point because I knew she had all the symptoms,” Grant says of seeing the news report.
Once her daughter could hold fluids, they went home and Grant cross-checked the recalled product code – 7825 – with the one on her carton. They matched.
“I called the emerg and I said I’m pretty confident she’s been exposed,” Grant said. She was told to return to the hospital if her daughter’s symptoms worsened. An hour and a half later, her fever spiked, the vomiting returned, her face flushed and her energy plummeted.
Grant says they were sent to a hospital in Ajax, Ont. and stayed two weeks while her daughter received antibiotics four times a day until she was discharged July 23.
“Knowing that my little one was just so affected and how it affected us as a family alone, there’s a bitterness left behind,” Grant said. She’s also joined the proposed class action.
Thelma Feldman, 89, Toronto
Thelma Feldman says she regularly taught yoga to friends in her condo building before getting sickened by listeria on July 2. Now, she has a walker and her body aches. She has headaches and digestive problems.
“I’m kind of depressed,” she says.
“It’s caused me a lot of physical and emotional pain.”
Much of the early days of her illness are a blur. She knows she boarded an ambulance with profuse diarrhea on July 2 and spent five days at North York General Hospital. Afterwards, she remembers Health Canada officials entering her apartment and removing Silk almond milk from her fridge, and volunteers from a community organization giving her sponge baths.
“At my age, 89, I’m not a kid anymore and healing takes longer,” Feldman says.
“I don’t even feel like being with people. I just sit at home.”
Jasmine Jiles and three-year-old Max, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, Que.
Jasmine Jiles says her three-year-old son Max came down with flu-like symptoms and cradled his ears in what she interpreted as a sign of pain, like the one pounding in her own head, around early July.
When Jiles heard about the recall soon after, she called Danone Canada, the plant-based milk manufacturer, to find out if their Silk coconut milk was in the contaminated batch. It was, she says.
“My son is very small, he’s very young, so I asked what we do in terms of overall monitoring and she said someone from the company would get in touch within 24 to 48 hours,” Jiles says from a First Nations reserve near Montreal.
“I never got a call back. I never got an email”
At home, her son’s fever broke after three days, but gas pains stuck with him, she says. It took a couple weeks for him to get back to normal.
“In hindsight, I should have taken him (to the hospital) but we just tried to see if we could nurse him at home because wait times are pretty extreme,” Jiles says, “and I don’t have child care at the moment.”
Joseph Desmond, 50, Sydney, N.S.
Joseph Desmond says he suffered a seizure and fell off his sofa on July 9. He went to the emergency room, where they ran an electroencephalogram (EEG) test, and then returned home. Within hours, he had a second seizure and went back to hospital.
His third seizure happened the next morning while walking to the nurse’s station.
In severe cases of listeriosis, bacteria can spread to the central nervous system and cause seizures, according to Health Canada.
“The last two months have really been a nightmare,” says Desmond, who has joined the proposed lawsuit.
When he returned home from the hospital, his daughter took a carton of Silk dark chocolate almond milk out of the fridge and asked if he had heard about the recall. By that point, Desmond says he was on his second two-litre carton after finishing the first in June.
“It was pretty scary. Terrifying. I honestly thought I was going to die.”
Cheryl McCombe, 63, Haliburton, Ont.
The morning after suffering a second episode of vomiting, feverish sweats and diarrhea in the middle of the night in early July, Cheryl McCombe scrolled through the news on her phone and came across the recall.
A few years earlier, McCombe says she started drinking plant-based milks because it seemed like a healthier choice to splash in her morning coffee. On June 30, she bought two cartons of Silk cashew almond milk.
“It was on the (recall) list. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I got listeria,’” McCombe says. She called her doctor’s office and visited an urgent care clinic hoping to get tested and confirm her suspicion, but she says, “I was basically shut down at the door.”
Public Health Ontario does not recommend listeria testing for infected individuals with mild symptoms unless they are at risk of developing severe illness, such as people who are immunocompromised, elderly, pregnant or newborn.
“No wonder they couldn’t connect the dots,” she adds, referencing that it took close to a year for public health officials to find the source of the outbreak.
“I am a woman in my 60s and sometimes these signs are of, you know, when you’re vomiting and things like that, it can be a sign in women of a bigger issue,” McCombe says. She was seeking confirmation that wasn’t the case.
Disappointed, with her stomach still feeling off, she says she decided to boost her gut health with probiotics. After a couple weeks she started to feel like herself.
But since then, McCombe says, “I’m back on Kawartha Dairy cream in my coffee.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
VANCOUVER – Mayors and other leaders from several British Columbia communities say the provincial and federal governments need to take “immediate action” to tackle mental health and public safety issues that have reached crisis levels.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says it’s become “abundantly clear” that mental health and addiction issues and public safety have caused crises that are “gripping” Vancouver, and he and other politicians, First Nations leaders and law enforcement officials are pleading for federal and provincial help.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier David Eby, mayors say there are “three critical fronts” that require action including “mandatory care” for people with severe mental health and addiction issues.
The letter says senior governments also need to bring in “meaningful bail reform” for repeat offenders, and the federal government must improve policing at Metro Vancouver ports to stop illicit drugs from coming in and stolen vehicles from being exported.
Sim says the “current system” has failed British Columbians, and the number of people dealing with severe mental health and addiction issues due to lack of proper care has “reached a critical point.”
Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer says repeat violent offenders are too often released on bail due to a “revolving door of justice,” and a new approach is needed to deal with mentally ill people who “pose a serious and immediate danger to themselves and others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
