On Wednesday (July 14), 6,539 shots were given out, while 7,582 doses were administered on Tuesday (July 13).
There have been 150,148 immunizations handed out at primary-care offices and pharmacies across the region since early April.
More than 81.2 per cent of the eligible 18-plus population has received one dose.
A total of 267,405 individuals have received their second doses. Currently, 57.2 per cent of the eligible 18+ population are fully vaccinated against the virus.
About 94.7 per cent of retirement home and long-term care residents and 65.1 per cent of staff have received both shots.
The doses administered may include health-care staff and essential workers who work in Waterloo region, but do not live locally.
Region of Waterloo public health updates its COVID-19 vaccine dashboard Monday to Friday at 1:30 p.m., with data as current as 5 p.m. the previous day.
ONTARIO VACCINE ROLLOUT
Here are some key developments in the vaccine rollout in Waterloo Region:
JULY 7
The vaccination clinic at Bingemans is offering 20,000 extra appointments this weekend, dubbed by the region as “Every Dose Counts” weekend. Appointments are now available between 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. for Saturday and Sunday. Walk-ins are welcome for first doses. Residents can book an appointment on the region’s website for a first or second dose of the vaccine.
JULY 5
Ontario youth aged 12-17 can start booking accelerated second doses of their vaccines as of 8 a.m. through the provincial booking portal, health units and pharmacies. Tweens and teens in that age group are eligible for Pfizer-BioNTech shots, the only vaccine approved for use in youth in Canada. The development comes as the government works to boost immunization rates before school resumes in September.
JULY 2
Starting July 4, Waterloo Region will open the first drive-through vaccination clinic at Bingemans amusement park in Kitchener. Cambridge Pinebush vaccination clinic is also offering a late-night clinic that runs until midnight, as well as increased appointment
JUNE 30
Starting on July 1, the Region of Waterloo will offer first-dose walk-ins during all operating hours at any of the local vaccination clinics. Residents must be 12 years or older at the time of vaccination and are asked to bring their Ontario health card, or another piece of identification. Youth 12-17 can only attend a clinic offering the Pfizer vaccine.
JUNE 22
Waterloo Region is launching a self-serve COVID-19 vaccine booking system on June 23, allowing residents to schedule their own appointments at a public vaccination clinic instead of waiting to be contacted by the region to book. Anyone 12 and older can book their first-dose appointment or reschedule second doses (if eligible) at RegionofWaterloo.ca/VaccineBook.
The Ontario government announced on June 10 that second-dose vaccinations will be accelerated in some parts of Ontario, including Guelph and Waterloo Region, in an effort to stem the growth of the Delta variant.
MAY 31
On May 31, the province announced that long-term care homes are now required to have COVID-19 immunization policies for staff. The policies must include minimum requirements and be fully implemented by July 1, according to a press release.
MAY 28
On May, 28, the Ontario government announced that 65 per cent of eligible individuals aged 18 and over have received one COVID-19 vaccine dose. As a result, the province said in a press release it is rolling out second doses ahead of schedule, starting with adults over the age of 80 on May 31.
MAY 18
On May 18, the province opened up vaccine booking to all Ontarians over the age of 18. Youth between the ages of 12 and 17 are expected to become eligible to book appointments on May 31.
MAY 11
On May 11, public health made changes to its dashboard, now disclosing the number of doses the region has received up to May 5. Previously, public health said this data could not be provided for security reasons.
The region announced on May 3 that anyone over the age of 18 in certain high-priority neighbourhoods can now register for the vaccine. The neighbourhoods are: Country Hills, Vanier/Rockway, Alpine/Laurentian, Victoria Hills/Cherry Hill in Kitchener; Shades Mills in Cambridge; and Columbia/Lakeshore in Waterloo.
APRIL 23
After speaking with the province on April 23, task force head WRPS Deputy Chief Shirley Hilton confirmed that all pregnant individuals are now eligible to register for vaccination appointments under the highest-risk category.
APRIL 20
On April 20, the Langs vaccination site at 1145 Concession Rd. in Cambridge began immunizing all those eligible for a vaccine. Previously, the clinic only vaccinated those aged 80 or over.
APRIL 15
Public health added pharmacy vaccinations to its task force dashboard on April 15. A technical glitch prevented regional public health from tracking those shots, which first started being distributed on April 3.
The region announced it is opening two more vaccination sites to serve the public on Thursday, April 8. As of April 8, the one at 421 Greenbrook Dr. in Kitchener is already doling out doses. On April 13, a Langs satellite site will open in Ayr’s North Dumfries Community Health Centre at 2958 Greenfield Rd.
APRIL 6
The Ontario government announced on April 6 that it will be officially starting Phase 2 of the province’s vaccine rollout. This phase includes highest-risk individuals such as organ transplant recipients, some people with neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis and essential caregivers. Other high-priority groups in this phase include some people with high-risk health conditions and their caregivers, those that live and work in congregate settings, and certain workers who cannot work from home like school staff and food manufacturing workers.
A vaccine clinic is being held at Anishnabeg Outreach (236 Woodhaven Rd. in Kitchener) for First Nations, Métis and Inuit residents of Waterloo region. Another clinic is planned for March 24-25 at the region’s administrative building (150 Frederick St.).
MARCH 19
Task force head WRPS Deputy Chief Shirley Hilton confirmed during a news conference that Phase 1 of the vaccine rollout will be completed by the end of March.
MARCH 15
A public vaccine clinic was expected to open at 10 Victoria St. S. in Kitchener on March 15. That same day, a vaccination clinic was slated to open in Wellesley at 3710 Nafziger Rd., Unit A.
MARCH 12
An interim vaccination site opened on March 12 at the Langs Community Health Centre in Cambridge. The former RONA store in Cambridge (66 Pinebush Rd.) is slated to open as an immunization site the week of March 22.
MARCH 10
Following national immunization guidelines, the province decided to extend the time interval between first and second doses to 16 weeks, or about four months. From March 10 onward, Waterloo region residents will have their second shots booked 16 weeks after their first immunization. However, residents of long-term-care and retirement homes will continue to get followup shots after 21 days.
MARCH 4
The region’s second COVID-19 vaccination site opened at 465 The Boardwalk in Waterloo, which is dedicated to the 80-plus population.
FEB. 25
According to the region, dose numbers unable to to be pulled from the vaccine inventory system between Feb. 25 and March 1, due to a technical error.
RELATED STORIES
FEB. 19
WRPS Deputy Chief Shirley Hilton, who is leading the region’s vaccine task force, said the provincial Health Ministry released clarifications to its framework. Health-care workers listed in Phase 1, will now be prioritized in groups, ranging from highest to medium priority staff. Adult over 80 years of age have been moved from Phase 2 to Phase 1.
FEB. 8
The vaccination clinic at Grand River Hospital was expected to reopen, prioritizing second doses. First doses were planned to resume the following week.
Jan. 23 marked a year since Canada’s first known COVID-19 case, a 56-year-old patient at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. As of Monday, Canada has seen just under 750,000 positive virus tests, affecting nearly two per cent of the population since last year.
JAN. 20
The region’s COVID-19 vaccine task force announced that two new vaccination sites are planned to open soon, alongside the clinic at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener.
“We are acquiring two other sites in the region,” WRPS Deputy Chief Shirley Hilton told regional council on Jan. 20. “One will be in the north and then one will be closer to the south end of the region.” However, the deputy chief did not disclose the locations of the new sites, as agreements have not yet been signed.
JAN. 15
The Grand River Hospital vaccine clinic closed temporarily from Jan. 15 to Jan. 18 to focus on immunizing long-term-care and seniors’ home residents. Hilton said last week that supply concerns made the pause necessary.
“Our biggest hiccup right now is working with an unknown supply, or not being in a position to know further in advance as to what we might be getting,” Hilton said during a news conference on Jan. 15.
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.
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.
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.
