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Victoria family focuses on 'letting go, enjoying time together' after dad gets dementia – Surrey Now-Leader

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When Walter Strauss, a certified accountant — who with his wife, had spent years creating a magazine with over a million subscribers — started to have trouble with numbers his family knew something was wrong.

“Nobody wanted to believe it, but something wasn’t right,” says Strauss’s daughter, Helga. The family ended up moving back to Canada from the Bahamas to be closer to family. It wasn’t until a year later, in 2018, when Strauss received a formal diagnosis after a long process of tests.

That’s how dementia starts to present itself in people says Tara Speirs with the Alzheimer Society of B.C.

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“All of us from time to time forget things,” she says, adding it’s more significant forgetfulness that can be indicative of the disease. “[For example] the person who always starts their day by making coffee and wakes up one morning [not knowing] how to work the coffee maker.”

READ ALSO: Video guide on dealing with dementia snags Island Health two awards

Speirs facilitates a fitness and social program for people living with early-stage dementia and their care partners called Minds in Motion, where she met Strauss.

“When I approached Walter about being a spokesperson for the campaign, he thought about it and the first thing he said to me was ‘Can I tell people I don’t want them to tell me to fight it? I just want to be me’,” says Speirs.

It’s one of the biggest messages the Strauss and Speirs want to share with the public during Alzheimer’s Awareness Month — just because you’ve been diagnosed with the disease, doesn’t mean you can no longer live well.

Since Strauss’s diagnosis, he’s developed an interest in music and even takes line dancing classes in addition to the Minds in Motion class. Helga has learned she can’t correct Strauss when he forgets something and says it’s become about “letting go and enjoying their time together.”’

One in four Canadians surveyed say they would feel ashamed or embarrassed if they had dementia, which is what spurred the need for the Alzheimer Society’s new campaign: I live with dementia, let me help you understand.

Speirs explains there are many kinds of dementia, but says the thing they all have in common is the brain cells and neuropathways in people living with the disease, are dying. The cause of dementia is unknown, with only a small portion of the population diagnosed with the genetic disease Alzheimer’s.

READ ALSO: 6 myths people still believe about dementia

According to the Alzheimer Society, more than half a million people in Canada are living with dementia today, with many more family members who provide care affected as well. Research shows that in the next 12 years, nearly a million Canadians will be living with dementia.

One of the biggest factors leading to the stigmatization of dementia, says Speirs, is how isolating it can be once you’ve been diagnosed. For the first half of the Minds in Motion class, a fitness instructor leads participants in 45 minutes of seated exercise, but the last 45 minutes are focused on connection.

Speirs leads the group in conversation focusing on seasonal topics, most recently the theme was what winter and the holidays were like during the participants’ youth. Another favorite is music bingo with songs from the 1950s.

“I’ve been doing this job for four years, and it’s really difficult to see the disease progressing,” says Spiers. “It’s not a nice disease, and it’s a really cruel reality so we just try to maintain quality of life for as long as possible because there is no cure.”

Minds in Motion is run out of six recreation centers across Greater Victoria, for more information on the program visit bit.ly/2FX5QgZ.

The Alzheimer Society also offers many other support services for those living with dementia and their care partners, such as an outreach call system, a first link dementia helpline — which offers services in Cantonese, Punjabi and Mandarin — along with support groups. For more information on the Society visit alzheimer.ca/en/bc .



kendra.crighton@blackpress.ca

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Measles case reported locally turns out to be negative: health unit

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NEWS RELEASE
SIMCOE MUSKOKA DISTRICT HEALTH UNIT
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On March 26, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) was notified by Public Health Ontario’s (PHO) laboratory that due to laboratory error, the case of measles that had been lab-confirmed positive on March 12, based on symptoms and a positive urine measles laboratory result by PHO’s laboratory, is in fact negative for the measles virus.

“With this new information of the negative lab result, we believe that that individual was not infected with measles and that there has not been any public exposure to measles resulting from this individual’s illness,” said Dr. Charles Gardner, medical officer of health. “We recognize that notifying the public of what we believed to be a positive measles case in our area created worry, anxiety and disruption for some, and we regret this.

“We do know that, despite best efforts, on rare occasions laboratory errors can occur. We are working closely with the PHO’s laboratory to do all that we can to ensure that such an incident does not occur again.”

Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that spreads very easily through airborne transmission. The measles virus can live in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours.

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Symptoms of measles begin seven to 21 days after exposure and include fever, runny nose, cough, drowsiness, and red eyes. Small white spots appear on the inside of the mouth and throat but are not always present. Three to seven days after symptoms begin, a red, blotchy rash appears on the face and then progresses down the body.

The risk of transmission to those vaccinated with two doses is low, and when it does occur tends to show a reduction in the severity of these symptoms.

“Although we are relieved for the individual involved, and for all Simcoe-Muskoka residents, that this case has now been confirmed as negative, we know that measles is still active in Ontario at this time and the potential remains for new cases to arise, especially given the increase in Ontarians travelling to areas in the world that have higher numbers of measles cases,” said Dr. Gardner. “This is why we continue to advise individuals to keep up to date with their routine immunizations, including measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination.”

The risk of measles is low for people who have been fully immunized with two doses of measles vaccine or those born before 1970; however, many children have been delayed in receiving their routine childhood immunizations and people who have not had two doses of measles vaccine are at higher risk of contracting the disease.

People who do get sick usually recover without treatment, but measles can be more severe for infants, pregnant women, and those with compromised immune systems. Possible complications include middle-ear infections, pneumonia, diarrhea, or encephalitis (swelling of the brain) and occasionally death in the very young. Even individuals who are up to date with the measles vaccine should watch for symptoms of measles for 21 days after exposure.

For more information about measles, please visit smdhu.org or call Health Connection at 705-721-7520 or 1-877-721-7520, Monday to Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to speak with a public health professional.

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Kate Middleton Not Alone. Cancer On Rise For People Under 50, Say Experts

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Kate Middleton revealed on Friday that her cancer was discovered after she received abdominal surgery

London:

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When Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed she was being treated for cancer last week, part of the shock was that an otherwise healthy 42-year-old has a disease that mostly plagues older people.

However, researchers have been increasingly sounding the alarm that more and more people under 50 are getting cancer — and no one knows why.

Across the world, the rate of under-50s diagnosed with 29 common cancers surged by nearly 80 percent between 1990 and 2019, a large study in BMJ Oncology found last year.

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The researchers predicted the number of new cancer cases among younger adults will rise another 30 percent by the end of this decade, with wealthy countries particularly affected.

The increase in cases — and soaring global population — means that the number of deaths among under 50s from cancer has risen by nearly 28 percent over the last 30 years.

This occurred even as the odds of people of all ages surviving cancer have roughly doubled over the last half century.

Shivan Sivakumar, a cancer researcher at the UK’s University of Birmingham, called it an “epidemic” of young adult cancer.

Since Kate Middleton revealed on Friday that her cancer was discovered after she received abdominal surgery earlier this year, Sivakumar and other doctors have spoken out about the uptick in younger cancer patients they have been seeing at their clinics.

While breast cancer remains the most common for people under 50, the researchers expressed particular concern about the rise of gastrointestinal cancers — such as of the colon, pancreas, liver and oesophagus — in younger adults.

Colon cancer is now the leading cause of cancer deaths in men under 50 in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. For women, it is number two — behind only breast cancer.

One high profile case of colorectal cancer was “Black Panther” actor Chadwick Boseman, who died at the age of 43 in 2020.

Why is this happening?

“We just don’t have the evidence yet” to say exactly what is causing this rise, Sivakumar told AFP, adding it was likely a combination of factors.

Helen Coleman, a cancer epidemiology professor at Queen’s University Belfast who has studied early onset cancer in Northern Ireland, told AFP there were two potential explanations.

One is that people in their 40s were exposed to factors known to cause cancer — such tobacco smoke, alcohol or being obese — at an earlier age than previous generations.

She pointed out that the “obesity epidemic” did not start until the 1980s.

Sivakumar felt that at least part of the puzzle could be explained by obesity.

However, there is “another wave” of under-50 patients who are neither obese nor genetically predisposed still getting cancer, he emphasised, adding that this could not be put down to “statistical chance”.

The other theory, Coleman said, is that “something different” has been going on with her generation.

Fingers have been pointed out a range of possible culprits — including chemicals, new drugs and microplastics — but none have been proven.

Some have suggested that so-called ultra-processed foods could be to blame. “But there’s very little data to back any of that up,” Coleman said.

Another theory is that the food we eat could be changing our gut microbiome.

While there is nothing conclusive yet, Coleman said her own research suggested that cancer causes changes to the microbiome, not the other way around.

Anti-vaxx conspiracy theorists have even tried to blame Covid-19 vaccines.

This is easily disproven, because the rise in young adult cancer has taken place over decades, but the vaccines have only been around for a few years.

What can be done?

To address the rise in younger colorectal cancer, in 2021 the US lowered the recommended age for screening to 45. Other countries have yet to follow suit.

But the researchers hoped that Catherine’s experience would remind people at home that they should consult their doctor if they sense anything is wrong.

“People know their bodies really well,” Sivakumar said.

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“If you really feel that something isn’t right, don’t delay — just get yourself checked out.”

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Almost 3,000 students suspended in Waterloo Region over immunization issues

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Close to 3,000 children attending elementary school across Waterloo Region were suspended from school on Wednesday morning for not having up-to-date immunization records.

The region says Waterloo Public Health suspended 2,969 students under the Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA).

For several months, the region has been campaigning for people to get their children’s vaccinations up to date, including sending letters home to parents on a couple of occasions, warning that students’ records needed to be up to date or they would be suspended.

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It announced in January that 32,000 students did not have up-to-date records: 22,000 elementary students and 10,000 high school students.


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“We have made remarkable progress from the original 27,567 immunization notices we sent to parents in November and December 2023,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health, stated.

“Since that time, we have resolved more than 24,500 outdated vaccination records, providing students with valuable protection against these serious and preventable diseases.”

The high school students still have a few weeks to get their records up to date or else face suspension.

The ISPA requires students to have proof-of-vaccination records for diphtheria, polio, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox) and meningitis, which must be on file with public health.

Public health says caregivers whose children are suspended will need to book an appointment at regionofwaterloo.ca/vaccines for clinics, which will be held in Cambridge and Waterloo on weekdays.

“Given the high number of suspensions, it may take several days before you can be seen at an appointment and return your child to school,” a release from the region warns.

“Record submission and questions must be done in person to ensure immediate resolution.”

The last time suspensions over immunizations were issued was in 2019, when 1,032 students were suspended.

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