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"Just over 300 calls a day": HealthLine 811 celebrates two decades in Saskatchewan

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Just last year, the Healthline 811 team received 119,254 calls, an average of about 300 calls a day. Just as important today as during its inception, the important tele-service celebrated two decades of medical assistance in Saskatchewan through an emailed release.

Healthline 811 works to provide a stronger access to health-care support across Saskatchewan, helping reduce non-emergency visits to ERs and walk-in clinics in the process. Of their calls noted for 2022, about 30 per cent concerned youth under 19 years of age, leading to 473 referrals to the maternal wellness program, an effort that supports women experiencing post-partum depression.

These services have been expanded over the years to meet the ever-changing healthcare needs of Saskatchewan residents. They added a mental health and addictions line in 2006, a maternal wellness program in 2013, and this summer, the expansion of virtual physician (VP) program to support Emergency Department stabilization in rural areas according to the release.

The 811 team has come a long ways since their first phone call in 2003. Now the team of over 100 registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, and registered social workers work together to answer Saskatchewan residents’ calls for health support and advice.

“Since its inception, HealthLine 811 staff have played a pivotal role in health emergencies, including the West Nile and Avian flu outbreaks in 2004, H1N1 in 2009, Zika virus in 2017 and COVID-19 pandemic. Technological advancements in infrastructure and specialized training to adapt to the latest emerging health-care concerns have allowed staff to provide focused support Saskatchewan residents.”

The confidential 24-hour support telephone line is available to Saskatchewan people in English, with translation available in over 100 languages, including for those who are deaf and hard of hearing according to the release.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority shared a special PSA through their website, which can be viewed here.

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The US is mailing Americans COVID tests again. Here’s how to get them

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans can once again order COVID-19 tests, without being charged, sent straight to their homes.

The U.S. government reopened the program on Thursday, allowing any household to order up to four at-home COVID nasal swab kits through the website, covidtests.gov. The tests will begin shipping, via the United States Postal Service, as soon as next week.

The website has been reopened on the heels of a summer COVID-19 virus wave and heading into the fall and winter respiratory virus season, with health officials urging Americans to get an updated COVID-19 booster and their yearly flu shot.

“Before you visit with your family and friends this holiday season, take a quick test and help keep them safe from COVID-19,” U.S. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell said in a statement.

U.S. regulators approved an updated COVID-19 vaccine that is designed to combat the recent virus strains and, they hope, forthcoming winter ones, too. Vaccine uptake is waning, however. Most Americans have some immunity from prior infections or vaccinations, but under a quarter of U.S. adults took last fall’s COVID-19 shot.

Using the swab, people can detect current virus strains ahead of the fall and winter respiratory virus season and the holidays. Over-the-counter COVID-19 at-home tests typically cost around $11, as of last year. Insurers are no longer required to cover the cost of the tests.

Before using any existing at-home COVID-19 tests, you should check the expiration date. Many of the tests have been given an extended expiration from the date listed on the box. You can check on the Food and Drug Administration’s website to see if that’s the case for any of your remaining tests at home.

Since COVID-19 first began its spread in 2020, U.S. taxpayers have poured billions of dollars into developing and purchasing COVID-19 tests as well as vaccines. The Biden administration has given out 1.8 billion COVID-19 tests, including half distributed to households by mail. It’s unclear how many tests the government still has on hand.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Free COVID tests are back. Here’s how to order a test to your home

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans can once again order free COVID-19 tests sent straight to their homes.

The U.S. government reopened the program on Thursday, allowing any household to order up to four at-home COVID nasal swab kits through the website, covidtests.gov. The tests will begin shipping, via the United States Postal Service, as soon as next week.

The website has been reopened on the heels of a summer COVID-19 virus wave and heading into the fall and winter respiratory virus season, with health officials urging Americans to get an updated COVID-19 booster and their yearly flu shot.

U.S. regulators approved an updated COVID-19 vaccine that is designed to combat the recent virus strains and, they hope, forthcoming winter ones, too. Vaccine uptake is waning, however. Most Americans have some immunity from prior infections or vaccinations, but under a quarter of U.S. adults took last fall’s COVID-19 shot.

Using the swab, people can detect current virus strains ahead of the fall and winter respiratory virus season and the holidays. Over-the-counter COVID-19 at-home tests typically cost around $11, as of last year. Insurers are no longer required to cover the cost of the tests.

Since COVID-19 first began its spread in 2020, U.S. taxpayers have poured billions of dollars into developing and purchasing COVID-19 tests as well as vaccines. The Biden administration has given out 1.8 billion COVID-19 tests, including half distributed to households by mail. It’s unclear how many tests the government still has on hand.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Disability rights groups launching Charter challenge against MAID law

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TORONTO – A coalition of disability rights groups says it is launching a Charter challenge against a part of Canada’s law on medical assistance in dying.

The group, which also includes two individual plaintiffs, argues that what’s known as track two of the MAID law has resulted in premature deaths.

Under the law, patients whose natural deaths are not reasonably foreseeable but whose condition leads to intolerable suffering can apply for a track-two assisted death.

The coalition says track two of the MAID law has had a direct effect on the lives of people with disabilities and argues medically assisted death should only be available to those whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable.

The executive vice-president of Inclusion Canada – which is part of the coalition – says there has been an alarming trend where people with disabilities are seeking assisted death due to social deprivation, poverty and a lack of essential supports.

Krista Carr says those individuals should instead be supported in order to live better lives.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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