I ran across an article on the CNN Money site this morning about health clinics at Wal Mart. Here in Canada we have a nationalized health care system that does not allow any kind of a third party in the market instead of using doctors offices but now more and more doctors are opeing up storefronts that allow people to go to the clinic and it just works as a doctors office that allows walk in patients.

This has become crucial to delivering health care in Alberta anyway, as the emergency rooms in hospitals have not been able to keep up and many people are forced to wait 10 hours or more just to get treated.

I have not had much opportunity to go to the hospital emergency room as we usually take our kids to one of these clinics or else our family doctor. Anyway her are some of the points that are being made in the CNN article.

Americans, frustrated by endless waits at the doctor’s office, are sidestepping their family physician and taking their rashes, strep throat and pink eye to stores such as Wal-Mart and Walgreens instead.

As this trend gains more traction, experts say it could define the market for primary care. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: Alberta, Canada, chairwoman, CNN, Columbia, Columbia University's School of Public Health, family physician, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Jonathan Weiner, professor of health policy, professor of health policy and management, retail clinics, Sherry Glied, United States, Wal-Mart

I have gotten a flu shot every year for the last 6 years or so to protect myself from getting the flu. Now a study has been released saying that the chance of dying from the flu is not reduced by getting the shot. I for one do not get the shot to save myself from death but instead to just not have that few weeks of possible downtime from getting a bad flu.

Still this is interesting, if people get vaccinated against the flu then why does in not lower fly deaths? Is this becasue the worst of the strains are not protected against?

The flu shot does help protect against specific strains of influenza but its ability to help prevent deaths among the elderly may have been exaggerated, a new study suggests.

Over the last 20 years in the U.S., vaccination rates among the elderly have increased from 15 to 65 per cent, but hospital admissions and death rates from all causes have not declined proportionately, said Dean Eurich, a clinical epidemiologist and professor at the school of public health at the University of Alberta. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alberta, Dean Eurich, flu season, flu shots, immunizations, influenza, mortality rates, pneumonia, principal investigator and a medical professor, professor, Sumit Majumdar, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, United States, University of Alberta, vaccination, vaccination rates

Eating before or after a workout is one of the most important determinants to whether you perform at the peak of your ability and recover from the workout as best as possible. There is a lot of science behind exercise and eating and in this article, I found this article in a magazine at a hockey rink a couple of weeks ago and could not believe how great it was, thanks to the Calgary minor Hockey Association we can tell you exactly how to eat. Following this pregame and postgame eating should make your workouts better and your performance better as well.

THE PREGAME MEAL

What you eat each day can have a big effect on how you perform. What you consume right before a game can be critical. Wrong choices can slow you down and even take you out of the game, while right choices can give you that competitive edge. The pregame meal can supply your body with significant amounts of energy, although don’t rely on it to supply you with everything you’re going to need. You’ll want to have eaten the right kinds of food for several days prior to your game to charge up your muscles with glycogen. Your body converts food into glycogen – the key energy source your muscles use during intense physical activity such as hockey. The pre-event meal can help with the following; Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alberta, competition eating, dehydration, diarrhea, eating exercise, energy, fat dairy products, fatigue, food, food choices, food remaining, hockey, Illinois, key energy, nausea, postgame meal, pregame meal, registered dietitian, Sport Medicine Council of Alberta, sports drinks, sports performance, the Calgary minor Hockey Association, University of Illinois, vomiting

On the weekend I had a chance to see Michael Moores movie Sicko. Sicko as everyone no knows is a documentary that looks at some people that are on underinsured health plans and compares them to regular folk in other countries. I am a Canadian so I can answer a little to the Canadian experience but of course I do not know much about the other countries that Michael Moore went to.

First of all in Canada it is important to know that the federal government sets up rules as to what kind of care needs to be accessible to everyone in the country, this is known as the Canada Health Act. Care is not actually delivered by the federal government but instead is delivered by provincial governments across the country. This is where the fighting goes on with the provinces saying that the federal government does not give enough money and the Federal government mandating services that the provinces must provide. The system is huge and although there is a level of bureaucracy, I have always heard that the amount is very small on a per capita basis compared to the US, also of course the system is not for profit since it is run by the two levels of government…I am sure though that some money filters out through slippery hands though.

Anyway that is how Canada funds our socialized health care system, how about the care itself? In Canada you can choose your doctor and my family doctor will get me in on the same day if I have a real problem or a few days later if I just have some aches and pains I want to talk with him about. If there is a real emergency there are many walk in clinics around the city that I can go to instead of my family doctor where the wait would be 30 minutes to an hour. For real emergencies like stitches or broken bones you need to go to a hospital and the wait times in the emergency room of the hospital can be bad with people waiting up to 12hours for treatment. This is a horrible reality across Canada with levels of government working to address the problem. The other problem is with MRI or other specialized treatment which can have long wait times as well of up to a few months. Almost no one dies to my knowledge from waiting for treatment but it is bad in some cases having to wait a long time for surgery or for testing.

Cost is one issue that is always swept under the rug for Canadian health care. Even though the standard of care in universal, almost all provinces have no monthly premiums for health care except unbelievably Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, these are the three richest provinces in Canada and are also the only places where people pay a monthly health care premium. The premiums are about $20-$55 per person per month.

The Canada Health Act and the provinces do not cover prescriptions, eyeglasses or dental care but most everything else is covered including childbirth and even vasectomies as well as other day surgeries.

In talking to most Canadians you will find that most people are in favor of the system that we have. People always want to see better service but that of course would cost more money. The way that we in Canada really see the difference between our system and the American system is really seen when you go to the dentist. It costs a fortune to get a filling but if you get hit by a car and need surgery you pay nothing. So after watching Sicko I must say that Michael Moore may have exaggerated a little on the speed of service and coverage that Canadians get for health care but it was pretty well on the mark. I would love to see how the Brits, Cubans and the French feel about the way that their health care systems were profiled.

Tags: aches, Alberta, British Columbia, Canada, day surgeries, dentist, federal government, health care systems, Michael Moore, Michael Moores, MRI, Ontario, Sicko, surgery, the Brits, United States, USD, vasectomies

Well, winter is going to be kicking in here in Alberta soon enough. I have been riding my bike still and now this week is great but the weekend does not seem so good. This winter I will be riding a stationary bike that is sitting in the bedroom and has been collecting dust over the summer. After I wipe down the bike, I am looking forward to watching some movies this winter while getting nice long leisurely workouts or as a change of pace nice short hard workouts while watching sitcoms on the bike. In thinking about this I found the following article about the benefits of riding a bike for exercise.

Lose weight cycling is a fun and enjoyable way to improve your health and to make you feel better. Pedaling down a rural road or through a city park rouses your spirit and awakens your senses.

A regular routine to lose weight cycling can reduce the risk of serious conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure and obesity.

One of the most powerful arguments for encouraging more people to cycle is that it leads to considerable improvements in public health.

Cycling is also a good way to improve your balance and co-ordination. It enhances your general well-being and promotes mental health. Beyond the health benefits, it’s an enjoyable way to get around.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alberta, cycling, depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, pain, quality fitness equipment

With cold and flu season right around the corner I just read an article or two about a product called Cold-fx which is supposed to be a great cold remedy. There is a study taking place seeing if there are any good health benefits with Cold-fx. I myself never have taken cold-fx but know many people that do and the kicker is that they never seem to get sick!

With savvy marketing and the help of some high-profile sports figures, an Alberta company has propelled a natural health product to known-quantity status as something that may boost the immune system’s ability to stave off colds and influenza.

But to date only small studies support CV Technologies’ assertions that Cold-fX can help one stay healthy through Canada’s long cold-and-flu season.
Now the company is putting the claims to the test. It announced yesterday it will conduct a study of 720 healthy senior citizens in Edmonton, Vancouver and Toronto to see if those who take the product over six months – at either standard or high dose – are less likely to contract respiratory infections than those not receiving the supplement.

“At the end of the day the outcome will be: Did Cold-fX prevent infections in this population or not?” one of the researchers, Dr. Andrew Simor of Toronto’s Sunnybrook and Women’s Health Sciences Centre, said.

“The company has some preliminary data, in elderly nursing home residents and also in some younger adults to suggest that it might actually work in preventing respiratory tract infections. It’s very exciting preliminary data, but that’s all it is. These data need to be confirmed in good, rigorous scientific studies.” said Simor, an infectious disease expert.

One alternative to Cold FX is Immunitril.

Immunitril is made to give the same kinds of benefits as Cold FX and includes many minerals as well as Arabinogalactan, Echinacea Purpuria Leaf, Elderberry and more. Its prime qualities are:

Promotes Healthy Immune System Function
Supports the Function of White Blood Cells
Increases Healthy Digestive Microflora
Anti-oxidant Protection Against Cellular Damage
NEVER GET SICK AGAIN!!!

And it is to be used IMMEDIATELY when first signs of sickness occur to prevent onset of common cold or flu.

Drugs aren’t allowed on the market without that rigorous efficacy testing. But Cold-fX is a natural health product, an extract of North American ginseng. Natural health products can be brought to market without the type of efficacy testing the company is now in the process of doing.

For the study, only seniors living in the community – in other words, not those in nursing homes – will be enrolled. All must have had a flu shot, because influenza vaccinations are recommended for people in this age group, the researchers said. Participants will be monitored closely for respiratory infections.

Tags: Alberta, Andrew Simor, Canada, common cold, CV Technologies, edmonton, high-profile sports figures, infectious disease, influenza, kicker, natural health product, Natural health products, respiratory infections, respiratory tract infections, Toronto, Toronto's Sunnybrook and Women's Health Sciences Centre, vaccinations, Vancouver

I found this article at Sign on San Diego. It is a geat article on the value of these “other” egg products that we see in stores. I only eat eggs on the weekend when I am hungry for a bigger breakfast with the kids and have always wanted to know more about these eggs. I bought them once and they tasted like eggs but just never bought them again…

Remember the days when shopping for eggs was just a question of large or jumbo?

Today’s supermarkets present dizzying choices: “free-roaming,” “omega-3,” “100 percent organic,” “cage-free,” “compatible with cholesterol-reducing diet,” “natural sunlight,” “hand-gathered,” “vegetarian diet,” “high vitamin E,” “humane harvest,” “vegetarian hens with roosters.”

It’s a trend born of the egg’s new and improved nutritional rap and fueled by the zeal of low-carb dieters. And these designer eggs bear designer prices.

So what makes them different? It boils down to two things: what the hens eat and how they are housed.

Technorati Tags: egg, supplement, nutrition, fitness
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alabama, Alberta, allergic reactions, American Heart Association, Anne Van Beber, associate professor and chairman, associate professor and chairman of the department, Canada, canola oil, Consumer Reports, designer, egg products, Environmental Protection Agency, fish oil pills, food, food staff, high-oil fish, reducing diet, San Diego, San Francisco Chronicle, Texas Christian University, the Edmonton Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, University of Alberta, vegetarian diet