White Coat, Black Art

When Kalpit Sharma started smoking high-THC weed several times a day, he thought he was just “living his life” as a university student. But then, he started hearing voices. Researcher Dr. Daniel Myran shares the science behind stories like Kalpit’s – and why young men are particularly at risk for concerning mental health outcomes.

Patients don't like waiting in a clinic or ER to get them, doctors hate writing them, and yet, some employers continue to demand sick notes for a minor illness like the flu or a cold. Now, some doctors and other health-care providers are pushing back. They say sick notes tie up an already overloaded system, arguing that more paid sick days are needed instead.

Twenty years after her daughter died, Winnipegger Elaine Stevenson is still fighting to get people better and faster treatment for eating disorders. Roughly a million Canadians have been diagnosed with an eating disorder, and as many as 15 percent will die because of it. Despite that, wait lists for treatment in Canada can be over a year, and it's not offered in every province.

When Mary Jarratt's brother, Billy, had a debilitating stroke at 58, she was thrown into the role of Power of Attorney. She had to make tough decisions about his care, the care of his teenaged son and whether to sell the family home. She wants people to know what they’re getting into when they sign up to be a POA.

Tara de Pratto donated part of her liver to a stranger, saving her life. The recipient was Farah Ali, and she and her family will never forget that act of kindness. In this second episode on living donors, we hear how Tara responded to a unique callout for a donor on social media, thanks to one woman’s passion for connecting donors with people in need. And how it led to a powerful bond between people whose paths might never have otherwise crossed.

Sherbrooke Community Centre’s intergenerational program, iGen, is unique in Canada. The long-term-care home in Saskatoon doubles as a Grade Six classroom and is helping both kids and seniors.

In this season of bearing gifts, it’s been said the highest form of giving is the anonymous kind. Heather Badenoch knows that very well. She donated part of her liver to a child she never met in Toronto. Now she uses her communications skills to recruit donors for people in need of an organ. In two weeks, we’ll have the story of one of the families she has helped.

B.C. family physician Dr. Stuart Bax co-founded the virtual cancer screening service CanScreenBC.com to get people checked as early as possible so they don't end up getting a cancer diagnosis too late.

The Alberta government is about to change health care like never before. It’s taking what’s been administered exclusively by Alberta Health Services and breaking it up into four independent parts: acute care, primary care, continuing care and mental health and addiction. Doctors and nurses, patients and experts are worried what this new healthcare system could look like for patient care. One health economist calls it a "train wreck."

You wouldn’t expect to find an overdose response and prevention team at a library. But Edmonton’s flagship library is going next level to take care of some of its most vulnerable citizens. They also have a team of social workers and other programs because their community needs are growing.

Dr. Maureen Mayhew didn't always want to practice medicine in Afghanistan. When Doctors Without Borders offered her a nine-month contract to work there in 2000, Mayhew initially turned it down, only accepting after careful consideration. That began an almost decade-long connection with the country, which Mayhew captures in her book, Hand on My Heart: A Canadian Doctor's Awakening in Afghanistan. Though her work there was challenging, it changed both her outlook on medicine and her relationship with herself.

30-year-old Aisha Uduman was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer and told her life expectancy was less than a year. But she and her family wanted more than the treatment plan her doctors could provide, so they sought out promising alternative treatments.

To some, Ozempic and drugs like it are a weight loss silver bullet. But to others, they’re hyped medications with severe side effects. Dr. Daniel Drucker is a Canadian physician-scientist whose research helped pave the way for Ozempic. He wants more research, especially as ever more effective weight loss drugs are developed. But with the potential to also reduce major cardiovascular events, he’s hopeful we’re in a new era of medical therapy to treat obesity.

In this bonus podcast interview, Trent McCleary gives his perspective on the night when he came perilously close to dying on the ice. It may have been his most dramatic encounter with longtime Montreal Canadiens physician David Mulder, but it’s not the only one.

As the Canadiens' physician since before the days of helmets and face guards, esteemed trauma surgeon Dr. David Mulder has not only witnessed hockey history unfold – he’s been part of it. And after a remarkable 60-year career, he’s retiring. Dr. Brian Goldman sits down with Dr. Mulder to hear about some of his greatest plays – from saving Trent McCleary’s life to discovering Saku Koivu’s cancer.

Wait times for dermatology appointments have patients lining up before dawn at a unique rapid-access clinic. Their conditions range from severe rashes to hair loss to potentially cancerous moles. Dermatologists say they’re taking on more referrals, many are nearing retirement, and there aren’t enough new graduates.

For Jacob Trossman’s whole life, his mother Marcy White has had to fight for his medical care. Jacob has an ultra-rare degenerative disorder called PMD, and at 12 years old, he became a patient in the Complex Care Program at SickKids in Toronto. But now, at 21, Jacob has aged out. SickKids says their services can be adequately replaced by specialists in the adult care system. But Marcy White is fighting harder than ever to keep Jacob with his pediatric team.

Hamilton’s hospitals are trying out a novel solution to deal with its overcrowded hospitals: they’ve turned a former hotel into a “satellite health facility” for patients who no longer need acute care, but are too unwell to go home (like those waiting for home support or long-term care). Dr. Brian Goldman heads to the former Hamilton Crowne Plaza to “check out” its new life as an overflow hospital.

A safe consumption site in Saskatoon is making a huge difference in the lives of people hard hit by substance use. Saskatchewan has had more than 1,200 overdose deaths since 2020. It also has the highest rate of HIV in Canada. Nonetheless, Prairie Harm Reduction has been operating the safe consumption site for three years, without provincial funding.

Nova Scotia is pursuing a radical solution to help with the primary care crisis: Virtual Care Nova Scotia. The province was the first in Canada to offer free virtual doctor visits to every resident without a family doctor. Dr. Brian Goldman visits the picturesque community of Martins Brook to meet some of the patients, nurses and doctors leading the charge for virtual care. Though it’s not a cure-all, they say it’s helping fill the gap in primary care.

Pediatrician and vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez warns the anti-vaccine movement has morphed into a dangerous anti-science force. In The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist's Warning, Hotez says failing to act now will threaten governments’ ability to fight serious infectious diseases.

Provinces are Increasingly turning to the Philippines to recruit nurses as fast as they can to help with a critical shortage of front-line nurses in Canada. But it’s a short-term fix with serious implications for both Canada and the Philippines.

Canada’s nursing shortage is so dire that provinces are stepping up efforts to recruit nurses from the Philippines. And that recruitment process is a well-oiled machine. From the Philippines government, to recruiters, to nursing schools, the message to nurses is clear: better opportunities only exist abroad.

A ride-along with TAIBU, a mobile crisis response team in Scarborough, Ontario that provides a non-police response to urgent mental health crises in the community.

After hearing from dozens of women about their experience with IUD pain, we find out how some gynecologists like Dr. Fiona Mattatall are making the experience of getting an IUD more comfortable, though there’s no standardized pain control method proven to work for everyone.

Shauna Pinkerton is waging a one-person campaign to save lives by passing out fentanyl testing strips, naloxone kits and safe drug paraphernalia. The people she is trying to save aren’t her clients. They’re her friends and sometimes her family.

30-year-old Aisha Uduman was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer and told her life expectancy was less than a year. But she and her family wanted more than the treatment plan her doctors provided, so they headed to Germany to try promising alternative treatments.

Women who have had troubling health experiences say perimenopause and menopause should be recognized and treated faster because it would reduce needless suffering. Four women share their stories and offer ideas about what should change in the health-care system to improve the experience for others.

On his 45th wedding anniversary, Ramesh Karnick was at home with his wife when he appeared to lose consciousness. He was in a coma for five weeks before he passed away. His daughter, Sonali has spent years trying to answer the question: how did her father die?

Author and activist Morningstar Mercredi is calling for coerced and forced sterilizations to be criminalized so that other women, especially Indigenous, Métis and Inuit women, won’t suffer the physical and mental trauma that she did.

The simmering crisis at Canada’s emergency departments.

Ketamine helped one police officer get through a childhood trauma. Some experts say psychedelics could help people with PTSD but much more research is needed.

Saskatchewan has lost so many of its family doctors in the last year that 200,000 "orphaned" patients are relying on walk-in clinics to get medical attention. Legends Medical Clinic in Warman is in the middle of the crisis, trying to meet the needs of all who seek their walk-in services but patients often wait for hours to see a doctor.

Nine-year-old Zach Bulger is wise beyond his years. He lost his older brother to cancer. He expresses his grief through play therapy and provides guidance for grown-ups on how to recover from loss.

Some doctors believe a minor gynecological procedure called an opportunistic salpingectomy can reduce dramatically the risk of ovarian cancer.

Some cancer patients are willing to go to great lengths to keep their hair through chemotherapy. But few hospitals offer cold capping: a system that cools the scalp to constrict the blood vessels to potentially reduce hair loss. A growing chorus of patients and doctors say more hospitals should offer it.

Cairo Gregory was just 15 when she got ovarian cancer. Chemotherapy meant she lost her long curly hair, just when she started to love it. She struggled to find a suitable wig through the hospital and says the healthcare system must do more to help women deal with hair loss, especially young Black women like her.

Famed British neurosurgeon and author Dr. Henry Marsh thought he was well-versed in human illness. That is until he was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and was forced to see things from the patient’s point of view.

Now that single-event sports betting is taking off in Canada, ads and incentives are encouraging people to make a wager. But a recovering gambling addict and a gambling counsellor worry it’s easier than ever to get dangerously hooked. And they want way more done to limit advertising and to support treatment.

People with complex medical needs are accepted at Centretown Community Health Centre in Ottawa, and thriving because of it. Patients at about 120 CHCs across Canada are more likely to get cancer screenings and avoid costly trips to emergency. Teamwork by nurses, dietitians and others means the family physicians aren't saddled with paperwork that can lead to burn out.

If laughter really was the best medicine, Gavin Crawford would have cured his mother of Alzheimer’s disease. As a son, his mother’s dementia has been devastating. As a comedian though…it’s been sort of funny. Honestly, how do you respond when your mom confuses you with her teenage crush and wants you to take her to the high-school dance? Well, you laugh. Because it’s the only thing you can do. In this seven-part series, Gavin tells the story of losing his mother — his best friend and the inspiration for a lot of his comedy — to a disease that can be as hilarious as it is heartbreaking. He’s joined by comedian friends who share their experience caring for family members with dementia. The result is a cross between an improv act and a support group. Part memoir, part stand-up, part meditation on grief and loss, Let’s Not Be Kidding is a dose of the very best medicine for anyone dealing with hard times. More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/dvxFtqRY

Esther Schreiber married her sweetheart Eddi and enjoyed a busy life until he was diagnosed with young onset dementia a decade ago. Eddi, 68, is now almost completely non verbal. As he slowly lost his caring personality, Esther’s caregiving demands became all consuming. Now, the trailblazer draws inspiration and emotional support from other spouses.

Janet Nisbet was primary caregiver to her husband Richard. Since his death, Janet has experienced the gamut of complex feelings that family caregivers sometimes experience following the death of a loved one.

Part two of our series on cancer previvors - the growing number of people who through genetic testing live knowing it’s highly probable that one day they’ll get cancer.