Sholom Glouberman

August 27, 2013 -- Already harried system not ready for rising home-care demand.

Is your physician or specialist committed to patient and family-centred care? If you live in the Sarnia-Lambton area, please consider nominating your physician as a meaningful way to recognize their committment to consistently practising patient and family-centred care. The Award will recognize a family and specialty physician who has exemplified exceptional patient care and leadership within the community.

The headline for the July 29th New York Times article read “Scientists Seek to Rein in Diagnoses of Cancer.” The accompanying article discusses the fact that many diagnoses of cancer are of conditions that, though pre-malignant or not life-threatening, are labelled as cancer and frighten patients into seeking “what may be unneeded and potentially harmful treatments.”

On June 17th, we held an open meeting to discuss experiences of hospital-acquired infection, the frequency and causes of these infections, and what we, as healthcare consumers, can do to decrease the risks of readmission.The unfortunate reality is that hospital-acquired infections are estimated to cause 8,000 to 12,000 deaths a year in Canada, so as a group we decided to focus on patient stories to highlight gaps in patient safety. We compared hospital practices and policies surrounding patient engagement and infection control, and came to some surprising conclusions.

We're back with another edition of 'Top Reads of the Week'! When promoting content, we look to material that not only interests patients and their families, but to material that sheds light on the importance of the patient perspective. Please contact us and share what you think is especially fascinating, innovative, or reflective of the changes that you want to see in our healthcare system.

Patients, families key to changing the system. When Glenn Fahner was paralyzed after a fall during a fishing trip in August 2009, he was sent to Michigan for care because there were no appropriate hospital beds for him in Ontario.

The heartbreaking stories of two women who believe their fathers were let down by the health-care system in their final days were just the kind of experiences Sholom Glouberman came to Sudbury to hear. Glouberman said he had "quite a day" Monday in Sudbury, meeting with people and trying to understand how Health Sciences North is working to engage people in a different kind of health care.

Find the full article here.

The only way to fix the problems plaguing Canada's health-care system is to involve patients in that change, says the president of the Patients' Association of Canada.

When the Canada Health Act was passed in 1984, Canadians were dying of acute and infectious diseases. Today, we die of chronic illnesses, which we can live with for years, says Sholom Glouberman. Find the full article here.