Nothing will give you a greater appreciation for the intensity of a house fire than standing directly in front of one. Even a fake one.
Last week, I and a number of local media braced our cameras in front of a trailer outside the Toronto Fire Service Special Operations Centre. It had the side cut out, exposing the contents of a mock living room. To help simulate what happens when someone drops a lit cigarette on the couch, a firefighter placed a small torch on the scene. Within 90 quick seconds, it looked like something out of a movie. We all had to move back fast to get away from the heat and choking black smoke. Let’s just say I have new respect for not only house fire survivors, but also those people who make their living marching into situations everyone else is clambering to escape.
A live burn demonstration kicked off the launch of Sunnybrook's study on the healthcare costs of house fires.
We know that firefighters have a much higher incidence of certain cancers compared to the general population, and that recovering from a burn can be a long process. What we don’t know is how much burn care is costing our health care system. That’s why Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is launching a three-year study on the topic, looking at things like coroner data and information from fire chiefs and rehab groups.
That 4 minute fire demonstration knocked me onto my fire prevention soapbox. Make sure you have working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in your home, and check out the Toronto Fire Services website for more potentially lifesaving tips. While Sunnybrook’s Ross Tilley Burn Centre is the biggest in Canada, the proverbial ounce of prevention always beats the pound of cure.
Click here for more fire safety tips from Toronto Fire Services.
In preparing for this story, I thought I’d better practice what I preach. I dumped the contents of my medicine cabinet onto my bathroom floor, and was a bit surprised by what I found. Happily, my favorite lipstick that I thought I had lost, but unfortunately, three different expired medications. (Really, though, I can only take the blame for two, as the old anti-malaria prescription was my husband’s responsibility to dispose of after a work trip was suddenly cancelled.)
To make matters worse, I enlisted my kids to help film a few segments for the video accompanying this story. My eight-year-old daughter (who has never been camera shy) gladly picked up a bottle of acetaminophen and proceeded to easily open the childproof cap. She spilled a few tablets into her palm and held them up proudly for the camera. Let’s just say, I didn’t teach her how to do that.
Use your medicine cabinets for toiletries, and lock your
medications away
While we have always kept all medications on high shelves away from little hands, this just reinforced what health experts have long recommended: use your medicine cabinet for toiletries, and lock your medications away. I used the moment to remind my kids how dangerous medications can be. They agreed and said they were aware, but knowing they just fibbed about cleaning up their rooms, I took their assurances with a grain of salt. I’ll be shopping for a lock box later this week.
No matter your age, it’s important to make sure you are only getting the medication and dosage you require. While you’re dusting off all the other corners of your house this spring, take a few minutes to go through your stash of medications. Bring expired pills and creams to your nearest pharmacy for safe disposal, and while you’re there, chat with your pharmacist to make sure your drug regime is safe and appropriate. Every drug has its risks and toxicities, even those available over the counter.
Here are a few statistics to help motivate:
• 40% of Canadians are currently disposing of expired medications incorrectly (Statistics Canada)
• 13% of seniors living at home take five or more medications (Statistics Canada)
• Medication is the leading cause of poisoning in children (Health Canada)
For more information on the proper use and disposal of medication, click here.
At age 27, Jean LaMantia had just started her practice as a dietitian. She was trained to work with cancer patients, when suddenly the tables turned and she became one herself. After starting chemotherapy, she remembers the nausea hitting her like a fist. “I thought I knew about nausea because I had been on family car trips and I’d had the flu. But my experience with nausea made me think there should be another word for this because this is so extreme, it doesn’t even deserve to be called the same thing.”
The cancer cookbook includes a variety of
recipes for different skill levels, energy levels and appetites.
Jean went from an active young woman with a healthy appetite to not being able to look at food, even on the television. During one week in hospital, she dropped 10 pounds. Sick, weak and worried, it was her oncologist, Dr. Neil Berinstein, who offered her some comfort, telling her just to drink what she could. She did, and never forgot what a relief it was to be given some reliable nutritional guidance when she needed it most.
Now, years later, Jean has consulted with Dr. Berinstein to write the book she wished she’d had access to as a cancer patient. The Essential Cancer Treatment Nutrition Guide & Cookbook is research-based, and offers everything from tips on managing side effects of treatment to 150 recipe options suitable for various stages in the cancer journey. If you want to get the most nutritional punch out of every meal, this is the book for you.
The Melon Mint Frosty is a great example. Perfect to combat dehydration, nausea, dry mouth and low appetite, Jean whipped it up quickly when I met her for filming a few weeks ago. As she got ready to serve it, she said not to forget about the importance of presentation and portion size. Jean divided her creation between a beautiful wine glass, a regular drinking glass, a covered cup with a straw and a shot glass. Her message seemed to permeate back to that moment with Dr. Berinstein: drink what you can, however you can. It was delicious.
The book is available online through most major bookstores, and also at the Patient and Family Nutrition Resource Centre (TG 261) at the Odette Cancer Centre.
When I started working at Sunnybrook more than two years ago, I remember being lost for a good month. Sunnybrook is like its own little city, with equally massive square footage. (There’s at least one doctor I noticed who uses a scooter to get from one end of the hospital to the other.) I can only imagine what it must be like for new patients and their families coming in -- who are already dealing with the stress of injury or illness -- to try and navigate their way.
Rosemary Gray has been a Sunnybrook volunteer
for 14 years. She's taking part in the
new Volunteer Ambassador Program.
Thankfully, Sunnybrook’s many volunteers are always on hand to help. And now, some are part of fabulous new initiative called the Volunteer Ambassador Program. Think of it as a greeting program for new patients, where volunteers offer a plethora of A to Z information, provided through conversation and a little blue bag stuffed with helpful handouts and brochures.
Sunnybrook’s Office of the Patient Experience helped launched the initiative in February. Much like the customer care model you would see in the retail sector, the goal is to approach you at the door and make sure you know you’re being taken care of. There’s no bigger need for that than at the hospital.
The hope is to give patients the answers before they even think of the questions, and to help patients and their families gain some independence while at Sunnybrook. So far, the program has received a thumbs up from patients, but it’s always great to hear your thoughts. If you have some feedback, send it here, PatientExperience@sunnybrook.ca or call 416-480-6100 (ex.7756).
As we celebrate National Volunteer Week, this is yet another way they give back and help. Make sure to take a moment to express your appreciation. And on behalf of everyone who has been assisted by a volunteer here at Sunnybrook (including myself, trying to find my way around during my first month of employment) thank you for all that you do!
They say there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. Now, a new Sunnybrook study has found these two inevitabilities share a scientific link: more fatal car crashes on tax filing day.
Like many of us, Dr. Donald Redelmeier has felt the stress of getting his taxes done on time. He was curious to know what impact that had on the road. (To provide a bit of context, Dr. Redelmeier thinks out of the box, but his studies are the stuff headlines are made of. For example, he was the first to uncover the dangerous link between texting and driving.) Turns out, 13 more Americans die on tax filing day, about the same spike seen on Superbowl Sunday.
Fatal car crash risk is 6 per cent higher on tax day, according to Dr. Redelmeier's research.
It makes sense when you think about it. People could be up late trying to finish their taxes, or drinking trying to forget them. Tired, rushed or stressed drivers may forget to buckle up or follow simple road safety. While there are many possible explanations, Dr. Redelmeier says the end result is the same: many people are dying totally preventable deaths.
To get a better sense of the demeanor of last minute filers, I visited the frontlines last week. Gerry Campbell, with Liberty Tax Service, has spent the past 14 years filing people’s taxes. With his tidy desk situated at the back of a bustling office on the Danforth, Gerry has the perfect view of any ensuing chaos. Many of it comes his way in the form of rushed and frazzled people toting shopping bags full of receipts on the last day of filing. And while vast majority are organized and file early, let’s just say the findings of this study didn’t surprise him.
So what’s the take away? Most importantly, Dr. Redelmeier says simple road safety rules count. Buckle up and slow down. And remember that even if you filed early, or online, you’re still vulnerable to all the other drivers out there who may be rushing to meet a deadline. So be careful, and keep in mind that while taxes are necessary, they are certainly not worth dying for.
As Don Lynch lay sleeping in his apartment six years ago, a carelessly tossed cigarette butt by a stranger had ignited an inferno. While the building’s fire alarms were working, their ear-piercing frequency did nothing to stir Don from his bed. On the best of days, with his hearing aids turned up in a quiet room, he could only hear 20% of the conversation. Turned off in the night, the screaming fire alarms were quite literally falling on deaf ears.
“I almost lost my life because when my hearing aid came out, I heard nothing. Nothing!” he told me. “The fireman got me out just before the window blew in and would have killed me.”
Sunnybrook's cochlear implant program has marked
a major milestone
Don had been diagnosed with Meniere’s disease (an inner ear disorder that impacts balance and hearing) in one ear, and lost the hearing in his other ear after surgery. While he used a hearing aid for many years, eventually, it wasn’t enough.
That’s what brought him to Sunnybrook’s Cochlear Implant Program, a surgery he had done in 2010. And a surgery, he told me, that gave him his life back. As soon as his device was activated one month after the implant was put in, he could hear again. “I couldn’t stop it, the tears were coming down, I couldn’t stop it,” he says. “You can rejoin life. It blows me away.”
Sunnybrook has the largest adult Cochlear Implant Program in Ontario, and just last week, the team, led by Dr. Vincent Lin, celebrated a huge accomplishment: implanting their 1000th patient. The milestone patient is Paul Wheeler, who has been through a lot with his own hearing loss; early retirement and social stigma to name a few. The nature of cochlear implants is that time is typically needed for patients to reach their full potential with the device. I’ll be following Paul over the next few months and will produce a video on his progress. Watch for that later this year.
Now two years removed from his surgery, Don still comes in for testing and adjustments to the device. The day I met him, Don was in for an appointment with an audiologist. Sitting in a soundproof booth, he was asked to repeat complex sentences recited in a restaurant-like setting. He can now hear about 90% of speech in a noisy room. “I’m back to the opera, and I go to the ballet!” he told me.
Sunnybrook’s team is now involved in research to improve the next generation of cochlear implants. Much like personal computers, they have become much smaller and more sophisticated. (It’s hard to believe there was a time patients had to wear backpacks to power the devices!) And there is a push to improve the number of frequencies the devices can pick up. Only a handful are needed to decipher normal speech, but music is much more complex. Conquering that next frontier would be not only be sweet for Sunybrook’s team, but also their next 1000 patients. Stay tuned!
There is an expression in newsrooms called “feeding the black”, referring to the insatiable beast that is the 24-hour news wheel. Dead air is not an option, so providing a steady diet of instant sound bites is the new name of the game. But with more news all the time, there’s a risk of taking the process for granted, particularly for news items covering conflict abroad. For all the little snippets of destruction we graze before clicking forward on our remotes, there is a crew of journalists and photographers risking their lives somewhere in the line of fire.
An image from Under Fire: Journalists in Combat.
Only 2 journalists were killed covering World War One. Yet in the last two decades, more than 900 have lost their lives reporting from war zones. Like many of us, Sunnybrook’s Dr. Anthony Feinstein says, he never really considered the dangers front line journalists faced until he encountered a particular patient in 1999. She was a war reporter working for a large news organization suffering from a condition called conversion disorder, meaning her neurological symptoms couldn’t be explained by a physical cause. Her body appeared to be having a severe reaction to extreme stress.
Dr. Feinstein was intrigued. He asked his research team to search what had been published on the topic of journalism, trauma and war. Incredibly, nothing had. Dr. Feinstein followed up with a grant application to a Washington organization called the Freedom Forum, who funded his first study on this topic. More than a decade of pioneering work later, Dr. Feinstein is now a leader in this area of care and research. And his newest project – a documentary he produced called Under Fire: Journalists in Combat – was shortlisted for an Academy Award.
The film is a raw look into the terrors faced by many journalists covering war and their struggles to cope. It’s estimated that about 29% will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that can affect daily functioning and increases the risk for substance abuse and suicide. Dr. Feinstein has given their suffering not only a name, but also hope in ongoing treatment. As one reporter explained in the film, he used to call his problem “needing a drink”. Now, he knows it’s PTSD, and can reach for a phone consult rather than the bottle.
So what’s the difference between how a journalist and a soldier experience war? Absolutely nothing. Dr. Feinstein hopes this documentary will continue to raise awareness about the extraordinary risks journalists in combat face, as well as continued support for research. The film has made the storytellers the headline. It’s up to rest of us to decide if and when we reach for the remote.
