Category: Health
More excellent medical news — coffee drinkers’ division
The good news about the healthful effects of a certain delicious, refreshing, invigorating hot beverage just keeps piling up. (Previous instalments here and here.)
Researchers with the US National Institute of Health examined the association between coffee drinking and mortality among 400,000 men and women in a Diet and Health Study they conducted in association with the American Association of Retired People. Participants with pre-existing cancer, heart disease, and stroke were excluded.
RESULTS
During 5,148,760 person-years of follow-up between 1995 and 2008, a total of 33,731 men and 18,784 women died. In age-adjusted models, the risk of death was increased among coffee drinkers. However, coffee drinkers were also more likely to smoke, and, after adjustment for tobacco-smoking status and other potential confounders, there was a significant inverse association between coffee consumption and mortality… Inverse associations were observed for deaths due to heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections, but not for deaths due to cancer. Results were similar in subgroups, including persons who had never smoked and persons who reported very good to excellent health at baseline.
CONCLUSIONS
In this large prospective study, coffee consumption was inversely associated with total and cause-specific mortality. Whether this was a causal or associational finding cannot be determined from our data. (Funded by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.) Supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.[Emphasis: Contrarian's.]
[UPDATE] – Contrarian reader Mark Austin comments:
This is not peer-reviewed, but my research tells me that both heavy coffee drinkers and abstainers have a 100% risk of mortality.
Getting the green light from Rosa
At Premier Darrell Dexter’s request, the Hollis Street facade of Province House shines green every night this week in honor of the Green Porch Light Project for Organ and Tissue Donation, a grass roots campaign in which supporters of organ and tissue donation turn their porch lights green to celebrate National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week, April 23-28.
As darkness began to settle over West End Halifax Wednesday night, Rosa Eileen Barss Donham got in the spirit with a green porch light and blue butterfly wings, symbol of Nova Scotia’s Legacy of Life program. Rosa knows someone dear to her may one day need a new heart,
Please take a moment to check your Nova Scotia Health Card. If the word donor does not appear to the right of your birthday, then please download this form, fill it out, sign it, and mail it to MSI at the address indicated.
Then take the next opportunity to talk with your family. Let them know you want to be an organ and tissue donor, and you want them to make sure your wish is honored.
If for no other reason, do it for Rosa. I can attest from personal experience, you don’t want her cross with you.
Hats off to Nova Scotia Power and Sobey’s for their support of this project. Let’s make Nova Scotia the province with the highest percentage of signed donor cards in Canada.
“We want Talbot House restored” — feedback
A reader writes:
That was a very heartfelt letter from the former client of Talbot House and he definitely has hit the nail on the head. I work in health care and have seen just what he speaks of. It is a testament to Fr Abbass and the staff and programs at Talbot House, and needs to be acknowledged.
We tend to put numbers and policy ahead of compassion, care, and genuine concern for the client. I am so impressed with this letter and how this person has turned his life around; to hear him express exactly the “way it is,” and to see how they have truly benefited from this program.
Prayers that it will be reopened so that Fr Abbass and Talbot house can continue to do what is important..
“We want Talbot House restored” — a voice from inside
A recovering addict who asked not to be identified has sent Contrarian a 1,200-word analysis of the dispute that shut down Talbot house, the recovery center he credits with saving his life after many rounds of government-run therapy failed him.
His account is noteworthy, not only as a moving testimony from inside Talbot House, but also because it suggests the real reason for the provincial government’s hostility to the recovery centre. The unspoken issue, which the Department of Community Services report failed even to mention, is the refusal of Fr. Paul Abbass and his predecessors to support methadone treatment. The drug is a mainstay of the treatment methods favoured by Nova Scotia Addiction Services, but Talbot House rejected it as merely substituting one addiction for another.
I have edited the passages that follow for length and sentence structure, but please download the original in its entirety.
The government wants standardized policy, procedure, and governance. I think most people would agree with that. But what does that mean to the addict?
I’ll give you an example of my experiences with government-run Addiction Services. I visited a counsellor once every two weeks, three hours a month on average, only to leave and go back into the environment I was living in. I was living with all the triggers and behaviours, without even understanding what triggers meant to addiction.
I was given a “happiness chart,” and asked how happy I was, on a scale of one to 10, in certain areas of my life. I am smart enough to know that in this model there are measurable ways to improve. The chart can be a report which can be measured, standardized, and evaluated—it makes sense. But do I really think an adult coming out of detox, who may have lost custody of children wants a “happiness chart” from a person who doesn’t understand the first thing about addiction?
On the treatment method at Talbot House:
Ask the men—not the one or two that provided the platform that triggered this investigation—but the hundreds who went through the Talbot House doors. The men who are treated with dignity, and given time and space in a healthy safe environment, expressing love and their goodness to the animals and the natural surroundings, probably for the first time in a long time, or maybe ever. Sitting down and sharing meals at a table, and having conversation. Doing daily chores. Working alongside other men; building, creating and discovering—SMILING.
Do you know how important a genuine smile is? Ask the families of these addicts when the last time they seen a genuine smile. What about walking with your head up, and making eye contact, and having a sense of pride, and taking care of yourself?
These, too, are measurable ways but we are sorry that they are not documented in a standardized form. The Board and several Talbot House residents were in the process of working on the standards when this situation occurred.
Why wouldn’t an addict, who is thrown to the side, feel worthless, with no hope or belief that they can get back to any sense of life, whose is just a number in a system continue to use? But what if you tried to instill value, respect, dignity, love, truth and acceptance—where investing into an “individual” not a “system” means something.
On methadone treatment:
I have witnessed addicts lined up and sitting on the floor in the hospital waiting for their methadone. What does that say to a person? ? More importantly, do we ask who benefits from a methadone program? Do you know it is easier for some to get prescriptions for themselves than it is to get food for their families, and far less embarrassing and shameful?
The government sponsors assembly line programs where you are slotted in for a few hours a month, treated like a number, and thrown some pills. Is this going to solve the problem of addiction? It does, however, fit their bill of governance, policy, and standardization – so congratulations. But what about dignity?
On the closure of Talbot House:
The doors were opened and the men loved the place. A few months after DCS had shown its presence, the doors were closed.
I am truly ashamed that our government would allow and support the recent treatment of Fr. Paul Abbass and, more importantly, allow the home of so many grateful men to be closed.
I am an addict who went through all the programs to find recovery. Talbot House was my last stop. I went there in 2006 and have remained close to the community and continued to volunteer up until its closing. I am forever grateful what it has given me, my family, and for all the new relationships I have to today. Mostly, I am grateful for a place filled with like-minded people who restored my faith and belief in myself.
The men do not want the funding restored — we already know who truly benefits from your programs — we want Talbot House restored, because it is Talbot House that has given us the freedom to make choices, not tie our hands.
(Previous posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.)
Happy second birthday, Julie Lyons
Julie Lyons of Halifax marked the first anniversary of her life-saving heart transplant this week, just in time for Monday’s kickoff of National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week.
Two years ago, Julie’s congenital heart disease grew so severe she needed a Left Ventricular Assist Device, a mechanical pump implanted in her heart, and powered by a 10-pound pack of batteries that had to be changed every four hours.
Last April, the pump became infected. Overnight, Julie shot to the top of the national heart transplant list. She had only days to live.
Today, Julie has resumed her passion for gardening, she skated at the Oval this winter, and each week she voices her thanks to the anonymous donor who gave her a second chance at life by staffing a table at the Halifax Seaport Market, where she encourages market goers to sign their donor cards.
Everyone knows they should sign their donor card, but did you know it’s no longer on your driver’s license? It’s on your health card. If the word “donor” doesn’t appear to the right of your birthday on your health card, download this form, fill it out, sign it, and mail or fax it to MSI.
Don’t forget to tell your family what you’ve done. No matter how many cards you sign, no one will receive your organs or tissue over the objection of family members, so make your family knows your wishes. In fact, doing this is even more important than signing your card.
Finally, don’t assume you are too old to be a donor, or that some medical condition makes you ineligible to donate. Let the experts make that call, based on the latest medical practice in this constantly advancing field.
Just think if you could give someone the gift of life that anonymous donor gave Julie.
Julie and her friends will celebrate her second “birthday” at the Market Sunday. She invites everyone to stop by between 8:30 and 4, say hello, get some treats, and learn a little more about the amazing advances in organ and tissue transplantation.
Talbot House strikes back
The board of directors of Talbot House, the much admired addiction recovery center shut down this winter after the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services raised vague and, as we now know, false allegations of sexual misconduct against its executive director, today issued two news releases that add up to a sweeping condemnation of the department’s behaviour.
How the Dexter government reacts will be a major test of its integrity. Will it circle the wagons? Or will it implement real reforms?
Please read the releases for yourself here and here. [Note: I have removed contact information for the board chair.]
On the Cape Breton Regional Police Service announcement late Friday that it had found no grounds to investigate the centre’s Executive Director, the board writes:
The Board of Directors initially contacted the police in response to a report to the Board from the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services, of serious allegations and complaints concerning Father Abbass. These allegations and complaints were provided to Ms. Marika Lathem, Director of Family and Youth Services with the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services, initially by the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness, and subsequently, during the course of an organizational review of Talbot House.
The Board of Directors made immediate and repeated written requests of Ms. Lathem and the Department of Community Services for the details of any allegations or complaints, or information that would allow a timely and balanced investigation of the matter, based on principles of procedural fairness and natural justice. To date, the Board of Directors has received no response and no direct complaint concerning Father Abbass. Despite our repeated requests, the Department of Community Services has provided no substantive information that would compel a formal investigation.
…Although we are pleased that Father Abbass has been vindicated of any wrongdoing, the delay in resolving this matter has resulted in an untold human cost, and was directly responsible for the series of decisions that resulted in the eventual discharge of residents from Talbot House.
Following receipt of a single, non-sexual complaint against Abbass last December, Ms. Lathem, who is Director of Family and Youth Services, launched an “organizational review” of Talbot House. Despite media requests and at least two FOIPOP requests (including one from Contrarian), the report has not been released, but according to the board’s news release, it reaches two main conclusions:
- ”Talbot House is not operating in compliance with the majority of the Standards for Recovery Houses” and
- “There is no evidence that the board has been actively overseeing the operation of Talbot House.”
In a telephone interview, Board chair John Gainer, a highly regarded Sydney psychologist, said the board “absolutely rejected the conclusions,” saying they were based on a lack of proper evidence. He said the board had prepared a point-by-point rebuttal of the report that would be faxed to the department Sunday evening.
The news release is equally scathing:
The details of the report are presented as a series of “bulleted” items, many without context, elaboration, or analysis. It is the opinion of the Board of Directors of Talbot House that the review was fundamentally flawed in process and analysis, procedurally inadequate, lacked balance, and contributed to a report that contains numerous inaccuracies, and misrepresentations that, by their nature, are prejudicial, biased, and misrepresent the history, governance, and operation of Talbot House.
The board acknowledges that it was not fully complaint with the 2008 guidelines, which deal with procedural matters like job descriptions and performance appraisals, but insists, “there is ample evidence that the board was addressing these policy and operational issues in a systematic fashion.”
The news release also confirms that, even as Lathem’s vague accusations against Abbass sputtered to a halt due to lack of evidence, the department moved aggressively to ensure Talbot House would never reopen. On April 4, without advance notice to the board or any public announcement, the department retroactively terminated the centre’s funding as of April 1. Lathem told the board the department would issue a request for proposals for addiction services in Cape Breton, adding tartly that the Talbot House Society was welcome to submit a proposal.
The news release terms this action, “pre-emptive and unnecessarily punitive.” In previous years, funding was renewed automatically every April 1.
In short, the board describes a pattern of behaviour that is at once imperious and incompetent. It is a pattern many social service organizations and societies in Nova Scotia will recognize. In fact, it’s an attitude long complained of by NDP activists before the party gained power in 2009.
If even half of what the Talbot board says is true, then a searching, independent, top-to-bottom review of the Department of Community Services is long overdue.
A few background points:
– By all accounts, the Lathem report reflects a departmental penchant for placing process ahead of outcomes. Throughout this controversy, I have not heard anyone question Talbot’s success in treating addicts, many of them tough young men hooked on hard drugs.
– Many social service organizations and volunteer societies are struggling to comply with departmental guidelines requiring written policies, job descriptions, and performance reviews, and they are doing so without financial or administrative support from the department that imposed these governance requirements.
– To provide round-the-clock treatment and residential care for a rotating population of 18 men addicted to gambling, alcohol, or drugs, Talbot had a fulltime staff of six. That probably didn’t leave a lot of time for paperwork.
– Although their names may not be well known in Halifax, the Talbot Board is no random collection of hayseeds. It consists of bluechip professionals and community leaders, most of whom have distinguished records of achievement.
If Darrell Dexter treats this challenge as a political threat to be defended against with all of his government’s formidable powers of communications and institutional resistance, a great opportunity will have been missed.
On the other hand, if he sees this as an opportunity to step back and order a searching, independent review of the way social services are delivered in Nova Scotia, then some good will have come out of the disgraceful treatment accorded Fr. Paul Abbass and Talbot House,
Sign of Spring
A German friend who has lived in Cape Breton for the last two years took a short swim Easter Sunday afternoon at Dingwall Beach, on northern Cape Breton’s Atlantic coast. Water temperature: 3 degrees.
The snow day debate continues
Too damned many.
In response to my note about the 40-something Norwegian who had never seen a snow day until he came to Nova Scotia, Contrarian reader Joyce Rankin of Mabou Westmount blames consolidation of schools and secularization of society for the proliferation of snow days. Her response sparked a lively email debate.
I remember we never used to have snow days either. But then again, we were close enough to school that we could walk.
The questions to ask, for a proper comparison, would be how far children in Norway travel to school, and how far people drive to work, and over what kind of roads? And if there’s not an official snow day, does that mean that everyone shows up? Or does it mean that those who can make it come and the place functions (or not) with a skeleton crew, accomplishing little.
You can drive in this.
All valid points. But it could also be there that Norwegians are just a little less timid about driving when there is half an inch of snow? We do have snow tires after all. This implies that driving on snow is something we do.
Why doesn’t Alberta have snow days? We have too many damn snow days. I hear it from everyone.
It’s not so much snow that’s the problem, but rather ice. In Alberta it tends to get cold and stay cold, and it is not as wet. Not so much temperature fluctuation and hence less ice. Plus in areas where it’s flatter and the roads are straighter, the driving is easier. (Note that the accident often happen at curves and hills.)
I’m not disagreeing that it gets a bit silly sometimes. But the school board is to blame, too, because the new procedure is for the board superintendent to make the call for the whole district, rather than the principal making it for each school. I guess they haven’t noticed the variation in weather from, say, Ingonish to Sydney River to Louisbourg, or from Pleasant Bay to Louisdale to Canso to Antigonish.
Plus it’s because of liability. Administration is afraid that someone will get hurt and they’ll get sued for making them come to work.
Birds do it. Squirrels do it. Even bright yellow buses do it.
I take your point about one-size fits all in boards that stretch over a huge territory. But I think the issue shows a problem with the way society handles small risks of terrible outcomes. We place policy makers in an invidious position. They might be criticized for over caution, but they would be savaged if a child is injured or killed. But life is not risk free.
This issue also dovetails with another bugaboo of mine: the fact that too many school system managers, up to and including superintendents, are in the teachers’ union. Unions should not be given the task of deciding when a day off is appropriate.
The bottom line is that we have far too many snow days in NS. We have snow days where there is barely any snow. We have snow days on days we would not have given a second thought 15 years ago. It has crept up on us, and it has gone too far.
I have driven long distances on bad roads to work, and I have worked in places where there’s a lot of pressure to be at work no matter what (and where you don’t get paid if you don’t come in).
It would be interesting to compare accident stats –was there a larger percentage of serious accidents and fatalities when people were more willing to drive on icy roads? I’m guessing yes.
Some wintry jurisdictions keep on bussin'.
While you’re at it, compare snow-day attendance at Nova Scotia ski hills compared to weekdays when schools remain open.
I think one of the results of secularization is that people value themselves and their physical well-being more than they used to. We expect to have control over our lives. We have less of the kind of humility that a) leaves it up to God or to fate, and b) views oneself as only one of many. We have learned to expect that we should be taken care of and insulated from risk. Most workplaces are much safer than they used to be, fewer people work outdoors, and there’s less call to be tough and resilient. (Which probably explains the rise of extreme sports -these are the people who in another century would have gone to sea or been a trapper or something.)
We expect things to be okay, we see it as an entitlement. And when something does go wrong, we want to blame it on someone. People in administration know this, and they don’t want to be the one blamed.
A Cheezy solution to starting the wood stove
Contrarian reader Silas Barss Donham [Disclosure: Gee, that name seems familiar] can put up with most of the steps required to heat his Orangedale house with wood: the cutting, hauling, splitting (or paying someone to), the stacking outside to dry, tossing into the basement, re-stacking inside, carrying upstairs to the fireplace, and the constant sweeping of ashes, bark, and furch.
But he grows weary of making “the daily, just-so crumple of old newspaper to light the fire.”
Not being a daily newspaper reader, I have to go from store to store to collect enough expired papers (avoiding the new Globe and Mail with its fire-retarding glossy first pages) and then try not to make the crumple too tight, or too loose, or too whatever to catch properly and light the kindling. When the fire finally does catch I have to wash my greasy black hands clean of newspaper ink.
Lighting a fire once in a while is a charmingly manly job; doing it every day gets to be a chore.
So Silas’s ears perked up when a recent radio piece about Cheezies mentioned that it’s possible to light them with a match.
I did a little experimenting and now I have a new method for lighting fires: I shake about a cup of Cheezies (or Cheetos, or Cheese Puffs, or even potato chips) into a paper bag…
light the crumpled bag…
and stack my kindling as the flames spread.
No more crumpling, no more greasy black hands, just a slight aroma of roasted cheese powder as the fire lights.
And the thought that if something is greasy enough to light a fire, perhaps one shouldn’t eat it.
Snoopy as spirit dog
Our friend and fellow contrarian Christine Comeau, a writer who makes movies in Nova Scotia and Quebec, seems an unlikely marathon candidate:
The project is a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada.
