Island Voices – Island Talk

Starting Jan. 15, B.C. will join five other Canadian provinces in offering the pregnancy termination drug Mifegymiso for free. According to a B.C. health ministry press release, universal, no-cost coverage for the drug, which is also known as RU-486, will be available to patients with a valid prescription at pharmacies around the province. Mifegymiso is an alternative to surgical abortion…

If any one religious congregation disappeared from your city, would your community and city be better or worse off? There are Canadians who think it would be better if they did disappear, like old relics that have become burdensome, even embarrassing. The think tank Cardus published the results of research that examined the question through…

I get a regular phone call that I won’t answer. I know what the caller wants and I’m not willing to get into a discussion about why I don’t want to talk to them. The caller? Canadian Blood Service (CBS), an organization whose sole mission is to collect blood donations to meet the health needs…

Victoria – The Office of the Seniors Advocate (OSA) released its third annual Monitoring Seniors’ Services report today. The report looks at over 25 programs and services offered to seniors in B.C. and measures performance on a year over year basis. “This is now the third year my office has published this report and we…

Central Saanich has posted “no occupancy” notices on some of the buildings and recreational vehicles at Woodwynn Farms addiction treatment centre, a move that operator Richard Leblanc says could effectively put the site’s six residents on the street. He said the notices will not be complied with, and the outcome could be a legal battle with…

This is the time of year when many of us are busy attending holiday parties. But not everyone is so fortunate. Many of our elderly find December a lonely, isolating month. That’s why becoming Santa for a Senior can make a huge difference. Nancy Hum was looking over a small Christmas tree at Heart Pharmacy…

Why do I still need to eat healthy? When you have an elderly parent, encouraging healthy eating may seem a bit condescending. After all, she is over 85 years old, and must have been doing something right all this time? Why shouldn’t she just eat what she wants, or skip a meal when not feeling…

A compelling drama played out in B.C. over the past few months features several people suffering from cystic fibrosis calling on the new NDP government to cover a new and very expensive drug. Some CF sufferers, including a woman in Victoria and one in Vernon, consider Orkambi to be an immense benefit to them. And we…

The American Federal Communications Commission, (FCC), Chairman Ajit Pai has decided to trash the neutrality rules currently protecting consumers on the internet. His proposal will reverse the Title II classification of internet providers, which allows the agency to put strict limits on their behaviour, and replace it with the old “information service” classification, which a federal…

Aging is one of the most thought about topics in the world. Every nation has proud centurians, usually quite willing to give their own personal hints on how they managed to live so long. Whisky and cigars have even been credited on occasion. That they survived at all has got to be a fluke of…