My latest with @healthydebate.bsky.social

87 people died of drug poisoning in #yeg in March 2025. The highest monthly total recorded. Although we saw a early spike in EMS calls at the end of February there were no efforts to warn the public or put in place any additional preventative measures. #ableg

Climate change is expanding mosquito habitat in Hawaiʻi, threatening endangered birds with avian malaria. So Hawaiʻi is releasing male mosquitoes with a strain of Wolbachia bacteria that make them incompatible with the females so their eggs don’t hatch. 🪶🧪

For my latest with @healthydebate.bsky.social I spoke with several ER docs to find out how they cope with the (increasing) pressures of the job

Managing the Pitt. Experts discuss how to cope with the stresses of emergency medicine, by @maddidellplain.bsky.social healthydebate.ca/2025/06/topi... via @healthydebate.bsky.social

#SaferSupply an effective treatment tool despite political backlash. New study shows safe opioid supply more effective than opioid agonist therapies, by @maddidellplain.bsky.social healthydebate.ca/2025/06/topi... via @healthydebate.bsky.social

Some helpful tips for following the awful news out of Minnesota today.

"A recent study shows safe supply may be a more effective treatment option than methadone for those most at risk." By @maddidellplain.bsky.social healthydebate.ca/2025/06/topi...

My latest for @filtermag.bsky.social digs into a study that shows safe supply was as effective at improving health outcomes as methadone.

“You have a number of different actions by the #Ontario provincial government that really created a hospital funding crisis and that triggered a workforce crisis,” Hollowed Out report author @alonghurst.bsky.social told journalist @maddidellplain.bsky.social. healthydebate.ca/2025/05/topi...

The months-long strike at British Columbia’s LifeLabs has raised questions about foreign ownership of medical services and Canadians’ health data. That such a large part of Canada’s health infrastructure is owned by a massive foreign company is cause for concern, notes one expert.

Thanks for the republish @thetyee.ca! BC's LifeLabs Strike Highlights the Risks of Foreign Ownership thetyee.ca/News/2025/05...

Report reveals ‘alarming trend’ of private staffing agencies in Ontario hospitals By @maddidellplain.bsky.social healthydebate.ca/2025/05/topi...

I don't often get to write about working conditions and pay issues in health care, even though they're massively important to wait times and care quality. It was an honour to work with @maddidellplain.bsky.social, Dr. Sahil Gupta, Nicole Naimer, and Dr. Maria Raveendran on this series.

Grateful to receive two award noms this year for Best Science & Tech storytelling from @canadamediaawards.bsky.social! One for our team's @healthydebate.bsky.social Stitched Together series & the other for this piece I wrote on involuntary drug treatment: healthydebate.ca/2024/06/topi...

🧵 Stitched Together @healthydebate.bsky.social Finalist for Best Science & Technology Storytelling at the 2025 Digital Publishing Awards Congrats @wendyglauser.bsky.social , and team! 🔗 zurl.co/ic05U #DigitalPublishingAwards #DPA25

For my latest with @healthydebate.bsky.social, I dig into why the increasing foreign (notably, U.S.) ownership of Canada's medical labs should be cause for concern. healthydebate.ca/2025/04/topi...

LifeLabs strike highlights risks of foreign ownership in Canadian health care By @maddidellplain.bsky.social healthydebate.ca/2025/04/topi...

"About half of B.C. and Ontario’s respective medical lab sectors are now U.S. owned." By @maddidellplain.bsky.social healthydebate.ca/2025/04/topi...

“Shutting down supervised consumption sites won't make drug use go away, it just makes it more deadly and often more public.” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Details of which news organizations get how much of the promised Google money through Canada's Online News Act have just been released. Biggest payout ($4.2 million) goes to Postmedia cjc-ccj.ca/en/

first time filing with the Guardian. these are really challenging stories to write, but they also remind you of how powerfully communities support one another www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Trey Helten, an advocate for drug users whose willingness to speak searingly about his own battle with addiction provided hope and inspiration to many in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, has died at 42. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Alberta has tabled its involuntary drug treatment bill. When asked if involuntary treatment would be effective, Smith said "You won't know if something works until you try it." But there IS a lot of research we can draw from. And what we know, doesn't look good: healthydebate.ca/2024/06/topi...

Waging war on our immune systems: Immunologist explains the horrifying toll of measles #ICYMI By @maddidellplain.bsky.social healthydebate.ca/2024/03/topi...

How health care works in Canada: What to know ahead of the federal #election By @maddidellplain.bsky.social healthydebate.ca/2025/04/topi...

How health care works in Canada: What to know ahead of the federal election healthydebate.ca/2025/04/topi... @maddidellplain.bsky.social @healthydebate.bsky.social 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀: CanadaHealthwatch.ca/newsletter 🍁

Not 100% sure how health policy gets made? You're not alone. Here's an explainer I wrote for @healthydebate.bsky.social breaking down the basics ahead of the election: healthydebate.ca/2025/04/topi...

How health care works in Canada: What to know ahead of election day. With voters heading to the polls on April 28, it’s time for a refresher on how health policy is made and where the parties stand, by @maddidellplain.bsky.social healthydebate.ca/2025/04/topi... via @healthydebate.bsky.social

What if COVID doesn't just make sick, but makes us easier to infect? Experts say the virus is chipping away at our immune systems. But some aren’t convinced. I spoke with doctors, scientists, and parents caught in a relentless cycle of illness, and here's what I found:

Gotta love when a search for "overdose awareness" renders such tasteful, subtle (and not at all stigmatizing) stock image results 🫠

Congrats to new Vancouver councillors Sean Orr and Lucy Maloney. 24/27 polls now reporting. results.vancouver.ca/results.html #vanpoli

We need to talk about @rachelgilmore.bsky.social Our democracy is not going to make it without strong journalists. Let me begin by stating the obvious: these thoughts are mine alone. They do not speak for my employers. They are personal and, at this moment, angry. #cdnmedia tinyurl.com/mwtpfbze

Health care and the Canadian election: What experts are hoping to hear healthydebate.ca/2025/03/topi... @healthydebate.bsky.social 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀: CanadaHealthwatch.ca/newsletter 🍁

This is absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking work. If you only read one thing today, it should be this.

"Most people, including a lot of journalists, don’t understand what an executive order even is. It’s not a law or even a quasi-law. An executive order is really just a memo from the president to his staff..." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/notes...

“Obviously we have a lot of harms related to opioids, but the overall costs and harms are significantly less than alcohol.” By @micksweetman.bsky.social @thediscourse.ca thediscourse.ca/nanaimo/how-...

Low-no barrier access to #HarmReduction supplies, from sterile needles to #naloxone kits, is a public good. Less drug poisoning deaths, brain injury, disease transmission; we all benefit from these public health interventions.

Health care and the Canadian election: What experts are hoping to hear, by @maddidellplain.bsky.social healthydebate.ca/2025/03/topi... via @healthydebate.bsky.social

For my latest with @healthydebate.bsky.social, I asked health care experts what they're hoping to hear from candidates this federal election

Harm reduction is a contentious political issue and is often reduced to statistics or charts about how well/poorly it’s working This is one woman’s experience with the system in BC Her resiliency in the face of setbacks & willingness to speak publicly are remarkable www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

Still not a word from the Alberta Government or any public health or emergency response officials in Edmonton about the huge spike in EMS calls for drug poisoning. The week of Feb 24 we hit a record high -- 232 or 33 per day. #yeg #ableg

If the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members, we’re in deep trouble.

The world has moved on. But those who lost loved ones to #COVID19 feel stuck in time. More than 60,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Canada. Here are 5 stories, by Hannah Alberga www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... via @cbcnews.ca

On Feb. 27, homeless people were turned away from the polls. There's a pervasive assumption that homeless people don't vote or understand politics — both of which are patently untrue. Elections Ontario must revise its process for people with no fixed address. www.thestar.com/news/gta/hom...

Me filing my long ass drafts to my editor

‘We’re losing decades of our life to this illness’ -- #LongCOVID patients on the fear of being forgotten. Five years after pandemic began, millions of people still face debilitating symptoms, by @kathryn42.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/society/2025... via @theguardian.com #COVID19

New from me on @healthydebate.bsky.social “With the U.S. sidelined, it’s critical we monitor avian flu outbreak” healthydebate.ca/2025/02/topi...

‘I wish he would have just hit me’: Bill criminalizing ‘insidious’ form of domestic abuse dies with prorogation By @maddidell.bsky.social #coercivecontrol #BillC332 healthydebate.ca/2025/02/topi...