CCBI Resources for COVID-19 Matters – October 9, 2020
Dear Friends of CCBI, We are experiencing another rollercoaster week heading towards Thanksgiving, which most…
CCBI Resources for Covid-19, November 6, 2020
Dear Friends of CCBI,
In Canada, the surge in numbers of COVID-19 cases has meant the continuation of heavy restrictions in some areas and the possibility of those being imposed in other areas if numbers of cases do not drop. Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr Teresa Tam, has told us to cut our contacts by at least 25%, and most of us will heed that advice, difficult as it may prove with the thought of Christmas ahead. (I probably should not be talking about Christmas when we’re not even in Advent yet, but it’s hard to avoid, when catalogues are appearing in our mail boxes (trees!), plazas are already sporting Christmas lights and cards and decorative ware have appeared everywhere. Even with reduced shopping trips, the evidence is in plain sight. Time to re-think our approach? Time for more charitable giving than scouring the internet for gifts to be delivered to our families and loved ones? Pope Francis has a point: the pandemic has given many of us the chance to do some things differently, including our consumerism, and since in a later paragraph I talk about ‘planning,’ why not in this area, too? Ideas are welcome!)
Back to the topic in hand! Dr Tam has also indicated that a three layer mask may provide further or better protection and CBC has provided us with a positive talk by Dr Tam on the pandemic, “Restoring Confidence.” I think this is an important observation as time passes and we begin to weary a little over the effects of the pandemic on our lives. She notes that at the beginning our reaction to the pandemic was more like a sprint, but now we know we have to handle it like a marathon. As a marathon runner herself, she knows how apt that comparison is. She strongly supports the concept of a more equitable approach to future public health planning which would pay more attention to the specific communities we have been discussing over the last few months. This is an interesting ‘listen’ to a person who has become widely respected for her calm and balanced explanations, which go a long way in establishing trust in public health measures.
In a talk to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and in light of the strong societal inequalities highlighted by the pandemic, the Permanent Representative of the Holy See recommended “…that the policies and tools put in place to respond to those in need be guided by two principles: the inclusion of all, and the protection of the sacredness of human life.” Following Pope Francis in Fratelli tutti, he noted of the pandemic experience that “…it also provides a real opportunity to seek new and innovative consensus-based solutions that are not divisive, politicized or partial, but that truly seek the common good and the integral human development of all.”
In a further Question and Answer session from Vatican News and the Vatican COVID-19 Commission, Luigino Bruni, an economics expert, explains his hope that lessons from the pandemic will help us “…rediscover the profound truth connected with the expression common good.” He believes “…everything is fundamentally a common good: politics in its true sense, the economy which looks to humanity before seeking to make a profit. In this new global vision that can be born after the pandemic, the Church must make itself a ‘guarantor’ of this collective patrimony, in so far as it is lies outside the logic of commerce.”
We appreciate the full and thorough-going collection of articles referring to palliative care during the pandemic compiled by a Canadian, Barry Ashpole, of Media Watch. This makes for intriguing and well-resourced reading on this topic, and here is a short sample from one of the articles, ‘Pandemic palliative care: Beyond ventilators and saving lives,’ published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal: “Previous mass casualty events have taught us much about how best to triage patients requiring care, and some of this work can be adapted to palliative care (PC); but little has been written on how to manage those who are not offered life-sustaining measures. The authors advise acting now to stockpile medications and supplies used in PC, train staff to meet PC needs, optimize our space, refine our systems, alleviate the effects of separation, have critical conversations and focus on marginalized populations to ensure that all patients are cared for equitably.” This is a good reminder that other ongoing situations need attention and preparation, as Dr Tam noted, and that planning for supplies is as necessary in health care as in ensuring food supplies for our families.
Our Lady, Health of the Sick, pray for us!
We pray that the progress of robotics and artificial intelligence may always serve humankind! (Pope’s intention for November)
Moira and Bambi
The Globe and Mail
Dr Tam: Reducing Contacts by 25 %
Dr Tam: Lessons learned and restoring confidence
| Listen to Restoring Confidence: Dr. Theresa Tam on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemicIn this episode, Rita Trichur speaks to Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam about key lessons from the pandemic and how the health-care system needs to change to protect vulnerable citizenswww.theglobeandmail.com |
Vatican News
Tackling inequality – a comprehensive approach
| Holy See urges comprehensive approach to tackling inequality – Vatican NewsMonsignor Janusz S. Urbańczyk, Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the OSCE, highlights new forms of poverty exacerbated by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis; and calls for an integral response to these challenges that includes all and protects the sacredness of human life.www.vaticannews.va |
Rediscover the Common Good
| Covid: through a common evil we rediscover the common good – Vatican NewsVATICAN NEWS. Healthcare, education, security – these are the linchpins of any nation which should not be subject to making a profit. Economist Luigino Bruni, one of the experts Pope Francis called to be part of the Vatican Covid-19 Commission, is convinced that the lesson of the pandemic will help us rediscover the profound truth connected with the expression “common good”.www.vaticannews.va |
Abstract Watch
End-of-Life Care in the context of COVID-19
| Abstract Watch: Palliative and end-of-life care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemicCATCH UP WITH SOME OF OUR ‘PAST POSTS’ – We know you’re super busy and don’t always have the chance to read all our posts. As, sadly, we enter the second wave of the pandemic we hope that this post…eapcnet.wordpress.com |
Vatican News – November’s Prayer Intention
That Progress in Robotics, AI…Be Human!
| Pope’s November prayer intention: that progress in robotics and AI “be human” – Vatican Newswww.vaticannews.va |
Course information
Thanks to Carolyn Chau for information about two courses provided by Charles C. Camosy, Associate Professor of Theological and Social Ethics, Fordham University.
https://felicianedu.thinkific.com/
The courses are provided by Felician University and jointly provided by UC-Irvine School of Medicine. CME accredited for both physicians and other health care professionals (would count for ethics). Designed for non-specialists in ethics…only academic reading is in the recommended/optional reading.
Ethics and the Pandemic
Many of us have a deep sense that something has gone profoundly wrong in how we’ve addressed the pandemic. The problem is deeper than superficial and technical debates about politics or policy. It goes instead to the fundamental ethical values that have governed our response. In this self-paced course, participants will explore the massive and heartbreaking implications of our choosing to be guided by certain ethical values (and rejecting others) during the pandemic.