CCBI News – Palliative Care: Elections, Hope, Capacity, Euthanasia Law Expansion, in Ukraine; Health-Climate Change; Métis-Education, Health, Resiliency

April 14, 2022

Dear Friends of CCBI,

Palliative Care – Questions for Elections

Provincial elections are coming up, providing opportunities for us to ask searching questions about many issues dear to the heart of Catholics including the importance of providing more and better palliative care. This is not just a bioethical or medical issue – it’s a social and political issue, since its provision depends on health care budget allocations to the provinces, and on the will of the decision-makers. Palliative care needs a bigger share of the budget if it is to be provided more equitably throughout Canada.

The Horizons of Hope program developed by the CCCB for Canadian dioceses asks us to become aware of the benefits of palliative care and of the need to work for its provision for all who need it. Please see the CCCB video (below) where palliative care specialist Dr Jose Pereira discusses palliative care, followed by one section of an earlier CCBI video addressing this issue. One of the partners of Horizons of Hope is Pallium Canada, and its website details useful information about resources and online courses on palliative care, for professionals and caregivers. Its aim, similar to the Bishops of Canada, is to develop “…professional and community capacity to help improve the quality and accessibility of palliative care in Canada.” Well worth viewing!

Attention! Canada’s Euthanasia Law Set to Expand

As I mentioned last week, euthanasia for people with some mental illnesses is to be legally recognized in 2023, and an expert panel is currently working on drawing up ‘safeguards.’ CCBI has expressed the opinion many times that safeguards in these areas are not robust enough: conditions are gradually disregarded, eventually making euthanasia a matter of ‘choice,’ as happened in the abortion debate. Now a Special Joint Committee has been convened in Parliament to study the extension of euthanasia to ‘mature’ minors and those making advance directives who might lose competence to consent before dying. It will also discuss palliative care and the protection of those with disabilities. We must voice our concerns and take up these matters with candidates standing for election.

Palliative Care in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine is a major problem for adults and children receiving or needing palliative care. An estimated 500,000 adults and children in Ukraine are dying or have palliative care needs annually. Many must stay in Ukraine because their condition means they cannot risk being moved, while others are being moved to Poland, Romania, and Moldova. The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance has organized a Global Giving campaign to raise fund, to help seriously ill people in Ukraine and rebuild access to palliative care once the war is over. You can see how the campaign is going. The palliative care physician in the photograph has been called up to fight for Ukraine, leaving another gap in care. CCBI frequently laments the lack of palliative care in some parts of Canada, but we don’t have to deal with this type of crisis! For that we thank God, and perhaps might be moved to support medical and palliative needs in Ukraine.

Pope Francis’ Intention for April

Let us pray for health care workers who serve the sick and the elderly, especially in the poorest countries; may they be adequately supported by governments and local communities!

Palliative Care

Pallium Canada – Advancing Palliative Care

AMAD – Home – House of Commons of Canada (parl.ca)

Allergies, Asthma and Climate Change
Bridget Campion, PhD

For the last few years, allergy sufferers in Canada have noticed that allergy season seems to have grown longer and symptoms more severe. According to a recent Globe and Mail report, the worsening of allergy season is real and yet another consequence of climate change. Higher temperatures mean that plants are blooming earlier, which not only lengthens the season, but can cause an “overlapping” of seasons with several types of pollen being airborne at once. With higher CO2 levels, plants produce more pollen. And in Canada, the tree line is moving northward, bringing pollen northward as well. According to the Globe and Mail report, “scientists detected a 21 percent increase in pollen levels across North America between 1990 and 2018.” Not only does this affect persons with allergies, it also affects those who have asthma.

As a sidebar, a recent Canadian study by T. To et. al., determined that children who have asthma and live in poorer or “low income adequacy” households are more likely to be hospitalized because of asthma than children in higher income households. Factors that might account for this inequity include children of lower-income households having “higher disease prevalence, increased disease severity, multiple comorbidities, poor health habits, crowded living conditions, inconsistent patterns of preventative care, nutritional problems and poor physical fitness.” As well, “socio-economic differences in the use of inhaled corticosteroids have been reported in children with asthma.” Already vulnerable because of socio-economic conditions, poorer children with asthma face further risks because of more severe allergy seasons driven by climate change. Meanwhile, The Globe and Mail notes that “the rise in severe seasonal allergies and asthma, which are linked to climate-driven pollen increases, could cost Canada millions of dollars in business revenues and health care expenses.”

Of course persons who have allergies are encouraged to take whatever steps they can to avoid allergens and to treat symptoms. Governments must be prepared to put more money into health care because of increased health care service usage and hospitalizations. But experts consulted by The Globe and Mail also point out that it may be important to think about the environment itself – particularly the flora in urban settings. For instance “[a]n excess of male trees – which are favoured over female trees because they don’t produce flowers or fruit, making for less of a mess for street cleaners – belonging to specific species may also be contributing to an overabundance of pollen in urban areas.” Controlling ragweed, as Quebec does, must be done in such a way that the environment is protected from herbicides. Ultimately, however, we must attend to climate change itself. As Simon Fraser University’s Cecilia Sierra-Heredia notes in the Globe and Mail article, “’We can take as many adaptive measures as we want, but if we do not prevent an increase in greenhouse gasses, we’ll constantly be trying to catch up to these planetary changes….’”

Sources

Pascale Malenfant, “Climate change might be aggravating Canada’s allergy season, but solutions are within reach” The Globe and Mail April 10, 2022 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-climate-change-allergy-season/
T To et. al., “Health outcomes in low-income children with current asthma in Canada” Chronic Diseases in Canada (2009) Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 49-55 https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/migration/phac-aspc/publicat/hpcdp-pspmc/29-2/pdf/cdic29-2-3-eng.pdf

A Gathering of Resiliency
Bridget Campion, PhD

Starting college or university can be a time of excitement for students – and a time of anxiety as they leave home perhaps for the first time, as they enter large educational institutions, as they must become self-directed in their studies, and as they make transitions into young adulthood. For Indigenous students this time can have additional challenges as they find themselves moving away from familiar, supportive communities to indifferent or even hostile environments in order to pursue further education.

Sensitive to the needs of its young people, the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) recently organized a virtual event, a Post-Secondary Resiliency Gathering. Over one hundred students attended. According to the MNO website, the gathering addressed practical concerns facing every student – “learning how to navigate the rental market, how to live with roommates, how to keep an eye out for rental scams and what their rights are as tenants.” But the gathering also “covered topics critical to Métis health and well-being … [providing] the knowledge, healing and resources required to help diminish the need for emergency supports.” And, crucially, the gathering emphasized the importance of connection to Métis culture as a source of resilience for students heading on to post-secondary education. Sashes, for instance, are a centrepiece of Métis identity and have traditionally been produced by the technique of finger weaving. At the gathering, participants “learned about finger weaving and the spiritual, cultural and historic significance of it to the Métis people.” They also received a parting package that included Métis stories about resilience as well as cultural items to give students a sense of connection and belonging.

Throughout the gathering, the emphasis was on resiliency, a concept central to Métis life. As MNO President Margaret Froh said to the gathering, “’Throughout our history Métis have shown that adversity is something we must face head on and while the challenges have changed the fact remains that we are a people who thrive in the face of adversity and I am so proud we are continuing this legacy with our young Métis.”

Education is a social determinant of health. According to The Lancet, “Education and health and wellbeing are intrinsically linked…. Education is strongly associated with life expectancy, morbidity, health behaviours, and educational attainment plays an important role in health by shaping opportunities, employment and income.” A community that supports the education of its students contributes to the long-term wellbeing of those students – and to the long-term wellbeing of the community itself. As the MNO report noted: “A healthy, educated youth population will facilitate a strong, vibrant future for Métis in Ontario….”

Sources

Métis Nation of Ontario “MNO holds its first-ever Post-Secondary Resiliency Gathering” posted March 25, 2022 https://www.metisnation.org/news/mno-holds-its-first-ever-post-secondary-resiliency-gathering/
“Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture” (Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research) https://www.metismuseum.ca/fingerweaving/background.php
“Education: a neglected social determinant of health” The Lancet Public Health July 2020 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(20)30144-4/fulltext

Blessings during the Triduum and wishing you a Happy and Holy Easter!

Moira, Bambi and Bridget