Tuesday Edition

Webinar: The Indigenous Patient Journey Projects: Cycles of Trauma and Crisis (QI Power Hour)

The Alberta Health Services (AHS) Indigenous Patient Journey projects sought to explore what was working, what was not working and what was missing in Addiction and Mental Health (AMH) services delivered to Indigenous populations. To get an accurate picture of service-user experience the project collected quantitative and qualitative data from the service users themselves, capturing the voice of lived experience. Join us on our next QI Power Hour with Randal Bell, Senior Advisor-Indigenous Populations as he goes over the Indigenous Patient Journey Projects: Cycles of Trauma and Crisis. More...

Home and Community-Based Palliative Care Shaping the future from lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic (Health Canada)

The unprecedented demand for palliative care in home and community-based settings during the COVID-19 pandemic strained already limited palliative care resources, and exposed pre-existing gaps and systemic vulnerabilities in palliative care delivery. Despite these barriers, health care workers and administrators demonstrated creativity and problem solving as they evolved their practices to meet the needs of patients, families and caregivers. Click more to read Home and Community-based Palliative Care: Shaping the Future from Lessons Learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic. More...

The Pandemic Did Not Affect Mental Health the Way You Think (The Atlantic)

You’ve probably heard that the coronavirus pandemic triggered a worldwide mental-health crisis. This narrative took hold almost as quickly as the virus itself. In the spring of 2020, article after article—even an op-ed by one of us—warned of a looming psychological epidemic. As clinical scientists and research psychologists have pointed out, the coronavirus pandemic has created many conditions that might lead to psychological distress: sudden, widespread disruptions to people’s livelihoods and social connections; millions bereaved; and the most vulnerable subjected to long-lasting hardship. More...

Snowflakes all the way down (UHN)

Everyone's brain is unique, but are brains unique combinations of similar building blocks, or are the building blocks themselves – the brain cells – also unique? A study by UHN's Krembil Brain Institute and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health found a remarkably high degree of diversity of human brain cells. Pyramidal neurons are one of the more common types of cells in the neocortex, the outermost region of the brain. Neurons in this region are organized into six distinct layers, and the physical and electrical properties of these neurons influence brain activity. More...

Why Canada is divided over reopening despite controlling COVID-19 (CBC)

The end of the pandemic may be finally within sight in Canada, after incredible progress has been made battling back the spread of COVID-19 with widespread vaccination uptake and dogged adherence to strict public health measures across the country. More than 15 months of immeasurably hard work is now paying off, and we're poised to cross the finish line and possibly shift our focus to helping other countries get there sooner for the greater good of humanity. More...