re: why did it take a pandemic to talk about our ltc homes (lisa machado, may 26, 2020)
re: painful pandemic paradoxes, (lisa machado, may 25, 2020)
the biggest paradox is the absent devastation amongst street people, the tent cities and the flop houses. theoretically, they should have been ripe for rapid spread due to ill health, poor nutrition, poor hygiene, inability to physically distance, drug and alcohol abuse: all the usual culprits — yet this has not turned out to be the case.
long term care homes (really a euphemism for short-term as in “terminal” care) have indeed manifested the expected response and no, throwing more money and “resources” at bedridden 80 year-olds living beyond their natural span will do nothing other than allow for more virtue-signalling by the politicians lucky enough to be in power when government(s) dole out tax payer money. funding for those with another 50 years to live or those with (maybe) 50 weeks? build that school or improve the cross-ventilation in ltc homes?
hard choices — and a dilemma going back many centuries and addressed only when aforementioned “resources” are depleted. many relevant tv shows and movies have taken a glimpse at this — as soylent green, logans run, blade runner, even scenes in vikings — the old “give ‘em a chicken bone and put them on an ice-flow/under a tree in the woods” solution. all theoretical — until now.
so: no solution here — just thorny questions.
(thorny questions, indeed.)
tim holden, surrey, b.c.
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re: frontline gratitude (lisa machado, april 14, 2020)
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re: stop talking about basic income and do it (diana duong, march 22, 2020)
i enjoyed reading your article. it was useful in connecting the dots between basic income and pay equity research.
i can see how an additional benefit of the basic income (bi) framework could be by addressing the underlying cultural and social biases that promote gender-based pay inequities — the focus of ontario’s pay equity act.
prior to this pandemic time, i was thinking of ideas for contributing to the pe (specifically) and compensation management (generally) literature based on my two-plus decades of practitioner insights in a human resource leadership advisory capacity. to be honest, there is also some of that “gee, you’re 55 and what else can do to make this a better place….” voice also at play.
what’s common between both bi and pe is a reliance on a value of labour expressed through a common measure — compensation rates. however, bi and pe operationalize the measure differently. this is where i feel that the bi model will also simultaneously address pe concerns.
the essential premise of pe legislation is that external (labour market) job rates perpetuate, based on cultural/social biases, compensation differences across gender lines. this seems to align with the slower than expected pace of pay-gap closure. a flaw in the pe legislation might be that the combined value of the types of requisite, but unpaid, labour in the bi model (e.g., eldercare, childcare) typically done by females, are not reflected in — and do not represent — a true gender-based valuation in the labour market. so essentially, as long as broader cultural and social biases — that is, work can have a high social value but corresponding labour has no monetary value — are addressed, pe is not achievable.
there is some irony that in our current times these very types of required and unpaid labour would be deemed essential services.
my gut sense is that systems thinking is the most effective way to solve any social inequality, such as pe. i am always looking for ways to integrate insights from other professional areas to build my own understanding of where i can impact social change. i would be happy to continue the dialogue.
dave nanderam
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these teachers should work a week in a long term care facility — especially a dementia ward — where they are kicked, slapped, bitten, spit upon, suffer violence, deal with patients who are agitated, get sworn at and best of all clean up all levels of incontinence. and this for either hours straight every day. it is no wonder most psws are immigrants because canadians don’t respect the aged and consider themselves above this type of work. write an article about this.
b.b.
dunrobin, ontario
(doctors, nurses, teachers, personal support workers — just some of the many whose jobs have become essential to keeping us all going during these important times. we send our thanks.)
bad breath in isolation
re: asking for a friend: my wife’s breath is killing me (maja begovic, march 20)
thank you for your informative article, march 24, about the man whose wife has unbearable bad breath. i can relate to their situation and offer a life-saving suggestion.
a few years ago, i developed very bad breath as a result of necessary medications. fortunately, a trustworthy friend told me the truth and recommended that i contact my dentist.
he said i should use therabreath products instead of my alcohol based mouthwash. he said that alcohol makes your mouth dry, which allows bad breath bacteria to multiply. therabreath uses oxygen to attack the bacteria at the root cause of the problem. they also have a toothpaste and breath mints, based on oxygenating science with no weird ingredients.
to my delight, within a few days my bad breath disappeared — as confirmed by my friend.
now, i use only these products and recommend them to everybody. i buy mine at shoppers, but i think they also sell them at walmart and amazon.
your column is excellent! thanks.
linda harris
toronto, ontario
(thanks to you for sending along the tip. hopefully it helps others get out of stinky town.)
not all boomers are the same
re: ok, boomer. covid-19 is here. now what? (robert harris, march 17)
i have never liked stereotyping people, so i feel the need to comment on this article. my group of friends and colleagues are/were medical front line workers, physios, occupational therapists, respiratory techs, nurses, social workers, speech language therapists, emt’s, doctors and the medical managers that ran hospitals and community care for the last 50 years. i can’t think of one of them who exhibited this cavalier attitude about life, and contagion and disease affecting life.
when you provide five to 45 years of care for human beings you observe things that make you realize how very fragile we really are. we have all had some grounding in medical history, and for many of us contagious disease and humanity’s history of same is horrifying. many of us have been teaching 2022年世界杯名单猜测 practices to our patients for years, and many of us who have retired, or quit our medical jobs, still promote those practices to friends and family. even now, boomers are coming out of retirement to help in the fight against covid-19. for us, we who have held human lives with disease cupped in our hands, souls, and hearts, ready to fight those diseases the best we can, life and health is sacrosanct.
anne mitchell, rn, bscn,
niagara falls school of nursing, class of ‘75,
university of victoria, school of nursing, class of 2000.
(thanks to you and all the other frontline workers who are risking their lives to keep us all safe and well. we will not forget.)