Halifax Lawyer Raises Health Concerns for Client in Nova Scotia Justice Dept. Sexual Abuse Case

March 6, 2024admin

Halifax Lawyer Raises Health Concerns for Client in Nova Scotia Justice Dept. Sexual Abuse Case

A Halifax lawyer, Devin Maxwell, expresses profound concern over the health and safety implications for his client due to the extensive questioning planned by provincial lawyers in a civil sexual abuse lawsuit against Nova Scotia’s Department of Justice. Maxwell’s client is suing the government for abuse by Cesar Lalo, known as one of Nova Scotia’s most egregious pedophiles. Lalo, a former probation officer, was implicated in numerous cases of child abuse, leading to multiple civil lawsuits against him and the province, even after his death in 2019.

Unprecedented Legal Battle

The legal fight against Nova Scotia’s Department of Justice is intensifying as the case approaches the discovery phase, where Maxwell’s client will undergo questioning by government lawyers for two days. This procedure is part of a series of lawsuits following landmark rulings that found the province vicariously liable for Lalo’s actions, resulting in significant damage awards. Despite Lalo’s death, the lawsuits continue, highlighting the long-lasting impact of his crimes.

Concerns Over the Discovery Process

Maxwell’s worries stem from the potential psychological impact this extensive questioning could have on his client, who has spent a lifetime trying to repress memories of the abuse. The decision to allocate two full days for questioning has raised alarms, not only for Maxwell but also for the victim’s counsellor, both of whom fear for the client’s well-being. Maxwell questions the necessity of such a prolonged process, especially given the province’s previous commitments to sensitivity towards abuse victims.

Response from the Justice Department

In response to Maxwell’s concerns, the Justice Department emphasized its commitment to treating every claim with sensitivity and respect, while also conducting the necessary fact-finding to review claims. They encouraged Maxwell to bring his concerns directly to the department’s legal services division. Despite the ongoing legal challenges, the exact number of active

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Health Care

October 8, 2023admin

Q&A: These Halifax doctors push back at being called ‘health-care heroes.’ Here’s why

At the beginning of the pandemic, as the world shifted rapidly — the signs and slogans were ubiquitous: health-care workers were heroes, on the front lines of fighting the virus.

But a new book, written by the people who suited up in PPE daily and headed into hospitals, long-term care homes and other settings, pushes back at the idea of being heroic.

The COVID Journals: Health Care Workers Write The Pandemic gives glimpses of what the people behind those N95 masks felt and thought at a turbulent time. Essays and poems detail their fears, worries and fatigue — along with dealing with how restrictions affected their patients, marginalized communities, and themselves.

The book is co-edited by physicians Shane Neilson, Arundhati Dhara and Sarah Fraser. Dhara and Fraser practise in Halifax and also direct Dalhousie University’s medical humanities program, where they use creative writing as a training tool for medical students.

“Empathy is known as something that is lost during medical school,” said Fraser. “Studies have shown that engagement with reflective writing, or even reading fiction, reading literature, has been shown to improve communication skills and help medical trainees to keep their empathy.”

Atlantic Voice26:10We weren’t heroes: Health-care workers on COVID

Featured VideoIt turns out the start of the pandemic didn’t feel particularly heroic to the people regularly being called heroes. 2 Halifax-based doctors and co-editors of The Covid Journals: Health Care Workers Write The Pandemic break apart that narrative and talk about the messy job of working through lockdowns while trying to do the best by your patients, society and yourself.

Dhara and Fraser sat down with CBC Radio’s Atlantic Voice, to talk to host Lindsay Bird about the book.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

So this book starts and it

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Health Care

September 23, 2023admin

N.S. health administrative workers readying to strike 3 years after contract expired – Halifax

Thousands of health care administrative workers in Nova Scotia are eyeing a strike three years after their contract expired.

The unions representing them say wages remain the major sticking point, but they’re open to returning to the bargaining table. The president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) says these staff members deserve more.

“The premier has been focusing on health care,” says Sandra Mullen. “Certainly, nurses, doctors, all of those contracts have been signed with promises to keep those wages where they need to be within Atlantic Canada.”

Sandra Mullen is the President of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU).

Skye Bryden-Blom/Global News

She says the wages of admin staff haven’t kept pace with inflation as some make as low as $18 per hour and are now taking on second jobs to help make ends meet.

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The NSGEU represents nearly 3,800 of the more than 5,000 administration workers in Nova Scotia’s hospitals and community care settings. The remainder are covered by CUPE and Unifor.

“They keep that operation [health care] running. They schedule appointments, they enter information that the doctors need, they do a multitude of things,” says Mullen.

The Essential Health and Community Services Act requires employers and unions to establish an essential services agreement before a strike or lockout can happen.

“I won’t allow Nova Scotians to go without access to essential services,” says Premier Tim Houston. “Particularly, I will not allow Nova Scotians to go without access to health care because of a labour disruption. It will not happen.”

Click to play video: 'Frontline worker unions happy to see Nova Scotia budget focus on health-care'

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Frontline worker unions happy to see Nova Scotia budget focus on health-care

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Department Health

September 22, 2023admin

Renovations for waiting room of Halifax’s largest emergency department set to begin – Halifax

The QEII Health Sciences Centre’s emergency department is undergoing renovations as part of the hospital’s ongoing redevelopment project.

In a release Tuesday morning, the Nova Scotia Health Authority said patients and visitors to the Halifax Infirmary emergency department will notice construction taking place in the waiting room Wednesday.

“The upgrades will improve care by providing a better experience for both patients and staff,” the release said.

The emergency room renovations will last for about five weeks, and during that time, a second emergency department patient advocate will be assigned to the emergency room to support patients and staff.

“We are working hard to minimize the impact of construction and ensure safety, comfort and privacy for those in the waiting room,” the release said.

According to NSHA spokesperson Brendan Elliott, the renovations will entail relocating medical gas and steam lines, allowing the hospital to construct an inpatient acute care tower that was previously announced as part of the redevelopment.

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“Steam lines are crucial for heating the hospital so this work needs to be completed before winter,” Elliott noted.

Long-awaited project

The QEII redevelopment project has been in the works for years. First announced by the former Liberal government in 2016, the project was initially supposed to cost $2 billion.

In December 2022, Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservative government announced it was changing the scope of the project, and that it would cost substantially more, but exactly how much was not said.

An auditor general’s report released in April said the province was falling behind on the long-awaited project.

In May, the province said it would soon break ground after a deal was signed

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Health Care

August 7, 2023admin

Union says N.S. 811 staff among lowest paid health-care workers in Canada – Halifax

Telehealth associates working for Nova Scotia’s 811 phone line are speaking out through their union about how current wages are leading to difficulties retaining and recruiting workers, as a frequent turnover rate continues to impact the 24/7 health information service.

A release titled “811 workers speak out” from the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU), which is the province’s largest union, says 811 workers are amongst the lowest-paid health-care workers in Canada.

The employees, who offer health advice, the transferring of more urgent calls to 911, and assistance in adding residents to the waitlist for a primary healthcare provider, currently make $18.44 an hour. The calculated living wage for Halifax, where the employees are based, is $23.50.

According to the province’s website, 325 patients receive care from an 811 nurse on a regular basis.

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“We are experiencing higher than normal call volumes. It will take longer than usual to respond to your call,” a disclaimer on the service’s website read on Saturday.

Hugh Gillis, first vice president at NSGEU, said telehealth workers are currently under “extreme” pressures due to the position’s around-the-clock nature.

“It is unconscionable that these workers are making less than a living wage,” he said in the release.

There are currently only 17 telehealth associates working in Nova Scotia. They are employed by Emergency Medical Care Inc., which is contracted by the provincial government to operate the service.

“Staffing shortages have been so acute that workers have had to be mandated to work overtime, which is leading to worker fatigue and burn-out, and jeopardizing the service,” NSGEU’s release added.

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In an interview with Global News, Gillis said he continues to hear from workers that it’s becoming increasingly challenging to live in Halifax with their current pay.

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Department Health

June 2, 2023admin

Halifax heart surgeons ‘on notice’ about bad behaviour, says department head

A new code of conduct for surgeons should help address longstanding concerns about inappropriate behaviour in the cardiac surgery division, says the head of the department of surgery for Nova Scotia Health’s central zone and Dalhousie University.

“We as surgeons have been put on notice that we’re going to call each other out,” Dr. Gail Darling said this week.

“We’re going to call you out if you’re swearing or you’re denigrating or you’re bad-mouthing somebody. We’re going to say, ‘You know, that’s not OK in 2023.'”

Unprofessional behaviour by some surgeons was flagged in reviews of the division in 2010 and 2016 and, following further allegations that included bullying, harassment and racism, was part of the impetus for a third review that was ordered last year.

The 2010 and 2016 reviews both said the division needed a code of conduct with teeth to address surgeon behaviour that leadership seemed unable to get under control.

Darling said she thinks this new code, intended to work along with respectful workplace policies already in place for the health authority and Dal, should mark a turning point.

A person walks by a hospital. — Officials with Nova Scotia Health are working to improve the workplace culture of the cardiac surgery division. (Michael Gorman/CBC)

The code includes a grading system modelled after an approach used in Alberta that lays out responses to certain types of behaviour and what happens if it persists. Darling said that starts with more minor behaviour that might have been brushed off in the past or that people grew to accept as a part of working with certain people.

Darling said she thinks progress will follow as an atmosphere develops where people feel comfortable speaking out when they see problematic behaviour.

“It’s going to be little baby steps forward and that’s what we have to do,” Darling said.

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Department Health

May 20, 2023admin

Surgery wait list in Nova Scotia shrinking as procedures ramp up: Health Department – Halifax

By The Staff

The Canadian Press

Posted May 19, 2023 11:42 am

The Nova Scotia government says the Health Department’s wait list for surgeries is shrinking.

The department has issued a statement saying surgical teams across the province completed thousands more operations and procedures last year than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement says there were 1,873 more surgeries completed in the 2022-23 fiscal year than in 2019-20, and there were 4,863 more endoscopy and cystoscopy procedures completed last year than in 2019-20.

As a result, the surgical wait list has been reduced by more than four-thousand people in the last year, though the department did not say how many people remain on the list.

Health Minister Michelle Thompson says the shrinking wait list can be attributed to improved scheduling of operating rooms, new acute-care beds and an expanded partnership with the Halifax Vision Centre for cataract surgeries.

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As well, Thompson says the number of outpatient hip and knee replacement surgeries increased to 1,193 in 2022-23, up from 85 in 2019-20.

Those patients returned home to recover rather than being admitted to hospital, leaving beds available for others, the department said.

“Together, we are gaining ground and getting more Nova Scotians the surgeries and procedures they’ve been waiting for,” Thompson said. “We know there is more work to do to shorten surgical wait lists, but we are ready and willing to make the changes and investments needed to keep this momentum going.”

Click to play video: 'Report finds Nova Scotia has 2nd highest wait times for medical procedures in country'

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Report finds Nova Scotia has 2nd highest wait times for medical procedures in country

This report by The Canadian Press

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Health Advice

May 14, 2023admin

Not giving in to fast fashion: These Halifax clothing store owners see the value in timeless and quality apparel

STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS

HALIFAX, N.S. — Fashion trends change faster now than ever before.

Social media and the Internet help create trends overnight and online shopping gives people everything they want at their fingertips — and fast fashion lets them get it cheap and quickly.

But, for the spring and summer seasons, what must-have styles can be made more affordable amid inflation and more sustainable amid climate change?

Maureen Elsie Court, owner of Elsie’s Used Clothing in Halifax, has curated her consignment store, since it opened about 25 years ago, based on her unique taste. Some people call her Maureen. Others who meet her in the store call her Elsie, but all of them come for her clothes.

“Initially, the way I stocked the store — and still to this day — is based on my particular eye for things and my taste in quality and good design and good fabrics,” said Court.

Oversized clothes

Court was in her 20s in the 1980s. It was an influential time for her. It was the first time in her life that she had enough money and was old enough to be creative with her personal style.

The fashion range was crazy and a lot of oversized clothing continues to be stylish today, she said.

“Even to this day, I’ve never really gotten away from it,” she said.

Oversized fashion from the ‘80s isn’t becoming a new trend, though, she said.

“A magazine might say it’s a trend now, but it’s really never gone out of style for many of my clients,” said Court.

Last summer, she noticed a huge ‘70s influence, but. Now. even more oversize items seem to be coming back.

Elsie’s Used Clothing, located in downtown Halifax, bursts with an array of styles from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s and more. Contributed - Contributed — Elsie’s Used Clothing, located in downtown Halifax, bursts with an array of styles from the ‘70s, ‘80s,

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Health Advice

March 8, 2023admin

Marketing ‘slow fashion’ in Halifax

Laura MacNutt said she opened her vintage clothing store to counter “fast fashion,” which is the production of clothing from mass-market retailers to keep up with trends.

By Elena Neufeld

March 3, 2023, 3:43 pm ASTFinal Up-to-date: March 4, 2023, 10:11 am

Jam-packed to the ceiling with vintage jackets, Doc Martens and 501 Levi’s denims, a compact store lies tucked away in the Historic Attributes shopping mall on the Halifax waterfront.

KingsPIER classic catches the eye of passerby with its heat-toned lighting and the drifting smell of cedar and linen. The throwback retailer has arrive a long way from its rural origins.

Laura MacNutt opened the doorways to her assortment in 2013 in a smaller barn off the initial exit to Wolfville, N.S., surrounded by sheep, goats and leather-based jackets. Her collection has been increasing for over 30 many years. Educated in textiles and high-quality arts, MacNutt 1st commenced amassing classic attire via her work in films this sort of as regionally-developed Pit Pony in 1997 in which she was artwork director and output designer.

“Whether it reminds you of somebody else or it was any individual else’s, you embrace it,” states KingsPIER classic operator Laura MacNutt. Elena Neufeld

“When I started, slow manner was not a word that existed,” MacNutt instructed The Sign at her shop on Higher Water Avenue.

“Vintage was not nearly anything, secondary outfits was relegated to the bins of Frenchy’s and Value Village.”

KingsPIER vintage is not a properly-regarded locale most prospects told The Sign it was their 1st time environment foot in the store.

Nevertheless, MacNutt stated revenue was never ever the explanation she opened her doors. She claimed she’s fighting to preserve the planet from “fast trend,” which is the production of clothes by mass-market retailers to keep up with trends. According to the UN Setting Programme, the quickly-trend marketplace is the second-biggest purchaser of water, with world-wide carbon emissions of concerning two and 8 per cent.

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Health Information

February 3, 2023admin

New patient medical information system coming to N.S. in $365M contract – Halifax

The Nova Scotia government says new technology to make accessing medical information easier for health care professionals is coming in 2025.

The One Person One Record system, set to launch in two years, will replace and connect more than 80 systems that staff currently use to record and access patient information.

According to the province, health-care professionals in Nova Scotia currently have to log into at least five systems to get a patient’s full health information — many of which are outdated and slow.

Tag: Halifax

Unprecedented Legal Battle

Concerns Over the Discovery Process

Response from the Justice Department

Long-awaited project

Oversized clothes