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Province & Doctors Ratify New Agreement

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By Sheldon Spackman

The Alberta Government has announced the ratification of an amending agreement between the province and it’s physicians that aims to improve patient care. However, the amending agreement still needs to be signed by both parties.

Government officials say the voting process for Alberta Medical Association (AMA) members started six weeks ago with the final count showing that 74 per cent of voting physicians were in favour of amending the existing 2011-18 master agreement.

Minister of Health Sarah Hoffman says ā€œWe thank Albertaā€™s physicians for their support of these amendments and their dedication and commitment to improving the health and well-being of all Albertans. As shared stewards of our health system, we now look forward to working together on changes that will improve accessibility to high-quality care and keep the health system sustainable in the long term.ā€

Alberta Medical Association President Dr. Padriac Carr says ā€œIn ratifying this agreement, physicians and government are moving in positive new directions. We will work to moderate the rate of expenditure growth while maintaining quality care and providing greater value for patients. The amending agreement will also contribute to a higher level of integration and increased efficiency in the system in the long term.ā€

The ratified amendments come after six months of negotiations and are based on a tentative agreement announced Aug. 31. The agreement, which recognizes a shared responsibility to provide quality health care in a financially sustainable framework, is expected to improve patient care and significantly slow the growth of health-care spending by the end of 2018.

Highlights of the amending agreement include a needs-based Physician Resource Plan that will help place doctors in the communities that need them. Primary care improvements, including new information technology and data-sharing. New compensation models for some primary-care physicians, as well as academic physicians, to reward time and quality of care given to patients rather than just the number of services provided. New physician peer review and accountability mechanisms and the linking of certain benefits and compensation increases to performance on other cost-saving measures.

The current master agreement with physicians will now be amended. The government and the AMA will immediately start negotiations on the overall master agreement that expires in 2018.

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Health

Oxford study finds transgender surgery increases depression, suicide ideation rates

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From LifeSiteNews

By Doug Mainwaring

This study, along with scores of others conducted in recent years, explodes the media-enforced narrative that so-called ā€˜gender transitionā€™ procedures are beneficial for the gender-confused.

A studyĀ published in theĀ Oxford Journal of Sexual MedicineĀ found that undergoing so-called ā€œsex changeā€ surgery, far from reducing depression rates among the gender dysphoric, substantially increased rates not only of depression, but of anxiety, suicidal ideation, and substance use disorders.Ā 

Males who underwent transgender surgery had a depression rate of 25.4 percent, compared to 11.5 percent in those who did not have surgery. Likewise, females who underwent surgery had a depression rate of 22.9 percent, compared to 14.6 percent in those who did not.Ā 

The study notes that males undergoing ā€œfeminizingā€ surgeries demonstrated a particularly high risk for depression and substance use disorders.Ā 

ā€œFrom 107,583 patients, matched cohorts demonstrated that those undergoing surgery were at significantly higher risk for depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and substance use disorders than those without surgery,ā€ the researchers found.Ā Ā 

Rather than concluding that so-called ā€œgender affirmingā€ surgery is a dangerous, unnecessary practice that should be discontinued because it puts patientsā€™ lives at risk, the researchers instead suggest that that their findings show a need for ā€œgender-sensitive mental health support following gender-affirming surgery to address post-surgical psychological risks.ā€Ā 

Exploding the mythĀ Ā 

This study, along with scores of others conducted in recent years, explodes the media-enforced narrative that so-called ā€œgender transitionā€ procedures are beneficial or even ā€œnecessaryā€ for the happiness and well-being of the gender-confused.Ā Ā 

AĀ significant body of evidenceĀ now shows that ā€œaffirmingā€ gender confusion carries serious harms, especially when done with impressionable children who lack the mental development, emotional maturity, and life experience to consider the long-term ramifications of the decisions being pushed on them or full knowledge about the long-term effects of life-altering, physically transformative, and often irreversible surgical and chemical procedures.Ā 

Studies find that more than 80 percent of children suffering gender dysphoriaĀ outgrow it on their own by late adolescenceĀ and that ā€œtransitionā€ procedures fail to resolve gender-confused individualsā€™ heightened tendency to engage in self-harm and suicide ā€“ and evenĀ exacerbateĀ it, including by reinforcing their confusion and neglecting the actual root causes of their mental strife.Ā Ā 

Last year, a massive, peer-reviewed study provided unequivocal evidence that those who undergo so-called ā€œgender reassignmentā€ surgery put themselves at a vastly increased risk of suicide ā€“ an astounding 12 times that of the general population.Ā Ā 

The giantĀ study, ā€œinvolving 56 United States healthcare organizations and over 90 million patients,ā€ analyzed data collected over a 20-year period, from February 2003 to February 2023, examining ā€œsuicide attempts, death, self-harm, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within five years of the index event.ā€Ā Ā Ā 

The researchers compared the experiences of persons aged 18-60 who visited hospital emergency rooms and who had previously undergone ā€œtransitionā€ surgery with those who visited emergency rooms without having undergone transgender surgery: A stunning 3.47 percent of those who had surgically ā€œtransitionedā€ were treated for suicide attempts, versus 0.29 percent for non-ā€œtransitionedā€ patients.Ā Ā Ā Ā 

The authors of the study, like those of the one just published in theĀ Oxford Journal of Sexual Medicine, sidestepped the obvious conclusion that attempts to surgically ā€œtransitionā€ the gender-confused are both dangerous and futile.Ā Ā Ā 

Instead they concluded: ā€œGender-affirming [sic] surgery is significantly associated with elevated suicide attempt risks, underlining the necessity for comprehensive post-procedure psychiatric support.ā€Ā 

In 2016,Ā The New Atlantis, A Journal of Technology and Society, produced aĀ landmark reportĀ offering a summary and an up-to-date explanation of research on ā€œsexual orientation and gender identityā€ from the biological, psychological, and social sciences, covering nearly 200 peer-reviewed studies.Ā Ā 

ā€œThe hypothesis that gender identity is an innate, fixed property of human beings that is independent of biological sex ā€” that a person might be ā€˜a man trapped in a womanā€™s bodyā€™ or ā€˜a woman trapped in a manā€™s bodyā€™ ā€” is not supported by scientific evidence,ā€Ā according to expertsĀ Lawrence S. Mayer, M.B., M.S., Ph.D, scholar-in-residence in the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University, and Paul R. McHugh, M.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.Ā Ā 

According to theirĀ report, the vast body of scientific evidenceĀ tells a different storyĀ from the one most have been told through mainstream media. ā€œSexual identityā€ or ā€œsexual orientationā€ are so commonly used that they go unquestioned and are perceived to have been derived from biological or medical science, but they are not. These terms are merely expressions of desire, behavior, and identity, all of which are fluid and may change over time. Additionally, ā€œgay,ā€ ā€œlesbian,ā€ and ā€œtransgenderā€ are not scientific terms. People who suffer from homosexual inclinations and/or gender confusion are not separate species of human beings.Ā 

The only thing that science actually tells us is that we are born either male or female.Ā 

One young man, Yarden Silveira, was so distraught after ā€œsex changeā€ surgery that he committed suicide in 2021.Ā Ā Ā Ā 

Before taking his own life, YardenĀ wrote:Ā Ā 

I wish I never listened to the medical and psychiatric community when they told me it was possible to change my sex. What a lie. Very dangerous and unethical. Sex reassignment [sic] surgery is a hit and miss type of surgery, but they donā€™t tell you that. They never do. And maybe if I didnā€™t have autism, maybe if my brain wasnā€™t so defective, I would have caught on before it was too lateā€¦Ā Ā Ā 

This is what I get for messing with natureā€¦ I just wanted friendship and love. I wanted life to be easier. I wanted to be a woman since I was 15. I wish I had the knowledge that I have today. I was a confused kid with no identity. I wish I could have done everything different, but itā€™s too late now. Iā€™m royally screwedā€¦Ā Ā 

The Transgender Ideology and its lies, along with the pro-gay media, medical and psychiatric community, have killed me. The feminization of America will continue to produce outcomes like mine. It wasnā€™t my fault for failing. Everyone failed me, my death shouldnā€™t surprise anyone.Ā Ā 

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Alberta

Province announces funding for interim cardiac catheterization lab at the Red Deer Regional Hospital

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Albertaā€™s government is partnering with the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation to expedite the delivery of life-saving cardiac services to central Alberta residents.

Albertaā€™s government is partnering with the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation to expedite the delivery of life-saving cardiac services to central Alberta residents.

Albertaā€™s government is committed to ensuring that Albertans have access to the health care they need, including life-saving cardiac care and lab services, no matter where they live. For those in central Alberta, the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre plays a critical role in providing that care, which is why the $1.8-billion Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre redevelopment project includes two state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization labs.

While the project is expected to be completed by 2031, the government recognizes the urgent need for cardiac services for the 450,000 Albertans from Red Deer and surrounding rural communities. If passed, Budget 2025 will provide $3 million in startup funding and ongoing funding to cover the operational costs for an interim cardiac catheterization lab at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.

ā€œEvery Albertan should have access to the health care services they need close to home. Albertans living in the Red Deer area have long advocated for a cardiac catheterization lab and I am pleased to support a project that we know will help save lives.ā€

Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Health

A cardiac catheterization lab is a dedicated space where specialized teams can carry out diagnostic tests that examine and evaluate heart function to aid in the diagnosis of cardiac health concerns and treatment of coronary artery disease. The lab will be equipped with specialized imaging equipment to allow for cardiac procedures primarily including ablation, angiogram and angioplasty.

The interim cardiac catheterization lab will be located within the existing Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre in a space currently being used as a physicianā€™s lounge. Preliminary design plans are already in place and construction is expected to begin by fall 2025.

The Red Deer Regional Health Foundation has committed to funding the capital cost of the project, which is expected to be about $22 million.

In October 2024, the foundation announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Alberta Health Services to fast-track the opening of a cardiac catheterization lab at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.

ā€œWe are incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Donald and Lacey families, whose support is bringing life-saving cardiac care closer to home for the benefit of all central Albertans. Together with all our health care partners, their commitment to advancing health care will make a lasting impact on countless lives for years to come.ā€

Manon Therriault, chief executive officer, Red Deer Regional Health Foundation

The foundationā€™s work is made possible by the generosity of donors, supporters and champions across the region. To support the development of the interim cardiac catheterization lab, the foundation announced a $10-million donation from the John Donald family.

ā€œI am pleased to support the development of cardiac services in central Alberta, something weā€™ve long advocated for. This initiative will provide essential care to our community and ensure that more lives are saved closer to home.ā€

John Donald, Red Deer Regional Health Foundation donor

By prioritizing the development of an interim cardiac catheterization lab, patients will have access to critical services about three years earlier than expected. The interim cardiac catheterization lab is expected to be operational in early 2027.

ā€œDeveloping this lab will allow us to treat more cardiac patients closer to home and support them in their recovery. Enhancing our cardiac services will also support our efforts to recruit and retain the talented professionals needed to care for our regionā€™s patients.ā€

Janice Stewart, chief zone officer, Alberta Health Services Central Zone

Being able to meet the needs of the provinceā€™s rapidly growing population is a top priority for Albertaā€™s government.

Quick facts

  • The $1.8-billion Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre redevelopment project will upgrade several services throughout the hospital site, including:
    • an additional patient tower
    • six new operating rooms
    • a new medical device reprocessing department
    • two new cardiac catheterization labs
    • renovations to various areas within the main building
    • a newly renovated and expanded emergency department
    • a new ambulatory clinic building to be located adjacent to the surface parkade

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