Tag Archives: health

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Waterloo Region Paramedic Services exceed response time targets, but off-load delays remain a challenge

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MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

High patient volumes and staffing shortages within local hospital emergency rooms are impacting the ability of local paramedics in the Waterloo Region to respond to critical calls.

The preliminary Paramedic Services Annual Report was presented to the Community and Health Services Committee at Regional Council (item 8.2 on the regular agenda) this week reporting response statistics, off-load delay mitigation, and changes to the categorization of system alerts and patient acuity.

Although call volumes requesting paramedic help increased only by 1% in 2023, in 2022 call volumes increased by 11% over the previous year, and the paramedic service is still adjusting to these high call volumes.

While the local paramedic service exceeded all of their provincial and regional response time targets, the challenges posed by off-load delays, which happen when paramedics are held up in hospital emergency departments waiting for patients to be transferred to the care of a hospital, are a significant factor in response time.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Chief Medical Officer warns of potentially deadly disease on the rise in Waterloo Region

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MP Holmes

Invasive Group A Streptococcus (IGAS) – which can cause afflictions from a sore throat to flesh-eating disease – is on the rise in Waterloo.

Chief Medical officer of Health Dr Hsiu-Li Wong presented the respiratory disease update at the Region of Waterloo council meeting on Wednesday evening.

While the overall number of people infected is still low as of early January, the Public Health Agency of Ontario noted that 540 infections were reported in Ontario alone from October 2023 to the end of December. Within this data were 6 children under the age of 9 who succumbed to the disease.

Dr .Wong described symptoms of a severe IGAS infection, which include fever, sore throat, neck pain and rash that continue to worsen.

Epidemiologists do not yet understand why the disease has spiked and recommend taking precautions including proper hand hygiene and staying home when sick.

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

Chief medical officer announces COVID-19 vaccine availability timeline

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MP Holmes
Kitchener, ON

Up-to-date COVID and flu vaccines will be available for all residents on Monday, October 30. The announcement was made at last  week’s Waterloo Regional Council meeting by Dr. Hsui-Li Wang, the chief medical officer for Waterloo Region.

Up until now, vaccines had been reserved for vulnerable individuals, but starting Monday, the new vaccine will be made available to the wider public at local public health clinics and participating pharmacies and health care providers.

There are no walk in appointments at this time, and clinic appointments must be made through the provincial booking system.

Also on October 30, the Board of Health will begin sending notifications to parents as reminders to update children’s immunization records and vaccines.

The update also stated that while COVID 19 has been increasing slightly in the Region, wastewater data remains at elevated levels with signals dominated by most recent variant (XBB).

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In Conversation With Rashmi

Tanya Ottersteinliehs & Kirstie Smallman – In Conversation with Rashmi

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Tanya Otterstein-Liehs is a Health, Wellness & Fitness Coach & Self-Care expert who coaches women on the “how to’s” of unlocking and unleashing the crucial tools that are already inside of you to become EMPOWERED and make vital me time every day without letting guilt, fears, or excuses to stop you. Tanya will always inspire, support, & motivate you to finally give yourself permission to love who you are, go after & achieve your own personal goals without feeling you need to make sacrifices, & without letting your fears or excuses stop you. She has an Online Body & Mindset Makeover Program, runs Lunch & Learn Workshops, & is host of two Podcast

Kirstie Smallman calls what she does “movement medicine” – She uses combinations of guided movement and free form movement to assist people in finding their way into sensation, and therefore back home to their body. The focus is on following pleasure, comfort, and ease (at first). And once a level of self-trust is reached within the self, she invites people to dance on their edge, to challenge, condition, strengthen, release & heal. Embodying the mental work we do is the key to transformation, because it brings the awareness, the affirmations, the forgotten/buried memories into feelings which we can finally let go of – like literally shaking them out on the dance floor, says Kirstie

Kirstie is a certified in Nia White Belt – somatic awareness training, Nia Blue Belt – the art of communication, Nia, Move to Heal – adapted and simplified Nia for the purpose of deep healing (surgeries, limited mobility, elder-accessible), Nia, MoveIT – the 52 moves of Nia energized with Interval Training with a focus on physical conditioning along with a spontaneous element of improvised choreography in each class, she is also a Chakradance Guide, Ageless Grace Facilitator, GuiDANCE creator, Montessori Educator and Communications Ninja

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