COVID-19

“Not all heroes wear capes.”—It’s an expression often found on the internet. It, of course, refers to the fact that you don’t have to be Batwoman or Superman or whoever, to do some good in this world. During the Great Pandemic of 2020 of course this phrase is often used to describe those of us who provide healthcare on the front lines. Cleary, the physicians, nurses, first responders, PSWs, support staff, environmental services staff and many others who provide front line care during this historically difficult time are heroes.

Adracare, a leading provider of telemedicine and practice management solutions based in Toronto, announced the launch of its self-serve platform, available to Canadian and U.S.-based clients immediately. With the Adracare self-serve platform now fully functional, healthcare professionals can sign-up and start running their virtual practice in under 90 seconds

The program is funded 75% by the federal government but each province gets to determine which workers are eligible

Siemens Healthineers announced the availability of its molecular Fast Track Diagnostics (FTD) SARS-CoV-2 Assay test kit used to detect the severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.

Of the nearly 9,000 who voted in the association's survey—two-thirds of the number who were eligible—98% said they did not have confidence in minister Tyler Shandro

An employee at a Shoppers Drug Mart in Kelowna, B.C., tested positive for COVID-19, according to a list of cases maintained by Loblaws, Shoppers' parent company.

Until recently, few had heard of this obscure code. Recently the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) disclosed that during the pandemic, a at least $623 million had been paid to civil servants—especially in the Canada Revenue Agency and Correctional Services. According to Yves Giroux of the PBO (Jennifer Chevalier, CBC News, July 24, 2020), this amount of lost productivity was the “absolute minimum.” Federal employees were permitted to stay at home during the pandemic and receive full pay while not working—all thanks to the pay code 699 policy. This involved at least 76,000 persons, or a quarter of all government employees. Randall Denley (Ottawa Citizen, July 29, 2020) put this number at 79,000. (By comparison, there are 86,000 practising physicians in Canada.)

The government of Alberta has given patients the ability to create their own secure messaging account to connect with healthcare providers. Brightsquid Secure-Mail has been integrated into the provincial MyHealth Records (MHR) portal. Patients registered for MHR can create their own Secure-Mail account to communicate virtually with community healthcare providers.