halifax commoner - Archived Student Publications from the

A SPECIAL EDITION DEDICATED TO HEALTHY LIVING
HALIFAX
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
COMMONER
Published by the University of King’s College School of Journalism
FREE
Flip-flopping
their way
to a cure
Genetically altered fish could
change the lives of diabetics
By Lindsay O’Reilly
The Commoner
Deep in the basement of
Dalhousie’s Life Sciences building,
the waters of several green, chesthigh plastic tanks bubble and churn
with large, tropical fish. Called
tilapia, these fish are eaten as
seafood in many parts of the world,
and sometimes even kept as pets.
Two Dalhousie scientists hope they
might hold a cure for diabetes.
Dr. Bill Pohajdak and Dr. Jim
Wright have genetically modified
tilapia to produce human insulin.
With further research, they hope the
insulin-producing tissues of these
fish, called islet cells, might be transplanted into human diabetics. This
could be very good news for the over
200,000 Canadians now suffering
from insulin-dependent diabetes.
Insulin-dependent, or type-one
diabetes is one of the most serious
chronic diseases affecting Canadian
children and teenagers. It occurs
when the body’s immune system
attacks and kills the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Unable
to produce insulin, the victim’s body
would slowly starve to death without treatment, since its cells would
be unable to take the glucose they
need from the bloodstream.
Diabetics take injections of synthetic insulin several times a day to
stay alive, but this doesn’t change
the fact that their life expectancy is
reduced by 15 years. Or that they
will likely have to deal with side
effects of this condition — such as
kidney failure, blindness, nerve
damage and amputations — as they
get older. These problems are mainly
due to the long-term damage caused
by irregular blood-sugar levels in
diabetics.
Wright and Pohajdak hope that
PAGE EDITOR: ANITA MCNAMARA
transplanting funtioning fish islets
into humans will help solve these
problems.
“A lot of people think it’s pretty
bizarre when they first hear about
it,” Pohajdak says. “Some get upset
about the genetic engineering and
call them ‘frankenfish’. When we
explain it, though, most people are
pretty excited.”
People are getting excited
because these capsules of fish islets
could potentially function within
diabetics the way a healthy person’s
pancreas would. The capsules’ membranes, which are perforated to
allow the escape of insulin, protect
the islet tissue from the body’s
immune system.
By releasing insulin when the
body needs it and keeping blood
sugar at normal levels, these capsules would help eliminate a lot of
the long-term organ damage. It
would mean the end of daily injections for diabetics. Essentially, it
would be a cure.
“It would definitely improve the
quality of life for diabetics,”
Pohajdak says.
Scientists have been trying to
transplant healthy islet cells into diabetics since the 1970s. The treatment
has been successful in humans in the
last three or four years, but is limitated by the scarcity of human islet
cell supplies.
“There are about 5,000 donor
pancreases in North America each
year, and you normally need two
pancreases to get enough islet tissue
to do one transplant,” says Wright,
who’s studied diabetes since he was
a graduate student. “When you consider that there are between 30,000
and 50,000 new cases of diabetes in
North America each year, human
islet transplants could never be a
wide-spread treatment.”
Athletes
not dumb
jocks
Juggling sports
and school
Page 9
Lindsay O’Reilly
Dr. Jim Wright, holding a carving of a tilapia, a fish he hopes will save lives.
For this reason, many scientists,
like Wright, have turned to animal
islet sources.
Wright approached Pohajdak
eight years ago with the idea of creating a fish that could produce
human insulin and islets.
“The tilapia is an ideal organism
to work with,” Pohajdak says,
“because, unlike pigs, which are
used by some scientists, it has a low
risk of passing disease on to humans.
Also, being a tropical fish that normally lives in warm, stagnant water,
talapia’s tissues are capable of surviving in high-temperature environments, like our bodies, with relatively little oxygen.”
So far, Wright has been testing
tilapia islet transplants on mice and
rats with good results. With today’s
medical technology, Pohajdak and
Wright have high hopes that the
insulin-producing tissues of the
tilapias will be able to survive and
function in the human body.
The fish being raised at Dalhousie
produce both human and tilapia
insulin. Pohajdak is working on
“knocking out” the tilapia insulin
gene, to create fish that produce only
human insulin. After that, the scientists hope to move on to larger animal, and then — if they get Food and
Drug Administration approval —
human trials. With continued funding and a little luck, the scientists
hope the treatment will be available
to the average person within ten
years.
“This is an idea that started about
ten years ago and it’s progressing
well,” Wright says. “It’s something
that’s never been done before and
now people in other parts of the
world are starting to take notice. I
find that exciting.”
[email protected]
Meningitis
New strain puts
students at risk
Pages 4-5
Good vibes
Sex-toys workshop
teaches you how
Page 3
PAGE 2
THE COMMONER
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
Some poor excuses for unhealthiness
Tanya
Langille
viewPOINT
It costs too much money. I had a long
day. I have too much work to do. I’m too
tired. There are other things I would rather
do. I just don’t have the time.
These are all common excuses we make
when cutting corners on our health — and
some businesses are cashing in.
Atlantic SuperStore’s new campaign, the
Portfolio Diet, was formulated by Dr. David
Jenkins to make it easier to reduce cholesterol.
The diet is based on low saturated fat,
low cholesterol, and a vegetarian diet that
emphasizes four categories of food: viscous
fibre (barley, oats, okra, beans and veggies),
soy protein (soy beverages, soy puddings,
soy burgers, and soy hot dogs), plant sterols
(wheat germ, tofu, and monounsaturated
sunflower oil) and fresh whole almonds.
Also included in this plan for healthier
eating are easy-to-make recipes. SuperStore
is making it easy to be healthy and so their
slogan for the Portfolio Diet states: “Healthy
couldn’t be easier!”
The Portfolio Diet allows for 2,000 calories a day, allowing you to be healthy and
free from hunger pangs at the same time.
Also making it harder to come up with
excuses are the many fitness centres located
throughout Metro. Many of them are geared
toward specific genders and lifestyles. Take
Thirty Fitness Centre promotes a complete
cardiovascular and strength-training workout for women in just 30 minutes. There are
four Take Thirtys in HRM. Not to mention
the ten Nubody’s that can be found around
almost any corner in Halifax. Curves, another women-only gym, has five locations in
the area. There are two fairly new fitness
centres: Go Figure and Silhoutte Fitness
Studio. Both have two locations and offer
alternative excercise methods.
Although gym memberships can be costly (approximately $40 a month), some come
with perks. Often gyms will offer sessions
with a personal trainer to customize your
workout. Also, nutritional consultations can
be arranged at various locations. Most fitness centres also feature a sauna so you can
relax your tired muscles before heading
home to make a quick and easy healthy, low
calorie, nutritious meal.
If all else fails, there is still no excuse for
not taking out the dog — or yourself — for
a walk for 20 to 30 minutes every couple of
days.
[email protected]
A closer look at well-being in Halifax
Kristen
Lipscombe
viewPOINT
Day in and day out, popular culture
bombards us with images and ideas of what
it is to look and feel healthy. Most of the
time, we just can’t seem to measure up to
the media’s expectations and ideals. We’re
either too fat or too skinny; we eat too much
or not enough. We should cut back on
drinking, but could use a little red wine. We
should eat less beef, but need a little meat
on our bones. We should fit regular exercise
into our busy schedules, and make time to
include all four food groups into three wellbalanced meals a day.
No matter what we do to improve our
health, we always seem to be missing something and there is another breakthrough
study to contradict our daily wellness routine.
So how do we sort through all of the confusion and ensure a long life of well-being?
The reality is, we all lead different lifestyles
and require different routines to fix whatever ails us. We just have to try our best to live
well and long.
During a time of year when depression is
more common and it’s certainly more
tempting to stay indoors with a warm cup
of joe than to go for a brisk run through the
slush and snow, paying attention to our
health becomes increasingly important. In
this issue of The Commoner, we take a
deeper look at some of the obstacles and
solutions to maintaining our well-being.
We’re human. We’re animals. We need to
eat. But some Haligonians can’t afford to fill
their stomachs with anything more than
mac ‘n cheese and canned foods. How can
lower income earners and citizens on social
assistance ensure their families are getting
all the nutrients their bodies require? We
look at the plight of an unemployed single
mother from Waterville, N.S. who has to
scrounge for change in order to feed her
four-year-old daughter (pages 6-7).
It’s difficult for most of us to pencil
“exercise” into our daily planners, but varsity athletes perform a juggling act of
school, work and athletics with apparent
ease. The Commoner talks to a Dalhousie
nursing student who balances clinical training, classes and hockey practice (page 9).
What about the athletes who get a little help
from chemical supplements? We explore the
nitty gritty of the growing trend for athletes
to give their diet a little boost (page 8).
How do we stay sane? Physical health
goes hand-in-hand with mental health. In
this issue we look at just how much spiritu-
Woman felt she was a ‘semi-goddess’
By Morgan Wheeldon
The Commoner
She once thought she could control the
weather. When she was happy, the sun
shone. Lightning storms were caused by
angry rivals.
This may sound like the makings for a
great screenplay, but a Halifax woman says
this went through her mind when she was
experiencing a psychotic episode.
“I thought the weather was a result of
what I was thinking,” says the woman who
has asked to remain anonymous as she
wishes to avoid revealing her identity to
friends and possible employers.
These thoughts emerged in the summer
of 2002. After spending long periods of time
contemplating nature and divinity in Point
Pleasant Park, she began to think she had
tapped into heaven on earth.
“I got sick enough that I thought I was a
semi-goddess,” she says.
Before her breakdown, she believes her
family doctor may have misdiagnosed her
as depressed.
The episodes escalated and she was
eventually brought to the Queen Elizabeth
II Health Sciences Centre. She was diagnosed with schizophrenaform disorder and
prescribed small doses of an anti-psychotic
drug called risperidone.
“It was like a dream. I can only remem-
ber bits and pieces,” she says.
Risperidone began to cause her problems,
so she began taking part in a clinical trial
with ziprasidone. She says the drug has
improved her condition, however, she
thinks a psychiatrist should have been the
first answer from her family doctor.
Dr. Stan Kutcher is associate dean for
international medical development and
research at Dalhousie University.
Kutcher cannot comment on the
woman’s case, but he says that bipolar syndrome, depression, and various forms of
psychosis sometimes share symptoms.
“When a psychotic illness begins, many
of the symptoms that person will exhibit are
social withdrawal, quietness, depressed
mood, unhappiness and confusion in their
thinking,” he explains.
Kutcher says that in some acute and
chronic cases of psychotic illness, people
experience depressive symptoms which
require additional treatment, along with
their treatment for psychosis.
Diagnosing mental illness mostly relies
on verbal interactions with the patient and
their family. Since there is no physical examination for the initial diagnosis of mental illness it is hard for doctors to tell for sure if
there is a chemical imbalance.
Kutcher says new studies using neuroimaging through Positron Emission
Tomography (PET) scans have proven that
in cases where chemical imbalance is present, anti-depressant treatment can cause
major changes in brain functions.
He says research indicates that antidepressants can be used to treat a wide variety of conditions and that they can effectively treat chemical imbalances in the brain.
Also, anti-psychotic drugs like risperidone
and ziprasidone have stood up to scientific
scrutiny with a high rate of success.
He says placebos and other forms of
therapy have yielded similar success and
some psychotherapists have been proven to
influence molecules in the brain similar to
the way drugs do.
“By the year 2020 depression will be the
single most common illness on the face of
the earth,” he says.
The woman who went through a psychotic episode may be a part of ongoing
research in Canada, but for now, her personal quest is to rebuild her sense of spirituality.
“I thought that human kind was a network of divinity and that God is the human
connection. My ego influenced my conception of universal consciousness,” she says.
“I lived it a little too much.”
[email protected]
al enlightenment yoga is really offering
these days (page 12) and we discover that if
we’re stressed out it might help to sing a little ditty (page 11).
And then there’s sex. We’re human.
We’re animals. We like it. But we don’t necessarily need a partner to maintain our sexual well-being. We get a little sex education
from Halifax’s Venus Envy. The Barrington
Street sex shop and bookstore held a recent
workshop to teach eager students the ins
and outs (if you will) of sex toys. Ever heard
of the Silver Bullet (page 3)?
This week The Commoner examines our
physical, mental, spiritual and sexual
health. We can’t automatically make you
live longer and look better, but this week we
hope you’ll close our pages walking away
with a healthier attitude.
[email protected]
THE HALIFAX COMMONER
Vol. 6
No. 7
The Halifax Commoner
is written and edited in the
Newspaper Workshop at
the School of Journalism
University of King’s
College
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 2A1
(902) 422-1271 (ext. 150)
Fax: (902) 425-8183
e-mail: [email protected]
Issue Editor:
Tanya Langille
Assignment Editors:
Kristen Lipscombe
Melanie Patten
Photo and streetLevel editors:
Jennifer Nichols
Marie MacDonald
Faculty advisers and instructors:
Dean Jobb [email protected]
Michael Creagen
Eugene Meese
Blair Purdy
PAGE EDITOR: TANYA LANGILLE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
THE COMMONER
PAGE 3
Nothing to blush about
Sex-toy workshop teaches
novices to feel more comfortable
By Shannon McCarthy
toys with hot soap and water.”
Dildos and vibrators need a handle at
their base for the user to hold, says
Shelley Taylor will not reveal how she Taylor. No matter how long the toy, people need to have a good grip on it for
learned to use a dildo.
“I guess you could say I’m self control. Taylor stresses, however, that
sex toy injuries are not common in her
taught,” she says.
On Tuesday night Taylor led a work- experience.
“There are no stats kept on this sort of
shop called Sex Toys 101: The Wonderful
World of Toys. The workshop covered thing, so I couldn’t tell you,” she says.
the basics of how to choose the right toy “I’ve never heard of anyone getting
and how to use it safely. Taylor, the injured but I have heard of women reowner of Venus Envy, a sex shop and infecting themselves with (a) yeast
bookstore located on Barrington Street, (infection) by not using a properly
has been organizing the workshops for cleaned toy.”
Health Canada’s website says sex
the past six years.
Standing in front of a wall of brightly toys can transmit diseases if people
coloured, erect dildos, Taylor explained share them without using a condom or
the basics of sex toys to the seven cleaning the toy properly.
Toys need to be kept in good repair,
women and one man in attendance.
says Taylor. While silicone is stronger
The workshop fee was $15.
Participants, whose ages ranged from than latex, something sharp can cut a silearly 20s to late 40s, passed around icone dildo, like a knife in the dishwashlubricants, dildos, vibrators and cock- er or a dog’s teeth.
“Dogs love to chew on (sex) toys.
rings with names like Silver Bullet,
They think they’re their toys,” she says.
Lasso, Rhythm Dil and Little Flirt.
One
popular
Keitha Clark,
sex toy is the
a
fourth-year
Rabbit
Pearl,
journalism stuwhich appeared in
dent
at
the
the movie Better
University
of
Than
Chocolate
King’s College,
and on the televisays she attended
sion series Sex and
the
workshop
the City. This purout of curiosity.
ple vibrator has a
“I didn’t reallatex
rabbit
ly know anything
attached. The rababout sex toys
bit
stimulates
and I thought it
either the anus or
would be a good
clitoris while the
way to learn
shaft rotates in the
about them in a
vagina.
non-embarrassTaylor says difing
environferent shapes in
ment,” she says.
sex toys, which
“Such things
generally work the
as learning about
same way as regusilicone and latex
lar dildos and
is really useful
vibrators, are popand I would’ve
ular.
been too shy to
“A toy that’s
ask if I were just
textured, that has
to go and buy a
sort of bumps and
dildo.”
lumps can offer
Sex toys are
more friction,” she
made of latex,
says.” Some peoplastic, silicone,
ple respond like
acrylic or cyber
their nerve endskin, a porous,
ings are getting
realistic-feeling
more stimulation
material.
there’s
When Venus
SHANNON MCCARTHY because
that texture.”
Envy
opened,
Customers are
Taylor says 90 Dildos are one of the store’s most popular items.
not always comper cent of its dildos were latex. Now silicone toys are fortable asking for help, says Taylor.
“They’ll just point to the first thing
becoming more common.
“You can wash silicone toys in the top that catches their eye and they’ll buy
rack of the dishwasher as long as they’re that. They’re too shy to ask how it works
not vibrators,” she says.” You wash latex or what it’s for, so we give them a care
The Commoner
PAGE EDITOR: ROB BERTUZZI AND NEAL OZANO
SHANNON MCCARTHY
Venus Envy is a downtown Halifax bookstore that offers its customers so much more.
“I don’t tell them anything, we let
customers decide for
themselves.”
SHELLEY TAYLOR, OWNER, VENUS ENVY
instruction sheet,” she says. “We hope
that helps, but it’s hard to help someone
who is too shy to ask you any questions.”
Clarke says she thinks sex toys can
help partners understand each other bet-
ter by teaching them how their own
body works.
“I think it’s important that you know
how your own body works and what’s
pleasurable for it before you ask somebody else to pleasure you,” she says.
Taylor says the customers decide for
themselves whether they want to try a
toy. “I don’t tell them anything, we let
customers decide for themselves if and
when they want to experiment with a
toy. It’s not for everyone.
“If they’re brave enough to come to
the store then they’re halfway there.”
[email protected]
PAGE 4
THE COMMONER
streetLEVEL
What do you do
to beat the winter
blahs?
“
Tanning.
It’s relaxing, it’s
warm, it’s good to get
away.”
Justin
Logan,
Dal Student
up and
“watchCurlmovies,
with
popcorn and hot
chocolate, ‘cause
there’s nothing else
to do.”
Patients suffer long wait times with no remedy in sight
By Morgan Wheeldon
The Commoner
Jeff Erickson recently relapsed into a state
of binge alcoholism. He is now homeless and
spends his time in the drunk tank or on the
streets of Halifax.
After he spent the day at the drunk tank, an
ambulance brought him to the Emergency
Room at the Queen Elizabeth II Health
Sciences Centre. Intestinal pain caused by
Crohn’s disease is unbearable and causes him
to cringe.
“I read about the wait times in the paper.
Sixteen hours is crazy, but I’ve only been here
an hour,” he says.
At the other end of the waiting area, Jim
Reyno, 34, is waiting with his girlfriend.
Reyno was shovelling snow when he felt a
chest pain. Dizziness,
weakness, and nausea
overcame him as one side
of his face began to go
numb. That brought him
to the ER.
It is a Monday night
at the ER and Reyno and
Erickson’s plight puts a
human face on the conJIM
troversy
surrounding
long waiting times,
stressed staff, and a need
for more resources.
“When I came here I expected a wait. It’s
been seven hours. It’s mind blowing,” Reyno
says.
Moments later a woman rushes out of an
emergency room crying. A loved one is suffering from lung cancer.
In the past few weeks, staff called an emergency meeting to deal with the pressure on the
ER. The government responded by approving
a 10-point plan intended to address the issues
raised.
But critics are not satisfied with the plan
because it does not deal with the short-term
problems faced by front-line workers.
“The pressure could lead to death very eas-
ily,” Joan Jessome, Nova Scotia
Government Employee Union president, said in a phone interview.
Jessome says that ER staff contacted
the union to say that the addition of a
lounge for discharged patients has not
made a difference in waiting times.
Cheryl Doiron, Associate Deputy
MORGAN WHEELDON
Minister for the Department of Health,
Jeff Erickson witnessed the long waits at the QE II emersays that ER staff need to give the new
lounge a little more time to get up and gency room first hand.
running.
She says the 10-point plan encompassed done a good job.
She draws attention to examples of spendmany other ongoing plans. Some of the plans
were not yet ready, but Doiron says the ing she says have put resources in other areas
urgency of the meeting called by the ER staff when it is badly needed in the ER.
“This government has gone $30 million
led them to put everything on the table.
Calvin Crocker, vice president of adminis- over budget on an IT (Information
tration
for
Capital Technology) health project without any
Health, says that the ER accountability to the public for why that
crunch is not specific to occurred,” says MacDonald.
MacDonald says that the financial assesshis organization. Its
$550-million budget is ment of seniors is another big reason why wait
under constant pressure times have been so long. She says that health
although he says Capital care should cover long-term care and that the
Health received a signifi- financial assessment process should be elimicant increase in provin- nated altogether.
Doiron says getting rid of the financial
cial funding in the last
REYNO, ER PATIENT year.
assessment would not speed up the process,
He
says
the and that the NDP plan for seniors care is
Action already in action.
“Emergency
She says the problem is the lack of beds at
Team” has reps from across the province to
help Capital Health deal with problems like Nova Scotia nursing homes. Doiron says that
the government has already entered a contract
this one.
Currently there is a plan to bring in con- with Northwood Homecare Inc. in Halifax to
sultants to design an expansion for the ER in a increase the number of beds for seniors.
These long-term solutions may mean that
space that was built into the new parking lot
constructed for the Robie Street entrance of the ER staff and patients will have to wait to see
some relief.
Halifax Infirmary.
NSGEU president Jessome says that the
“The emergency department has been an
ongoing concern,” says Crocker. “It’s an ongo- union will continue to push this issue. She says
the current waiting times are shameful.
ing business planning process.”
“The position of union staff is that this fight
NDP health critic Maureen MacDonald
says that in spite of the fact that they have put is not over until we consistently reduce waiting
more dollars into the system, if the provincial times. That’s how we will measure our sucgovernment cannot deliver core emergency cess.”
medical services in a timely fashion, it has not
[email protected]
I expected a wait. It’s
“
I’m going to
Puerto Vallarta until
February 16. Last
year I was in Chile,
the year before
Guatemala and the
year before that,
Malta.”
“andI trytaketo stayvitamins
in as
much as possible.”
Kristina
C rockwell,
College Student
been seven hours.”
‘Rez’ students take meningitis precautions
“
I get drunk,
‘cause liquor warms
you up.”
Ryan
Doucet,
SMU Student
Emergency
in the ER
“When I came here
Katie
Aalders,
SMU S t u d e n t
A n d re
P o i l i e v re ,
R e t i red Te a c h e r
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
By Angelica Montgomery
The Commoner
There is an added reason for university students to be cautious about meningitis this year,
says immunization co-ordinator Wendy
Bryant-Endert.
“Right now the strain has shifted in
Canada,” says Byant-Endert, who organizes
a university innoculation program run by
vaccine manufacturer Aventis Pasteur.
A type of meningococcal disease that is
more prevalent in teenagers is on the rise in
Ontario.
“The shift was noticed in Ontario. This year
is a double cohort year and a lot of students
went across Canada,” says Bryant-Endert.
The double cohort means that grade 12
and grade 13 students in Ontario graduated
at the same time in 2003, causing Dalhousie
University to see an increased enrollment of
400 to 500 students from Ontario last semester, says the Dalhousie communications
office.
Bacterial meningococcal disease, more
deadly but more rare than the viral form, can
surface as either meningitis, an inflammation
of the lining surrounding the brain, or septicemia, an infection in the blood stream.
Both are potentially fatal and debilitating.
Meningitis is classified in groups called
sero-groups.
“We used to see sero-group C and A, but Y
is the dominant strain,” she says. While some
other sero-groups are more common in young
children, the Y sero-group is most prevalent in
teenagers between 15 and 19 years old.
In Ontario, the Y sero-group consisted of 22
per cent of meningococcal cases in 2000. By
2002, it had risen to 29 per cent.
Last Tuesday, a Dalhousie dining hall was
filled with the smell of rubbing alcohol as it
was turned into an area for meningitis vaccinations. The two centre tables were set with
latex gloves, a box of syringes, band-aids,
cotton swabs, a stethoscope, and a pink
paper that lists the emergency protocol in
case anyone has an allergic reaction.
PLEASE SEE NEXT PAGE
PAGE EDITOR: DAVID HARRISON
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
THE COMMONER
PAGE 5
Needle pricks
and back pain
— nurses get
injured, too
streetLEVEL
What do you do
to beat the winter
blahs?
“
I eat lots and lots.
It just seems to be
what I do.”
Terri
King,
MSVU student
By Anita McNamara
The Commoner
Part-time registered nurses Sheila Maggio
and Kim MacKenzie walk into the hospital
room on floor 6A at the Victoria General
Hospital in Halifax. They reach down to help
lift 84-year-old Florence Logan from her side
onto her back.
“(Logan) told me to go get someone to
help,” MacKenzie says as she straightens the
covers. “I was going to do this by myself”
“I didn’t want her to hurt herself,” Logan
says, her small, fragile body getting lost in the
covers of the hospital bed. “We have to take
care of each other.”
Maggio, a nurse for the past 30 years, says
there are many ways a nurse may get injured
on the job. She lists the most common ones she
knows: back and neck injuries, needle pricks,
equipment related accidents and even bedrail
incidents. “I know a girl who broke her foot
lowering the rail. She dropped the rail right on
it,” Maggio says.
The VG has switched to a needle-less system, Maggio says, where the nurses use a
device that allows them to inject medication
directly into an intravenous line using a
syringe without a needle.
“It’s better,” Maggio says. “It eliminates the
risk of sticking yourself when you recap the
needle.”
Coleen Logan, communications officer for
the Nova Scotia Nurses Union, says out of the
more than 10,000 registered nurses (RNs), liscenced practical nurses (LPNs) and non-unionized nurses in Nova Scotia there are at least
1,800 reports of needle-stick injuries per year.
However, she says the most frequent complaints from nurses are injuries resulting from
lifting patients.
“This is another problem right here,”
Prevention focuses
on students
FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
“My parents told me to come in,” Lizzy
Dalaney says after getting her $90 shot of the
vaccine. Nova Scotia doesn’t cover the cost of
the vaccine, but the Dalhousie extended medical plan covers 80 per cent of it.
“I’m in rez and there’s crazy diseases in rez,”
says Dalaney, a first-year Dalhousie student.
She is not entirely wrong. Students who live in
university residences have a higher chance of
catching meningitis than their counterparts who
live off-campus. In fact, they face six times the risk
of the average population, says the U.S. Center for
Disease Control and Prevention. Of the general
Maggio says. She squats
down to crank Logan’s bed
into a sitting position,
straining her back in the
process.
She says patients can be
the cause of an injury as
well. “There have been
girls off work because a
ANITA McNAMARA
patient grabbed them
Victoria
General
nurse
Shiela
Maggio
rests
her
back.
around the neck,” Maggio
says. “The patients think they’re helping you included lifting, pulling and pushing large
amounts of weight, Stevens says.
(move them) but they’re really not.”
“Nurses have said ’since the lift team began,
According to the worker’s compensation
Board of Nova Scotia, between Jan. 2002 and my back pain has decreased a great deal,” says
Feb. 2003, there were 163 claims filed for back Stevens, reading from a survey filled out by
injuries among nurses. This resulted in 1,654 nurses on the floors serviced by the lift team.
weeks of lost time, costing $700,000 in work- “(This nurse) feels it’s one of the most imporer’s compensation benefits. Back injuries tant and greatly needed projects that the hoscaused by lifting made up 58 per cent of the pital has ever undertaken to support nursing.’”
From April 2000 to March 2001, 16 injuries
claims.
Caroline Stevens, lift team project manager were reported for those three floors. That figat the Queen Elizabeth II, says a pilot program ure dropped by half the following year, with
at the Halifax Infirmary site is the answer to only eight injuries for the fiscal year of 2001back, neck and shoulder injuries. She says a lift 2002. Stevens says since the lift team became
team program not only prevents injury but fully staffed in February 2003 there have been
also allows nurses who were off of work due to no injuries recorded for those floors.
The Victoria General, Maggio’s hospital,
an injury to return to duty.
“Many nurses have had previous injuries does not have a lift team. If a porter is not
and when you have a single back injury, you around, Maggio says, nurses must handle
are four times more likely to have a second,” patient transfers themselves.
“There are times (a lift team) would be benStevens says. She also says 12 per cent of nurses leave the profession because of problems eficial. When you have patients over 300
related to lifting. She says lifting causes “wear pounds, you may need more than four people
and tear” over long periods of time and a lift to lift them,” Maggio says. “You may not
always have (the personnel). More electric
team reduces that risk.
The eight full-time and six part-time lift beds would be of help, too. You could just
team attendants are all men; their ages range press a button; you wouldn’t have to crank
from early 20s to mid-40s. Women have them.”
applied for the position but have dropped out
or failed the functional assessment, which
[email protected]
Canadian population, six out of every million people come down with meningitis.
“The reason that we focus on the students is
that they live in the confines in residents,” says
Bryant-Endert. “They share kissing. They share
cigarettes. They share drinks. It’s passed
through saliva, so that’s how they get it.”
At the side of the room, Danielle Kirby chats
with her friend, Claudia Trybus, who came with
her to get the shot.
“My mom was on my butt,” says Kirby,
another 18-year-old first year. “Before I didn’t
know what it was. It’s like an infection of the
brain tissue, which made me want to get it (the
shot) even more,” she says.
The symptoms of meningitis in adults
include vomiting, headache, drowsiness,
seizures, fever, joint ache, and a sensitivity to
light. About one out of every 10 people who
come down with meningitis die from the dis-
ease. Of the people who survive, about one in
seven will be permanently debilitated.
Kirby and Trybus have to wait for 20 minutes
after being inoculated so that the nurses can
make sure they don’t have an allergic reaction.
“A lot of times it’s what we call ‘the white
coat syndrome,’” says Bryant-Endert. “They’re
just afraid of needles and it’s often the biggest
football player who goes down first. We try not
to laugh.”
The deadlier form of meningitis is more
common during the winter months.
“Meningitis usually shows up during this time
period when everyone is shut in,” says BryantEndert.
Nova Scotia has seen one case of meningitis
this year when an 18-year-old man from
Elmsdale came down with the disease in early
January. He has since completely recovered.
[email protected]
I stay inside, I
drink lots of hot
chocolate and I
bundle up.”
“
Acsa
C ro m w e l l ,
NFB employee
“
I put the wood
fireplace on, curl up
with a good book and
a glass of red wine.”
Thomas
Douce tte,
Canadian Navy
“
I go outside; go
skiing and skating.
When it’s really cold I
curl up in a nice warm
sweater and read.”
Ta r a
E m b r et t ,
M S V U student
I eat lots of food
because it warms you
up. I smoke cigarettes
and eat, it makes me
happy.”
“
Carrie
MacInnis,
SMU st u d e n t
PAGE EDITOR: KATHARINE SANDIFORD
PAGE 6
THE COMMONER
FRIIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
Unemployment a
By Taryn Della
The Commoner
TARYN DELLA
Donald Crawley continues his search for
employment but comes up short, again.
Donald Crawley, a tall man with a determined
crease in his forehead, leans into the phone hoping
for the answer he needs to hear.
He has been calling the same company for days
trying to get work. He frowns and lets out a sigh. No
luck. He says he is down to his last few canned
goods and his laundry is piling up. But it is not
always possible to do laundry when you do not have
the money, he says.
Crawley has been out of the workforce for 15
years. He had a good paying job at the Her Majesty’s
Canadian Dockyards as a brushhand, which entailed
painting, cleaning and grinding steel surfaces on
ships and submarines. Then his mother became sick.
He stopped working, applied for welfare and stayed
home with her full time.
Since she passed away four years ago, Crawley
continues to collect social assistance.
He says the stress of taking care of his mother
wore him down. At the end of her life she could not
even walk. Now, at age 51, he is finding it hard to get
back into the “groove”.
“Being unemployed has depressed me,” he says.
“Now I don’t know where I fit in.
“Before, all you had to do was approach the
employer with your application, but now, if your
résumé is not perfect, or if you don’t have this
course, it’s pretty difficult.”
Crawley is among the 5.9 per cent of Haligonians
who were unemployed as of December 2003.
For Crawley, chronic unemployment has meant
mounting health issues. He says his welfare cheque
does not stretch far enough to afford healthy foods,
so he buys canned goods and other food items on
sale.
“You’re supposed to have fish at least twice a
week, according to the food guide act, and you just
can’t afford to get that kind of stuff.”
If nothing healthy is on sale, he says he must settle for something else. When he does “splurge”, he
may have to do without an extra can of soup or toilet paper.
A recent report on the cost of food put out by the
Atlantic Health Promotion R
revealed that, like Crawley, m
Scotia are not able to eat nu
basis.
The report concludes: “Nov
ing low incomes, such as m
Income Assistance, cannot aff
diet and nutritional deficiencie
ailments such as physical, me
plications.”
Kim Barrow, one of the pro
with the Nova Scotia Nutritio
Crawley’s situation is common
budget.
“We did find out that peop
one piece of their budget tha
their food budget,” she says. “
budget, which costs a fixed am
According to the project’s fi
ing Canada’s Food Guide to
year-old man needs to spend $
healthily. Crawley says the dec
“If I paid that much for food
Welfare mom struggles for child’s h
Social assistance not enough to afford nutritional choices for h
By Robert Bertuzzi
The Commoner
The cashier told Tina Hohn her total was $20.35.
About two weeks before Christmas, Hohn, an unemployed, single mom on social assistance says she was
hoping to buy some groceries using the points she’d
accumulated on the supermarket’s bank card.
“I didn’t have two cents on me,” she recalls.
She could sense the glare of the customers lined up
behind her. The cashier explained to the Waterville resident she couldn’t spend under $20 if she wanted to use
her card.
“I didn’t want to go through the humiliation of trying
to get it to $20,” says Hohn. So she stormed out, leaving
the items on the conveyor belt, feeling angry, humiliated
and embarrassed.
Hohn’s situation is common. The Atlantic Health
Promotion Research Center (AHPRC) estimates more
than one-sixth of Nova Scotians cannot afford a nutritious diet. The AHPRC, affiliated with Dalhousie
University, is one of 12 university based health research
centers in Canada.
The AHPRC’s finding, released last fall, is based on
a list of 66 foods found in Canada’s Food Guide to
Healthy Eating, which make up a full nutritious diet.
Patty Williams, an assistant professor of applied
human nutrition at Mount Saint Vincent University and
the lead investigator, says one of the project’s aims was
to determine if people on social assistance have enough
money to buy nutritious food.
“Though it depends on family size,” says Williams.
“Someone on social assistance is always going to be in
the red.”
Hohn says she usually spends about $20 a week on
groceries. That buys her some frozen vegetables, macaroni and cheese, canned soup, pasta, canned fruit and a
ROBERT BERTUZZI
bag of apples. “It isn’t that it’s so bad but it’s high in
sodium, “ Hohn says. “There’s no balance.”
Recently, she splurged and bought $60 worth of
food. “I got a lot of fresh vegetables, fruit and meat,”
she says. The food lasted her and her four-year-old
daughter, Valentina, a week — half the time she’d
expected it to last.
“This weekend, I’ll be going to the food bank,” Hohn
says. At the food bank, Hohn says she stocks up on
cereal, canned soups and macaroni and cheese.
Williams says she worries about the quality and the
variety of the food provided by food banks. “It’s really
limited in meeting people’s nutritional requirements,”
she says.
The monthly cost of feeding a family of two that
matches Hohn and her daughter’s ages is just under
$230, according to the project’s figures. Hohn says she
would be happy with $150.
As an adult Nova Scotian on social assistance, Hohn
receives a monthly personal allowance of $180 and a
child tax credit of $256 to cover food, clothing and other
necessities.
“I’m concerned that Valentina doesn’t get the proper
vitamins,” Hohn says. “What effect will it have on her?”
Williams says an unhealthy diet negatively affects a
child’s performance in the classroom. It also affects their
growth and physical development.
The study calculated the cost of a healthy diet for 23
different age and gender groups, including pregnant
women.
Williams says the project’s next phase is to develop a
nationwide strategy on how to make nutritious food
available to everyone. “We’re examining tips for influencing policy, broadening public support through
increased awareness and finding champions on the
inside,” she says.
More affordable childcare, expanding benefits to
part-time workers and rent controls are some of the
issues governments need to address because an increase
in social assistance rates alone won’t solve the problem,
Williams says.
look at these u
Dartmouth
social assistanc
The 45-year
a month comb
ability and her
rent, Bayers say
“I can’t go
month,” she sa
bank once a we
of the handout
When Bayer
tain sections of
can’t afford.” T
tion is a no-go z
Eating recomm
vegetables a da
Paul O’Har
Community H
Community Ad
rates are simpl
“If we tell p
then we’re star
The low ass
food budget to
who can show
allowance und
Employment S
For Hohn, h
ing macaroni a
wiches twice a
“I want to s
ference it make
acts,” Hohn sa
Hohn says: “M
PAGE EDITORS: MORGAN WHEELDON AND SHANNON MCCARTHY
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
THE COMMONER
PAGE 7
affecting man’s health
Research Centre has
many people in Nova
utriously on a regular
va Scotia citizens earnminimum wage and
ford to eat a healthy
es may lead to further
ental, and social com-
oject’s coordinators, is
on Council. She says
n for those on a tight
ple would forego that
at is flexible, which is
“Not like their heating
mount.”
indings, when followHealthy Eating a 51$156.88 a month to eat
cision is a simple one.
d a month, I wouldn’t
have a landlord,” he says. He allows only half of that
cost a month for food.
Crawley has started smoking, an irony given the
cost of the habit. He pays about $8.60 a pack and
smokes half a package a day. According to registered
nurse Rose Fraser, from the North End Community
Health Centre, this is a habit people often lean
toward when they are experiencing loss.
“Unemployed people need a diversion and smoking is a socially acceptable way to fill the space,” she
says.
‘Something to do’
Crawley says, “When you are up at night not able
to sleep, you need something to do.”
Donnie Fairfax is a job developer with the YMCA
Enterprise on Gottingen Sreet. Prior to that he was
the executive director of the African Canadian
Employment Clinic. Aside from Crawley’s age,
which he admits is a factor in unemployment, he
says it is an ongoing struggle to diversify the workplace.
“Being under-represented can be a health issue all
on its own when we are talking about health,” he
says. “Systemic barriers prevent them from being
there.”
Fairfax says the lack of people of colour in the
work force contributes to many endemic health variables.
“When you continue to go on job interviews and
don’t see yourself represented, the perception is, you
are not wanted. This is doubly stressful,” he adds.
Fairfax says a major problem with being an older
client from a marginalized community is that
Human Resources Development Canada cuts off
funding for training at age 30.
“But we are in need of employment skills well
into their 40s and even 50s,” he says.
Fairfax explains further: “And then, of course,
society dictates that you are most valued for
employment when you are in your 20s or 30s.”
He says it becomes difficult to find employment
when you pass that favoured age group and that this
is a variable that also contributes to health.
Fraser says that a person’s self esteem goes down
without work. “They feel they are not worth anything. Joblessness is a devastating blow, regardless
of how it came about,” she says.
Crawley says he has had the odd job over the past
four years, but he cannot land anything steady. He
says he gets depressed thinking he is too old, and
that he may not “fit in.” But he believes he is a good
worker and can contribute to a workplace.
“What I really want to do is either paint or go
back to brushhand.” He says he would like to get
back on with the Dockyards but these days he has to
leave his
résumé with an employment worker and hope for
the best.
Crawley continues to hope for the best.
“I go down to the unemployment office every
day. Maybe they will think of me when something
comes up,” he says. “Also, it makes me feel good to
get out to look for work.” He sighs.
“Of course, if I had a job I would probably feel
100 times better.”
[email protected]
health
her daughter
“We’re working with the government to
underlying factors.”
resident Evelyn Bayers says increasing
ce rates would be a good start.
r-old former drapery seamstress gets $807
bined from her Canada Pension Plan disr social assistance cheque. After paying
ys she has $182 dollars to live on.
over my food budget of $50 dollars a
ays. This means she has to go to the food
eek. “I feel emotionally depressed because
t.”
rs goes grocery shopping she avoids cerf the store. “I try not to look at the food I
That means the fruits and vegetables seczone. The Canada Food Guide to Healthy
mends five to ten servings of fruits and
ay.
ra, a social worker at the North End
Health Centre and member of the
dvocates Network, says social assistance
ly too low.
people on welfare to eat at the food bank
rving them,” O’Hara says.
sistance rates force people to dip into their
o pay for a telephone, he says. Only people
w a real need are eligible for a phone
der the current guidelines of Nova Scotia’s
Support and Income Assistance Act.
having to go to the food bank means eatand cheese or peanut butter and jam sanda day for the rest of the month.
start eating healthy because I see the difes in how I feel and how she (Valentina)
ays. Pressed as to how that will happen,
My goal is to marry someone rich.”
ROBERT BERTUZZI
Tina Hohn worries about her child’s diet because she cannot always afford nutritious food.
[email protected]
PAGE 8
THE COMMONER
streetLEVEL
What do you do
to beat the winter
blahs?
“
Shirley
Clarke,
Bar Owner
I knit, I quilt, I
crochet. I bake
myself silly. When it’s
too cold to go
outside I’m not one
to let my hands go
idle.”
I like
“to Shopping.
shop more,
usually in January.”
C a ro l - A n n
M i l l e r,
Nurse Practioner
“
I go to the gym
and I sit in the
sauna.”
Kishan
Persaud,
F o r m e r U N B Student
go to
“theI drinkbars.and When
you’ve been drinking
it’s less cold. And I
watch a lot of movies
and TV.”
Danielle
Lejeune,
SMU Student
simple, I go
“to Very
Florida and the
Caribbean because
it’s warm. I eat, sleep
and relax.”
Col. A.H.C.
Smith,
C a n a d i a n F o rces
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
Raising the bar on fitness
By David Harrison
The Commoner
Body builder Karl Nordin
presses down the button on the
blender and whips a variety of
juice and fruit into a frothy mixture. He switches off the blender
and dumps in a scoop of whey
powder before starting up the
blender once again. Whey powder is one of the many products
that have flooded the ever-growing supplement market over the
past decade.
Supplements have become big
business and big news. In the past
year alone, news stories about supplements have been a common
sight in the sports pages — calls for
drug testing in the Quebec Major
Junior Hockey League, controversial steroid use in Major League
Baseball and a ban on ephedrine
products south of the border.
Nordin, owner of Body Active
on Quinpool Road, has been
involved in bodybuilding for 22
years. He has taken supplements
for 21 of them — and he says he’s
seen a change in the use of supplements over the years.
“When I first tried supplements in 1983 it was things like
beef liver tablets, milk and egg
protein, multi-vitamin and mineral, and basically that was it.”
This changed with the introduction of products like creatine and
glutamine. Once only used by bodybuilders, these supplements have
become part of the average person’s
fitness routine, Nordin says.
“The names are certainly more
mainstream. I think most people
have heard of creatine in some
way or form.”
But as these products became
more readily used, their long-term
effects came into question.
Britt Coady owns Life and
Sport in Park Lane Mall and has
been involved with supplementa-
tion for ten years. He says that
people need to educate themselves about supplements so they
know what they are taking is safe
and good for them.
Coady attributes problems
with using supplements to misuse
or abuse of the products, not a
faulty product.
“It’s really an issue of moderation,” he says. “Anything taken to
excess can be harmful, even things
like Aspirin. So, I think it’s an
issue mainly of dosage and a person’s pre-existing health.”
Nordin says he never questioned using supplements from the
beginning in the ‘80s and doesn’t
have any qualms using supplements or recommending them to
others.
“I had no fears at all,” he says.
“Supplements can be very beneficial for adding muscle growth,
and quick recovery after exercise
if you supplement properly and
have a good diet.”
Pam Lynch is a registered dietitian and sports nutritionist. She
advises her clients to look at their
diet and how it could be adjusted
to meet their goals before using
any supplements. She also advises
researching the scientific background of any supplements used.
Lynch says anyone using supplements should look for a drug
identification number (DIN) to be
sure the product has been regulated. She says this is especially
important for athletes who will
have to take drug tests at an event.
“The identification number
means what you think you are
buying, you are actually buying.”
She points to a study where a
number of creatine samples were
analyzed and found to contain
traces of steroids. She says any
athlete who took any of these samples of creatine, a legal substance,
could test positive for banned
steroids.
DAVID HARRISON
Britt Coady: “Anything taken to excess can be harmful, even things like Aspirin.”
One problem often hit upon is
youth and supplements. Coady
says his store policy is not to sell
supplements like creatine and glutamine to anyone under 16.
However, the Internet and even
the local grocery store are options
for young athletes looking for the
same supplements used by their
favorite professional athletes.
“Younger people are concerned
about their bodies and their
image, especially in males to get
bigger and stronger,” says Lynch.
“With growing athletes there
haven’t really been any long-term
studies done on something like
creatine, so I would really discourage them from taking it.”
[email protected]
Workout supplements — what do they do?
•Creatine is a compound the
body naturally contains. The body
can produce it naturally through
the liver, pancreas and kidneys, or
obtain it through digested food.
On average the body goes through
about two grams of naturally produced creatine a day.
Synthetic creatine is sold as citrate, phosphate or monohydrate
salts. Creatine monohydrate is the
most commonly used by athletes.
After ingestion creatine is transported into muscles, where it
increases muscle energy levels.
When exercising the muscles in
your body get energy by breaking
down adenosine triphosphate,
ATP. Creatine increases the level
of ATP. When ATP is used it produces adenosine diphosphate,
ADP. Creatine naturally puts ADP
back into muscles as ATP allowing
a person to work out longer and
harder to naturally produce more
muscle.
•Glutamine is a neutral amino
acid found naturally in the body. It
is the most abundant amino acid
found in human muscle and plasma. On average 60 per cent of the
amino acid pool in skeletal muscle
cells is made up of glutamine
amino acid. Glutamine can be
found in protein powders, beans,
meats, fish, poultry and dairy
products.
Glutamine is in high demand
throughout the body. It is used by
the immune system to maintain
the body and plays an important
role in protein metabolism. After a
strenuous workout glutamine levels in the body can be reduced by
as much as 50 per cent.
Glutamine supplementation
can reduce the amount of muscle
deterioration that can occur as
other tissues that need it take glutamine that is stored in the muscle
cells which leads to this deterioration.
•Ephedrine is produced from a
shrub-like plant called ephedra,
found in desert regions of central
Asia and other parts of the world.
The dried greens of this plant are
used medicinally. Ephedrine’s
main use is to relieve the constriction and congestion of bronchial
asthma, as a nasal decongestant
and in the treatment of some allergies. Other studies have shown it
can be used as a weight-loss aid.
Ephedrine has been shown to
increase the effectiveness of thermogenesis, or fat burning in the
body. It contributes to the release
and blocking the re-uptake of the
neurotransmitter norepinephrine.
Norepinephrine is a hormone
secreted by the medulla of the
adrenal glands.
It also increases the heart rate
and blood pressure, increases
glycogenolysis (the conversion of
glycogen to gluclose in the liver)
increases lipolysis (the conversion
of fats to fatty acids in fat tissue)
and helps to open the air passages
to the lungs. Ephedrine increases
the levels of norepinephrine
released allowing it to continuously stimulate receptors in the body,
causing fat cells to open and assist
in fat loss.
Since it increases heart rate and
blood pressure people with a
heart condition, hypertension,
diabetes, or thyroid disease have
been advised not to take
Ephedrine.
Anyone considering taking
these or any supplements should
consult a doctor or dietitian.
Compiled by David Harrison
PAGE EDITOR: CHRIS LAROCHE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
PAGE 9
THE COMMONER
Athletes train brains and brawn
Workload is
a workout for
students in sport
streetLEVEL
What do you do
to beat the
winter blahs?
By Megan Apostoleris
The Commoner
It’s another early morning. Paula Oake, a
fourth-year nursing student and varsity hockey player at Dalhousie University, climbs out
of her comfy bed. Oake says she gets up each
day with two things on her mind: school, and
hockey, and making time for both.
Going to class, writing essays and endless
research is tough for all university students.
Varsity athletes also face hours of training each
day. And they must maintain a 2.0 grade point
average (a C average) to be allowed to play.
“Thursday is my worst day,” she says. She
starts at 7:00 a.m. with an eight-hour clinical
shift at the hospital. When she finishes at 4:00
p.m. she rushes home for a quick bite to eat.
Then she is off to the rink for a practice from
6:00 until 7:15 p.m. It’s not over yet. She has
another class from 7:30 until 10:00 p.m. And,
sometime during the day, she has to fit in
homework and gym time.
Oake says while maintaining the C average
is not a big concern for her, it is always in the
back of her mind.
“If I don’t keep my grades up in nursing,
then I don’t get to play hockey,” she says.
“Hockey is my release.”
Some of her teammates, who have a bit
more trouble balancing their schedules, have
group study sessions to help each other out.
Lesley Jordan, head coach of the Dalhousie
women’s hockey team, says she wants her
team to be competitive both athletically and
academically.
“Usually the brightest in the classroom are
pretty smart on the ice,” she says. “They’re a
MEGAN APOSTEOLERIS
little more mature and they’re a lot more
Dal Tiger Paula Oake manages homework and classes with hockey practice and time in the gym.
coachable.”
Jordan expects her athletes to be on the ice
two hours a day and to spend eight to ten I’m the hockey coach and I’m not the profes- them some time, some hours and some money
hours a week at the gym. They have about two sor,” she jokes. “But in the end people are is going to make a big difference.”
He says since the 1999/2000 season the
hours of sports psychology homework each going to make their living because of the education they have, not because of how well they grade point average of Dalhousie varsity athweek as well.
letes has risen from 2.72 to 2.98 in 2001/2002.
Oake says every time someone does not hand performed on the hockey team.”
Jordan says she monitors the team’s grades He adds that the number of Dalhousie
in a workout log sheet — a record of each workout a player does — the whole team has to do closely throughout the year. She has individual Academic All-Canadians — an award given to
suicide skating — skating as hard as they can up player-coach meetings during the season so a varsity athlete with a GPA of 3.45 or higher
and down the ice. For every minute a player is players can discuss any academic problems they — has increased from 45 in 1999/2000 to 76 in
may be having or to 2001/2002. He says the tutoring service is one
late for a practice, the
arrange to work with of the main factors.
whole team has to skate
Oake agrees even though she has not had to
a tutor.
for the equivalent num- “It’s a lot of pressure because you
The coach of the use the tutoring service herself. “We’re going
ber of minutes.
men’s volleyball team, to these practices so the Dalhousie women’s
“It’s a lot of pressure don’t want your whole team to
Dan Ota, is the coordi- hockey team wins an AUS banner (Atlantic
because you don’t want
nator of the Black & championship),” she says. “So, with our crazy
your whole team to suf- suffer just for your stupid mistake”
Gold
Tutorial schedules, if they are willing to give us this
fer just for your stupid
PAULA OAKE, Program. A varsity opportunity, I think that’s great.”
mistake,” she says.
She says student athletes are not the dumb
Jordan says the most
VARSITY HOCKEY PLAYER athlete who needs academic help gets a jocks that most people think.
serious consequence
“If you’re in university, that’s a pretty big
tutor for free. Ota says
for any player is not
an athlete can use the program to help them pass accomplishment in itself,” she says. “I just
being allowed to play in a game.
“These guys are pretty competitive. They a course or to help them turn Bs into As. He says think that people get the wrong idea about varput a lot of time into it,” she says. “So, for them about 50 of Dalhousie’s 180 varsity athletes took sity athletes. I mean, we have one person on
not to be allowed to play in a game is pretty advantage of the service in the 2001/2002 aca- our team doing her PhD.”
Although juggling school and sports makes
devastating. Then again, if they’re not per- demic year. He says the athletic department tries
forming the way you expect them to, either on to help its athletes by paying for extras like for a busy schedule, Oake says for her hockey
the ice or in the classroom, that’s part of the tutors, because their busy training schedules is more of a stress reliever.
“If I’m having a bad day, I just go on the ice
keep the players from working. Other students
consequences.”
Jordan says she wants to make sure they would have to pay about $30 an hour for a tutor. and skate my problems out,” she says. “I can’t
“These guys are always under the gun,“ he imagine not playing.”
know what their number one priority should be.
“I would like to say its sports just because says. “So anything we can do to try to save
[email protected]
PAGE EDITOR: ANGELICA MONTGOMERY
“
Plain
old-fashioned
walking. It’s the most
restorative for the
body, mind and soul.”
John PayneMacKinnon,
R e t i red Te a c h e r
I dress warmly. I
like to go outside. I
like the cold.”
“
Stephanie
Maillet,
Dal Student
“
I
snowboard.
When I lived in
Vancouver I had a
season pass, so I could
go whenever I felt like
it. I haven’t tried
snowboarding here
Jun
yet.”
Zhou,
SMU Student
“
Good music and
a nice hot cup of tea.
And good clothes. The
Danish have a saying:
there’s no such thing
as bad weather, just
bad clothes.”
Edith
Callaghan,
P rofessor,
Acadia University
I get out for a
meal and a movie
because it’s cabin
fever this time of year.”
“
Eleni
K o u t ro u l a k i s ,
Wa i t ress
PAGE 10
THE COMMONER
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
Wine: friend or foe?
Experts debate
the French Paradox
Chris
LaRoche
viewPOINT
I can’t remember the last week when I
didn’t sit down for supper four or five times
only to guzzle down two, three or maybe
four glasses of wine.
I’m young, of French descent and relatively fit. I go out and binge drink on weekends with high school buddies. I eat campus
food. I drink three or four coffees a day. I
watch T.V. And, as far as I know, drinking
wine is healthy — or is it?
There’s a pewter plate that’s been sitting
on my kitchen window for an eternity — it
has some words scrawled around its mottled grey rim that reads, once translated, “A
day without wine is like a day without sun.”
It’s an old French saying — one that the
French apparently live by so much that
there’s an entire scientific quandary named
after it: “The French Paradox.”
The French, who are stereotypically
known to drink large amounts of wine and
eat fatty foods, have low incidences of heart
disease and other cardiac problems — hence
the paradox. Is it the French diet? Is it their
lifestyle? Is it the cigarette smoking?
Is there something in the wine?
This paradox was partly answered by a
series of alcohol studies done in the early
90s. These studies found that consumption
of red wine over other types of alcohol was
of particular interest, mostly due to numerous health benefits from reduced risk of cancer to counteracting the negative effect cigarettes have on arteries. Recommendations
vary for daily wine intakes. Health departments in France recommend as much as 750
millilitres of red wine a day — an entire bottle — while Britain recommends less than
two glasses (125ml each) a day.
And so the Paradox was opened — or at
least uncorked.
But no single study offers a clear answer
to my question: how much wine can I safely drink?
Some studies claim that drinking wine as
a preventative measure to cardiac problems
only applies to those old enough to be susceptible to cardiac failure. Anyone younger
is simply risking their liver.
Another study found that although there is
a cardiovascular benefit from alcohol consumption, lifestyle differences between people who drink wine and other forms of alcohol
account for red wine’s apparent healthiness.
But Mount Saint Vincent University
nutritionist Dr. Theresa Glanville says there
is more to red wine’s health benefit than just
the alcohol it contains. Many of wine’s
ingredients, such as polyphenols in grape
skins, carry cancer-preventing antioxidants
that are unique to red wine. They haven’t
yet been identified as active sources for red
wine’s additional health benefits, she says.
Any amount of red wine isn’t necessarily
beneficial, she says.
“If you are habitually taking in high
amounts of alcohol, the good effect it will
CHRIS LaROCHE
Mark Haynes of Brewingcentres, a store that sells wine kits, says the question of how much wine someone should drink each day is ”tricky ground.”
have on your heart will be negated by the
bad effect it will have on your liver,” she
says. Glanville could not specify what exact
amount of alcohol consumption would
cross that line — it differs for everyone
depending on size, weight and medical history — but she does say that most individuals who consume one to two glasses of wine
a day will help lower their risk of cardiac
failure and disease.
“In our body there is good cholesterol
and bad cholesterol,” she says. “A certain
amount of alcohol increases the amount of
good cholesterol and that helps lower the
risk of cardiac failure.” Good cholesterol,
known as lipoprotein (HDL), keeps the
blood vessels in arteries clean which breaks
up stroke-causing clots, which ultimately
helps to prevent cardiac arrests and disease.
The French also tend to have diets that
don’t include as much meat and processed
foods as North American diets, Glanville
says, and this may also contribute to the
French Paradox.
Mark Haynes of Brewingcentres says
that wine drinking and making isn’t something someone takes up purely because of
the health benefits.
Haynes says that the wine health issue
comes up now and then with customers. He
generally considers red wines to be healthier because most studies say they contain
more anti-oxidants.
“People come in here
looking for a magic bullet.”
TODD CRISTALL,
WINE STORE OWNER
Nevertheless, the idea of enjoying a fine
red wine while reducing risk of heart disease is something that has some wine
drinkers preferring red to white, says independent wine merchant Todd Cristall.
Cristall has been in the wine business for
over twenty years and is the operator of
Cristall & Luckett, an independent wine
store in Bedford. He remembers the day
CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired a story on the
health benefits of wine in November of
1991. Cristall noticed a lot of his customers
suddenly buying red wine.
“I wouldn’t say the phone was ringing
off the hook, but people almost instantly
switched to red,” he says. Cristall recalls a
customer who came down to the store the
next day to buy some red wine — he had
been sent by his wife, who had heart problems. “People come in here looking for a
magic bullet.”
Cristall and his staff tell customers to
seek professional medical advice.
But if France says I can drink a bottle a
day, shouldn’t I be able to?
I decided to follow Todd Cristall’s advice
and ask my family doctor, Mike Fleming,
about wine consumption. Based on my profile — 5’8,” 150 pounds, 21 years old with no
history of alcohol abuse or serious medical
conditions — Fleming gave me a “general
recommendation”: no more than 14 drinks a
week, a drink being one glass of wine, one
beer or one shot of spirits. Any more than 14
per week could have adverse effects on my
liver, heart and kidneys, he says — and consuming all 14 of those drinks all at once isn’t
a good idea, either.
Deterrents to this general recommendation include problems with the liver and
kidneys, or a history of alcohol or drug
abuse within the family.
The French Paradox still seems paradoxical given that no two studies say the same
thing. Chances are someone without any
medical problems can sit back and enjoy
some chianti, chardonnay, merlot or whatever’s on sale at the NSLC and not have to
worry about their livers drying up into a
cured, crinkly green ball.
Now if only someone could do something about all this beer drinking.
[email protected]
PAGE EDITOR: TARYN DELLA
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
THE COMMONER
PAGE 11
Dalhousie’s future doctors
strike a chord to cure stress
By Kristen Lipscombe
The Commoner
Some Dalhousie students will soon be
scribbling out prescriptions for their own
patients, but they say one of the most effective stress relievers for surviving medical
school is music.
“There are a lot of skills required to be a
good physician that are obtainable through
musical experience,” says John Brandsema,
a first year medical student and one of
about 200 participants in Dalhousie
University’s Music-in-Medicine program.
“Music is also a vital counterbalance to
the high pressure environment that medical
students face,” he adds.
Although one might typically imagine
stethoscopes and syringes, not saxophones
and sheet music, when thinking of medical
professionals, the Music-in-Medicine program is challenging such stereotypes.
“We’ve become, to a degree, the public
face of the school of medicine,” says Dr. Ron
Stewart, founder of the program and director
of Dalhousie’s Medical
H u m a n i t i e s
Department.
Since its inception
five years ago, Music-inMedicine has provided
students,
physicians
and professors with an
opportunity to explore
their more artistic sides.
It’s the first program of
its kind in North
America.
The program offers
various musical outlets, including the
Medical School Concert
Ensemble, comprised
of string instruments,
and the 130-member
Medical School Concert
Chorale. Additional musical initiatives
within the program include some folksinging PhD students called The Lab Notes
and smaller instrumental groups.
Brandsema is an associate conductor,
sings in the chorale and leads The
Ultrasounds, an a cappella group made up
of first and second-year medical students.
“I am thankful for the opportunity to continue making music with others,” says Brandsema.
“It’s an important outlet for me.”
The Music-in-Medicine website indicates “more than 25 per cent of medical students in years one through three of their
undergraduate medical training are registered in one of these performance groups.”
However, the program is not restricted to
students. Faculty members and professionals working in every field from endocrinology and pediatrics to orthopedics and biochemistry are singing, strumming and sharing music with the community.
“Physicians and music, throughout the
history of medicine, have always sort of
been together,” explains Stewart, who is
also a former health minister and a pioneer
in emergency medicine. He says music “can
be healing in a very good way.”
Bryan Crocker, a reputable Halifax musician, is music director and conductor of the
chorale, which holds rehearsals for two
hours on Wednesday evenings. He is also
the manager of the laboratory information
system for the Department of Pathology
and Laboratory Medicine of the Queen
Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre and the
Capital District Health Authority.
“The comparison of science and arts, and
especially music, is not that far-fetched,”
explains Crocker. “It’s amazing when you
look at how many extremely gifted musicians
we have in med school.”
Crocker has performed with The
Temptations and Dionne Warwick, and has
been playing saxophone in the Dalhousie
medical school’s Tupper Concert Band for
almost 20 years. He joined the chorale in 1999
“as something to do,” but Stewart quickly
recruited him to conduct the choir.
“I immediately said ‘No,’” Crocker says
with a chuckle. “But he (Stewart) can be
very persistent. I made an agreement that I
would do it until someone better came along
and I’m still doing it.
I’m glad I made that
decision.”
Stewart says the
primary objective of
the program “is to
offer students and faculty members alike
the opportunity to
reap the rewards of
making music together, of practicing team
work, of enjoying each
company and
JOHN BRANDSEMA other’s
generally to have a
MEDICAL STUDENT stress free, happy time
for two hours a
week.”
He says early
studies out of the University of California
have measured stress levels in medical students and indicate that incorporating music
on a regular basis acts as a stress reliever.
Crocker agrees. “These people are learning an incredible amount. They need a place
to relax and wind down.”
“I look forward to going to it every
week,“ says Jeremy Beck, a first year medical student and member of the chorale and
The Ultrasounds. It’s “a non-stressful time.”
“Music is another way that we can reach
out to our patients and the community to
try and improve their quality of life,” he
adds.
Both the number of participants and reputation of the chorale within the community continue to grow.
“One of the big components now is community outreach,” explains Stewart. He
says Music-in-Medicine raises the most
amount of money for local charities of any
organization on campus. This is accomplished “through concerts, donors and
patrons, who think we’re doing a good
thing and continue to support us.”
T he program sponsors both
“There are a lot of skills
required to be a good
physician that are
obtainable through
musical experience.”
PAGE EDITOR: MEGAN APOSTOLERIS
KRISTEN LIPSCOMBE
Bryan Crocker is the conductor of Dalhousie’s Medical School Concert Chorale. “The comparison of science and arts, and especially music, is not that far-fetched,” he says.
health care and arts organizations,
including the Nova Scotia Youth Choir,
the Nova Scotia Talent Trust, the Cape
Breton Cancer Centre and the Heart
and Stroke Foundation. It has also supported some Halifax-based women’s
shelters.
Music-in-Medicine
holds
concerts
throughout the Christmas season and a
large fundraiser performance called Music:
The Best Medicine in the spring. The chorale
goes on a tour every June, in past years traveling across the Maritimes and to Los
Angeles.
The chorale “is also a fun group of people,” says Brandsema. “People appreciate
the chance to be creative and collaborate
with others in a unique way.”
“We actually have people trying to get
into the choir from other choirs in the city,”
adds Crocker. “Just because they’ve heard
of our reputation and they’ve seen us in
concert and thought ‘My God, this is amazing, there are a bunch of doctors up there
singing Mozart, and singing it well.’”
[email protected]
PAGE 12
THE COMMONER
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2004
Yoga for sale
Who has the copyright on enlightenment?
By Katharine Sandiford
The Commoner
Yoga has been transformed from an
ancient spiritual tradition to a lycra clad fitness fad since its arrival in North America
some 30 odd years ago.
And for the first time in its 5000-year
existence, yoga is now a trademarked product.
Bikram, Iyengar, Jivamukti, and
Kundalini— the head teachers of all these
yoga styles have trademarked their name
and logo, copyrighted their style of teaching, or franchised their schools. Teaching
Bikram without the proper certification or
using the Kundalini name without permission is a risk most yoga teachers aren’t taking — for fear of being sued.
“They are just trying to protect the
integrity of their teachings,” says Michael
Munro, 34, teacher and co-owner of
Therapeutic Approach Yoga Studio, on
Quinpool Road.
Many of the yogis interested in copyrighting come from India and are used to a
different system, says Munro. In Indian tradition, there is a much-respected studentteacher relationship and lineage. A given
yoga method is passed on to a few students
through years of study and training. The
lineage goes back hundreds of years and is
observed by everyone. If someone tried to
steal someone else’s method, it would be
obvious, says Munro.
“But we have a complex yoga system in
the West,” he says. “If I’m going to teach a
class called ‘Yoga for a Tight Butt,’ I can
watch a few videos and make up my own
course.”
No one is protecting their yogic property
more successfully than Los Angeles resident
Bikram Choudhury, founder of Bikram’s
Hot Yoga. Set in a crowded room at 105
degrees F, Bikram Yoga is a rigid, almost
militaristic set of 26 hatha yoga poses that
more and more people are signing up for
every year.
Choudhury, who is the first to copyright
a sequence of poses, is worth more than $7
million, reports December’s issue of Yoga
Journal. Part of this wealth comes from successful lawsuits against those who teach
Bikram Yoga without authorization. Raquel
Welch, a former student of Bikram, was
sued for millions of dollars after she copied
his style in one of her yoga videos.
Michael and Maxine Munro, co-owners
of Therapeutic Approach, took a week-long
workshop with Choudhury in 1998 at the
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in
Massachusetts. After the course, they
offered a weekend workshop in Bikram
Yoga at their studio, becoming the first to
teach this style in Nova Scotia. But they did
this without Bikram’s knowledge or per-
CONTRIBUTED
Michael Munro, yoga instructor and co-owner of Theraputic Approach Yoga Studio, holds the “triangle” hatha yoga pose.
mission and a few years before he registered
the copyright.
“Back then, I didn’t even think about it,”
says Munro. “It’s hatha yoga. I know the
poses. I know the body. But now things
have changed. I wouldn’t even dare teach it
now.”
Other yoga methods have taken a different approach to protect the integrity of their
teachings. Raja yoga, a style that is focused
more on meditation than movement, is set
up as a charitable organization. Classes are
offered for free or in exchange for a donation. These teachers are unpaid volunteers.
There is no leader or guru, only a wide network of senior teachers. Only those who
are truly dedicated end up teaching it.
“You aren’t going to get people teaching
raja yoga just for money,” says teacher
Michael Frank, of the Halifax Raja Yoga
Centre. “Yoga means union with your soul
—there’s no way we’re going to charge
money for that.”
The fact is, yoga has become a hugely
successful industry worth billions of dollars. This year, Yoga Journal reports that
more than 15 million Americans practice
yoga, a 28.5 per cent increase from last year.
According to market researchers, yoga is a
big part of the new $300 billion (Cdn) North
American market called LOHAS, for
Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. The
LOHAS market for “personal development
products and services,” — anything from
videos, clothing, accessories, classes, and
books on yoga, Pilates, or meditation — has
a U.S. market of $12 billion.
“They’re just trying to
protect the integrity of
their teachings.”
MICHAEL MUNRO, YOGA INSTRUCTOR
Wal-Mart now carries a $30 yoga kit.
Roots has come out with its own line of
yoga attire. Yoga Journal is now one of
America’s most successful magazines — its
paid circulation has tripled since 1998.
Commercial Hatha Yoga studios like
Therapeutic Approach, which charges
between $10 and $15 per session, are enjoying yoga’s rise in popularity. Hatha Yoga
Studios offers 35 classes a week, up from
only six a week in 1997.
Although its classes are free, the Halifax
Raja Yoga Centre only holds three or four
classes a month. Because it ‘s not commercial, it doesn’t have to market itself the way
mainstream yoga does, says Frank. It doesn’t promise weight loss, fitness, or beauty; it
only offers spiritual contemplation through
meditation and study.
“We’re realizing that raja yoga isn’t really
understood by the public the way that
hatha yoga is,” says Frank. “We’re working
on our programming to make it more accessible to the general public.”
Surrounded by lawsuits, greed and
materialism, the original intent of yoga may
seem lost: to reach a spiritual union with
your higher conscience. Munro feels confident that yoga is still doing its job.
“Even if you got into it for the wrong reasons — to lose weight, look good, or be
trendy, yoga is going to bring you deeper
benefits,” says Munro. “Even if you are
wearing a Lulu Lemon yoga outfit, if you
are practicing regularly, you will develop
focus, mental clarity, equanimity. Yoga
should help us to live in this material world
in a more sane way.”
[email protected]
PAGE EDITOR: LINDSAY O’REILLY