ADVERTISEMENT Windsor Watch Increase in myositis An increase in a rare side effect of influenza that leaves children sometimes unable to walk. CTV Windsor's Travis Fortnum has more.
Windsor Watch
An increase in a rare side effect of influenza that leaves children sometimes unable to walk. CTV Windsor's Travis Fortnum has more.
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CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Family feels 'a lot of peace' after woman receives end-of-life aquamation service in Manitoba
The family of a woman who recently became the second person in Manitoba to have a water cremation said they feel at peace knowing that they could give her the burial she wanted just weeks after it became available in the province. Elizabeth Crossley said her mother, Elizabeth Crossley Sr., had been talking about alkaline hydrolysis — or aquamation — since she first heard about it a few years ago. Instead of traditional fire cremation, aquamation is an eco-friendly alternative that uses a hot water and alkali solution to break down the body's proteins and sugars, speeding up the natural decomposition process until only the bones remain. Crossley said her mother was instantly drawn to the process and started discussing it with family, friends and medical providers. "I guess she identified more with the water process. She loved water and I guess her soul just liked the idea of that better," Crossley said. "I feel a lot of peace knowing we could give her what she wanted." When Crossley's mother died a few weeks ago at the age of 65, the service had just become available in Manitoba. Had her mother died sooner, Crossley said the family would have had to travel out of province to ensure she received the end-of-life care she wanted. Saskatchewan was the first Canadian province to legalize aquamation in 2012, followed by Ontario in 2014. Headingley-based funeral and aquamation services company Tillwell Inc. got its final licence approvals to start operating just a few weeks ago. It is the first and only company in Manitoba to offer the service. "Had she died three weeks sooner, we would have been shipping her to Saskatchewan to have it done. So good timing, I guess," Crossley said. Crossley Sr. was just the second person to have an aquamation service in Manitoba. "Death is a personal experience and people ought to choose the form of final disposition that means the most to them," said Dwayne Till, CEO and founder of Tillwell. Till said aquamation is a "much gentler, way less energy intensive" process compared to traditional flame cremation that uses machines that run at up to 1,000 C for several hours. Till said the deceased person's body is put inside a hot water tank, where the alkali-water solution is heated to just under 100 C and circulated over the body for about 18 hours, using propellers in the back of the tank. The fluid is then sent through the sewage system, where it is treated. "You can actually repurpose some of the fluid that's left behind," Till said, adding he would eventually like to see it used by local farmers as a natural fertilizer, if provincial regulators allow. The bones are then dried and processed into a powder and returned to the deceased's loved ones, much like ashes after flame cremation. Except this powder — or "mineral remains," as Till's company calls them — has a neutral pH level and is safe to return to the earth. aquamation with a tree ceremony and burial. Crossley's family decided on a tree ceremony. "My mom, she always said she wanted to be a tree," Crossley said.
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Airmedic suspends operations after Quebec helicopter crash leaves four missing
A Sûreté du Québec badge is shown in a photo taken on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (The Canadian Press/Christinne Muschi) NATASHQUAN -- A search resumed Sunday for four people who are missing after a medical transport helicopter crashed on Quebec's North Shore during a rescue operation. The Airmedic helicopter was involved in an accident around 10:30 p.m. Friday near Natashquan, Que., just over 1,000 kilometres northeast of Montreal. Airmedic said in a statement Sunday that it has suspended its operations in order to offer support to its employees. 'This tragedy has deeply shaken the entire Airmedic family,' the company said. 'Due to this, management has temporarily suspended operations in order to prioritize the well-being of our teams and provide them with all the necessary support.' The company said police and search-and-rescue teams have been looking for the missing people 'on the ground, in the air, and on the water.' It said provincial police divers joined the search on Sunday. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said the helicopter was in the process of a medical evacuation when it crashed into a lake shortly after takeoff with five people aboard. One crew member was rescued and Airmedic said their life was not in danger. Airmedic specializes in air medical transport and operates both planes and helicopters as part of its fleet. It is a private company that offers its services across Canada. Quebec provincial police confirmed late Sunday afternoon that the search was ongoing and that neither the helicopter nor the four people had been located. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2025.
CBC
5 hours ago
- CBC
For long COVID sufferers, a beacon of hope closes its doors
People who continue to suffer the effects of COVID-19 long after contracting the illness say they're concerned to be losing a major resource in eastern Ontario. The Ottawa Hospital's outpatient post-COVID rehabilitation program opened in July 2021. According to the hospital, it helped treat more than 160 patients before shutting its doors in May. Dennis Murphy, who spent nearly two years on the hospital's waitlist, called the closure frustrating. He contracted COVID-19 in June 2023, and has been experiencing lingering symptoms including brain fog and fatigue ever since. The Kingston, Ont., resident was first referred to The Ottawa Hospital program in August 2023, but was still waiting for treatment when the hospital announced the program was ending. "This [disease] has had a very serious impact on my life," said Murphy, who recognized others have suffered through worse. "I've been able to continue working, I'm continually able to enjoy many things, if at a lesser level. That is not the case with a lot of people." For Murphy, it's been the little things that most people take for granted, like taking his kids to the beach. "I'm really hoping that I can do that this summer, but I realize that if I choose to, I will probably will not be able to do much the next day," he said. When CBC visited Murphy's home, he grew tired after gardening for a short time. "It's difficult psychologically ... when you really want to do something and be out and active. It limits my ability to do things that I like to do," he said. Susan Whitton was more fortunate. She contracted COVID in January 2023 and was accepted into the rehabilitation program the following January. She said it was invaluable, and she fears for others who won't get the same chance. "It kind of feels like they've been abandoned. They've been sort of left on their own," she said. "If I caught COVID now and there was no support, there was nowhere to turn, you were trying to solve this on your own — I don't know what people are doing now." She said she's still recovering, more than two years after first contracting the illness. "I may look better on the outside, and for my job I pretend that everything is fine and everything is wonderful. But it's not. It's a struggle every day," she said. In a statement, The Ottawa Hospital said the clinic supported more than 160 patients with long COVID-19 symptoms since its launch. "In alignment with other centres across Ontario, The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre (TOHRC) made the difficult decision to close the program," the hospital wrote in a statement to CBC. "Care teams at TOHRC are working to provide alternative resources, including educational materials and peer support options, to help patients continue managing their recovery." But Murphy questions that decision. He called the program's record "woefully inadequate," given the number of long COVID sufferers who are still seeking treatment. Ontario's Ministry of Health said in a statement that it released guidelines to diagnose, assess and manage patients with long COVID, and provided a resource page on the illness. It did not point to any similar rehabilitation programs available to patients in eastern Ontario. In December 2023, Statistics Canada reported that about 3.5 million Canadian adults reported experiencing long-term symptoms from COVID-19, and nearly 80 per cent experienced symptoms lasting six months or more. Only three provinces have extended funding for long COVID treatment, according to Dr. Angela Cheung, a professor of medicine and a senior physician scientist at the University Health Network, University of Toronto. (Cheung has no connection to The Ottawa Hospital's post-COVID rehabilitation program). She said there's still much that's unknown about long COVID. "It's kind of like HIV in the early days. We are making progress, but science does take time," she said. "We do sort of need to give it a little bit more time, so we see results from trials." For patients in eastern Ontario, that doesn't provide much comfort.
