How to search for a family doctor when you move to a new city can stump anyone. Where do you start? What tools and resources do you use? Sabra Saleh Kassongo faced this dilemma when she moved to Edmonton to join her husband in March 2012. Familiar with the health systems of Dubai, Tanzania and…
July 27, 2011: For immediate release Who is medically safe to drive? The presence of an illness can make even the best motorist unsafe to drive at any age. Because it is illness that affects driving skill and safety regardless of age, the medical community is well placed to help identify those patients whose driving…
Media release July 27, 2011: For immediate release Edmonton, AB – Family doctors are using a proven and free research tool, developed by the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta, to screen for cognitively impaired drivers. Unsafe driving is sometimes due to impairments from medical conditions, says Dr. Bonnie Dobbs, director…
Jim McLaws pulls out his laptop and inserts a USB stick. This is not an ordinary USB stick. It allows him to input his blood glucose measurements directly into the computer, resulting in a much better quality of life for a diabetic who is constantly on the road for his job. The results are sent…
Sometimes a passing comment to a family physician can change a patient’s life. For Tara (name changed to protect her identity), this chance remark lead her down a path that she had been afraid to take for 15 years. She was visiting her family physician, Dr. Sheela Duia, at the Meadowbrook Medical Clinic for high…
Bev Kluczny is trapped at home because of an extreme panic disorder. She is too afraid to leave her house in case she experiences a panic attack. Bev, 69, suffers from agoraphobia, which makes seeking medical treatment for her diabetes and emphysema challenging. Without the help from two Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network nurses and…
Through Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network, Carla Shaner is receiving tools for achieving a healthier life. In September 2010, Carla says she was feeling helpless about her weight and overall physical and mental health. She approached Dr. Shelley Smith, her family physician at the Justik Medical Clinic in Old Strathcona, for a solution. Dr. Smith…
Joyce Hastings turned to Edmonton Southside Primary Care Network for solutions and support while caring for her ailing husband, Irving. He was diagnosed with a mild cognitive impairment in 2004 and thought he could handle it, says Joyce. “Irving didn’t want anyone else interfering. He had a plan to cure himself. He was exercising his…
Lee Johnson believes she would have died if her diabetes hadn’t been diagnosed six years ago. “I was not eating properly. Finding out I had diabetes was the best thing that happened to me,” says Lee. Her health deteriorated about 10 years ago when she hurt her back and became housebound, not able to exercise…