New report:
From Kindergarten to Post-Secondary: Educational Journeys of British Columbia’s Students with Disabilities & Learning Exceptionalities
We present Kindergarten-to-Post Secondary journeys of 68,000 BC
#InclusiveEducation
students.
Link:
^JL /1
With a new baby, one must curb a social life & certain pastimes for the benefit of that baby. I'm tired of stories like this, where a defenseless baby had to pay the price for the parents' selfishness & lack of judgment. I'm on baby's side, every time.
I accompanied an autistic loved one to a vaccine clinic.
The person is frightened of needles & took a long time to settle.
Just as they made up their mind they wanted the vax for sure, the nurse said, "Sorry you took so long. We're now closed."
It was 1 minute past closing. /1
Dear
@PurdysChocolate
,
I was recently at one of your retail locations, and noticed that nearly all of your staff were masking. That was really great to see and very much appreciated.
Happy 2024!
What if you made one change only:
If you see someone wearing a mask, put on a mask around them. Assume that they are vulnerable, and meet them where they need to be met.
Could you at least do that, please?
I was at an event last night with hundreds of people and I was only one of two people wearing a mask (me, N95).
Sigh.
I have to dig deep every single day.
The desire to conform is bloody strong.
But carrying on.
Sigh.
Dr. Li Wenliang:
"On 30 December he sent a message to fellow doctors in a chat group warning them about the outbreak and advising they wear protective clothing to avoid infection."
#Hero
I regularly get mocked here because I still mask. That's fine. I'm a big girl.
I guess my decision relates to what I want my life priorities to be.
For me, I want to be known as a stalwart friend, a responsible and caring citizen of the world, and someone who loves hard.
You?
The nurse did, however, give us the number of a smaller, more private clinic that will allow for a 1-hour window per person in case of nerves, etc. So I did appreciate that Plan B.
Even so. Sigh.
/2
I'm still wearing my N95 in all public indoor spaces, no restaurants, & will keep doing so.
My prediction, however?
Even among the people who are mask champs, there are going to be those who stop masking.
People are flawed, tired & human.
This is why we need to Clean The Air.
If you've seen an uptick in frustrated Covid tweets from me, it's because this mess has been going on for years, I've been vigilant the whole time, & I'm weary.
Due to personal circumstances, I can't get sick/repeatedly.
I'm not apologising, to be clear. I'm just explaining. /1
This is not my original thought, but it's something a friend said and it has stuck with me. He said:
If covid does end up being nothing really to worry about long-term, then the worst I will feel is embarrassed for having masked and avoided crowds these past years... /1
I've been to an BC hospital emergency room twice this week, hours each time, accompanying a vulnerable loved one needing my hands-on support.
What I've observed this week has been harrowing and sobering.
But... /1
And if you are in 5 of these 5 scenarios (👆), or any number of these scenarios really, please still advocate for clean air for kids in schools and daycares.
It is one leaky context that exposes so many covid-conscious families to repeat infections.
/2
Last night on the
#SteeleAndVance
show, Dr. Henry asserted more than once that flu, Covid, etc. infections aren't occurring while kids are at school.
That is an absolutely erroneous assertion.
Yes, they are occurring in schools, in large part & in large numbers.
#bcpoli
#bced
I also acknowledge that there are considerations for the clinic after any vaccines, such as ensuring there is staffing during the recommended 15 min observation period.
I also acknowledge that it's likely not easy to be a public health nurse, especially in these past years. /4
I'm not an expert in harm reduction. I'm just a concerned Vancouver Island resident, like you.
Yesterday, I was in a neighborhood that has a centre offering to test drugs for the user, presumably to ensure they were safe. (?)
As I drank my coffee & looked at this centre... /1
The BC NDP government pulled harm-reduction kiosks from Vancouver Island hospitals after Conservative outrage…
But at what cost?
@guyfelicella
is on This is VANCOLOUR
@CHEK_News
📺
Apple:
Spotify:
YouTube:
Will you please join me in celebrating?
My loved one with autism, who is extremely needle anxious and finds the experience traditionally very upsetting, just got their covid vaccine!
Like a champ! We're celebrating over donuts right now! YES! /1
He added:
But if it does end up being a big thing to worry about long-term, then I've just preserved my health and saved others from unnecessary illness along the way.
He then asked: Which do you think is the better choice? /2
Haven't had the best week and that's an understatement. So now I am going to rest a little, thankful that my loved one is okay and there are still good and kind people in the world who look out for each other.
Thank you. Thank you. /10
By the way, he stated this loudly, but not condescendingly, in front of his friends, all of whom listened to him attentively. There was no snickering.
This was a few days ago, and I'm still thinking about this confident and articulate young man. /2
Chatted with a dentist today, who told me he insists on working with office's windows open... beyond the HEPA filtration.
Dentists know a lot about aerosols.
I had a wart on my finger years back.
After a number of freezing treatments by my then-doctor, it went away. Years passed, I got Covid.
Within weeks of my illness, that same wart came back. I had to get it treated all over.
Read up on how Covid suppresses your immune system.
Anyway, these are just some thoughts I had from a coffee shop yesterday as I looked at the centre across the way.
Again, I'm not an expert in harm reduction. I'm just trying to make sense of our new realities, just like you. Having a heart seems like a good place to start. /7
Continued masking depends on what you value and also what you stand to lose.
I don't love masking. I loathe it, actually.
But I have to play a long-game with my health (reasons I won't get into online) and a lot of pressures rest squarely on me and only me in my personal life.
And when we were waiting for a test, thank you sweet and polite teenage boy who, despite being in a worse situation than my loved one, still asked if we'd like to go ahead in the lineup for something. Don't count this younger generation out. /7
American Medical Association on
#Reinfections
:
"will increase risk of chronic health issues like diabetes, kidney disease, organ failure, mental health problems.”
“dispels myth repeated brushes with virus are mild"
"akin to playing Russian roulette.”
Years ago, I saw a naturopath who looked into my eyes and said she saw "stress" and then recommended that I take a series of expensive greens powder, sold by her of course.
There's ZERO chance I'm going to accept a naturopath instead of an MD as my primary care GP.
#bcpoli
Amid a family doctor shortage in Canada, many naturopathic doctors position themselves as a solution, arguing that they have the training to be a patient’s primary care provider.
That’s raising alarm among medical doctors and health experts.
I'm still using these. I am rapid testing days in a row to convene with some others for Easter dinner. They're doing the same for me.
Will you please do the same with your loved ones?
#covid19bc
Thank you for cleaning staff. I spoke to one woman who spends most of her day cleaning up after surgeries in the operating room. I told her that can't be an easy job. She says, "I do the best I can."
/4
Hear me out:
If BC graduating MDs were to sign a contract promising that they would stay in the province doing family medicine for a minimum of 10 yrs after graduating, could we forgive part or all of their student loan debt as an incentive?
This is a crisis, after all.
#bcpoli
I am a disciplined person. Even I am struggling at times, doing my best to keep on going with respect to Covid safety precautions.
I second guess my stance at times. That's the truth.
Just throwing it out there in case you're wrestling with it all, too.
None of this is easy.
I can count on the usual trolling.
Before you do troll, remember you're talking about a minor child.
And also, just take a minute to telescope out to think about the self-assurance it takes for a teen to navigate through the world with his shoulders back in this fashion. /4
The misery was made better by quiet moments of friendship among the patients, caregivers, and hardworking staff.
Thank you to the nice lady who loaned me her phone when I was having a problem with my own.
/2
Thank you to the nurses and doctors who knew that the situation we were there for was not straightforward -- and in fact was quite complicated. Even so, they provided a high quality of care as quickly as they could without judgment. And still found time for good humour.
/3
I guarantee that if 13 people had died in 24 hours because of Stanley Park coyotes, all of those coyotes would have been hunted and put down in a hot minute.
13 people have died of
#covid19bc
in 24 hours, and we'll soon be having full capacity Canucks games.
🦠
#bcpoli
When I shared that I and also the person I was accompanied are without a family doctor, thank you to the assorted others who shared their own experiences and their feelings of fear.
"I feel abandoned", one lady said to me. I know what you mean, friend.
/5
Finally, after getting the all clear and leaving with good news (thank God), thank you to a paramedic we bumped into at a coffee shop who expressed his admiration to my loved one for their bravery during their ER visits. A good, kind man for that gesture. /9
Please try to understand the difficulties people face when they run in social circles and/or have extended families that have all moved on from the pandemic... except for them.
It's a lonely and confusing place.
#covid19bc
Remember the bar scene in Good Will Hunting, where Matt Damon's character steps in to defend Ben Affleck's character by using his deep intelligence to verbally smack down a cocky grad student?
I left saying to myself, "My boy's wicked smart!" /3
One of the biggest shocks of my month-long news and Twitter break?
Returning to see a whole panel wearing masks, including the mask-reluctant DBH.
Is something up I'm not aware of? Seems off-brand.
#bcpoli
Ultimately, my frustration is with policymakers & public health.
Meanwhile, I look like I'm some sort of radical weirdo but all I'm trying to do is stay healthy due to personal circumstances I'm not going to share here.
In the absence of strong policy, please still mask up. /3
I pondered just how bad the drug crisis must be that these centres exist in the first place & the extra risks that users face if such centres don't exist.
Then I wondered how I'd feel if a family member were a drug user. I'd want a centre like this to be available to them. /2
Thank you for the friendly chats I had with two surgeons at a nearby Subway when we were all gathering sandwiches to shovel down. They were very nice to me and my loved one, and my loved one really needed nice. They were nice even wearing their scrubs and looking beleaguered. /6
I have several disabled & chronically ill friends. You likely do, too.
The idea that, because they continue to mask, that they must also be "paranoid" & in need of mental health intervention is absurd & insulting.
We've had it hard. But they've had it harder. It's that simple.
To be clear, I wish it didn't have to exist. I wish the toxic drug crisis just went away. It's a truly terrible thing. But because it's here & it's not going away soon, it seems to me that these extremely vulnerable folks need opportunities & resources to just stay alive. /4
Thank you to one of the technicians who remembered my loved one from their visit two days earlier. He looked equally pleased when my remembered his name without looking at his name tag. /8
Undeniably, the toxic drug crisis is a new reality that our past generations didn't have to face. It's
new world. And there are some evil people profiting on some very vulnerable people. This centre likely can make the exquisitely precious difference between living and dying. /3
Some might ask why these folks can't just pick themselves up by their bootstraps & sober up. We must know it's not that easy. Whether it's our phone, sugar, caffeine, cigarettes, alcohol, we all face certain struggles. It's just these folks' struggles can imminently kill them. /5
We also need to be aware that not everyone is born into terrific families with sufficient financial resources, etc. Some folks are also born with health conditions, disability, or neurodiversity. If they're under-supported, they may look for symptom management any way they can./6
Example. I lost a number of followers after I commented on a nurse who was unmasked in a grocery store, while complimenting me on wearing my n95, after SHE almost lost a loved one to covid. Yes, that scenario frustrates me. I lament the few are doing the work that many should. /2
It is sobering and almost frightening to me the extent to which having a Twitter account is now an absolute necessity for keeping yourself safe and informed about pressing local and provincial news events in real time.
It's become BC's de facto emergency alert system.
#bcpoli
I get that not everyone is a natural public speaker, but Public Health Officers who are prone to nervous giggling while delivering bad or worrisome news in interviews desperately need media training.
Think it's silly to keep masking?
Not everyone has the luxury of getting sick, especially repeatedly so.
Take single parents or unpaid family caregivers of vulnerable relatives.
If they get sick, their whole households grind to a halt.
@JoAnneSapelo
Don't lose hope. A new generation of vaccines is being worked on around the clock, etc. Do the best you can. Better days are coming. They always do. 💜
I've been reflecting on how outrageous it is, the mere notion of relaxing capacity limits in Vancouver & Victoria in October, before 5-11 year olds have a chance to get vaccinated.
What are 'grown-ups' here for, if not to protect our society's young kids?
#covid19bc
#bcpoli
🦠
Just went through a drive-thru. Fellow taking orders was masking.
I complimented him on his N95. He said, "I'm sick so I thought I'd wear one" AND "I tested for covid and it's not it."
I admire the younger folks for trying. I admire anybody who's still trying. Keep on trying!
Because the facility staff member was utterly useless, I'm going to make it a priority tomorrow morning to call the health authority and lodge an official complaint.
/5
#bcpoli
@carriemae68
Thanks, Carrie. Very disappointing. Even my loved one said, "I'm confused because I was ready for the shot! Why can't they be more patient?"
At family doctor today.
GP says 3-4 viruses already circulating in August, and will (his word) "explode" once kids return to
#bced
next week.
Parents: Best to pick up supplies of fever-reducing medications now, to have on hand at home. It may be a rough ride. Again. 😥
#bcpoli
The story of Gisele Pelicot is horrifying. That the husband was able to recruit dozens of men from a small area, including a neighbour, is despicable. No wonder so many women simply don't trust men. I'll have my guards up more too after reading her story.
It boggles:
I attend small concerts here & there. I frequently shop indoors. I have a satisfying social life with awesome friends.
I'm soon going to be going on an overseas flight to one of the cities of my dreams.
But because I wear an N95 in crowds, I "live in fear".
Sure.
17 Covid deaths in BC yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Covid death toll in New Zealand is 32 -- as in, for the *entire* pandemic thus far.
#covid19bc
#bcpoli
🦠
Learned from someone that 5 out of 20 kids in one elementary class away sick.
Teacher away, too. TTOC instead.
So, 25% away sick. In late April.
Calls into question the 'it's seasonal' thing. Stressful for students, families, & educators.
#bcpoli
#bced
Alcohol is so ingrained in our society as being acceptable that our own Public Health Officer has a winery and not many say much about it.
Imagine if she had a sideline business as a tobacconist.
I just don't get the difference.
Please be the type of person to stop and help when something seems very, very wrong.
There are a great many caregivers of vulnerable loved ones for whom this scenario is their worst nightmare.
Sometimes bystanders are all someone has.
/8
#bcpoli
This Thanksgiving, I thank all of you here on Twitter who've filled a gap in my life during this terrible pandemic. Just knowing there are like-minded folks to share ideas with or to exchange a few words of friendship with makes a difference in the quality of my life.
Thanks. 💙
My Korean neighbor drops me off a little goodies from time to time & waves at me with two hands when she sees me. My Indian neigbour offers to cook me food. My Chinese neighbour just did me a favour in a bind I was in. I just can't understand racism.
So much love. I'm grateful.
Pls read:
Out driving today, I saw a disabled, First Nations woman in a hospital robe & socked feet stumbling alone in a busy intersection. Almost hit by 2 cars.
Stopped car, put on my hazards & ran to nearby nursing home to alert them, thinking they might not know. /1
#bcpoli
I give an award to the parents who went through hell in the fall & winter with kids with spiking 40+°C fevers, who couldn't easily access fever-reducing meds the regular way & instead had to rely on suppositories, parent messaging chains, or ER visits.
Listen, I'll be honest:
I don't love masking. The conformist in me doesn't like being the only person in a space who is wearing a respirator. I'm vain & I'd prefer to be wearing cute lipstick
I also don't love being sick, with the potential of long covid, etc.
There you go.