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www.insidehalton.com |OAKVILLE BEAVER |Thursday, November 16, 2017 |42 H ealth by Nathan Howes Special to the Beaver "Connected to your Community " Lyme disease deserves more attention in Canada scientist, was unable to attend. Milton MP Lisa Raitt made brief remarks at the beginning of the gathering, which included a Q-and-A. Canada needs to do more to help those suffering "We need people in the community, people from Lyme disease. all across Canada, to continue applying pressure That was the consensus among advocates because this issue is only getting worse. We and medical experts during a three-hour forum feel the current response is not adequate," said on the issue, held Friday, Nov. 3 at Oakville' s Kravis. Clearview Christian Reformed Church. "Canadians across the country are realizing Jennifer Kravis, of Oakville, and Sue Faber, and understanding what is happening. It' s not of Burlington, co-founders of LymeHope, just about the people who are sick, it' s about presented the talk entitled A Panel Discussion: Lyme Disease in Canada. every Canadian who is at risk." While Hawkins, who spoke of Canada' s Faber, a registered nurse, and Kravis, a guidelines for treating/testing Lyme disease lawyer, have Lyme disease, as do some of their during his presentation, agreed with Kravis' children. message of pushing forward the issue, he said Among those speaking on the topic were Dr. health care is "constitutionally a responsibility" Ralph Hawkins, site lead for General Internal of every provincial government, not the federal Medicine at the Calgary South Health Campus government. and clinical associate professor at the University Instead, simultaneous pressure or action by of Calgary; Dr. Tim Cook, medical director of a "critical mass of individuals" in all provinces P3 Health: Personalized, Participatory and Jennifer Kravis and territories is needed to push the issue to Preventive, Toronto, and an internal medicine every health ministry. way to get publicity. Going after the provincial and integrative health specialist; Faber and Kravis. "My view is that' s probably going to be an governments is a way to actually get action," avenue for success. Going after the feds is a said Hawkins, drawing applause from the Melanie Wills, a University of Guelph-based audience. Kravis and Faber jointly discussed the inspiration and work behind LymeHope, stories of Canadians with the disease and their petition to convince the federal government to repeal the draft framework that arose from Bill 442, related to Lyme, earlier this year. custom-made orthotics · As of Friday, it has garnered close to 52,000 foot/ankle injuries · signatures. The petition, which can be viewed and ' d i a b e t i c care · ingrown nails/warts · signed at http://bit.ly/2lfBuNL, was delivered to then-Health Minister Jane Philpott in August, orthopedic footwear along with literature, 2,700 personal Lyme N o w o f f e r in g S IG V A R IS c o m p r e s s io n s t o c k in g s letters and 12,000 petition comments. ^ |( t , (covered by m ost extended health plans, ask for details) "(Public Health Agency of Canada) has made it clear it is not interested in opening the 627 Lyons Lane, S u ite 205 O a k v ille F o o t C lin ic | issue of chronic Lyme, that the awareness and education is going to be limited to acute Lyme. o a k v ille c lin ic @ b e lln e t .c a Sr O rth o tic C entre Silvia Araujo That is the current plan right now," said Kravis. B.Sc(Hons), D.Ch w w w .o a k v ille f o o t c lin ic . c o m During her remarks, Faber said the Bill 442 framework does not represent the needs of Canadians "one little bit." "Until the needs of Canadians are met, we will continue to encourage everyone to sign and share the petition," said Faber. Cook, who discussed an integrative/ functional medicine approach to Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome (MSIDS) in his remarks, acknowledged there are physicians "willing and open" to become Lyme disease practitioners. However, they're concerned over potential repercussions of meeting patient needs and violating the federal framework, he continued. "If there were some reassurance that there was no repercussion.. .you would have a lot more doctors doing this," said Cook. Kravis and Faber also made individual presentations, with the former speaking about the disease, its effects, how it' s transmitted and data on the number of Canadians with it, while the latter discussed its impacts on pregnant women. The pair' s goal for LymeHope is to become a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to education and outreach, bringing a vital message of "hope and healing" to Canadians, Faber said. Raitt spoke of her husband, Bruce, who was initially diagnosed in May 2016 with an early onset of Alzheimer' s disease. After hearing stories of people mistakenly diagnosed with Alzheimer' s, when they had Lyme disease, Raitt did some research. To this day, however, the Milton MP is still trying to determine what her husband has. She acknowledged the difficulty of getting treatment in Canada and vowed to fight for those looking for answers. "You have a friend in me. You have a champion in me," said Raitt. "I do hope, together, we can get to a place where it' s easily diagnosed and we can have treatments in Canada." righ t into our office. 9 0 5 -8 4 4 -0 6 8 0 Arrived just in time for Christmas... 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