HPV Related Cancers: Tip of a Very Large Iceberg

By Dr. Margaret Smith, GPO, BC Cancer Agency Vancouver Island Centre Canadian Cancer Statistics 2016 Analysis by: Health Statistics Division, Statistics Canada Data source: Canadian Cancer Registry database at Statistics Canada In the general population of BC, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is pervasive. There is an estimated 80% risk of mucocutaneous infection in all Canadians […]

HPV Vaccine Program for Grade 6 Boys Now Available in BC

October, 2017 By Dr. Monika Naus, Medical Director, Immunization Programs and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Services, BC Centre for Disease Control The HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) vaccine program for grade 6 boys started in BC with the 2017/18 school year. This program will accompany the program for grade 6 girls who have been eligible since September […]

“Dear Grandma”

“Dear Grandma”

by Dr. Patricia Lyle Dear Grandma, I look at you with tear-filled eyes, not as the physician I have been trained to be, but as the granddaughter who grew up listening to your stories of the old days, of pesky kids and army pals. I watch you fade in and out of sleep, watch each […]

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Book Review by Anya Selleck A few years back in university, a friend of mine in medical school gave me a book to read. I didn’t read it. Like so many of my generation, while studying, we place ourselves on a definitive trajectory to our desired goal. […]

B4stage4: Changing the way we think about mental health and addiction

B4stage4: Changing the way we think about mental health and addiction

September, 2016 Canadian Mental Health Association – BC Division Everyone in British Columbia has a right to mental health and addiction care that is valued equally with physical health care (1). If a person becomes unwell, the mental health services they access should be equal to physical health services (2). This should hold true regardless […]