COVID-19 Contributes to Uptick in Opioid-Related Deaths

Baltimore, MD, Dec. 2, 2020 — Telemedicine and tele-mental health services have emerged as valuable resources for those battling addictions during our country’s expanding opioid crisis. The availability of remote healthcare services gives hope for those struggling with their addictions against a backdrop of social isolation, explains Dr. Paul Christo, an Associate Professor in the Division of Pain Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and he adds, clinicians need to advocate to their patients that online treatment options are available. 

Dr. Christo, who is on the frontlines working to curb the impact of the opioid crisis, also wants patients to know that critical medications for maintaining sobriety can now be prescribed by telehealth or telephone.

"The number of fatalities from opioid-related overdoses could be nearly 30 percent higher than reported due to missing information or incomplete death records,” he says. “The worst fear is that because of social isolation, people are not being found or treated immediately."

The opioid epidemic today progressed in three phases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first involves deaths caused by prescription opioids, the second, an increase in heroin use, and the third, a surge in the use of synthetic opioids or fentanyl. Experts say the U.S. is right in the middle of the third phase of the epidemic, due to the increasing availability of fentanyl and increasing rates of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids.

According to a recent study there were 632,331 drug overdoses between 1999 and 2016. Most of these deaths (78.2 percent) were drug overdoses with known drug classification. Moreover, 21.8 percent were unclassified drug overdoses. A further investigation revealed that for unclassified drug overdoses, 71.8 percent involved opioids, translating to 99,160 additional opioid-related deaths.

There were over 70,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017, according to an estimate from the CDC. Based on findings from the new study, over half of those deaths — about 47,000 — are suspected of having involved opioids.

Another study on opioid overdoses found that the number of drug overdose deaths decreased by 4 percent from 2017 to 2018. In 2018, more than 67,000 people died from drug overdoses, making it a leading cause of injury-related death in the United States. Almost 70 percent involved a prescription or illicit opioid of those deaths.

“COVID 19 impacted the drug supply chain by closing borders on some regions, and it led to the higher death rate,” Dr. Christo explained. He added that drugs become more challenging to get, and the potency of overdose goes up. It also impacts the price, everything goes up, and in that sense, it becomes more deadly each day, according to Dr. Christo.

About Dr. Paul Christo 

Dr. Paul Christo serves as Director of the Multidisciplinary Pain Fellowship Program at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is the author of Aches and Gains, A Comprehensive Guide to Overcoming Your Pain. Dr. Paul Christo also hosts an award-winning, nationally syndicated SIRIUS XM radio talk show on overcoming pain called, Aches and Gains®. For more information about Dr. Paul Christo. Please visit www.paulchristomd.com.

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Coca-Cola Funded Public Health Conferences in Effort to Shift Blame for Obesity, Study Says

The Coca-Cola Company used its sponsorship of international public health conferences to deflect blame for the obesity epidemic away from its products, according to a study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

The study is based on documents about the 2012 and 2014 International Congresses of Physical Activity and Public Health (ICPAPH), obtained via state public records requests by U.S. Right to Know, an investigative public health group.

The study found that “Coke deliberated with its sponsored researchers on topics to present at ICPAPH, despite publicly claiming otherwise, in an effort to shift blame for the rising incidence of obesity and diet-related diseases away from its products onto physical activity and individual choice.”

“Coke used ICPAPH to promote its front groups and sponsored research networks and to foster relationships with public health leaders in order to use their authority to deliver Coke’s messaging,” the study’s authors wrote.

“This unseemly conscription of public health conferences to serve up Coca-Cola’s messaging erodes trust in the cause of public health,” said Gary Ruskin, executive director of U.S. Right to Know. “It’s long past time for the public health community to transform itself into something that can’t be bought or rented.”

The documents show that Rhona Applebaum, Coca-Cola’s chief science and health officer at the time, wanted to focus attention on “individual behaviour and motivation,” which is far removed from government or collective action such as soda or sugar taxes, crackdowns on soda advertising and marketing, and litigation against soda companies, and other policies.

"The process of generating and disseminating public health-related research needs to be better protected from the influence of firms with interests that are clearly in conflict with those of public health,” said Benjamin Wood, one of the co-authors of the study. “One step to achieving that is to eliminate all forms of sponsorship from firms active in health-harming industries."

The study is titled “How Coca-Cola Shaped the International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health: An Analysis of Email Exchanges between 2012 and 2014.”  It was co-authored by Benjamin Wood, a medical doctor and PhD candidate at Deakin University; Gary Ruskin; and Associate Professor Gary Sacks, also from Deakin University. 

The paper argues that the “dissemination of scientific knowledge through scientific conferences should be better protected from hidden and less visible forms of corporate influence. The model of eliminating tobacco industry sponsorship, as stipulated in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, could be applied to the food industry as well.”

U.S. Right to Know is an investigative research group focused on promoting transparency for public health.  For more information about our work, see our academic papers at https://usrtk.org/academic-work/. For general information, see usrtk.org.
 

How to Maximize You Workouts and Reduce Stress 

If you are just starting out on your health journey, then you understand how difficult it can be to get effective and stress-free workouts in. Unfortunately, the constant build-up of stress and the lack of results tend to be why so many fail to live up to their fitness goals. Therefore, the following includes some of the best ways to maximize your workouts and reduce stress at the same time. 

Bringing in a Professional Trainer 
It can be quite intimidating to step into the gym, where it looks like everyone knows what they are doing. This daunting task often leads people to remain within one machine, and thus results tend to stagnate very quickly. Having a professional trainer by your side can not only reduce stress but maximize your workouts immensely as they are the best people to follow when you are new to the gym environment. 

Listen to Your Favorite Music 
As simple as it may seem, having the right music in your ears can really help with reducing stress. It is often the constant talking, grunting, and techno music within gyms that detours people from stepping back in. Just make sure that the music you select is long enough to last you through an entire workout session. 

Choosing the Right Workout Clothing 
It is no secret that feeling comfortable is the first step to a good workout. However, it can be difficult to feel comfortable when you are working out in street clothes or workout gear that you simply don't feel confident in. Although nobody should tell you how to dress, it is important to listen to the experts about the proper workout gear needed. For example, having the right shoes can make a world of difference during those long treadmill workouts. Some fabrics are designed to pull sweat away from your skin during exercise and others absorb it. Consider your undergarments and the support that you need to get the best workout possible. You might consider products like these men's jockstraps to help keep everything together. When it comes to workout clothes, some choices are better than others.

Introduce Dynamic Warm-ups 
Contrary to popular belief, stretching isn't the best way to warm up your body before a big workout. Experts have introduced reports stating that dynamic warm-ups are the best way to warm up your body parts. The reason why stretching does not work is that you're unlikely to move your muscles in the way your stretching. Dynamic warm-ups target the exact muscles you intend to use. In addition, it can also begin to raise your body temperature and thus gradually introduce the rest of your muscles and lungs to the workout routine for the day. 

As you can see, there are many ways to maximize and reduce the stress levels of your workouts. Simply utilize the tips listed to ensure that your next workout is not going to be your last.

Surviving Your Shift: Seven Things Healthcare Workers Can Do to Make It Through the Workday During COVID 

Mark Goulston, MD and Diana Hendel, PharmD share simple strategies and hacks to help frontline workers manage traumatic stress and stay calm and centered at work.

          Nashville, TN (December 2020)—COVID-19 has raged on for the better part of a year and it has taken a serious toll on healthcare professionals. They are stressed, worried, anxious, and exhausted. Nonetheless, they keep showing up to for work despite the risks and challenges because they are essential and because, well, that’s what healthcare workers do. 

          But working amid grim circumstances doesn’t mean healthcare workers have no control over their state of mind, say Mark Goulston, MD and Diana Hendel, PharmD. There’s plenty they can do to meet the workday with greater resilience and strength. 

          “As gritty and self-determined as healthcare employees are, they need to give themselves extra support and self-care throughout the day,” says Dr. Goulston, coauthor along with Dr. Hendel of Why Cope When You Can Heal?: How Healthcare Heroes of COVID-19 Can Recover from PTSD (Harper Horizon, December 2020, ISBN: 978-0-7852-4462-2, $17.99). “This is especially true during a pandemic when traumatic stress is at an all-time high.” 

          “There are plenty of small routines and tools that can help you get through these tough days,” adds Dr. Hendel, who became an expert in organizational trauma after leading a major medical center through a deadly workplace shooting over a decade ago. “Not only can they provide immediate relief in the short term, they can help you build the coping skills to stay physically and emotionally healthy long term.”

          Why Cope When You Can Heal? shares therapeutic approaches that are currently used to effectively treat traumatic stress and introduces powerful exercises to help you move through the trauma and further your healing. Here are some strategies to keep you calm and as stress free as possible (given the extraordinarily stressful circumstances) at work each day. 

Keep something that makes you laugh nearby. Humor is a great way to alleviate stress. Tape a clip of a funny cartoon to your work area or carry a small notebook with jokes that make you laugh every time you read them. 

Use calming affirmations to give you strength and peace. Written positive statement can give you a lift when you feel yourself sinking. If self-talk is not for you, imagine a supportive other saying these to you in your mind’s eye. A few examples: 

• I am great at my job, and my training and skills are empowering. 
• I feel energized and ready for anything the day has in store for me. 
• I accept myself as I am. I am enough. 
• I am safe in this moment.

Reach for an anchor. Carry a small reminder of what you love about your life and focus on it if you feel triggered and need to center yourself. It might be a photo of your kids or pet, a small rock you picked up on a scenic nature hike, or a special necklace. Think of the gratitude you feel for your life whenever you look at this token. 

Take a few minutes to get grounded. Grounding is a great way to reduce anxiety and arrive in the here and now. Use it anytime you feel carried away by anxious thoughts, feelings, or triggered by upsetting memories and flashbacks. 

• Find a comfortable place to sit (or stand). If sitting, rest your hands on your legs. Feel the fabric of your clothing. Notice its color and texture. 
• Next, bring your awareness to your body. Stretch your neck from side to side. Relax your shoulders. Tense and relax your calves. Stomp your feet. 
• Look around and notice the sights, sounds, and scents around you for a few moments. 
• Name fifteen to twenty things you can see. For example, the floor, a light, a desk, a sink. 
• As you keep looking around, remind yourself that “The flashback or emotion I felt is in the past. Right now, in this moment, I’m safe.”

Take a quick walk. Try to find time to take a to walk outside every day—even if only for five minutes. Breathe in the fresh air and appreciate the gifts of nature around you, such as a busy squirrel, a cluster of trees, or drifting clouds. If you absolutely can’t get outdoors for a few minutes, do a few stretches in between visiting patients. 

Nourish and energize yourself with healthy food and drinks. If you aren’t already eating a healthy diet, start swapping in better choices that will give your body the fuel it needs to make it through the workday. Pack healthy homemade lunches instead of opting for pizza in the cafeteria each day. Fill up on veggie-filled salads topped with healthy proteins such as grilled chicken or salmon. Replace your daily snack of potato chips with a piece of fruit. Instead of reaching for a soda, sip water flavored with citrus or cucumber slices. 

Check in with your support group (a.k.a. your “fire team”). If your organization has not already formed a support group for its employees, consider starting an informal meeting so you and your coworkers can get together and talk about what you are going through. This group is your “fire team”—the colleagues fighting by your side in the battle against COVID-19. You can meet with them for a few minutes every day or set up a longer weekly meeting. This gives you a community to share about your mental and emotional struggles, and yes, your triumphs too! 

          “While it’s important to reach out and get professional help if you need it, it’s also crucial to remember to help yourself during stressful, discouraging moments at work,” concludes Goulston. “These tools help you maintain a sense of calm during chaos and will help you form healthy habits to support healing from traumatic stress over time.”

# # #

About the Authors: 
Mark Goulston, MD, FAPA 
Dr. Mark Goulston is the coauthor of Why Cope When You Can Heal?: How Healthcare Heroes of COVID-19 Can Recover from PTSD (Harper Horizon, December 2020) and Trauma to Triumph: A Roadmap for Leading Through Disruption and Thriving on the Other Side (HarperCollins Leadership, Spring 2021). He is a board-certified psychiatrist, fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, former assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA NPI, and a former FBI and police hostage negotiation trainer. He is the creator of Theory Y Executive Coaching—which he provides to CEOs, presidents, founders, and entrepreneurs—and is a TEDx and international keynote speaker. 

He is the creator and developer of Surgical Empathy, a process to help people recover and heal from PTSD, prevent suicide in teenagers and young adults, and help organizations overcome implicit bias. 

Dr. Goulston is the author or principal author of seven prior books, including PTSD for Dummies, Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior, Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone, Real Influence: Persuade Without Pushing and Gain Without Giving In, and Talking to Crazy: How to Deal with the Irrational and Impossible People in Your Life. He hosts the My Wakeup Call podcast, where he speaks with influencers about their purpose in life and the wakeup calls that led them there. He also is the co-creator and moderator of the multi-honored documentary Stay Alive: An Intimate Conversation About Suicide Prevention. 

He appears frequently as a human psychology and behavior subject-area expert across all media, including news outlets ABC, NBC, CBS, and BBC News, as well as CNN, Today, Oprah, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune,Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, Fast Company, Huffington Post, and Westwood One. He was also featured in the PBS special “Just Listen.” 

Diana Hendel, PharmD 
Dr. Diana Hendel is the coauthor of Why Cope When You Can Heal?: How Healthcare Heroes of COVID-19 Can Recover from PTSD (Harper Horizon, December 2020) and Trauma to Triumph: A Roadmap for Leading Through Disruption and Thriving on the Other Side (HarperCollins Leadership, Spring 2021). She is an executive coach and leadership consultant, former hospital CEO, and author of Responsible: A Memoir, a riveting and deeply personal account of leading during and through the aftermath of a deadly workplace trauma. 

As the CEO of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital, Hendel led one of the largest acute care, trauma, and teaching hospital complexes on the West Coast. She has served in leadership roles in numerous community organizations and professional associations, including chair of the California Children’s Hospital Association, executive committee member of the Hospital Association of Southern California, vice chair of the Southern California Leadership Council, chair of the Greater Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, board member of the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and leader-in-residence of the Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership at California State University Long Beach. 

She earned a BS in biological sciences from UC Irvine and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from UC San Francisco. She has spoken about healthcare and leadership at regional and national conferences and at TEDx SoCal on the topic of “Childhood Obesity: Small Steps, Big Change.”

About the Book:  
Why Cope When You Can Heal?: How Healthcare Heroes of COVID-19 Can Recover from PTSD (Harper Horizon, December 2020, ISBN: 978-0-7852-4462-2, $17.99) is available in bookstores nationwide and from major online booksellers. 

To learn more, please visit https://whycopewhenyoucanheal.com/.

Undercurrents of Mortality, Forgiveness Buoy Compelling Coming of Age Story

Seattle, WA, December 2, 2020 ― For Bill Smith, the end has always been in view. And perhaps, in some metaphysical way, his occasional confrontations with the inevitable end that awaits us all made Bill better equipped to emerge intact from each crisis. His life, in fact, has been a series of highly unlikely extensions. This is his story.

The Home Stretch, from award-winning author Wayne M. Johnston, features everyman Bill Smith (loosely based on Johnston himself), who, throughout his life, is confronted with extraordinary circumstances. His is a coming of age story in which the peace that allegedly comes with maturity is often shunted aside to make room for yet another crisis. It is also an uplifting story in its portrait of a man struggling to find personal integrity through challenging conditions.

From an early age, Bill grapples with depression. Raised in a religious cult, he cannot reconcile his own experience with the worldview of his parents, and although he’s bound to them by love and obligation, he rejects their beliefs. His father’s palpable disappointment in Bill leads him to contemplate suicide and to provoke his father into a confrontation with a surprising outcome that would redefine their relationship and alter the course of both of their lives. 

Given to a physical, adventurous life, Bill becomes the chief engineer on a seagoing tugboat, and his tales of weathering gale-force winds and violent storms at sea provide metaphorical undercurrents for his fraught relationship with his father, his failed early marriage, his father’s descent into Alzheimer’s and his own battle with leukemia, which he is told will kill him. Just when Bill has come to believe he has put the worst of it to rest, he learns something more about his father that opens everything up again, except this time, Bill’s sister is the victim.

The Home Stretch is a poignant, ultimately inspiring coming of age story that weaves themes of mortality and forgiveness through life-defining moments of reckoning that many adults have to face head-on and learn to overcome. 

Wayne M. Johnston taught English, Creative Writing and Publications at La Conner High School for 19 years. Prior to that, for 22 years he worked on tugboats, usually as chief engineer, towing freight barges between Canadian and West Coast American ports. In 2011, he won the Soundings Review First Publication Award for his essay, “Sailing,” and has published other essays locally. For his debut novel, North Fork, he drew from years of experience reading student journals to reproduce the way kids voice serious matters to a trusted adult. The Home Stretch is book two in a planned trilogy. North Fork was released in 2016 as a YA novel. The story is told through the voices of three 17-year-olds as journal entries for their English class. Bill Smith, the protagonist in The Home Stretch, is their English teacher, and The Home Stretch is his back story. 

Johnston lives with his wife, Sally, on Fidalgo Island in Washington State where he is working on another book length project.

The Home Stretch

Publisher: Black Heron Press

ISBN-10: 1936364344 

ISBN-13: 978-1936364343 

Available from Amazon.com, BN.com, Target.com and anywhere books are sold

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Novacap Acquires Logibec

 Transaction brings Logibec back to Canadian ownership

MONTRÉAL, Dec. 2, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Novacap, one of Canada's leading private equity firms, in partnership with Investissement Québec, today announced that it has acquired Logibec, a Montreal-based healthcare software company. The transaction brings back Logibec to Canadian ownership. 

Founded in 1982, Logibec is one of Canada's largest healthcare technology companies and is entirely dedicated to contributing to the better delivery of patient care and to assisting healthcare managers in their day to day operations through technology.

"We are grateful for the enthusiastic support of Novacap and its partners in this transaction, which not only brings our company back to Canadian ownership, but also positions us for expansion outside of North America," said Marc Brunet, CEO, Logibec. 

"Our most recent breakthrough in foreign markets confirms that Logibec has invested in the right growth areas such as data management solutions. The Novacap team understands our Canadian heritage and is well positioned to support us in the next phase of our development." 

"Novacap has always been committed to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation right here in Quebec, and Logibec has epitomized that since inception," said Pascal Tremblay, President, CEO and Managing Partner, Novacap. "Novacap has a long history of successfully partnering with Canadian companies and helping them grow significantly. We are very excited to lead this investment alongside Investissement Québec and management in Logibec, a flagship provider of IT and software solutions to the Canadian healthcare ecosystem and support the company in its international expansion."

"Logibec has a long history of working in collaboration with private equity sponsors, and as their new partners, we are thrilled to support management's growth initiatives and to contribute improving healthcare by bringing innovative solutions to the market," said Eric Desrosiers, Senior Partner, Novacap. "Our investor group is committed to providing Logibec all the resources it needs to develop new solutions and expand its footprint in new geographies."

"The investment that our government is making in Logibec is strategic for Québec's position in this highly competitive sector. It will enable the company to remain among the leaders in information systems for the health and social services sector. The company will thus be able to focus on developing solutions essential to the quality of care offered to patients, particularly in hospitals," said Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of the Economy and Innovation.

"We're proud to be involved in this major investment, which is helping to bring Logibec's ownership back to Québec and consolidate the vitality of our healthcare IT ecosystem. For more than four decades, the company has applied its expertise in our healthcare institutions, standing out because of its leading-edge technologies. Alongside solid financial partners like Novacap, Investissement Québec plans to continue supporting the players and key sectors of our economy in order to spotlight our know-how and grow our investments and exports," said Guy LeBlanc, President and CEO of Investissement Québec.

Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP, Ernst Young LLP, Tectonic Advisory Services Inc., Crosslake Technologies, LLC and National Bank Financial Inc. acted as advisors to Novacap. 

Logibec was formerly a portfolio company of GI Partners.

About Novacap

Founded in 1981, Novacap is a leading Canadian private equity firm with CA$3.6 billion of assets under management. Its distinct investment approach, based on deep operational expertise and an active partnership with entrepreneurs, has helped accelerate growth and create long-term value for its numerous portfolio companies. With an experienced management team and substantial financial resources, Novacap is well positioned to continue building world-class businesses. Backed by leading global institutional investors, Novacap's deals typically include leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, add-on acquisitions, IPOs, and privatizations. Over the last 39 years, Novacap has invested in more than 90 companies and completed more than 140 add-on acquisitions. Novacap has offices in Brossard, Quebec and Toronto, Ontario. 
For more information, please visit www.novacap.ca.

About Logibec

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada for nearly 40 years, Logibec deploys information systems that span the clinical, operational, and business needs of complex healthcare organizations. Logibec's clients are also empowered to improve and innovate by utilizing our industry-leading suite of actionable analytics solutions and advisory services. 
For more information, visit www.logibec.com. 

About Investissement Québec

Investissement Québec's mission is to play an active role in Québec's economic development by spurring business innovation, entrepreneurship and business acquisitions, as well as growth in investment and exports. Operating in all the province's administrative regions, the Corporation supports the creation and growth of businesses of all sizes with investments and customized financial solutions. It also assists businesses by providing consulting services and other support measures, including technological assistance available from Investissement Québec – CRIQ. In addition, through Investissement Québec International, the Corporation also prospects for talent and foreign investment and assists businesses with export activities. 

SOURCE Novacap Management Inc.

Seqirus Presents Key Insights on Influenza Vaccines at the Canadian Immunization Conference 2020

Absolute Efficacy of Cell-Based Influenza Vaccines in Children Aged 2 to 18 Years,
Impact of COVID-19 on Canadians' Views of Influenza, Among Data Being Presented

MONTREAL, Dec. 2, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Seqirus, a global leader in influenza prevention, is presenting key research at the Canadian Immunization Conference 2020 (CIC) contributing to Canadian public health professionals' knowledge of influenza vaccines, including data on cell-based vaccine technologies and insights on how COVID-19 is affecting Canadians' views of seasonal influenza vaccinations.

Seqirus is presenting absolute efficacy data on its cell-based quadrivalent influenza vaccine (QIVc) from a randomized controlled trial (RCT).¹ In the study, QIVc met its primary endpoint, indicating that it is effective and could produce a sufficient immune response against influenza in children and adolescents between ≥2 to <18 years of age over three influenza seasons in the Southern (2017) and Northern (2017/18 and 2018/19) Hemispheres. This represents the first absolute efficacy study of a cell-based influenza vaccine in this population.²

"Seqirus data being presented at CIC is significant, particularly the QIVc study, which demonstrated absolute efficacy in children and adolescents between two and 18 years of age, showing consistent benefit across three seasons, two continents and eight countries," said Bertrand Roy, Ph.D., Country Head Medical Affairs Canada at Seqirus. 

"I am pleased that Seqirus is sharing data at CIC 2020 showing absolute efficacy of our QIVc vaccine among those aged 2 to 18," said Gillian Stafford, Canada Commercial Director, Seqirus.  "FLUCELVAX® received Health Canada approval almost a year ago and this is the first influenza season it is available – privately across Canada and publicly in Ontario's influenza vaccination program.  Data such as these reinforce the safety and efficacy of cell-based vaccine technology for prevention of seasonal influenza, which is particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Highlights from Other Seqirus Presentations:

Acceptability of a Publicly Funded Cell-based Influenza Vaccine with Improved Effectiveness³

Health care professionals are more likely to recommend and consumers are more likely to receive a cell-based influenza vaccine. This is likely a contributing factor to raising the current vaccination rate over 38.3 per cent. A total of 1,000 Canadian adults were surveyed between April 3-9, 2019. Fifty four per cent of consumers would receive a cell-based influenza vaccine and 90 per cent of health care professionals would recommend it, if available for free.

COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Patient Attitudes About the Influenza Season and Vaccination⁴

As COVID-19 continues to circulate, this influenza season is different from past seasons, with new challenges.[5] Seqirus sought to understand how Canadians perceive seasonal influenza amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and assess how these perceptions may increase or decrease their getting the seasonal influenza vaccine. A total of 1,493 adult Canadians were surveyed between June 15-21, 2020. Up to 58 per cent of Canadians surveyed indicated they are planning to get an influenza vaccine this season (up from 42 per cent during the 2018-2019 influenza season).⁶ Also, 40 per cent of those surveyed said they could tell the difference between influenza and COVID-19 symptoms.

Achieving Influenza Vaccine Uptake Target in Canada via a Pharmacy-led Telephone Discussion During the 2019-2020 Season⁷

This real-world quality improvement program showed that a short and practical pharmacy intervention (pharmacy staff telephoned adults to recommend influenza vaccination) in three provinces (B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan) was able to reach the World Health Organization's (WHO) influenza immunization target of 75 per cent for older adults.⁸ With the immunization issues during a pandemic, this program may be able to ensure higher levels of seasonal influenza vaccination within the community. Out of 643 adults contacted, 485 scheduled an appointment to receive the influenza vaccine in response to the pharmacy intervention, representing influenza coverage of 75.4 per cent.

About Seasonal Influenza 

Influenza is a common, contagious seasonal respiratory disease and can cause mild to severe illness, which can result in hospitalization or death. Adults may spread influenza to others from 1 day before symptoms begin to approximately 5 days after symptoms start. Children and people with weakened immune systems may be infectious longer.⁹

Influenza is related to an average of 12,200 hospitalizations and approximately 3,500 deaths each year in Canada.¹⁰Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommends annual influenza vaccination for all individuals six months of age and older. Further, NACI recommends the inclusion of all children between 6 and 59 months of age among the particularly recommended recipients of influenza vaccine.¹¹

NACI recommends that healthcare providers in Canada offer the seasonal influenza vaccine as soon as feasible after it becomes available in the fall, since seasonal influenza activity may start as early as October in the Northern Hemisphere.¹²

About Seqirus

Seqirus is part of CSL Limited (ASX: CSL). As one of the largest influenza vaccine providers in the world, Seqirus is a major contributor to the prevention of influenza globally and a transcontinental partner in pandemic preparedness. With state-of-the-art production facilities in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, and leading R&D capabilities, Seqirus utilizes egg, cell and adjuvant technologies to offer a broad portfolio of differentiated influenza vaccines in more than 20 countries around the world.

About CSL

CSL (ASX:CSL) is a leading global biotechnology company with a dynamic portfolio of life-saving medicines, including those that treat hemophilia and immune deficiencies, as well as vaccines to prevent influenza. Since our start in 1916, we have been driven by our promise to save lives using the latest technologies. Today, CSL – including our two businesses, CSL Behring and Seqirus – provides life-saving products to more than 100 countries and employs more than 27,000 people. Our unique combination of commercial strength, R&D focus and operational excellence enables us to identify, develop and deliver innovations so our patients can live life to the fullest. For more information about CSL Limited, visit www.csl.com.

For more information visit www.seqirus.com and www.csl.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding future results, performance or achievements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Seqirus Canada

Connected Nation Provides Answers to Telehealth
Questions, Concerns as Use Surges During Pandemic 

Lansing, MI. (December 2, 2020) –Connected Nation (CN), through its state program Connected Nation Michigan (CN Michigan), is offering FREE telehealth resources to help individuals and families navigate options offered by their doctor’s offices and area hospitals.  These include answers to common questions and concerns identified in a CN Michigan study, done in partnership with AARP and the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, that examined telehealth over a six-month period.  

“We released the study in late February 2020 just days before the first pandemic closures. In it, we identified some of the barriers to accessing the technology needed for telehealth and the concerns some patients raised about using the technology,” said Eric Frederick, Executive Director, CN Michigan. “As you can imagine, in the months that followed there was a massive surge in telehealth use to both limit exposure to Covid-19 and to help healthcare systems handle an influx of patients. During this time, we’ve continued to work on developing new resources to address the concerns raised about leveraging telehealth.”

Those concerns include whether insurance covers telehealth visits, questions about protecting a patient’s privacy while using online applications, securing devices used for your records, and having the internet needed to even use the technology. These resources can be found at connectednation.org/telehealth. 

“We invited healthcare providers to share details on how they’re leveraging these health applications to better monitor patients as well as how they approach patient privacy and usage. We also talked with patients and doctors who are actually using these telehealth applications,” said Jessica Denson, Communications Director, Connected Nation. “We then created a series of short videos and easy-to-download resources that address concerns and provide a better understanding of how to leverage this technology which can help improve the quality of care as well as access to healthcare especially in rural areas that lack the same options found in urban settings.” 

To learn more about CN’s research and developments about telehealth and to find the CN Michigan study go to: https://connectednation.org/telehealth-research-and-development/.  

Older Women and Minorities areIntegral to Healing Divided Country 
  

New York, NY, December 2, 2020 — Now that America has voted in Joe Biden, who will be the oldest president ever in the U.S., and Kamala Harris, who will be the first woman—and of color—as vice president, what message is Biden’s team sending by nominating 74-year-old Janet Yellin for U.S. treasury secretary and 68-year-old Linda Thomas-Greenfield as Ambassador to the United Nations? With a clear stand on age and gender, Erica Baird and Karen E. Wagner, two successful lawyers (now retired) and cofounders of Lustre.net, an online community aimed at redefining the stereotypes of retirement for modern career women, share six tips each for Biden and Harris as they further shape their cabinet for the country:  

For President-Elect Biden:
1. Deploy the advantages of your age. You have many decades of political and personal experience that allow you to think big.
2. Listen to our cohort when an issue affects people 65 and over.
3. Listen to our cohort when an issue affects people 65 and under.
4. Apply your problem-solving skills to give the people what they need. Most Americans, whoever they voted for, want the same things: an end to COVID, a good job, an excellent education for their children, a secure home and three meals a day, not necessarily in that order.
5. Use your gentle diplomatic approach to bring us together. Older people remember a “United States,” and our hope is that our country can still be a nation undivided.
6. Call on older women. We shouldn’t be dismissed. We’re an untapped demographic with huge intellectual and buying power that we typically don’t flaunt. We are here to enhance.  
 
For Vice President-Elect Harris:
1. Diversity brings strength. Remember that diversity includes age.
2. Pay heed to those politicians who learned to be effective by listening to their adversaries.
3. Keep employing style to convey how a woman exercises power. 
4. Channel the power of women to bring about a stronger America.
5. Break the stereotype that assertive women are “bitchy.”
6. Encourage Biden to bring younger and older Americans together to serve the country. 

About Lustre.net

Lustre.net is an online forum founded by Erica Baird and Karen Wagner, two New York City retired attorneys. Together, Baird and Wagner are on a mission to redefine retirement for modern career women by confronting outdated concepts, defying stereotypes and raising our collective voices to ensure that retirement for all of us is shaped by women, for women. Baird and Wagner want women to “tap into our experiences and passions, forge new identities and find new purpose—and pass on what we know to the next generation.”

Doctors recommend health-care workers, first responders, LTC be first to receive COVID vaccine

TORONTO, Dec. 2, 2020 /CNW/ - Supplies of COVID-19 vaccines will likely be limited and staggered for several months after receiving Health Canada approval.  Difficult decisions will have to be made about who gets the first vaccines. 

Ontario's doctors recommend that those at highest risk of contracting COVID-19 should be vaccinated in the first phase, including physicians and other health-care workers, as well as older adults living in long-term care or retirement facilities. 

Physicians and other health-care workers experience significantly higher than average exposure to COVID-19. As of Nov. 26, 9,037 health sector workers had contracted COVID-19, almost 10 per cent of the total number of confirmed cases in Ontario. 

Health-care workers need to remain healthy both to care for COVID patients and to continue clearing the pandemic deficit of delayed and deferred health-care services.

"When front-line health-care workers catch COVID, who will take care of everyone else?" asked Dr. Samantha Hill, president of the Ontario Medical Association. "You don't send soldiers to war without defences. You don't send firefighters into a fire without all the protection you can muster.  When there was no vaccine, doctors did what we had to do to so we could care for our patients, but many personal support workers, nurses, doctors and other front-line workers paid a high price. We must learn from the last year, and from the world.  When health-care systems and workers are overwhelmed, the mortality from COVID rises exponentially. We cannot allow that to happen."

Other groups of people who need to be prioritized for receiving the vacation in subsequent phases include:

• Critical infrastructure workers at high risk of exposure (people who work in transit, grocery stores and food production) 
• Teachers and school staff 
• People living in shelters, group homes, prisons, or similar communal living facilities as well as their staff 
• All older adults not included in Phase 1

"We're encouraged that several vaccines appear close to being approved, but it's critical that planning and related communications begin now, so we are ready to start administering them as soon as they become available," said OMA CEO Allan. "Ontario's doctors will work with the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force to ensure the ethical, timely and effective distribution of COVID vaccines in Ontario."

About the OMA

The Ontario Medical Association represents Ontario's 43,000-plus physicians, medical students and retired physicians, advocating for and supporting doctors while strengthening the leadership role of doctors in caring for patients. Our vision is to be the trusted voice in transforming Ontario's health-care system.

SOURCE Ontario Medical Association