bh Updates

Skin cancer in the news – again

It’s becoming a tradition at bh to issue a reminder to observe sun safely as summer approaches. This year we have both evidence of the deadly nature of melanoma and good news stories and advice from survivors and a specialist.

Sad news

First the negative news – in February, Canadians were saddened by news of the death of beloved storyteller and host of CBC's The Vinyl Café, Stuart McLean. He had been diagnosed with melanoma in 2015 but, unfortunately, treatment was unsuccessful. His case may have been one of the exceptions. Commenting on McLean’s passing, dermatologist Richard Langley said that if diagnosed early enough most melanomas are “almost 100 per cent curable.” He continued, to comment on the value of celebrity deaths, saying “If a famous celebrity develops something, it increases awareness and that increase in awareness can lead to action." Hopefully, McLean’s death will help save the lives of others.

A foundation and a book

On the positive side, at the end of May, Skin Cancer Awareness Month, CBC told the story of Kathy Barnard of North Vancouver, BC, who was diagnosed in 2003 with Stage 4 melanoma (the most advanced stage).  Since then, she has survived several bouts with cancer and, as she says, “lost several body parts.” At the same time, she has founded the Save Your Skin Foundation, which advocates for awareness and prevention. In conjunction with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada, the Foundation recently published an e-book, available free on the web, Melanoma: Through my lens project. As Barnard says of her project:

“This book captures our individual journeys in a series of photos that tell our own personal stories with one common message: we are not alone, and neither are you. We have come together to raise awareness and to make a difference. By sharing this e-book with as many people as you know, you can help spread the word.”

The A-B-C-D-E system of checking

The same CBC story includes an interview with Dr. Marcie Ulmer of the University of British Columbia who urges people to check regularly for signs of melanoma or skin changes. Here is her A-B-C-D-E system of checking:

Asymmetry: “If you draw an imaginary line down your mole it should look the same on both sides, it should be symmetrical. If it’s asymmetrical you should have it checked by your doctor.”

Border irregularity: “If the borders look irregular or ragged we want to have them checked.”

Colour: “A mole should be one colour or sometimes a mildly atypical mole might be two colours, but if a mole is changing colour and certainly if you see blacks, blues, reds, anything unusual it should be checked.”

Diameter: “If a mole is growing it should be checked. The average size of a mole is about 6 millimetres or the size of a pencil-tip eraser, as a guideline.”

Evolution: “That’s basically any change. So any change in colour, size, shape or a symptom — so itching, tenderness or bleeding.”

To all, from bh, best wishes for a happy, sun-safe summer. bh

Note: As a further update, Kathy Barnard spoke on “Melanoma – A Growing Concern” in Vancouver at the TRG Health Symposium in May 2012, and at the Pathways to Business Health Symposium in November 2012.

References

BC Almanac. 2017, May 25. A checklist for identifying skin cancers. CBC.

CBC. 2017, February 18. Stuart McLean's death could help boost melanoma awareness, experts say. CBC News.

 

Innovation – Awards to inspire and reward

Innovation continues to be in the news as do ways of encouraging discovery and entrepreneurship. We have updates here on two sets of awards as well as a focus on indigenous entrepreneurs.

Governor-General’s Innovation Awards

Last year, bh reported on the introduction and presentation of the Governor General’s first Innovation Awards with their aim to “inspire Canadians to embrace innovation and to emulate innovative, entrepreneurial risk-takers.”

This year bh is happy to report that on May 23, Governor General David Johnson presented second round of awards six more innovators with breakthrough discoveries in a range of areas from mental-health-service accessibility to the treatment of hearing deficits in the poorest parts of the globe, the development of plastics that are less likely to cause blood clots, technology that identifies disease-resistant cattle in the dairy industry, the removal of allergens from a key medical material, and the digital preservation of Indigenous languages.

SheEO Awards

Also in the news recently was another set of awards, this time from SheEO, an international organization, launched in 2015 to recognize female entrepreneurs. It is unusual in its focus on women. At its launch, it called for 500 female “activators” to invest $1,100 each to create a pool of $500,000 capital to be made available to five women as interest free loans to support their business ideas.

Indigenous entrepreneurs

A 2016 SheEO winner, Patrice Mousseau, who is Ojibway, was featured on May 28, 2017, on the CBC Radio program, Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild. Mousseau’s company is called Satya Organic Skin Care, and was born when she developed an organic product in her kitchen using traditional ingredients to treat her baby daughter's eczema. Eventually, she hopes to develop more products and open an organic production facility on First Nations land. Another of the five Canadian awards in 2016 went to SheNative Goods Inc., also an indigenous business in Canada. These awards update another bh item from last year on the topic of Aboriginal Business – Opportunity and Entrepreneurship.

All in all, the message from the logo of the Governor-General’s Innovation Awards, introduced last year, still holds – innovation has a ripple effect that keeps on growing. bh

The Logo for the Governor General’s Innovation Awards

Beginning with an 'i' for innovation, this logo encapsulates the ripple effect that innovation has on society. It's about a powerful movement that is propelling our nation forward. It’s the chain reaction that occurs when someone has an idea that breaks the status quo. The cascading lines represent the growth of our nation, and the ongoing impact innovators have on our country—now, and for generations to come.

 

Marijuana Coverage: Winds of Change

In the opening sentence of his May 30 item for CBC News, Solomon Israel captures a trend – “the winds of change are blowing through employee benefit plans across Canada, and they smell like weed.”¹ Canadians are aware of the process now underway to legalize marijuana but most won’t likely realize the complexity of the issues, including issues for benefits providers. In 2015, bh captured the early trend in an article entitled, “Weed at work – Legally, that is.” Comparing that article to details in Israel’s story provides proof that significant change has already occurred.

In 2017, Israel was reporting at a cannabis business conference held in Toronto by the Canadian Institute (CI) on May 25.  One of the conference speakers was Jonathan Zaid, founder and executive director of the established patient advocacy group, Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana. In our 2015 feature, we describe how Zaid, then a 22-year old student at the University of Waterloo (UW), had finally, after a lengthy process, been awarded coverage for his medical marijuana by Sun Life, the insurance provider for UW students. At that time, bh said his case “could set a precedent and be a harbinger of the future.”

The future, it seems is well on its way. Zaid told the conference that his organization now hears from patients who are going back to work – “their symptoms are more manageable and they’re often going off of other pharmaceutical drugs which are all insured.” Israel also reports that, according to Mike Sullivan of Cubic Health, there is now “strong medical evidence that medical marijuana effective for three specific conditions: spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients, nausea reduction for chemotherapy patients, and relief of chronic pain.”

Other details emerging from the conference include that

• When companies are self-insured, employees want their benefit coverage to include medical marijuana.
• A small number of self-insured Canadian health benefit plans already cover medical marijuana in certain circumstances.
• The Windsor-based union LIUNA Local 625 recently started covering medical marijuana as a way to reduce opioid use
• Loblaw Companies also cover medical marijuana for two of the conditions noted above but not for pain.
• Some employees are already getting costs covered by major insurance plans through their individual healthcare spending accounts.

Conference speaker, Philippe Lucas, vice-president of Tilray, a licensed marijuana producer and research organization, summed up the changing attitudes, saying that while at first the insurance industry was hesitant to cover medical marijuana, now there is “a greater fear of being last out of the gate.” bh

References

¹ Israel, Solomon. 2017, May 30. Could medical marijuana be your next employee health benefit? CBC News.