Putting the sexy back in injury prevention

Recently through my internship I got to see a presentation through the company Parachute (formerly SmartRisk.) The presenter, Dr. Philip Groff was presenting to us about injury prevention.

I know what you’re thinking, snorefest. Why would you want to go through a presentation on injury prevention; you might as well just stick a hot poker in your eye. Dr. Groff however, brought up some really  interesting opinions about society as a whole (giving he’s an educated psychologist, it’s not really that big of a surprise.) So throughout the entire presentation I pulled some life lessons and they are:

Prevention isn’t sexy, cures and emergencies are sexy: As a society we don’t focus on prevention, we highlight cures and emergencies. Cures and emergencies are white medical coats running down a hospital hallway in slow motion yelling “Stat! Paddles! Charge to 300!” Prevention is often looked at as those stupid WHMIS training videos you had to watch EVERY time you started a new job and lifting with your knees. Dr. House and Grey’s Anatomy don’t make episodes on prevention, they make shows on curing and fixing.

“Accident” is a copout word: When we refer to something as an accident we’re already accepting the fact that it happened and moving on. Don’t get me wrong, moving on is good, but what are we going to do to prevent it from happening in the future? A driver falls asleep at the wheel and it’s labelled and accident and you may see a bit more on the news about taking breaks while driving, but life goes back to normal. In fact, other than a few PSA’s the most awareness I’ve seen about an issue like distracted driving is an insurance commercial, and they’re telling you they’ve got you covered in case of an “accident.” Anything other than accident implies someone was at fault and when it’s a mistake we’re not apt to do that.

No prevention = big $$:  This was something I wasn’t aware of. Preventable injuries cost the healthcare system around $8.7 BILLION dollars. Not hundred thousand, not million, BILLION. We’re syphoning money into treating injuries that are almost always preventable. Not only do they cost money, they cost lives. Preventable injuries kill around eight thousand Canadians per year and injure roughly 2.2 million. It’s a billion dollar issue, so why are only the insurance companies really focusing on it? A huge thing that I learned that I would not have been aware of is just how misinformed we are; take for example childproof lids. They aren’t designed to be childproof, that just refers to the length of time it takes until the child can get the lid open.

It’s not about telling people don’t do stupid shit: People do dumb shit, the Darwin awards wouldn’t exist if we didn’t. Obviously, telling people “don’t be an idiot” isn’t an effective strategy or we wouldn’t have injury prevention costing billions of dollars a year. People still do dumb stuff, but it’s making them aware of the cost and repercussions of their decisions that needs to happen.

To sum up, preventable injuries will always exist. It’s a fact of life, we’re human we’re not the most coordinated species in the universe; however we don’t need to be billions of a dollars of uncoordinated. More efforts need to be put in place to talk about preventing injuries and not just treating them. Accident needs to stop being a copout phrase and there needs to be accountability, not to point fingers at people and make them terrible human beings, but to show that things are preventable. We need to bring the sexy back into injury prevention. Justin Timberlake, you’re on it!

CBC needs to get their act together- article on Colorado shooting and gun laws in Canada and US

This is going to be a two-part article; the first being the choice of words for the article I read’s title and then my opinion about the matter as it pertains to Canada.

First off, I read the CBC News article by Meagan Fitzpatrick and Jon Hembrey and immediately was put off. The title, “Guns used in Colorado theatre shooting legal in Canada,” is so misrepresentative of this article. This title starts of putting Canada’s gun laws in a negative light, making it seem like any old person could just walk in and buy these guns; which is not the case. I’ve been really disappointed in CBC News for the past few days with poorly written headlines just to gain readership and not indicative of the actual story.

Now a bit of background before I get into what I think; yes, all of these firearms are legal to be purchased in Canada, but you need to be fully licensed, and for some of the firearms require further licensing and courses to acquire.

Now for my opinion; I know I am biased first of all, I have been hunting since I was little and completed my firearms licensing when I was 12; growing up in northern Ontario it’s part of the way of life. Hunting is something I love to do and I’ve always grown up respecting guns for what they are, not toys or something you use for games, but tools intended for a specific purpose.  

I think that Canada is just right with their licensing for firearms. Yes, I believe that an 18 year old should be able to purchase a firearm because where I am from, they’re used for what they were made for, hunting. I think that you should be required to take the courses needed for your firearms license, courses designed to teach to you safely use your firearm and you should fail those courses if you can’t show you’re responsible enough.  Obviously when I passed my licensing at the age of 12 I was under the supervision of a fully licensed adult if I was holding a firearm, but to me that’s not unreasonable. The long-gun registry being abolished is a relief to the people that use their guns for hunting purposes and I’m glad about that decision.

I realize that not everyone feels this way and I’m aware that not everyone has grown up with the lifestyle or exposure to firearms that I’ve had. There are sick people in the world who will be able to purchase firearms, whether through legal or illegal means. That will never change, because our systems are run by people and people make mistakes. Gun violence will always exist, it has since the invention of firearms. I think that the most that should be done is further education, having gun safety worked into school curriculums; I realize that parents don’t want their kids learning about guns in school, but when you learn at a young age to respect something it sticks with you. Learning the capabilities of firearms and why you need to respect them is going to lead to a generation of people who know how to properly treat these things and what they can do.

Whether you make guns almost impossible to get by cracking down on the licensing there will always be a black market for firearms. Someone will always sell someone these guns. Speaking as an avid hunter, I don’t think it’s fair to make us who use firearms for hunting jump through hoops on one leg while juggling ping-pong balls that are in flames to just to be able to go hunting.

Coming full circle, I don’t really want to talk about the man who committed the act of gun-violence in Colorado, he’s a terribly sick individual and that’s it. I feel very deeply for all the families and victims involved in this shooting, there is no rhyme or reason for why this happened. I believe that forcing some massive debate over the availability of guns is useless, just because some wacko with a gun used them does not mean that every single person who buys a gun will.

I can’t speak for the gun laws in the USA because I don’t know them well enough to have an opinion on them, but in Canada I am alright with our gun laws. They require you to be certified, educated and tested before you can acquire your gun. Legal establishments that sell firearms (for the most part) check your licensing and certification before selling you one and you have to abide by strict rules while in possession of a firearm. If you do not, you’re punished. Don’t blame this incident on gun laws, it falls solely on the actions of one man who happened to use firearms as his weapon of choice, it could have literally been many other things.

Information taken from article Guns used in Colorado theatre shooting legal in Canada by Meagan Fitzpatrick and Jon Hembrey

When Bowyn gets a cold

So my adoption process is far from over; after getting Bowyn home it slowly became more apparent that he was suffering from some kind of cold or upper respiratory infection. What started out as a few cute little sneezes morphed into nasal and ocular (eye) discharge, coughing and terrible congestion.

After calling up people I know and the rescue I started Bowyn on an L-Lysine supplement with his wet food to beef up his little immune system and started giving him steam baths last night. Let me tell you, the way he carried on you'd think I was slowly stabbing him with a pen knife.

He seemed to perk up a bit last night, but I still figured a vet trip is in his cards. So called up my local vet last night and booked little Bo for his first vet appointment after work today! Yay...

Will keep you updated as I know what's going on!

GPOF- Gratuitous Post of Ford (again)

I’m really thinking that this blog needs to have a Rob Ford section, it just seems like every time he opens his mouth he needs to be smacked upside the head by reality.

Although he voted no to all social funding programs calling them “hug-a-thug” programs, Mr. Ford seems to think it’s perfectly ok to milk $5-10M out of the government because we need more cops! He was quoted in the Star article saying, “I think $5 million would hire a lot of officers and it would make this city a lot safer and we would get these guns and gangs off our streets, and that is exactly what I want.”

Why don’t we spend a little less money on mass hiring cops to Toronto and spend a little more money actually having them build relationships in the communities they police. I think a huge reason for a lack of communication between police and community is that police still are not trusted. Ford seems to think that you stick any person in a vest and multiply by ten and you’ll have a safer city. That didn’t work in Star Wars for the Clone army, it will not work here. People need to have relationships with the police in this city, why not put that money towards I don’t know, a social program?

I know that paragraph comes across as coming down on TPS, I’m really not. I think that they do a fantastic job of working with what they’ve got. Rob Ford wants a quick-fix and hiring $5M worth of police officers is his way of doing that.

I think it’s funny because after he was under fire for his “hug-a-thug” programs comment he was quoted saying, “How do you measure this stuff? You’re throwing a lot of money at it but at the end of the day you can’t measure exactly how many people are being helped by that,” Ford said. “I’m just saying I don’t want to throw good money after bad and just say, you know, we’re going to throw money at the problem.”

Followed immediately by, “Money talks and BS walks, I’m not going to sit there and listen to some BS and some reports and yadda yadda,” Ford said. “I’ve got a busy city to run, I’m going to go in there, I’m going to ask for $5 million to $10 million, and I want to be able to give that to Chief Blair and tell the chief go hire police officers and let’s get the city cleaned up.”

Your damn right BS walks Ford, I’m suspecting you’ll be walking right out of that meeting with the sound of laughter behind you.

All information and Ford quotes from the Toronto Sun article Toronto mayor to ask premier for up to $10M for more cops by Don Peat.

Followers/Readers please meet Bowyn!

Hello everyone!
So this marks the end of my adoption process! Yesterday I went and adopted my new 4-legged friend from the Toronto Cat Rescue.

When we got home he surprised me quite a bit by being very outgoing. He spent the better part of an hour exploring the apartment and following me around. When he wasn't chasing his toys all over the place he was stopping for a quick cuddle sessions!

The only tense moment was went he ran head-first into my full length mirror, we're also still working on where the edge of the bed is when laying down.

So far it's been great, he's very quiet and sleeps through the late afternoon. He is up at night but isn't loud or rambunctious, normally he just plays and then crawls into bed when he wants to be cuddled. He seems to have an affinity to the guinea pigs, although we're still figuring out that you can't actually eat them, or play with them. But the girls will keep him company while I'm at work.

Anyway, here are some terrible quality pictures! Given that he's a bit of a klutz there is not a doubt in my mind that you'll have some hillarious stories soon!

The adoption process is almost over!

Tomorrow is a big day. Tomorrow is a gigantic day. Tomorrow is a massive day.

Tomorrow is the day that I go and pick up my kitten. Tomorrow is the day that I get to bring a brand new little baby home!

I realized I left the prior blog post hanging but I did get a call from a coordinator at Toronto Cat Rescue (TCR), and she sat down and went through all the cats in Toronto that are available for adoption until I found one that I liked.

I have met him, I went on Friday and signed my adoption papers and paid the adoption fee, and I will pick him up tomorrow. He is perfect, the first time I saw him he was flat on his back, legs everywhere. Instantly I knew he was the perfect cat for me. I carried him around the store and he purred and cuddled the entire time. It was instant bonding.

I’m not going to describe him to you tonight, but will post a massive welcome home post tomorrow when he’s here. Later in the night I’m going to introduce him to the girls and document how that goes.

He’s perfect and I’m absolutely stoked to get him! 

Rob Ford: Using immigration laws to get gang members out of TO

I…I actually don’t have a good witty remark for this opening statement because Rob Ford is just that much of an idiot. Piggy-backing on my earlier post about gun-violence; Rob has developed a strategy to curb gun violence and gang violence in Toronto; use immigration laws to kick gang members out.

I really really hope that this man is not as dumb as he sounds because what person in the politics in their right mind, in a city as culturally diverse as Toronto, says that the best way to curb gang violence is with immigration laws! No one! Almost all of these shootings have happened in low-income, community-housing areas of Toronto and what does Rob Ford do; says he wants to do something about the gangs by getting rid of the immigrants!

Are you out of your cotton-picking head!? Of course Ford then refused to elaborate on anything in typical Rob Ford fashion, allowing everyone time to go; wait..what? No doubt more people will start speaking up about this soon!

Rob was the only council member to vote against $16 million community grant last week saying social spending doesn’t actually do anything to solve youth violence - HA! Ford aptly named these social programs directed towards at-risk youth “hug-a-thug” programs and stated that have done nothing to help. If I’m interpreting this properly no wonder they don’t, we just need to deport them, because obviously gangs are perpetuated by immigrants.   *FACE PALM*.

According to the TO Star article, Ford’s actually wrong, homicides were at their highest in TO in 2007, and after these “hug-a-thug” programs came into effect there has been a steady decline of homicides in relation to increase in grants given. Obviously these facts are ignoring immigration laws.

This is a huge reason Rob Ford burns me so much, he doesn’t show up to Pride when the CANADIAN MILITARY makes an appearance, votes down almost every social program and then decides that immigration laws make the most sense for gang issues.

Yes, I assume that there is some level of gang activity in at least one of these deaths, statistically it’s probably but the issue is gun violence NOT gang violence. They can be at times tandem but they are not totally exclusive! This idiot of a mayor is the exact reason that people will not be able to feel safe in this city because the tool at the wheel thinks it’s a better idea to throw money into a weight-loss gimmick and ignore obvious problems.

Goodbye Rob Ford, where can we send you away to?

Information taken from the article Mayor Rob Ford wants Ottawa to use immigration laws against convicted gang members by Daniel Dale

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/cityhallpolitics/article/1228864--mayor-ford-wants-ottawa-s-help-to-deport-convicted-gang-members

Gun related deaths in Toronto.

One thing seems to be dominating the papers this past month, gun violence. Almost every day this week someone has been killed due because of shootings in Toronto, which as you can imagine has people on edge.

The week began with the Danzig St. shootings which left a 14 year old girl and a man in his early 20’s dead at a family-friendly BBQ, Tuesday started with a man being found in a soccer field and finally this morning a man was found in a preschool playground dead.

The press is having a field day as Mayor Rob Ford still keeps saying that these are just isolated incidents and Toronto is still a very safe city. Not that I agree with Rob Ford, but I a few gun related deaths can be attributed to just isolated incidents, but the Toronto Star quotes that we’re already at 20 gun related deaths this year! Four of those this week! Of course Toronto Police are doing everything that they can to make sure this city is safe, but I think everyone is looking for 100% peace of mind, and you’ll never find that in a city this big.

There will always be gun violence; the best you can do is keep the population as safe as possible. I think that as hard as it is there needs to be a high level of transparency around the investigations and their links to gang violence. If gang violence is the root cause of many of these gun-related deaths then the public needs to be made aware of it. They need to be told the “territory” of these gangs and where they’re known to hang out/ what they’re known to have done and crimes they have been responsible for. People need to be given this information not to start committing vigilante justice on suspected gang members, but to be able to make decisions to keep themselves and their families safe.

I think that TPS and the City of Toronto need to draft a solid social plan and find the balance in between information that will help the public be safe that does not hinder ongoing and future investigations.

From a personal standpoint I do believe that Toronto is a safe city. I see a lot of police presence whether that’s in vehicles, biking officers, beat cops or my favourite the horseback riding ones; they are here. For the most part they are friendly and a reassuring presence. I live in a bit shadier of an area in Toronto and I don’t fear for my safety walking home alone, I don’t expect to be shot around every corner, but I am vigilant about the people around me because you just don’t know.

All information taken from the article Man shot to death in North York schoolyard by Dylan C. Robertson.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/1228632--man-shot-to-death-in-north-york-schoolyard

Positive thoughts and vibes go to all the family and friends of those affected by the string of gun-related deaths in Toronto.

First adoption snag

Hit my first snag in the adoption process today.

After being approved last night I contacted BJ’s (who was my final decision) foster family in order to make arrangements to meet and adopt him. His foster family immediately told me that they were concerned that he would not do well in a situation with only one cat living in the home and told me that they really didn’t want to adopt him to me for that reason.

So we chatted and they offered me a little female kitten who tends to just stay to herself which isn’t what I’m looking for at all. So after getting in touch and telling them that I would call them next week to still potentially see this cat I’ve also re-contacted the rescue place.

Not going to lie I’m a little bit upset about this. It’s been a process that’s been going on for a little while and I had gotten really excited after being told that I was approved for adoption. I’m also a little bit frustrated that the foster families are allowed to decline you after you’ve been pre-screened through a screening process afterwards. I realize that it’s hard for a foster family not to develop feelings for an animal they’re caring for, but I don’t think they should be allowed into the approval process after the approval process is complete.

I think right now I’m just frustrated but before was largely mad because in my logic is I’m an approved home and this is a kitten who needs a family, why can’t I be his family?

Will let you guys know how this goes.

Chronicling the adoption process - Part Two!

So I got off the phone with Cat Rescue and was just told that I was approved to adopt a kitten! As soon as I hung up on the phone I was overcome by the need to do the biggest happy dance in the entire world. Seriously it was epic.

So I will be calling tomorrow and making the appointment to visit this new kitten and I am so excited. On the list of things to do is get all of the things I realized that I will need for a cat and start to kitten proof the apartment. I am just..ah..there are no words.

So, you may be asking who did you chose? Who are you going to see? Addy or BJ? That is something that I will let you guys know when I go and adopt them!

Stay tuned!

Advertising: Obesity's not so silent ally? Ban it completely or teach kids to become media literate?

This is a response article written for the editorial piece by Catherine Musemeche.

“Last weekend I met a couple whose children are not permitted to discuss movies or video games at school. The children don’t watch television, have limited computer access and have only seen movies pre-screened by their parents. There was a time when I might have viewed these restrictions as a bit excessive, but not anymore. With what’s being thrown at kids through media exposure these days, I’m all in with an environment that seeks to filter some of it. As a doctor who treats children, many of whom are overweight or obese, I don’t think there can be much doubt that child-directed advertising is fueling the obesity epidemic. Now, a recently published University of British Columbia study supports that theory with findings that suggest that banning fast-food advertising to children may actually curtail obesity.”

To start, I think that this theory is absolutely one-sided, with only a few solid points of argument. The article is based on the study by UBC which focuses makes use of Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act that was enacted in 1980. This Act stops any advertising both in print and electronic that is directed at children to be shown. During children’s programming only PSA’s and adult-targeted commercials may be shown.

It’s stated that children who see fast food ads are 50 percent more likely to eat fast food, which I can agree with, the media is supplying us with an alternative and really, have you seen a brussel sprout? I think that this fact alone has people taking one of three paths; BAN IT ALL! EVERYTHING! ALL OF IT!, I don’t really care about this and where I stand, this fact makes me realize we need to promote media literacy.

Yes, obesity rates are high, I don’t dispute that and childhood obesity is massive right now no thanks in part to the media. Coupled with this massive push for a healthy lifestyle I think we also need to be pushing for media literate children as well. The case was made that when smoking was found to cause cancer all the advertising was banned and yet in movies and television shows characters smoking is still massively abundant and popular. Why? Because people smoke in real life! Media/ advertising is meant to mimic real life to show something attainable because other people are doing it. Does every single person solely decide to eat health constantly? No! McDonald’s wouldn’t be this corporate giant if that were the case!

Advertisers are made out to be these bad people that solely exist to sway you into ruining your life, like you don’t have any free will in the matter. For children this is made especially clear and to that I ask, where are the parents and support stepping in to teach children to be media literate? We think that advertising is one of the greatest causes of this pandemic of obesity when in reality it’s the lack of knowledge in what makes media. It’s simple to just take something away from children and be able to say, “look rates dropped!” Of course they did! There was nothing there to make them want it, but what happens when they see their family member, teacher or coach eating fast food? What happens when they see a real life individual eating unhealthy? What are we doing to teach children all-encompassing strategies to make good life decisions? Not that much, save for pointing the finger at the “bad guys.”

For this couple that was mentioned above, dear lord. I agree in the monitoring and limiting of television and computer time, I was when I was a kid because that’s a skill we need to learn as children; moderating our sitting time, but cutting everything out including conversation. Pre-screening movies? Yes you’re not going to allow your child to go see something that’s rated R, but shoving your child into a bubble for their childhood only serves to never allow these kids to develop a thick skin against the media and media content until they move out. What happens when a kid who is always told no for television, movies, computer time gets left to their own devices? They go nuts! Working in a college residence that’s painfully clear in the students who have never drank before in the first night. They have no ability to know where there limit is and at 2 am they’re hugging a toilet thinking that they’re driving a bus (true story!)

I think a major example of this is Cookie Monster. I loved Sesame Street growing up but a few years back it was decided that Cookie Monster didn’t eat healthy enough and thus was swindling kids into solely wanting to eat cookies! Growing up on Sesame Street for years it was a sad day when not even the loveable muppet could eat his cookies without being vessel for childhood obesity. So my question is where is the media literacy in that? Growing up I loved Cookie with his crazy antics but I also knew that if I didn’t eat my peas and carrots that cookie wasn’t happening.

Yes, the obesity epidemic needs to be addressed and banning kid-commercials may very well be the way to cutting that back, but what kids don’t get from commercials and ads they will get from television, movies, music and real life. I’m not saying that we need to ban off those, by far the opposite; we need to educate children to become media literate, free thinking kids on their way to making good choices for their future.

Information taken from the article “Ban on Advertising  to Children Linked to Lower Obesity Rates by Catherine Musemech

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/ban-on-advertising-to-children-linked-to-lower-obesity-rates/

Chronicling the adoption process

I came to a decision yesterday. I decided that I was going to adopt a cat, well kitten to be precise. The decision came after a lot of hm-ing and ha-ing over it since moving in, the purchase of two guinea pigs and the realization that while I would love to have a dog, a cat is better suited to my lifestyle at the moment.

Adoption was the only way to go for this, even though people are giving away free cats all the time, I opted out of the TSPCA and decided instead on Toronto Cat Rescue. A 100% Kill-free shelter that takes in cats from kill-shelters that is 100% volunteer run. It’s not because I don’t support the TSPCA, it’s more that I like the TCR’s adoption process a lot better.

So to begin, you go through their available cats and pick the cat you feel that you like the best. For me it’s come down to two little boys. Addy and BJ (who will undergo a name change if he’s the lucky boy). Addy is a little cuddler who just looks adorable and apparently cats just as sweet and BJ has a very interesting back story. He was found abandoned at around 4 weeks old and picked up by a trucker who brought him to TO. I love the process they have where they try to foster out all of their animals thus giving you a real person who gets to know these kitties!

Addy picture above, BJ below.

Before it gets brought up, I realize that kittens always get adopted first, so why would I choose to get such a young cat? I have two guinea pigs and ideally I would like the opportunity for this cat to grow up with the girls so that when they eventually interact it doesn’t involve me breaking up a fight between a full grown cat and a young guinea pig.

Anyway, I figured I would blog about the process, the highs and lows and eventual adoption of this new family member. I know that I’m going through the screening process by phone tonight in order to see if  I “pass inspection”, after that it’s visitation and if it looks good then adoption from there!

Wish me luck!

Body image

This image. I hate this image.

This image cropped up after the surge of pro-chubby, pro-body love images that attacked the internet. I think this image sets a terrible precedent and is completely unfounded.

Let me first start off by saying, everyone has a right to their body and not feel bad for it. EVERYONE. Whether you’re tall, short, fat, skinny, black, curvy or flat, you have every divine right to think you are fucking fabulous. This image does not say that.

Society is far more accepting of thin being equal to beautiful. Media pushes the “size 0” mentality as what women should strive for to be “beautiful”. Models? They happen to be the size of my thigh, but they’re allowed to feel gorgeous because they are “ideal” beauty. Natural thinness is genetics, if you are naturally willowy or thin then by god be happy about it, you are gorgeous. When women shrink themselves down to these unattainable sizes and have bones sticking out of every direction and are obviously NOT healthy that’s when you should not love your bones. Skinny is sexy, but so are curves. There is no absolute description as to what constitutes beautiful.

Right now it is much easier for a thinner woman to be hit on in bars, find gorgeous runway clothes, why? Society has accepted that thin is healthy and beautiful. Being bigger, you have to fight constantly in order to just be allowed to think you look good. Have a bum? Have you checked out this exercise equipment? Have you thought about taking a class or going for a run? You should probably get that fat-free. I was told on the sidewalk by some man “wow, you’re fat. You must have a ton of health problems and have nobody love you.” I’m not saying this is fair or that thin girls deserve to be picked on because they’re not curvy, but I don’t have to work my ass off to be thin like you to be gorgeous! If you decide that’s what you want to look like that’s fine, but don’t throw that expectation onto me every morning.

It’s taken a long time for me to be comfortable in my skin and come to the conclusion that I am gorgeous. No woman deserves to be called anorexic unless they are suffering from anorexia nervosa, but no woman deserves to be called fat and a slob because they aren’t thin either.

I’m completely on board with this body love revolution, but I think with that has to come the destruction of pictures (and opinions) like above. Kate Moss is famous for saying “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” That thinking, that “you’re not skinny therefore you’re just eating everything to be fat” thinking needs to be thrown out. All bodies are beautiful; society just isn’t at a point of recognizing that yet; bigger women are being louder in their self-love empowerment because they need to be. There was a time where skinny was unhealthy and disgusting and I can assume naturally thin women would have had the same response.

Montreal Transit workers refuse to serve English speaking customers...Transit won't say, well anythign about it.

Again, sifting through the news on my lunch hour I stumbled across this article in Sun News by Giuseppe Valiante about a Montreal Transit worker refusing to serve an English-speaking appointed minister. This incident also seemed to take place with two other soccer players a few weeks prior.

From what was said in the article, this minister went to buy a day-pass and was laughed at by transit employees and told “We don’t serve English people.” Now before I get cracking on what I think about this, I realize that this is (hopefully) individuals acting on their own accord and not the company.

So, how do you justify telling someone that you don’t serve English people? I realize that Montreal is primarily a French-speaking town, but at the same time they need to realize that Canada does have two official languages, and English is one of them. Last time I checked Montreal and Quebec were not part of their own country yet. This also leads into service. Should transit/ city employees have a basic knowledge of both official Canadian languages? I don’t think that it needs to come as far as that. I feel that if you’re living in a city that is primarily French over English then you shouldn’t be forced to learn both languages, but you should have 24/7 access to English-speaking resources in your line of work. If someone cannot speak French there is absolutely no reason for them to be turned away, but you need to have some kind of identifier to only-english and only-french speaking people that you are bilingual or solely French or English.

I think that it’s terrible that these employees decided to take it upon themselves to decide what the mandate for Montreal transit will be, to them I say, you should probably deflate your ego slightly and think about what you say before you say it as, in this case, you might tell off a person in government.

The second part of this story that bothered me was the communications decision with not releasing any information to the public about the investigation/ results of the investigation on the transits end. I realize that they probably have a very good reason for that decision, I couldn’t tell you what it is, but it’s probably there. I think, especially with a public company like transit, you need to be transparent especially when it comes to someone being basically insulted for being English. People want to know that they’re being taken care of, they want to know that something is being done to protect them. Not ever finding out if anything happened to someone who was turned down service because they couldn’t speak French is not a small issue, it’s something that many people would take to heart. You don’t have to release the name of the employees, but much like the TTC does, a simple “the employee has been reprimanded” is enough to quell some of the unrest. More than “we’re not going to tell you what happened because that’s that.”

Obviously people are not going to put their trust in you if A) your employees on numerous occasions are treating people like that and B) the only thing you acknowledge is that you refuse to acknowledge anything.

All information comes from the article “Montreal transit workers refuse to serve English-speaking minister by Giuseppe Valiante.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2012/07/20120713-141437.html

The token outrage post.

As per my normal daily routine I was sifting through the CBC news site under the health section when I came across the article “Quitting smoking adds more weight than thought.” I skimmed through the article and because I had a bit of spare time started on to the comments. Comments left were of varying degrees of pro and con, but one comment…one comment leapt off the page grabbed me by the eyeballs and pulled me closer.

By the pseudonym “Mr. Lo Key” came the very articulate thought: “It’s a simple case of those with a lack of will power and self control, trading in one addiction (smoking) for another (over eating).

If you eat the proper amount relative to your activity level, you WILL not gain weight.

Remember one thing, obesity (like smoking) is a personal choice.

Putting aside the terrible comma splicing….ah….no words. I was not aware that smoking inherently took the place of over-eating as an addiction. I was equally unaware that obesity’s sole cause was due to over- eating! Thank you Mr. Lo Key, for shedding light on this terrible terrible issue. There is no doubt in my mind that you are obviously a dietary/ medical professional to come up with that level of wisdom.

Sorry, that was rather rude. You’ve just witnessed one of my biggest pet peeves. Someone anonymously spouting on about issues that they feel they are above. Of course lack of will power and self-control are the sole reasons people don’t quit smoking (heavy on the sarcasm). There is some good advice in there with the eating proper amounts relative to your activity level, I will give good ol’ Mr. Key that, however someone leading a sedentary lifestyle still has to consume a normal amount of calories! Instilling this “you can only eat if you’re active” mentality is terrible! Yes, proper nutrition is huge, balancing healthy foods with the occasional treat is key, and proper portion control is a great practice but that’s not to say you won’t gain weight!

The kicker, my favourite part, is “remember one thing, obesity (like smoking) is a personal choice…..

Are you new here?

In what convoluted back-alley thought process did that opinion come from? Obesity is NOT a black and white issue! Being “obese” does automatically equal health issues and not having the ability to control yourself around food! For many people (myself included), being a little vertically challenged and some persistent Italian genes have made it so I’m always going to sit in the BMI category of obese or overweight. I do portion control, I eat a varied healthy diet, I exercise daily; but I will always be under that label. For a lot of people that’s the case, they can be in amazing shape but the height to weight ratio slaps them under being overweight.

The Canadian national average size for women is a 16. There are plenty of women who fit that average who are in amazing shape, healthy as horses, fit as fiddles and all those other euphemisms.  I think it shows a poor level of understanding of what exactly constitutes healthy when comments like this are still out there. I think while weight plays a part we need to take it out of the limelight of healthy.

Article and comment can be viewed at the following link:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/07/11/smoking-weight-gain.html

Wind Farms in Ontario

It seems that the hot topic of today in the media is wind farms, and specifically the need for them to be less of them…and by less I mean none. Tuesday Health Canada and Stats Canada announced that they were going to go through with a study of the effects of wind turbines on people.

This doesn’t come as a surprise to me, people have been whining and complaining louder than the so-called noise these turbines make. People are complaining about feeling sick, dizzy and suffering other health-related issues directly linked to the wind turbines- so they think.

Right now, Conservative MPP Fedeli is calling for a moratorium on wind development until the results of the study. His reasoning is that there is obviously a reason for the study therefore they are dangerous. Pushing aside the bandwagoning, of course they’re going to do a study about wind turbines! People have been fighting them since they were installed, stating health concerns, regardless if they turn out to be completely fine you can’t have a large chunk of the population saying they’re getting ill from these things and not release a study.

This study is created to quell this deep rooted fear that something that’s good for the environment is bad for your health. From what’s been shown through the media (I am aware that there is more on this story- so please feel free to forward any additional expert talk from both sides of this argument on), that the majority of people opposing it have no background in healthcare or environmental issues affecting healthcare. Look at Fedeli, he has extensive experience in his field; which is not healthcare-based. Coming out as a spokesperson makes you appear as an expert which is why I don’t agree with someone with no healthcare background stepping into the limelight demanding action based on a study.

I think that before you can really start to point fingers at health-related issues you need to look at all the factors affecting the individual. This isn’t food poisoning where everyone ate at the same place; this is a dispersed group of individuals leaving near or around wind turbines. The study needs to take into account the individual lives of these people and look for what’s hypersensitivity to LFN and what’s other external factors.

All information taken from the Belleville Intelligencer article:
Stop wind turbines: Fedeli  by Intelligencer Staff.

http://www.intelligencer.ca/2012/07/10/stop-wind-turbines-fedeli

Is Social Media a Waste of Time?

This is a big question for all the social-media-ites and PR people out there. How do you determine if such a new and always changing media platform is a waste of time? I think that the Achilles heel of social media in PR is the rift in “old PR” and the “new PR”.

Just starting out in the PR world and studying it in my program I’ve come to some personal conclusions, but please feel free to comment accordingly!

I think that there is a huge divide between “traditional” PR and the new social media because whether we admit to it or not, we’re in a massive technological changeover. Online platforms are taking over our traditional mediums and as a result instead of submitting “letters to the editor” to express opinions, people are turning to social media. This instant access, instant production online landscape allows people to share their ideas and opinions on a global, billion person scale. So naturally, PR wants to tap into that.

I think that the majority of PR in social media is comparable to a fly around your head during a picnic. You’re seemingly enjoying your meal, maybe chatting with people, and then this fly keeps buzzing around and you keep swatting it away. I believe that this is because right now PR doesn’t have a set “place” in social media. There have been a few fantastic campaigns that have gone viral, but for the most part those are flukes. People are in this transitional time where PR still means “traditional” PR and social media just slowly starting to move into my direct professional canals.

I think a great example of this is Facebook, knowing full well that the Facebook’s deceased horse has been thoroughly kicked. People are now starting to realize the implications of social media on their professional lives (and then there are those who don’t, but you know, you can’t get everyone.) People who post about their bosses, promote discriminatory content and just basically act like the normally wouldn’t are realizing that they there are real-life repercussions for online actions. People are conscious of what image they have on Facebook with people going as far as having a professional Facebook account and a personal account.

Twitter is a large one as well. Widely thought of as this platform that is used for tweens to post about what they’re having for breakfast, what they’re thinking and liveblogging to-the-second mundane things in your life, Twitter is getting a facelift. It’s becoming sometimes a first go to place for updates on disasters and crisis. Communications professionals are tailoring their Twitter accounts to put themselves above the average “Tweeter” while still posting 140 character content that’s attention grabbing. The birth of Twitter as a quick PR link to social media and not just for your average Joe Shmo just shows the extent that we’re really adapting to media change.

I think, in short, we’re not going to be able to lay concrete plans for the future of PR other than a need to communicate. It’s the same way that we can’t tell if the web will be consumed by an international crisis or movement or a video of a cat riding a turtle. It’s the different waves of change and we can just cling on and adapt accordingly.

Information used from the Forbes article:

Is Social Media a Waste of Time?
- Robert Wynne

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2012/07/02/is-social-media-a-waste-of-time/

Lifeguard fired for trying to save man offered his job back, and turns it down

So I am very glad I waited the day to write this so that this story could develop a little more. I saw this make headlines and like most people was wondering how a company could justify firing someone for doing their job; 500 metres from where they were supposed to.

Now the 21 year old lifeguard was offered his job back and declined based on the fact that he didn’t want to work for a company that was willing to fire someone for trying to save a life. So, is it right? Should a company be able to fire you for leaving your designated area if it’s for the reason of saving another human being? What values does that instate in someone’s work ethic knowing that they can be fired for breaking rules to save a life?

I believe that in every working contract there should be a clause that states that you are free from reprimand or penalty if you are in the area and are needed to administer life-saving measures in order to save someone’s life, unless you are putting people in absolute immediate danger. I feel that allowing people to fear for the job over saving someone’s life is a terrible terrible thing. I’m glad that this 21 year old was able to say that he would put his morals over his job any day, because there are people who wouldn’t.

I don’t think that a company should have clout in dictating how we react when a fellow human being needs life saving measures. In the same way that people try to sue those who perform CPR and crack ribs after they’ve survived, I don’t think you should be fired for actively trying to save someone’s life. A company that puts value in its own productivity reinforces this, “I don’t want to get involved” attitude. Like the coffee shop workers who listened to a woman get brutally murdered next door, and didn’t do anything to stop it. This is not the kind of world attitude that we want to enforce.

I can only speak for myself, but I would want someone to not have to think about breaking rules if I were to need life saving measures. I wouldn’t want someone contemplating the weight of my life over their employment if I needed CPR or to be pulled from the water. Wouldn’t you?

All information pulled from the Toronto Star article:

Lifeguard fired for trying to save man offered his job back, and turns it down
By: Richard J. Brennan

Higgs boson: God particle presentation written in Comic Sans, Twitter reacts

After the Twitter-verse exploded yesterday about the Higgs boson and so called “God particle”, Twitter was reacting for a different reason.

Scientists unveiled their research in a thorough slideshow, using the font Comic Sans. You see photos of people posting memos in Comic Sans in offices only to be replied to with “We’re a ____ company, not a lemonade stand. Stop using Comic Sans,” and the like. So is Comic Sans really just for a child’s entrepreneurial world?  Jokes about the God particle having a sense of humour aside, this sparked the marketing and business debate; does font style matter?

As an intern for a health organization in Ontario, my personal answer is yes. I’m quite confident that if I were to hand in a project to my supervisors in Comic Sans the “what were you thinking” talk would be imminent. I went searching and couldn’t come up with any hard facts or studies done to state that people attribute a company negatively for using Comic Sans, but then again it’s just a font; people do have other things to worry about.

I think that the advancement of technology and the constant readiness of information we now have the time to start to deconstruct style and layout. We’re not just drawn to facts and information that are put on the paper; we look at the plate first and then get into the meat and potatoes. It’s not just enough for a company to put across good data, they have to look good doing it as well. Think of your font as the suit of your content wardrobe, fonts like Helvetica and Calibri are the Gucci and Armani’s of today, Times New Roman, that slightly out-dated but still quite functional suit and Comic Sans…that one suit you stare thinking…what on earth was I thinking….

All information taken from the Ottawa Citizen Article:

Higgs Boson: God particle presentation written in Comic Sans, Twitter reacts.
(No author listed)