Zoomer Week In Review

Alzheimer’s disease afflicts half a million Canadians and there is still no effective therapy. A pilot study from baycrest and Sunnybrrok finds that low dose radiation can bring remarkable improvement at least for awhile. And it started when a researcher had an idea to help a friend. Researcher Jerry Cuttler joins Libby to share his experience. AND Perdita Felicien’s memoir is a love letter to her mother Catherine, who faced racism, abuse and hostility after coming to Canada from St. Lucia as a domestic worker. Felicien tells the story of how the two beat the odds together as she went on to an illustrious career as a ten-time Canadian hurdling champion, a world champion, and an two-time Olympian.  Libby talked to her about the book, My Mother’s Daughter: A Memoir of Struggle and Triumph. 

Like most things during the pandemic, there’s been a stampede to pivot online. This includes the health care system. Family physician, and U of T professor, Sheryl Spithoff recently wrote an op-ed piece condemning health care’s pivot to virtual learning arguing that with so many corporations wanting a slice of the pie, it’ll drive up costs, create fragmented care and pose a risk to privacy. AND Two Toronto-based engineers have created a texting tool to help us all amid the confusing world of booking COVID-19 vaccines. It offers a more user friendly way to book without navigating website portals or calling around to different pharmacies. It’s just one more tool in the province’s fight against COVID-19. Christine Ross spoke with Zain Manji, one of the two men behind it, to find out how it works.

This week, two devastating reports detailed the failure of Ontario’s long-term care sector to protect elder residents. Where should we look for the right kind of change? Author Moira Welsh takes us through unique facilities that show how the right living arrangements can help people live with purpose and connection. We talked about her book "Happily Ever Older: Revolutionary Approaches to LTC.” AND Most of us don’t give it much thought: polite small talk with a co-worker or a quick conversation with a stranger we pass in the park. Some of us write off these interactions as meaningless. But the pandemic has shown that they are integral to our wellbeing and sense of belonging and we miss them more than we realize. Psychology Professor Dr. Francis McAndrew has done research on the subject and Libby Znaimer reached him at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.

An independent review recently found systemic discrimination contributed to deficiencies in a number of missing-persons investigations conducted by Toronto police. The review, led by former judge Gloria Epstein, examined policies and procedures related to missing-persons cases, as well as how officers investigated the disappearances of residents who were later found to have been killed. It focused on 10 cases, including the eight men murdered by serial killer Bruce McArthur. Epstein says she found ''serious flaws'' in how missing-persons cases, even beyond those at the centre of the review, were investigated. For reaction, Bob Komsic spoke with Justin Ling, author of "Missing from the Village" the story of Bruce McArthur. AND Community organization needs and volunteer roles are changing rapidly as a result of the pandemic. The slogan of this year’s National Volunteer Week is "The value of one. The power of many". Volunteer Canada is a charity that helps to increase the giving of one’s time. Its presiden

Despite a turbulent year of grounded air travel around the world, experts predict travel will be cleared for take off post pandemic but with some noticeable changes. Post pandemic air travel will be more complex and carry a few unavoidable features, like higher travel and insurance costs, and possible vaccine passports. Christine Ross spoke with Richard Smart, CEO of the Travel Industry Council of Ontario. AND After more than a year of lock down, many of us have lived a more sustainable lifestyle, sometimes not by choice, whether driving less to work or shopping less. And there’s been hope amid a dark year as we celebrate Earth Day this coming Thursday, as vaccines were rolled out quicker than even the experts predicted leaving some to argue if the world can unite to tackle an unseen monster like COVID 19, surely we can defeat an invisible beast like climate change. Not so fast says Douglas Macdonald, with School of the Environment at the University of Toronto, who argues they are distinctly different.

Half of all Canadians now say COVID-19 has impacted their mental health. A recent survey finds for women it’s 6-in-10, jumping to 7-in-10 for those aged 18 to 24 as the current stay-at-home order has some wondering just when will the pandemic end. This has led many to reach out for, or consider,  mental health support. And with so many taking long walks, more and more counsellors are offering nature-based sessions. Among them is Adrian Juric of Vancouver Walk & Talk Therapy. AND Spring is not only when homeowners have to clean up their yards and gardens. It’s also the time some get the urge to purge and organize their place. It doesn’t matter whether one’s looking to prepare to possibly downsize in this hot market or stay put, organizing and moving expert Kathy McEwan of Second Set of Hands is here to help.

Flexibility of working from home and the desire for larger living spaces have fuelled a boom in finding a place away from big cities this past year. With that in mind, ratesdotca set out to identify the best small towns or rural areas to live in. Mortgage editor Rob McLister is here to talk about their "Livability Report". AND While robins remind us spring’s here, the temperatures sometimes slap us in the face, literally, and we remember it’s EARLY spring. But it’s not too soon to think about returning to our gardens or starting one. Just ask Charlie Dobbin, host of the Garden Show, Saturday’s at 9 on Zoomer Radio.

This week’s Ontario budget doubled the child benefit for parents. But for those caring for their elders, there was nothing - despite the increased financial burdens caused by Covid-19. Aimee Roberto cares for her mother Julieta Pante and she shared the struggles of the last year. And By now, it’s old hat, the internet is full of pandemic Passover memes and e-book offers. But for the second year the community won’t be able to gather around crowded family tables and next weekend churches will only be able to accommodate a small number of worshippers to celebrate Easter. I reached Rabbi David Seed of the Adath Israel Congregation and Father Michael McGoarty of St. Peter’s Parish.

There is another scourge that has come along with the pandemic and it’s so bad that the World Health Organization has given it an official name, "The Infodemic". Tim Caulfield is a professor at the University of Alberta who specializes in health law and has written extensively on debunking junk science and misinformation. He’ll be one of the speakers at the Vaccine Summit presented by CARP on Thursday March 25th. To sign up go to: carp.ca/vaccinesummit AND It is an all too common affliction that affects more than 3 million Canadians, mostly women and costs the economy billions in lost productivity. But there has been progress in treating migraine. To mark Brain Health Awareness Week, I talked to Peter Goadsby, professor of neurology at UCLA and one of the winners of the 2021 Brain Prize.

Millions of  people around the world watched last week’s explosive interview with Harry and Meghan. They accused the royal family of racism and callous indifference to a mental health crisis. It left many people questioning the value of the institution - here at home, more Canadians than ever think it’s time to drop the monarchy. Libby Znaimer talked with pollster Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. And One year on, the pandemic has found its way into culture and art. Toronto’ s Poet laureate Albert Moritz captured the tragedy in long term care in his poem, “Exactly Here the Marvel Spoke” to commemorate one year since the beginning of the pandemic.

Interview 1: Andre Picard What will it take to finally fix our eldercare system in Canada? It’s a question that is at the top of our agenda and now award-winning Globe and mail Health columnist Andre Picard has a prescription in his new book "Neglected No More: The Urgent Need to Improve the Lives of Canada's Elders in the Wake of a Pandemic," Libby reached Andre in Vancouver. Interview 2: Sarah Willen Usually, history is written only by the powerful. That’s the starting point for the Pandemic Journaling Project - which wants to ensure that what you and your family are living through is not forgotten. Libby talked with Sarah Willen at the university of Connecticut.

Interview One: Dr. Michael Verbora Zoomers remember psychedelic drugs and the backlash against them, as part of the counterculture of the 60’s. Now they are re-emerging as a promising area of research and treatment for mental illnesses like anxiety, depression and PTSD. Libby talked with Dr. Michael Verbora. He’s a practitioner of psychedelic-assisted therapy and he was a presenter at the Psychedelic Summit held at Zoomer Hall. Interview Two: Mark Hawkins Most of us think of boredom as something very negative. And it is easier than ever to distract ourselves from it with social media, binge-watching, and busy-making activities. But author Mark Hawkins argues we can use boredom to create a life full of purpose and meaning.

Interview One: Hazel McCallion Part 2 It started with volunteering in her local community. That’s what propelled Hazel McCallion into an extraordinary career in politics, at a time when women politicians were a rarity. Here’s part two of our interview marking her 100th birthday. Interview Two: Dr. Marcus Butler For decades, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation were the primary treatments for cancer patients. Now, the biggest advances are in immunotherapy, which harnesses the patient’s own immune system. It’s becoming a go-to treatment for some metastatic cancers and  improving survival rates for these patients. Who can benefit the most? Libby Znaimer talked with Medical Oncologist Dr. Marcus Butler,  Director of Princess Margaret Immune Monitoring Laboratory,

Interview One: Hazel McCallion Today is Hazel McCallion’s 100th birthday! We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit down with her a few weeks ago to talk about her to talk about her remarkable life. While most of us are familiar with the broad outlines of her career, the story of how she got there from very modest beginnings is not. In this episode are some of our very long, very long socially distanced talk in Zoomer Hall. Next week we’ll have part two, talking about Hazel’s remarkable career. And in the meantime, you can watch the TV version tomorrow Monday Feb. 15 on The Zoomer at 10 PM on our sister station VisionTV Interview Two: Kirk Pickersgill Amanda Gorman, America’s National Youth Poet laureate, made headlines reciting a poem at the recent Presidential Inauguration. The performance catapulted her to international fame and landed her on the cover of Time Magazine. The gown she chose for that prestigious picture is by Canadian fashion label Greta Constantine, designed by Stephen Wong

INTERVIEW ONE: JEAN AUGUSTINE It was December 1995 when the House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month in Canada, after unanimously passing a motion introduced by Jean Augustine, who two years earlier was the first African-Canadian woman elected as MP, representing the Toronto riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore. After deciding not to seek re-election in 2006, she moved on to new challenges, which to this day involve addressing systemic barriers and racial inequalities in education through the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora at York University. INTERVIEW TWO: JAMIE GOLOMBEK COVID-19 has put a lot of pressure on couples. In fact, the pandemic is leading more to seek advice about separation and divorce. With the COVID-related financial pressures, and money being one of the key sources of friction among couples, Jaime Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning at CIBC, goes over what they should be thinking about as they consider and make life alter

The pandemic has dramatically widened the income gap between rich and poor in Canada. That’s the conclusion of research from CIBC, which found that low-paid workers suffered the vast majority of the job losses while there has been a surprising increase in higher-paid jobs. Libby Znaimer talked with economist Benjamin Tal. AND He’s poached salmon in the dishwasher and made garbage pizza with old potatoes and other discarded vegetables. Cookbook author and TV food personality Bob Blumer has learned from everyone, from  top chefs to faraway street vendors around the globe. He has tips we can all use in our home kitchens in his latest book Flavorbomb: A Rogue Guide to Making Everything Taste Better. Libby reached him at home in Los Angeles

This week, the Biden administration took power in the U.S. with 25,000 national guard troops standing by. Since the storming of the capitol two weeks earlier, security experts agree that right wing extremists pose the biggest domestic threat to America. Libby Znaimer talked with Bryan Hughes, associate director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University. AND As if caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s wasn’t hard enough, the pandemic has magnified the challenges for both caregivers and patients and for many, it has hastened the course of the disease.  Kerri Thompson is the essential caregiver for her mom Joyce, who lives at a retirement residence in Aurora.

Next week, Kamala Harris will be sworn in as the first female, first Black, and first South Asian Vice-President of the United States. She will also grace the February cover of the iconic Vogue magazine. But there’s growing backlash over the casual styling of the cover shot, which you can see here, and which critics say is disrespectful. Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour says there was no disrespect intended. Libby asked Suzanne Boyd, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Zoomer Magazine, to decode the controversy. AND Given that the pandemic is hitting the older population especially hard, we think it’s a good time to take another look at the science behind aging well. Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin’s book, Successful Aging has just come out in paperback and Libby reached him, in lockdown, in Los Angeles.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has delivered a blunt message for Canadians wanting to head south - If you get stuck in the US or elsewhere, Canada won't help you get home. But a growing number of Zoomers are ignoring his advice now that they can get vaccinations in Florida. Travel Insurance broker Marty Firestone’s phone has been ringing off the hook with Snowbirds changing their minds about making the trip. AND If there is anything we are learning from the pandemic, it is the urgent need to reform homecare so that most of us can age in place and stay out of nursing homes. Libby Znaimer talked to Andre Picard, the Globe and Mail’s award winning health columnist , when he was part of a panel on a special edition of the Zoomer, on our sister station VisionTV. You watch the special homecare edition of the Zoomer Monday Jan. 11 at 11 PM Channel 60 on Rogers 261 on Bell satellite TV.

What are your resolutions for 2021? Do they include the usual ones? Eating better, exercising more, or keeping up your physical fitness regime? A lot of Canadians walked more than they probably ever have in the past year but if you’re stuck in making resolutions Bob Komsic spoke to University of Regina psychology professor Katherine Arbuthnott and began by asking just how difficult is it to make for THIS year. AND Have you decided when to start collecting your Canada Pension Plan? A thousand Canadians make that decision every day and most start taking CPP early at the age of 60. But if you can afford it, delaying until age 70 means an extra hundred-thousand-dollars over the course of your retirement. Libby Znaimer spoke to actuary Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald, who crunched the numbers in a paper for Ryerson University’s National Institute on Ageing.