The burden of loneliness on seniors is real and well-documented. That’s why med students at McMaster University in Ontario are visiting a seniors’ home one Saturday a month… not with clipboards, but with emery boards. With manicures comes conversation – helping seniors feel less isolated, and helping med students “polish up” on their soft skills.

Receiving a cancer diagnosis and trying to weave through the health-care system can be confusing and frustrating. That’s where cancer patient navigators come in. They’re the person who takes your calls and listens when it seems like no one else will, and they’re the nurse who wants the best for their patients. They're not available to everyone in Canada — but both navigators and their patients think they should be.

Manitoba nurse Jennifer Noone was assaulted outside her hospital’s staff entrance, leaving her with a concussion and PTSD. She took the unusual step of having her assailant charged with assault. Now, she’s advocating for better protection against violence in hospitals, which nurses' unions say is on the rise. 

Dr. Kate Greenaway is devoted to providing gender-affirming care to the trans and nonbinary folks who desperately need it. But with ever-increasing wait times and a lack of funding, she’s done something she never thought she’d do: go private. And as this care falls increasingly under threat in Canada, Kit Sparrow explains how Dr. Greenaway’s clinic saved his life – even though he feels he should have never had to pay for it.

People with complex medical needs are welcome at Centretown Community Health Centre in Ottawa, one of about 120 CHCs across Canada. Teamwork by nurses, dietitians and others frees up family physicians to focus on patients, not paperwork.

Women are advocating for regular breast cancer screening to begin at age 40, pushing back against the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care guidelines that recommend starting at age 50. They’re fighting for their voices to be heard, as the taskforce reviews its guidelines.