Zoomer Week in Review

Israel’s Emergency Medical Service is unique in the world because its 25,000 staff medics work alongside 29,000 trained volunteers and filmmaker Martin Himel is one of them! Libby Znaimer sat down with Martin at our Liberty Village Studios.

Tel Aviv 911 premiers Monday, May 16, 2022 at 9pm ET on our sister station VisionTV.

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The recent carnage in the markets has many Zoomers reviewing their financial plans. But what is possibly the best advice ahead of retirement applies no matter which way the numbers are headed. Ten years ago, three quarters of the respondents to RGF Integrated Wealth Management’s retirement survey were very confident their marriage would adapt to retirement. Now fewer than half can say that. Which is why Financial Advisor Clay Gillespie says the best preparation is to work on your marriage. Libby reached him in Vancouver.

Marsha Lederman first learned that her family went through the Holocaust at the age of five. But it has taken all these years to learn about their epic stories of survival and to understand their impact on her. Her new book is called “Kiss the Red Stairs” and Libby's conversation with her was intensely personal because her parents also went through the Holocaust and she's still trying to piece together their very different stories of survival.

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It’s one of the few good things caused by the pandemic. Gardening is more popular than ever and a new study estimates a cool million of us are getting into it for the first time this season. Libby reached study author Janet Music from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.

The Palace Papers promised to share riveting details about the British Royal family since Diana's death - and it delivers. Author Tina Brown is the celebrated former editor of Tatler, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair and she tapped more than 100 sources for the juicy details. We talked when she was in town this week.

Will the monarchy survive after Queen Elizabeth? Tina thinks Charles and Camilla will do just fine - but for Harry and Meghan, the future is uncertain.

It's more proof that traditional retirement, and especially retirement planning, is long gone. JP Morgan told its asset management advisors ''to plan for clients to live to 100 if they are in excellent health and non-smokers.'' This caught the attention of David Cravit, vice-president at ZoomerMedia, who's written books and blogs about the ''reinvention'' of aging.

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Prostate cancer is the 4th most common cancer in Canada and in men it’s number one. A new medical paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology is reviving debate about dropping the word ‘’cancer’’ when patients receive the results of low-risk biopsy findings.

For a Canadian perspective, Bob Komsic spoke with Dr. Tony Finelli, Surgical Oncologist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and head of the Urology Division.

A new report from food rescue organization Second Harvest reveals the severity of Canada’s food waste problem and suggests solutions the food industry can implement to resolve the issue. WASTED OPPORTUNITY finds a staggering 96 percent of surplus edible food is wasted instead of being donated to feed those in need. And with nearly two-thirds of Canadians reporting difficulty feeding their families - and only getting worse with record high inflation - advocates say it's vital to take action now. Lori Nikkel is the CEO of Second Harvest, Canada's largest food rescue organization.

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We’ve all seen someone we’ve mistaken for someone else, and many of us have even been mistaken for another person. The theory that everyone has a doppelganger somewhere in the world has been around for a while, but a Montreal photographer set out on a mission to capture the likeness of people who’ve never met in a series of black and white portraits. We reached artist and photographer Francois Brunelle.

After two pandemic seasons, summer festivals are set to resume. One organization - the Shaw Festival - is emerging in much better shape than its peers and it’s because of one very smart decision. Libby Znaimer talked with Executive Director Tim Jennings.

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She started her career in the maternity ward and pivoted to the end of life. Dr. Stephanie Green was one of the first doctors to deliver MAID in Canada and she tells the powerful story in her new book "This is Assisted Dying".

Can the lessons of history help us make sense of the war on Ukraine? What is the impact of a single unexpected figure like Ukrainian President Volodimir Zylenskyy? Libby Znaimer turned to eminent historian Margaret MacMillan, former warden and professor at St. Anthony’s College, University of Oxford.

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It’s well known that Leonard Cohen’s classic “Who By Fire” is based on a Hebrew prayer recited on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Matti Friedman’s book by that name tells the little-known story of Leonard Cohen’s concert tour to the front lines of the Yom Kippur War, In October 1973, when he was—thirty-nine , famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end. I talked with the author about the iconic poet and singer’s wartime tour of the Sinai desert.

Liana Markunina and Leonid Markunin are among the first Ukranians to arrive in Canada since Russia invaded a month ago. They already had visitors’ visas because they have two sons who live in Toronto. They had been hoping to eventually immigrate here under the family reunification program. Instead they fled their home in Odesa to escape Russian bombing. Libby Znaimer talked with them, through a translator, about their harrowing journey.

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This week, Vladimir Putin’s press secretary reiterated the Russian dictator’s most potent threat - that he may resort to nuclear weapons. Dmitri Peskov’s comment had western defense experts worrying about the true level of threat. We reached Michael Krepon, Co-founder of the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank and author of "Winning and Losing the Nuclear Peace".

Today marks the International Day of Happiness and it’s hard to remember a time when we needed it more. This year’s World Happiness Report says Canada is 15th out of 146 countries in the ranking of places with the happiest people - and there’s a surprising finding on the wellbeing of Zoomers amid the pandemic. Libby Znaimer talked with economist John Helliwell, the editor of the report and an ideaCity alum.

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Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations says Russia’s war on Ukraine is an attack on the world order. Can the U.N. do anything about it? We reached ambassador Bob Rae in between meetings in New York.

This past Friday marked a grim milestone. It’s been two years since the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. While there’s been no official end to the virus and its variants, the world tries to turn the page on this once in a lifetime pandemic that upended the world. In the same week of the two year anniversary, the global COVID-19 death toll surpassed 6 million. For some perspective on where we’ve been, and what’s ahead, we reached Dr. Susy Hota, Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Control at University Health Network.

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It’s National Nutrition Month, an annual campaign to promote healthy food choices and physical activity habits. At the start of the pandemic, worries about food shortages inspired people to get creative in the kitchen, buying flour in bulk to make their own bread. Some went old school and started pickling, leading to a shortage of mason jars. Now two years in, how have our food choices changed? We reached Registered Dietician and Food Advocate Irena Forbes.