Machu Picchu

Naomi and I are taking a short break from politics, to spend a few days together.  This year is our fortieth anniversary! Today, we arrived in Machu Picchu, an incredible place in the Peruvian Andes, often referred to as the Lost City of the Incas. 

Our visit to Peru started on Monday in Lima.  We travelled all over Lima on their bus rapid transit system, and it was excellent!

Tuesday, we flew to the Inca Capital of Cusco.  At over 3,000 meters above sea level, we found it exhausting doing any walking uphill.  This is, of course, due to the high altitude.  It is a startling difference from a few weeks ago, when I went up 21 stories in Saskatoon, hardly having to pause.   Cusco, is nevertheless a place full of surprises, one of which is that it is today a major arts centre with many fascinating artists.  On Wednesday we were starting to acclimatize a bit and made our way to the Inca sites of Tambomachay, Puka Pukura, O´enqo and Saqsayhuaman.  It is amazing what the Inca´s built so many centuries ago, not least of which was some 4,000 km of roads under Pachacutec.  

This morning, by bus and train, Naomi and I reached Aquas Calientes, quite a trip through the high hills and mountains and along the Urubamba River.  This afternoon, we reached Machu Picchu itself.  What a site!  There is so much more to tell, but it will have to wait until I can add some more (now done - see below).

Machu Picchu - a second day:  We were in Machu Picchu for two days.   Machu Picchu was built as far as I can tell because it was on the major road from the Inca capital in Cusco to the Amazon basin on the east side of the Andes.  Various products from the amazon basin were highly desired by the Inca and Machu Picchu was built along the Inca Trail.  Some of the plants from the Amazon were then grown in Machu Picchu and adapted to the higher altitude as the Inca were very involved in plant breeding.  There are other reasons for this site which may have or appear to have included security for the Incas, establishment of a learning centre for young people of the Inca aristocracy, an experimental farm for edible, ceremonial and decorative plants and for specific cultural, ceremonial and scientific (astronomical observations), and a retreat or home for Pachacutec.

The Sun was very important to the Inca.  The specific site of Machu Picchu was probably chosen because it was a place with the maximum amount of sun (low points in the valleys surrounded by the high peaks meant the valleys had much less sunlight), and the sun was important for growing crops, and because it was used, through astronomical alignments, to tell the time of year. (Specific spots at Machu Picchu are aligned precisely to the summer and winter solstices.  For example, the pass along the Inca Trail, the Sun Gate, high above Machu Picchu, aligns specifically to reference points in Machu Picchu at the time of the Dec 22, solstice. This was important to know to time the growing of crops and of festivals etc.)

The Inca were amazing builders.  They also knew a lot about water management.  Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo (where we were today) show the extent they understood the importance of an integrated approach which used both water storage and drainage so that they would have the water for their domestic use and for their crops when they needed it.

Two Stories from our visit:  On our second day in Machu Picchu, we, like many others, were up before dawn so we could get to Machu Picchu to see the sun rise.  Naomi and I took the bus the 8 km from Aquas Caliente to Machu Picchu, up a very steep climb.  We did our share of walking when we got to Machu Picchu, including taking the part of the Inca Trail going up to the Sun Gate.  We are starting to be able to walk up the mountain much better than we were.  But we were no match for a young woman we met from Montreal.  Instead of taking the bus, she climbed all the way.  She had been climbing steadily up the steep climb for an hour and a half.  We met her when she arrived at the top just after 6 am looking fresh as if she had just begun.  She was carrying a backpack which was almost as big as she was.  She had come in the previous 48 hours from Montreal to Cusco to Machu Picchu.   We climbed together up the steps between the agricultural sector and the urban dwellings and to the Guardhouse at the top.  Even with her her big pack, she was still going strong after her long climb up.  She had legs like a burro and a heart like a mountain goat.  We are clearly among the huffers and puffers compared to her.

Going back now, to our first day in Machu Picchu we were fortunate to have Aurelio guide us around and explain many details that we would have missed without his help.  Aurelio, who is about 33 years old, has a degree in Archeology and has been guiding for a number of years.  He obviously very much enjoyed talking about Machu Picchu and showing people around with great pride in the accomplishments of the Inca.  His knowledge and understanding of Machu Picchu are amazing.  At one point on our journey around the site, he paused at one of his favorite spots with an incredible view of the mountains all around.   He turned to us and said ¨Welcome to my office.¨  (see photo above).  For those of us who work in an office surrounded by four walls, it is incredible to think of being able to work in these surroundings.  Naomi and I had a special appreciation of his sentiment because a number of years ago, our son Charles, a snowboard instructor, took us to the very top of a mountain where he was working then in the Canadian Rockies and as we reached the top of the mountain, Charles paused and said with a big smile on his face: ¨Welcome to my office.¨

Ollantaytambo:  Today we visited Ollantaytambo.  What is particularly interesting here is that when the Spanish conquered this town, work on the temple stopped immediately leaving partly completed operations.  The two large blocks of stone on our right and left were brought to this site after being quarried high on a mountain across the valley several kilometers away.  The rocks had to be moved about 1000 meters down the mountain where they were quarried, and then taken several hundred meters up on this side to reach where they are now.  Without modern tools, they used amazing ingenuity.   On the left the rock has on its face a long design which is the mouth of the statue.  The rock on the right has two eyes and it is about to be lifted on top of the rock on the left.  In order to do this, the workers have laboriously begun the process of raising the rock on the right, inserting small stones under the rock as they gradually levered it upwards.  Had the Spanish conquest not occurred this process of gradually levering upwards would have continued until the rock on the right with the two eyes was placed on top of the rock on the left. 

Cabinet shuffle: There is a reason Selinger has changed Family Services Ministers

The last 12 years have seen major problems in the way the NDP have handled the Child Welfare system in our province.  The number of children in care has almost doubled over the period reaching 9,432 this last year, as the NDP have focused on apprehending children rather than on supporting children and families.  We now have about ten times the number of children in care in Manitoba on a per capita basis as Western Australia has in care.  And on a per capita basis we have about five times as many children in care as New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.  This situation of apprehending children first is creating a lot of problems for families.  Other jurisdictions do much better in assessing the situation and in doing what can be done first to support the children and families so that the children don't have to be apprehended and taken into care. 

In addition to the problems associated with taking so many children into care, we have had major issues come up under the NDP including as one example the very troubling abuse and death of Phoenix Sinclair.  The coming Inquiry into the death of Phoenix Sinclair will be important to enable a first hand look at how badly the NDP have been running Child and Family Services in Manitoba.   Shifting Gord Macintosh out of Family Services at this juncture is a crafty way of preventing us from asking questions of him in the Legislature related to his handling of the situation.  A new Minister can plead ignorance, whereas if Gord Macintosh were still Minister, we could have ask him specific details about his handling of the situation.

Nevertheless, even given this NDP change, we will do our best to continue to hold the NDP accountable for the problems they have created in Child Welfare in Manitoba.

Canadian Paediatric Society adds its voice to emphasize the importance of newborn hearing screening

I am been a very strong advocate of universal newborn hearing screening for some time. Today, the Canadian Paediatric Society added its voice to the growing chorus of people and groups calling for universal newborn hearing screening.  In their ranking, only Manitoba and Nunavut scored POOR on universal newborn hearing screening.  The NDP should be ashamed of their failure in this area.

Here is what the Canadian Paediatric Society said:
"Children with hearing loss who are not supported by early intervention show irreversible shortfalls in communication and psychosocial skills, cognition and literacy.  The impacts of deafness can include lower academic achievement, underemployment, poor social adaptation and psychological distress, and are directly proportional to the severity of hearing loss and the time lag between diagnosis and intervention.  Evidence shows that infants who are diagnosed and receive intervention before six months of age score 20 to 40 percentile points higher on school-related measures (language, social adjustment and behaviour) compared with hearing-impaired children who receive intervention later. 

The Canadian Paediatric Society recommends that provinces and territories provide universal hearing screening for all newborns via a comprehensive, linked system of screening, diagnosis and intervention.  Canadian infants deserve the advantages of early hearing loss detection and timely intervention."

It should be noted that "the two-step screening procedure implemented in most universal newborn hearing screening programs is highly effective and cost-effective, particularly considering the lifetime cost of deafness. One Quebec study found that implementing a province-wide universal newborn hearing screening program would cost approximately $5.3 million (in 2001), but would ultimately result in a new benefit of $1.7 million per year to taxpayers."

The full report is at http://www.cps.ca/english/Advocacy/StatusReport2012.pdf

There should be no peat mining in provincial parks

Our provincial parks have been selected because the have unique natural, historic or cultural value.  They should not be the site of mining operations.

This morning I joined with the Green Party Leader James Beddome, Manitoba Wildlands Director Gaile Whelan Enns, and Wilderness Committee Campaign Director Eric Reder to speak out against the NDP plan to have mining in Hecla-Grindstone Provincial Park.  Under NDP plans, the Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park, adjacent to Lake Winnipeg, may be home to a 531-hectare peat mine. An NDP-designed public consultation process could open the floodgates to many more peat mines across southern Manitoba, including in parks.

There are plenty of other places in Manitoba where peat can be harvested.  Indeed, peat harvesting is an important industry in our province, with peat being harvested for use in gardens and for other purposes. However, the NDP, who have been in power for 12 years, should have long ago drafted clear regulations which respect both the needs of industry and the needs of our environment.

For example, when peat is harvested, land may be drained and if mitigation measures are not taken, the result could promote flooding.  We do not want this to happen, especially after this last year.  Peat is also an important store of carbon and our approach to harvesting peat needs to consider the carbon balance that is achieved and our goal to reduce the release of carbon into the atmosphere.

Liberals have focused this last year on improving economic growth and fiscal responsibility in Manitoba

Economic Growth and Fiscal Responsibility: Throughout this last year Liberals have put a focus on improving economic growth and fiscal responsibility. 

As numerous observers noted during the election, Liberals were the party which ranked first on fiscal responsibility.  Knowing the NDP were running up a big deficit, we were cautious on our spending promises, while both the NDP and the Conservatives promised hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of new initiatives.  See http://manitobaliberals.blogspot.com/2011/09/liberals-are-best-on-fiscal.html

A central component of our plan for economic growth in Manitoba was expenditures on research and innovation, through the Manitoba Research, Innovation and Opportunity Fund, the Manitoba Health Research Council, a Manitoba Science and Engineering Research Council and a Small Business Investment in Research Fund.  See http://manitobaliberals.blogspot.com/2011/09/our-liberal-commitment-manitoba.html

Another pillar of our move to promote economic growth is reducing and eventually eliminating the payroll tax, a tax on growth and empolyment which has resulted in many lost opportunities and jobs in Manitoba.  See http://manitobaliberals.blogspot.com/2011/09/manitoba-liberals-will-reduce-and.html

A third objective of our move to promote economic growth is the support of green business development in our province.  See http://manitobaliberals.blogspot.com/2011/09/manitoba-liberals-on-environment-on.html

Lastly, Liberals support a number of measures to help entrepreneurship and business growth in Manitoba.  These include 1) We believe Manitoba should join the New West Partnership of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.  2) We support entrepreneurship generally, and specifically see, as with the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative that there is a special role for promoting entrepreneurship as a part of education.  3) We believe it is important to reduce red tape, and 4) We believe the provincial government must be a leader in being fiscally responsible and in spending effectively and efficiently on behalf of Manitobans so that every penny counts and so that quality is emphasized.  See http://manitobaliberals.blogspot.com/2011/09/manitoba-liberals-will-improve-business.html

In addition to the above, as our report on the flood indicates, we see that while it is important to be fair in compensating people who have been harmed, it is also prudent and wise to plan better so that floods are prevented and so that money spent in dealing with the flood is spent wisely.  See http://manitobaliberals.blogspot.com/2011/12/report-on-flood-of-2011-by-manitoba.html

Why is it taking 8 years after the 2004 Emergency Care Task Force Report to get a full report on its status and implementation?

We recently requested under FIPPA (The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act), information on the current status of the 46 recommendations outlined in the 2004 Emergency Care Task Force Report, and of any still uncompleted implementation plans.  Apparently this information is not readily available and so our request has been denied.  However, we have been assured that the information will be made public within 90 days of November 22, 2011 when our application was received.  We will wait and see.

The 2004 Emergency Care Task Force was called together in January 2004 because of very serious problems in Winnipeg's Emergency Rooms.  On September 25, 2003, 74-year-old Dorothy Madden died in a Winnipeg emergency Department (ED) after waiting six hours without being seen by a physician, and without being reassesssed from the time of her initial triage.  She had gone into cardiac arrest as a result of a heart attack she had suffered three days earlier.

Then on January 7, 2004, 20-year-old Melissa O’Keefe suffered a miscarriage in a Winnipeg Emergency Room, after waiting almost four hours without seeing a doctor and without being reassessed following her initial triage. Within days, many more women came forward publicly to share their stories of waiting hours without being seen by medical staff and then miscarrying. Again the issue of Emergency Room wait times was front and centre with the public.


Something needed to be done to address these concerns.  The Emergency Care Task Force was called together in January 2004.   Within days of its formation the Emergency Care Task Force developed a list of four recommendations to be implemented as soon as possible:  One of these was to "Add a nurse reassessment role in each ED. Under this new role, a designated nurse would be responsible for monitoring and communicating with patients and their families after they have been triaged [and] while they are in the waiting area. These nurses would also ensure that patients are being monitored while in the examining room until seen by a physician, that any change in status is communicated to the rest of the ED team and that reassessments are done in a timely manner."

The final report delivered in July 2004 confirmed this recommendation as follows:  "Reassessment Role - The WRHA Emergency Program should introduce a new role to Emergency Rooms at tertiary, community and Missericordia Urgent Care to ensure patients waiting to be seen are waiting safely by having them reassessed.  This nurse, in partnership with the Triage Nurse, will act as an advocate for the patient and family."

The question of whether this recommendation was properly implemented is key to what happened when Brian Sinclair waited for 34 hours in the Health Sciences Centre Emergency Room without being seen.  Where was the reassessment nurse?  Was there a reassessment nurse on duty?  We have been told that there was a reassessment nurse.  But was the reassessment nurse doing reassessments, or had he/she been asked to carry on other duties?  The full details of whether this recommendation was fully carried through, and fully implemented is important.  If it was not fully implemented, then a reason for the death of Brian Sinclair may have been the failure to carry through recommendations which were considered urgent in 2004.  If it was carried through, why was it that Brian Sinclair was not reassessed after having reported, as he did, to the Triage desk.

I want to thank Leslie Worthington for keeping on top of the question of whether the Emergency Care Task Force Recommendations were implemented.  Indeed, Leslie Worthington has asked repeatedly, most recently starting in October 2010, to Theresa Oswald as to whether these recommendations have been implemented and has not been able to get a satisfactory reply.  Indeed, on October 21, 2011, a person from Theresa Oswald's office was supposed to call Leslie Worthington and then never did.  When Leslie mentioned this to me, we filed the FIPPA request. So it is not as if Theresa Oswald's office was unaware of this issue. Indeed, one would have expected, given the importance of well functioning Emergency Rooms, that the 2004 Emergency Care Task Force Recommendations would have been followed up very diligently. 

Improving Health - reducing sodium in our Canadian diet

As those who read my blog know well, I am a very strong supporter of measures which can improve health.  This is one of the essential measures we must prioritize in order to improve the quality of life of people in Manitoba and in Canada.  It is also essential if we are to better manage the cost of our treasured medicare system.

Excess dietary sodium is associated with a high burden of disability and premature death in Canada. Consider these points:

1)  Presently the amount of sodium consumed in Canada averages 3400mg of sodium per person/day, greatly exceeding both the recommended daily intake of 1500 mg.day and the recommended upper level of 2,300 mg/day.

2) Excess dietary sodium is a significant contributor to increased high blood pressure.  Increased blood pressure is the cause of: 50% of cardiovascular disease, including more than 6 in 10 strokes, 50% of heart failure and 25% of kidney failure, 13% of premature deaths overall; and over 40% of deaths in people with diabetes.

3) 1 in 5 heart attacks and strokes are estimated to be caused by excess dietary sodium, amounting to 14,000 preventable Canadian deaths/year (this is about 500 deaths a year in Manitoba).

4) For each year there is a delay in lowering dietary sodium to recommended levels, the impact is estimated to result not only in 500 Manitobans dying of cardiovascular disease, but also 1500 Manitobans being hospitalized, 4,600 Manitobans being newly diagnosed with hypertension, and $52 million in extra direct health care costs for Manitoba.

5) The high sodium in the diet of Manitobans and Canadians is due largely to eating processed foods and restaurant prepared foods with high sodium levels.  If the food industry gradually reduced the amount of sodium in processed and prepared foods, public consumption of sodium could be reduced to safer, and recommended, levels.  

You can help by spreading the word about the problem of high sodium consumption in Canada.  You can help by passing on this message to others.   You can help by calling on governments to bring in regulations to reduce sodium levels in processed and prepared foods in Canada. 

The statistics provided above comes from information provided by Dr. Norm Campbell, Professor of Medicine at the University of Calgary writing for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and together with Presidents of various national health organizations.  I have adapted national numbers to our situation in Manitoba based on Manitoba's population. 

Health Care issues in Manitoba for 2011 - a summary

It is useful at the end of the year to provide a summary of the health care issues in Manitoba.  With some important changes, Manitoba could have one of the highest quality health care systems in the world.   Sadly the problems in NDP management of health care in our province are severe enough that the NDP are putting medicare at risk.  My goal, in pointing out the major issues of this last year, is to get major improvement in our health care system in Manitoba.  As I have pointed out in previous blog posts, wise investments in health care and in keeping Manitobans healthy can save lives and save dollars at the same time.

Personal Care Homes: Major issues continue to occur with personal care homes in Manitoba.  A report released January 21 by the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy showed a dramatic increase in the use of new generation antipsychotic drugs in personal care homes from 2% to 27% of people.  This is in spite of black box warnings about the use of these drugs in elderly individuals particularly those with dementia [and a large proportion of individuals in personal care homes in Manitoba have some level of dementia].  In June, we found that NDP commitments to implement an Alzheimer's Strategy were never kept.  Additional issues in personal care homes, and in the care of patients with Alzheimer's Disease are detailed in my blog posts from Jan 23, June 25, June 26, Sept 16 and Dec 6.

Type 2 Diabetes: The Epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes in Manitoba continues to grow.  The NDP response has been slow and hopelessly inadequate.  It was recognized as an epidemic in Manitoba in 1996, and it has grown to become a health care crisis and an economic nightmare, and still the NDP are failing to act in a meaningful way to address the epidemic.  These facts are detailed in my blog posts on Jan 8, July 2, Oct 24 and Nov 14, and our Liberal approach is provided on my blog post of Sept 17th.  Improving diet and fitness are two cornerstones of preventing diabetes.  Better diet and improved physical activity can help us keep well and reduce the incidence of other diseases and sicknesses as well.

Long wait times and poor health care management: Far too many wait times for health care in Manitoba are getting longer instead of shorter as I document in blog posts on Oct 25th, and Dec 12.  Waits in emergency rooms, in spite of many studies, are often far too long - see my blog post on Sept 24th. Emergency Response times are also too slow in parts of Manitoba (see my blog Dec 16th).  As Liberals we have presented effective solutions (see my blog on Sept 17th).  Management issues continue in health care in our province - see my blog posts of May 25th, July 14th, Oct 25th, and Dec 5th. 

Children's Health: Shockingly, the health of children in Manitoba continues to be a major concern.  A preventable health problem like dental caries in young children is growing along with the number of dental surgeries needed for treatment in children under age 5 (see my blog post of Aug 22).   Detecting newborns with hearing loss and treating them as quickly as possible has been recognized as a neurological emergency because of the sensitive period in their first few years for children to learn speech, language and social interaction, and yet astonishingly we still do not have universal newborn hearing screening in Manitoba (see my blog post of Oct 13).  We need improved diagnosis and treatment of learning difficulties in children (blog Sept 27), and although progress has been made in newborn screening for Cystic Fibrosis, the program at this point is temporary and not yet a permanent one (blog Oct 23rd).  Mandatory booster seat and bike helmet legislation has not yet been passed in Manitoba putting us behind most other jurisdictions in our approach to child safety (blog Oct 2, Oct 4, Dec 13).

Drug Policies: Bill 41, the Pharmaceutical Act, passed 5 years ago in the Manitoba Legislature has still not been implemented putting us far behind the rest of Canada (blog Sept 2). Reforms underway in other provinces in pricing for generic drugs are still not begun in Manitoba (blog Sept 2).  Overuse and inappropriate use of drugs is poorly addressed (blog Jan 23).   AIDS drugs readily covered in other provinces are not covered under pharmacare so Manitobans are now being treated like second class citizens (blog Dec 8).  The NDP election promise to cover all cancer drugs has still  not been implemented and it is suspected that Manitobans are suffering and dying because they cannot afford the necessary drugs (blog Oct 21).

Prevention of Health Care problems:  Approaches to prevention in Manitoba are far from optimal.  Whether it is diabetes (above), FASD (blog Sept 28th), depression (blog Aug 20), arthritis (blog Aug 30) or osteoporosis (Aug 31), it is very clear far better approaches are possible and should have been implemented.  The result is much higher health care costs and poorly quality of life for Manitobans.

Breast, Prostate and Pancreatic Cancer:  In Breast Cancer, the current standard of care in Ontario and in the United States, Oncotype testing and treatment based on the results, has not yet been implemented and covered under medicare in Manitoba with the result that too many women are now receiving suboptimal care (blog Dec 15th).  Therre is not a provincial standard for Prostate Specific Antigen testing and we may be overtreating men with prostate cancer (blog Oct 8).  Pancreatic Cancer is not receiving enough attention (blog Sept 18 and Oct 26).

Addictions and Mental Health Issues:  Improvements are needed in the treatment of addictions and mental health issues in a coordinated and effective way (blog Sept 7).

Research:  Research related to the new liberation treatment for Multiple Sclerosis has been slow to start so that Manitobans still can not receive treatment in Manitoba through clinical trials here.  Advances in spinal disc replacement surgery for which many Manitobans are going out of province at their own cost are not been adequately evaluated and researched here (blog Nov 5).

Electronic Health Records:  Manitoba is a laggard in introducing electronic health records (blog July 6, Dec 5). The result is our health care system is less well organized and less efficient than other jurisdictions.

Improved Health Education: Jean Paterson in reading my blog comments that improved health education is needed. I agree.

Our Liberal Plans and Approaches: I have provided details of our Liberal approach to health care in many blog posts in the last year.  As well as the ones mentioned above, please see posts on July 6, Aug 18, Oct 1, 2, 3, 19, 20. Some of the critical differences are summarized on Oct 19. " Liberals see the incompetent, low quality, high cost NDP model for providing health care in Manitoba is misguided, and indeed is so wrong it threatens the very future of public medicare. We, Liberals will stand up for Manitobans who believe in a much higher quality, lower cost and less wasteful health care system which focuses on keeping people, families and communities healthy and on high quality care when needed." Additional specific details are in the platform we wrote for the provincial election this year (see http://mlp.manitobaliberals.ca/our-platform/ )

Transplant of Bald Eagles from Manitoba to New Jersey which began in 1983 has proved very successful; We need to promote the role of Team Manitoba..

Back in early 1983, when I was contacted by Jack Swedberg about the possibility of transplanting young Bald Eagles from Manitoba to the United States, it was hoped that this would be important in restoring the Bald Eagle population of New Jersey to health.  With the very recent news that the number of Bald Eagles in New Jersey has now reached the milestone of 100 nesting pairs, we now know the effort which resulted has been very, very successful.  The 100 nesting pairs are almost all descended from 60 eagles transplanted from Canada, primarily, perhaps exclusively, from Manitoba.

This is a big story in various newspapers.  The reports are that it was Canadian eagles that saved the day for the US.  What is missed in the recent stories is that fact that the eagles were from Manitoba.  Team Manitoba should get some credit.   People like Bob Nero, David Hatch and Bill Koonz should get credit for this tremendous effort.

For the recent story see http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Canadian+transplants+bring+bald+eagle+back+from+brink/5946375/story.html

For the background on the transplantation of eagles from Manitoba to New Jersey, see:
http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/wildlife-nature/articles/pdfs/bald-eagle-eagles-across-the-border.pdf

If you are pregnant in Manitoba, please be aware that it is very important that you ask to have your baby's hearing tested (screened) very soon after he/she is born.

It is very important for all newborns to have their hearing tested very shortly after they are born.  For quite some time now, the technology has been widely available to test the hearing of all newborns.  The tests which are used have long names - either otoacoustic emissions (OAE) testing or automated auditory brainstem response (AABR) testing.  Hearing loss is the commonest medical problem which is found readily by screening at birth which is one reason why screening for hearing loss is so important.  Another big reason why screening for hearing loss at birth is so important is that a newborn with a hearing loss can be helped, and this can make a difference for the rest of your child's life. 

Children who have hearing loss who are not screened and are missed early on may have impaired language development and social abilities and can have lifelong struggles.  Children who are screened and found to have hearing loss at birth will develop better language and social abilities and be more successful. 

Sadly, Manitoba is one of the very few remaining jurisdictions in North America where we do not have universal newborn hearing screening.  This means that if you have a child born in Manitoba you need to ask, indeed insist, that your child has a hearing screening test soon after he/she is born.

I have been advocating for universal newborn hearing screening in Manitoba for some time. We have encountered tremendous resistance to such screening from the NDP in Manitoba.  However, even though we do not have universal newborn hearing screening, you should be able to get it in whichever centre your child is born.  If you are told that it can't be done for your child, please call my office at 204-945-5194 or email me at jon.gerrard@leg.gov.mb.ca and we will be your advocate and do everything we can to make sure you get the hearing screening you need for your baby.  

Please note that as I report on my blog Dr. Hema Patel, a prominent Montreal pediatrician, says it is a neurological emergency to detect and help a child early who has a hearing difficulty.  (see http://manitobaliberals.blogspot.com/2011/10/universal-newborn-hearing-screening-dr.html )  It is considered a neurologic emergency because a child whose hearing loss is detected at birth can be helped to develop normally.  A child whose hearing loss is detected late - at age three, four or five, may miss a very critical and sensitive developmental window and may as a result have lifelong difficulties with speech, language and social activities.

For more information on newborn hearing screening please visit http://www.thfc.ca/cms/en/ChildrenYouth/NewbornHearingScreening.aspx?menuid=106