Her presentation was twofold, to talk about some of the biomedical trends with new tissues and their future in Ontario as well as the future of the infrastructure, the hospitals.

New Biomedical Technologies

Gate Analysis. Functional Electrical Stimulation. Tissue Engineering. It’s all part of the future of medicine, not just here in Ontario. These methods are all designed to be preventative, to predict what your future may hold.

Did you know that by placing electrodes on your legs, having you walk and running it through a computer model can help to identify when and where you might have degeneration in your knees? You could change how you walk just to preserve the life of your knee.

You can stimulate the brain through functional electrical stimulation and rewake the muscles in a paraplegic’s body. Imagine giving them their freedom back? Aside from the savings in health care look at the personal enjoyment you just gave someone back in their life.

Re-grow degenerative spinal discs. Create a functional gallbladder from stem cells. Develop a polymer that can beat like heart tissue. And this is just a short list of examples of what is to come.

How to design a future hospital

The hospitals of the future should be more sustainable. Not only should they draw less energy they should produce less garbage. They should move patients through the hospital more efficiently. There may even come a time where patient and doctor do not meet, that the conversation happens through a computer.

Most importantly the big campuses we build in the future must be built by a collaborative team. It will take doctors, engineers, mechanics, biologists, architects, technologists, etc to design the best and most efficient hospital. It should not be built as a band-aid to correct the mistakes of our previous hospitals; it should be innovative and design for the future. Remember the hospital we can build isn’t just here for today and the next few years, it will be a centre of treatment for the next forty to fifty years.

Barriers

What stands in the way of a state of the art hospital? Most importantly costs. It will not come with a small price tag to build for the future. But that initial upfront cost of the innovative hospital over a lifetime should be less than a traditional energy-sucking, inefficient traditional hospital.

Another barrier is sources. Sources of tissue. Unfortunately it takes quite a lot of work to grow just a small amount of new tissue. We aren’t currently able to do this in mass-production. Add to that the current best source of stem cells is the placenta and now fewer of these are being donated to science. (Dr. Woodhouse joked casually to look up recipes online. I think I should be afraid!)

Another potential barrier is our lack of planning. Planning doesn’t happen over the forty to fifty-year time frame, it happens in four-year, election blocks. Although the politicians may change, the doctors, engineers, architects and patients will be in it for the duration.

What will the future look like?

There will come a time when we no longer head off to our family doctor. Instead from a different clinic, we’ll have our blood pressure, heart rate, ears and eyes checked. This will all be diagnosed electronically and sent to your physician. Instead of a visit there will be a note on your file. You will be able to get into your electronic file and look at the results.

Of course for acute care and serious disease people will still need to see a specialist. But instead of waiting all that time in a family doctors office, you’ll be able to take the middleman out and just go to your specialist.

Emergency rooms will triage patients differently. Already with some e-health infrastructure the number of hospital visits will decrease.

Car crash and other similar victims will be able to have surgery to repair their broken limbs. new bone and other tissues will be grown in your body to replace the broken. Dr. Woodhouse commented on the increased healthcare costs due to psychological treatments to patients to have great facial damage. Understandably if you weren’t confident in how you looked, especially with damage to your face, you would need some support.

To Plan For the Future Hospital

It will take entrepreneurs, bold thinkers and a government that is not afraid to take a risk. It will be a greener, leaner building. The old, inefficient hospitals can hopefully be a thing of our past. Innovate, educate, involve and you a project can evolve.

Through the month of January Toronto was plagued by a string of tragic pedestrian deaths. In total there were 14 deaths in Toronto, some of them quite tragic. Between transport trucks, streetcars and busses the pedestrians stood no chance.

Who was to Blame?

The debate as to who was at fault in these accidents has been a topic of discussion in the media. Whether it is the cars or the pedestrians who are not paying attention is the question. But either way isn’t it both parties faults?

As a pedestrian I don’t think I’m would want to play chicken with a transport truck. Even a SmartCar!

In 2007 the City of Toronto did a study, The Pedestrian Collision Study. Here is a selection of the conclusions of the study:

• 83% of pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions resulted in either minimal or minor injuries
• 12% of pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions resulted in major injuries or fatalities
• 50% of fatalities in pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions were seniors (aged 65+).
• 72% of pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions involved male drivers versus 28% for female drivers.
• Pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions occurred most during the autumn and winter seasons.
• Pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions occurred more often in the downtown area.
• Pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions occurred more often along arterial roads.
• Pedestrian/motor vehicle collisions distributed as follow: at intersections (47%), at non-intersections (37%), and other/unknown (16%).

The City of Toronto did a similar bike-car collision study in 2006. The results can be found here.

What I was reminded of yesterday was does it really matter who is at fault? In the end the pedestrian ends up dead or seriously injured.

How Can we Prevent Future Deaths

1. Alertness: Most importantly both drivers and pedestrians need to be more aware – pedestrian’s in particular. Again as a pedestrian if you play chicken with an automobile the automobile always wins
2. Turning – Left or right, as drivers we should be more aware when turning. Right turns are often worse. On a red light drivers are only looking for on-coming traffic. When lights are green drivers often forget about pedestrians and rush to make the turn
3. Updating Our Intersections: The ‘Scramble’ intersections of downtown Toronto are great, but we can make them even safer. In New Zealand and Japan pedestrians are only allowed to cross when all lights are red. In this manner cars and pedestrians are not competing entities
4. Slow Down: the issue of decreasing speed limits in cities has been raised. Unofficially people in Toronto drive 15-20km/hr over the speed limit so decreasing the speed limit would give drivers more response time
5. Txt Msgs, Email and iPods: Pedestrian’s cannot just walk in oblivion. Be aware of your surroundings and focus on the busy road around you, instead of the latest gadget.

Like many of the surrounding suburbs of Toronto, Burlington has larger homes on bigger properties and streets that seem to go no where. In addition to that parents of the Burlington area were worried about student safety (and who wouldn’t these days with two pedestrian deaths in the Toronto area yesterday). Each day more kids get a drive to school than walk.

The program in Burlington encourages teachers and student volunteers to ‘pick up’ students much like a bus would, but instead of a bus they all walk together. It is active transportation at its best. Plus it means more time for students to socialize with their friends.

There are so many benefits to students walking to school:

• It stimulates their bodies making them more alert and attentive at school
• It stimulates their metabolism; increasing their metabolic rates and food processing abilities
• It gets the ‘social bug’ out – instead of socializing in the classroom students socialize on the way to school
• It encourages life long lessons in exercise

Ontario is encouraging students to walk to school, as both a green community initiative and as an active transportation initiative. There are no 40 communities participating in the Active and Safe Routes to School Program, all the way from Windsor to Ottawa and up and over to Kenora.

How did your kids get to school today? Change up your routines and encourage your children to be more active.

The race directors had created a ‘Green Page’ listing all the things they would do to minimize the footprint of the race. Their initiatives included:

• Recycling From Start to Finish
• Composting the paper cups and food
• Re-usable goodie bags

(To read more about their initiatives click here)

When I arrived at the expo to pick up my race kit I received my gift bag filled with delicious snacks and many flyers that I wasn’t interested in. In the end I had to throw a whole bunch of unnecessary flyers into my recycle box

My big complaint with the race was the number of sponsored plastic, water bottles at the end (go to the website to see the sponsor). With all the discussion about how bad plastic bottles are for the environment I was amazed to see so many at the race. If I had to hazard a guess, I suspect there was at least one bottle per person racing – at minimum 20,000 plastic bottles! Despite being dehydrated and in need of water I refused to take the plastic bottle.

How could you make a race ‘greener:’

• No more bottled water at the end – again have the refillable compostable cups that can be used for both water and other sports drinks
• Have a table with flyers for participants, which allow them to choose which races, events, etc they are interested in
• Make sure numbers are printed on recycled paper
• Make race shirts out of sustainable cotton or other recycled materials

Running races have their inherent pollutants, the little cups you drink from along the way, the race numbers/bibs, the packages from the sport gels, and various other bits of garbage that are found along the way. There are necessary evils with anything and I the positive social benefits

I often get asked when I have to put my lunch together, when I have time to keep the fridge stocked with fresh foods and generally reminded by people that they just don’t have time to prepare healthy food. I decided I would put together some of my ideas on quick and healthy foods to go (at home and dinner meals to be a follow up)

Simple ways to create quick, healthy meals

• Keep cleaned, cut-up lettuce in your fridge – many stores sell pre-washed lettuce in clamshell containers or bags. Most of the fancier greens like baby spinach, arugula and mache (my favourite) and they tend to have more nutrients in them too Plus it is always easy to add some protein and carbs to have a well-balanced meal
• When making dinner make a bit extra for a left-overs lunch the next day
• Eat fresh, local fruit – most of the time it just needs to be washed to be eaten
• Use local vegetables that can be eaten raw or only need a few minutes of steaming
• Have yogurt as a side dish – yogurt is packed with calcium, protein and all the good probiotics. And with all the great flavours there should be one to suit your palate
• Keep a bag of trail mix on you – I am almost always hungry. Instead of opting for the donut, chips or candy I usually have a bag of mixed nuts, raisins and dried cranberries on me. It’s a simple way to get some energy with a whole bunch of great flavours.

And when you are trying to make your decisions in the grocery store, try to opt for the local, organic varieties.

To add to what Marni said, here is what I believe, “Healthy, everyday eating can be simple and delicious.”

Marni has some great holistic recipes on her website for quick and easy meals. In the end it is a matter of finding balance and making time for the things that are important to you. Nutritious food doesn’t have to take a long time to prepare and in the end you’ll find you have more energy, fewer afternoon crashes, you’re more positive and you won’t miss the greasy food you used to eat for lunch.

Sure it is a pain to peel and cut the carrots but the taste is definitely worth the effort.

Baby Carrots are put through a chlorine wash to make them look the way they do

Once upon a time I had heard that in order to make baby carrots they were dipped in acid, chlorine and other harmful chemicals to make them look and taste perfect. At the time I did not really eat that many carrots and when I did buy them I went for the convenience of the baby ones – regardless of how they were made.

How is the baby carrot made? According to the World Carrot Museum there are actually two types of baby carrots, ‘true’ and ‘manufactured.’ The difference? True baby carrots are carrots grown to the ‘baby stage’ that is long before it reaches the mature size, either because of thinning or as a specialty item. A true baby carrot resembles a mature carrot, a pointed tip and a strong shoulder. The ‘manufactored’ baby carrot was invented by Mike Yurosek, a Californian farmer that was tired of throwing away disfigured carrots. Instead he took these unappealing carrots, cut them into 5 cm/2 in sections and then peeled them. The end result, what we know as baby carrots.

What about the talk of acid, chlorine, pesticides, etc. From what I have read it depends on the farming process both for true carrots, baby or otherwise, and manufactured carrots. If you buy organic you’ll avoid all the chemicals.

Why mature carrots are better

Back to the debate between a mature carrot and a ‘manufactured’ baby carrot (True baby carrots can also be considered as mature carrots for this argument). To make the ‘manufactured’ baby carrot the farmer peels and prunes away much the nutrient value; most of the nutrients in carrots are in the skin and just below that. Finally the chlorine uncovered, non-organic farmers wash their carrots in chlorine as a disinfectant and to preserve the colour. According to both the FDA and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency this ‘free’ chlorine is not harmful to humans. Personally I’ll stick to the organic varieties that are washed in a citrus based solution.

‘Manufactured’ baby carrots are convenient and cute but they lack in the nutrients and flavour of mature carrots. I’ll be sticking to my mature carrots despite the inconvenience. And just as an added bonus, mature carrots are significantly cheaper than their manufactured counterparts.

While scanning my news reader this morning I happened upon this article on The City Fix. Get Fit For the New Year?  Consider Riding Your Bike To Work discussed the inverse relationship between those countries that utilize active transportation and obesity rates. Not surprising that European cities tended to have lower obesity rates and more people walking, cycling, or using public transportation to get to work. The United States had to worst record with the highest obesity rates and the fewest active people.

The article aslo mentioned a great article from the Journal of  Physical Activity and Health . The article titled Walking, Cycling, and Obesity Rates in Europe, North America and Australia compared the lifestyle of the residents to the obesity rates. The authors not that European cities had an advantage for higher active transportation rates and lower obesity rates because:

1. Compact, dense cities with mixed land uses that generate short trips

2. Restrictions on car use such as car-free zones, low speed limits, and prohibitions of through traffic

3. Extensive, safe, and convenient facilities for walking and cycling;

4. Traffic calming of residential neighborhoods;

5. Coordination of public transit with walking and cycling to transit stations and stops, including bike parking, as well as safe sidewalks and bikeways;

6. Traffic regulations and enforcement policies that favor pedestrians and cyclists over motorists; and

7. High cost of owning and operating a car resulting from expensive driver licensing, high gasoline prices, and high taxes on car purchases.

What I can gather from this is that here in North America and in Australia we need to change how we live. We need to live closer to where we work. We need to live closer to basic amenities, like grocery stores, drug stores, retail districts. We need to be more active in general.

Back in November I wrote an article about active transportation and how I was going to make a commitment to being more ‘active’ when it comes to going to and from work. I still strive for this, but I think until the snow melts my ability to walk (or run) and bike may be slightly hindered.

What peaked my interest in the article was the discussion around truck safety. Here are a couple of facts the auditors found:

• only 3 of every 1,000 commercial trucks are inspected annually; this is down 34% from 2003/4
• 21% of truck traffic travels at night, but only 8% of inspections are done after hours

The auditors suggest the solution is enforcement and recognize that the Ministry of Transportation has just hired 50 new officers, which indicates a move in the right direction.

It wasn’t just the Ministry of Transportation under scrutiny, the Ministry of Agriculture was attacked for the listeriosis outbreak this summer. The Ministry of Justice is also currently under investigation being criticized for the number of ‘sick’ days they take each year (that would be an average of 32.5, that’s over a month). Another staggering number was the $500 million that the Ontario government loses each year on tobacco taxes; mostly from the sale of cigarettes at native reserves.

I hope this audit is successful in making our province safer. With the crash this morning on the 401 involving three tracker trailers it is yet another reminder of how unsafe the trucking industry has become.

 What is active transportation?

Have you ever thought I’m going to combine how I get to work with my exercise for the day? Did you walk, run, or ride your bike to work? Those are all forms of active transportation. Active transportation is any form of human-powered transportation. The most popular are riding your bike and walking.

Active Transportation will soon be a new ‘buzz’ word, like sustainability. But it is better than sustainability. Not only does it combine sustainable, ‘green’ actions but it also improves your own health.

Toronto is trying to make it easier. Both GO Transit and the TTCare installing bike racks on the front of buses, by the end of 2010 the TTC will have 24 routes completely equipped with bike racks. This way you can combine using public transit and active transit.

I’ll continue to bike, run, and walk where I can. I’ve recently started running home from work, it’s a long way but very rewarding. As I’ve said to my friends I started running a lot again so I can eat more cookies, cake, candy, etc so if I run longer I guess I can eat even more!

Today will decide if America moves forward to preserve our precious ‘green’ earth or if they stagnate, or worse regress, and continue to harm the weakening biosphere.

It comes down to Obama vs McCain, preserve vs harm ~ I guess you know who I’d be voting for if I lived in the US. Obama is forward thinking, is fair, can relate to the American public and is necessary for change. McCain is a dinosaur, short-sighted and given that his days on earth might be numbered he likely doesn’t care what holds for the environment long term. And if something tragic ever happened to either candidate I’m definitely on side for Biden as president vs Palin. Can you imagine the first bill she would pass would likely that every woman should learn to do that ‘pageant’ walk!

Our environment, plants, animals, and humans, is in danger. Obama will put it on the endangered species list and McCain, like Bush, will continue to eat away at.