Filling Prescriptions To Get Easier

McGuinty Government Supports Innovative Models For Drug Dispensing

TORONTO, May 6 /CNW/ - NEWS

Ontario is proposing to make it more convenient for patients to get their
drug prescriptions filled by allowing remote dispensing across the province.
Legislation to be introduced in the coming days would, if passed, amend
the Drug and Pharmacies Regulations Act (DPRA) and the Ontario Drug Benefit
Act (ODBA) to allow prescriptions to be filled without the pharmacist being
physically present. This remote dispensing could be done by:

- Patients using a dispensing machine to fill a prescription while
speaking to the pharmacist through built-in video conferencing
- Pharmacy technicians dispensing drugs under the supervision of a
pharmacist who is connected by a video link-up
- Mail order where medications for chronic conditions are dispensed and
delivered regularly to patients' homes.

Some of the benefits associated with remote dispensing would include:

- Increasing access to medication and improving convenience for patients
(especially those in remote areas of the province)
- Supporting new business development and made-in-Ontario technologies
- Potentially reducing the cost of drug distribution

To help ensure patient safety, the Ontario College of Pharmacists would
be responsible for accrediting, monitoring and enforcing the regulatory
requirements for these new types of drug dispensing systems.

QUOTES

"Remote drug dispensing is beginning to emerge as a viable alternative to
the traditional pharmacy. We want to make it easier for patients to get the
medications they need, and we want to do it in a way that ensures patient
safety and is cost effective."
- David Caplan, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care

QUICK FACTS

- As a pilot project that began in June 2008, Sunnybrook Health Sciences
Centre has two dispensing machines in use - one for outpatients and
one for inpatients.
- Made-in-Ontario technology is being used in the pilot
- Narcotics will not be available through remote dispensing capabilities

LEARN MORE

Find out more about Ontario Public Drug Programs
(http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/program/drugs/drugs_ep.html).

Watch What You Eat: The Sugar Content is Deceptive

    

from TreeHugger.com
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto


It is amazing what a good graphic idea can convey without words. Nobody would consciously feed their kid seven and a half cubes of sugar, but that is what I did every time I gave our children a box of raisins, which get 100% of their calories from sugar.

The clever comparison is from SugarStacks, a website filled with nothing but stacks of sugar cubes.

Fruit rollups were always suspicious, and over 50% of their calories are from sugar.

I used to enjoy the occasional Frappacino. So much for that. No wonder we have an obesity crisis; nobody knows what they are eating. Congratulations to SugarStacks for showing us.

More at SugarStacks, overwhelmed at the moment by exposure on BoingBoing.

Fidoodle: Jigsaw Puzzle Puppets, Blocks, and Dolls With Stories to Tell

from TreeHugger.com
by Jasmin Malik Chua,


Fidoodle is in the business of making stories. Featuring the hip painted scrawls of Toronto-based illustrator Jen Bulthuis, Fidoodle's jigsaw-puppet puzzles put a new spin on old yarns like the Grecian myth of Icarus, Cinderella, and the Tortoise and the Hare.

The characters, which are handprinted with nontoxic inks on sustainably harvested Baltic birch, can be attached to the included wooden sticks to become puppets, or tacked to the refrigerator as interactive magnets. The twist in the tale? Your child can go off-script, mixing and matching the detachable heads and bodies to create a whole new cast of characters to star in a story entirely of his or her making.

Fidoodlers can also fidoodle away with wooden blocks that are two toys in one. The country and city-themed pieces are building blocks on one side and parts of a puzzle on the other. (Hint: The completed puzzle in printed on top of the recycled cardboard packaging.) Kids can also cuddle up to animal softies and pillows, handprinted on organic cotton and stuffed with wool.

The toys are available online at Etsy and select U.S. and Canadian retailers.

And they all lived happily ever after.