Keeping Canada Alive

Episode 1

Episode #1.1

44 mins

In Vancouver, three month old Dimitris, the son of George and Illeana, is undergoing open heart surgery to repair a hole in his heart. This surgery, although now considered routine, is still nerve-wracking for his parents, as there is no guarantee that he will come out the other end better or even alive. Dimitris is one of ten babies born every day in Canada with some sort of heart defect. In Calgary, Sheila is an at-home caregiver to her husband Larry, who suffers from Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. He is one of 700,000 Canadians with the disease. Sheila does not like the caregiver label, she preferring to be called Larry's wife as she sees her taking care of him her wifely duty in what is their so far forty-five year marriage. Larry still has more moments of lucidity than not. Sheila dreads the day when they will be separated as she knows Larry needing to be institutionalized will soon be upon them. Sheila, a senior herself, is still in relatively good health, and wants to stay that way if only for the sake of taking care of Larry. Sheila feels that she has much professional support for her and Larry's lives. In Toronto, for twenty-eight year old Alex, an Afghanistan war veteran, he is now six weeks into recuperation from a beer league hockey accident that broke his neck. The probability that he will ever walk again is low. However Alex, who struggles today with a fever, is determined to beat the odds as he soldiers on with his scheduled full day of physical therapy, not only with the help of his therapists, but also his identical twin brother, Andre. Also in Toronto, fourteen year old Danesia is going in for what is only the latest treatment to deal with a burn she suffered as a toddler from a scalding pot of soup in her native Jamaica. The initial surgery made the situation worse. The Toronto burn team today is trying to deal with the scar on her arm with the first of what will probably be a series of laser treatments, to loosen the skin from the muscles as she continues to grow. Sean and Ted are professional partners as paramedics on Prince Edward Island. Today, they will deal with eighty-five year old Bill, who may have suffered the latest of a series of mini-strokes, only one of forty-one Canadians who will have one today. And the Nain Community Clinic is the northernmost medical facility in Newfoundland and Labrador. There is no doctor in town, the closest one being a three hour boat ride or ninety minute plane ride away in Goose Bay. The nurses on duty at the clinic will often have to maintain vitals of more serious patients, such as eighty-three year old Julius who recently suffered kidney failure, as they await transport to Goose Bay. But for anything related to the day to day work of a doctor that is required for Nain residents, modern technology in the form robotics with videoconferencing capabilities is the current answer.