Absolutely.
Evidence of meeting #14 for Status of Women in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was treatment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #14 for Status of Women in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was treatment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Terence Young Conservative Oakville, ON
Okay, thank you very much.
If you could take some time and tell the committee, if you had your dream now.... Well, let's back up a little. First question: why did you go to Buffalo in the first place? Why couldn't you build your centre like the Shouldice Hospital? Why couldn't you build it in the GTA?
4:45 p.m.
As an Individual
Well, that would have been nice, and definitely the Shouldice Hospital is there and it's been accepted for many years. Even Homewood is under somewhat the same kind of program as what Shouldice is under, and I really thought that we could be, but we couldn't, so that's when I went to the U.S.—
4:45 p.m.
As an Individual
Well, they just said, “No, we're not covering you.” Really, the interesting thing is that if you were in a hospital setting, then they would cover it. If you were in an individual setting, they won't. But these patients are definitely not going to go into a hospital.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Terence Young Conservative Oakville, ON
Okay, let's go back to your dream. If you could redo it now starting tomorrow, what services would you like to provide for girls and women with eating disorders in the GTA? What would you like to do?
4:45 p.m.
As an Individual
I think the important thing is that we save the lives of patients. Because, as Dr. Woodside said when he had that candlelight vigil some years ago, we lost 18,000 patients in a year.
I went to the various people in the hospitals who were there and I asked if they would send patients to the U.S. and they said no, and I asked why: well, because, then OHIP will never cover the patients here. So what in fact they did, they used the patients as pawns to get their own—whatever— agenda. Anyway, we couldn't get them to cover the patients no matter what we did. It was just—
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
4:45 p.m.
As an Individual
My ideal thing would be that I would set up clinics apart from the hospital, generally out in the woods somewhere. In fact, we have drawings of the ideal building, where they seat how many, who's there, whether it's the psychiatrist or psychologist, and generally there are three or four in the building at one time. I have all of that stuff.
We had plans in the U.S. for all of that stuff. All of that stuff could be done here, and that's why I get a little excited when I wonder if I'm going to hear this thing 15 years—and I won't be alive in 15 years, by the way—this same thing over and over again that we're going to go through. As I say, education is great. You need it, but you have to do both ends of it.
The early intervention is the key to success. You've probably heard that a million times, and that's important, and that's what you're doing, and that's what you're providing. But, then, when the patients get ill, they don't want to send them to the U.S., and they can't do it here and you realize.... But Dr. Paul Garfinkel told me that $4.5 million worth of funds went to the U.S. out of Ontario in one year.
4:45 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Hélène LeBlanc
Thank you very much for your time and for your answers.
Mrs. Sellah, you have five minutes.
4:45 p.m.
NDP
Djaouida Sellah NDP Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I must say that I cannot believe this. I want to begin by thanking my colleague Mr. Young for asking Arthur Boese the question.
I want to congratulate you on your initiative. I understand that this is a personal battle for you, since you had two children suffering from that eating disorder. I have a lot of sympathy for you, and I thank you for what you are doing.
My colleague who spoke before me already asked this question. You live in Ontario. You went to the United States to open a centre. I don't understand the government's attitude toward such a serious problem, be it when it comes to the affected individual or their friends and family. Our government did not want to help you with your initiative. Did I understand correctly?
4:50 p.m.
As an Individual
I don't know, because it's so obvious to you, it's obvious to me too.
I really thought that if we went to the U.S. and stayed there for a year, we would be able to come back with all of that information, with all of the latest research in eating disorders, and do it at home. I mean, I want to save our people at home. But they weren't prepared to do anything, no matter what we did. Terence worked with me. We couldn't get them to budge.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Djaouida Sellah NDP Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
Is this due to our health care system? Is it due to the successive governments? That's a question mark for me, as for you.
As a member of a committee tasked with studying legislation, I have many questions in my mind. You are not the first or the last to be in this situation. Given all the potential Canadians have to do extraordinary things locally or internationally, I think it's a pity we are letting them leave the country. That's a major concern for me.
I have another question for you. I know that you closed your centres owing to financial problems. You had multidisciplinary teams to provide patients with care. Could you give me the approximate number of relapses during that period and tell me what the cause was?
4:50 p.m.
As an Individual
Well, it's kind of hard; you have to do it over many years. But in terms of our success rate, among the patients who came in and who had failed in a one-on-one, generally the failure rate was about 65%. Those are the people we saw. It wasn't those who came in initially and wanted information.
So we would follow them through, but it was very difficult. The systems didn't allow us to really find out how they were three years later—if they failed, they wouldn't talk to you—but the success rate of the patients who were there was about 85%. That was high. Our treatment centre was as good as any centre out there, as good as the $1,900 that Remuda Ranch was charging.
That's what OHIP told us when I finally got them to do an audit. They went to all the big centres first, because the patients were asking for it, but...anyway.
4:50 p.m.
NDP
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Djaouida Sellah NDP Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
On a related note, my question is for Ms. Champagne. It's about the ANEB experience in Quebec.
How have you been assessing this program's success since the centre was created? Has the number of calls dropped off? Has there been any positive feedback? Have there been any relapses? Have you assessed the results since your centre was created? And if any results are available, could you please send them to us?
4:50 p.m.
Executive Director, Anorexia and bulimia Quebec
Yes, I can send you some relevant figures. It seems clear to us that more and more people are using our resource for help. Last year, we assisted more than 17,000 individuals, and that number is still growing. All the people who are turning to us are an indication that we are doing something very positive.
Of course, we are a community resource, and not a treatment centre. We do, however, monitor our groups. The questionnaires distributed before and after treatment clearly indicate an improvement in symptoms. However, that all depends on what is being evaluated. The improvement may not always be obvious on the plate, but it can also be noticed in other areas, such as in the person's condition.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
4:55 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Hélène LeBlanc
You have only five seconds left to thank the witness.
Mrs. Ambler, the floor is yours for five minutes.
February 26th, 2014 / 4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all of you for being here today and for giving us this fascinating and useful information.
Ms. Cairns, I'd like to ask you as a dietitian about adolescent nutrition. I note that your work as a dietitian has been profiled in high school textbooks. You mentioned that health messages are taken to the extreme. We heard from another witness that sometimes a trigger of eating disorders—not cause, but trigger—is teachers and school projects gone bad.
I'm wondering how we deal with that, with instilling healthy eating habits and attitudes in young people without causing those triggers. I found it alarming that one of the triggers could be from simply trying to teach a young person to not eat too many trans fats, for example, or to stick to eating protein and vegetables or something like that. To have some of them take that to the extreme is frightening.
I guess the question is, what do we do?