Health

Health

‘Dominoes’ we don’t mean to topple yield results

Mitch Calvert 5 minute read Saturday, Jun. 13, 2026

A keystone habit is a single change that, once in place, quietly drags a whole pile of other positive changes along behind it.

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Opinion

Marilyn Monroe cursed to be Hot Forever

Jen Zoratti 5 minute read Preview

Marilyn Monroe cursed to be Hot Forever

Jen Zoratti 5 minute read Saturday, Jun. 6, 2026

Marilyn Monroe would have been 100 years old this week.

She was born Norma Jeane Baker on June 1, 1926, and died Marilyn Monroe on Aug. 4, 1962 at 36 of a barbiturate overdose, her incredible star a supernova.

Obviously, there’s a lot being published this week, looking at her filmography, her legacy and, in turn, our voracious appetite for the actor who, despite being a gifted talent, became who everyone thinks of when they hear the term “blond bombshell.”

We just can’t seem to quit Marilyn Monroe, and we really can’t seem to quit talking about her in a specific way. Why am I reading a Variety headline calling her, in 2026, the “goddess of sex”? The accompanying copy practically leers, describing her smile as “a lipstick bomb of bliss” and noting “the sparkly nightclub splendour of those curves.”

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Saturday, Jun. 6, 2026

Health

Social media, screen time bigger risks to kids than substance use, inactivity: Doctors Manitoba

Carol Sanders 5 minute read Preview

Social media, screen time bigger risks to kids than substance use, inactivity: Doctors Manitoba

Carol Sanders 5 minute read Monday, May. 25, 2026

Social media and excessive screen time pose a bigger health risk to youth than substance use and inactivity, say Manitoba doctors, who are throwing their support behind a ban proposed by the province.

“As physicians, we are increasingly seeing the impact of excessive social media and screen time on mental health, sleep and healthy development in children and youth,” Dr. Alon Altman, the new president of Doctors Manitoba, said Monday in an online news conference.

“There is growing evidence about these impacts.”

Members surveyed by the provincial physicians’ advocacy organization ranked social media and excessive screen time as the biggest risk to kids’ health. More than 240 family physicians, pediatricians, psychiatrists and other specialties responded to the survey that ran from April 30 to May 15. More than 90 per cent indicated support for restricting access to social media and AI chatbots for children and youth.

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Monday, May. 25, 2026

Health

It’s time to start simplifying for success

Mitch Calvert 5 minute read Saturday, May. 23, 2026

You’re tired in a way coffee doesn’t fix anymore. Your energy isn’t what it once was. Your clothes don’t fit right. You weren’t always like this — you used to chase your kids around the yard without thinking about it. You used to put on a swimsuit without a care in the world. You used to eat a burger and drink a beer on a Friday and wake up Saturday feeling fine.

What gives? Nothing seems to work anymore. It’s not for lack of trying. You did keto for six weeks until you cracked at a birthday party. You tried intermittent fasting until your 2 p.m. headache became a personality trait every co-worker saw coming. You bought a Peloton that became a sweater dryer. You did those circuit workouts at the place down the street until your back tweaked. You consulted the clinic that promised a peptide and supplement cocktail would fix it all. Spoiler: It didn’t. The pantry has a graveyard of half-empty protein tubs. The drawer has six supplement bottles you weren’t consistently taking. The closet has a pair of jeans you keep “just in case.”

Here’s the part nobody wants to say out loud: The reason none of it stuck isn’t because you lack discipline or your metabolism is broken. It’s because none of those plans were built for a person living your current reality.

Keto works for some people for a while. Fasting works for some people for a while. The reason they didn’t work for you is you have client dinners. You have your kid’s birthday cake. You have the lake in July and the kitchen at midnight after a long Tuesday.

Health

Hep A outbreak in province’s North makes its way to Winnipeg, officials scrambling to vaccinate people at high risk

Free Press staff 3 minute read Preview

Hep A outbreak in province’s North makes its way to Winnipeg, officials scrambling to vaccinate people at high risk

Free Press staff 3 minute read Friday, May. 8, 2026

Manitoba public health officials say an outbreak of hepatitis A that began in the province’s North last year has led to an increasing number of cases in Winnipeg in recent weeks.

The outbreak, declared in April 2025, was at first affecting communities in northern Manitoba, including several remote First Nations, but has evolved in recent months and spread to other places in the province, provincial health officials said Friday.

The outbreak has spread to Winnipeg, particularly the homeless community, and people with connections to other places where the virus was already spreading.

As of April 26, 601 cases of hepatitis A virus associated with the outbreak have been identified in Manitoba, 131 of which are in Winnipeg.

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Friday, May. 8, 2026

Health

The Latest: 3 passengers from virus-hit cruise ship evacuated to the Netherlands

The Associated Press 11 minute read Wednesday, May. 6, 2026

PRAIA, Cape Verde (AP) — Three cruise ship passengers with suspected hantavirus infections being flown to the Netherlands for treatment Wednesday. Three people have died, and the World Health Organization says there are eight cases.

About 150 passengers are isolating aboard the Dutch ship at the center of the outbreak. The MV Hondius is near the Cape Verde islands off West Africa, waiting to sail to Spain’s Canary Islands. Officials say those on board show no symptoms.

Hantavirus is a rare, rodent-borne illness that usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. The Argentine government’s leading hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching outing at a garbage dump before boarding, according to two officials.

The WHO says the risk to the global population from this outbreak is low, with the organization’s top epidemic expert telling AP, “This is not the next COVID.”

Health

3 patients are being evacuated to Europe from cruise ship with hantavirus outbreak

Annie Risemberg, Misper Apawu, Jamey Keaten And Isabel Debre, The Associated Press 6 minute read Wednesday, May. 6, 2026

PRAIA, Cape Verde (AP) — Two patients with hantavirus and one suspected of being infected were being evacuated from a cruise ship to the Netherlands on Wednesday, the U.N. health agency said. The vessel at the center of a deadly outbreak remained off Cape Verde with nearly 150 people on board waiting to head to Spain’s Canary Islands.

Associated Press footage showed health workers in protective gear heading to the ship for the evacuation that included the ship's British doctor, who Spain's health ministry said had been in “serious condition” but has improved. An air ambulance later departed.

Three people have died, and one body remained on the ship, the World Health Organization said. Of the eight cases recorded, five were confirmed by laboratory testing.

Hantavirus usually spreads by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings and can spread person-to-person, though that is rare, according to the WHO, whose top epidemic expert said the risk to the public is low.

Health

The real ‘cure-all’ for weight control? Commitment

Mitch Calvert 6 minute read Saturday, Mar. 28, 2026

Let this sink in — $108,000.

That’s what GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy could cost you over 25-30 years. If you’re prescribed Ozempic “off label” for weight loss (same drug, just for diabetic treatment) it will cost you less.

But let’s do the math: Wegovy runs roughly $400-$570 per month in Canada. No provincial drug plan covers it for weight loss. Multiply that out over a few decades, and you’re looking at well over $100,000, out of pocket, over the course of your life.

I’m not anti-medication. GLP-1 drugs are genuinely impressive, and I coach people who use them effectively. But “impressive” and “magic injection” are two very different things. Before you or someone you care about commits to a drug for life, you deserve to understand what the research actually says.

Opinion

Endometriosis painful, lack of research shameful

Jen Zoratti 7 minute read Preview

Endometriosis painful, lack of research shameful

Jen Zoratti 7 minute read Tuesday, Mar. 17, 2026

In late 2023, I spent a few weeks in the dark days of winter talking to women about their experiences with endometriosis for a reported feature. I listened as they told me about the labyrinthian, sometimes decades-long quest to get a diagnosis. They told me about being gaslit and dismissed by doctors. One told me about having to get surgery abroad and pay for it out of pocket.

I listened as they raged and cried.

Through my reporting, I learned the cruel facts of this disease.

That endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease in which tissue that looks and behaves similarly to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus.

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Tuesday, Mar. 17, 2026

Health

How E.J. Harnden changed curling forever

Mitch Calvert 7 minute read Preview

How E.J. Harnden changed curling forever

Mitch Calvert 7 minute read Saturday, Mar. 14, 2026

I was a young sports reporter the first time I saw E.J. Harnden throw his broom.

It was February 2009 at the Northern Ontario Curling Association playdowns in Fort Frances. The Brad Jacobs rink — Jacobs at skip, E.J. at third, his younger brother Ryan at second — had just absorbed a 9-4 loss to Mike Jakubo in the final, their third straight defeat to the same Copper Cliff team that week. When Harnden’s last rock failed to disturb a pair of Jakubo stones sitting fat in scoring position, he didn’t shake his head or mutter under his breath. He threw his broom.

I remember thinking: that’s not how curlers act. This was, after all, a game still broadly associated with potluck socials and Canadian Club rye whisky. Curlers were supposed to be serene. Stoic. These guys were something else.

Seventeen years later, E.J. Harnden — now 42, and in the final chapter of a career that reshaped Canadian curling — just swept his way to a fourth national Brier title on a retirement tour with Matt Dunstone’s Manitoba rink. He was named tournament MVP, shooting 88 per cent accuracy for the week. He shared a long embrace with Ryan when it was over. And somewhere in that moment, the broom that once hit the ice in frustration became a symbol of everything that followed.

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Saturday, Mar. 14, 2026

Health

Family of woman who died after 11-hour wait in ER calls for inquiry

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Preview

Family of woman who died after 11-hour wait in ER calls for inquiry

Gabrielle Piché 5 minute read Monday, Feb. 23, 2026

The family of a woman who died following an 11-hour wait in a Winnipeg emergency room last month has added its voice to demands for a public inquiry.

Sheri Ross met with St. Boniface Hospital officials last week regarding the death of her sister Stacey Ross, which is the subject of a critical incident review.

She said she believes the death of her sister, a 55-year-old educational assistant, was preventable and the review “won’t go anywhere.”

“They’ve done (critical incident reviews) countless times,” she said. “We want a public inquiry as to what happened so this doesn’t keep happening.”

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Monday, Feb. 23, 2026

Health

Manitoba to screen infants for defect that causes sight, hearing problems

Marsha McLeod 3 minute read Preview

Manitoba to screen infants for defect that causes sight, hearing problems

Marsha McLeod 3 minute read Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026

Manitoba has become the third jurisdiction in Canada to implement universal newborn screening for congenital cytomegalovirus, which can lead to complications as a child grows up, including hearing loss, vision problems and developmental disabilities.

Universal screening for congenital CMV began in December, with more than 1,500 newborns tested since then, said Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara Tuesday.

Congenital CMV affects around one in 200 births and is the “leading infectious cause of infant disability,” said Asagwara, noting that without universal screening, it can easily go undetected.

“Most babies show no symptoms at birth, which means that without screening, families may not know that something is wrong until months or even years later, when hearing loss or developmental delays begin to really show themselves. Universal screening changes that,” the minister said.

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Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026

Health

Province warns of measles exposure at Jets game as cases surge

Tyler Searle 3 minute read Preview

Province warns of measles exposure at Jets game as cases surge

Tyler Searle 3 minute read Friday, Feb. 13, 2026

Manitoba public health officials are warning attendees of a Winnipeg Jets game they may have been exposed to measles, as the province continues to grapple with outbreaks.

The province released an exposure update Thursday night, warning those who attended a Feb. 4 Jets game against the Montreal Canadiens and were in Canada Life Centre’s 300-level seating and concourse to monitor for symptoms until Feb. 26.

The update came hours after chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin held a news conference, urging people to get vaccinated.

On Friday, Premier Wab Kinew pushed Manitobans to follow that advice.

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Friday, Feb. 13, 2026

Health

Focus on your body, not the scale

Mitch Calvert 8 minute read Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026

Every year, right around the time Winnipeg finally starts to flirt with spring, I get some version of the same message:

“Mitch, I need to lose 25 pounds by summer. Let’s go.”

It always arrives with urgency, like fat loss operates on panic. And I get it. People want to feel better in their clothes. They want energy back. They want the belly to shrink. They want to head into warm weather with some confidence.

But there’s a problem with most weight-loss plans, and it’s not a lack of motivation.

Health

Funding shortfall undermines Canada’s ability to track diseases threatening wildlife, human health

Ainslie Cruickshank 8 minute read Preview

Funding shortfall undermines Canada’s ability to track diseases threatening wildlife, human health

Ainslie Cruickshank 8 minute read Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026

The head of a national network that tracks the spread of wildlife diseases says a persistent funding shortfall is undermining Canada’s ability to detect and respond to emerging threats to biodiversity, agriculture and human health.

Damien Joly is the chief executive officer of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, a network of Canada’s five veterinary schools and the B.C. government’s Animal Health Centre. The CWHC works with federal, provincial and territorial governments to monitor wildlife diseases across the country.

In an interview with The Narwhal, Joly said the organization is “cash strapped across the board.”

“We do not have the resources we need to effectively monitor these diseases,” he said.

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Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026

Health

Disordered care

Eva Wasney 7 minute read Preview

Disordered care

Eva Wasney 7 minute read Monday, Jan. 12, 2026

Functional neurological disorder (FND) is often described as an invisible illness.

The condition affects how the brain processes information and communicates with the body, resulting in a wide range of physical and neurological symptoms that differ from person to person. Unlike structural brain issues — such as tumours, strokes or lesions — functional neurological disorder (FND) symptoms don’t show up in conventional diagnostic testing and imaging.

This common, gendered disorder traces its roots to hysteria; yet, centuries later, its causes and mechanisms remain largely unknown.

Winnipeg academic Jen Sebring is among those working to make this invisible illness more visible in Canada.

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Monday, Jan. 12, 2026

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