Iris Gorfinkel, M.D.

"Immigrants have kept Canada's health care system standing by delivering critical bedside care," writes Iris Gorfinkel. "Over 1-in-4 family doctors and nearly 1-in-3 pharmacists in Canada were internationally trained in 2022." Mark Adams TNS

We're blaming our overstuffed ERs, excruciating surgery waits and family doctor deserts on exactly the wrong people www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... @drgorfinkel.bsky.social
↷ canadahealthwatch.ca 🍁

Iris Gorfinkel: We’re blaming our overstuffed ERs, excruciating surgery waits and family doctor deserts on exactly the wrong people As wait times soar and millions struggle without a family doctor, the old “blame the immigrants” narrative has made a comeback in Canadian politics and media. This kind of rhetoric

We’re blaming our overstuffed ERs, excruciating surgery waits and family doctor deserts on exactly the wrong people. The old “blame the immigrants” narrative has made a comeback, by @drgorfinkel.bsky.social www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... via @thestar.com

Iris Gorfinkel: We’re blaming our overstuffed ERs, excruciating surgery waits and family doctor deserts on exactly the wrong people As wait times soar and millions struggle without a family doctor, the old “blame the immigrants” narrative has made a comeback in Canadian politics and media. This kind of rhetoric

From 2005 to 2019
📈 Ontario’s 65+ population grew 56 %
📉 Hospital beds grew 3%

This isn’t an “immigrant problem”
...it’s a planning fiasco.

@thestar.com
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

George Dantzig - who'd struggled with algebra in high school - went on to become the father of linear programming.

Good Will Hunting: Why mathematicians hate the Oscar-winning coming-of-age drama This Oscar-winning classic set a surprisingly simple mathematical challenge

🤯 SUNDAY WOW
George Dantzig inspired the film Good Will Hunting.

He arrived late for a statistics class & copied 2 problems from the blackboard.

He thought it was homework
...& solved 2 of the most famous unsolved problems in statistics.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...

Drastic cuts to USAID has resulted in 750,000 deaths

...for what doesn't even amount to a rounding error in the budget

And it's only ONE of the horrifying costs that come from "running America like a business"

CANADA can help fill the gap -for our own sake

Today @thestar.com
Read, weep & share

XENOPHOBIA has NO place in CANADA

😡 ER waits aren't "due to immigrants"

They stem from CHRONIC UNDER-FUNDING -
-Acute hospital beds
-Alternate care beds
-Home care
-Hospital staff
-Housing

BEWARE of politicians SHIFTING BLAME to our most vulnerable

🕊️ 🍁 🕊️

x.com/raghu_venugo...

YouTube video by Builders Carl Sagan gave a warning in 1996 that feels even more urgent today. #Politics #Democracy #Shorts

✨ CARL SAGAN: 3 WARNINGS

1. Education teaches critical thinking
...without it, they're easily manipulated

2. Scientific literacy is essential for informed political decision making

3. Modern education risks destroying curiosity

youtu.be/YSC8hKotwcc

Surgeon general nominee and ally of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., moves to Senate confirmation The U.S. Senate is holding a confirmation hearing today for wellness influencer Casey Means, the Trump administration’s pick for surgeon general

Casey Means - the next SURGEON GENERAL???

- Left her residency for alternative medicine
- Doesn't have an active medical license
-Endorses raw milk
-Echoes RFK Jr's anti-vax rhetoric
-Sells nutritional supplements

More DARK times ahead...

www.scientificamerican.com/article/onli...

Dr. Raj Sherman on X: "Dear Fellow Albertans, This letter is written not as a partisan, but as an emergency physician who has cared for more than 100,000 Albertans, a former MLA, and someone who has devoted a working life to this province. Across Alberta, the strain is obvious. Housing is scarce." / X Dear Fellow Albertans, This letter is written not as a partisan, but as an emergency physician who has cared for more than 100,000 Albertans, a former MLA, and someone who has devoted a working life to this province. Across Alberta, the strain is obvious. Housing is scarce.

Immigrants did NOT...

-Break Canada's healthcare system
-Tear up family doctor contracts
-Close hospital beds

Nor did they...
-Dismantle community care
-Under-build housing, assisted living & long-term care

Politicians did.

x.com/RajSherman/s...

Statistics Say Large Pandemics Are More Likely Than We Thought Most people are likely to experience an extreme pandemic like COVID-19 in their lifetime, a new study shows.

The next pandemic isn't an "IF"
...it's a "WHEN"

Risk is RISING due to

🌕Global warming increases diseases spread

🔪 Global health & surveillance are being slashed

🐷Industrial farming /animal crowding
= more human contact --> spillover

globalhealth.duke.edu/news/statist...

Donovan Vincent: How does the media handle a mass shooting when the assailant is transgender? Media that didn't mention the shooter's sexual identity in the headlines make the correct decision.

Of 510 U.S. mass shootings...

<1% were committed by transgender assailats

1% of the population identifies as transgender

Reality check:
👉Transgender people are FAR likelier to have been assaulted.
👉The risk? 1 in 2

😰 🌈 🕊️

www.thestar.com/opinion/publ... via @torontostar

U.S. Health Officials Defend Rejection of Moderna’s Flu Vaccine

mRNA vaccines have saved MILLIONS of lives

Yet HHS has

❌ Cancelled $600 million to develop a 💉 against bird flu
🔪 Cut $500 million of funding from mRNA projects
🤰/🧸 Narrowed criteria on who qualifies for Covid 💉
🦠 Refused to review a recent mRNA flu💉 study

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/h...

Health Minister Marjorie Michel called Bill S-5 a 'critical step towards a more connected health-care system that supports all Canadians,' in a press release on Feb. 4

In today's roundup:

Canada must take lead in fighting health misinformation as vaccine hesitancy rises and U.S. pulls back from WHO, say sector experts www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/0... ⦸ @hilltimes.com
⤷ canadahealthwatch.ca 🍁

No excuses, Ontario

Let your voice be heard - comment to the Toronto Star

Gift link

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Iris Gorfinkel: Measles outbreak more proof we didn’t need for a province-wide vaccine registry A modern vaccine registry would show which children are overdue for shot and which communities are most at risk. In just a few clicks, clinicians anywhere in Ontario could see

I can’t believe we still rely on yellow cards

…after thousands of deaths from Covid & the biggest measles outbreak in decades

Have we le’arned nothing?
This makes NO sense.

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Pregnant and bearing the burden of measles outbreaks in Canada [See related article at www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.250606][1] In this issue of CMAJ , Science and colleagues summarize the latest information on the management of measles exposures in pregna...

Planning a PREGNANCY?

Make sure you're IMMUNE to MEASELS
BEFORE you conceive.

OUTCOMES of maternal measles infections:
🏥 4 in 5 hospitalized
🧸 1 in 4 premature birth
😰 1 in 5 pregnancy loss / fetal death

www.cmaj.ca/content/197/...

Dr. Gorfinkel discusses what actually works in treating chronic pain Chronic pain is common, complex and often poorly treated.  Our health contributor Dr. Iris Gorfinkel shares an update on what actually works, from movement and mindset to acupuncture, massage and heat...

CHRONIC PAIN - Natural Strategies

BETTER than placebo:
-Exercise #1 esp'ly w/ Pilates, yoga or tai chi
-Massage- short term
-Acupuncture- esp'ly for nerve pain
-Heat

NOT:
-Acetaminophen
-NSAIDs (ibuprofen/naproxen)
-Opioids
-Ice

🎧 8 min listen
www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

Expert insight: U.S. withdrawal from WHO could affect global health - Western News History professor Mitchell L. Hammond explains how the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization could affect global health and disease threats.

HORRIFYING -
Dismantling USAID & cancelling >80% of aid caused ~750,000 deaths by mid-2025

🧸Most were children
⌛️ Many died within the first year

😰 Preventable deaths were mainly from:
- HIV, TB, malaria
- Maternal & fetal deaths
- Malnutrition

news.westernu.ca/2026/01/u-s-...

What's MOST STUNNING about the collapse of the U.S. isn't the greed of the billionaires.

It's the LOYALTY of the POOR, even as their
-Belief in expertise demolished
-Benefits were slashed
-Healthcare was gutted
-Rights were stripped

RFK, Jr. just claimed the keto diet can cure schizophrenia. Here’s what the science says Preliminary studies suggest that a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet could reduce schizophrenia symptoms in some people, but claiming it’s a cure is misleading, experts say

More disinformation in a long lineup

RFK Jr has the AUDACITY to suggest a keto diet cures schizophrenia.

I’m DISGUSTED at the depths to which power-hungry leaders sink.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/rfk-...

Remind you of someone?

Jeff Bezos gutted the Washington Post. Can he revive it? Billionaire hopes that culling hundreds of journalists will stem heavy losses and refocus the struggling newspaper

The Washington Post fired ~300 of its ~800 journalists.

It's one of the BIGGEST single-day cullings at a US news organisation in recent memory.

😰 "Democracy Dies in Darkness" is dying.

www.ft.com/content/f430...

Federal Vaccine Advisers Take Aim at Covid Shots

The point isn’t vaccine safety

It never was.

It’s killing off belief in expertise …to empower the few.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/h...

Iris Gorfinkel: Canada’s most dangerous drug has been identified, and it’s not opioids Compared to other drugs, alcohol rated highest for its physical health harms and led the pack for impairing mental functioning, causing dependence and triggering withdrawal. It also topped the list

Canada was a GLOBAL leader on TOBACCO WARNINGS on cigarettes

Alcohol warnings would also SAVE LIVES

...so WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG❓

BE HEARD
📢 COMMENT at The Toronto Star link below ↙️ www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... viaorontostar

The end of Canadian medicare? Alberta legislation opens the door to U.S. health care - CCPA Alberta’s two-tier health care legislation ends single-payer public health care and puts Canadian medicare at risk

🚨CONFLICT of INTEREST🚨

Alberta's BILL 11 shifts care to PRIVATE, FOR-PROFIT centres ...where facilities & clinicians EARN MORE

The RESULT?
⤵️workers in the PUBLIC system
⤴️Public waits
⤴️Pressure to PAY UP for sooner service

@alonghurst.bsky.social
www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Iris Gorfinkel: Canada most dangerous drug has been identified and it’s not opioids Compared to other drugs, alcohol rated highest for its physical health harms and led the pack for impairing mental functioning, causing dependence and triggering withdrawal. It also topped the list

Alcohol bottles have NO warning labels.

Not ONE WORD about serving sizes, calories or health harms

Information saves lives
…so how long will government policy take to catch up?

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

The CBC is CRITICAL in pushing back against disinformation.

Yet Canada ranks 6th out of the G7 countries
for per‑capita public broadcaster funding

CBC gets $33.66 - VERSUS- the G7 avg $62.20

It's also the most trusted media, according to Pollara -
CBC 72% trusted
CTV 67%
Global 65%

Nipah virus fact sheet WHO fact sheet on Nipah virus, including information on transmission, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and WHO's work in this area.

NIPAH VIRUS

-Animal➡️Human↔️Human⬅️Infected food
-Fever, headache, cough, sore throat, vomiting & shortness of breath➡️encephalitis
-Currently in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, the Philippines & Singapore
-No treatment/vaccine
-Mortality rate 40-75%

www.who.int/news-room/fa...