Each week, journalists turn to Unity Health Toronto’s experts and programs to help make sense of our world. In case you missed it, here’s a recap of the headlines for the week of July 31-August 6.

‘We’re losing control’: Ultra-potent, unpredictable street opioids are claiming more lives in Canada

CTV National News on August 1, 2021

Interview with Karen McDonald

Canada’s street supply of opioids is becoming increasingly toxic, unpredictable and contaminated due to ultra-potent and deadly mixtures of fentanyl. “We’re absolutely losing control of the drug supply, and it’s causing people to die,” Karen McDonald, lead of the Toronto drug-checking service operated by St. Michael’s Hospital, tells CTV National News.

Also on CTV Your Morning

In a struggle with depression, ketamine offers hope, and more questions

The Globe and Mail on July 31, 2021

Interviews with Dr. Karim Ladha and Dr. Venkat Bhat

Doctors, researchers and entrepreneurs alike are starting to bring ketamine into the mainstream as a treatment for psychiatric illnesses – primarily to tackle treatment-resistant depression, but potentially also bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. In this essay in The Globe and Mail, Dr. Venkat Bhat and anesthesiologist Dr. Karim Ladha speak about St. Michael’s Hospital’s ketamine infusion program.

Looking to a post-pandemic Canada: What can we learn from the U.K.?

Maclean’s on August 3, 2021

Opinion piece co-written by Dr. Arthur Slutsky and Dr. Fahad Razak

Unlike the United Kingdom, Canadian jurisdictions should take a stepwise approach to dropping public health precautions over the next few weeks, write Dr. Arthur Slutsky and Dr. Fahad Razak. “Prudence and patience” will give Canada the time it needs to use the U.K. as a crystal ball for policy options, they write.

We can re-define Canada’s health systems because we already have

Toronto Star on August 1, 2021

Opinion piece co-written by Dr. Suzanne Shoush

In this opinion piece, Dr. Suzanne Shoush, family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital, writes that we must learn something from the experiences of those who bore the disproportionate impact of the pandemic. Dr. Shoush argues that the pandemic proved that we’re capable of changing our healthcare system: “When the pandemic forced us to pivot, our health systems learned quickly. This must continue,” she writes.

From the Front Lines – Dr. Cheng chats medical care in the COVID era

Toronto Guardian on August 5, 2021

Feature of Dr. Joan Cheng

In this feature in the Toronto Guardian, Dr. Joan Cheng, chief of the emergency department at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, reflects on how the medical community has dealt with the COVID-19, how the pandemic has changed medical care, and how it has impacted the medical community’s mental health.

Canada’s 4th COVID-19 wave is here. What will it look like?

CityNews Toronto on August 2, 2021

Interview with Dr. Fahad Razak

Dr. Fahad Razak tells CityNews Toronto there’s no denying Ontario is seeing the start of the fourth wave of COVID-19 driven by the delta variant, but what remains to be seen is how severe the fourth wave will be.