#maevegamble

BY MAEVE GAMBLE (FGJ ‘21) -- In a recent episode of the popular New York Times podcast The Daily, restaurant critic Tejal Rao described her experience losing her sense of smell after having Covid-19. “Any kind of meat made me feel a little bit queasy,” she said, noting the close connection between smell and taste. For Rao, popcorn felt “like foam, but with sharp bits in it.” Like many others who have lost their sense of smell to the disease, Rao set off on a journey to recover her ability to detect scent, ultimately landing on an approach known as smell therapy. In Rao’s case, it entailed repeatedly sniffing from jars of four spices — cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and cumin. When it comes to treating olfactory dysfunction, according to the podcast notes, smell therapy is “the only therapy proven to work.” READ MORE. 

BY MAEVE GAMBLE (FGJ ‘21) --  A Texas family’s house burned to the ground on January 15 because family members suffered from a common hallmark of COVID-19—the sudden, total loss of smell. READ MORE. 

BY MAEVE GAMBLE (FGJ ‘21) -- More than half of Canada’s young doctors may be women, but our hospitals have not kept pace with this gender shift, forcing breastfeeding physicians into shower stalls, bathrooms, hallways and makeshift lactation spaces. Rarely is there a semi-private space for them to pump their breasts or a secure place to store the milk; and time to do both is a premium. READ MORE. 

BY MAEVE GAMBLE (FGJ ‘21) --  Health care workers around the world have risen to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic with creative solutions, from 3D-printing face shields, ventilator parts and nasopharyngeal swabs, to repurposing home breathing machines as makeshift ventilators. Physicians and researchers in Canada are adapting health technologies to triage and monitor patients with COVID-19, too. READ MORE. 

BY MAEVE GAMBLE (FGJ ‘21) --  Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has had a rollercoaster ride of a year. Touted as a miracle cure for COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic, it finished the year plagued with concerns about adverse cardiac events. READ MORE. 

BY MAEVE GAMBLE (FGJ ‘21) --  COVID-19 “long-hauler” has worked itself into our vernacular, but a Canadian study is looking into exactly what that means. READ MORE. 

BY MAEVE GAMBLE (FGJ ‘21) --  Rachelle McCready has been a nursing educator for more than 20 years at the University Hospital intensive care unit (ICU) in London, Ont. At 57, she had no history of major medical issues. Last April, she was training nurses for the ICU in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and developed what she thought was a cold. She had a COVID swab done, it came back positive. READ MORE.

BY MAEVE GAMBLE (FGJ ‘21) --  Health Canada is investigating the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs – used to treat fever, pain and inflammation – at 20 weeks or later of pregnancy on the heels of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning that the drugs may cause rare but serious harm to unborn babies. READ MORE.