Up to 19 January 2020
These three columns give a broad overview of my approach
- 14 Nov 2014 “Health care a small part of true health”
- 28 December 2016 – Health-care reform needed on a grand scale
- 29 December 2016 – Good health lies outside Ministry of Health
My weekly columns are grouped in the following categories:
- General
- Population health promotion
- Healthy cities and communities
- Healthy built environments
- Transport and health
- Safe communities
- Nature and health
- Health, parks and recreation
- Healthy child development
- Healthy schools
- Healthy universities
- Healthy workplaces
- Healthy hospitals – see under health care system
- Mental health
- Health behaviours
- Arts and health
- Empowerment
- Retirement
- Healthy death
- Indigenous people’s health
- Governance for health
- Economics for health
- Measuring progress
- Social determinants of health
- Poverty and social inequity
- Food
- Housing
- Ecological determinants of health
- Climate change
- Pollution and ecotoxicity
- Resource depletion
- Species extinction
- Health care system
- Public health services
- Harm reduction
- Self-care
- Primary care
- Hospitals
- Adverse events/medical error
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General
- 20 December 2017 – Finding hope at the turning of the year
- 27 December 2017 – My Healthy New Year’s wish list
- 10 January 2018 – Society’s happiness is a serious business
- 17 January 2018 – Misery and health – The diseases of despair
- 8 April 2018 – The wonder drugs we really need
- 5 January 2020 – Key public health issues for the 2020s
- 12 January 2020 – The deepest health challenge of the 2020s (Published as ‘The deepest challenge to our health in 2020’)
Population health promotion
- 17 Dec 2014 – What makes us healthy? Hint: It’s not health care
- 15 July 2015 – More should be done to improve male health
- 28 October 2015 – How we keep Canada healthy is a great story
- 16 December 2015 – The turning of the year, coming of the light
- 23 December 2015 – Peace on Earth — and especially at home
- 30 December 2015 – Equity, sustainability needed for health
- 23 March 2016 – Poor, white, angry and unhealthy
- 17 August 2016 – Bouncing forward to a healthier, just future
- 29 December 2016 – Good health lies outside Ministry of Health
- 15 February 2017 – The new public health entrepreneurs
- 2 August 2017 – Public health and the new BC government
- 10 March 2019 – Time to shift the bell curve toward health
Healthy cities and communities
- 12 August 2015 – Hope for our health lies in local initiatives
- 3 February 2016 – Village in Borneo taught healthy-city lessons
- 11 February 2016 – Humans are officially an urban species
- 17 February 2016 – Making healthy cities takes holistic approach
- http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/trevor-hancock-making-healthy-cities-takes-holistic-approach-1.2174424
- 20 July 2016 – Many factors contribute to community’s health
- 27 July 2016 – Healthy-community visions show tranquility
- 3 August 2016 – Sailing safely through the winds of change
- 10 August 2016 – Imagining Victoria as a ‘one-planet’ region
- 27 October 2016 – Cities must be part of UN’s Urban Agenda
- 2 November 2016 – Municipal governments matter most
- 4 January 2017 – Building healthier communities in BC
- 18 January 2017 – Global issues require local thinking, efforts
- 30 August 2017 – Monitoring community well-being is complicated
Healthy built environments
- 19 Feb 2015 – Designers can influence health, well-being
- 11 November 2015 – Let’s make some noise about all that noise
- 22 November 2017 – Urban sprawl detrimental to public health
- 15 July 2018 – Public health and urban planning are natural partners
- 22 July 2018 – We can create healthy built environments
- 29 July 2018 – Tools for healthier built environments
- 5 August 2018 – Healthy homes – The basics and beyond
- 12 August 2018 – Making homes truly healthy
- 28 October 2018 – What about the right to live in a quiet community?
- 30 June 2019 – Highrises are not the answer (Published as ‘Urban villages can combat ugly sprawl)
Transport and health
- 11 March 2015 – Public transit is good for public health
- 18 March 2015 – Reducing transport would improve health
- 6 April 2016 – Speed injures and it kills, Minister Stone
- 15 November 2017 – Build telecommute centres, not interchanges
Safe communities
- 26 July – What does it mean to be a safe community?
- 9 August 2017 – Safe communities prevent ‘accidental’ injuries
- 16 August 2017 – More alcohol means more injury
- 23 August 2017 – Prevent violence with compassion
- 26 May 2019 – Why is boxing still not banned?
- 1 September 2019 – Tyler’s story – The price of failure (Published as ‘Report adds up the price of failure)
Nature and health
- 22 April 2015 – Bringing nature to people improves health
- 29 April 2015 – Children need nature; nature needs children
- 6 May 2015 – Arts, nature and well-being are all connected
- 28 September 2016 – Reverence for nature is linked to our health
- 3 January 2018 – Connecting to our past and to nature
- 11 March 2018 – Our health depends on revering, not reviling nature
- 18 March 2018 – Solastalgia: The painful result of reviling of nature
- 4 November 2018 – The Sidney Summit and the One Planet Region
- 16 December 2018 – Solstice a timely reminder of our place in the universe
- 15 December 2019 – Awe and peace: The spiritual value of nature (Published as ‘Recognizing the spiritual value of nature’)
Health, parks and recreation
- 24 June 2015 – We are too risk-averse for our own good
Healthy child development
- 1 September 2019 – Tyler’s story – The price of failure (Published as ‘Report adds up the price of failure)
- 8 September 2019 – Tyler’s story – Early support is vital (Published as ‘Early support for children is essential)
- 15 September 2019 – The price of societal neglect of children (Published as ‘The price of society’s neglect of kids’)
Healthy schools
Healthy universities
- 2 July 2015 – How healthy are universities and colleges?
- 8 July 2015 – Making our universities and colleges healthy
Healthy workplaces
Healthy hospitals – see under health care system
Mental Health
- 20 September 2017 – Look upstream to improve mental health
- 27 September 2017 – Good mental health needs good start in life
- 4 October 2017 – Creating mentally healthy communities
- 25 March 2018 – Does mental health matter most?
- 19 August 2018 – Loneliness a growing public-health concern
- 6 January 2019 – The intangible gifts that keep on giving
Health behaviours
- 2 December 2018 – Don’t overlook the tobacco addiction epidemic
- 27 October 2019 – How do tobacco execs sleep at night?
Arts and health
- 24 Dec 2014 – Singing together is good for our health
- 6 May 2015 – Arts, nature and well-being are all connected
- 13 May 2015 – Beauty needs to be part of health equality
- 10 June 2015 – Dance your way into a healthy old age
Empowerment
- 2 March 2016 – Good health depends upon empowerment
- 9 March 2016 – Empowerment for health as simple as ABCD
- 16 March 2016 – Lessons from Brazil about empowerment
Retirement
- 25 May 2016 – Retiring at age 65 might not be best for you
- 1 June 2016 – Is retirement a healthy choice? That depends
- 8 June 2016 – Early retirement can lead to an earlier death
Healthy death
- 11 Feb 2015 – To die a healthy death is not an oxymoron
- 11 May 2016 – Healthy death and palliative-care physicians
- 22 March 2017 – Communities support those who are dying
Indigenous people’s health
- 17 June 2015 – Resilience and the health of First Nations
- 30 March 2016 – We have time to learn from history
- 9 November 2016 – An invasive species: Who, me?
- 23 June 2019 – Indigenous perspectives on health (Published as ‘The benefits of a holistic approach to health’)
Governance for health
- 31 Dec 2014 – A health resolution for the B.C. government
- http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/trevor-hancock-a-health-resolution-for-the-b-c-government-1.1700395#sthash.R7gU0rfH.dpuf
- 29 November 2017 – Many ministries could be Ministry of Health
- 15 April 2015 – ‘Whole government’ health approach needed
- 20 May 2015 – Note for politicians: First, do no harm
- 3 June 2015 – Taxes are the price we pay for civilization
- 19 August 2015 – How about health as an election issue?
- 26 August 2015 – Human well-being should come first
- 2 September 2015 – Policies should focus on basic needs
- 9 September 2015 – Good health requires environmental security
- 16 September 2015 – Taxation should maximize human wellbeing
- 14 October 2015 – Push parties for health, human development
- 21 October 2015 – Beyond voting, democracy is good for health
- 27 April 2016 – Manifesto is leaping into a healthier future
- 4 May 2016 – Trans-Pacific agreement bad for our health
- 23 November 2016 – Trump’s ‘ignore-ance’ will harm our health
- 15 March 2017 – Toward a BC framework for wellbeing
- 14 June 2017 – BC should protect our future wellbeing
- 21 June 2017 – Let’s plan with the seventh generation in mind
- 5 July 2017 – If we want to save lives, control alcohol
- 19 July 2017 – We are being marketed to death
- 18 October 2017 – Seeking common vision and common action
- 29 November 2017 – Many ministries could be Ministry of Health
- 6 Dec 2017 – Other Ministries should focus on health
- 13 December 2017 – The business of government in the 21st century
- 24 January 2018 – Pandora’s box and the Canada Pension Plan
- 18 February 2018 – Doing well, but doing much harm
- 2 September 2018 – Our systems inevitably lead to bad choices
- 9 September 2018 – We don’t pay the full cost of goods and services
- 16 September 2018- Change the values that shape our systems
- 23 September 2018 – Systematic denial harms our health
- 30 September 2018 – One planet questions for candidates
- 25 November 2018 – Hold politicians accountable for ‘ignore-ance’
- 3 March 2019 – Governance failures behind our Silent Spring
- 24 March 2019 – Senate needs to protect our health and environment
- 31 March 2019 – Futures thinking can pay off
- 7 April 2019 – We face alternative health futures
- 14 April 2019 – ‘Anticipatory democracy’ for a healthier future for all
- 28 April 2019 – Time to think beyond the next election
- 5 May 2019 – Move from denial to protest to building better mousetraps
- 2 June 2019 – Green New Deal a pact for the future
- 22 September 2019 – Our health should be an election issue
- 13 October 2019 – Elect a health and wellbeing government
- 20 October 2019 – A lunatic mainstream, or a sensible fringe?
- 3 November 2019 – It’s time to be responsible ancestors
- 22 December 2019 – We’re spending our kids inheritance
- 29 December 2019 – We need faith in a sustainable future (Published as ‘Faith in a sustainable future is vital)
- 19 January 2020 – Small is beautiful — and essential
Economics for health
- 27 May 2015 – Good health requires different economics
- 27 January 2016 – Profit should not come before public health
- 20 April 2016 – Gambling brings social, economic inequality
- 7 December 2016 – Jobs v the environment – The health angle
- 11 January 2017 – Making money while creating health
- 7 June 2017 – From endless growth to a steady state
- 9 December 2018 – Charity is big – but is that a good thing?
- 9 June 2019 – At last – a Wellbeing Budget (Published as ‘New Zealand leads the way by focusing on quality of life’)
- 10 November 2019 – Economic growth is malignant
- 17 November 2019 – Economic growth isn’t necessary for good health
Measuring progress
- 28 Jan 2015 – GDP is not a useful measure of well-being
- 4 Feb 2015 – There’s more to progress than the GDP
- 4 November 2015 – Measuring what matters in BC
- 1 April 2018 – We need progress on Genuine Progress
Social determinants of health
- 6 September 2017 – Why did Mary die: Dig deep to find causes
Poverty and social inequity
- 7 Jan 2015 – – We simply can’t afford the costs of poverty
- 6 July 2016 – Poverty serious detriment to public health
- 14 December 2016 – Governments fail to provide necessaries of life
- 25 January 2017 – When inequality becomes unacceptable
- 29 March 2017 – BC’s pro-poverty policy is sickening and costly
- 5 April 2017 – ‘Mincome’ is pro-health and against poverty
- 12 April 2017 – Child poverty is outrageous and unhealthy
- 6 October 2019 – Poverty and health is an election issue (Published as ‘Let’s take poverty and health seriously)
- 24 November 2019 – Economic growth won’t fix poverty
- 1 December 2019 – Poverty and the Olympian fallacy
Food
- 14 Jan 2015 – BC should guarantee right to food security
- 25 March 2015 – Portion size: The elephant in the room
- 23 September 2015 – Agriculture policy should include health
- 6 January 2016 – Let’s put healthy food on conference table
- 13 July 2016 – Food policy must address the issue of meat
- 21 December 2016 – Good news on the Good Food front
- 1 March 2017 – Healthy corner stores – well, why not?
- 12 July 2017 – Protect our kids from unhealthy advertising
- 27 January 2019 – Planning to feed a One Planet Region
Housing
Ecological determinants of health
- 21 Jan 2015 – Our health depends upon a healthy planet
- 22 July 2015 – Planetary health is the 21st-century challenge
- 29 July 2015 – Accelerating changes are bad for health
- 5 August 2015 – Sustainable development benefits our health
- 13 April 2016 – We must say no to old-paradigm solutions
- 10 August 2016 – Imagining Victoria as a ‘one-planet’ region
- 1 February 2017 – Nature is speaking, but are we listening?
- 8 February 2017 – Our descendants need protection from us
- 8 March 2017 – Thirteen municipalities, but only one planet
- 28 June 2017 – My life in the Anthropocene
- 11 February 2018 – Alberta proclaims its right to pollute
- 4 March 2018 – Is the Kinder Morgan pipeline a health hazard in B.C.?
- 15 April 2018 – It’s in national, global interest to stop Kinder Morgan pipeline
- 3 June 2018 – Let’s shed a couple of planets’ worth of ecological footprint
- 10 June 2018 – Shedding more light on our growing ecological footprint
- 17 June 2018 – Meeting SDGs in Greater Victoria
- 30 June 2018 – Finding hope for the future
- 8 July 2018 – Population growth only part of our ecological problem
- 18 November 2018 – The environment should be front-page news
- 23 December 2018 – Peace with the Earth, goodwill to all our relations
- 30 December 2018 – A New Year, a (Green) New Deal?
- 3 February 2019 – Many global health threats linked to global change
- 17 February 2019 – Why we still need to love this planet
- 16 June 2019 – Daunting challenges, endless opportunities (Published as ‘The need for change can provide opportunities’)
- 28 July 2019 – Ooops, we have overshot the Earth’s capacity
- 4 August 2019 – One Planet Communities – More than a climate change strategy (Published as ‘One planet’ communities look forward)
- 11 August 2019 – One Planet Saanich – Thinking globally, acting locally (Published as ‘One Planet’ thinks globally, acts locally)
Climate change
- 4 Mar 2015 – Climate change poses severe health risks
- 29 June 2016 – Assess health impact of our energy systems
- 24 August 2016 – Pipeline expansion must be rejected for health reasons
- 5 October 2016 – Governments fail the climate math test
- 24 June 2018 – Carbon tax is good for our health
- 30 June 2018 – Finding hope for the future
- 8 July 2018 – Population growth only part of our ecological problem
- 7 October 2018 – Political heads buried in the (tar)sand
- 10 February 2019 – Local councils are right to sue fossil fuel industry
- 21 April 2019 – Neros are fiddling while Earth burns
- 18 August 2019 – Facts matter in discussing fossil fuels
- 25 August 2019 – Distorting climate science is bad for our health (Published as ‘Distorting science is bad for our health’)
Pollution and ecotoxicity
- 25 October 2017 – Protecting health in our chemical society
- 1 November 2017 – Pollution and health: A neglected issue
- 8 November 2017 – Pollution is not inevitable cost of prosperity
- 26 August 2018 – Better living through green chemistry
- 24 February 2019 – Silent Spring is getting closer
Resource depletion
Species extinction
- 22 June 2016 – Loss of biodiversity is a public-health emergency
- 9 November 2016 – An invasive species: Who, me?
- 10 November 2018 – We are making Earth spineless
- 29 September 2019 – Extinction a worthy election issue
- 8 December 2019 – First they came for the whales . . .
Health care system
- 1 April 2015 – Putting the health in health care
- 13 January 2016 – Our health system should fund dental care
- http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/trevor-hancock-our-health-system-should-fund-dental-care-1.2149542
- 20 January 2016 – Ministers: Turn the health system on its head
- 24 February 2016 – Weak and muddled thinking on MSP premium
- 7 September 2016 – We need to protect our health-care system
- 14 September 2016 – Health-care system doesn’t work as a system
- 21 September – Make nurse practitioners a campaign pledge
- 16 November 2016 – The secret of medicine is masterly inactivity
- 28 December 2016 – Health-care reform needed on a grand scale
- 13 January 2019 – Island Health must focus on how we live
Public health services
- 25 Feb 2015 – Be grateful for the pleasures of the flush
- 7 October 2015 – We should lift the siege on public health
- 12 October 2016 – Public needs independent health officers
- 19 October 2016 – What happened to an ounce of prevention?
- 13 September 2017 – Public health should not be part of health care
- 22 April 2018 -Public health is biased, and you should be glad
- 19 May 2019 – Why don’t governments care about public health?
Harm reduction
- 30 September 2015 – The ‘Great War’ on drugs: Time for a re-think
- 18 May 2016 – Opioid deaths are a massive ethical failure
- 30 November 2016 – National inquiry is needed on opioid crisis
- 25 February 2018 – Looking upstream at the opioid crisis
Self-care
- 8 April 2015 – Self-care most neglected part of health system
- 20 January 2019 – Province needs to invest in self-care
Primary care
- 21 September 2016 – Make nurse practitioners a campaign pledge
- 23 February 2017 – Primary care is the heart of healthcare
- 19 April 2017 – Reverse 45 years of neglect of health centres
- 11 October 2017 – Should we try social prescribing?
- 4 February 2018 – Family doctors deserve more of our respect
- 7 July 2019 – Fixing primary care?- Focus on the demand
- 14 July 2019 – Fixing primary care? Create a prevention strategy (Published as ‘A prevention strategy can fix primary care’)
- 21 July 2019 – Fixing primary care – Help people help themselves and others
Hospitals
- 18 November 2015 – Hospitals should be model healthy settings
- 25 November 2015 – Can our hospitals be healing environments?
- 2 December 2015 – Health-care facilities reduce harm to planet
- 9 December 2015 – Few Canadian hospitals are ‘baby-friendly’
Adverse events/medical error
- 15 June 2016 – Medical error is a public-health emergency
- 16 November 2016 – The secret of medicine is masterly inactivity
- 30 November 2016 – National inquiry is needed on opioid crisis
