Harbour House Saltspring Island

Mapping a New Course to Defeat Tuberculosis

The story line is reliable, says Dr. Kevin Patterson.

"Granny starts coughing" and "losing weight" and then the "night sweats" start.

It sounds like a bad case of the flu and at first that's what it feels like. "It's not something that falls on you like a ton of bricks, like other infections might, it's usually a slow moving process," he says.

Granny doesn't like going to the doctor so she puts up with "the flu" for two months, until she's "lost 30 pounds."

When she starts coughing up blood, she finally gives in. By that time, the grandkids are coughing too.

"I don't know the death rate, but it certainly is regularly lethal," says Patterson. He's speaking of tuberculosis, a disease that most Canadians never encounter except perhaps in a storybook set long ago. Hasn't TB long been banished from developed countries like Canada?

No it hasn't. Canada's TB incidence rate was 4.8 cases for every 100,000 people in 2009, a bit better than Australia (6.4 per 100,000) and a bit worse than the U.S. (4.1 per 100,000).

But TB in some of Canada's First Nations communities is far more prevalent. The rate among Aboriginals living on reserves, in fact, is 31 times higher than among non-Aboriginal Canadians, while among the Inuit the rate is 185 times higher, according to evidence presented for a 2010 report by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.

And Patterson is all too correct that tuberculosis kills. One out of 25 First Nations TB cases ended in death in Canada between 1990 and 2000, according to Health Canada. Older Aboriginal people are particularly vulnerable; one in five with TB over the age of 75 died.

"Tuberculosis is fundamentally a flag for poverty" says Patterson, who knows first hand. Every year since 1995, he has spent a few weeks working in northern Inuit communities. Tuberculosis, he says, is "a barometer of social privilege and the fact that no TB exists in the south among Caucasians, for all intents and purposes, and that it's highly prevalent among the reservations and among the Inuit is just the most graphic evidence of the extent of the disparity.

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Accommodation

Hastings House 

This waterfront country house and cottages, rests on 22 acres in Salt Spring’s Ganges Harbour.  Enjoy afternoon tea in the guest house, dine at the fabulous onsite restaurant and enjoy time at their spa. Roam the gardens and observe the art work, or take an easy walk into the village.  Each morning you will wake up to a hamper of coffee, and muffins, their breakfasts are certainly hearty, and Chef Marcel Kauer works with local ingredients such as Salt Spring Lamb and fresh herbs from the garden to compliment the local and international selection of wines.  The hotel is soon to be a Relais and Chateau property, elevating the already high standards.

There are also many cottages available to rent, as well as other hotels and Bed and Breakfast, but I have yet to explore further. Check for listings  here.

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