Elizabeth May speaks to the need for greater access to Lyme literate physicians and other changes
Lyme advocate, MP, current Leader of the Green Party of Canada.
Thank you to everyone who helped promote awareness of The Quiet Epidemic global impact campaign by sharing CanLyme’s event on social media, watching the documentary, making a donation or participating in the live Q&A panel discussion. Enjoy the highlights of Elizabeth May, Lyme advocate, MP and current leader of the Green Party of Canada, from the live Q&A panel discussion held online May 28 2023.
Panel members
- Janet Sperling Entomologist, President, CanLyme
- Jim Wilson Past President and Founder, CanLyme
- Dr. Sarah Keating, Anatomic Pathologist, CanLyme Board Member
- Justin Wood Founder and CEO of Geneticks
- Elizabeth May MP, current Leader of the Green Party of Canada
- Q&A panel FAQ summary – The Quiet Epidemic
I would like to ask you, generally what brings you to the panel today? What are you hoping to advocate for, or are actively advocating for in the area of Lyme disease?
Like many of you, frustration that we haven’t made the changes we should’ve made by now despite obviously some evidence and levels of progress here and there. It doesn’t meet expectations. We (Canada) have more Lyme literate physicians than we used to, but we are not where we should be.
We continue not to see the progress that we intended to see with greater access to Lyme literate physicians and greater awareness. We’ve seen money flow into research but it’s largely been funneled towards those who are not necessarily on the same page of those of us that recognize that we don’t seem to have the breakthrough we need…
I’m not giving myself a big pat on the back for getting in legislation if it doesn’t make a difference. It was supposed to make a bigger difference in the life of people dealing with Lyme, it should have made a bigger difference in awareness and prevention but treatment and desperately identifying where we need research for treatment of those and so many, many Canadians dealing with Chronic Lyme. It’s not easily treatable when it becomes persistent, chronic and long Lyme.
Anecdotally, I can see we have made some progress but overall it’s wholly inadequate and I continue to speak directly with Jean-Yves Duclos, the Minister of Health and we did make some progress on the report that came from the Minister of Health in response to Public Health Agency of Canada, but more needs to be done.