January can be the cruellest month north of the 49th parallel; it is the height of the flu season, during which up to one in four Canadians will get sick. Influenza and resulting bacterial infections kill roughly 6,700 Canadians each year and send 75,000 to hospital. And tens of thousands more become less severely ill; those with jobs will miss about three days of work, on average, and when they do drag themselves back, their productivity will suffer for as much as two weeks. So preventing spread of the flu has substantial health and economic benefits. Enter the annual flu vaccination campaign. "We know vaccination decrease...

PHOTO: TOM MacGREGOR Staff and residents of the Kipnes Centre enjoy visiting Ramsay, one of two trained miniature ponies at the centre. Veterans in the new Dianne and Irving Kipnes Centre for Veterans in Edmonton may have trouble explaining to their families that there is a pony in their room. But it's true. Trained miniature ponies have been added to the menagerie at the home for 120 veterans on the former Canadian Forces Base Griesbach in north Edmonton. Buddy and Ramsay are two house-broken animals bred for their gentleness and ease around people. Though they have their own coral outside the centre with a shelter, they are brought into the centre to...

PHOTO: METROPOLIS STUDIO Your insurance company wants to know if you've ever had jaundice. Your children want information about a blood disease that runs in your family. You want to find out if you've ever been prescribed a medication that's now making headlines for long-term side effects. Unless you have a perfect memory, you likely can't recall these sorts of details off the top of your head. So where do you turn? The most likely place to find this information is in the medical records maintained by your family physician and by hospitals where you've received treatment. By law, every health care provider is required to maintain certain informat...