EDMONTON — The spot. Every day, it would stare back at me in the mirror’s reflection. It had always been there, I thought. With time, it became a part of me, but in the fall of 2020, skin cancer and I parted ways.

As journalists, we research the statistics, inform our audience about the risks and often provide critical awareness about a variety of topics. I know what skin cancer is. I steer clear of the sun’s most harmful rays. I wear sunscreen. I never use tanning beds. I did my part, I thought, but somehow, it still wasn’t enough.

My cancer was Melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. It can be fatal.

“Melanoma causes 90 per cent of the skin cancer deaths in people under 50 years of age, so definitely in our younger population, it can play a role in their health,” warns my dermatologist, Dr. Russell Wong.

However, if detected early enough, there’s an 85 per cent survival rate. Fortunately, my Melanoma was relatively superficial. We caught it at Stage 1. I have my sister-in-law and husband to thank for that. The only reason I got things checked out was because they noticed “the spot” on my left collarbone was changing.

“There’s an ugly duckling sign that some people talk about. If there’s a mole or spot that doesn’t look like any of your other spots, that’s something that should be checked out,” says Dr. Wong of Rejuvenation Dermatology, directing us to something called the A,B,C,D,Es of Melanoma.

A = asymmetry – one half of the mole doesn’t look like the other

B = border – the edges of the mole are jagged

C = colour — multiple different colours

D = diameter – anything greater than 6mm (size of a pencil eraser)

E = evolution – growing or changing

If any of these concern you, Dr. Wong says it is crucial you contact your doctor right away. With one in every three cancers diagnosed in Canada being skin cancer, this is the majority of his practice.

“The studies right now show that worldwide skin cancer rates are going up. I think this is multi-factorial. We have better technology now, we have better record keeping, better tools to diagnose skin cancer,” says Dr. Wong. “In my practice, we have a huge skin cancer population that takes up a significant part of my day.”

I first saw Dr. Wong in October for a biopsy. Two weeks later, on Oct. 13, I got the diagnosis. I didn’t have much time to absorb the news as I was back in the office the next day for surgery.

It didn’t take long, just over an hour to remove my cancer. Today, I’m cured, but far from out of the woods. Because I’ve had cancer and I’m fair skinned, I’m at a much higher risk for it to return.

“After a diagnosis of skin cancer we follow up with our patients every three to six months to reassess the area and make sure there’s no reoccurrence and then make sure there’s no new spots coming up.” says Dr. Wong.

This will be my reality, for the rest of my life but I know how lucky I am. My journey didn’t involve chemotherapy or radiation; in fact, I was back at work the day after my surgery.

So as summer approaches, please get your share of vitamin D responsibly, wear a broad spectrum sunscreen to block the UVA/UVB rays, avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and wear a hat, protective clothing and sunglasses.

Skin cancer is preventable.

EDMONTON — More than 60 per cent of eligible Albertans have now received at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to the province’s Friday update. 

That level of first dose vaccinations means the province could move to Stage 2 of its reopening plan as soon as June 10, provided the threshold of fewer than 500 COVID-19 patients in hospital is also met. 

More than half of the province’s total population has also now received at least a first dose, about 2.2 million Albertans. More than 363,000 are fully immunized.

The province also reported 512 new cases on Friday, with active cases falling below 9,000, down to 8,760, for the first time since April 1.

Seven more Albertans, ranging in age from their 50s to 70s, were also reported to have died Tuesday. There have now been 2,206 deaths due to COVID-19 in Alberta since the start of the pandemic.

Stage 2 of the reopening plan increases the number allowed at outdoor social gatherings to up to 20 people and also includes a return of in-person dining at restaurants, some indoor recreation and the resumption of youth and adult sports, among other changes.

EDMONTON — Edmonton firefighters battled a large fire involving multiple homes in north Edmonton.

Fire crews were dispatched after a garage fire was reported at 1:37 p.m. Friday in the area of 85 Street and 179 Avenue. Edmonton Fire Rescue Services (EFRS) arrived within five minutes with approximately 35 to 40 firefighters.

Smoke is seen from the fire affecting multiple homes in Lake District on Friday afternoon (Source: Whisky Todd/Twitter)

Neighbouring homes were evacuated and everyone was able to get out safely, said Brittany Lewchuk, EFRS communications advisor.

EMS assessed two people on scene and transported them to hospital with burns.

According to Lewchuk, three homes are a “total loss” and a garage is heavily damage. At least four other buildings have exterior damage to their siding from the flames.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control at 2:36 p.m. Crews remain on scene as they extinguish hot spots, Lewchuk said.

Tod Roberts, EFRS district chief, told CTV News Edmonton in an interview crews believe the fire started in the garage of the middle house of the now destroyed three homes.

“By the time the fire was called in it was already significantly going,” he said. “We did not get a call for an initial small fire. Neighbours spotted a fire that was well underway already.

“The fire quickly grew,” he said. “Once the houses burned up, we were able to get control fairly quickly.”

He added that the wind propelled flames toward the other structures.

“The wind was entirely the game player here. Without the wind it would have been a different outcome for sure.”

Investigators are on scene searching for a cause.

EDMONTON — One day after Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced the province’s latest relaunch plan, some Edmonton business owners are feeling a sense of déja vu – while others say they’re being unfairly left behind.

As part of the Kenney government’s three-stage plan, beginning June 1, the removal of health measures in Alberta will begin; a strategy that’s dependent on increasing vaccination rates and decreasing hospitalizations. 

With that date now set, restaurants are starting the process of opening patios, and hair salons are once again booking appointments – but with gyms and fitness classes left off the reopening list until Stage 2, one gym owner tells CTV News Edmonton the new plan doesn’t make sense.

“We don’t understand,” Shara Vigeant, owner of SVPT Fitness & Athletics, said.

“You can go get eyelashes done and be face to face with someone for three hours,” she said, “but you can’t meet your trainer one on one for a three-metre distanced, masked session?”

‘THIS IS THE TIME WHEN WE NEED IT’

As gyms await the nod to reopen as part of Stage 2, Wednesday’s announcement meant at least one Edmonton salon was already kicking into high gear.

Concrete Blonde Hair and Body owner Chad Stewart says the yo-yo effect of closing and reopening through the pandemic has been bad for business. Still, he’s pleased to be opening once again.

“It’s a lot of work trying to get everything put together very quickly,” Stewart told CTV News Edmonton. “It’s gonna be a gong-show… In a very good way.”

Stewart’s learned some lessons from previous provincial shutdowns – this time his salon has set up a waiting list. 

He says this reopen couldn’t come soon enough, as an influx of businesses applying for financial assistance has caused a bottleneck in the system.

“This is the time when we need it,” said Stewart. “June 1 coming up. We get to open, but rent is due June 1.”

As for patio season, it may already have arrived in Alberta’s capital city, but beginning next Tuesday it will also be allowed.

As of June 1, patio dining can resume at restaurants with a maximum of four people per table.

In a bid to salvage some revenue until indoor dining returns, Chop Steakhouse added temporary patios to its Edmonton locations before the last shutdown.

Chop Steakhouse regional manager Brad German told CTV News Edmonton his restaurant’s west Edmonton location spent nearly $9,000 on building its patio — money he doesn’t believe will be recouped in a single patio season.

“We had to do it,” said German. “It was to save jobs and keep people earning their rent money.”

German says with all the forced closures and subsequent reopenings over the last year, he’s cautiously optimistic that this time could be different.

“To hear that there’s this optimistic future ahead of us, and relatively quickly, is very exciting for us.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Carlyle Fiset

EDMONTON — The plan to turn Alberta from the COVID-19 hotspot of North America to fully open in eight weeks is aggressive, some Edmonton doctors believe.

They used that word – aggressive – individually and repeatedly during interviews with CTV News on Wednesday after hearing the province’s plan to ease restrictions according to vaccination and hospital rates.

The plan could see Alberta fully open by July if 70 per cent of its eligible population is vaccinated with one dose – or leave its hospital system and public vulnerable to a fourth wave in the fall, the doctors said.

“It’s senselessly aggressive in terms of the timing, and it’s reckless in terms of the reopenings that are being discussed,” Dr. James Talbot commented, speaking on behalf of the Edmonton Medical Zone Staff Association’s pandemic planning committee.

In part, he and his committee co-chair, Dr. Noel Gibney, think that because of the pace at which the plan moves through phases while the public is only partially protected by either a first dose of vaccine or prior infection.

Premier Jason Kenney expects demand for first doses to fall halfway through June, but no part of his government’s reopening plan is dependent on the number of Albertans fully immunized.

However, the doctors noted, only Stages 1 and 2 of reopening are tied to decreasing hospitalization numbers and the Edmonton zone continues to take COVID-19 patients from northern communities with lower hospital capacity. They pointed to the presence of the B.1.617 variant first identified in India in four of Alberta’s five health regions. The B.1.617 variant is considered 50 to 60 per cent more transmissible than the variant first identified by the United Kingdom, and less responsive to currently available vaccine.

“Put that into a situation where a significant proportion of the population haven’t had their second shot, and really people are not taking any precautions, and at the same time, we’re moving into this best summer ever,” Gibney said, “this is an ideal situation where I think we would find ourselves sometime late September, October, dealing with the start of a fourth wave.”

ALBERTA’S PLAN COMPARED TO OTHER PROVINCES

“I don’t think that’s it’s made up,” infectious diseases specialist Dr. Lynora Saxinger said of Kenney’s plan, “but I do think that it seems fairly, I guess, either optimistic or aggressive – depending on how you want to phrase it.”

Alberta’s plan appears among the most ambitious of the Canadian provinces. To the west, British Columbia has already kick started the reopening process. Like Alberta, its plan unfolds according to first-dose vaccination rates, but unlike Alberta, doesn’t publicly specifyCOVID-19 hospitalization targets. And whereas Alberta projects the earliest it could be fully open – without mask mandates or gathering caps – is July, the earliest B.C. predicts this happening is after the September long weekend.

Saskatchewan is eyeing moving to the second step on June 20 – which will mark three weeks since having 70 per cent of its population 30 or older vaccinated with one dose.

Meanwhile, Ontario plans to move much slower and enter Step 1 mid-June. Each step will be separated by at least three weeks. Similar to Alberta and B.C., Ontario’s Step 1 will be triggered by a 60 per cent first-dose vaccination rate amongst adults. The plan differs at Step 2, whose threshold is a 70 per cent first-dose vaccination rate and 20 per cent of the adult population fully vaccinated. A quarter of adult Ontarians would need to be fully immunized before it would relax most rules.

Ontario’s plan most aligns with advice from the Public Health Agency of Canada earlier in May that Canadians could resume normal summer activities, save events with large crowds, if 75 per cent of the population had received one dose and 20 per cent had received a second shot.

And Manitoba – which the Edmonton doctors pointed to as an example of being struck by a surge in variant cases – on Thursday brought in new public health orders.

Saxinger said, “Looking at the experience elsewhere, once you get above 50, 60 per cent immunized, it does change the shape of things fairly significantly, but I think there’s a couple of wild cards we need to keep in mind.”

Variant strains are one such wild card, she said, as are geographical pockets of lower vaccine uptake. Using hospitalization admissions as a trigger, which can lag two weeks, Saxinger said, may also create a situation of higher community transmission while the plan moves forward.

‘IT’S NOT A RACE’: DOCTOR

That Alberta will potentially reopen faster than other provinces – perhaps in time even to welcome international guests at the Calgary Stampede – was criticized by the NDP.

Kenney said vaccine and hospital ratesarejust the public-facing metrics of his plan, which also takes into account occupied ICU beds and natural immunity at an estimated 14 per cent.

“It’s very important for us when we’re putting out a policy framework like this, to as much as possible, keep it simple. Underlying these two metrics of hospitalizations and first dose vaccination is a lot of other statistical analysis,” the premier told reporters on Wednesday.

His health minister, Tyler Shandro, also defended the plan by asking the public to not overlook the phased process.

“Let’s talk facts here and remember that Step 1 is a thoughtful and safe and moderate step,” he told CTV News.

“It strikes me as being very political rather than being scientifically based,” Gibney told CTV News Edmonton.

His colleague, Talbot, added: “I can’t speak to the motivation or the private thoughts of people but I can tell you what the virus thinks.”

“To put it in terms that as a microbiologist make sense to me, we were the last jurisdiction except for Manitoba to bring this thing under control and we’re going to be the first to hand the reigns back to the virus so it can take control again.”

They suggested Alberta could have separated its stages with more time, like four weeks, or taken more steps before fully opening, or included second dose rates in the step triggers.

Gibney said: “It’s not a race as to which province can do this the fastest. And I’d remind any viewers out there that three weeks ago, Alberta had the highest rates of new cases per day of a population of any province or state in North America.”

He is skeptical Alberta can hit the reopening plan’s targets even as they are outlined.

“And I suspect that if they don’t meet those targets, rather than not move to the next step, they’ll change the targets.”​

SECOND DOSES

On Thursday, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said Alberta could announce the rollout of second doses as early as next week.

“We are looking closely at our available supply and shipments and we expect to be in a position soon to shorten the wait time between first and second doses,” Hinshaw said. “I expect that by early summer we will be able to offer second doses to the majority of Albertans in order to have not just that first dose but second dose.”

She explained the Open for Summer plan — which she says she supports — focused on first doses because that is Alberta’s immediate target but called full immunization an “essential and integral part of the plan.”

As of Thursday, Albertans at risk not having a protective response after one dose, like people on regular dialysis treatment, can book their second dose, Hinshaw announced.