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Treatment and Rehabilitation (25)
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AlannaJulie Plourde 2009 25 minTaken in by a loving family at the age of eight weeks, Alanna grew up in the majestic wilderness of the Yukon mountains. Because her mother drank heavily during pregnancy, Alanna’s development was seriously compromised. She has fetal alcohol syndrome. She will never be like other kids.
Tackling the subject with sensitivity, Julie Plourde’s documentary speaks to the heart. Alanna is a wake-up call about a tragedy that’s largely underestimated by the public but of growing concern to health professionals around the world. In French with English subtitles. -
Bevel Up: Chapter 8 - ConclusionNettie Wild 2019 2 minStreet nurses Caroline Brunt and Liz James visit a recovering Becky and then head home.
*Watch the complete documentary.
*View all 10 educational playlists.
*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
The CircleMort Ransen 1967 57 minProduced in 1967, this black and white film is an inmate's view of Daytop, a drug treatment centre on Staten Island, New York, where addicts learn to get along without drugs. Uncompromising, often brutal group therapy sessions are designed to shake loose the excuses a victim makes for himself. The people and situations shown are authentic; only one actor was employed. The results obtained at Daytop are regarded by some psychiatrists as a breakthrough.
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Condition ImprovedStanley Jackson 1946 34 minAn account of the contribution of occupational therapy to the successful treatment of victims of accidents, disease and mental illness. Modern medical theory gives an important place to the patient's mental and emotional state as a factor in facilitating or delaying recovery. How occupational therapy assists in this aspect of medical treatment is illustrated.
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Canadian Screen Magazine No. 41945 10 minBig Liz Brings Home 12 000 Happy Canadians: Canadian soldiers return home from Europe on the S.S. Queen Elizabeth. Troop Carrier to Airliner: Military aircraft are converted for use as commercial airplanes. B.C. Salmon Run: Commercial salmon fishing and processing in British Columbia is shown. Vets Regain Efficiency with Artificial Limbs: Rehabilitation programs for Canadian veterans allow them to become proficient in the use of artificial limbs. Students Produce Art China in New Industry: In Woodstock, Ontario, high school students participate in local ceramic-ware production.
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Discussions in Bioethics: The Courage of One's ConvictionsGil Cardinal 1985 14 minIn this short film, a 17-year-old girl refuses medical treatment that will prolong her life due to religious convictions. Her decision remains firm despite the pleas of her physician, who begins to question who has the right to determine a person's life or death. This short film is one of a series of short, open-ended dramas designed to stimulate discussion of values and ethics in relation to modern technology.
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Daisy: The Story of a FaceliftMichael Rubbo 1983 57 minIn a probing yet playful approach to a sensitive subject, this documentary examines the values that prompt people to alter their looks through cosmetic surgery. Personal accounts of men and women, young and old, who have decided to change their bodies are counterbalanced by comments from professionals who explain the effects of physical appearance on our lives. The film focuses mainly on the experiences of Daisy de Bellefeuille, a frank and feisty woman who decides to counter middle age with a facelift. The film provides us with a front-row seat during a facelift operation, as well as a close-up look at the results.
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Donna's StoryDoug Cuthand 2001 50 minThis intimate documentary paints a portrait of one Cree woman who left life on the streets to re-emerge as a powerful voice counseling Indigenous adults and youth about abuse and addiction. Raised in foster homes and caught up in drugs and prostitution by the age of 13, Donna Gamble shares her exhilarating and tumultuous journey and what motivated her to turn her life around. Together with her mother and daughters, Donna is working to shatter the cycle of addiction that has plagued their family for generations.
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Eye Witness No. 74Jack Long & William Davidson 1955 11 minScientists of the Sea: A look at marine scientists at work in Esquimalt, British Columbia. Alcoholism: A New Approach: This film looks at the rehabilitation of alcoholics at Toronto's Brookside Clinic, part of the program of research, education and treatment of Ontario's Alcoholism Research Foundation.
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Eye Witness No. 401952 11 minThe Eye Witness series is a collection of short documentaries featuring Canadian news stories from the 1940s and '50s. This segment includes Prairie Harbour: The Port of Flowing Grain, a look at the lakehead cities of Fort William and Port Arthur, funnelling centres for western grain on its way to world markets. In Modern Miracle: Surgery is Safe, the appendectomy of patient Henry Brown demonstrates the advances in modern medicine. Co-Op Carpenters: Home-Made Community illustrates the principles behind the cooperative housing program for veterans in Carleton Heights near Ottawa.
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Eyes Front No. 22: Dentally Fit1945 9 minThe Canadian Army Dental Corps is responsible for the dental health of all Army, Navy and Air Force personnel.
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F.A.S.: When the Children Grow UpSharon Bartlett & Maria LeRose 2002 40 minWhen a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, she can do irreparable harm to her baby. This program explores the realities of living with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (F.A.S.) and partial F.A.S., called Fetal Alcohol Effects (F.A.E.), the leading causes of birth defects. The effects associated with F.A.S. continue even when children become adults.
This documentary tells the stories of three adults living with F.A.S., along with commentary from experts in the field. -
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of EmpathyElle-Máijá Tailfeathers 2021 2 h 4 minFollow filmmaker Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers as she creates an intimate portrait of her community and the impacts of the substance use and overdose epidemic. Witness the change brought by community members with substance-use disorder, first responders and medical professionals as they strive for harm reduction in the Kainai First Nation.
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Life and RadiationHugh O'Connor 1960 30 minThis short film explores the effects of atomic radiation on living things. It starts off with a discussion on the most familiar form of radiant energy (the sun) and goes on to include a demonstration of radiation. A discussion of the possible genetic alterations follows.
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A Matter of FatWilliam Weintraub 1969 1 h 38 minThis feature-length documentary follows a man as he sheds nearly half his body weight (63.5 kg) by complete starvation under hospital observation. The film explores what brought him to so desperate a course and catalogues what actions other overweight people are taking, singly or in groups, to reduce to healthier proportions. Medical authorities comment on some misconceptions and malpractices of the slimming industry.
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New Faces Come BackRichard Jarvis 1946 28 minNew Faces Come Back shows the part that plastic surgery played in giving disfigured servicemen a chance to resume normal lives. The story is told from the point of view of a Canadian flight engineer who has been injured in a plane crash. The onlooker lives with the young airman through the whole process of his physical treatment, his social readjustment during convalescence, his appearance in public again, his treatment by English friends and, finally, his boarding the boat for home, hope and anxiety struggling in his heart. Some of his old buddies are on the deck. They not only recognize him but welcome him joyously. We know that if the home folks do as well, his chances for a happy return are good.
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Poundmaker's Lodge: A Healing PlaceAlanis Obomsawin 1987 29 minJust north of the City of Edmonton lies Poundmaker’s Lodge, an addiction and mental-health facility specializing in treatment for Indigenous people. Founded in 1973 and still operational today, the Lodge’s programs and services are Indigenous-run and based in culturally appropriate recovery and healing techniques. Framing the short documentary with the words of the great Plains Cree Chief Pîhtokahanapiwiyin (Poundmaker), Alanis Obomsawin presents a frank examination of the root causes of substance abuse in Indigenous communities and how the absence of love and support – exacerbated by the impacts of colonialism and racism – created a legacy of alcoholism for some individuals.
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Reflections on Practice: From Novice to ExpertNettie Wild 2007 5 minStreet nurses Caroline Brunt and Janine Stevenson, nursing ethicist Paddy Rodney, and nursing-practice consultant Mary Adlersberg talk about the importance of learning and legitimizing nursing harm-reduction practices.
*Watch the complete documentary.
*View all 10 educational playlists.
*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
Reflections on Practice: Access to Health CareNettie Wild 2007 1 minStreet nurse Caroline Brunt explores how detox or a supervised-injection site provide realistic first steps towards better health care.
*Watch the complete documentary.
*View all 10 educational playlists.
*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
Reflections on Practice: Therapeutic CommunicationNettie Wild 2007 1 minStreet nurse Caroline Brunt explains that listening is the first step in delivering effective health care to anyone who uses drugs.
*Watch the complete documentary.
*View all 10 educational playlists.
*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
SessionsDanic Champoux 2012 1 h 24 minCan we fight or even overcome cancer in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility? Filmmaker Danic Champoux believes so and in his documentary, Sessions, he dispels many of the clichés associated with the disease, using empathy and humour to reveal the extraordinary resilience of human beings.
Shot over the course of a year in the common room of an oncology centre, where patients regularly meet when undergoing chemotherapy, the film invites viewers to look at cancer from a new perspective. Sessions chronicles the patients’ intensely emotional encounters, deftly capturing the love and joie de vivre that brighten their often stressful days. Never denying the distress of cancer patients, and that of their families and friends as well, Sessions is, above all, a work of deep humanity and a sensitive portrait of life’s mysteries. -
Turnaround: A Story of RecoveryMoira Simpson 1984 46 minThe women who seek help at Aurora House share a common illness: they are physically and psychologically dependent on alcohol, prescription drugs, street drugs, or a combination of these. This documentary focuses on the lives of five women at various stages of their rehabilitation. In the supportive and healing atmosphere of women helping other women, they are confronting the issues and feelings they had previously drunk or drugged out of consciousness. Turnaround is a film that will be of special interest to the families, friends and colleagues of people who suffer from addiction, as well as to professionals who are interested in exploring alternative methods of treatment.
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Topics: Nurses Who Use DrugsNettie Wild 2007 4 minNursing-practice consultant Mary Adlersberg addresses addiction, intervention, and recovery within the nursing profession.
*Watch the complete documentary.
*View all 10 educational playlists.
*Explore the Teacher's Guide for this chapter. -
UnspeakableJohn Paskievich 2006 55 minStuttering is as old as human speech. The biblical Moses stuttered. Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, King George VI and James Earl Jones were also afflicted with the disorder--yet it remains a medical enigma. Unspeakable examines the nature, history and treatment of a speech impediment that affects about 1% of the world’s population regardless of language, culture, class or ethnicity.
Throughout the ages there have been all sorts of explanations for what causes stuttering but attempts at curing it have been as frustrating as finding its cause. While stuttering inevitably causes emotional distress, which aggravates the disorder, there is no evidence that it is a personality disorder. Speech therapy for pre-schoolers who stutter can be quite effective but treatment for older children and adults is often frustrating and disappointing.
John Paskievich, the film's director, is a person who stutters. He also narrates and is an active participant in the film. His story and the stories of others in the film are poignant, funny, angry and courageous, providing eloquent testimony to what it means to live imprisoned in what the poet W.H. Auden called "the tower of stutter."
According to Paskievich, "the film is a call for liberation, not from stuttering, but from the ignorance and stigma that surround it." -
White FortressLeslie McFarlane & Ronald Weyman 1949 10 minThis short 1949 documentary studies the impact Canada's National Health Program has had on people who might otherwise not had been able to obtain medical help.
