The Globe and Mail building on Front Street West in Toronto.The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail's health coverage has been recognized by the Canadian Medical Association, with the paper taking top honours in three of four print categories at the association's annual media awards.
A team of 13 Globe reporters, editors and photojournalists won the print feature series category for "Dementia: Confronting the Crisis," a multimedia project that used articles, audio slideshows and live online discussions to tell the stories of Canadians affected by the illness and discuss public policy around its treatment.
Reporter Carly Weeks won the Michelle Lang award for her feature story "How to save health care: Get it out of the pale-green maze," which discussed how the design of hospitals can improve patients' recoveries and prevent them from contracting illnesses. In researching the article, Ms. Weeks visited Northern Ireland, where medical facilities and doctors' offices are combined with libraries and community spaces, while health-care workers make home visits to those with chronic conditions, freeing up hospital beds.
The award for print news story, meanwhile, went to Lisa Priest and Karen Howlett for reporting on the case of Jill Anzarut, a Toronto breast cancer patient who discovered the province would not pay for her treatments with Herceptin, a drug that can help prevent recurrence of the disease, because her tumour was less than one centimetre in size. A firestorm of criticism followed and the government eventually relented, amending its policies to cover the drug for those with small tumours.
The awards will be presented at a gala on Oct. 20 in Ottawa.