Health Alert

UF to study new treatment for language problems after a stroke; looking for volunteers

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:13:26 GMT

Each year, about 750,000 Americans have a stroke. About a quarter of those who survive have speech problems, which could affect their work and family life, not to mention their quality of life.

A UF research team, equipped with a $900,000 grant, is now investigating the effectiveness of a new therapy for the language disorder known as nonfluent aphasia and is looking for participants.

Patients with nonfluent aphasia have trouble finding the right words to communicate their meaning, speaking in sentences or saying more than one or two words without stopping, according to UF researchers.

During the course of the study participants will complete a series of verbal exercises. Patients will be shown a series of pictures on a computer screen and will be asked to name the object. In a later phase of the study, they will be given a category, for example, “birds,” and will be asked to name a member of that category, such as “robin.” Some participants will initiate verbal exercises by pressing a button, and others will receive prompts to initiate their exercises.

To participate in the aphasia research study, participants must have been right-handed prior to their stroke and be a native English speaker. For more information, call 352-376-1611 ext. 5395.

A bit of Donny Osmond for your heart

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 23:14:11 GMT

World-renowned entertainer Donny Osmond has teamed up with the American Heart Association to kick off the National Start! Challenge.

To get Americans up and moving, the American Heart Association is encouraging people to walk as part of its Start! movement. Start! is for individuals and their employers and emphasizes walking in the workplace. The movement focuses on walking as an activity because it’s accessible, free and has the lowest dropout rate of any exercise.

Six Challengers from across the country have made a commitment to walk five days a week, strength train for two days and improve their eating habits.

The Challengers will blog and track their progress on MyStart! Online, the program’s free tracking tool, and a winner will be chosen based on progress in weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and other metrics over 12 weeks. These results will be combined with online voting by the American public to choose a winner. Osmond will also provide updates on the Web site about his progress in the Challenge and will help the American Heart Association “crown” the winner in April. Americans who want to join the Start! Challenge can register online at www.heart.org/start.

Diseases of the heart and stroke continue to be the nation’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers for Americans, according the AHH. Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, claims nearly 2,400 lives each day.

For National Start! Challenger bios visit www.heart.org/startchallenge.

FDA Clears First Quick Test For Drug-Resistant Staph Infections

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 22:48:29 GMT

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced it has cleared for marketing the first rapid blood test for the drug-resistant staph bacterium known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which can cause potentially deadly infections.

Methicillin is an antibiotic that has been used successfully to treat infections from the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium. Over the years, the staph bacterium mutated and spawned MRSA, a strain of staph bacterium that is resistant to methicillin and which has a higher rate of being fatal, according to FDA news release.

FDA cleared the BD GeneOhm StaphSR assay based on the results of a clinical trial at five locations. The new assay identified 100 percent of the MRSA-positive specimens and more than 98 percent of the more common, less dangerous staph specimens.

In order to preserve the integrity of positive test results, this test should be used only in patients suspected of a staph infection. The test should not be used to monitor treatment for staph infections because it cannot quantify a patient's response to treatment, FDA has advised. Test results should not be used as the sole basis for diagnosis as they may reflect the bacteria's presence in patients who have been successfully treated for staph infections. Also, the test will not rule out other complicating conditions or infections.

The BD GeneOhm StaphSR Assay uses molecular methods to identify whether a blood sample contains genetic material from the MRSA bacterium or the more common, less dangerous staph bacterium that can still be treated with methicillin.

"The BD GeneOhm test is good news for the public health community. Rather than waiting more than two days for test results, health care personnel will be able to identify the source of a staph infection in only two hours, allowing for more effective diagnosis and treatment," said Daniel G. Schultz, M.D., director, FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, in a news release.

Staph infections occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and health care facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems. Both types of bacteria also can infect healthy people.

Distinguishing between the two sources of infection is critical to successful treatment.
The more common, less dangerous strain of staph results in infections that are generally mild and affect the skin with pimples or boils that can be swollen, painful and drain pus.

However, the MRSA staph bacterium is difficult to treat with ordinary antibiotics. It can cause potentially life-threatening conditions such as blood stream infections, surgical site infections or pneumonia.

The BD GeneOhm StaphSR test is manufactured by BD Diagnostics, a subsidiary of BD of Franklin Lakes, N.J.

Learn more about MRSA.
Learn more about MRSA in schools.

U.S. Ruling Backs Benefit Cut at 65 in Retiree Plans

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:50:58 GMT

In a story today, we reported that Robert E. King, 77, is one of 10 named plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit against Embarq and Sprint Nextel over the phone company's decision to eliminate health insurance benefits for its retirees eligible for Medicare.

I'm not sure who's going to be Mr. King's side in this battle, because the "Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday that employers could reduce or eliminate health benefits for retirees when they turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare," reported The New York Times on Wednesday.

"The policy, set forth in a new regulation, allows employers to establish two classes of retirees, with more comprehensive benefits for those under 65 and more limited benefits — or none at all — for those older," Robert Pear of NYT reports.

You can read the entire story on www.nyt.com; there's one-time, free registration to access the stories.

Wash Your Hands, People!

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:36:39 GMT

Since every disease known to man has a week or month dedicated to it, why not dedicate a week to what prevents most diseases?

We are celebrating the hand washing week this week.

The Florida Department of Health and the Henry the Hand Foundation celebrate National Hand Washing Awareness Week, December 2-8, 2007.

The first National Hand Washing Awareness Week started in 1999 in Cincinnati, Ohio due to the flu vaccine shortage. In collaboration with the Henry the Hand Foundation, the Greater Cincinnati Health Council Flu Vaccine Committee began educating the public on hand washing as the first line of defense against the flu or flu-like illness.

Hand washing is the single most important means in preventing the spread of infection, according to the CDC.

The CDC estimates that 36,000 people die from the flu or flu-like illness each year, 5,000 people die from food borne illness each year, and between 78,000 and 90,000 patients die each year from Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI), for which a direct link to many of these deaths is poor hand washing.

To keep hands clean, DOH recommends hand washing:

Before preparing or eating food
Before and after tending to someone who is sick
Before and after treating a cut or wound
After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
After handling an animal or animal waste
After handling garbage
After going to the bathroom
After changing diapers or cleaning up after a child who has gone to the bathroom

DOH promotes, protects and improves the health of all people in Florida. For more information, please visit www.doh.state.fl.us or contact a local county health department. To learn more about National Hand Washing Week, click here.

Non-profit group ready to take over inmates' medical care

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:03:02 GMT

Marion County Sheriff’s Office is finalizing its contract with a locally-formed non-profit group that will provide medical care to Marion County Jail inmates.
Ocala Community Care will take over the responsibilities of the private company Prison Health Services on January 2, 2008.
Sheriff Ed Dean did not renew PHS’s contract for a third year, because the two could not agree on compensation.
The nearly $5 million that would have gone to PHS, will go to OCC instead. The non-profit company came together in less than six months under Dean’s leadership.
OCC has evolved as a result of collaboration of community’s health-care leaders, such as Munroe Regional Medical Center, The Centers and Marion County Health Department.
OCC’s short-term goal is to provide medical care to more than 2,000 inmates incarcerated the jail.
In the long run, OCC”s board hopes to link with the Federally Qualified Health Center, a federal grant that the county is applying for.
The ultimate goal is to create continuity of care for inmates after they’re released back to the community.
Look for an in-depth story in the Star-Banner about OCC and challenges of correctional health care in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, let us know what you think.

How about a MySpace page for your medical records?

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:15:31 GMT

Healthy Ocala members met on Monday night, approved its interim governance and selected members of executive committee.
What is Healthy Ocala?
It's the name of Marion County’s Regional Health Information System (RHIO).
What is a RHIO?
It is a system that would connect your electronic medical records at the hospital to your doctor’s office, to the local pharmacy and to the lab down the street. Wouldn’t it be nice? No more phoning and faxing. And, the best part is that you’re going to have access to all this information, which is secure from those who're not supposed to see it.
“It’s kind of like MySpace for patients,” said Dr. Mel Seek, Chair of Healthy Ocala. The only difference is that it’s read-only, for obvious reasons.
You’ll eventually be able to message your doctor, get updates from him or her and refill your prescription electronically.
Healthy Ocala has been in the works for three years, Seek said.
Several other county’s in Florida and around the nation have RHIOs, but local leaders believe that Marion County’s is better planned and will be more cost-effective for doctors who haven’t installed electronic medical records at their offices yet.
Implementation of RHIO in the region could result in reduced cost of health-care, increased efficiency in delivery of care, reduced number of duplicated lab tests and availability of more timely information, said Dr. David Willis, medical director of Healthy Ocala.
We’ll keep you posted as Healthy Ocala gets closer to its launch date, which is set for April 2008.

County leaders actively looking into access to health care issues

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:13:50 GMT

Public Policy Institute of Marion County closed the book on the Access to Health Care Study in summer, but the study’s recommendations are very much alive.
That’s because of a group of leaders took the study’s findings and decided to work on addressing the county’s health-care issues, such as shortage of primary care doctors and increasing number of uninsured residents.
The effort as a whole is called Access to Health Care Policy Organization and it has seven teams. Each team has met at least twice so far and the chairs of the teams met for the second time early Friday morning.
Most teams are still in the process of finalizing their members and projects.
Here is a quick introduction to the teams and goals. I’ll bring you up to date as AHCPO makes progress.

Team 1: Medical Professional Shortage
•    Co-chairs: Mark Paugh and Pam Michell
•    Goal: To increase the number of physicians, nurses and other health care professionals by working on recruitment.

Team 2: Gateways to Access
•    Chair: Mike Sizemore
•    Goal: Finding transportation alternatives throughout the county, and routing current public transportation major health-care providers.
•    The team is currently focusing on EMSA and its future direction. Sizemore is on the board of County’s EMSA Task Force, which is almost ready to make recommendations to the county.
.     Look at a recent story by Jessica Greene to see what the city is saying about ambulance services.

Team 3: Primary Care
•    Chair: Dr. David Willis
•    Goal: Establish a Federally Qualified Health Center, which will give access to care to everyone regardless of insurance or ability to pay.
•    The county is applying for FQHC and FQHC-look-alike status in December. The results won’t be revealed till August 2008.
•    The team has also recognized dental care as a shortage area.

Team 4: Regional Health Information Organization
•    Chair: Dr. Mel Seek
•    Goal: To interconnect patient information among hospitals and doctor's offices and give patients more control over their personal medical records.
.     As a side note, the process of creating a regional health information system is no easy feat... and it's very pricey, but we've got some innovative leaders who are trying to make things affordable for doctors. I'll be writing about RHIO in the near future to explain their mission and structure.

Team 5: School Wellness Program
•    Chair: Dr. Mike Jordan
•    Goal: Increasing the number of school nurses, continuing to improve the school nutrition program and wellness education curriculum.
•    The team is focusing on a national campaign, which it hopes to market at elementary schools.

Team 6: Public Education
•    Co-Chairs: Margaret Spontak and Mike Robertson
•    Goal: Develop a community education initiative to respond to health care deficiencies. The team will focus on immediate and future access issues.

Team 7: Insurance
•    Chair: Steve Wingo
•    Goal: Explore affordable health insurance options for those residents who are uninsured and underinsured.

Skip the escalator and take the stairs in the shopping mall

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:17:25 GMT

It’s not rocket science: You know taking the stairs is better for your health than standing still on the escalator. But you still opt for the escalator, don’t you?

A group of researchers wondered if you do so, because you simply don’t notice the stairs.

So they ran an experiment to see if they can encourage you, dear shopper, to climb the steps instead.

They put up colorful signs along the steps of a staircase, and over six weeks use of the stairway next to an escalator more than doubled, reported the Associated Press. In other words, instead of 4 percent of people taking the stairs, 10 percent did so.

The results of the findings were published in the American Journal of Health Promotion.

"If we can persuade more people to take the stairs, then we might really have something in the war against obesity," one of the researchers told the AP.

So, this holiday/shopping season, if you happened to go to a mall with staircases, try to climb up the path of more resistance. It’s good for your heart and at the end of the day, you’ll feel good about yourself.

If you have other tips to make holiday shopping healthier, let us know.

Health Reporter Goes to the Emergency Room

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:13:17 GMT

I had a minor emergency a few weeks ago and had to go to the ER.

It was 8:30 p.m. All the walk-in clinics were closed. I couldn't wait till tomorrow either. The next morning, at 8 a.m., I was scheduled to extract my four wisdom teeth, which meant I would be knocked out cold for the rest of that day.

So, I picked up my purse, threw in my book, To Kill a Mockingbird, and drove to the closest hospital. (Note: I don't live in Marion County)

I parked in the ER lot at 9 p.m. unaware of the long journey ahead.

I walked in to the small cramped waiting area, which was lined with chairs, all facing a big-screen TV. To the side there were two desks. A piece of paper hung from each. One read Registration, the other, Triage.

But, let's being with our cheerful Greeter, Mike. "Hello, are you here to see a doctor?"

"Duh!" I thought to myself, but I said politely, "Yes".

He pointed me to the registration desk. The gentleman there handed me a piece of paper, which pretty much had me waive all my rights to sue the hospital if something happened. No problem. He got the name and address and asked me to have a seat.

A lady fetched me a minute later and walked me to the Triage desk, which was planked beside Registration. Things were moving pretty quickly. Great!

She started to ask question to decide the nature of my emergency. I knew with each answer I was pushing myself further and further down the triage list, but what I was to do? Fake a heart attack?

She asked me to sit down and a nurse will be with me shortly.

Unable to get away from the large, loud television that was showing some strange science fiction movie, I found myself a chair away from the lady who was coughing non-stop and began to read my book.

10:30 p.m. and my name was called. Hallelujah!

I walked into a small room that sat between the emergency department and the waiting area.

The nurse faced the computer and began rattling off questions and clicking away boxes on her screen. She didn't seem to have time to weigh me, so she asked, "Do you know how much you weigh?" Not really, I thought. But I blurted out a number. My emergency had nothing to do with my weight.

Throughout the course of the night, I ended up answering the same set of questions two more times. Still not sure if it was a cross-examination or the grand failure of technology.

She sent me back to the waiting area, and told me that the doctor will be with me shortly.

And so I resumed reading. I was starting to like Atticus. What a wonderful character!

And I read. And read. Mike did his duty and stopped by every once in a while asking if anyone needed anything. The first time I said, "No, thanks." The second time, I pulled a Kramer and asked for a decaf cappuccino. He smiled and said he can't do that. Ha ha. Whatever.

Finally, at midnight, a nurse came and called my name - yes my name - and another girl's. We walked back to the emergency department. My eyes lit up at the sight of doctors and nurses. Help is one the way, I thought!

He pointed to a patient bed pushed against the wall across the nurses' station and asked me to sit there. He walked away with the other girl.

A few minutes later he came back, took my blood pressure and temperature, asked me the same questions I had been asked before and said the doctor will be with me shortly.

And so I sat there, at the edge of the bed and watched as nurses passed by left and right. I eventually made myself comfortable on the bed, leaned back against the wall and began to read my book. The clock hit 12:30. My head was starting to hurt and I was really exhausted. There was no relief in sight. No one made eye contact with me, as if I were just another object. But I kept saying to myself that next time, one of them will stop by. Next time, the doctor will turn my way.

Suddenly the scanner went off. A 25-year-old was being brought in. She was having seizures. And that's when I realized I was doomed. Everyone dropped what they were doing, rushed to the board, started making phone calls, etc.

I was almost a non-emergency. I did not belong there. But I needed help.

And that's when I burst into tears and buried my head into my book, right where Dill, Scout and Jem were trying to get Boo Radley come out of his house.

No one paid me any mind. As I said, I was a non-emergency. I was breathing, I could walk, and I could talk.

It wasn't until 1:30, an hour later, when the doctor dropped by my bed. Asked me the same questions all over again, wrote me a prescription and asked me to wait.

Four and a half hours for a prescription.

The nurse fetched me 15 minutes later. Took my temp and bp and walked me to the billing desk. The girl with seizures was seizing alone in the room. I felt sorry for her; If I were here I would have wanted somebody by my side.

I got home a little after 2 a.m. and I was thankful that in a few hours the oral surgeon would put me under and I would forget about all this, at least for a while.

A few useful links for your health...

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 23:32:27 GMT

Flu season is right around the corner. Did you know the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can send flu activity updates right to your phone? Sign up here.

Learn how to protect yourself and others from wildfires.

Read these Halloween safety tips.

Find out if your health-care provider is licensed in Florida.

Check out these vintage (almost unbelivable) tobacco ads

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 22:28:24 GMT

One of the health-care providers at the Marion County Health Department sent me this link.

It's an online gallery, put together by Stanford School of Medicine, about the history of cigarette ads.

And here's an excerpt as to why they did it: "Our intention is to tell—principally through advertising images—the story of how, between the late 1920s and the early 1950s, tobacco companies used deceptive and often patently false claims in an effort to reassure the public of the safety of their products."

So click here for some amazing - and even funny - posters.

"A great collection of media images….not so great for the millions of people hooked/(decieved) by them," says Manette Cheshareck, Tobacco Prevention Specialist at the health department.

What you need to know about botulism

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:51:30 GMT

The government is expanding the list of products that are possibly contaminated with botulims toxin to dog food produced by Castleberry Food Company.

The products are sold under the Natural Balance Eatables dog food label.

Visit this site for a list of recalled products.

These are some key points about botulism:

Cooking or high temperature will NOT get rid of botulinum, the toxin that causes botulism.
Consumers who have any of the recalled products or any foods made with these products should throw them away immediately. Double bag the cans in plastic bags that are tightly closed, then place in a trash receptacle for non-recyclable trash outside of the home.
Exposure to botulinum toxin can be fatal and two people in Texas and two people in Indiana remain seriously ill and hospitalized with botulism poisoning associated with eating Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce.

Here are the most common symptoms of botulism in humans:

They can begin from 6 hours to 2 weeks after eating food that contains the toxin.
Symptoms may include double vision, blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, and muscle weakness that moves progressively down the body, affecting the shoulders first then descending to the upper arms, lower arms, thighs, calves, etc.
Botulism poisoning can also cause paralysis of the breathing muscles which can result in death unless assistance with breathing (mechanical ventilation) is provided.

Symptoms in pets:

The disease has only been seen occasionally in dogs and has not been reported in cats.
Ferrets are highly susceptible to botulinum toxin.
In most cases, the symptoms appear after 12 to 24 hours.
Botulism is characterized by progressive motor paralysis. Typical clinical signs may include muscle paralysis, difficulty breathing, chewing and swallowing, visual disturbances and generalized weakness may also occur.

You can also visit the CDC for more information about botulism.
And here are some phone numbers if you need more information:

Castleberry recommends consumers with any questions or concerns about this recall should go to Castleberry’s website (www.castleberrys.com) or call Castleberry’s consumer hotline at 1-800-203-4412 or 1-888-203-8446.
Consumers with questions can call FDA at 1-888-SAFEFOOD.
Consumers can also call the National Alliance for Hispanic Health’s Su Familia Helpline toll-free at 1-866-SU-FAMILIA (1-866-783-2645) to speak to a bilingual (Spanish and English) health promotion advisor with questions about what products are covered under the FDA and USDA recalls, how to identify them, and what to do if they have them in their home. The hours are 9am to 6pm EST, Monday through Friday.

He'll go to ER after the game

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 01:12:00 GMT

Apparently, men prefer to suffer from pain and injury rather than go to the emergency room when their favorite sports game is on television.

This is according to a new study, which found that "visits by men to the emergency department increases significantly in the hours following televised sporting events."

Researchers found that the number of men checking into the ER increased following all sporting events.
Almost 50 percent more went in the ER following professional football games.
Thirty to 40 percent more men sought care following a baseball game.

The study was released by the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Researchers conducted the study over three years and examined emergency department registration patters at University of Maryland Medical Center after 796 sporting events, including professional and college football, professional baseball and college basketball.

Of course, the researchers advised men not to put off their health because of a football game, because it could end up being "the last game they see ever."

I'd be curious to see if you or your family members would agree with the researchers' findings. What do you think causes the surge in ER visits? Too much nachos and beer?