"As we struggle through this first round of health care reform, it is important that we remember that the ultimate goal is to provide for a healthier America. Improving the conditions in which people are born and live, age and die may be at least as important as reforming health care in achieving this goal."To read more of her column, click here to get the Kaiser Health News link.
Arva Jackson, chairwoman of the African American Health Program, urged group members to be present for Monday's HHS vote. "Sometimes just showing up makes a difference," Jackson said. "It's much easier to take money from a stranger than it is to take it away from someone you know."EXTRA: On Wednesday, May 13th there will be a Cancer Survivor/Cancer Caregiver Photo Exhibition at MetroHealth Medical Center. More details here.
"Consumption of a diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and poultry, and low in red meat and refined foods may positively influence a woman's overall health and prevent other cancers and chronic diseases," Dr. Marilyn L. Kwan, a researcher at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, told Reuters Health.In addition, we know that in some poor neighborhoods residents have little access to stores that sell fresh fruits and vegetables. It seems that not only is it important that people have access to affordable health care. Access to nutritional food is important as well. Here in Cleveland the Healthy Corner Store Initiative works to have more healthy food available in neighborhood stores. EXTRA: Even kids understand its important to get a referral first.
Most Massachusetts hospitals are nonprofits, yet the higher payments allow the elite institutions to snare patients and physicians from their rivals. “They are using that not-for-profit status to make a profit and to build more capacity for things we don’t need,†says John Chessare, former acting CEO of Caritas Christi, the state’s second-largest hospital chain.
...community hospitals are suffering. Twenty have closed during the 1990s, and two dozen more are currently losing money. In addition to the competitive threat, hospitals are seeing their own physicians leave to set up outpatient facilities that offer highly lucrative services such as radiology.The article is well worth the read. EXTRA: This Friday Earl Pike from the Greater Cleveland AIDS Taskforce will be presenting at our Works in Progress Series. You can find more info here.
During the fiscal year that ends this June, Switchboard has processed 9,525 complaints from people with housing problems. Some 4,600 requested emergency shelter after being evicted from their homes. About 400 needed urgent psychological assistance for depression, anxiety or drug dependency. Two were suicidal. The foreclosure debacle has not only resulted in millions of dollars in losses and thousands of homeless residents, but it has also caused mental and emotional turmoil. Agencies such as Switchboard can't do much more than attempt to treat the symptoms with therapy and referrals to credit counseling agencies.A lengthy USAToday article on the subject reports that suicide rates increase during times of economic turmoil:
In an article published in 2005 by Cambridge University Press, researchers compared suicide data in Australia from January 1968 through August 2002 with economic problems such as unemployment and mortgage interest rates. The study found that economic trends are closely associated with suicide risk, with men showing a heightened risk of suicide in the face of economic adversity.And an AP story says that the burden of stress from this financial storm can have a negative affect on health:
Although most people appear to be managing their debts all right, perhaps 10 million to 16 million are "suffering terribly due to their debts, and their health is likely to be negatively impacted," says Paul Lavrakas, a research psychologist and AP consultant who analyzed the results of the survey. Those are people who reported high levels of debt stress and suffered from at least three stress-related illnesses, he says. That finding is supported by medical research that has linked chronic stress to a wide range of ailments.Here in Cleveland, Project Hype participants were asked to photograph things that had an affect on their hypertension control. They responded with photos of abandoned houses in their Cleveland neighborhoods. Clearly the housing crisis is not just a Wall Street problem. It's also a my street problem.
The risk [of stroke] surges between ages 45 and 54. In those years, women are more than twice as likely as men to have strokes. And at every age, strokes are harder on women — they're more likely than men to wind up physically and mentally impaired.
On average, women get to the emergency room an hour later than men when a stroke hits, partly because stroke isn't on their mental checklist of ER-worthy dangers. And when they reach the hospital, it takes women about an hour longer to be examined by a neurologist.
In a study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, the team found that a person's decision to kick the habit is strongly affected by whether other people in their social network quit -- even people they do not know. And, surprisingly, entire networks of smokers appear to quit virtually simultaneously.The study can be found in the New England Journal of Medicine. EXTRA: Over the weekend Doc Rob celebrated 100,000 visitors to his website. Congratulations.
DIABETES CONTROL may be more challenging for Hispanics than for non-Hispanic whites, a meta-analysis suggests. Researchers found that hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels are higher in Hispanics than non-Hispanic whites, with an overall mean HbA1c difference of 0.5%. The reasons for the disparity in HbA1c levels are not known, but plausible explanations include differences in biology, access to care, insurance status, and diabetes treatment adherenceBONUS: New York City started issuing citations to restaurants that did not have calories posted on their menus. See NYTimes.com for more info.
Smoking, obesity and high blood pressure are taking the lives of women in Appalachia, Mississippi River states and parts of Texas, a team at Harvard School of Public Health reported. "There has been increasing disparity in health in the U.S. population for two decades," said Majid Ezzati of the school's department of population and international health, who led the study.
Overall U.S. life expectancy increased mostly because of fewer deaths from heart disease, the No. 1 cause of death, and stroke. But by the 1980s, death rates started to head back up in many counties. "The majority of these counties were in the Deep South, along the Mississippi River, and in Appalachia, extending into the southern portion of the Midwest and into Texas," Ezzati's team wrote.
While many of the worst-affected counties had a high black population, Ezzati found that white populations in poorer counties fared worse that whites elsewhere, too. "It exists above and beyond race," he said.The study can be found free and online at PLoS Medicine.
Illustrating the profound societal impact of chronic poverty, a new report released Thursday by the Alameda County Public Health Department documents health disparities by neighborhood, income and race. It highlights a widening social, economic and health gap in the county - as poverty goes up, life expectancy goes down. "The data are overwhelming," said Dr. Tony Iton, the county's public health director. "It is shocking. It is not unique to West Oakland. You see it in Bayview-Hunters Point, in Richmond, in Cleveland and Detroit."You can read the executive summary of the report at acphd.org.