“In Control: Teens manage their bleeding disorders—and
you can, too”
HemAware Magazine, 04.09
Kody Schrimshaw’s morning routine is usually the same. The 15-year-old
high school freshman, who has severe hemophilia A, wakes up to his alarm clock,
brushes his teeth, crams his schoolbooks in his backpacks and heads to school.
There’s just one variation, and it’s a big one. Every other day,
before rushing out the door, Schrimshaw, of Black Creek, Wisconsin, grabs his
factor from the fridge, drops into a chair by the door and infuses himself. He’s
been on prophylaxis since he was 13 months old and self-infusing since age 10. “I
like to do it quickly—in and out,” he says.
Scrimshaw doesn’t see his morning infusions as a chore. He sees them as
a passport to freedom. “Whatever you want to do more of, infusing yourself
will let you do it,” he says. “Doing it myself gives me more freedom
to do whatever else I want. I can go over to my friend’s for the night.
I can go wherever I need to. I don’t need my parents there to infuse me.”
Freedom is appealing, but to get it, you have to handle your bleeding disorder.
That means remembering to infuse and recognizing a bleed while juggling class
assignments, work, dating and social pressure.
Download a PDF of this
article here.
“Keeping Secret Codes: How a law designed to
prevent genetic discrimination may not protect the patients
who need it most”
Registered Nurse Magazine, 02.09
When blood samples sent from the University of Chicago Medical Center arrive
at a clinical genetic testing laboratory, geneticists spend weeks carefully extracting
the blood’s most elemental components: wispy strings of DNA, isolated using
heat and an alkaline and processed through a machine designed to identify just
the right section of DNA. The results come out as little pink, red, green and
blue spikes on a slip of paper. This red peak may mean a mutation of the gene
that governs blood clotting. That green one may mean a genetic predisposition
to breast cancer. Whatever the case, the geneticist analyzes them all against
a standard for that part of the DNA helix, creates a report on the results and
sends it back to the University of Chicago, where it might land in the hands
of Melody White-Perpich.
White-Perpich, a genetic counselor at the Cancer Risk Clinic at the University
of Chicago Medical Center, will review the findings and then, instead of filing
them down in the basement where patients’ regular medical records are kept,
she will head toward a special cabinet in her office. There, she’ll slip
the document into a separate, very thick folder.
For 10 years, that file has housed her patients’ genetic profiles and,
by keeping that data outside of their regular charts, protected the hundreds
who pass through her doors every year from genetic discrimination by insurers
and employers. It is, she says, a very important file—and a very important
part of her job to defend the information within it.
“We call it the shadow file,” said White-Perpich.
Download a PDF of this article here.
“Plan for Your Best Life: What’s ahead
for you and your MS?”
Momentum Magazine, 01.09
Six stories that guide people with MS towards the simplest ways to plan for your
financial, emotional, work and emotional life, regardless of what your MS does.
Download a PDF of
this package of articles here.
“Act of Protection: What the Genetic
Discrimination Nondiscrimination Act for people with bleeding
disorders.”
HemAware Magazine, 12.08
Ray Stanhope may be the one in his family with hemophilia,
but he’s not the only one who deals with its ramifications.
His sisters and niece, for instance, fret about Stanhope’s
health, but they also have their own medical concerns borne
of the disease.
“They aren’t concerned for their own health,” he
says. “The biggest thing for them has been the fear that
they might be carriers and pass hemophilia on to their children.
They worry they’ll be denied health insurance because
of it.”
Stanhope’s family members aren’t alone. Others
in the bleeding disorders community wonder if a loved one’s
hemophilia or von Willebrand disease puts their children at
risk of developing those disorders. The good news is that with
the help of newly developed genetic tests, and the Genetic
Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), they have a chance
to find out and protect their health insurance.
Download a PDF of this article here.
“50 Tips to Boost Your Noodle: Brain-boosting exercises
from the nation’s top experts.”
AARP.org
10.08
One of the best ways to stay sharp is to exercise that muscle
between your ears, research indicates. And discussions with
some of the top scientists studying the brain reveal that you
can work your noggin in many different ways, every day.
Here are 50 of them.
Read the full article here.
Download a PDF of this article here.
“Unhealthy Gamble: Just who’s
really banking on health savings accounts?”
Registered Nurse Magazine, 09.08
Jonathan Stein takes his health seriously. But he takes is
responsibilities as a father even more seriously.
And so it is that Stein, a self-employed 34-year-old lawyer
living in Sacramento, Calif., decided to risk his future health
so that his wife and three boys would have health coverage
for their chronic conditions.
Stein admits the decision is a huge gamble, one his family
cannot afford to lose. He is the sole breadwinner at the moment,
and his wife acts as his office manager.
“I guess I’m more willing to take the risk that
I’m not going to have a huge medical bill—knock
on wood—every year because I try to do everything right
throughout the year,” he said.
So far, the plan has worked great. Well, that is, except when
he got kicked in the ribs during his martial arts class. Or
when he twisted his ankle after that. Then he caught that cold
he couldn’t shake. He waited and waited to seek medical
treatment for his injuries, resting and icing his ribs and
visiting his mother-in-law, a registered nurse, for advice.
Finally, armed with a small laundry list of ailments, he broke
down and saw the family doctor for the first time in tw yhears. “I
went in and told her, ‘In addition to my cold, can you
look at my rib, my knee and my right ankle?’” He
recalled. Total bill: $350.
“That’s just ridiculous,” he remembered thinking
of the expense.
Download a PDF of this article here.
“Go with Your Gut: From GI distress to allergies,
probiotics may help ease your health problems”
Yoga Journal, 09.08
Through her childhood and adolescence Jamie Koonce suffered from allergies and
migraine attacks. By the time she was in her early 20s, the migraines had gone,
but her maladies now included insomnia, stomach pain and depression.
Then, four years ago, Koonce made some changes in her life. She started doing
vinyasa yoga daily and taking Chinese herbs for general health. But she found
that the most profound improvements in her well-being came from the few nights
of kimchi she began eating before meals and the fermented kombucha tea she drank
daily. To her surprise, not only did her stomach cramps disappear but she almost
immediately had more energy and felt her mood lighten. She began sleeping through
the night and awoke feeling refreshed.
The secret behind Koonce’s miracle recovery? The probiotics, or beneficial
bacteria, that are prevalent in foods such as kimchi, yogurt, kefir and aged
cheese. Koonce had stumbled upon what medical systems such as traditional Chinese
medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda have found, and what Western medicine through science
is now beginning to accept: A shortage of “good” bacteria
in the gastrointestinal tract can affect nearly every system
in the body, from your respiratory system to your digestion.
And some scientists are discovering that replenishing the levels
of certain beneficial strains of these bacteria may alleviate
long-standing conditions whose roots have evaded diagnosis.
Read
the full article here.
Download a PDF of this article
here.
“Tips to Trip By: The art and science
of traveling with diabetes”
Diabetes Forecast, 05.08
Twice a month for 16 years, Paul Friedrich, 80, has commuted
from Chicago to Virginia to visit family. In 2008, 26-year-old
Leighton Rockafellow Jr. will have backpacked through more
than two dozen countries. Both bring an extra companion on
every trip: their diabetes.
For Friedrich, a semi-retired University of Chicago anthropology
professor, it’s type 2, managed with pills and careful
meal planning; for Rockafellow, it’s type 1, managed
with insulin. But whether you’re backpacking through
the Andes or hopping a single time zone, hitting the road with
diabetes is kind of like traveling with a small child: in both
cases, forethought pays off.
The week-by-week plan that follows will give you an idea of
how the pros do it. Feel free to tailor it to your own situation—and
let it inspire you to pursue your own adventures, too.
Read the full article here.
Download a PDF of this article here.
“On the Issues: Presidential hopefuls
propose healthcare reform with varying degrees”
BlackEnterprise.com, 05.08
The healthcare issues of the 2008 presidential election are
as notable for what they highlight as for what they neglect.
Abortion may not be the hot-button topic of past elections,
but it is still an issue that is on the table. Of the three
top candidates, Republican candidate Sen. John McCain is the
only pro-life candidate in the bunch--but quietly so.
Instead, when it comes to medical matters, the primary focus
for this year's vote is reforming the entire medical system.
And for good reason. Nearly 47 million Americans were uninsured
in 2006, the last date for which statistics are available.
Almost one in five are African American. How McCain, Sen. Barack
Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton propose to fix the nation's
healthcare situation varies widely.
Will these proposed plans improve your health and bottom line?
To find out, we sifted through election-year rhetoric. Here's
how the candidate's proposed healthcare plans affect you as
a patient and as a businessperson.
Read the full article here.
Download a PDF of this article here.
“Many Ways: Adapted exercise boosts body and
spirit”
Momentum: Magazine of the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society, Spring.08
Lori Holder-Webb thought her active life was
over when her first MS attacks in 2006 left her unable to walk
on her own. With panic, she imagined never doing the snowshoeing,
Nordic skiing, or 20-mile bike rides she’d always enjoyed
in her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin.
Then she found a three-wheel
bike with a low-slung seat that restores the balance she lost
to MS. It also restores something else: Her self-image.
These
women share how they’ve made adapted exercise
a regular part of their lives—gaining balance, strength,
energy and joy in the process.
Download a PDF of this article
here.
“America’s Surprisingly Unhealthy Jobs”
Yahoo! Hot Jobs, 03.08
Forget stuntmen. Some of the country's
least healthy jobs are in cubicles, hospitals, and restaurants.
Are you at risk?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS),
it's not just farm laborers or police officers who have high
rates of workplace injuries and illnesses. In fact, some common
-- and seemingly benign -- professions have high rates of injury
and illnesses that were severe enough to cause workers to miss
at least one day of work in 2006.
Read the full article here.
Download a PDF of this article here.
“Homophobic Bullying”
teenwire.com, 07.24.07
Homophobic bullying can be anything from
teasing people for being gay or for being perceived as gay
to calling them anti-gay names, even in jest, to spreading
rumors about people's sexual orientation for the purpose of
making fun of them to hitting, throwing rocks at, and isolating
people who are believed to be gay.
According to a study in the
Journal of Early Adolescence, such behavior is more than
just a joke — it can have
some serious, negative health effects for the people who
go through it. Like Kayla, people who experience homophobic
bullying are more likely to become depressed, anxious, feel
like they don't belong, and to withdraw from their social
circles.
Read
the full story here.
Download a PDF of this article here.
“Sleeping Separately”
NewsMax Magazine, 07.07
A growing number of Americans are choosing to sleep in bedrooms
seprate from their spouses, according to a recent survey by
the National Association of Home Builders. Poor sleep is a
major health problem. Research links poor sleep to everything
from poor concentration and depression to diabetes, obesity
and alcoholic relapse.
Article available upon request.
“Dealing With Dating Violence”
teenwire.com, 10.03.06
The violence started when Allison (not her real name) was 13. First, the boy
she'd been dating for a year pressured her to have sex with him. Then it got
physical: He pinched her, grabbed her wrists, and threatened to push her off
a concrete wall and into a basement. Allison now thinks the abuse - and the fact
that no one believed her - led to suicidal depression when she was in high school.
Allison is far from alone. A May 2006 study released by the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that nearly 1.5 million high school
students - girls and boys - have experienced physical violence in a dating relationship
in the past year. The study also found that teens, like Allison, who experience
violence in their relationships are more likely to consider suicide. Teens who
experience physical violence while dating are also likely to engage in dangerous
dieting behaviors, and use alcohol or other drugs.
Read
the full article here.
Download a PDF of this article here.
“Q&A: Men, Heart Disease and Hypertension”
Ikana Media, 03.06
With Dr. Frank Smart, director of heart failure and cardiac transplants at
the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston,
Texas.
Article available upon request
“After the Abuse”
Choice! Magazine Online,
02.13.06
Based on interviews with 24,000 women in 10 countries,
the WHO found that women who have been abused are twice
as likely as other women to suffer ill health — and
the effects seem to persist long after the violence has
stopped.
Download a PDF of this article here.
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