NEW
ORLEANS – The city
of New Orleans should know by the end of the
year whether the federal government will pay to fully rebuild Charity Hospital, according to Janet
Napolitano, the Homeland Security Secretary.
Napolitano said
Monday that the differences of opinion on how damaged Charity was following
Katrina should be resolved by an arbitrator by that time.
FEMA has agreed to
pay $150 million toward building a new hospital, disputing that the old
Charity was more than 50 percent damaged, a requirement to have the building
‘totaled.”
The $150 million
is only a fraction of what is needed to build the new teaching hospital.
Louisiana Recovery
Director Paul Rainwater said three separate engineering firms have agreed
that the hospital’s damage was more than 50 percent.
Recently,
Congressional leaders announced that FEMA funding disputes would be settled
by a three-judge arbitration panel.
“There are
differences of opinion and those need to be arbitrated,” said Napolitano. “We
need to get to a process so those (disputes) could be resolved without people
continually waiting around to say, ‘What’s the final answer.’”
http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl081709tpcharity.ee80e27f.html
[BACK TO TOP]
Keith Magill
Executive Editor
At the end of last
week, voters across state Senate District 20 opened their mailboxes to find a
campaign flier showing President Obama wearing scrubs and carrying a
stethoscope around his neck.
“Norby Chabert supports Barack
Obama,” the flier proclaims. “Brent Callais opposes Barack Obama and his
government-run healthcare.”
The ad, paid for
by Callais’ state Senate campaign, incensed Chabert,
a Houma Democrat who has taken a lot of heat from voters in the mostly
conservative district since he stated that he voted for Obama for president.
Callais, a
Republican from Cut Off, says he voted for GOP candidate John McCain for
president.
Chabert says he’s miffed about the Dr. Obama ads
for two main reasons:
-- Yes, he voted
for Obama, but that doesn’t mean he supports everything the president does. Chabert says he opposes the president’s push for
government-run health care and considers himself “moderately conservative.”
-- During a debate
Thursday on HTV, Callais was asked whether he knew of any negative attack ads
on the horizon. “He looked at everyone on the panel and said he knew of no
negative ads from his campaign,” Chabert said in an
interview Saturday with The Courier and Daily Comet. “And that’s a lie.”
Callais said the
reason for the flier is to discredit what he called “false attacks” about Leonard J.
Chabert Medical Center,
the state charity hospital in Houma.
Chabert, son of the late senator for whom the hospital
is named, has claimed Callais wants to close the medical center. Callais,
however, argues that is a distortion of his comments that he would consider
privatizing services at the hospital as long as it does not affect patient
care, and his flier rebuts his opponent’s “false attacks.”
He’s right about
that. As I wrote Sunday, Callais has never said he wants to close Houma’s state charity
hospital. It’s a distortion to equate privatization with closure, and it
certainly stretches the meaning of the word as Callais has repeatedly
expressed it.
With his Obama ad,
however, Callais responds to one distortion with another, and, in the
process, may have diminished his credibility and trustworthiness by reneging
on his repeated pledges to avoid negative campaigning.
Chabert and Callais revealed their presidential
choices by answering a question during a public debate. I was refreshingly
surprised that the candidates answered honestly. Usually, politicians hedge
on such questions because an honest answer makes enemies. Some may interpret
their openness as naive, but I wish more politicians would tell it like it is
instead of dancing around the issue, obfuscating or lying.
By answering,
however, Chabert should have known the attack ads
were coming, and it is fair game for his Republican opponent to make an issue
of it, especially in a district where McCain carried about 70 percent of the
vote last November.
But Callais does
so at his peril, especially since he has said publicly that he and Chabert have agreed to keep the campaign free of personal
attacks and negativity. Sure, the definition of “negative” is open to
interpretation. But Callais’ statement in Sunday’s Courier that his Dr. Obama
mailing is not an attack ad comes off as disingenuous. Most reasonable people
would acknowledge his ad was meant as much or more to incite than inform.
The same goes for
an earlier mailing that portrayed Chabert as a
hippie liberal, a flier that features a picture of a flower child holding a
poster that reads “I’m voting for Obama ‘08.” During the HTV debate, Callais
dismissed the ad by saying it was paid for by the state Republican Party and
that he has no control over any outside organization’s political activities.
That statement,
too, is dubious, and Chabert pounced on it, saying
he is in control of his campaigning and would never let the Democratic Party
or anyone else send out materials affecting his candidacy without his
approval.
In the HTV debate,
I asked the Senate contenders what their votes for president say about their
candidacies. Chabert, seeking to counter the
criticism, was most convincing when he noted that McCain had voted against
the 2007 law that authorized the local Morganza-to-the-Gulf
hurricane-protection system, as well as millions in aid sent to Terrebonne
and Lafourche after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He portrayed his vote for
Obama, in part, as putting the interests of District 20 — in this case,
protecting locals against repeated flooding — over others.
Yes, Chabert has to take any lumps Callais, voters and anyone
else want to give him for his Obama vote.
But Callais has
resorted to the same partisan, inflammatory advertising that has divided
Congress and the country and turned off many voters to politics, which could
easily backfire for him. His ads look like boilerplates culled from the
national GOP playbook, with the names changed to fit the specific race and
locale. Though partisanship is increasingly an issue, many people around here
prefer to keep their politics local, and Dr. Obama and The Hippie Liberal
could repel as many voters as they attract.
Callais claims the
ads aren’t negative, but voters will decide that for themselves. They also
will decide whether the ads violate Callais’ promise to avoid negative
campaigning or whether all of this is just part of the political game. Dr.
Obama vs. trust. Which will prevail?
http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20090817/OPINION01/908179955?Title=Dr-Obama-and-The-Hippie-Liberal
[BACK TO TOP]
Miami Herald | 08.17.09
By BECKY BOHRER
Associated Press
Writer
Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday the Obama administration was honoring
its pledge to cut red tape and speed the flow of rebuilding aid to the Gulf
Coast, with more than $895 million in infrastructure funds set aside for
Louisiana since President Barack Obama took office.
The latest pledge
of money - $32 million - was announced during her second visit in five months
to Southern University at New
Orleans, which was virtually wiped out by Hurricane
Katrina nearly four years ago. Only a few buildings have been renovated to
date, and some classes and school activities are still held in trailers at a
nearby campus.
The money is to
replace four buildings. The school and Federal Emergency Management Agency
had previously not come to terms on the level of damage caused by the Aug. 29, 2005
storm and levee breaches.
"It's really
awesome," Chancellor Victor Ukpolo said.
Shortly after
taking her post earlier this year, Napolitano ordered a fresh look at
hurricane recovery efforts that had been marred by red tape, finger-pointing
and hard feelings by officials at all levels. The review prompted, among
other things, joint federal-state teams to resolve project disputes.
State hurricane
recovery chief Paul Rainwater said one of the big differences has been in FEMA
officials looking "through the eyes of the applicant." He said
there's the potential for Louisiana
to get an additional $2 billion in infrastructure aid as the process
continues.
Some of the
thorniest rebuilding issues remain unresolved, including disputes over what
the federal government should pay for storm damage to a downtown New Orleans hospital and
to city water and sewer lines that were leaky and aging long before Katrina.
State officials have yet to decide whether
to take their case that they're owed $492 million - replacement value for the
storm-shuttered former Charity
Hospital - to a
three-judge arbitration panel expected to be in place by month's end. FEMA
has offered $150 million, saying not enough was done to guard the building
against further decay after the storm.
The panel's decision would be binding, and
state officials must decide whether they want to take their case to court.
The fate of Charity has been a contentious issue in New Orleans, where the health care system
remains fragile.
"The work
goes on," Napolitano said at a news conference.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1190017.html
[BACK TO TOP]
By DAVID J. MITCHELL
Advocate Florida parishes bureau
LIZ CONDO/THE ADVOCATE
U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, discusses
health care Monday night during a town-hall meeting at Dutchtown High School. It was the second such
meeting in the Baton Rouge
area to consider the pros and cons of proposed government-run insurance.
DUTCHTOWN — U.S.
Rep. Bill Cassidy said Monday the goals of reforming the nation’s health-care
system should be to offer access to high-quality health care at an affordable
cost.
Cassidy, R-Baton
Rouge, told an audience of about 200 people at Dutchtown
High School that greater transparency in health-care pricing and expanded
access to health savings accounts can achieve that and not the new government
bureaucracy proposed by President Barack Obama and Democrats.
He said health
savings accounts would allow patients to decide how health-care dollars
should be spent.
Health savings
accounts allow people to set aside and roll over tax-advantaged money that
would have gone to insurance premiums.
Cassidy, a
physician who still teaches at LSU Earl K. Long Medical
Center in Baton
Rouge, said millions of Americans across the country making those
decisions would have “more impact long-term on the total cost to the system
than a big new government bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.”
“Once you have the
power to control your cost, the country is better off,” he said.
The Obama
administration and its backers say its reform efforts are aimed providing
insurance to the nearly 46 million people without health insurance, cutting
waste and inefficiency and offering competition to private insurers.
Various plans are
working through Congress that have proposed a new public national health
insurance option to compete with private insurers and an expansion of Medicaid
access.
Estimates put the
cost of competing House and Senate plans between $611 billion to $1 trillion
over 10 years before projected savings and increased taxes on wealthy
households.
The House plan
would add $239 billion to the federal deficit over 10 years, according a
Congressional Budget Office estimate.
Cassidy answered
questions from an audience skeptical of those proposals and concerned about
greater government intrusion into health care but also recognizing some kind
of reform is needed.
Subhash C. Reddy, 62, of Baton Rouge, said he is recently retired
after running his own small business, does not qualify for Medicare and must
pay more than $320 per month for a private policy that provides coverage so
low his agent said “almost nobody gets it.”
“You tell me, Dr.
Cassidy, how am I going to make it to the grave?” Reddy said.
Some in the
audience also said they oppose proposed cuts to the Medicare Advantage
program, which contracts with private insurers to supplement Medicare.
This weekend, the
Obama administration began to back off the public option plan and signal its
openness to a proposed nonprofit health-care cooperative discussed in the
Senate, according to The Associated Press.
One man asked
Cassidy whether Congress would try to reorganize and ram through a proposal
similar to the ones under consideration when both chambers resume business.
“You have
established (through the town hall meetings) that whatever comes out had
better pass muster,” Cassidy said.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/suburban/53523232.html
[BACK TO TOP]
By MARSHA SHULER
Advocate Capitol
News Bureau
The Obama
administration’s signal that it is stepping away from a government-run health
insurance program would be a good turn of events, a Louisiana physician and major player in a
national patients’ rights group said Monday.
“We are moving in
the right direction not to have a government option,” said Dr. Donald Palmisano, of New
Orleans, a former American Medical Association
president. “Why do we want more government control?”
President Barack
Obama had wanted a government health insurer to cover almost 50,000
uninsured. But that plan has been criticized by those who contend it is the
beginning of the nationalization of health care.
Over the weekend,
Obama’s health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, said
the administration is open to an alternative involving the formation of
health-care co-operatives.
“Right now, it
looks like the stake has been put in the heart of the public option”
contained in the U.S. House bill, said Palmisano.
He said all one has to do is look at the government running into bankruptcy
Medicare and Medicaid to realize a public option was a bad idea.
“It promises but
it doesn’t deliver,” he said.
Much would depend
on what form any proposed co-operative would take, Palmisano
said. People should be allowed to join in “voluntary choice cooperatives”
that use their buying power to get the kind of health-care coverage they
need, he said.
U.S. Sen. Kent
Conrad, D-N.D., has proposed consumer-owned nonprofit cooperatives that would
sell insurance in competition with private industry similar to the way
electric and agriculture co-ops operate today.
Whatever is done
to change the system must allow the patient to call the shots in consultation
with their physicians in health-care decisions, Palmisano
said. He said patients know best.
Palmisano spoke at a news conference sponsored by
the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights, which bills itself as a
non-partisan, grassroots group.
Palmisano advocated a variety of ideas he said would
give patients more options in the health care they receive. Among them are a
move toward medical health savings accounts, tax credits, health-care
vouchers and allowing people to shop for insurance outside the state in which
they live.
A former president
of the Louisiana State Medical Society, Palmisano
now heads a medical risk management firm.
“We don’t believe
that Congress should do a complete change of the health-care system in America,”
Palmisano said. He said it should instead move
toward fixing the problems.
Nationally, the
AMA has endorsed the House health revamp bill that contains the public
option. Its officials said it would continue to work to improve the
legislation in the wake of opposition within its ranks.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/53523112.html?index=1&c=y
[BACK TO TOP]
Diane Davidson
It appears the
health-care-reform debate will continue well into the year, negatively
impacting our nation’s fiscal health and ability to compete in a global
marketplace. Given the importance of reform for all Americans, it’s critical
that we get it right this time.
As a private
employer who purchases health care for more than 1,100 employees, I have seen
firsthand the inefficiencies of our health system. I am aware of the concerns
of employees and their insecurity of not knowing how they will afford health
care if their job situation were to change.
It’s time for the
employer community to take a seat at the table to work toward reasonable
solutions to fix this national crisis.
What’s needed is a
commitment to fundamental redesign of the nation’s health-care system that
promotes quality and health improvement, a performance-based payment system
that rewards doctors based on outcomes versus patient volume, and greater
transparency so that consumers and employers alike understand the services
they’re buying.
I am keenly aware,
as an employer who provides health insurance to employees and dependents, that 47 million uninsured Americans create
distortions and shift costs in the system that negatively impact the employer
community. I also recognize that paying for the uninsured through emergency
room and hospital visits is both poor quality and inefficient.
It is unacceptable
that in America
we can’t improve quality and health and control skyrocketing health-care
costs. Left unchecked, these problems
will only continue to erode America’s
entrepreneurial spirit, our family checkbooks and our health.
Health-care reform
won’t be successful until we address access, quality and affordability, and
require the active engagement, participation and leadership of all stakeholders.
I urge that a
principle of shared responsibility guide our policies moving forward,
understanding that businesses, government, health plans, health
professionals, provider organizations and consumers must come together in
dialogue, action and equal commitment for us to realize a new vision of
improved health and health care for all Americans.
Diane Davidson,
employee benefits manager
Roy O. Martin
Lumber Co.
incoming board
chairwoman
Louisiana Business
Group on Health
Alexandria
http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/53522362.html
[BACK TO TOP]
Pat Alford
Lawyer Joseph
Simpson’s recent letter, titled “Letter typical of vested interests,” is so
stereotypical.
The political
stances of the two gentlemen are an individual right, and thank God we live
in a nation where we can express our views openly.
However, I take
umbrage with Mr. Simpson’s statement, that Dr. Glenn Kidder’s “letter is
typical of people who have … a complete disregard for those who do not have
health insurance.”
I would just like
to inform Mr. Simpson that because of Dr. Kidder’s concern for the
low-income, uninsured, working individuals in our area, he and several of his
peers started a clinic in 2000.
The Greater Baton
Rouge Community Clinic provides free dental, medical, mental health and
vision care services to the “uninsured” working poor.
Because of Dr.
Kidder and others in the dental and medical community, nearly 500 physicians
and dentists generously volunteer their time and have rendered more than $3.5
million in services to the uninsured since its inception.
And, oh, did I
mention that it is strictly a community initiative without any funding
assistance from the federal or state governments?
We have all heard
the lawyer jokes. I will try to not make an assumption of Joseph Simpson’s
character because of them. I, in turn, plead with him not to make an
assumption of dental and medical professionals.
I, and the
thousands of patients treated from nine parishes, know just how generous and
caring they are.
By the way, those
who personally care for those who do not have health insurance can help make
a difference by contributing to the Community Clinic (http://www.gbrcc.org)
at P.O. Box 65373, Baton Rouge, LA 70896.
Pat Alford,
executive director
Community Clinic
Baton Rouge
http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/53522317.html
[BACK TO TOP]
The Associated
Press
NEW ORLEANS -- Congressman Anh
"Joseph" Cao has another town hall set where health care will be
the main topic. Tuesday's meeting will be held in Westwego.
More than 100
people attended a Cao town hall last week in New Orleans. It was more civil than some of
the highly emotional meetings in some parts of the country but it was
contentious at times.
Cao, a Republican,
represents an overwhelmingly Democratic district. He has said he is leaning
toward supporting Democratic health care proposals but insists they must
include a ban on government-funded abortions. He also says he has
reservations about the costs of the plans, their possible effects on the
deficit and on Medicare.
http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl081809mlcao.f0c3bd9a.html
[BACK TO TOP]
Vernon has five cases of swine flu
Tammy Sharp
Rumors that Vernon
Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Jimmy Lukasik is suffering from H1N1 remain unconfirmed, but
there are at least five lab confirmed cases of the virus in Vernon Parish.
Lukasik, 51, is
currently listed in critical condition at the LSU
Medical Center
in Shreveport.
The deputy first sought medical treatment at Byrd Regional
Hospital at the end of
July for what has now become a “severe respiratory infection,” according to
other sheriff’s department officials. He was later
transferred to Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria,
and on Friday, Aug. 7, Lukasik was transported to the LSU Shreveport
Medical Center.
The five confirmed
cases were as of Aug. 10 and reported in the state's Influenza Surveillance
Report supplied to the Leesville Daily Leader by Dr. David Holcomb, reginoal administrator/ medical director for the
Louisiana Office of Public Health for region six, which includes Vernon,
Rapides, Grant, Winn, Lasalle,Catahoula, Condordia and Avoyelles parishes, a 350,000 population
base.
Whether Lukasik is
among those cannot be confirmed by anyone other than a family member, said
Holcomb, referring to HIPPA laws.
The number of
cases reported in the parish changes from week to week, said Holcomb. In
addition there are likely many more than five cases because testing has been
reduced to sentinel surveillance sites, including hospital emergency
department (ED), laboratories and physicians' offices. Sentinel sites provide
weekly data on Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and/or laboratory confirmed
cases.
"(Lukasik)
will have been tested for it, because anyone with upper respiratory illnesses
severe enough to warrant hospitalization will be tested," said Holcomb.
"That's current CDC (Centers for Disease Control) protocol."
Holcomb said that
individuals with severe chronic illnesses such as diabetes or renal
insufficiency are more likely to be hospitalized with H1N1.
There are 346 lab
confirmed cases of novel H1N1 in Louisiana
as of August 7,
2009, according to the report. The estimate based on an
extrapolation to Louisiana from CDC national
estimate, is that there has been about 20,000 cases in Louisiana.
Region six has had
16 documented H1N1 cases, said Holcomb, with four in Catahoula, four in Lasalle, six in Rapides and five in Vernon.
The fatality rate,
however, is low.
"It's still relatively
benign as far as its case fatality ratio," said Holcombe.
To put H1N1 into
perspective, Holcomb referenced the 1918 Spanish flu, which had a two percent
case fatality ratio. Two out of 100 people who got the Spanish flu would die,
he said. That is extraordinary and is not the case now.
The rules are
still the same, Holcomb said. "If you're ill, stay at home. Most don't
have to be treated unless there are other conditions."
Make use of hand
sanitizer and avoid coughing or sneezing into your hand, he added.
Above all, get
vaccinated in October against the seasonal flu and, if you are a priority,
get vaccinated against H1N1.
Holcomb said that
vaccination will likely come out in December. The whole stock will be bought
up by the federal government. The vaccination will be given out by priority
in the following order: pregnant women; children six months to four years;
health care workers; and caregivers for very young children.
The elderly are
not prioritized because it appears those born before 1957 have some sort of
residual immunity to H1N1, Holcomb said.
An emergency
replenishment blood drive was conducted Thursday for Lukasik, and on Monday,
the Vernon Parish Tax Assesor's Office, The Vernon
Parish Clerk of Court and the Vernon Parish Sheriff's Office conducted a bake
sale, raising more than $1,700 to be given to the deputy's family to help
with medical expenses.
http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/news/x1373189010/Vernon-has-five-cases-of-swine-flu
[BACK TO TOP]
Student Health
Center confirms 27 cases of swine flu - 3 p.m.
Emily Holden
Contributing
Writer
The Student Health Center
has confirmed a total of 27 cases of Type A Influenza as of Sunday afternoon.
Christine
Sullivan, nurse manager, said several more cases were confirmed Monday. She
said the student flu cases are likely swine flu because the regular flu
season usually does not begin until October.
"We shouldn't
be seeing flu this time of year," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said the Health Center treated one student with a
confirmed case of swine flu about two weeks ago. She said the student lived
off-campus.
Sullivan said the Health Center
no longer sends positive samples to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta to test for
swine flu because they cost about $400 to process. She said the symptoms and
treatments for Type A flu and swine flu are the same. The test for Type A flu
is a simple nasal swab. Patients who test positive for either strain are
treated with Tamiflu and should isolate themselves
for seven days, Sullivan said.
Sullivan said
swine flu symptoms are usually mild and include a dry cough, body aches and a
fever.
About 20 of the
confirmed cases of Type A flu were students involved in sorority recruitment.
Kelli Huff, Panehellenic Council president, said
Saturday those students were sent home and recruitment week events will
continue as planned. Students have a higher chance of contracting the flu
when coming in contact with many people, she said.
"If it wasn't
rush week, we probably wouldn't be going through all the precautions we are
because there's so many girls in close contact," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said any
person who comes in contact with someone who has tested positive for flu
should visit a doctor for treatment with Tamiflu.
She said full-time students experiencing symptoms should visit the Health Center for treatment to prevent
spreading the flu outside of the campus community. Sullivan said Residential
Life is working with the Health
Center to educate
students about prevention.
Sullivan said she
hopes employers and professors understand students who test positive for the
flu need to stay home to avoid spreading the illness.
Students
exhibiting flu-like symptoms at the Health Center
are asked to wear masks to prevent spreading contagion until they are tested
for the flu. Several students in the waiting room Monday around 1:30 p.m.
wore masks while waiting to see a doctor.
To read more about
Type A and swine flu symptoms, visit http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1FLU/
http://www.lsureveille.com/student-health-center-confirms-27-cases-of-swine-flu-3-p-m-1.1816410
[BACK TO TOP]
Dr. John J. Jones
Jr.
There is often an
increase in cases of ringworm of the scalp this time of the year when
children return to school.
Ringworm of the
scalp, most frequently caused by a fungus, is common among pre- and
elementary-school children.
The telltale signs
of ringworm are frequent scratching of the scalp, flakes that resemble
dandruff and small, scaly patches scattered over the scalp. There also may be
areas of hair loss or thinning hair, along with small black dots on the
scalp, where the hairs have broken off at the scalp line. Ringworm of the
scalp is highly contagious and it is transmitted easily.
Encourage children
to wash their hands frequently and to avoid sharing hats, combs, brushes,
barrettes, hair ribbons or pillows. Wash combs and brushes in hot, soapy
water frequently. Avoid tight braids and sticky hair dressings and solutions.
If you suspect a
child has ringworm of the scalp, the school nurse should be notified
immediately. If your facility does not have a nurse, the child’s parent
should be notified. Parents should be advised that the child should be seen
by a physician as soon as possible. Encourage parents to examine other family
members for signs of possible ringworm.
Often children may
have only itchiness and scaling that can persist for months to years and be
mistaken for dandruff. Hair loss occurs as the disease progresses. Of
greatest concern is the potential for some children to develop scarring and
permanent hair loss.
Most
over-the-counter medications do not cure scalp fungus, but may actually
worsen the condition. Proper treatment requires a definite diagnosis before
beginning any therapy that may interfere with the test results. Guessing the
incorrect diagnosis may cause unnecessary treatment of other conditions that
mimic fungus. These other scalp conditions will not respond to fungal
therapy, but their treatment will usually interfere with the testing needed
to make the correct diagnosis.
Diagnosis requires
testing of the scalp’s hair samples in the physician’s office. Effective
treatment requires the administration of oral anti-fungal medications for
many weeks, not just a few days. Creams and lotions are usually not an
effective treatment for ringworm of the scalp. Children who are being treated
should be reminded to take their medication daily and encouraged to complete
the entire course of treatment. If medication is discontinued too soon,
recurrence is very common.
Hair eventually regrows, and scarring is rare.
The greatest
number of practical problems arises from treating with antifungal medications
without a definite positive hair test or a positive fungal-culture diagnosis.
Antifungal medications taken for only a few days often interfere with the
test results needed to make the correct diagnosis and proper treatment
selection. Then several weeks may be required to make the diagnoses instead
of a few minutes. Patients can avoid the frustrating delay of the correct
diagnosis by consulting with their physician before trying any medication.
Dr. John J. Jones
Jr. is a board-certified dermatologist specializing in diseases of the skin,
allergies and skin-cancer surgery, with offices in Thibodaux and Raceland. He also serves as
associate professor of dermatologic surgery at Louisiana
State University
Medical Center
in New Orleans.
http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20090817/ARTICLES/908179929?Title=Younger-students-at-risk-for-ringworm
[BACK TO TOP]
The Orlando Sentinel | 08.18.09
Fernando Quintero
Orlando has taken another major step toward
becoming a biomedical research hub with the announcement Monday of a new home
and executive director for a diabetes clinical research institute.
Florida
Hospital and the Burnham Institute
for Medical Research at Lake
Nona have joined forces
to build a research facility on Princeton
Street near Orange Avenue that will bridge diabetes
and obesity research and treatment.
"We are witnessing
unprecedented increases in obesity and diabetes," said Dr. Steven Smith,
an internationally renowned diabetes and obesity researcher who was appointed
to oversee the facility.
"One in 12 Americans has some form of
diabetes, and one in eight Orlando
citizens has type 2 diabetes," said Smith.
"Scientific discovery is at the core of improving patient care."
The proposed
35,000-square-foot Florida Hospital-Burnham Clinical Research Institute,
located at the site of a former convenience store, "aims to form a
bridge between the research lab and bedside care," said Dr. Daniel
Kelly, scientific director of the Burnham Institute, the first facility to
open at the "medical city" at Lake Nona. "This means while Florida Hospital will be working directly with
patients, Burnham scientists will be in the lab studying how and why disease
processes vary by individuals."
The institute will
bring scientists, clinicians and the procedures necessary to facilitate
clinical research under one roof.
The building will
serve as a gateway to Florida Hospital's Health
Village, the area being developed
around Florida Hospital for medical, residential and
commercial space. The two-year construction schedule of the diabetes
institute is expected to begin with groundbreaking the first quarter of 2010.
"With this
partnership, we hope to change how diabetes and obesity research is
conducted," said Smith, who was previously a faculty member at Pennington Biomedical
Research Center
in Louisiana.
"This new institute will help us break down the distance that exists
between research and the clinic and help make it possible to deliver results
faster and on a personalized level."
Florida Hospital
President Lars Houmann said the partnership will
help bring ideas from doctors and patients back to scientists.
"Central Florida has matured as a regional destination
for life sciences," said Houmann. "This
is another big step in that direction."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-burnham-diabetes-institute-081809,0,7438021.story
[BACK TO TOP]
New Orleans CityBusiness |
08.17.09
by Emilie Bahr
Photo by Frank Aymami
Danny Townsend, owner and operator of Danny’s Devine
Designs on South Broad Street, chats with 15-year customer Loren Blanchard
during a haircut.
Entire feature
films have been dedicated to the role barbershops and beauty salons play as
stages for sharing everything from important life achievements to pedestrian
gossip. A group of Tulane
University public
health experts believes the venues might be equally strong platforms for
doling out health and wellness advice.
“You have a
captive audience,” said Lisa Hoffman, communications and training coordinator
for the Prevention Research Center at Tulane University’s School of Public
Health and Tropical Medicine, which recently launched a program to train
barbers and stylists at 25 barbershops and salons to talk to their clients
about good eating, exercise and health screening practices.
“You’re going to
talk about something and it’s easy to start a conversation about health
because health affects how you feel on a day-to-day basis, your mood,
everything,” she said.
The initiative,
dubbed Shop Talk, includes businesses in Algiers, Central City, Gentilly
and eastern New Orleans
and primarily targets blacks, who are disproportionately affected by certain
chronic health problems that can be improved with relatively simple lifestyle
changes.
“Diabetes, heart
disease, hypertension are extremely prevalent” in the black community,
Hoffman said, as is obesity, a precursor to many of these conditions.
Each of the
participating shops will be asked to engage in health-related conversations
with clients and distribute copies of a healthy living guide produced by
Tulane that outlines topics including physical activity and nutrition,
alcohol and tobacco use, and safe sex.
PRC
representatives have surveyed customers at some of the targeted salons and barbershops
and in another month will return to the sites to gauge whether the
discussions and booklets have had any effect on behaviors and attitudes.
Hoffman said there
is growing interest nationally in focusing health interventions on the
community level, in popular social venues that people are inclined to visit
daily, weekly or monthly.
The Tulane program
is the first in the country, as far as PRC researchers are aware, to focus on
barbershops and salons — venues they consider ideal.
“Who doesn’t talk
to their stylist about what’s going on in their life?” Hoffman said.
Danny Townsend,
owner and operator of Danny’s Devine Designs on South Broad Street, has been in the
haircutting business for 26 years. In that time, he has become close friends
with many of his regular clients, and he said he jumped at the chance to take
part in the program, which he figured could help improve his customers’
lives.
“I like to really
inform my people,” Townsend said.
The stylist said
clients at his unisex salon have mostly been receptive to talking about their
health. Conversation topics have run the gamut from the importance of regular
doctors’ exams to the importance of exercise and prostate screening, he said.
“I strike the
conversation up to get them to start talking about it,” Townsend said. “If
I’m familiar with the person, I’ll say, ‘Hey, how’s your pressure doing?’”
He said the
discussions tend to get rather personal at times but rarely stray into
awkward territory.
“They’ve been with
me for so long,” it’s natural to talk about intimate subjects, he said.
Tulane’s program,
funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, could
ultimately serve as a model for others throughout the country, Hoffman said.
“The idea is this
is something that’s relatively simple. You don’t need a tremendous amount of
manpower” or money to do it, she said.
http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=33884
[BACK TO TOP]
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON — President Obama has made health care his
top priority. He says the cost of Medicare and Medicaid is “the biggest
threat” to the nation’s fiscal future. But to the puzzlement of Congress and
health care experts around the country, Mr. Obama has not named anyone to
lead the agency that runs the two giant programs.
The agency, the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is the largest buyer of health
care in the United States.
Its programs are at the heart of efforts to overhaul the health care system.
If it had an administrator, that person would be working with Congress on
legislation and could be preparing the agency for a new, expanded role.
“The vacancy
stands out like a sore thumb,” said Dr. Denis A. Cortese,
president of the Mayo Clinic, often cited by the White House as a health care
model.
“In effect,” Dr. Cortese said, “Medicare is the nation’s largest insurance
company. The president and Congress function as the board of directors.
“Under a strong
administrator, it could take the lead in making major changes in the health
care delivery system, so we’d get better outcomes and better service at lower
cost.”
The agency
provides health insurance to 98 million people, pays
1.2 billion claims a year and has an annual budget of more than $700 billion.
It has a pervasive influence on medical care, regulating hospitals, doctors,
health plans, laboratories and almost every other type of health care
provider. When Medicare decides to cover a new treatment or adopts a new
payment policy, private insurers often follow its lead.
Trying to remake
the health care system without a Medicare administrator is like fighting a war
without a general.
“You need a
general,” said Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia and
chairman of the health subcommittee of the Finance Committee. Of the job
vacancy, Mr. Rockefeller said: “It’s a big problem. I can’t explain it.”
Administration
officials said they were searching for someone with the right mix of
managerial experience and clinical expertise.
“We’re working
hard to find the best fit to steer C.M.S. during this critical period,” said
Reid H. Cherlin, a White House spokesman. “We look
forward to nominating an administrator soon.”
The agency has not
had a regular Senate-confirmed administrator since October 2006, when Dr.
Mark B. McClellan stepped down. Its chief operating officer, Charlene M. Frizzera, has been the acting administrator since
January.
Mr. Cherlin said the agency was “running at 100 percent
capacity” and continued to provide vital services.
But Dr. John C. Lewin, chief executive of the American College
of Cardiology, said that, in the absence of an administrator, many decisions
were being made by “a beleaguered bureaucracy.”
Since Mr. Obama
took office, more than a half-dozen people have been seriously considered for
the top job running Medicare and Medicaid. Some have been interviewed by
White House officials, but the names sank from view as fast as they bubbled
to the surface.
Among those who
have been considered are Dr. Donald M. Berwick, president of the Institute
for Healthcare Improvement, a nonprofit group in Cambridge,
Mass.; Dr. Glenn D. Steele Jr., president of
the Geisinger Health System, in Pennsylvania;
and Dr. Nicholas J. Wolter, chief executive of the
Billings Clinic in Montana.
Some insiders
suggest that the president is waiting for Congress to finish work on health
care legislation, so he could pluck an administrator from Capitol Hill —
someone like Elizabeth J. Fowler, chief health counsel for the Senate Finance
Committee, or Jack C. Ebeler, a top aide at the
House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
“It’s an extremely
important position,” said Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, “and it’s extremely important to
have a talented person in that post for health reform.”
Senator Orrin G.
Hatch of Utah,
a senior Republican member of the Finance Committee, said the delay in naming
a Medicare administrator was “of great concern.”
“Medicare is in
real trouble,” Mr. Hatch said, noting that its hospital insurance trust fund
was expected to run out of money in 2017.
The delay in
choosing a health secretary, after former Senator Tom Daschle withdrew from
consideration because of tax problems, may have delayed the selection of a
Medicare administrator. Some candidates have been reluctant to sell financial
holdings in the health care industry. Some apparently wanted more authority
than they could have in an administration where health policy is directed
from the White House.
Thomas S. Crane, a
health lawyer who used to work at the Department of Health and Human
Services, said the Medicare agency was “running on autopilot.” For example,
he said, “officials are deferring decisions on serious policy questions
involving Medicare fraud and abuse.”
To help finance
coverage for the uninsured, Mr. Obama and Democrats in Congress propose to
squeeze more than $400 billion in savings from Medicare over the next 10
years. They want doctors, hospitals and nursing homes to work together in
teams, with Medicare payments eventually based on the quality of care.
They also
contemplate huge changes in Medicaid, the program for low-income people,
financed jointly by the federal government and the states.
All the major
health care bills moving through Congress would use Medicaid as a vehicle for
expanding coverage, adding perhaps 11 million people to the rolls, an
increase of about 20 percent.
Vernon K. Smith, a
former Medicaid director in Michigan
who is now a consultant to many states, said the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services desperately needed an administrator to address “the future
fiscal stability of the Medicaid program.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/health/policy/18health.html?_r=1&ref=health
[BACK TO TOP]
The New York Times | 08.17.09
By RONI CARYN
RABIN
Childhood cancer
survivors are at much greater risk of developing diabetes than their
siblings, especially if their treatment involved radiation of the abdomen or
total body, a new study reports.
At highest risk
were adults who survived acute myeloid leukemia after total body irradiation,
done in conjunction with a bone marrow transplant, the study found. Those
survivors were almost 24 times as likely as their siblings to develop Type 2
diabetes as adults. Children with this form of leukemia who did not undergo
total body irradiation were three times as likely as their siblings to
develop diabetes.
Cancer survivors
who had been treated with radiation to the abdomen were also at higher risk
for diabetes, with neuroblastoma survivors at 9.2
times greater risk, and survivors of both Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Wilms’ tumor, a type of kidney cancer, at 2.7 times
greater risk.
Many of the
survivors are not obese, but radiation might have altered the way they
deposit fat and contribute to their risk, said Dr. Kevin C. Oeffinger, director the Program for Adult Survivors of
Pediatric Cancer at Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
and senior author of the study. The findings appeared in The Archives of
Internal Medicine.
Dr. Oeffinger suggested cancer survivors watch their diets
and get plenty of physical activity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/health/research/18child.html?ref=health
[BACK TO TOP]
