SAVE
THE PATIENTSM NEWSLETTER
“The Life You Save Could Be Your
Own”
|
SAVE
THE PATIENTSM NEWSLETTER |
Summer 2007 |
The Community Health Hotline TV Show featured a frank discussion on the role of the doctor in health care today with host Lenore Janecek and guest Dr. Stephanie Wang, an Internist and Instructor at the Medical School at Rush Medical Center in Chicago in June. The 25-minute, live, call in show is aired monthly on Chicago Access Network (CAN–TV) and is part of Save the Patient's (STP) efforts to educate, inform, and empower the people of Chicago .
Lenore Janecek, president of STP said it is vitally important that people know that there are health services available for those who are low income, uninsured, isolated, vulnerable and special needs populations. She added, “While it is the role of the Department of Health and Human Services to provide these services, it is through local providers that patients can access health care.”
On the July 2007 TV Show, Ms. Janecek cited government funded health clinics as an excellent resource for health care for low income and uninsured populations. The mission of these health centers is to provide quality health services to the nation's underserved populations. They can be found in rural and urban areas across the country.
The following is a list of community health centers in the Chicago area that provide free, or a $15 charge for health services to community residents who qualify:
Other services providers for health care are:
Future topics and guests for upcoming Community Health Hotline Shows:
Americans are being exposed to record amounts of ionizing radiation , the most energetic and potentially hazardous form of radiation according to a study by National Council on Radiation Protection reported in the New York Times. The authors of the study point to the advances in radiology that have radically transformed medical practice as the cause.
According to the study, the per-capita dose of ionizing radiation from clinical imaging exams in the United States increased almost 600 percent from 1980 to 2006. In the past, natural background radiation was the leading source of human exposure; that has been displaced by diagnostic imaging procedures, the authors said.
The use of CT scans and nuclear medicine exams provide physicians with the ability to quickly pinpoint internal bleeding, diagnose kidney stones or confirm appendicitis , assess thyroid function and identify and open blockages in the blood vessels to the heart. But a CT scan exposes patients to far more radiation than a standard X-ray, and multi-slice CT scanners deliver higher
X-rays have been classified as carcinogens by the World Health Organization , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, because studies have shown that exposure causes leukemia and cancers of the thyroid, breast and lung. Yet with the exception of mammography , scans remain largely unregulated.
Radiologists say they do not want to scare people away from having scans and exams when necessary, but they want patients as well as physicians' to carefully evaluate the benefits and risks of each scan or exam, make sure the procedure is appropriate and keep track of cumulative exposure levels. Full-body CT scans should be avoided unless there is a good medical reason.
Richard Morin, chairman of the radiology college's quality and safety committee suggests the following safety tips for patients undergoing any radiological examinations:
• Always inquire of the referring physician, if the test is necessary.
• The radiology college index of appropriateness criteria rates the imaging procedures for some 200 medical conditions. Ask the doctor ordering the test about its rating for a given condition. If the number turns out to be 1 or 2, you should look for some other exam.
• When undergoing a scan or exam, patients should try to use a facility accredited by the American College of Radiology
• Ask the radiologists or technicians whether a medical physicist routinely inspects the machines.
• Women should tell the doctor or technician if they might be pregnant; generally, women, children and young people should try to avoid scans.
A nationwide study released this year that reported that the tendency to develop diabetes and heart disease may begin in infancy for children in poor urban households. The study suggests as many as one-third of 3-year-olds in low-income families may be overweight or obese and found the problem is even more pronounced in Hispanic households.
The San Antonio Express News reported that researchers looked at several factors, such as television viewing hours, breast-feeding and the weight of the mother, and couldn't explain why Hispanic children are more at risk according to Rachel Tolbert Kimbro, a researcher from the University of Wisconsin 's Institute for Research Into Poverty.
The study was published earlier this year in the American Journal of Public Health. Data was drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study, an ongoing project into unwed parents and the effects of parental resources and public policies on children's well-being. The study followed the families of 5,000 urban children born in 1998 and 1999 with the overwhelming majority from poor families.
The children were weighed and measured when they were 3 years old. Overall, 17 percent of children were overweight and another 18 percent of them were obese. But among Hispanics, 20 percent of the children were overweight and 24 percent were obese.
Among the major risk factors for obesity was the weight of the mother, Children of obese mothers were 76 percent more likely to be obese. But the biggest risk the study showed was for children whose parents still put them to bed with a bottle. They were twice as likely to be overweight or obese.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released an updated version of the "Yellow Book," the definitive guide to healthy international travel. The newest edition of the "Yellow Book" provides information on a range of health risks from the ordinary — sunburns, auto accidents and travelers' diarrhea — to the extraordinary — avian flu and natural disasters.
New features include an expanded section on injuries and auto accidents and tips for avoiding deep vein thrombosis on long international flights.
The Yellow book is available in bookstores and is free online. To access the Yellow Book online, or to find additional information on travelers' health, go to http://www.cdc.gov/travel/ .
The mission of Save the Patient is to educate and empower patients and the public to make effective and informed healthcare decisions through objective resources. We are accomplishing our goal by providing information through Patient Advocacy, Community Outreach, Educational Seminars, the Internet, and our Health Carrying Cards. We have distributed more than 10,000 Health Carrying Cards, which are available in Spanish, Polish, English, and Chinese. More than 100,000 people have visited our website and viewed our cable television show.
Save the Patient is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to the support and education of individuals on healthcare matters. We need your support to underwrite our programs and educational efforts. Make a donation by visiting our website at www.savethepatient.org, or send your check to us at Save the Patient, 260 E. Chestnut St. #1712 , Chicago , IL 60611 , or call us (312) 440-0630. Contributions to Save the Patient are eligible for federal income tax deduction. One person can make a difference!