Wellness Today
Alberta health officials sound alarm over syphilis outbreak
Syphilis is spreading fast in Alberta, and the number of reported cases have risen exponentially over the last decade. According to a report by the Alberta Health and Wellness, reported cases of the sexually transmitted infection have risen from two in 1999 to 267 in 2009. “We have a problem,” reads the first headline of the document, titled The Syphilis Outbreak in Alberta. “Alberta continues to experience a sustained outbreak of syphilis which shows no signs of abating,” the report says. The bacterial infection is transmitted through intimate sexual contact, and can be easily treated if detected in its early stages. It frequently has no symptoms, though, and if left untreated, can spread to the brain, heart, blood vessels and bones, and can eventually be fatal. Dr. Martin Lavoie, Alberta’s deputy chief medical officer of health, believes the spread of the infection is partially caused by a growing complacency about safe sex, particularly as people have come to view HIV as a treatable condition rather than a deadly infection.
$5K grant gives CJHS wellness program a boost
Student health and wellness efforts at Clinton Junior High recently got a big boost.
The school was awarded a $5,000 grant from the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation for use by its health council. Bonnie Brown, computer discovery teacher and member of the school’s health council, applied for the funds.
“Healthy students are able to achieve their full academic potential, full physical and mental growth and lifelong health and well-being,” Brown said. “Nutrition, physical activity and learning well are all linked components. We want our students to be informed and productive citizens, today and in the future.”
CJHS uses the Fuel Up to Play 60 program, a school health and wellness program created by the National Football League and the National Dairy Council. Students can log into the program’s Web site and keep track of what they’re eating and how much physical activity they’re getting.
Brown has also held educational meetings to discuss nutrition and the importance of exercise.
With the grant money, she said, the program can be expanded to more students. Currently there are 15 students on the panel, but Brown said she’d like to include all seventh-graders.
“If we get the seventh-graders on board, they can continue the program next year here at Clinton Junior High,” Brown said.
Incentives will be awarded in each Fuel Up to Play 60 challenge, such as jump rope, hula-hoop and running competitions, she said.
Sheila Grogan, executive director of the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, said her agency’s focus is on making Mississippians healthier.
“The grant request submitted by Clinton Junior High School proposed a project that will encourage students to eat healthier and exercise,” she said. “This aligns with the vision of our foundation. Students across our state are becoming more active and learning lifestyle choices that will support a healthy lifestyle now, and in the future.”
Clinton Junior High’s grant will allow the purchase of jump ropes and other PE equipment as well as educational materials about health and wellness.
“We’re also looking for restaurants interested in providing students with healthy selections from their store menu,” she said. “They can come during our school lunch periods.”
Seniors May Need A Push To Use Free Wellness Exam
Fewer than 10 percent of seniors took advantage of the “Welcome to Medicare” physical exam paid for by Medicare, according to the government.
So what does that mean for how seniors will use the new, more comprehensive preventive health exam benefits that kick in by 2011?
“I don’t think people will be running to do this,” said Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy. While she applauds the new benefit, she said seniors may not see the value without a strong recommendation from their doctor.
The wellness visit, which was included in the new health law at a projected cost of $3.6 billion over next 10 years, has several advantages over the “Welcome to Medicare” exam.
The new benefit can be used every year and it is free. Medicare patients had a 20 percent co-pay on “Welcome To Medicare” exam — although that is eliminated starting Jan. 1.
The exam would include the usual checks of vital signs, height, weight, establish a schedule for screenings for patients and seek to identify cognitive impairment, functional ability and depression.
Aside from improving patients’ health, doctors have another reason to promote the wellness exam — a bigger reimbursement. They will get an average of $172 for it compared to the $136.80 they got for the “Welcome to Medicare” physical, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Dr. Roland Goertz, president of the academy, said most doctors have found ways to provide preventive care during patient sick visits in the past. “You had to be creative, but with this new benefit it will give more status to the value of prevention,” he said.
Nonetheless, patients may not understand the need for checkup when they’re feeling well, he said. “It will take a culture change,” he said.
Dr. Barry Straube, chief medical officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said he’s confident more seniors will take advantage of the new wellness exam. But he wonders whether busy doctors will promote it.
New grants help promote wellness in Fall River
Fall River —
If you live in Fall River, you’re more likely to smoke, suffer from substance or mental illness and to die of cancer than people living in other parts of the ccommonwealth. In most cases, Fall River residents are twice as likely to experience these conditions when compared with others in the state. While there are many factors that contribute to these rates, including our high unemployment rates and stress associated with poverty, the most important question to ask is what are we doing about it. In the last month, three major grants have recently been announced that specifically target these conditions and, in time, could begin to bring these high numbers down.
On Nov. 1, the city of Fall River announced that it was one of only three cities in the country to be awarded a grant of 1.4 million dollars per year for the next four years by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for substance abuse prevention, mental health promotion, and short-term therapies for depression and anxiety. Led by staff from Stanley Street Treatment and Resources, the grant will provide screenings for people who may be in the early stages of substance use or who show early signs of depression or other mental illnesses. These conditions are well known to be associated with unemployment and poverty, but few efforts have been funded to head off the conditions early enough to prevent people from developing more chronic conditions that are more difficult to treat.
“We think we have the ability to prevent brief periods of drinking, drug abuse or depression from becoming life-long conditions if we intervene early,” commented Nancy Paull, executive director of SSTAR. “The focus of our efforts over the next four years will be to identify people with early symptoms and to get them into brief treatment,” she said. “A lot of people we see in treatment have sought help years after problems first developed,” she added, “ when it’s much more difficult to turn around.” Substance abuse, including the use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, and depression not only create substantial health problems on their own, they often lead to the development of other health problems when people fail to attend to their physical health.
A second grant to address one of these conditions in Fall River and other nearby communities was announced on Nov. 18. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health began a new media campaign that targets smokers in the Southcoast region of the state. Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the funds will address the high smoking rate with positive ads that encourage smokers to seek help with quitting.
Ads in newspapers, on billboards and on SRTA buses, as well as on radio stations, in Fall River and New Bedford feature local people who have quit smoking. Their stories encourage smokers to speak with their physicians about medicines and counseling covered by their insurance, as well as the use of the free Smokers’ telephone Quitline (1-800-Quit-Now or 1-800-784-8669). Southcoast Hospital has already been recognized by DPH for their efforts to encourage smokers to quit through the use of the Quitworks program for health care providers.
“There has never been more help available to help smokers quit,” commented Judith Coykendall, who runs the Partners for Clean Air program for the Southcoast out of Seven Hills Behavioral Health. “We are hopeful that our smoking rates, which are double that of the rest of the state, will start to come down as people take advantage of these resources.”
A third new major prevention grant was also recently announced by DPH to address the health of SouthCoast residents. The Massachusetts Cancer Prevention Policy Initiative brings $750,000 over the next five years to address the some of the environmental and lifestyle factors that frequently lead to the development of cancers.
Rates of lung, stomach and colon and other cancer have been higher in Fall River and other SouthCoast communities for years. Cancer is now the leading cause of death in Massachusetts, surpassing heart disease several years ago. The higher rates in Fall River can be attributed to greater rates of smoking and alcohol use, while factors such as diet and sedentary lifestyle have also been implicated in research studies over the past decade.
In order to lower the rates of cancer in our area, project staff will be working closely with participants in VOICES for a Healthy Southcoast, a coalition of seventeen towns from Swansea to Wareham that is focused on policy and environmental changes that will encourage healthier lifestyles. The goals of lowering rates of smoking, increasing physical activity and eating healthier diets will be achieved by changing laws and regulations that affect these behaviors and by making it easier for people lead more active lives by increasing opportunities for walking and purchases of fruits and vegetables.
“Years ago we thought that educational programs would motivate people to change certain behaviors for a positive impact on their health,” suggested Maria Evora-Rosa, the DPH staff member who will be coordinating the project. “Now we realize that we have to make the healthy choice the easy choice; we have design our communities in ways that provide convenient and cost-effective opportunities for healthier living. We also know that making the unhealthy choice the more difficult choice through local legislative change has worked in many communities, especially pertaining to the access of tobacco products. Through local initiatives, we can have a significant impact on our community’s health.” she added.
“We now see some cancers – lung, skin, colorectal and some breast, just to mention a few, as more of a chronic disease that may develop over a lifetime,” said Gail Merriam, director of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Cancer Prevention and Control Program. “In order to prevent these diseases from occurring, we have to address the environmental and behavioral factors that lead to their development,” she said.
Clearly, the combination of these three major grants in Fall River and nearby communities has the potential of beginning to bring our numbers down.