Songs can take it easy you, provide again reminiscences of sure periods in your everyday living or provide a smile to your facial area.
Study reveals a distinct backlink concerning health and audio: new music treatment can be employed to enable fight melancholy and mend trauma, and listening to audio has been shown to decrease coronary heart price, lower blood tension and decrease stress stages.
Prior to the Hartford Symphony Orchestra live performance Friday night, Javeed Sukhera, MD, PhD, chair of psychiatry, Institute of Dwelling, spoke about the heritage of the IOL and how music can be made use of for healing. The conversation with HSO Audio Director Carolyn Kuan included a candid dialogue about melancholy.
The live shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, sponsored by the IOL, highlighted the functions of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, legendary artists who endured lifelong struggles with despair. Soloist Henry Kramer executed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and the software also featured Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 at the Belding Theater at the Bushnell. For the Sunday matinee, Hank Schwartz, MD, psychiatrist-in-chief emeritus at the IOL, participated in the pre-concert conversation.
Kuan spoke about how Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky each struggled with melancholy, and how in a single of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies the journey from darkness to gentle can be heard in the distinct movements.
Showcasing these two artists at a time when the IOL is celebrating 200 decades as a chief in the subject of psychiatry is a poignant reminder that struggles with psychological overall health and addiction can materialize to anybody, but there is hope for recovery.
Dr. Sukhera spoke about how as a boy or girl and adolescent psychologist he believes tunes results in room for therapeutic.
“When listening to new music, little ones really feel a peace and a liberty to be on their own,” he stated. “It permits for therapeutic at the individual’s have pace.”
He reported that often he will talk about track lyrics with clients, what their favorite music are and why they resonate with them, what the lyrics mean to them and investigate their feelings and feelings via them.
He also spoke about producing playlists for diverse times in his everyday living, and how listening to them can provide him back again to that time in his earlier.
Kuan spoke about her have struggles with melancholy, and the stigma some deal with. She explained primarily with her Chinese background, it was something she struggled to occur to conditions with. “It is not one thing we communicate about in my lifestyle, it took me a prolonged time to find help,” she said. “The a lot more folks can communicate about and accept their struggles, the better.”
Dr. Sukhera explained achieving out if you are having difficulties is the bravest matter you can do. “I hope we can identify what a gift our vulnerability is,” he mentioned. “That it is component of what binds us together as a humanity.”
Colette Hall, Director of Artistic Operations at the Hartford Symphony Orchestra claimed music has a therapeutic existence. “I encourage persons to consider the time and house to love it in their individual life,” she stated.
The IOL is celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2022 and 2023 to match the a long time it was founded and incorporated. Occasions will include things like the Black & Purple gala in June and other public activities.
Kuan was appointed the 10th musical director in the 2010-11 season, as the first female and youngest music director in the record of the HSO. She is acknowledged as a person of the most impressive, interesting and excellent conductors of her technology.
The concerts showcased stunning piano solos by Kramer, who garnered a standing ovation at Friday night’s overall performance.
Dr. Sukhera spoke about the Institute of Dwelling 200th anniversary celebration and the Hartford Symphony concert on WTNH Channel 8:
Youngsters, families and communities in the northwest corner have benefitted greatly from the perform of In good shape Collectively for 10 several years, and the potential is brilliant for building on their accomplishment for quite a few years to appear.
In good shape Collectively NWCT is a partnership designed in 2011 by a group of community-based corporations and initially funded by a Sam’s Club grant by way of the YMCA of the Usa. Their mission is to empower individuals to make wholesome way of living alternatives – building the balanced preference the effortless decision. Suit Collectively partners contain Hartford HealthCare’s Charlotte Hungerford Clinic, NWCT YMCA, Torrington Place Overall health District, Helpful Palms Foodstuff Lender, Community Wellbeing and Wellness of Larger Torrington, New Chances, the City of Torrington and the Town of Winsted. This team started by supporting college gardens, advertising and marketing the relevance of day-to-day actual physical exercise and getting their information out at group wellness fairs.
In two many years, Match Jointly employed its initial Coordinator and adopted Maine’s 5210 Let’s Go! design, a nationally identified childhood being overweight prevention program, that focuses on escalating alternatives for healthy taking in and active residing in a simple, easy to fully grasp format: 5 servings of fruits and veggies, 2 nutritious screen time behavior, 1 hour of actual physical activity and sugary beverages each and every working day.
Utilizing this design, Healthy Together started by producing programs with early childcare facilities in the area and carries on to extend the message of 5210 Let us Go! via educational facilities, just after faculty applications, health care methods, workplaces and local community outreach. Collaborating internet sites established up wellness teams and operate to make Gold Level Associate standing as they instill 5210 Let’s Go! evidenced-based mostly methods in their daily things to do.
In 2018, by way of their affiliation with Charlotte Hungerford Healthcare facility in Torrington, Hartford Healthcare awarded a five 12 months, $500,000 grant to In shape With each other NWCT. This has permitted Healthy Alongside one another to give 22 mini grants, therefore considerably, to northwest Connecticut businesses for initiatives that align with their mission these as outside play equipment, workout stations for health and fitness trails, university and local community gardens, bottle filling stations and much additional. With the enable of the mini grants, these initiatives by senior centers, colleges, childcare facilities and other charitable groups advance the nicely-staying of our communities and make them much better and more healthy.
NWCT In good shape Together’s get the job done did not end all through the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but instead they executed new and imaginative situations to interact families, good friends and neighbors such as Check out the Park contests, greenway scavenger hunts, farmers industry meals demos, games and hike fests. Digital cook dinner and master lessons with a registered dietician and fitness instructors helped households stay related even as they had been staying risk-free at home.
Addressing bias and ending inequities in healthcare begins with every of us looking in the mirror. That was information through the once-a-year Hamilton Retreat attended by more than 80 Hartford Hospital doctors, leaders and board members held nearly on April 7. The occasion incorporated a dialogue amongst contributors about the vital position health care gurus and overall health methods enjoy in leading meaningful and lasting improve.
“We in healthcare know that we are aspect of this existence and loss of life predicament. We are listed here simply because we are part of a health process. And we have decades of studies that reveal unequivocally the effects of bias on life, on care, on outcomes and high quality,” said Javeed Sukhera, MD, PhD, FRCPC, Chief of Psychiatry, Institute of Residing & Chief of Psychiatry, Hartford Clinic. “Where do we go from here? We have to think about breaking that cycle of fear, labeling, avoidance and helplessness. We will need to convert to courage. We require to split the cycle by breaking the silence.”
Hartford Health care President and CEO Jeffrey Flaks has initiated a 14-stage system to address bias and well being equity throughout Hartford Health care, which contains the development of diversity councils and colleague resource groups, implicit bias training, amplified initiatives to recruit individuals of shade into management roles and the growth of our wellbeing fairness applications. Flaks states that our health technique now has a mandate to make significant modify.
“We are building excellent development in addressing diversity, inclusion and fairness on the governance and management stages. We are becoming additional reflective of the communities we serve. And, it’s crucial that we do so,” stated Flaks. “We’re pleased [with this progress] but we aren’t contented.”
The Hamilton Retreat, created by previous Clinic President Dr. T Stewart Hamilton adhering to the tragic fireplace at the medical center in 1961, is an annual gathering of Hartford Healthcare facility healthcare employees, board customers and clinic leaders to focus on what issues most to our clinic and community—“a neighborhood of fascination and a typical purpose,” as Dr. Hamilton referred to it.
“The pandemic has added an even greater level of urgency in our attempts to deal with areas these as racial inequities in health care and the want for enhanced access to our most susceptible populations,” claimed Hartford Region President Bimal Patel.
Hartford Location Board of Administrators Chair Alexia Cruz spoke about the relevance of owning a healthcare facility and board that is agent of the neighborhood.
“And as we supply on our latest value, ‘Equity’, we ought to also search in the mirror as a hospital and overall health procedure. This signifies possessing a health-related team that is fully committed and having a health-related workers that is also consultant of our group,” stated Cruz. “I can convey to by your existence listed here today that you are engaged and prepared to enable us guide these crucial variations and be certain that all of our patients are receiving the care they need to have and are entitled to.”
Dr. Sukhera was joined by Sarah Lewis, MPH, Hartford Health care Vice President of Wellness, Fairness and Inclusion in providing the keynote presentation at the digital party referred to as “Bias in the Mirror.” Lewis said making use of Hartford HealthCare’s H3W behaviors is a good basis to make significant alter.
“If we create equity into every thing we do, we can make a modify. Fairness lives in [Hartford HealthCare’s] values. We have to see this as collective operate, do the job that we’re undertaking alongside one another to assist all of us,” said Lewis.
Hartford Area Vice President of Professional medical Affairs Adam Steinberg, DO, MBA, FACOG, FACS identified as on leaders to seize the minute to initiate improve.
“As doctors and leaders we are in the historic place to make modifications that will renovate how care is shipped to individuals who have to have it most, in our most at chance communities. And we are in a posture to ensure that our treatment groups, our team, our suppliers are a improved illustration of the communities we serve. This commences with us addressing and conquering these inherent biases,” mentioned Steinberg.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
KHN:
Journalists Discuss Insulin Costs And Ethical Questions Surrounding A North Carolina Rehab Program
KHN Midwest correspondent Bram Sable-Smith discussed insulin costs on NBC’s LX on April 6. … KHN correspondent Aneri Pattani, joined by North Carolina Health News’ Taylor Knopf, discussed some of the ethical questions raised by TROSA — a substance misuse recovery organization in North Carolina that provides free room and board for those in recovery in exchange for free work — on WUNC’s “WUNC Politics” podcast on April 6. (4/9)
At first glance, U.S. Covid cases appear to have plateaued over the past two weeks, with a consistent average of around 30,000 cases per day, according to NBC News’ tally. But disease experts say incomplete data likely masks an upward trend. In Washington, D.C., for example, several high-profile government figures recently tested positive, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Attorney General Merrick Garland. (Bendix and Chow, 4/10)
The rise of Covid cases in some regions of the U.S., just as testing efforts wane, has raised the specter that the next major wave of the virus may be difficult to detect. In fact, the country could be in the midst of a surge right now and we might not even know it. Testing and viral sequencing are critical to responding quickly to new outbreaks of Covid. And yet, as the country tries to move on from the pandemic, demand for lab-based testing has declined and federal funding priorities have shifted. The change has forced some testing centers to shutter while others have hiked up prices in response to the end of government-subsidized testing programs. People are increasingly relying on at-home rapid tests if they decide to test at all. But those results are rarely reported, giving public health officials little insight into how widespread the virus truly is. (Muller, 4/10)
You’re going to the movies and eating indoors. Your kid stopped wearing a mask to school; you no longer wear one to work. After two years of Covid precautions, you finally feel normal again. Well, mostly.BA.2—a subvariant of the Omicron variant that tore through the U.S. this winter—is spreading. It’s now the dominant variant throughout the country and has triggered recent surges in Europe. If you live somewhere where local statistics suggest cases are rising but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention map still shades your county low-risk green, it can be tough to figure out what to do. (Reddy, 4/10)
Seventy-two people have tested positive for Covid-19 after having attended the Gridiron Dinner in Washington last weekend, including members of the Biden administration and reporters. Gridiron Club President Tom DeFrank said Sunday that the group had reported 72 cases out of the hundreds of people who attended. New York Mayor Eric Adams, who was also at the dinner, tested positive Sunday. It was the first Gridiron Dinner since 2019, before the pandemic, and guests were required to show proof of vaccination, DeFrank said. (Zhao and Roecker, 4/10)
Most of the time, President Biden doesn’t wear a mask, but occasionally he’s spotted with one. Sometimes his events are in crowded indoor rooms, other times outdoors. And through it all over the past two weeks, people close to Biden — if not in “close contact” as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — are contracting covid as part of a wave washing over parts of official Washington. (Linskey and Diamond, 4/8)
Anthony Fauci said Sunday there’s no particular reason to fear that President Joe Biden will be infected with Covid-19, despite how hard official Washington has been hit lately. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” the president’s chief medical adviser said, “The protocols to protect the president are pretty strong.” While allowing that an infection was certainly possible, Fauci added: “The president is vaccinated. He is doubly boosted. He got his fourth shot of an mRNA. When we people like myself and my colleagues are in the room closely with him for a considerable period of time — half an hour, 20 minutes, 40 minutes — all of us need to be tested. Yes, he is mingling there, but we feel that the protocols around the president are sufficient to protect him.” (Cohen, 4/10)
Dr. Anthony Fauci advised that individuals will need to decide for themselves their personal level of risk for events and COVID-19 exposure going forward as people learn to live with the virus. “What’s going to happen is that we’re going to see that each individual is going to have to make their calculation of the amount of risk that they want to take in going to indoor dinner is going to functions even within the realm of a green zone,” Fauci said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “It’s going to be a person’s decision about the individual risk they’re going to take.” (Aitken, 4/10)
Ocean County, a coastal region in central New Jersey, is home to some of the state’s most exclusive waterfront communities and its fastest-growing town, Lakewood. A Republican bastion in a state controlled by Democrats, the county is largely suburban, encompassing more land than all but one other county in New Jersey. (Tully and Schorr, 4/10)
Mayor Eric Adams has tested positive for Covid-19, a City Hall spokesperson announced Sunday afternoon. Adams’ press secretary, Fabien Levy, said the mayor woke up with a “raspy voice” Sunday morning — his 100th day in office — and took a PCR test “out of an abundance of caution.” The test has came back positive. (Toure, 4/10)
After deploying four COVID-19 shots in a little more than two years, the nation is absorbing a troubling realization: That’s a pace that’s impossible to sustain. This past week, experts began charting a path to a future that is less perfect – but more practical. It means building a vaccine that targets more than one strain of the virus. It would reduce severe disease and death, but not prevent every infection. If the design is changed, all vaccines will be updated. Manufacturers will likely offer the same vaccine formulation to everyone, rather than a mélange of different products for different people on different schedules. And the goal is to have it ready by next fall when the risk of illness is likely to soar. That’s a very tight deadline. (Krieger, 4/10)
As the omicron variant of the coronavirus moved lightning-fast around the world, it revealed an unsettling truth. The virus had gained a stunning ability to infect people, jumping from one person’s nose to the next. Cases soared this winter, even among vaccinated people. That is leading scientists to rethink their strategy about the best way to fight future variants, by aiming for a higher level of protection: blocking infections altogether. If they succeed, the next vaccine could be a nasal spray. (Johnson, 4/10)
Thousands of people including truckers and firefighters from across the country gathered Sunday outside Los Angeles City Hall to protest vaccination mandates designed to slow the spread of COVID-19.The crowd gathered at Grand Park to hear speakers and performers, while big-rig trucks from the “People’s Convoy” were parked on nearby streets. Members of the convoy jammed traffic during a Washington, D.C., protest earlier this year. (Dovarganes, 4/10)
Eleven Massachusetts State Police troopers and one sergeant have been fired for not getting vaccinated against COVID-19, as required by an executive order issued last year, the state police said. State Police spokesperson Dave Procopio said in an email Sunday the 12 individuals were terminated Friday in the culmination of an internal hearing process. (4/10)
Democrat Jennifer Loughran spent the pandemic’s early days sewing face masks for neighbors [in Bridgewater, N.J.]. Last month, as a newly elected school-board member, she voted to lift the district’s mask mandate. That came four months after she voted for the state’s Republican candidate for governor. After a monthslong political identity crisis, Ms. Loughran decided her opposition to her party’s mask mandates, economic restrictions and school-closure policies outweighed her support for positions on climate change, abortion and gay rights, at least for the moment. (Bender, 4/1)
Two-plus years into the Covid-19 pandemic, you probably know the basics of protection: vaccines, boosters, proper handwashing and masks. But one of the most powerful tools against the coronavirus is one that experts believe is just starting to get the attention it deserves: ventilation. “The challenge for organizations that improve air quality is that it’s invisible,” said Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It’s true: Other Covid tools are more tangible. But visualizing how the virus might behave in poorly ventilated spaces can help people better understand this mitigation measure. (Sealy, 4/10)
In a biting letter, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill. urged Congress to investigate the failures of nursing homes during the pandemic, particularly “profiteering, cold-hearted” corporations that act as landlords in the industry. “It is up to Congress … to shine a bright light on the current practices, to reign them in, and to set and strictly enforce high standards for performance,” Rush wrote to the chair of the House Oversight Committee. “It is Congress’s job to stand in-between greedy corporations and those who are the most defenseless.” (Fraser and Penzenstadler, 4/8)
A COVID-19 patient was in respiratory distress. The Army nurse knew she had to act quickly. It was the peak of this year’s omicron surge and an Army medical team was helping in a Michigan hospital. Regular patient beds were full. So was the intensive care. But the nurse heard of an open spot in an overflow treatment area, so she and another team member raced the gurney across the hospital to claim the space first, denting a wall in their rush. (Baldor, 4/11)
Before the pandemic, on average, 3.2{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of healthcare workers reported turnover, compared with 5.6{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} in the beginning of the pandemic and 3.7{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} in the following 8 months. More people left the workforce than were unemployed for every group throughout the study period, except in the latter period among people who were multiracial or of an “other” race. (Van Beusekom, 4/8)
A bipartisan duo of senators is done waiting for the Food and Drug Administration to finalize a regulation that will finally let companies sell hearing aids over the counter. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced a bill Friday that would mandate that the Biden administration release the FDA’s long-stalled hearing aid regulation within 30 days. The new bill is the latest sign of frustration in Washington over the FDA’s work on hearing aid access; Grassley and Warren’s passed legislation to pave the way for cheaper, over-the-counter devices five years ago, in 2017. (Florko, 4/8)
Doctors will soon have new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how and when to prescribe opioids for pain. Those guidelines – currently under review as a draft – will serve as an update to the agency’s previous advice on opioids, issued in 2016. That advice is widely blamed for leading to harmful consequences for patients with chronic pain. Federal officials have acknowledged their original guidance was often misapplied; it was supposed to serve as a roadmap for clinicians navigating tricky decisions around opioids and pain — not as a rigid set of rules. (Stone, 4/9)
Whither accelerated approval? Amid the hubbub over new Medicare coverage restrictions for Alzheimer’s treatments, a key issue may not be fully appreciated: There is now bona fide pushback against accelerated approval, a controversial strategy used by regulators and companies to get new drugs to market faster than usual. On its face, this suggests potentially wider — and sobering — implications for the pharmaceutical industry and patients, because they may one day have to wait longer for new medicines to get out the proverbial door. (Silverman, 4/9)
While CAR T-therapy has cured some people with blood cancers, this form of immunotherapy has so far produced lackluster results for solid tumors like lung or kidney cancer. But a new early-phase clinical trial presented on Sunday at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) conference suggests that CAR T-cells may be able to shrink some solid tumors — as long as it gets a boost from an mRNA vaccine from BioNTech. (Chen, 4/10)
On Wednesday, 5-year-old Mary Stegmueller will reach a major milestone. She will have outlived her predicted life expectancy. Twice. At age 4, Mary, a rambunctious animal lover from Northglenn, Colorado, was given nine months to live. A devastating brain tumor was spreading its tentacles through her brain stem, the area that controls breathing, heartbeat and other essential functions. The tumor, called a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma strikes 300-400 Americans each year, mostly children, and several thousand more worldwide. (Weintraub, 4/10)
History was made Friday as a local doctor carried out a procedure that had never been performed in a Houston hospital. The advanced prostate cancer treatment called transurethral ultrasound ablation is now being offered at Houston Methodist Willowbrook, the hospital announced this week. “This is the first time the TULSA procedure has been performed in a hospital setting in the Houston area, giving patients with prostate cancer or an enlarged prostate a significant opportunity to maintain their lifestyle,” Steven Sukin, MD, said in the announcement. (Feuk, 4/8)
Joyce Ares had just turned 74 and was feeling fine when she agreed to give a blood sample for research. So she was surprised when the screening test came back positive for signs of cancer. After a repeat blood test, a PET scan and a needle biopsy, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. “I cried,” the retired real estate broker said. “Just a couple of tears and thought, ‘OK, now what do we do?’” The Canby, Oregon, resident had volunteered to take a blood test that is being billed as a new frontier in cancer screening for healthy people. It looks for cancer by checking for DNA fragments shed by tumor cells. (Johnson, 4/11)
A government watchdog has found a “substantial likelihood” the federal Bureau of Prisons committed wrongdoing when it ignored complaints and failed to address asbestos and mold contamination at a federal women’s prison in California that has already been under scrutiny for rampant sexual abuse of inmates. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel now wants Attorney General Merrick Garland to step in to investigate the allegations after multiple whistleblower complaints were filed earlier this year. The office detailed its findings in a letter this past week and has asked Garland to submit a report within 60 days. (Balsamo and Sisak, 4/9)
At 12:08 p.m. on a Monday, a Sky Lakes Medical Center employee tapped an email link. Within minutes, that click cracked open the Oregon hospital’s digital infrastructure for cybercriminals to infiltrate. By the time IT staff started looking into it, “everything was being encrypted,” said John Gaede, director of information services. On a note discovered in a server, the attackers announced the 100-bed Klamath Falls hospital had been hit with ransomware. (Renault, 4/11)
The Montana State Hospital is set to lose its federal reimbursement funding on Tuesday after repeated failures to meet standard health and safety conditions, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a letter to the state on Friday. The letter does not say how much money the state hospital will no longer receive once the federal government stops payment for services provided to Medicare and Medicaid patients. There were 142 patients in the main hospital as of April 4, though it’s not clear how many patients are insured by Medicare and Medicaid. (Larson, 4/11)
Wellstar Health System’s announcement that it is turning the only emergency room in Fulton County south of Interstate 20 into an urgent care clinic is raising concerns among some officials in metro Atlanta. WellStar said Wednesday it will close the ER and hospital beds at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center South in East Point outside Atlanta in May. It will turn the facility into a 24-hour urgent care and rehabilitation clinic, news outlets reported. (4/10)
Maryland lawmakers voted over the weekend to override Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of a bill that would allow health practitioners outside of physicians — including nurse practitioners, midwives and physician’s assistants — to perform abortions. Maryland House members voted 90-46 on Saturday to reverse the governor’s decision, while state Senate members voted 29-15. Hogan is a Republican, while the majority of both the state’s chambers are Democrats. The bill will now become law and take effect on July 1. House Bill 937, known as the Abortion Care Access Act, says that “qualifying providers” include those whose medical licenses or certifications include the performance of abortions. (Archie, 4/11)
In a sudden turn of events, Starr County District Attorney Gocha Ramirez announced in a news release Sunday that his office is dismissing the indictment against Lizelle Herrera, who was arrested Thursday and charged with murder on accusations of a “self-induced abortion.”
“The issues surrounding this matter are clearly contentious, however based on Texas law and the facts presented, it is not a criminal matter,” Ramirez said in a statement. (4/10)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health warning about an outbreak of meningococcal disease in Florida, which the agency said is mainly affecting gay and bisexual men, including those living with HIV. The CDC urged gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men to get the MenACWY vaccine if they live in Florida. It also recommended that those planning to visit Florida talk with their health care provider about getting the vaccine. (Rai, 4/9)
The Alaska House of Representatives this week rejected a $495,000 legal settlement with two former Alaska Psychiatric Institute doctors illegally fired by Gov. Mike Dunleavy and his former chief of staff in 2018. The House voted 20-17 on Thursday to strip the money from a state budget line item for settlements. The decision is not yet final and would not revive a lawsuit brought by the doctors, but if the amendment is adopted by both the House and Senate, it would leave the doctors without financial compensation.
“If this amount is not appropriated, the settlement would not be paid, which means the doctors would not receive the payment that was part of the compromise of the settlement,” said assistant attorney general Grace Lee, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Law. (Brooks, 4/8)
“The risk of clinically significant exposure to emergency responders is extremely low,” said Dr. Kathy LeSaint, a medical toxicologist and assistant professor of emergency medicine at UCSF. Last month, six people, including five West Point cadets, reportedly overdosed after taking cocaine laced with fentanyl. But two said they overdosed — going into cardiac arrest — administering CPR to the others, rather than by voluntarily ingesting the opioid themselves. While she said she does not know the specific details of the West Point cadets incident, it seems unlikely to her, as an emergency medicine physician who has seen overdose patients receive CPR, that someone could become intoxicated that way. (Echeverria, 4/9)
Nevada’s largest university is going smoke-free, going beyond the state’s existing law against smoking in most indoor public places by expanding it to include outdoor areas. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas policy announced Friday and taking effect Aug. 15 in time for the fall 2022 semester also applies to vaping. (4/9)
The nation’s flu activity rose again last week, with the levels highest in central and southeast states and increasing in the Northeast, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its weekly update. The percentage of outpatient visits for flulike illness, a key marker, rose slightly, to 1.9{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}, but is still below the national baseline. One state—New Mexico—reported high flu activity, another measure of clinic visits for flulike illness. Four states reported moderate activity: Kansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Utah. (4/8)
A large wellness fair focusing on physical, mental and spiritual well-being — as well as activities for kids — is scheduled from 3-7 p.m. Wednesday at the Pearson Community Center in Las Vegas. “Wednesday Wellness Health Fair” will include blood-pressure checks and cholesterol screenings, as well as COVID-19 vaccinations and testing. There will be presentations and vendors. The event, at 1625 West Carey Ave., will include a food truck sponsored by Desert Winds Hospital. (Hynes, 4/9)
Italian confectionery giant Ferrero said Thursday it had recalled certain varieties of its Kinder chocolates from retailers in the United States due to possible salmonella contamination. The move follows recalls earlier this week in the United Kingdom and several European countries over concerns around products from Ferrero’s factory in the Belgian town of Arlon, although no Kinder products have so far been found to contain the disease. (4/8)
Less than two months after a baby formula recall, retailers are reporting shortages with some stores rationing sales. Nearly 30{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of popular baby formula brands may be sold out at retailers across the U.S., according to an analysis by Datasembly, which assessed supplies at more than 11,000 stores. That’s a higher level than other products, said Ben Reich, CEO of the Tysons, Virginia-based research firm. (Snider, 4/9)
In the years following the 1994 start of the Safe to Sleep campaign, which urged parents to put their babies on their backs at bedtime and keep their cribs free of pillows, bumper pads, blankets, stuffed animals and anything soft that might pose a suffocation risk, cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) plummeted by more 50 percent. But then, the decline stopped. Some 3,400 babies under age 1 still die suddenly and unexpectedly each year. Of these, the number of infant deaths officially attributed to SIDS is probably an underestimate, experts say. In most cases, parents simply find their baby unresponsive in the crib — and autopsy practices are not standardized — so most of these heartbreaking deaths remain mysteries and are not always classified as SIDS. (Cimons, 4/10)
Americans were more vulnerable to serious illness and death from COVID in part because of our poor health status heading into the pandemic. Now, preparations for future public health emergencies have to include chronic diet-related illnesses, including those stemming from the obesity crisis, health experts say. Obesity and related diseases like diabetes were closely linked with a far higher risk of serious illness and death from COVID. That was particularly true among older adults, communities of color, and disadvantaged communities, Anand Parekh, chief medical adviser at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told Axios. (Reed, 4/11)
Queen Elizabeth II, after her own recent bout with COVID-19, empathized with patients, doctors and nurses at a London hospital last week as she listened to their stories about life on the front lines of the pandemic. The monarch spoke to patients and staff at the Royal London Hospital during a virtual visit that marked the official dedication of the Queen Elizabeth Unit, a 155-bed critical care facility built in just five weeks at the height of the pandemic. “It does leave one very tired and exhausted, doesn’t it?” she told recovering COVID-19 patient Asef Hussain and his wife, Shamina. “This horrible pandemic.” (4/11)
India will distribute fortified rice through various government-run food programs to tackle acute malnutrition among children and women in the world’s second-most populous nation. The initiative, which will cost about 27 billion rupees ($356 million) a year, will be funded by the federal government and completed in phases by June 2024, according to an official statement released after the cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the plan. (Pradhan, 4/8)
This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
A part of Alex Gregor’s childhood was spent growing up in Buncombe County, near Asheville, where he and his family enjoyed canoeing and hiking.
“I think that’s probably the origin of my environmental consciousness …those experiences with family and friends, outdoors,” he recalled recently.
After college, Gregor held several jobs before deciding to pursue a medical degree. One particular job was in the “social enterprise sector with a focus on global development issues.” He said his passion for the outdoors and his experience working on global issues carried from that career to his new one.
“Seeing the intersection of environmental challenges and human health, from that perspective, was a big part of what motivated me to go into medicine,” he said. “Specifically, to get involved in this movement of planetary health.”
Now Gregor is a fourth-year medical student at UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine. But he noticed something missing from his medical training.
“What I saw in school was that we talked a lot about health, but not really about some of the big environmental elephants in the room, like climate change, and air pollution or other forms of pollution that really have a huge effect on health,” he said.
Public health and economic crisis
Researchers say that extreme weather events not only take a physical toll on the environment but also are responsible for causing a host of traumatic responses in people who experience the devastation, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and suicide, among others.
A 2022 report published by the American Psychiatric Association, found that “67 percent of Americans agree that climate change is already impacting the population’s health.” While “55 percent of Americans are anxious about the impact of climate on their own mental health.”
What is more, in 2010, mental illness taxed the global economy by “at least $2.5 trillion in direct and indirect costs, including lost productivity and economic growth,” according to a briefing paper from The Lancet Global Health, published November 2020. The paper projects that by 2030, costs associated with mental illness will increase to $6 trillion.
Addressing the ‘elephants in the room’
In March 2020, Gregor and a group of his medical school colleagues decided it was time to act. They formed Climate Leadership & Action Network at the UNC School of Medicine (CLEAN UNC).
According to their website, the group has three primary goals: getting medical professionals up to speed on climate topics, working within the health system to reduce waste and greenhouse gasses to “do no harm” to the environment and getting the health care community involved in formulating policy solutions.
Kenan Penaskovic, associate vice-chair of clinical affairs and director of inpatient psychiatry services, was approached by CLEAN members, who had ideas about how to integrate the topic of climate and its impact on public health into a two-week elective course Penaskovic teaches titled Health and Human Behavior, he said.
“Over 200 medical and academic journals within the last year [are]simultaneously saying that the number one global public health threat is climate change,” said Penaskovic, who also said that more recently he was trying to incorporate the content into his formal teaching. “It is an acknowledgement of the fact that we’re all impacted by this and we’re all concerned.”
In a text message, Gregor said that since its founding in 2020, “more than 150 medical students and other graduate [and] undergraduate students have participated in CLEAN sponsored events (i.e. virtual lectures and discussions).” Currently, there are 778 students enrolled in the medical school, according to the registrar.
Gregor also said in the text that since the 2020-2021 academic year, “all first and second year medical students (M1s-M2s) have been taught about climate change impacts on public health in the foundation core curriculum, i.e. clinical science (including cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal and …psychiatry blocks) and social and health system courses.”
There are roughly 190 students per class.
Reduce, reuse
One goal listed on CLEAN’s website focuses on “helping the health system” reduce its carbon footprint by identifying areas where reusable items can reduce waste, for instance. In order to facilitate change at the institutional level, however, students and leaders at the school must work together.
Assistant Professor Yee Lam teaches primary care at the medical school, is CLEAN’s faculty adviser and has acted as a liaison between the group and medical school leadership.
In addition to advocating for elective courses that address climate change, CLEAN offers an environmental impact evaluation.
“There is this planetary health report card that comes out and kind of gives an assessment of where your institution is at the moment on a variety of factors,” Lam said.
One of the issues CLEAN is exploring with the administration is whether sustainable practices can be enhanced in the clinical setting by partnering with vendors that use less of the “superfluous packaging” that comes along with the many medical supplies used daily in health care settings.
Biomedical waste generated daily at medical centers across the country. Image source: MFERMION/ Wikimedia Commons
There are five medical schools in North Carolina, but it’s not clear whether any of the others offer any coursework on the impacts of climate change.
A spokeswoman from East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine said the school currently doesn’t offer any coursework on the impacts of climate change on public health. Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Duke University School of Medicine did not respond to requests for comment.
A national movement
The idea of addressing the impacts of climate change on public health in medical school curricula appears to be spreading across the country.
Last month, Lisa Doggett, co-founder and president of the board of directors of Texas Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), announced in a press release that three Texas Medical schools – Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas – are offering an elective course on “environmental threats, including climate change.”
“The elective courses were developed by Texas PSR, a nonprofit organization and a chapter of National PSR dedicated to addressing the gravest threats to human health, including climate change,” Doggett said in an email.
Doggett said what motivated her to collaborate with her colleagues to develop the course was inspired by the fact that when she attended medical school in the mid-1990s, environmental health training was not offered.
“I worked in community clinics, providing patient care, but I realized my ability to help my patients was limited in many ways,” she said. “We’ve learned that most of what determines someone’s health status comes from their environment and the conditions in which they live, not what a doctor can do for them in a clinic.”
When asked why it is important for medical students to take courses on the impacts of climate on public health, Doggett emphasized the role of medical doctors in educating patients.
“Physicians are well-positioned to help patients connect the dots between climate change and their own health and personal choices,” said Doggett. “We are also respected community leaders who can be impactful advocates for change at the policy level and with decision-makers and elected officials.”
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by Will Atwater, North Carolina Health News April 11, 2022
How many occasions have you turned on the news in the morning and read practically nothing but tragic stories? How lots of instances have you sworn off social media only to find on your own “doomscrolling” inside of a several days and feeling upset by some of the posts and remarks? A lot of persons concur that most of what you see/hear/examine in the information every single day is not incredibly uplifting. You normally listen to persons say that they just just can’t look at the news any more, for the reason that it’s much too depressing. Whilst I have a tendency to really feel this way myself most times, I do not believe that entirely chopping on your own off from social media and/or information outlets is the greatest solution for everyone. As with really much anything else in existence, I believe that that moderation is actually the vital.
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A person rule I have go through in advance of and attempt to observe myself is not making it possible for on your own to appear at any social media initially thing in the early morning. If you are like me, my cell phone alarm is what wakes me in the morning, so it is quick to right away open an app and get started scrolling when I am not even still out of mattress. I have learned that this is not the way I want to start off my times, because it ordinarily doesn’t make me truly feel fantastic to start with detail. If this is a pattern you have, it’s possible you could attempt to substitute early morning scrolling with a little something that will make you truly feel improved, like looking at a handful of web pages of a reserve you like, looking through a early morning devotional, or getting a fast wander with your pet dog – this will enable your bodily and your mental well being!
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What if you have a task that necessitates you to be up to pace on existing occasions? Or probably you have to use social media for work? This is the circumstance for lots of of us, so if you must do these points each day, that is when moderation is truly important. If you are now paying a huge portion of your day observing the information and scrolling by means of newsfeeds, it is vital that you never go house and do more of the very same. All over again, moderation is the critical. If it assists, set a timer for you, or place a reminder on your phone that at a specified hour, it is time to place the equipment away and do anything else. Social media is developed to hold your awareness for as very long as feasible, which is why you can very easily drop an hour when you only meant to swiftly seem anything up. Environment boundaries for you will support your mental wellbeing.
Kristen Martin is the Executive Director at Prosper, a nonprofit that focuses on psychological overall health, and she advises folks to contemplate modifying the way in which they consume media. Martin recommends that people today feel about what bothers them most when observing, listening to, or looking at information. For example, some people today are extremely visible and just viewing a graphic picture of a war zone on television can be triggering for them. Nonetheless, they might be equipped to read the exact same news story on the web or in the paper and not be impacted in the exact way they were being by the online video feed. They are continue to acquiring the details they feel is important, but they are not having in the violent imagery that will hold them awake at night. It is really okay to glimpse out for your mental wellness and to do what functions for you. Environment some guidelines for your self and trying your finest to adhere to them may well make all the variance in your psychological wellness in this extremely tough environment in which we are living.
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