Prudent Blogger

About every fourth soldier here, where 48,000 troops and their families are based, has been in counseling during the past year, according to the services medical statistics. And the number of soldiers seeking help for combat stress, substance abuse, broken marriages or other emotional problems keeps increasing.

A common refrain by the Armys vice chief of staff, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, is that far more soldiers suffer mental health issues than the Army anticipated. Nowhere is this more evident than at Fort Hood, where emotional problems among the soldiers threaten to overwhelm the system in place to help them.

Counselors are booked. The 12-bed inpatient psychiatric ward is full more often than not. Overflow patient-soldiers are sent to private local clinics that stay open for 10 hours a day, six days a week to meet the demand.

We are full to the brim, says Col. Steve Braverman, commander of the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center on the post.

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Sherman Hospital epidemiologist Kathy Aureden (left) helps Savannah Lancaster, 5, of South Elgin, practice washing hands during a back-to-school health fair earlier this month at the South Elgin Immediate Care Center. Aureden says adults need a refresher on hand washing techniques, too. Andrew A. Nelles | For The Courier-News

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Michigan state health officials have confirmed that two Kalamazoo County men contracted Eastern equine encephalitis virus, EEEV, a rare, potentially deadly form of encephalitis that is spread by mosquitoes.

According to the Detroit Free Press, a 61 year old man is recovering at home, however, a 41 year old man remains hospitalized.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, reports that EEEV is transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. It is so rare, that only a few cases are reported each year in the United States.

Signs and symptoms of EEEV begin with the sudden onset of headache, high fever, chills, and vomiting. It may progress into disorientation, seizures or coma, and even death. The mortality rate in this country is 33 percent and significant brain damage in most survivors. There is no specific treatment for the illness, and care is based on symptoms.

Health officials advise using insect repellent, wearing protective clothing, eliminating mosquito breeding areas around the house, and staying indoors while mosquitoes are most active. If you suspect you or a family member may have this virus, you are advised to consult your health care provider immediately.

If you have questions or concerns about a specific health product or any health issue, please feel free to contact me.

Your comments are always appreciated. Feel free to share this article with your friends and family.

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Photo via fruitforourchildren.com

In May 2010, TreeHugger reported on the research linking pesticide exposure and ADHD in children. A study published recently in Environmental Health Perspectives by UC Berkeley School of Public Health researchers found that exposure of children to organophosphates while in utero may result in increased likelihood that the child will have ADHD. While the study does not prove that there is a causal link between pesticides and ADHD, it is not a stretch to think that organophosphates that attack the nervous systems of insects could also interfere with brain function and development in children.

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Lack of accountability continues, despite deaths, threats to funding

Angela Peterson
John Chianelli, administrator of the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division, appears before the county’s Long Range Strategic Plan Steering Committee in May.

By Meg Kissinger and Steve Schultze of the Journal Sentinel

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CHICAGO July 26, 2010, 06:41 am ET

More than 70,000 children and teens go to the emergency room each year for injuries and complications from medical devices, and contact lenses are the leading culprit, the first detailed national estimate suggests.

About one-fourth of the problems were things like infections and eye abrasions in contact lens wearers. These are sometimes preventable and can result from wearing contact lenses too long without cleaning them.

Other common problems found by researchers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration include puncture wounds from hypodermic needles breaking off in the skin while injecting medicine or illegal drugs; infections in young children with ear tubes; and skin tears from pelvic devices used during gynecological exams in teen girls.

Malfunction and misuse are among possible reasons; the researchers are working to determine how and why the injuries occurred and also are examining the prevalence in adults. Those efforts might result in FDA device warnings, depending on what they find, said study co-author Dr. Brock Hefflin.

The most serious problems involved implanted devices such as brain shunts for kids with hydrocephalus (water on the brain); chest catheters for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy at home; and insulin pumps for diabetics. Infections and overdoses are among problems associated with these devices. Only 6 percent of patients overall had to be hospitalized.

Dr. Steven Krug, head of emergency medicine at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital, said the study highlights a trade-off linked with medical advances that have enabled chronically ill children to be treated at home and live more normal lives.

Home care can be challenging for families; Krug says he has seen children brought in because catheters were damaged or became infected.

“Health care providers need to be aware of these kids and their devices and how to recognize or diagnose” related problems, Krug said. He was not involved in the study.

The study appears in Pediatrics, published online Monday.

Hefflin and lead author Dr. Cunlin Wang work in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. They note there has been recent concern about medical device safety in children, particularly since many devices intended for adults are used in children.

The researchers analyzed medical records from ER visits reported in a national injury surveillance system. Based on data from about 100 nationally representative hospitals, they estimated that 144,799 medical device-related complications occurred during 2004 and 2005, or more than 70,000 yearly.

Almost 34,000 problems were linked with contact lenses in the two-year period. The rest were scattered among 12 other categories including general medical devices such as needles and catheters, gynecology devices and heart devices.

Hefflin said the study is the first to evaluate device-related injuries in children only. It did not include device problems in already hospitalized children.

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Online:

Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org

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(CBS) Liberals might believe that Glenn Beck has been blind all along, but now the television talk show host says that he is suffering from macular dystrophy and may actually lose his sight.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the doctor because of my eyes, I cant focus my eyes, he said to a Salt Lake City crowd on Saturday. He did all kinds of tests and he said, you have macular dystrophy …you could go blind in the next year. Or, you might not.

The often comedic Beck fired back, Did you just charge me a thousand dollars for knowing what I knew my whole life?

Vitelliform macular dystrophy is a genetic eye disorder which causes vision loss over time by disrupting cells in a small area near the center of the retina which is responsible for sharp central vision. A more aggressive version can strike during childhood. Either form can make it hard to recognize faces, read and drive.

During Saturdays event, Beck quickly turned his medical problems towards a larger platform - his opposition to President Obamas health care reform.

I went to the best doctor I could find, while I could still go to the best doctor I can find, he told the approximately 6,000 people assembled for his American Revival tour.

Lets hope the system doesnt blind side him as he fears.

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Elena Kagan denies substantive discussion of health-care case

Senate Republicans are worried that, as solicitor general, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan advised President Obama about litigation against health-care reform - a potential issue if the litigation makes it to the Supreme Court.

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July 19, 2010 — Abuse of prescription pain relievers jumped 400% between 1998 and 2008 among people aged 12 and older, according to a new report.

The report showed that prescription pain reliever abuse rose from 2.2% in 1998 to 9.8% a decade later, with increases seen across all sectors of society — gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, employment status, and region. Moreover, pain reliever abuse soared from 6.8% in 1998 to 26.5% in 2008 among people admitted to treatment facilities for opioid dependence.

Easy access to prescription pain relievers, such as keeping OxyContin in the bathroom medicine cabinet or accessing illegal pharmacies on the Internet, may play a role in the increase, experts say. These numbers also indicate that prescription painkiller abuse has become a major national public health threat.

“The non-medical use of prescription pain relievers is now the second most prevalent form of illicit drug use in the nation, and its tragic consequences are seen in substance abuse treatment centers and hospital emergency departments throughout our nation” says Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, JD, in a news release. “This public health threat demands that we follow the president’s National Drug Control Strategy’s call for an all out effort to raise awareness of this risk and the critical importance of properly using, storing, and disposing of these powerful drugs.”

Prescription Drug Abuse on the Rise

The study was conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services. It was based on treatment facility admission data and was published Friday as the “Treatment Episode Data Set Report.”

Among the study’s other key findings:

• There were equally significant increases in prescription pain reliever abuse among men and women. For men, the proportion of treatment admissions rose from 1.8% in 1998 to 8.1% a decade later; for women, those figures were 3.5% and 13.3%, respectively.
• There were also equally significant increases among people with different levels of education. For people with an eighth grade education or less, admissions rose from 1.9% to 9.7% from 1998 to 2008; people with more than a high school education experienced an increase from 3.8% to 12.1% during that same time period.
• More than 55% of nonmedical users obtained prescription pain relievers from a friend or a relative for free; another 8.9% reported that they purchased prescription painkillers from a friend or relative.
• Although increases were seen across all races/ethnicities, non-Hispanic whites showed one of the most significant increases of admissions of prescription painkiller misuse, from 3.2% in 1998 to 14.4% in 2008.
• Increases were similar among the employed and unemployed, with a jump for employed people from 2.1% in 1998 to 9.2% in 2008 versus 2.7% to 11.1% for the unemployed.

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ELEANOR HALL: The Prime Minster Julia Gillard attempted to put her stamp on the Governments health strategy today. Reform of the health system is a policy area that her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, worked hard to make his own.

Today in Launceston Ms Gillard announced that shell spend $96 million on training for new doctors and nurses in emergency departments.

Ashley Hall is travelling with the Prime Minister and he joins us now in Devonport in Tasmania. So Ashley what sort of a pitch did Julia Gillard make on health today?

ASHLEY HALL: Well, Eleanor as you mentioned she is trying to put her mark on this policy. She pointed out that nearly a third of patients admitted to hospital from an emergency department, that is about 600,000 Australians, wait longer than eight hours between the time they arrive and when they are transferred to a hospital bed in a ward.

You will remember earlier this year the Government secured an agreement with the states to roll out a tough new national standard to ensure that Australians visiting emergency departments will be seen and treated within four hours.

And to achieve that the Prime Minister says there will need to be more staff and she has announced today additional training places, an additional 27 specialist emergency doctors a year. That means up to 270 specialist emergency doctors over the next decade.

Also the Government will support 300 additional scholarships a year to train more emergency nurses and nurse practitioners up to 2,000 more specialist emergency nurses over the next decade, including up to 600 more specialist emergency nurses over the next three years.

There is another 100 student nurses a year to gain experience in emergency departments and 100 scholarships a year to improve the skills of support staff in emergency departments. All of this will cost around $96 million.

There was some confusion at the media conference where Ms Gillard announced these moves because she said initially that this was a new announcement with new money but as it turns out, this is a new announcement spending money that was allocated in 2010/2011 budget, so cleared that up towards the end of the media conference.

That event was held at Launceston General Hospital and the Prime Minister went for a bit of a tour around the hospital and met many of the staff and then she laid out for all of us that as far as she sees it, Australians have, on the question of health, a choice to make on August the 21st.

JULIA GILLARD: A choice with going forward with these new investments in our emergency departments and care in our communities or going back - back to the days of healthcare cutbacks, when we saw a billion dollars taken out of our public hospitals, back with cuts to GP super clinics.

Mr Abbott has said he would end our GP super clinics program. Mr Abbott has also said he would end our GP hotline program. The hotline number you would ring to get a doctor if you needed one and of course he has also said he would end our investments in electronic health records which are so important to the new ways that doctors and nurses want to work and the new ways of providing patient care.

ELEANOR HALL: And that is the Prime Minister making that announcement in the hospital in Launceston this morning.

Now Ashley, this is the first chance that reporters have had to ask the Prime Minister about last nights leaders debate. What did she say about it?

ASHLEY HALL: Well indeed we did ask her about the leaders debate and there were questions about whether or not it was a boring debate, whether or not she was scared to face Tony Abbott a second and/or third time. Some suggestion that there should be more debates.

So she wouldnt be drawn on the outcome of the debate last night.

JULIA GILLARD: Ill allow others to judge the debate. It is in the hands of the Australian people to make their judgements, but I will say this - I am never going to be bored, never going to be bored talking about a strong economy that gives Australians the benefits that come with having a job, the simple benefits and dignity of work. I am never going to be bored talking about the healthcare that Australians need. I am never going to be bored talking about giving our children the opportunity of a first-class education.

ELEANOR HALL: And that is the Prime Minister Julia Gillard there and travelling with her, our reporter Ashley Hall.

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