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On a medical mission Rotarians bring help, education to farmers in …

admin — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:02:00 +0000

On a medical mission Rotarians bring help, education to farmers in Nigeria
From lancing boils and extracting infected teeth to making fuel discs from garbage and eyeglasses from bicycle spokes, Libertyville Rotarians have made an impact in Nigeria.
Nurse Teri Dreher, Dr. Anthony Collins and his 11-year-old daughter, Shea, and Bob Zamor recently returned from Umuagwo, Nigeria, where they spent an intense two weeks providing care and instruction for hundreds of rural subsistance farmers and their families. They were part of a mission sponsored by Hands and Hearts International, an organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of disadvantaged people worldwide.
They were part of a contingent of 13 missioners from Illinois, Wisconsin and California who went to Africa with $250,000 worth of donated medicines and an equal amount of medical supplies. Libertyville Rotary donated a suction pump and those going packed their carry-on luggage with Tylenol and other over-the-counter medical supplies.
The need was dramatic, but it was “a phenomenally successful trip,” said Dreher, who has been there six times in the last five years. The Libertyville resident is a nurse at Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Midwestern Regional Medical Center, Zion.
Dreher was nicknamed the “Puss Queen” because of the number of boils she lanced. “They would scream bloody murder when it was done, but we hugged afterward,” she said. The crowds were drawn to the small hospital because people knew the drugs were real. (A nearby state has the largest fake drug-maker in the world.)
“They know the meds are real,” she said. “We had 875 patients register on the first day,” she said. Women and children were treated first while some patients waited three days to be seen. A total of 3,200 people were treated, including 250 dental patients and 60 surgical cases.
A team headed by Tom Rodriguez of Waukegan bought mahogany, which is abundant and inexpensive there, to make an operating table and two dental chairs that were covered in Naugahyde, a vinyl-coated fabric.
At Wednesday’s Sunrise Rotary meeting Collins, a dentist with offices in Mundelein, showed off a tooth that had been extracted which had a tumor nearly the size of a golf ball attached to it. He said the trip was nerve-wracking, but fulfilling all the same because so many people needed care.
“You got used to the arguments and the fights just outside the door because they were fighting for care,” said Collins. Former Libertyville Fire Chief Bob Zamor said trying to do triage, deciding who gets care first — or at all — was heart-breaking.
“One day we got all the men in a circle. I had 30 tickets (for an appointment) and 150 men there. I’ve never done anything that hard in my life. The guy who didn’t get a ticket had to wait until next year,” said Zamor. Some won’t make it until then.
Another part of the mission was to help residents who grew just enough food for themselves to live better. They were taught how to make fuel discs by mixing grass, paper garbage and water, and then compressing them.
The Rotarians also brought kits to make bicycle-spoke eyeglasses. In 15 minutes, with lenses from China that were sawed in half, a pair that could be sold for $2 could be made for 25 cents.
“We wanted to give local youth skills to start their own businesses,” said Dreher. In Nigeria there are both very rich and very poor people, but no middle class.
Shea helped the adults, but also made friends with local children, climbing trees and holding races with them. That was fun, but “it was hard to get used to all the bugs,” she said.

Gulf Coast Medical Center opening draws crowd

admin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:44:00 +0000

Lines leading from the new Gulf Coast Medical Center in south Fort Myers looked more like the line for a ride at Disney World than for a hospital tour.
But, crowds came to take in all the new facility, walking around the 436,000 square feet of new construction in groups of 20.
Rose Digiorgio, 69, said she came to see it for peace of mind.
Nobody wants to go to the hospital, but its great to know its here if you need it, she said. Plus the building is beautiful.
The groups tours began in radiology and weaved around wide hallways offering glimpses of new technology and equipment in each area.
Denise Krause-Larsen, 53, a registered nurse of 28 years, was thrilled by the pre-operating rooms.
One of 10 that work in the recovery unit at Southwest Florida Regional Medical center, she will be transferred to Gulf Coast when the facility opens in March.
Its so big, and well be able to be right next to the patients, which is really good, she said.
Theyve really thought about what we need as a staff.

American Medical Systems – fiscally fit

admin — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:38:14 +0000

2/18/2009 8:06:38 AM(RTTNews) Urological medical devices supplier American Medical Systems Holdings Inc. (AMMD) said its better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit was led by the strength in its male and female health segments.
* Strong expense control enabled the company to generate $37.1 million in cash from operations and reduce its debt by $40.7 million in the fourth quarter.
* The company forecast FY09 earnings above analyst expectations.
* Four of the companyвЂ™s product lines ended the year with annual sales around $100 million each and a fifth crossed the $15 million mark.
* Early this year, the company received approval for a second product to treat prolapse and plans a limited launch” of the system in the first half of 2009, followed by a full launch in the third quarter.
The company makes and sells surgical products to urologists, gynecologists, and urogynecologists for the treatment of pelvic disorders in men and women. It operates in three segments
1. The MenвЂ™s Health segment that includes the male urinary and fecal continence products to treat the loss of bladder and bowel control as well as erectile restoration product lines.
2. The WomenвЂ™s Health unit includes products for female continence, pelvic organ prolapse or a condition in which one or more pelvic organs protrude or herniate into the vaginal wall, and Her Option products that are used to eliminate excessive menstrual bleeding.
3. The BHP therapy segment includes BPH the GreenLight Laser Therapy and TherMatrx product lines to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia or enlarged prostrate.
American Medical Systems turned around to a profit of $14.61 million, or $0.20 per share in Q4, compared to year-ago loss of $5.04 million, or $0.07 per share. Excluding items, the company posted net income of $19.1 million, or $0.26 per share, ahead of the consensus estimate of 23 cents/share. Revenue increased 3% to $134.01 million, from $130.04 million last year, driven by solid performance in both male and female continence and prolapse product lines, but offset by declines in laser therapy, TherMatrix and her option product lines.
– Strong expense control enabled the company to generate $37.1 million in cash from operations and reduce its debt by $40.7 million in the fourth quarter.
– Four of the companyвЂ™s product lines ended the year with annual sales around $100 million each and a fifth crossed the $15 million mark.

Calif. Medical Board Launches Investigation Of Fertility Doctor …

admin — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:57:08 +0000

Calif. Medical Board Launches Investigation Of Fertility Doctor Involved In Octuplet Pregnancy
The Medical Board of California is investigating the physician who provided fertility treatments that resulted in the birth of octuplets to a 33-year-old woman who has six other children between ages two and seven, the
reports. Board spokesperson Candis Cohen said that the board was looking into whether there was a “violation of the standard of care.” The woman, Nadya Suleman, has said she became pregnant with the octuplets and her six other children through in vitro fertilization from the same fertility specialist.
There are no U.S. laws regulating the number of embryos that can be implanted in a woman’s uterus. National guidelines call for the use of two or three embryos in a woman Suleman’s age to lower risks related to multiple births. Arthur Caplan, director of the
at the University of Pennsylvania, said, “The revelation about one center treating her makes the treatment even harder to understand.” He added, “They went ahead when she had six kids, knowing that she was a single mom, … and put embryos into her anyway.” Suleman’s infants are expected to remain in the hospital for several more weeks (Mohajer, AP/Google.com, 2/7).
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Medical student buoyed others' spirits

admin — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:20:40 +0000

Michael Bernardo was a third-year student at Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine when he died in an automobile accident in the Dominican Republic last month. He was 26.
An alumnus of Durham’s Riverside High School, Bernardo graduated magna cum laude from N.C. State University with a degree in biology.
Going to a local school allowed him to visit his family in Durham often. His father died four years ago after battling a brain tumor for more than a decade. Michael and his older brother, Carlo, would take turns coming home from college on the weekends — Michael from Raleigh and Carlo from Campbell University in Buies Creek — to care for their father while their mother worked.
It strengthened the brothers’ already firm bond.
“We were like a team, always trying to figure out how to help,” Carlo says.
The Bernardo family immigrated to the United States from the Philippines in 1990, moving to Durham so their father could be treated at Duke. Much of their extended family was already living in the United States, and Martha Bernardo says Michael loved being able to spend time with his cousins, uncles and aunts.
He had an infectious smile, his mother says, and a sense of humor that helped put people at ease.
In a photo of the family taken when Michael was in elementary school, the parents and Michael’s siblings — Carlo and younger sister Erika — smile or look contemplatively at the camera. Not Michael. His dark eyes sparkle, and his mouth is wide open in an expression of exuberant joy. Carlo says the picture provides an example of his brother’s fun-loving nature.
Vicky Dang had been dating Michael for about two years. They were classmates at medical school. She says their courtship began as a friendship. After a few months, she realized that she was always with him, always looking forward to his phone calls and instant messages. “Mikey was extremely funny, outgoing and very charming,” she says.
Their first kiss came while they were watching the movie “Amelie,” which Dang says Bernardo dutifully sat through.
“It blossomed into the most beautiful relationship I’ve ever had,” Dang says.
His mother says Michael’s classmates told her that his encouragement often buoyed them through difficult days. If a big test was coming up, she says, Michael would energize the group to fit in a bit of skiing to offset the long hours of studying.
“He would always think of some way to do it — to make things happen,” she says.
But he also had a serious side, especially when it came to medicine. Part of his goal as a doctor, he told his mother, was to help people who could not afford health care.
After earning his undergraduate degree, Bernardo spent a year working with AmeriCorps to aid medically underserved people in Miami. At the time of his death, he was doing a medical rotation to help the poor in the Dominican Republic.
Bernardo was serious about his dedication to his family, as well. His sister writes in a remembrance that her brother became a father figure after their father died.
“Though he was a busy individual, he would always have the time to spend with the family,” Erika writes. “He kept us close by enabling us to do family things together. He constantly told me that above all, family comes first.”
Carlo says that after spending years caring for their ailing father, he and Michael knew each other well enough to know what the other was thinking.
“He could just tell me what I needed to hear,” Carlo says. “Half of me — it feels like it’s gone.”
Martha Bernardo says the funeral home director told her he had never seen a crowd as large as the one gathered for her son’s memorial service. Classmates from out of state and some who knew him as long ago as elementary school came to bid him farewell, she says.
“They remembered his smile, and they came.”

Patrick, McGovern tour growing medical company in Westborough

admin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:23:20 +0000

A medical technology company that employs 500 people here should get a significant boost – translating into more jobs – from President Obama’s economic stimulus package, Gov. Deval Patrick said Thursday.
Patrick’s remarks came during a tour of eClinicalWorks’ Rte. 9 headquarters where he and officials were shown the software that allows physicians and other health care workers to tap into up-to-the-minute information on patients.
“The very good news that’s going on here at eClinicalWorks is about creating jobs for the here and now and creating value for the long-term,” Patrick said. “It’s about how we move to a more modern and forward-looking healthcare system in a way to control cost and reduce errors.”
eClinicalWorks is the kind of company that stands to thrive from the $787 billion stimulus package, which sets aside $19 billion to modernize health care technology.
To benefit a company like eClinicalWorks, the stimulus funding would be given to hospitals, community health centers and doctors’ offices that would buy the company’s record-keeping system.
“In this lousy economic time, eClinicalWorks has 750 employees, 500 right here in Westborough,” said U.S Rep. James McGovern, D-3rd. “This is good news and this is what the stimulus can help support.”
The company produces electronic record-keeping systems that let doctors track patients’ conditions, generate prescriptions and track whether patients actually obtain those prescriptions – all on a tablet PC.
Girish Navani, CEO and co-founder of eClinicalWorks, said the stimulus package gave his company a virtual go-ahead after a period of concern over whether to do any more hiring.
“We see that the stimulus bill, at least in terms of healthcare technology, is having a direct impact in the short-term for companies like eClinicalWorks, which is hiring aggressively,” he said. “We forecast over the next two years to bring at least 500 new jobs to Massachusetts. That will essentially serve our customers across the country with the demand that’s expected out of the health care IT bill that’s being passed now.”
In addition to improving the speed and efficiency of medical records, Navani said new technology helps reduce major costs at hospitals and other health care centers.
“Massachusetts has led electronic medical record adoptions with projects like Mass E-Health well before this all became a reality,” Navani said.
McGovern also talked about the Republican opposition he and other Democrats faced when trying to get the stimulus bill passed.
“It’s a little bit ironic that the people who drove this economy into a ditch are complaining about the size of the tow truck,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is this economic stimulus package has real meaning and that meaning is evident here at eClinicalWorks.”

Seeking relief from medical device makers

admin — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:51:44 +0000

The Supreme Court decision “left consumers without any ability to get compensation for injuries caused by certain defective medical devices,” said Rep. Henry Waxman, D- Calif., in a statement to the Star Tribune. “The Supreme Court assumed that FDA approval ensures medical devices are safe, but the many recent stories of patients harmed by faulty devices have proven that assumption false.”
Waxman and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., plan to introduce legislation that would circumvent the Supreme Court ruling and “protect Americans from dangerous medical devices.”
Interestingly, one of the cosponsors of the Senate bill introduced last year was then-Illinois senator, now president, Barack Obama.
Part of a $4.2 billion industry, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) have a deep connection to Minnesota. Medtronic is the market leader, followed by Boston Scientific Corp., which employs 3,000 in Arden Hills, and St. Jude Medical Inc. in Little Canada.
ICDs are tiny machines implanted in the chest that shock an errantly beating heart back into rhythm. The device typically is connected to the heart with several insulated wires, or leads. Since the first implant in 1980, the blockbuster devices have saved countless lives.
In October 2007, however, Medtronic stopped selling its popular lead, Sprint Fidelis, because it had fractured in a small number of cases, causing unnecessary shocks or, conversely, failing to work when needed. Medtronic attributed five deaths to the problem, and the FDA issued a recall.
Medtronic advised the approximately 268,000 patients implanted with the lead to contact their doctors. The company said that surgery to remove the leads from the body — an often-difficult procedure because scar tissue forms around the wire — may be riskier than leaving them in the body.
The recall left many patients weighing the odds: Leave intact a device that has fractured in less than 1 percent of patients, or remove it in a surgical procedure that has a 2 percent to 7 percent failure rate.
Thirty-year-old Katie Meyer of Zimmerman, Minn., decided to have her Sprint Fidelis lead removed after three inappropriate shocks left her prostrate on the floor of her apartment. Her doctor had recommended the procedure. “I had a bad feeling about [the surgery], but she was so scared of being shocked again,” said her mother, Michele Meyer.

Reach Out and Read program introduced at Family Health Medical …

admin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:33:43 +0000

MAYVILLE – Getting books from the doctor will soon be a routine part of well-child visits at Family Health Medical Services, as doctors and nurses welcome the Reach Out and Read program to the practice. Family Health Medical Services joins more than 3,797 programs nationally that are working to make books part of a healthy childhood.
Reach Out and Read is a simple, yet highly effective concept. The program targets children growing up in poverty and without books and features three key elements:
Volunteers read with children in pediatric clinic waiting areas.
Pediatricians educate parents about the importance of reading with their children every day.
Every child from the age of six months to five years receives a new book to take home and keep when they come in for a well-child checkup.
“Giving a book to a young child, along with age-appropriate advice about sharing books for the parents, may be the only concrete activity a pediatrician can routinely do to promote child development,” commented Barry S. Zuckerman, MD ROR co-founder, and chief of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine.
Medical research supports the claim, showing that literacy-promoting interventions by the pediatrician have a significant effect on parental behaviors, beliefs and attitudes toward reading aloud. For more than a decade, studies have indicated that parents who get books and literacy counseling from their doctors and nurses are more likely to read to their young children, read to them more often, and provide more books in the home. In addition, several studies have also shown improvements in the language scores of young children receiving Reach Out and Read.
“Reading with your child is an invitation to conversation,” said Dr. Robert Berke, MD ROR Medical Director at Family Health Services.
For more information about Reach Out and Read at Family Health Medical Services, or if you would like to donate funds or volunteer as a reader, please call 753-7107.
Reach Out and Read is a national, non-profit program that is working to make literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric primary care, so that children grow up with books and a love of reading. ROR trains doctors and nurses about the importance of reading aloud and to give books to children at pediatric check-ups from six months to five years of age, with a special focus on children growing up in poverty. This year, Reach Out and Read will provide more than 4.1 million books to more than 2.5 million children, at over 3,797 programs throughout the country.

New UT system chancellor tours medical branch

admin — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:23:38 +0000

Published February 6, 2009
GALVESTON Francisco Cigarroa will end his first week as chancellor of the University of Texas System by touring the islands medical branch, which lately has been rocked by a hurricane and mass layoffs and is hurtling toward an uncertain future.
Cigarroa began the job Monday. Today hell tour the University of Texas Medical Branch with President David L. Callender.
Cigarroas immediate focus on the medical branch is viewed as a good sign by some who have questioned the commitment his predecessor, interim chancellor Kenneth Shine, and the UT System Board of Regents, had for the island institution.
Cigarroa met Monday with state Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, to discuss medical branch issues.
A pediatric transplant surgeon, Cigarroa will have spent three of his first five days on the job devoted to the medical branch, Eiland said.
Cigarroa was at Callenders side Tuesday when he testified before the Senate Finance Committee about medical branch issues and financial needs, Eiland said.
I think the very fact that the very first day on the job, Dr. Cigarroa came to the capitol to visit with me about UTMB highlights his concern and level of interest, Eiland said in a prepared statement.
After Hurricane Ike caused severe flooding at the campus, damaging John Sealy Hospital and shutting down revenues, the regents in November authorized cutting as many as 3,800 jobs, dealing a massive blow to the island institution and the countys economy.
The storm caused about $710 million in expenses and loss of revenue to the medical branch.
The medical branch had only $100 million in insurance coverage.
Medical branch officials, who said it will take about five years and more than $600 million to complete storm recovery, are asking state lawmakers and federal officials for funding.
The medical branch has reopened John Sealy Hospital with 200 beds for the general public.
It plans to reopen the emergency room in the spring, possibly as a Level 3 trauma center.
Before the storm, the medical branch operated an elite Level 1 trauma center, the highest designation.
Regents will review a report by consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates before they consider what clinical enterprises the medical branch will offer and where.
The regents in November agreed to pay the firm $285,000 to conduct a study, which would lay out several options, including moving most inpatient health care to the mainland, continuing to treat most patients on the island or serving patients at both island and mainland facilities.
Even before the storm, the medical branch, known best for treating indigent and uninsured patients from across the state at its teaching hospital, was grappling with a $35 million deficit.
The medical branch has long been eager to attract paying patients by building more clinics on the mainland.
Construction is under way on a 110,000-square-foot specialty care center on 35 acres near Interstate 45, FM 646 and the Victory Lakes subdivision.
Eiland said he was optimistic Cigarroa would be sympathetic to the medical branch.
He comes from a medical education background and understands the importance of medical education and UTMB to the entire state, Eiland said.
He even interviewed for a job at UTMB years ago. I get the sense and am hopeful that he is going to be an asset to us this session.

Medical Malpractice Attorney from New York City Explains …

admin — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:42:35 +0000

Medical Malpractice Attorney from New York City Explains Importance, Early Detection – Treatment of Lung Cancer
In this informative piece,
. explains why the timely detection and treatment of lung cancer is so important to patients. Mr. Sullivan also describes the catastrophic consequences of a failure to diagnose the disease, an omission that may be the basis for a medical malpractice action.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Approximately 350,000 people in the United States are living with lung cancer at any given time. In 2007, lung cancer accounted for approximately 15% of all cancer diagnoses and 29% of all cancer deaths. Lung cancer does not only affect smokers. A 2006 article in the
reported that lung cancer death rates among non-smoking men and women were 17.1 and 14.7, respectively, per
100,000 people per year.
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, Thun, Michael,
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Despite these grim statistics, demonstrating that lung cancer is a threat to most adults, the illness is treatable if diagnosed early enough.
Unfortunately, mistakes may be made by health care professionals in the best position to make a timely diagnosis. They often fail to recognize and diagnose the presence of lung cancer in its earliest stages. These mistakes can occur in many ways. All too often, individuals seek out physicians because they have symptoms consistent with lung cancer; however, due to the physicians’ failure to properly work up these symptoms, their cause is left undetermined.
The use of X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, cytology and tissue examination may be necessary for the proper diagnosis. Lung cancer should always be suspected when an individual has an abnormal chest radiograph or has symptoms of lung cancer, such as a persistent cough, shortness of breath, and production of blood upon coughing. Failure of a physician to suspect or consider cancer as the reason for a patient’s symptoms, when those symptoms are consistent with the disease, can be the basis for a medical malpractice action.
Radiology is an especially critical area. Frequently, lung cancer is overlooked or underinterpreted in radiographic procedures. Many times, when patients are admitted to the hospital for a surgical procedure and undergo routine pre-operative chest film, lung cancers are either overlooked or not brought to the attention of the patient or his physician when seen. Lung cancers may appear as an area of discoloration on x-ray films.
If you think your lung cancer was not timely diagnosed, immediately seek out the proper medical care. You may also consider contacting an attorney experienced in handling medical malpractice suits in New York State. A medical malpractice lawyer will be able to answer questions concerning the rights an injured patient has, the time limitations to initiate legal proceedings, and the type of remedies and compensation available to victims of medical negligence.
- Robert G. Sullivan, Esq.
– JusticeNewsFlash.com