WNPR Health News Podcast - Sponsored by Hospital for Special Care

WNPR Health Podcast - Sponsored by Hospital for Special Care

webmaster — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:12:58 -0600

Our funding comes from our members and from Hospital for Special Care, nationally recognized for the advanced rehabilitation and care of adults and children, affected by complex illnesses and injuries. Learn more at HFSC.org.

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0:15 minutes (0.5 MB)
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A Visit to Smilow Cancer Hospital

DOrson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:28:44 -0600

The Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven has just opened. The new 14-story building cost $467 million dollars, making it one of the most expensive buildings ever constructed in New England. It’s a blustery day outside. I walk quickly under a large steel and glass canopy into the Smilow Cancer Hospital. "Its a fairly grand entrance, more than two stories high". Executive director Abe Lopman is my guide. The lobby is elegant and calm. A waterfall cascades gently on the wall. A volunteer plays the baby grand. "This feels more like walking into the entrance of a Hyatt Hotel than it does a typical health care environment." He says the hospital wants to create a feeling of comfort and control. "The psychological impact of cancer on the patient is incorporated into the design of this facility. We made sure that patients could see sunrise to sunset. Normalcy is about feeling the day change." And the more normal patients feel, he says, the more easily they may face the difficult demands of cancer treatment. Most cancer patients have to travel between various locations for medical care. But all of Yale’s cancer programs will soon be located at Smilow. "Going up" There are lots of banks of elevators to whisk patients to their destinations. "Time is something that cancer patients are very sensitive to." We’re standing on the third floor now inside an operating suite. "And I think what strikes you first is the size. We built them bigger because we don’t really know where technology is going to go." What’s also striking is that there’s no operating equipment on the floor. Everything hangs from the ceiling. "You have at one end all the equipment that an anesthesiologist needs. The other end you have data screens, the ability for a surgeon while in the operating room to see any of the records that are associated with that patient. Lab results instantly in front of them" Next, on the 7th floor, we visit an outdoor healing garden complete with a small stream, trees, and heated walkways so snow and ice melt in the winter. So the question is, do two-story waterfalls and heated walkways make for expensive treatment outside the range most people can afford? Again, Abe Lopman: "Yale New Haven Hospital has had a strong history of delivering care to anyone who needs that. That policy does not change in this building. The cost of this building is not associated at all with our charge structure". Smilow Cancer Hospital is expected to create 400 new jobs in the region. And according to New Haven’s Chamber of Commerce will make a voluntary 1.4 million dollar donation each year to the city of New Haven in lieu of taxes. "Lower ground floor" Our tour wraps up on the lower level where patient Maria Rosa Menocal is about to start her radiation treatment. "They discovered that I had a mucosal melanoma and then they took out the tumor. They do radiation to hopefully prevent a recurrence." Smilow will have 4 floors for outpatient services, 168 inpatient beds, 12 operating rooms, plus a women’s cancer center. Kids needing treatment will come and go through the Yale Children’s Hospital which attaches to Smilow through bridges. The new building is expected to receive silver LEED certification for its eco-friendly design, construction and operation. Nearly all the construction materials are being recycled. But of all the design features at the new Smilow Cancer Hospital, some strike patients as being a big change from the normal hospital experience. "They have no TV in the waiting room." Again, patient Maria Rosa Menocal: "They have a fish tank instead which is great. Its wonderful to be in a new space, but you know at the end of the day it’s the people that run the machines and one would have to be foolish to not recognize it". Menocal describes her doctor as the “rock star of head and face tumors”. Doctors are part of 12 multi-disciplinary disease teams that provide care for head and neck tumors, brain tumors, breast, endocrine, prostate and other cancers. The Smilow Cancer Hospital is expected to be fully up and running by next spring.

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4:19 minutes (4.15 MB)
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Moving, eating, staying healthy

jdankosky — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:39:37 -0500

Author Mary Collins talked about her new book "American Idle" on Where We Live recently, and now she's the subject of a big article on the front page of the Courant's "Life" section. She's also been featured recently in the New Britain Herald and the Bristol Press. It's the sort of message we seem to be hearing a lot about in the last few years, but one that we don't seem to heed. We've got pretty solid science telling us to move around more, and we're also being told to cut out all that comfort food. This, of course, brings up the obvious questions again: Is our obesity epidemic caused by our own lack of self control? Should government policy be aimed at curbing our excesses and promoting our exercise? Well, clearly the Center for Consumer Freedom thinks not. In this LA Times blog piece, you'll see how obesity docs, meeting in DC are being lobbied hard to drop their plans for a sugary soda tax. Gates and Gates on Public Health Investments, Good and Bad Pretty fascinating conversation between NPR's Steve Inskeep and Bill and Melinda Gates today. The couple talked honestly about how some of the funding they've put toward global health crises has not exactly worked - including plans to "create a microbicide that would protect women from sexually transmitted diseases." That caught my ear, following our Where We Live discussion yesterday about global women's health with Adrienne Germain from the International Women's Health Coalition. We talked a lot about placing more power in women's hands - to make health decisions for themselves - even in countries where their lives are seen as "less than" those of men. If you want to learn more about their work: Adrienne Germain will be speaking on Wednesday October 28, 2009 as part of a World Affairs Council of Connecticut lecture series - "Making Women's Rights and Health Central to Global Development".

Rell Requests Expedited H1N1 Vaccines

lconn — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:51:47 -0500

With cases of H1N1 starting to pile up in Connecticut, Governor Jodi Rell says the state needs to know when the federal government plans to ship more flu vaccine. Says state officials were told in July to expect about 500,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine by mid-October. But it only received over 127,000 doses, and Rell says the holdup is trying the patience of health officials statewide. In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius late last week, Governor Rell wrote that the H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines need to be expedited, and that the entire vaccine production and distribution system should be overhauled in the future. Rell says it's not only hitches in the distribution of the vaccine, but the outdated way the vaccine is produced that is causing the delay. Rell says as the vaccine arrives, the state will follow CDC guidelines and administer the vaccine first to pregnant women, then children 6 months to 4 years, then school age children and adolescents, and finally the rest of the population.

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Guilford High closes due to H1N1

lconn — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:50:13 -0500

Guilford High School will close on Monday and Tuesday next week due to an extensive outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus. WNPR’s Diane Orson reports. Guilford High School will be Connecticut’s first school in the state to close in this second wave of the H1N1 pandemic. More than 42% of Guilford High’s students were out sick today. Faculty, staff and kids are being encouraged to avoid group gatherings, social situations and places where the virus may easily be spread. State epidemiologist Dr. Matthew Carter says the virus is hitting areas of Connecticut that were spared the first time around. "Many of the school outbreaks that we’re now aware of, one school closing, are occurring in cities and towns in the central part of Connecticut and the eastern part of Connecticut, sort of, east of the Connecticut river." Vaccine in Connecticut is in short supply. The state currently has 128,400 doses. More vaccine is expected to arrive later next week. For WNPR, I’m Diane Orson.

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Comfort food, "hormonal soup" and deep belly fat

jdankosky — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:20:42 -0500

Two Wednesdays in a row, we've talked about different contributors to our obesity epidemic. Last week, it was author Mary Collins, whose book "American Idle" is all about our increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Today, we talked to a researcher who is making the connection between stress and weight gain. Stress and worry - brought on by a bad economy - causes a kind of "double whammy" for humans, according to Elissa Epel. She's a professor of Psychiatry at The University of California San Fransisco's Center for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment. She was in New Haven to speak at the University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. First, there's the evolutionary part. The kind of fat that's really dangerous for humans - deep belly fat - accumulates because of what she calls the "hormonal soup" produced by a stressful situation. Our bodies make the fat as a kind of primordial fuel. "So, if you have a little pot-belly, it's a visible indicator of a kind of body that's really well-equipped to deal with acute stresses, although we don't face many of those kind of survival stresses anymore," Epel says. Yeah, we're not really running from lions much anymore, but our bodies are still hard wired for that possibility. Our current stresses, she says, are more psychological. This same "survival stress" response causes problem #2: It prompts our bodies to take on more calories than our rather placid lives require - and sends signals about what foods to choose: "So, when we're under stress, we may not eat more, but we may tend to crave and choose more unhealthy food choices, the highly palatable food that may soothe our stress responses," Epel says. That means more comfort food. She touts so -called "mindful eating" as a way to combat stress-related eating problems. We also talked about the public policy implications of research like this, including taxes on sugary, fattening food - something our guests saw as a positive step toward cutting back on the calories consumed. And, we talked about an important project undertaken by UConn's Center for Public Health and Health Policy, to improve the quality of offerings at neighborhood food markets in Hartford. The city only has one true supermarket, so much of the food the city's low-income residents get comes from corner stores with fatty foods on the shelves. Interesting that as Hartford struggles with bringing a fully-stocked supermarket into the city, New Haven seems to be moving ahead. The New Haven Independent is reporting that the new building at 360 State Street will have a grocery...supplied by a mystery company.

High Meadows directed to stay open

lconn — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:42:44 -0500

In a legal opinion issued on Tuesday, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal finds that High Meadows Residential Center in Hamden must remain open. WNPR’s Diane Orson reports. High Meadows is the only state-operated treatment facility that provides round-the-clock, on-site nursing and medical care for adolescent boys with serious emotional and behavioral problems. Governor Rell suggested closing High Meadows earlier this year, and eliminated funding in her budget proposals. Lawmakers reinstated the money. Now Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says based on the budget, legislators clearly intended for the facility to remain operational: "The governor has broad power to allocate or reallocate funds, but not to shut a facility that the legislature very explicitly directs to remain open." State officials have been moving boys out of the facility, placing them at home or in other residential programs in and out of state. For WNPR, I’m Diane Orson.

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Chantix, Zyban may be covered by Medicare

lconn — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:49:11 -0500

The big drug companies have been wary of the Obama administration’s push for health care reform. But there’s speculation that the legislation making its way through Congress could be a boon for at least one Pfizer product. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports. The provisions of the Senate Finance committee’s health care reform bill are many and varied, and among them is a requirement that Medicaid pay for smoking cessation drugs. The Wall Street Journal points out that this would be likely to help sales of products like Pfizer’s Chantix and GlaxoSmithKline’s Zyban. At the moment, there is some coverage under Medicaid in a limited number of states, but the picture is spotty. Anti-smoking advocates are pressing for the legislation to go even further, requiring Medicare and private insurance companies to cover the drugs as well. Chantix, which was developed at labs in Connecticut, was well received when it launched, but has been dogged with problems since, as psychiatric side effects were discovered. The drug now has to carry a black box warning highlighting mental health risks. For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.

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Ray Hardman weighs in with Alternity Healthcare

lconn — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:33:10 -0500

The issue of prevention is often buried in the debate over health care reform. It stands to reason that if we could foresee a potential health issue years before it became a life threatening problem, and took measures to curb or prevent that problem, we would not only have a better quality of life, but could save ourselves and the government untold amounts of money. Alternity Heathcare, LLC is a practice in West Hartford that takes this long term approach to wellness. I decided to experience for myself the Alternity Healthcare approach to medicine, and I learned that I have some work to do. Doctor Ebanks: Alright so we did have you fill out a brief form, so we know you are 46, do you have any ongoing health problems? None. None, okay, do you have a regular doctor? I have… That’s Doctor Desmond Ebanks, the founder of Alternity Healthcare. He spent years in a regular practice, but became frustrated with the conventional way healthcare works. Doctor Ebanks: Traditional medicine doesn’t really delve too much into prevention. They do a lot of screening. But if the screening is negative, basically you are told everything is fine, come back when you have a problem, and we can treat it after the fact. Doctor Ebanks calls this process sick care, rather then healthcare. So he started Alternity. The concept is simple – put patients in their 30's, 40's and 50's through a series of tests to see where potential problems may occur in the future – things like heart disease, hip and knee joint replacement, Alzheimer's, and cancer. Since body fat can have a big impact on quality of life in our senior years, Doctor Ebanks checks my body fat through the GE lunar prodigy dexa scanner. As the imaging arm slowly moves above me, I can see a picture of myself on the computer screen. Honestly I wasn’t concerned about my body fat. As it turns out, the news wasn’t good. Doctor Ebanks: Okay your body composition… you want that on record? Ray: Yeah go ahead. Doctor Ebanks: Your percent body fat is twenty eight percent. Ideal for a man is between 18 and 22. Ray: Okay, not horrible. Doctor Ebanks: Not as bad as we’ve seen. We’ve had higher numbers. Doctor Ebanks later drops the bombshell that 28 is considered obese for a man of my age and height. Obese?! Really?! Okay, so on to the aerobic capacity test, a kind of a stress test on steroids. I am hooked up to an EKG, while tubes and a mask are placed tightly over my face to see how well I utilize oxygen, and how well my heart responds to the stress of a bike ride designed to get increasingly more difficult, like riding up a hill that gets steeper and steeper. The first few minutes go pretty well, but 8 minutes into the test my legs start to burn a little, and by 10 minutes my legs really hurt. At 11 minutes, I stop. Here the results aren’t as bad as I had anticipated. Doctor Forsythe: So your VO2, the metabolic test tells your rate of oxygen uptake or vo2. And yours was 34.44 milliliters per kilogram per minute. This classifies you in the average category for your age, and that’s good. That’s Doctor Cassandra Forsythe. Doctor Forsythe: It’s good to be average. Then your oxygen pulse, your O2 pulse is one thing we measure and it’s a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. And if you have an O2 pulse greater than 15 for either men or women is good. It's equivalent to a non-athletic healthy heart. And you have an O2 pulse of 18. You did well with that. You have a healthy heart. Doctor Forsythe is a nutrition expert. She pored over a three day diary of my food intake. And again, more revelations. Doctor Forsythe: So as I was going over your diet record I was noticing that even before I had to enter in all your foods, is that you really focus on carbohydrates in your diet. So you focus on bread, you focus on pasta. You went from 8:15 to 12:25, there’s about 4 hours there, and then you just ate pasta. No, this one you had the turkey meatballs. But this one I would like to see you eat a little less pasta, and add more turkey meatballs. And make your focus the tirkey meatballs with pasta as the side. The final result is a mixed bag. I am in pretty decent shape for a man my age, but I carry too much body fat. And I only participated in a portion of the 5 hour battery of tests Alternity patients go through. The procedure isn’t cheap, and traditional health insurance only covers some of the tests. But Doctor Ebanks says patients come away with a comprehensive plan for the future that will ultimately save money, and improve your chances at a long, healthy life. Plus, knowing what may be coming in the future may make you think twice about that second piece of cake, or skipping the gym. To see pictures of my various tests at Alternity Healthcare, go to our website, WNPR.org. For WNPR, I’m Ray Hardman.

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Men Asked to Step Up Against Domestic Violence

mkuhn — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:32:33 -0500

Interval House, a shelter for domestic violence victims, is launching an initiative to raise awareness against the crime. More than 30 men from local businesses, law enforcement agencies, and news organizations, have pledged their support to help Interval House fight domestic violence. The men will raise awareness about the crime through community outreach such as visiting schools, and speaking with children and their families State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is chairman of the Men Against Domestic Violence Campaign. He says men need to play a bigger role in stopping the cycle. "Strong men won't let batterers go free and commit the crimes they do," says Blumenthal. "Strong men are part of this campaign, and they are using their strength to speak out and stand up against a problem that has become endemic and insidious in our society." And, Blumenthal says the numbers are compelling: one out of three people in the US knows someone or has personally experienced domestic violence. And 72 percent of all men who commit domestic violence, experienced it in their own childhoods. Hartford Police Chief Daryl Roberts says that 32 percent of aggravated assaults in the city are directly related to domestic violence. "As men, we are protectors, and we should protect our homes," says Roberts. "We should not assault our companions and people that we love. It's important that we as men, take a stand against all violence, but especially domestic violence." Last year, 22 people in Connecticut were killed because of family abuse. Interval House is one of just two shelters in the state that are open 24/7. The Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network has endorsed the "Men Make a Difference" Campaign.

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