From September to December each year, nurses give more shots than all other times of the year put together, and we absolutely love it. There’s just something very satisfying about being the agent of prevention and keeping people safe from influenza because the flu is serious stuff. Over the past ten years an average of 32,743 deaths have occurred annually in the United States due to influenza. We nurses think that’s not something to sneeze at (pun definitely intended), at least when a simple vaccine can prevent the flu.
Taming a Killer
The number one killer in the world is cholesterol. Heart disease and stroke, both caused by uncontrolled cholesterol, are the number one and number two causes of death in the world. In the U.S. stroke drops to the 5th leading cause of death, but heart disease remains the leading cause of death here for both men and women.
Crisis Averted
For years now, those of us who work in public health have been keenly aware of a looming crisis – the ever increasing resistance of bacteria to current antibiotics – from Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) to Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci (VRE) to Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis, to Multi-Drug Resistant Gonorrhea. From a public-health perspective, the prospects have looked pretty frightening and people would surely die for lack of an antibiotic treatment. And then came the most welcome medical breakthrough since the discovery of penicillin – the first new antibiotic in 30 years – teixobactin.
Are You One of the 6,000?
June seems like a blur to me. There was so much going on – the tragedy in Orlando and of course a month of Pride activities. Somewhere in the midst of everything, I totally lost National HIV Testing Day, which is held June 27th each year. Some people use National HIV Testing Day as their reminder to get their annual HIV test. Others use their birthday, New Year’s Day, or some other significant day that will jerk their memory to take care of this important health screening. With all that happened in June this year, you may have missed your […]
The Rest of the Story
At the beginning of 2016, I wrote a column about the obesity epidemic and how I’m one of every three Americans who is obese. I had made a commitment to myself to try to make some changes to my diet that would result in weight loss over time. I was equally committed not to “diet” in the traditional sense by denying myself the things I like. I had committed to exercising five days a week and to becoming more aware of what I eat by writing down what I was eating every day. And I’m happy to report that strategy […]
Some Love for My Brothers
For all of my brothers out there, I’m sending some love to you over the next three issues because June is Men’s Health Month. Now there are lots of topics you can cover for Men’s Health Month – such as sexual health, cardiovascular health, prostate health, etc., but I’m not going to any of those usual suspects. I want to talk to you about mental health because it’s one of the most neglected areas of health for everyone, but particularly for men.
Backyard Food Safety
Once when my son was about 12 years old (a long, long time ago) he got cut on the 4th of July while messing around with his buddies at the park and we ended up in the emergency room. This was not uncommon; we were in the emergency room frequently when he was a teen. What I remember about this trip however, was the number of people in the ER that evening puking their brains out because they’d been at a backyard cookout and gotten food poisoning. Now, as a nurse, I have to tell you that it can take […]
What is ‘Public Health’ Anyway?
I am a nurse, but I have never worked in a hospital or a doctor’s office; I never really wanted to. Hospitals are full of the drama of emergency rooms, operating rooms, of pediatrics and oncology and obstetrics. No thank you! I opted for public-health nursing instead. While other nurses take care of individual patients, I do that plus I help to take care of an entire community, too. That is public health, and we will be celebrating our unique work this year April 4th to 10th during Public Health Week.
Vitamin D and the Sun
In the past two weeks the sun is shining a little more often, temperatures are rising mildly, and the birds have begun to chirp and sing like they know spring is here even though the calendar says it’s still a couple of weeks out. I can’t wait to have a Saturday or Sunday to spend all day out in my gardens soaking up some of that sun. Instinctively I have always liked being outside on a sunny day. I think I’ve always felt better after soaking up some rays, like the sun recharged both body and soul. I don’t think […]
Vitamin D and the Sun
In the past two weeks the sun is shining a little more often, temperatures are rising mildly, and the birds have begun to chirp and sing like they know spring is here even though the calendar says it’s still a couple of weeks out. I can’t wait to have a Saturday or Sunday to spend all day out in my gardens soaking up some of that sun. Instinctively I have always liked being outside on a sunny day. I think I’ve always felt better after soaking up some rays, like the sun recharged both body and soul. I don’t think […]