Health Observances

Bike to Work Week

2008-05-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

Gas prices have topped $4 a gallon. Evidence of climate change is devastating in terms of loss of lives, cost of food, and homelessness with the cyclone in Myanmar, tornadoes in North America, drought, floods, famine, icebergs breaking off around the globe. So what can we do about it? Bike to Work! The League of American Bicyclers invites you to get healthy and bike to work this week. Just...

Nurses Make a Difference Every Day! National Nurses Week, May 6 - May 12, 2008

2008-05-06T09:46:00.000-07:00

The American Nurses Association observes National Nurses Week this week. Nurses are college educated and trained professionals serving the community in a myriad of ways. Nursing is a science but also the art of caring for people. There are 2.4 million actively employed nurses in the USA. Nursing is a profession with the top projected job growth through 2012. By the end of this decade, we...

May is National Mental Health Month - Get Connected

2008-05-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

This month, take stock of your social relationships. Our world and our lives are getting more difficult - we need each now more than ever. Relationships with family and friends help get us through tough times. Mental Health America's theme for 2008 is Get Connected. Social connectedness is a major factor in mental health and wellbeing. Think back to times when you went through extraordinarily...

Safe Kids Week: April 26 - May 4, 2008

2008-04-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

Safe Kids Worldwide is an international organization dedicated to preventing children's death due to accidents and injuries. About 1 million kids die each year from accidents and injuries, higher than any other cause. In the US, Johnson & Johnson has been a founding sponsor of the organization, and combined efforts have resulted in a 45% reduction in fatalities over the past 20 years. We...

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month: 5 Things You Can Do

2008-04-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

Child abuse is everyone's business, and with the economic crisis many people are facing, people are under more stress making children more vulnerable. Stabilization of families works as a strategy to prevent child abuse, but how is that achieved in today's fragmented society? A lot of single parents need support, want change and lack resources. We all need to reach out to children and parents...

April 22, 2008 Earth Day - Call for Climate

2008-04-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

I have been reporting about how bad global climate change is for our health in previous blogs April 6-12 is National Public Health Week - Tell Congress to Take Action on Climate Change and World Health Day 2008. Today we celebrate Earth Day with one more call to action. The daily struggle to survive has reached a crisis due to soaring costs of food in Haiti, Bangladesh, Senegal, Indonesia,...

National Minority Cancer Awareness Week: Unequal Burden

2008-04-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) observes National Minority Cancer Awareness Week April 20- 26, 2008. NCI has continually demonstrated leadership in bringing the issue of health disparities of ethnic minorities to the forefront of the healthcare debate. Almost a decade ago they published a comprehensive report, The Unequal Burden of Cancer. Unfortunately, we haven't made much progress in...

Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2008

2008-04-15T10:37:00.001-07:00

What a world. I overheard two 14 year olds discussing underage drinking. They sounded way too wise for their years as they expressed concerns that underage drinking at parties would make them vulnerable to Date Rape. "They slip a drug into your drink and you never know what happened...". 14 year old girls have to worry about this? At least they know enough to worry about it and protect...

April 6-12 is National Public Health Week - Tell Congress to Take Action on Climate Change

2008-04-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

Climate change seems to be on everyone's mind - it is the theme for this year's American Public Health Association (APHA) observance of Public Health Week. The themes for today and tomorrow are Greening of Work and Home. Be Green at Work: TelecommuteUse recycled goodsGo paperlessPower down Be Green at Home: Insulate our homesReduce, reuse, recycleUse water wiselyBike, walk, use mass transit or...

World Health Day 2008

2008-04-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

The World Health Organization observes World Health Day this week and the focus for 2008 is climate change. Human impact on the climate is now creating serious impact on public health, as witnessed by the annual climate disasters resulting in deaths we have seen in every part of the world. WHO presents 10 facts we need to know about climate change: Over the past 50 years fossil fuel emissions...

April is National Cancer Control Month

2008-04-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

The American Cancer Society observes Cancer Control Month in April but did you know that the disease hits minorities and the uninsured harder than the general US population? Ethnic minorities and the uninsured are: more likely to get cancermore likely to die from cancermore likely to be treated at later stages of the diseasemore likely to receive substandard careEven when income, age, insurance...

April Fool's! It's Grand Rounds - Making the Rounds

2008-04-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all of the Tricksters & Jokers out there in Medical Blogosphereland for including my post National Youth Violence Prevention Week in the same heady company as Chucky Cheese, protecting our young uns... To quote Medgadget - who called the entire thing a fiasco: Let's see if we understand correctly. Grand Rounds started at GruntDoc this week... But he lost steam and asked...

April is National Youth Sports Safety Month

2008-04-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

We want our youth to be physically fit and healthy - but we want to keep them safe. Each year over 20 million kids in the US participate in sports and almost one million suffer serious sports related injuries. Sports related injuries account for 41% of musculoskeletal injuries in kids age 5-21 years. Most injuries occur in 13 year olds, who are immature physically, emotionally and...

Best Buddies Month - and Developmental Disabilities Awareness

2008-03-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

March is National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Best Buddies is a program that matches people with intellectual disabilities with volunteers for one-on-one friendships and employment integration. Best Buddies is a non-profit international organization, organized in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver. Through the organization, 350,000 disabled individuals are matched with buddies...

Thank You Jeffrey Loew for Grand Rounds 4.27

2008-03-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

Australian medical student Jeffrey Loew hosted Grand Rounds this week and included my post Racial Disparities in US Healthcare. Check out his compilation of fascinating reading & enter a diabetes contest (I did).

Thank You Monash Medical Student!

2008-03-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Monash Medical Student for hosting Grand Rounds this week. Here is a blogger who doesn't just have something to say but also has a heart for the less fortunate and a mission to fulfill helping them out. Check out this week's submissions here.

National Youth Violence Prevention Week

2008-03-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

The National Association of Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) is a founding partner of National Youth Violence Prevention Week. The good news is that homicides and suicides in youth are going down. The bad news is that violence remains the greatest threat to the lives of our youth, especially to racial and ethnic minorities. The homicide rate for black male teens (55 per 100,000)...

Coming up: World Autism Day 2 April 2008

2008-03-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

The first ever international event for autism and Asperger's Syndrome will be observed with World Autism Day 2 April, 2008. 60 million people around the world are now diagnosed with autism and many in Africa and Asia have lack access to public services. People continue to confuse autism with mental illness and mental retardation. Children are kept at home without schooling due to lack of...

National Hemophilia Month: Project Red Flag

2008-03-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

Project Red Flag is the National Hemophilia Foundation's (NHF) campaign to raise awareness about women's bleeding disorders. 2.5 million women in the US have bleeding disorders, most commonly von Willebrand disease (VMD). VMD is the most common of hemophilias (inherited blood diseases). Symptoms of VMD are: easy bruisingheavy menstrual periodsnosebleedsprolonged bleeding after dental work or...

March is National Colorectal Awareness Month

2008-03-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

The Prevent Cancer Foundation reminds everyone over age 50 to get screened for colorectal cancer this month. People who are obese, sedentary, over age 50 with a history of inflammatory bowel disease are at greatest risk. Use of tobacco also raises your risk of colorectal cancer. Recommended tests: Fecal occult blood test (FCBT) annuallyFecal immunochemical test (FIT) annuallyStool DNA test...

National Problem Gambling Awareness Week: March 10-16

2008-03-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

The National Council on Problem Gambling wants to raise awareness about gambling behavior that disrupts lives and destroys families. What are the criteria for problem gambling? Gambling until your last dollar is goneUsing your income and savings to gamble while letting bills go unpaidLosing sleep over gamblingBeing unable to stop gamblingFeeling remorseful about gamblingGambling to meet your...

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month

2008-03-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asks us to observe Brain Injury Awareness Month by protecting senior citizens from brain injuries. Millions of Americans are caregivers for parents, grandparents or other elders, but did you know that falls are the leading cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI). People aged 75 and over have the greatest rate of hospitalization and death due to...

Are You Getting Enough Sleep? March 3-9 is National Sleep Awareness Month

2008-03-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

The National Sleep Foundation would like us to take 7 days to get educated about something we never seem to get enough of - sleep! Sleep loss may be costing our economy billions of dollars in lost productivity, and 1500 people die annually due to sleep deprivation related crashes on our roads. So wake up America, to your need for sleep! Make your bedroom a sanctuary. It should be a calm,...

5 Warning Signs of a Heart Attack

2008-02-28T10:58:00.000-08:00

The CDC reported this week that the majority of Americans - especially minorities - are still not aware of the 5 warning signs of a heart attack. Since heart disease is still the #1 killer in our country, let's review: Chest pain or discomfortJaw, neck or back pain or discomfort Weakness, lightheadedness or feeling faint Shortness of breathArm or shoulder pain or discomfort The American Heart...

AMD awareness month - Are You at Risk?

2008-02-26T10:03:00.000-08:00

Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss in adults over age 65. Prevent Blindness America observes the month of February as a time to raise awareness about this important health issue, which not too many people know about yet millions are threatened by. Risk factors for AMD are: Caucasian raceover age 65SmokingEating a low nutrient dietFamily history of AMDMy...