Porting the blog for a wider audience

I have ported my posts from the Southeast Atlanta Public Health Blog to the Atlanta Public Health Blog.  I realized that my local posts mostly pertained to broader Atlanta.  With Atlanta being known as the public health capital I will use this broader forum to discuss items related to the many public health entities in Atlanta as well as address other public health issues.  Friday posts will be dedicated to global public health concerns. I will leave old posts here for a while too.  Coming soon I will be posting to other blogs as well….keep watching (the new space).  See you there.

Advertisement

Privacy Settings

The news article I’ve been waiting for….

Emory forgives $20 million of Grady’s debt!

I’d say this was about due from a school with a $5 billion endowment who trains most of their med school interns at Grady.  It is a great step in the right direction. The new CEO has a big task ahead and this shows great promise for both him and Grady’s partners.

And speaking of Emory I’ve finished my first semester there in the MPH program so that means more activity in the writing department from me.  At least until next semester kicks in.

Keep your fingers crossed for Grady.

Atlanta: Public Health Capitol

At tonight’s Vaccine Dinner Club (c’mon, who where else can you attend such a thing?) the esteemed Bill Foege spoke this evening.  Foege was instrumental in the smallpox eradication program and has served public health in many ways through his work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and at the CDC and the Carter Center.

My Vaccines professor swore that he makes you feel like a better person just being in the same room with him and he was right.  He talked about what it was like to help rid the world of smallpox, his work on polio eradication efforts and finally addressed the fiasco that is “the autism/vaccine” debate – all in a completely self-deprecating way…until the end with the autism.  He talked about dramatically changing consent forms for parents who refuse to vaccinate their children.  He had some pretty radical ideas about this which I won’t go into here because it misses the point (but I will post a link to the video when it gets posted).  But I wish I’d heard just a little bit about is how to reach the increasing number of parents who are choosing to delay or forebear vaccinations in a positive way.  That one issue notwithstanding (who really does have that answer?)  he was awe-inspiring.

I’ve said it repeatedly – I completely relate to the frustration that parties on both sides of this debacle.  I’m starting to think that the only way to get to the bottom is to focus research (unbiased, scientific, collaborative research) on finding the true cause of Autism.  So in the next few weeks (among other things) I’ll be sifting through the plethora of Autism sites trying to distinguish the misleading from the misguided. Somebody has to do it…who knows, maybe I can get a point added to my Vaccines grade somehow.

A tiny crumb…

Graduate school is fabulous but sucking every morsel of coherent thought I have right out, so I’m offering up a small crumb for now by posting some upcoming events.  If I get rowdy with the scanner later, I’ll post my thoughts on health insurance with a real life sample of the nightmare hospital billing has become.

Upcoming short and long races can be tracked through Run Georgia’s website.  There’s a 5K coming up in the hood at the East Atlanta Strut. I love 5K’s because they accomplish so much all in one Saturday morning:

1. First and foremost, when you’re done you’ve run/walked/dragged butt 3.1 miles.  It’s a doable distance.
2. Usually you’ve raised a little money for a charity. So in addition to that runner’s high, you get an extra 5 minutes of moral superiority for the day.
3. They’re fun for all fitness levels. You’ll find a huge variety of runners, walkers, and sufferers so you can find your sweet spot and hang with your crowd.
4. You can do them with your family and sometimes even your dog.  Most elementary school kids can handle the distance, especially if you let the little ones walk instead of run.  For the tiny ones you can usually push them in a jogging stroller.
5. Making a habit out of signing up for 5Ks either once a month or once a quarter, whatever floats your boat, can help you keep motivated to train for them, integrating regular exercise into your routine.

For the more intense there’s always Operation Bootcamp right here in Grant Park, though you’ll never, ever see me out there at 6 am.  I do have neighbors who enjoy Bootcamp, and they look fabulous as a result.  There’s other programs like it, such as the one Harry Brewster does in the park as well, which I have done and loved, as much as I can love pain (his are later in the day).

That may seem like an odd collection of links but I wanted to peek back into the land of the living, if only for a bit.

Cheers!

Nope, can’t stop posting about this….

According to this New York Times article: “Experts to Discuss One Puzzling Autism Case, as a Second Case Has Arisen” federal health officials will be discussing two cases today that may provide a clue to the link between children with a mitochondrial disorder, vaccines, and autism.

My favorite quote from the article:

“We’re talking about two things we don’t understand very well, mitochondrial disorder and autism, and putting them together,” Dr. Insel said. “It’s like two drunks holding each other up.”

Hope to see a follow up to this in the Times or somewhere.

Summer Slump

If anyone is looking I’m sure you’ve noticed that summer posting has gotten light.  I am preparing for graduate school (in public health) in the fall and I’ve been enjoying what will most likely be my last summer at home with the kids.  Next summer I hope to be doing my practicum and after that working full time.

I would like to share some links to resources that I have been enjoying related to public health.  Posting will continue sporadically through summer and will pick back up to full speed (1 post per week) in the fall with school.

Effect Measure is a science blog that serves as a “forum for progressive public health
discussion and argument as well as a source for public health information from around the web…”.

The Wall Street Journal has a health blog that encourages interactive communication through the comments.

Another interesting blog is Dr. Razavi’s Good to Know Info.  A physician offers practical and reliable responses to FAQ’s from Googlers.

A resource for real public health geeks is the CDC’s MMWR – Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report now online.

CNN just published an article about West Nile Virus.  It is expected to be a bad summer for the disease peaking between mid-July and mid-September.  Controlling mosquitos is your best protection.  Use mosquito sprays with DEET.

Stay cool and healthy!

Katy

Event: Whole Foods and Emory Healthcare team up

Emory Healthcare is partnering with Whole Foods for a series of free lectures and demonstrations on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 6:30 pm . Tonight’s lecture is regarding relaxation and stress and the effects on your health.

RSVP by calling 404-778-7777 or by filling out this form.

Event:		Whole Foods Lecture Series – Relaxation/Stress
Date:		May 21, 2008
Time:		6:30 – 7:30 pm
Location:		Whole Foods Market (Midtown Location) 650 Ponce de Leon Ave NE Atlanta, GA 30308
Enroll:		(404) 778-7777
Cost:		Free

Spring has sprung…poison ivy!

After my son contracted a mild but annoying case of poison ivy this week I decided it’s time to figure out once and for all what the nasty stuff looks like. Most of us have heard “leaves of three, let it be” but correctly identifying poison ivy can be tricky. The website “What Poison Ivy Looks Like” has pictures of it in different growth stages and in different settings as well as pictures of particularly gruesome rashes that people have gotten from it.  There’s a poison ivy poster, a fact page and a quiz on the website.  But the “Skin Rash Hall of Fame” is not for the queasy. I had no idea it could get that bad.  The site states the following in reference to the severity of reacitons:

According to the Wall Street Journal, research soon to be published in Weed Science (is your subscription up to date?) indicates that poison ivy has gotten MUCH nastier since the 1950’s. Leaf size and nasty oil content are way up.

The American Academy of Dermatology has a page dedicated to education about Poison Ivy, Sumac and Oak with pictures to help identify all three.

Your best bet is always to avoid it, but stocking up on some cortizone cream is not a bad idea if you plan to garden or play outside.  Severe reactions require the attention of a doctor.

Local Public Health News

Sonny Purdue brings tax breaks to the rich, Emory hosts cancer symposiums, Carter meets with UN over world maternal health

Tax Breaks

Good news if you’re rich! Sonny Perdue has signed a bill “that will give insurers millions of dollars in tax breaks for selling the plans.” These plans benefit mostly wealthy consumers.

In Georgia, Millions in Tax Breaks for Insurers on High-Deductible Plans

Emory Town Hall for African American Women

Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute will host a town hall to address breast health issues for African American women on May 15 at 6 p.m. The meeting is free and open to the public.

Breast Cancer Town Hall

The following day Winship will host a scientific symposium on triple negative breast cancer – a fast moving cancer that disproportionately strikes African American women and is resistant to current therapies. This symposium is targeted to health care professionals and is free. May 16 from 8 am to 5 pm.

Triple Negative Breast Cancer Scientific Symposium

Carter, UN

President Carter is meeting with the UN secretary and 40 global health leaders this morning at the Carter Center to discuss global maternal health care. Some of the goals they will discuss include:

• reducing child and maternal mortality;

• eradicating extreme poverty and hunger;

• universal primary education;

• combatting AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

UN Chief, Carter to discuss world health problems

Latest news in public health – Exercise; Measles

Exercise

A NYT article this week touts the benefits of exercise. I know this falls into the “duh” category but it is interesting how exercise can help prevent or delay onset of many chronic diseases. It can also mitigate the effects of existing chronic disease. According to the author, Jane Brody, exercise can:

“…lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, dementia, osteoporosis, gallstones, diverticulitis, falls, erectile dysfunction, peripheral vascular disease and 12 kinds of cancer.”

as well as improve the health of people with chronic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, congestive heart failure or osteoarthritis.

In addition to helping with chronic disease physical exercise may be one of the best ways to stay sharp mentally.

Measles

In other news, Measles Infections in the US are at the highest rate in 7 years. The infections are occurring almost exclusively in people who were never vaccinated and are expected to increase as the disease is highly contagious. Officials warn that measles can cause serious complications and even death.

The CDC measles update reports 64 cases in 9 states so far this year. The same report warns:

“Worldwide, 20 million cases of measles still occur each year, and the disease is a significant cause of vaccine-preventable death among children. In 2005, 311,000 children under age 5 died from the disease.”