The best entrepreneurs know that in order to crush business, your body needs to be bulletproof. These members of The Oracles have engineered their bodies to feel half their age and perform at the highest levels. Here are their secrets.

Want to suggest a future topic? Get in touch here: maria.dorfner@yahoo.com

Ruth, Elizabeth, Angie and Theresa reside in Lehigh Valley. Lehigh Valley is in Pennsylvania.  It consists of small picturesque towns with principal cities being Bethlehem, Allentown and Easton.

It’s 60 minutes north of Philadelphia, and 90 minutes west of New York City. The valley is between two mountains to north and south. Blue Mountain and South Mountain.

These beautiful four ladies have one more thing in common. They are all centenarians. They range in age from 100 to 105.  They also share a common love of family, health and honesty.

“I always say, ‘Never lie or be mean to anyone.'”
-Theresa J. Roth, age 105

Full link:

As seen in the March 2017 issue of Lehigh Valley Style. 

11-LVS_Mar17_100_V2_opy

Related Stories:

How A Tiny Pennsylvania Town Held the Secrets to Long Life

[1 / 17  by Jim Deegan for Lehigh Valley Live]
Kathie Marinucci and brother Sam Nittle display a portrait of their uncle, Carmen ‘”Armie” Ruggiero, who was enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. When Ruggiero died Dec. 20, 2015, at age 103, he was believed to have been the oldest person alive from Roseto and one of the only remaining to have participated in a landmark study of mortality rates from 1955 to 1961 that came to be known as “the Roseto Effect.”

In spite of the dark suits and solemn hymns at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, there was a celebratory tone to the funeral for Carmen Ruggiero.

Ruggiero was born in tiny Roseto on Jan. 21, 1912, the year the Titanic sank and the year in which leaders incorporated the predominantly Italian-American borough near the tip of the Lehigh Valley.

The man nicknamed “Armie” died Dec. 20, a month shy of his 104th birthday.

At the time, he was believed to be the oldest living Rosetan and one of the last alive to have participated in a landmark 1950s study that tied good health and long life to the close-knit Italian family structure defined by the town.

Carmen ‘Armie’ Ruggiero at his 100th birthday party
Carmen “Armie” Ruggiero at his 100th birthday party in January 2012 at Stroudsmoor Country Inn in Monroe County. (Courtesy photo)

“Everybody firmly believed he had a long, good life and he went the way he wanted to go,” said his nephew Sam Nittle, of Wind Gap. “He lived life to the fullest and had no regrets about anything. He was the patriarch of the family.”

Ruggiero was one of 11 children and never married or had kids of his own.

He worked at clubs and taverns, tending bar at popular watering holes like the Buckhorn and Luigi’s Ranch-O outside Belvidere and running the bar service at Florida hotspots such as the Boca Raton Resort and Hollywood Beach Hotel.

His life and outlook came under special interest by Dr. Mahesh Krishnamurthy, an Easton Hospital specialist in internal medicine. The doctor’s fascination with the so-called “Roseto Effect” blossomed after first treating Ruggiero about two years ago.

Ruggiero, he said, was a special patient.

“He was happy with very little,” said Krishnamurthy, program director of the internal medicine residency program at Easton.

“I believe that’s key. When you feel contented with what you have as opposed to always reaching for the sky and keeping up with your neighbor, it was a lesson learned.

“To me his story was told in four words: happy with very little.”

The Roseto Effect

Movies have been made and books written about the secrets of longevity. In 1964, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association hit upon an astonishing find in the hilly town in Northampton County.

A University of Oklahoma physician, Dr. Stewart Wolf, studied the effect of social structure on health from 1955 to 1961. He concluded that Roseto’s low rate of heart attacks and mortality compared to the rest of the region and the nation was attributable to the close-knit community and generations under one roof typical of Roseto at the time.

Roseto produced such results despite health risk factors that were all around: jugs of homemade red wine, foods cooked in lard, the smoking of cigars.

Fifty-five years later, Krishnamurthy encountered living proof that there must be something to the hypothesis and believes it might be applied to centenarians in general.
An article he wrote with a colleague, Dr. Raafia Memon, after spending time with Ruggiero notes that nearly 20 percent of the 55,000 100-year-olds in the U.S. in 2014 lived below the poverty line.

“These people have very little income but they have an attitude to life that is phenomenal,” Krishnamurthy said. “Mr. Ruggiero told me that’s how you live a happy life and a long life.

“The moment you start stressing about things, he said, is when the problems come. He believed that being happy with very little was the secret to longevity.

“Once people are older, they are very contented people,” Krishnamurthy said. “I can’t prove it based on the life story of one person, but I have seen it in people like him who don’t have a gloomy attitude and aren’t ticked off about small things. I do believe that there is something to it.”

Proud of his independence

Most of Ruggiero’s siblings lived into their 80s and 90s. He moved to Florida in the late 1960s then came back in the 1990s to help tend to two of his sisters, said niece Kathie Marinucci, of Roseto.

He maintained a fierce independence and lived the past few years at the Walden III assisted-living facility in Wind Gap.

Ruggiero drove until he was 100, could recall stories from his childhood in vivid detail and passed along traditions to his many nieces and nephews that they say would be lost forever were it not for his insistence.

With decades in the service industry, for example, he prided himself on his Caesar salad.

“It had to have the 13 ingredients,” said Marinucci, who lives in the house where she grew up. “You had to use the wooden bowl, which you never washed, and you had to smash the anchovies.”

Marinucci and Nittle are brother and sister whose late mother, Rose Nittle, was the youngest of Ruggiero’s family. While they looked after their uncle Armie, he lived essentially on his own up until the end.

One day last month, he called Nittle at home and summoned him to Walden III.

“I need you to come and see me,” he said.

To me his story was told in four words: happy with very little.”
Nittle said Ruggiero was uncharacteristically serious and business-minded that day. He pointed a crooked finger at his nephew and shook it at him.

“He said ‘This is my home now,'” a surprised Nittle recalled.

“He said ‘I had a home in Florida and don’t have it anymore. I had a home in Roseto and don’t have that anymore. This is my home. I go and come as I please.

“‘Don’t you ever put me in a home and don’t you ever let people see me if I can’t take care of myself.'”

Ruggiero also related something that Nittle says he can’t explain today. The family traditionally gathers at Nittle’s home on Christmas Eve and the nephew makes Manhattans.

“He said, ‘I don’t want you to feel bad about this, but I’m not coming over this year for Christmas,'” Nittle said.

A few hours after leaving, NIttle got a call from his sister. Ruggiero had taken a fall in the dining area and was going to Lehigh Valley Hospital. Doctors said he had fractured his neck in the spill.

Ruggiero died of bronchial pneumonia about 10 days later, his family said.

“The day this all happened, which was the beginning of the end, is the day he called me and told me all this,” Nittle said.

A different time

Roseto is different today than the town that gained recognition for its endurance. About 1,500 people live there, but the concentration of Italian-Americans has been diluted.

In 1989, Dr. Wolf restudied the Roseto Effect and found the mortality rates were in line with other communities such as Bangor and Nazareth. The difference was gone.

“The Rosetan values of cohesive family structure started fading away in the late 1960s,” Dr. Krishnamurthy said.

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Roseto
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Roseto has been the place of worship for generations of the borough’s Italian-Americans. (Jim Deegan | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Even today, the mayor and most of borough council have last names, like the streets, that end in vowels. But it’s not the place it was, according to longtime residents.

“Back then everybody knew everyone else,” said Michael Romano, 62, the borough council president. “If you walked down the street and you were doing something wrong, the parents didn’t have a problem disciplining someone else’s child. It’s not that way today.”

You can still get tomato pie and cannoli at Roseto Bakery, formerly LeDonne’s, and there’s Italian fare and espresso machines for sale at Ruggiero’s Market on Dante Street. But the days when Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church was packed and Catholic schools were open have faded like the Roseto Effect.

Romano said the Italian-American culture that emphasized education and college served to diminish the effect.

“There’s still a core of Italians with the church and the fire company, but the composition of Roseto has changed,” he said.

Doc looks back on colorful 57-year career
Doc looks back on colorful 57-year career

While the Roseto Effect may be long gone, its documentation remains useful, according to Easton Hospital’s Krishnamurthy.

He feels grateful to have been able to capture a fleeting phenomenon in Carmen Ruggiero and his stories of Roseto.

“All of my patients are equal because I care for their medical conditions,” he said, “but sometimes there are cases that speak to you much more.

“He had a profound effect on me,” he said of Ruggiero. “There was a different connection. He would make you so comfortable and you could talk to him for hours and not even realize it.”

With further study involving other centenarians, Krishnamurthy hopes to one day publish a medical paper that ties attitude and longevity together.

It’s something he says is worthy of emphasis.

“We’re going through tough times all across the world,” he said. “I see a lot of discontentment in the youth of today and I don’t know how to change that.”

An old man from Roseto who didn’t drive anymore still may have held the keys.

“There’s something about the centenarians who find joy in small things,” the doctor said. “They find a purpose in life. We need to find some level of happiness and contentment with what we are and who we are.

“For me, it is going to be a lifelong quest.”

                              ###

[Jim Deegan may be reached at jdeegan@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @jim_deegan. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook]

THE FIRST WEDNESDAY IN THE MONTH OF APRIL IS DESIGNATED AS NATIONAL WALKING DAY.

MY FAVORITE NON-COMPETITIVE SPORT!  BUT ACCORDING TO THE C-D-C, EIGHTY PERCENT OF AMERICANS DO NOT GET THE RECOMMENDED TWO AND A HALF HOURS OF MODERATE-INTENSITY AEROBIC EXERCISE EACH WEEK.

ERICA STEPTEAU IS A HEALTH COACH AT CLEVELAND CLINIC. SHE SAYS THAT STARTING A WALKING ROUTINE IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS GETTING YOUR BODY MORE ACTIVE.

CG: Erica Stepteau, MPH/Cleveland Clinic “Get up every five to ten minutes. Put a timer on your phone and see that those are ways that can actually help you get up more instead of just sitting all day.”[00:08]

STEPTEAU SAYS WE TEND TO UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF WALKING.

SHE SAYS IT DOESN’T TAKE A GYM MEMBERSHIP OR A PERSONAL TRAINER TO GET YOURSELF UP AND MOVING.

WALKING IS SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN FIT INTO YOUR DAY ALMOST ANYWHERE. AND IT NOT ONLY HELPS YOUR HEALTH, BUT CAN ALSO BOOST YOUR MOOD.

STEPTEAU RECOMMENDS WALKING DURING YOUR LUNCH BREAK, TAKING THE STAIRS, AND WHEN YOU GET HOME, GET YOUR PETS OUT AND MOVING WITH YOU.

SHE ALSO SAID THAT SPRING IS A GREAT TIME TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE WEATHER CHANGING TO START WALKING OUTDOORS.

IF BRISK WALKING IS YOUR GOAL, SHE SAYS YOU WANT TO WORK YOUR WAY UP TO THE POINT WHERE IT’S A LITTLE CHALLENGING TO TALK WHILE WALKING.

AND LIKE ANY EXERCISE PLAN, STEPTEAU SAYS YOU’LL HAVE BETTER RESULTS IF YOU CAN FIND A BUDDY TO WALK WITH.

CG: Erica Stepteau/Cleveland Clinic “It can help you push you beyond your own limits because that person may be at a different level than you; higher or lower, depending; but it helps you either be the encouragement that that person needs to step it up, or it could be the encouragement for you to step it up for yourself.”[00:14]

IF GETTING YOURSELF MOVING IS A REAL CHALLENGE, STEPTEAU SAYS THAT IT’S IMPORTANT NOT TO BEAT YOURSELF UP ABOUT IT AND TO JUST START SLOW.

SHE SAYS IF YOU’VE BEEN INACTIVE FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME, IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE STARTING A NEW EXERCISE ROUTINE.

[MEDIA SEE Pathfire#:10752 FOR VT]

HAPPY NATIONAL WALKING DAY!  Stay healthy.  -Maria Dorfner

http://www.clevelandclinic.org

VITAMIN D IS KNOWN FOR ITS ROLE IN PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF BONE HEALTH ISSUES AS WE AGE.

NOW A NEW STUDY LOOKS TO DETERMINE IF TAKING A HIGH DOSE VITAMIN-D SUPPLEMENT COULD HELP PREVENT HEART DISEASE AS WELL.

CLEVELAND CLINIC’ S DOCTOR STEVEN NISSEN SAYS THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY ARE IN LINE WITH WHAT OTHERS HAVE ALREADY SHOWN ABOUT DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS AND HEART HEALTH.

CG: Dr. Steven Nissen/Cleveland Clinic “This is yet another study that shows that vitamins and dietary supplements have virtually no benefits in preventing heart disease.”

PREVIOUS RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT FOLKS WITH LOW VITAMIN D LEVELS HAVE AN INCREASED RISK FOR HEART DISEASE.

OTHER STUDIES WHICH HAVE SOUGHT TO DETERMINE A BENEFIT IN TAKING VITAMIN D FOR HEART HEALTH, USED LOWER DOSES OF THE SUPPLEMENT.

THIS LATEST RESEARCH TESTED A VERY HIGH DOSE – AS HIGH AS TWO-HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITS IN THE FIRST DOSE – TO A GROUP OF MORE THAN FIVE-THOUSAND ADULTS BETWEEN THE AGES OF FIFTY AND EIGHTY-FOUR.

AFTER A LITTLE MORE THAN THREE YEARS, RESEARCHERS FOUND NO BENEFIT FOR THESE FOLKS WHEN IT CAME TO PREVENTING HEART DISEASE.

DOCTOR NISSEN SAYS THERE IS NO ‘ MAGIC BULLET’ SUPPLEMENT WHEN IT COMES TO HEART HEALTH.

HE SAYS PEOPLE ARE MUCH BETTER OFF IF THEY WORK ON THEIR OVERALL HEALTH HABITS.

CG: Dr. Steven Nissen/Cleveland Clinic “Exercise, eat well, know your numbers – know your cholesterol, know your blood pressure. Make sure you keep your body weight down so you don’ t get diabetes, and you’ re way ahead of the game.”[00:10]

DOCTOR NISSEN SAYS PEOPLE OFTEN ASK ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS AFTER READING ABOUT THEM ON THE INTERNET.

HE SAYS IT’ S BEST TO MAKE SURE THAT WHAT YOU’ RE LOOKING AT ONLINE IS BASED ON SCIENCE, AND TO ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE STARTING ANY SUPPLEMENT.

COMPLETE RESULTS OF THE STUDY CAN BE FOUND IN JAMA CARDIOLOGY.

[MEDIA SEE: Pathfire#:10755]

For more information contact:  http://www.clevelandclinic.org

American Architect, Interior Designer, Writer and Educator, Frank Lloyd Wright loved creating designs in harmony with the environment. Here’s how you can bring the outdoors in AND improve the air quality in your home for better health.

by ALEXA ERICKSON – APRIL 22, 2017

With people spending more than 90 percent of their time indoors, it makes sense that air quality matters.

There are various factors in many people’s homes working against this, however. From furnishings and upholstery to synthetic building materials and cleaning products, toxic compounds are being emitted all around you.

There’s also the concern of pollen, bacteria, and molds that need to be considered. And all of this, combined with poorly-ventilated spaces, such as a windows that have been painted shut in your apartment, it’s incredibly important that you become aware of ways to combat all that junk being inhaled.

Enter houseplants.

Though you may only have them to better your green thumb, or decorate your home with a sense of nature — which are both great reasons — they’re also extremely beneficial for improving air quality. According to NASA, plants’ ability to purify air makes them “nature’s life support system.”

Plants clean the air in your home by absorbing some of the particles from the air while also taking in carbon dioxide, which is then processed into oxygen through photosynthesis. Additionally, microbes in the potting soil of the plants also provide a cleaning effect.

Plants may even be more beneficial in the evening. Because they are void of sunlight to carry out photosynthesis during this time, their carbon dioxide output increases, therefore providing you with an abundance of oxygen. If you have anxiety, insomnia, or are just looking for a calming effect, the following five plants will aid you in a healthier home and better quality sleep.

Aloe Vera

Aloe vera is a great plant for someone new to the plant game, since it’s very easy to care for. This plant gives off plenty of oxygen at night, and, according to NASA, is capable of removing the pollutant formaldehyde.

Orchids

Orchids are stunning to look at, but they’re a whole lot more than just eye candy. Even when you can’t see them, they’re benefitting you by giving off lots of oxygen at night. Another plant that can withstand a bit of neglect, orchids are able to banish the pollutant found in paint called xylene from the environment.

For 3 More Visit:  http://www.collective-evolution.com

“5 PLANTS THAT GIVE OUT OXYGEN, EVEN DURING THE NIGHT”   

Happy Earth Day!  

SO MANY NEW SMART PHONE MONITORS AIM TO GIVE PARENTS PEACE OF MIND.

BUT A RECENT STUDY LOOKS AT THEIR REAL SAFETY AND EFFECTIVENESS.

DOCTOR KIMBERLY GIULIANO OF CLEVELAND CLINIC CHILDREN’ S DID NOT TAKE PART IN THE STUDY, BUT SAYS ONE OF THE BIGGEST CONCERNS DOCTORS HAVE ABOUT THESE MONITORS IS THEY’ RE NOT REGULATED.

CG: Dr. Kimberly Giuliano/Cleveland Clinic Children’s [19:10:35-19:10:47] “They are not tested and regulated by the FDA, so they don’ t have to go through the same rigors that medical equipment would. So it’ s quite possible that something could happen to a child that the monitors wouldn’ t necessarily pick up on.”  [00:12]

THE TYPE OF MONITORS STUDIED ARE THOSE WITH SPECIAL SENSORS TO ALERT PARENTS WHEN THERE IS A PROTBLEM WITH A BABY’ S PULSE OR HEART RATE.

STUDY AUTHORS EXPRESS CONCERN OVER THESE MONITORS TRIGGERING FALSE ALARMS, WHICH CAN CAUSE UNNECESSARY STRESS TO PARENTS AND BABIES.

DOCTOR GIULIANO SAYS WHEN IT COMES TO MONITORING A HEALTHY BABY, A DEVICE THAT WILL AID YOUR ABILITY TO HEAR OR SEE THE BABY IS ENOUGH.

SHE SAYS VIDEO MONITORS HELP BECAUSE WHEN YOU CAN SEE THE BABY ON YOUR SMART PHONE SCREEN, YOU CAN SEE IF THEY’ RE JUST CRYING BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BE HELD, OR BECAUSE SOMETHING HAPPENED AND YOU NEED TO GO IN AND HELP.

WHAT MOST PARENTS AND DOCTORS WORRY ABOUT IN THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE IS ‘ SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME,’ WHICH IS AN UNEXPLAINED DEATH OF A SEEMINGLY HEALTHY BABY DURING THEIR SLEEP.

DOCTOR GIULIANO CAUTIONS PARENTS FROM ALLOWING ANY MONITOR TO GIVE THEM A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY.

CG: Dr. Kimberly Giuliano/Cleveland Clinic Children’s [19:08:41-19:08:57] “The biggest thing that we’ re concerned about when babies are sleeping at night is SIDS, is ‘ Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,’ and that’ s silent. There’ s nothing that’ s going to show up on a monitor that’ s necessarily going to tell us that. So just because you’ re not hearing anything, doesn’ t always mean that everything is one hundred percent okay.”  [00:16]

DOCTOR GIULIANO SAYS THE MOST VITAL THING WHEN IT COMES TO LAYING BABY DOWN TO SLEEP IS TO RECALL WHAT DOCTORS CALL THE
‘ A-B-C’ S’ OF SLEEP.

THIS MEANS A BABY MUST SLEEP ALONE, ON THEIR BACK, AND IN A CRIB, TO MINIMIZE THE RISK FOR ACCIDENTAL SUFFOCATION.  AGAIN, THAT’S:

Alone

Back

Crib

COMPLETE RESULTS OF THE STUDY CAN BE FOUND IN JAMA.

###

(Media:  Cleveland Clinic News Service 9500 Euclid Ave. / JJN4-01Cleveland, OH 44195 Phone: 216.444.0141 “Study Looks at Safety, Effectiveness of High Tech Baby Monitors”April 26, 2017 Sound Bites/Voice Over Pathfire#: A)

It begs the question why a sensor product for newborns was able to raise $25M with no proof that sensors keep babies safe.  In fact, $3M of that funding came from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) –the government.

If the National Institutes of Health wants to conduct a study on how to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or how to keep newborns safe –why wouldn’t it perform an independent study.

In 2013, a Baby Monitor Sensor pad product was recalled after two babies died. The cord attached to the baby monitor’s sensor pad, which was placed under the crib mattress caused strangulation. There have been 7 reports of strangulation by baby monitor cords since 2002.

According to the CDC, almost 2000 babies die each year under SIDS circumstances.

Placing a foreign object inside the crib or worse on your baby with a sensor is not the answer.

Remember, the most effective thing you can do to help reduce your baby’s risk of SIDS, say pediatricians, is to maintain a safe sleep environment—and not one that involves complicated home monitoring devices.

“If sleep position and infant bedding are appropriate, there shouldn’t be much SIDS left to try to prevent with home monitors,” Dr. Alan Jobe of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital wrote in an op-ed for the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2001.

Sixteen years later, the thinking remains the same. The American Academy of Pediatrics revised and expanded its SIDS prevention recommendations.

In addition to putting your baby to sleep on his or her back, APA recommendations include sharing a room with your infant but, crucially, not a bed; keeping baby’s sleeping area clear of any loose bedding, pillows, toys, or cords; and making sure your baby isn’t too warm when sleeping.

Nos. 12 and 13 on the APA’s list of guidelines?

“Avoid commercial devices marketed to reduce the risk of SIDS. … There is no evidence that these devices reduce the risk of SIDS or suffocation or that they are safe.”

And:

“Do not use home cardiorespiratory monitors as a strategy to reduce the risk of SIDS. … They might be of value for selected infants but should not be used routinely.”

(In fact, there’s some evidence that they might not be safe: In November, monitor behemoth Angelcare voluntarily recalled 600,000 under-mattress sensor pads after two infants died of strangulation when the cord attached to the pad wrapped around their necks.)

The point is clear: Infant monitors, even the newest generation of smartphone-friendly wearable tech, do not reduce the risk of SIDS.

Bottom line:  Exposing your newborn or infant to an unregulated sensor gadget placed so close to their tiny body isn’t deemed safe or advisable by physicians.

Safewise rates 10 Best Baby Video Monitors for 2017 here:
http://www.safewise.com/resources/baby-monitor-buyers-guide

I read an article about “experts” wondering how much exercise you need to keep your brain sharp. The experts answer it is unknown.

Not true!  I once again felt like a kid raising my hand again in school, only to be told, “Let someone else answer, Maria.”   Finally, when no one else does, I get to answer.

45 minutes!

A new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine by Joseph Northey, University of Canberra in Australia is the first to identify the key role played by resistance training, such as weights or core strength activity, in boosting brain function. 

And 45 minutes is how much you need to keep your brain sharp. I can’t say this is the first study because Super Body, Super Brain is all about how resistance training combined with aerobics is what fosters neurogenesis (new brain cell growth).

They say until now, research focused on aerobic exercises like swimming, cycling, fast walking or jogging, as being good for the brain.

They now believe, however, that resistance training benefits the brain in different ways, stimulating additional areas of growth.

Study confirms it’s 45 minutes of resistance training for people in fifties or over.

The 45 minute mark of any activity is when you feel most alert and decisive.

Other brain benefits include slowing down cognitive decline.

Joseph Northey, who led the research at the University of Canberra, says doctors should be proactively prescribing exercise as a form of preventative medicine.

“Even exercising on one or two days of the week seemed to be effective, but the most important thing we found was the intensity of the exercise,” he said.

“It should be moderate, but aiming to get some vigorous intensity in there as well.”

In the April 2017 meta-analysis, University of Canberra researchers analyzed results of 39 previous studies on exercise and cognitive function in adults age 50 and older.

Although the studies look at different types of exercise, they all came to similar conclusions when compared side-by-side:

Getting up and moving at a moderate intensity for at least 45 minutes at a time was linked to improved cognition (memory and overall brain function included) — and the more days a week that person squeezed in those 45-minute sessions, the greater cognitive benefits they reaped!

Researchers also found aerobic exercise helps with learning, reasoning, reading, thinking.  Resistance training helps with organizing, planning and memory.

They recommend  mixing aerobic exercise and resistance training for best results.

Your 45 minutes can include walking, cleaning, bike riding, gardening, swimming, golf, tennis, dancing, bowling, shopping or anything else that gets you moving.

People work out for their body, but having a sharp mind is even more attractive.

It looks like my friend’s books are ahead of their time.

Michael Gonzalez-Wallace, author of Super Body, Super Brain already stated resistance training causes neurogenesis (new brain cells grow) and backed it up with scientific research. Dr. Gregory Lombardo from Columbia University, who serves on the board of Super Body, Super Brain with me, recommends it to patients.

I highly recommend reading:

Super Body, Super Brain by Michael Gonzalez-Wallace

The Brain Mechanic by Spencer Lord

This week, Jimmy Kimmel shared the emotional story of his beautiful newborn son’s heart surgery.  He and his wife Molly welcomed their second child, William “Billy” Kimmel.

At three days old, Billy had successful open heart surgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and is now home with his family.  On his show, Jimmy opened up about his son’s birth and health complications. He also underscored the need for the accurate and timely screening of congenital heart disease (CHD).

Essential to early CHD diagnosis is the detection of a murmur using a stethoscope during a newborn’s first physical exam.

But routine neonatal examination without specialist consults fail to detect more than half of babies with heart disease.

Approximately 160 infants pass away from undetected Congenital Heart Defects each year in the United States.

William “Billy” Kimmel, who is absolutely adorable below is one of the lucky ones; looks like he’s already laughing at Dad’s jokes too.

Billy thankfully had the condition detected early, but many children with CHD get discharged with undetected or misdiagnosed conditions.

After the events of this week, expecting parents have every right to question if their child is being screened appropriately or if clinicians known to misinterpret heart sounds are interpreting their child’s heart sounds accurately.

Kimmel’s story is really a wake-up call that we need more nurses like the wonderful ones who treated his baby boy.

Now, there’s a device that will make sure congenital heart screenings more effective for infants.

And it’s not just infants. Over 1.3 million adults live with congenital heart disease in the U.S, which now surpasses the number of children with congenital heart disease.

Three entrepreneurs are well on their way to making sure accurate screenings are a heartbeat away. Their innovation paves the way for a new era of cardiac screenings.

They want to do what Shazam did for music, only for heartbeats.

Their new device called Eko [pronounced like Echo, as in a heart echo] offers the potential to dramatically improve the efficacy of newborn screenings, especially for newborns far from a pediatric cardiology center.

The San Francisco based digital medical device company, launched Eko, an FDA-cleared digital stethoscope that enables ANY clinician, regardless of their training level, to secure a virtual pediatric cardiology opinion on heart sounds recorded with their FDA-cleared digital stethoscope.

It was a pleasure interviewing one of the founders, Jason Bellet.

Bellet says, “The silver lining in Jimmy Kimmel’s story is that the congenital heart failure was detected early through a murmur using a stethoscope and could be treated, but very often these murmurs go undiagnosed and undetected and infants leave the hospital with potentially life threatening situations.” [:27]

“Eko Devices would enable nurses and clinicians to get Cardiologist’s second opinion to immediately decrease the number of missed cases.” [:12]

Bellet is the co-founder and a brilliant former student from the University of Berkley.  He graduated in 2014 and founded Eko Devices with two fellow students, Connor Landgraf and Tyler Crouch out of the Start-up accelerator at Berkley.

The three founders successfully pitched their idea and raised $5M to bring it to market quickly and bring it to as many clinicians as they can.  It received FDA approval in September of 2015.

QUESTION: WHAT IS EKO?

ANSWER:  It’s basically a Smart Stethoscope that can bring the sounds to a trained ear immediately.

The vision is to bring machine learning and physician support tools to every clinicians stethoscope to make their screening process as easy as Shazaming a song.

QUESTION:  HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR EKO?

ANSWER:  The idea stemmed from the fact that we realized the stethoscope is used as the primary screening tool for cardiac health, including for newborn babies.

But, it’s extremely outdated and ultimately leading to misdiagnosis and lack of cardiac conditions because you hear the heart sounds, but don’t understand what you’re hearing.

Cardiologists are the ones who can differentiate what is normal and what is not.

So, what we wanted to do was make it easy for clinicians to modernize their own stethoscopes to bring it into the modern era and send concerning or confusing heart sounds immediately to cardiologists in real time using this platform or capture it to send it to a specialist.

QUESTION:  There are other digital stethoscopes out there. Why is this one unique?

Bellet says, “Our digital stethoscope is the first to allow clinicians to stream sounds wirelessly from the stethoscope to a smartphone and to a cardiologist anywhere in the world.”  [:15]

QUESTION: Is it HIPPA compliant?

ANSWER:  It’s the ONLY digital stethoscope on the market that has built a HIPPA compliant software platform to stream heart sounds from any clinician to any specialist anywhere in the world.

QUESTION: THAT’S GROUNDBREAKING. WHERE IS IT CURRENTLY BEING USED?

ANSWER:  Eko is now used at over 700 institutions across the country and has been adopted by pediatric cardiology programs.

QUESTION: WHO NEEDS EKO?

The technology is applicable in many aspects of patient care, but especially in newborns.

QUESTION:  WHAT IS YOUR ULTIMATE GOAL WITH EKO?

ANSWER: The ultimate goal is bringing it even one step further.  Our idea is have machine learning tied directly into the stethoscope itself, so one day clinicians can be as accurate as cardiologists in their initial interpretation of what they hear.

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Next, I spoke with renown adult congenital heart disease specialist Ami Bhatt, M.D. F.A.C.C. who says identifying congenital heart disease in the community can be challenging at any age whether we are trying to identify a high risk newborn like Jimmy Kimmel’s or catching congenital heart disease in a school age student or adulthood.

Ami Bhatt, M.D. F.A.C.C.  is director of outpatient cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston as well as a renown adult congenital heart disease specialist.  She innovates with the Healthcare Transformation Lab, serves as a scientific advisor for Eko Devises and runs a telemedicine practice.  She can be reached at mghachd@partners.org

Bhatt says,  “Because congenital heart disease is relatively rare it’s difficult for clinicians to identify it. The use of digital stethoscopes and other telemedicine technology which can connect the patient and caregiver in the community with experts at academic centers can improve initial diagnosis AND longterm followup.”

QUESTION:  WHAT HAPPENS WHEN KIDS WITH CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE AGE?

ANSWER:   Two things. One, as kids with congenital heart disease age, we know there are complications that may arise. Technologies like digital stethoscopes and the use of algorithms can help monitor their progression and track changes in disease BEFORE they progress too far.

And two, lack of follow-up is a persistent problem with children with congenital heart disease become adults. One of the main drivers is the challenge of access to subspecialty care.

Additionally, distance from medical centers, along with the time it takes and sometimes the cost of being away from work and family drives young adults to ignore their own healthcare needs.

The advent of digital health in congenital heart disease care empowers the patient to engage in a partnership to their health without taking away from their ability to live a full and active life.

QUESTION:  DO YOU THINK TECHNOLOGY HELPS OR HINDERS DOCTOR-PATIENT RELATIONS?

ANSWER: As the delivery of healthcare changes, caregivers are desperate to return to the ideal  doctor patient relationship, which is based on a human connection. As we build digital technology, and use machine learning to support our physicians at at time when there are so many diagnosis to be made, it allows us to concentrate on a shared patient and provider centered experience.

QUESTION:  HOW DOES AN ADULT KNOW WHEN TO GET THEIR HEART CHECKED?

ANSWER: If they had heart disease or heart surgery as a child, they should check in with their cardiologist to find out if they need any longterm care.

QUESTION: HOW DO THEY FIND A SPECIALIST?

There are advocacy websites, such http://www.ACHAheart.org which report self-identified Specialists in congenital heart disease or they can call a major center like Massachusetts General who can find a local center that can partner in their care.

QUESTION: HOW CAN THEY FIND OUT WHO USES THE EKO DEVICE?

ANSWER: If they want to find a specialist using the Eko Device people can contact Massachusetts General http://www.massgeneral.org\adultcongenitalheart for more information and ask about centers near them. They can also contact any hospital and ask for their telemedicine department and inquire if they use Eko.

QUESTION: HOW DO CLINICANS FIND EKO IF THEY’RE INTERESTED IN USING IT?

ANSWER:  Clinicians are able to access the device by going to the Eko Devices website at http://www.ekodevices.com and then if they’re interested in testing it they can purchase a unit directly from the website and send it back if they don’t like it. But that’s a rarity as the success rate has been high with over 5,000 clinicians across the country using it.

This truly is a hot technology that will save kids like Jimmy’s, as well as those who aren’t at top hospitals in the country.

Billy will have another open-heart surgery within six months to repair the hole, and Our thoughts, well wishes and prayers are with him and his family.

“As a cardiologist, we sometimes worry about technology interfering with the doctor patient relationship. However, in these cases, it is technology that brings us to meet the patient where they live. Technology is finally bringing us home.” 

-Ami Bhatt, M.D. F.A.C.C.

If you haven’t seen Jimmy Kimmel’s story see it on Emmy-award-winning @GMA:

WATCH: @jimmykimmel shares emotional news about newborn son’s emergency heart surgery; son now at home recovering. http://abcn.ws/2pSPakE

QUICK FACTS:

According to the CDC, 40,000 babies in the U.S. are born each year with congenital heart disease.

Recent studies estimate approximately 160 infants or 1 in 25,000 live births die per year from unrecognized CHD.

The reported sensitivity for detection of a pathologic heart murmur in newborns ranges from 80.5 to 94.9 percent among pediatric cardiologists, with specificity ranging from 25 to 92 percent.

A study in the American Journal of Medicine discovered internal medicine residents misdiagnose as many as 75% of murmurs with a stethoscope.

Routine neonatal examination fails to detect more than half of babies with heart disease; examination at 6 weeks misses one third.

A normal examination does not exclude heart disease.

Babies with murmurs at neonatal or 6 week examinations should be referred for early pediatric cardiological evaluation which will result either in a definitive diagnosis of congenital heart disease or in authoritative reassurance of normal cardiac anatomy and function.

Take care of your heart everyone!

For more on Eko visit: http://www.ekodevices.com

UPDATES:

Good Morning America
ABC NEWS
May 9, 2017
Jimmy Kimmel returns to TV with update on his son’s health, defends his call for children’s health care coverage

One week after Jimmy Kimmel revealed that his son, Billy, had been born with a heart defect, the comedian returned to host his late night show with an emotional update on his son’s health and a defense of his foray into the country’s heated debate on health care.

The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” also thanked his fans for their “humbling outpouring of support” and said that he and his wire “very grateful” for the multitude of donations made to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, where his son was treated.

“First I want to tell you because so many people have asked: Our son Billy is doing very well,” Kimmel said. “He’s eating. He is getting bigger. He is sleeping well. He can read now — which they say is unusual [for a child his age].”

Kimmel, 49, revealed last Monday that his son underwent surgery on his heart three days after he was born, and will require another procedure when he’s a little bigger in three to six months.

During his monologue, Kimmel asked all politicians to come together to ensure healthcare for all Americans, especially those who have pre-existing health conditions.

Though there were many who supported Kimmel’s point of view, he noted that there were many others who called him an “out of touch Hollywood elitist.” To those critics, the late night host offered a sarcastic apology.

“I’d like to apologize for saying that children in America should have health care,” he joked. “It was insensitive – it was offensive – and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

To further the conversation, he interviewed Bill Cassidy, a Republican senator from Louisiana who last week tweeted that there should be a “Kimmel Test” for any healthcare bill passed.

The Jimmy Kimmel Test, he noted, would be in place to ensure that any healthcare plan would adequately cover pre-existing conditions “but in a fiscally conservative way that lowers cost.”

“I happen to like [it] a lot,” Kimmel said. “He is a doctor – a gastroenterologist. He is married to a retired doctor — his wife Laura, was a surgeon. And he co-founded the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic, which provides free dental care and health care to the working uninsured. So obviously – this is someone who cares about people’s health.”

Here’s what you need to know about the benefits of drinking plenty of water.

By Dr. Nina Radcliff

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

You may know that water makes up about two-thirds of who we are – but did you know it influences 100 percent of the processes in our body?

Yes, we are made of about 70 percent water!

But did you know that our muscles and kidneys are about 75 percent water?

Lungs about 83 percent.

Brain cells about 85 percent?

And even our bones are approximately 30 percent.

That probably explains why we feel better when we drink enough of it, everyday.

Because of water’s abundant and varied functions in our body, it is a vital nutrient. Our body uses water in all its cells, organs, and tissues to help regulate its temperature and maintain other bodily functions.

It is also used to lubricate the joints, protect the spinal cord and other sensitive tissues, and assist the passage of food through the intestines.

The excellent ability of water to dissolve so many substances allows our cells to use valuable nutrients, minerals, and chemicals in biological processes.

In fact, to function properly, all the cells and organs of our body need water.

Every day, on an average, our body loses about 2 quarts of water through breathing, sweating, digestion – and it’s E-S-S-E-N-T-I-A-L that we rehydrate by drinking fluids and eating foods that contain high water content (soups, tomatoes, oranges).

Keeping hydrated has a huge impact on our overall health.

However, despite how crucial water is, a significant number of people fail to consume recommended levels of fluids each day.

To understand how water is helping us – here are some great reasons why we should be hydrating with clean, natural water right now:

• Your Kidneys. Water is essential for the kidneys to function. Every day, the kidneys filter around 120-150 quarts of fluid. Of these, approximately 1-2 quarts are excreted in the form of urine, and 198 are recovered by the bloodstream. When dehydrated, our kidneys resort to desperate measures in order to conserve water—meaning, decreasing urine output. However, this can also result in the buildup of waste products, electrolyte imbalances, and, if severe, acute kidney failure. And, as we start seeing temperatures rise, so too the incidence of miserable kidney stones. When properly hydrated, we maintain good urine flow and this prevents the build-up of minerals within our kidneys that can form stones.

• Calories. Water is void of calories, the original and healthiest zero-calorie drink. As we know, our weight is dependent on the balance of calories consumed versus burned. And, when we take in more than we use as fuel, we gain weight. Too many drinks that we commonly reach for are laden with calories (and added sugar). The average can of soda contains approximately 140 calories; a glass of wine 140 calories; and 12-ounces of unsweetened apple juice 170 calories. And, if you think you are safe with a “diet” drink that gets its sweetness from artificial sweeteners and lacks calories, think again. Research shows that they are linked to weight gain. So, the next time we want to quench our thirst, consider reaching for a glass of no-calorie water.

• Combats Dehydration-Driven Sugar Cravings. H2O is essential to a number of our body’s chemical processes, including the ability to release and tap into energy stores. Glycogen is primarily found in the liver and is our main storage form of glucose. However, when we are dehydrated, our liver cannot release glycogen into the blood stream where it can be utilized as fuel. Consequently, our body sends signals to our brain that it needs to consume something sweet—STAT! So the next time you are craving for a cookie, pastry, or something with sugar, it may not be your sweet tooth you are trying to satisfy, but, instead, your thirst.

• Combat Headaches. Headaches are one of the first signs of dehydration and there are two possible theories for this. First, is that when we do not have enough water, our blood volume decreases, and in order to prevent inadequate blood and oxygen flow to our brain, the brain’s blood vessels compensate by dilating. This causes “crowding” and pain. The other theory is that dehydration results in electrolyte imbalance and stimulates the nerves in our brain to send pain signals.

• Keeps us looking young. Our skin cells can either maintain the form of a grape or a raisin, depending on our hydration. When we are properly hydrated, they are like a grape. And, when dehydrated, our cells are shriveled up and can make wrinkles we have appear more prominent. Drinking water can keep our fountain of youth from drying up.

• Healthy Digestion. When dehydrated, our body resorts to extreme measures to conserve water. This includes “pulling” or “absorbing” water from stool before it exits our digestive tract. The result is hardening and decreased transit time of “poop”—also known as constipation.

• Stroke and Survival After Stroke. In studies by leading centers including one out of Johns Hopkins University, researchers found that nearly half of patients who presented with a stroke due to a clot were dehydrated. And, too, they did worse in the long run.

• Concentration and Energy. Approximately 80 percent to 85 percent of our brain’s weight comes from water. So it is no surprise that when our water levels are low, our brain function is affected—chemical production that signals between brain cells and nerve transmission that is responsible for thinking, movement, and memory. And when you are feeling sluggish, like your energy has been zapped or tired – this, too, is a sign of dehydration and time to reach for some clean, natural water.

Too many are living in a mildly dehydrated state—impacting their health with various irritations like headaches, joint pain, low energy, digestive issues…the list goes on. I consider H20 one of the essential building blocks of good health. Clean, natural water is important for all of us, every day!

And do check the source of your water. One of the best waters you can drink is filtered water. And don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink water as that generally means you have waited too long and are probably already dehydrated.

An age-old question is how much water is enough? The answer is not as simple as we often hear. The recommended amount of water that should be drunk everyday varies from person to person depending on factors such as level of activity, weight, diet and surrounding temperature.

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), an estimated adequate intake for men is approximately 13 cups a day. For women, an adequate intake is around 9 cups.

And while we have often heard the directive: “Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day” (and it is close to the IOM’s recommendation for women), drinking “8 by 8” is an easy-to-remember amount that can help people on the right track in terms of water consumption.

Take time – and take note – to ensure you are getting enough. One guideline is to drink water in the morning, when you wake and too, 30 minutes before meals and about an hour or two after meals (aim not to drink excessive amounts after 7 p.m. as it may interfere with your sleep).

If you find in your day you have had very little water, I encourage you to set a timer or a smartphone reminder. The goal is to be properly hydrated, everyday – it can make a world of difference in your overall health.

Make a commitment today!!

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Today’s Fitness Tip from Mayo Clinic:

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends drinking 2 to 3 cups of water two to three hours before your workout, and and at least 1/2 to 1 cup of water every 15 to 20 minutes during your workout.  Continue to hydrate after your workout to replenish lost fluid.

Remember, balance is key:

Happy Hydrated Mother’s Day weekend everyone!

SLEEP APNEA AFFECTS AT LEAST TWENTY-FIVE MILLION ADULTS IN THE U-S.

THE CONDITION CAUSES THE UPPER AIRWAY TO COLLAPSE FREQUENTLY WHILE SLEEPING, ROBBING SUFFERERS OF A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP AND LEADING TO DAYTIME SLEEPINESS AND DROWSY DRIVING.

NOW, NEW CLEVELAND CLINIC RESEARCH SUPPORTS A GROWING BODY OF EVIDENCE THAT SHOWS TREATING SLEEP APNEA WITH A C-PAP (SEE-PAP) MACHINE REDUCES SLEEPINESS BEHIND THE WHEEL.

CG: Dr. Harneet Walia /Cleveland Clinic “There was a significant reduction in the drowsy driving episodes and this reduction was more pronounced in patients who were CPAP adherent. This is a very important finding because drowsy driving poses a very important public health risk.” [:14]

RESEARCHERS ANALYZED SELF-REPORTED QUESTIONNAIRES FROM NEARLY TWO THOUSAND PEOPLE WITH SLEEP APNEA. THEY ASSESSED DROWSY DRIVING INCIDENTS BEFORE AND AFTER PARTICIPANTS USED A C-PAP MACHINE.

C-PAP STANDS FOR CONTINUOUS POSITIVE AIRWAY PRESSURE AND IS WORN AT NIGHT WHEN SOMEONE IS SLEEPING.

IT’S DESIGNED TO INCREASE AIR PRESSURE IN THE THROAT TO PREVENT THE AIRWAY FROM COLLAPSING AND THEREFORE RESULT IN A BETTER NIGHT’S SLEEP.

RESULTS SHOW A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN REPORTED ACCIDENTS AND NEAR-MISS-ACCIDENTS AFTER USING A C-PAP MACHINE.  FOLKS WHO USED IT REGULARLY AND COMPLIED WITH TREATMENT GUIDELINES SAW THE GREATEST IMPROVEMENT.

IN ADDITION TO DROWSY DRIVING AND DAYTIME SLEEPINESS, DOCTOR WALIA (WALL-EE-UH) SAYS SLEEP APNEA CAN ALSO HAVE CARDIOVASCULAR CONSEQUENCES, SO IT’S IMPORTANT TO BE PROPERLY DIAGNOSED AND TREATED.

CG: Dr. Harneed Walia /Cleveland Clinic “If you think you have obstructive sleep apnea, or you have signs of obstructive sleep apnea such as loud snoring, having pauses in breathing, or you feel excessively tired throughout the day please seek medical attention.” [:14]

DOCTOR WALIA SAYS SLEEP APNEA CAN BE EASILY DETECTED DURING AN OVERNIGHT SLEEP STUDY AND THAT USING A C-PAP MACHINE IS OFTEN THE FIRST LINE OF TREATMENT. COMPLETE RESULTS WERE PRESENTED AT THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF SLEEP MEDICINE IN BOSTON.

For more information please visit: ccnewsservice@ccf.org

Media:  

See June 6, 2017 Sound Bites/Voice Over Pathfire#: 10803

Super excited to tell you about a new smart heart monitor you can use at home. It will help 28 million heart disease patients in the U.S. keep track of their heart.

Keep track from the comfort of their home at any time. And it’s just been FDA approved.

Meet Eko DUO.  The first handheld mobile, wireless, EHR-connected stethoscope, which connects to your smart phone.

It allows you to amplify, visualize and record crystal clear heart and lung sounds.

Imagine not needing to wait for your next followup appointment to transmit a concern to your physician. It works under the supervision or prescription from a physician.

Eko Duo is set to help millions of heart disease patients who are often discharged with little more than an info packet and instructions to monitor their weight.

Now patients can be sent home from the hospital with a direct link back to their physician, helping reduce readmissions and false alarms.

“The goal is to bring hospital-quality care to the home.”
–Connor Landgraf, CEO and co-founder, Eko DUO

The device wirelessly pairs with Eko’s secure, HIPAA-compliant app, enabling remote monitoring and diagnosis by a clinician or specialist.

It works with the Eko app on any iPhone, iPad, Windows PC or Android device.

Eko DUO can also be used by clinicians as an enhanced stethoscope for in-clinic cardiac screenings, enabling physicians to quickly diagnose and monitor patients.

Clinicians can use it bedside or remotely to quickly spot heart abnormalities including arrhythmias, heart murmurs, and valvular heart diseases.

I interviewed Ami Bhatt, M.D., a Cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Director of Outpatient Cardiology and the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and she believes Eko DUO will improve outcomes through early intervention.

Heart disease can strike people of all ages.

I spoke with Stacy Bingham, a registered nurse from Oregon with 5 children, who knows this firsthand. She and her husband have no prior history of heart disease in their family, yet 3 of her 5 children end up needing heart transplants.

When Stacy noticed her oldest child, Sierra acting tired with a loss of appetite for a few weeks, she never suspected the cause was an underlying heart condition.

“I noticed her face and eyes were swollen. She complained her stomach hurt.”

That’s when Stacy and her husband took her to a family practitioner.

“The doctor told us it’s probably a flu bug and sent us home. When her condition worsened she had an x-ray.”

X-ray results revealed Sierra’s heart was enlarged.  Dilated cardio myopathy. She later learned two of her other children also had heart problems.

“If they had not finally found Sierra’s heart condition, she may not have survived. We live in a really rural part of Eastern Oregon and we now have three kids with heart transplants that need to be monitored for life.”

Today, Stacy’s family takes nothing for granted, especially innovations that help.

“If this device can be used at home and we can rule out scary things and know when it’s not something we need to rush to a hospital for that would be wonderful.” –Stacy Bingham

James Young also knows how life can change in a heartbeat.

Young was just 40-years-old when he first experienced symptoms of heart failure. Symptoms he ignored until they were severe and his sister insisted on it.

“I was coughing in mornings and throughout the day. I thought it was simply allergies. I vomited phlegm some mornings and still didn’t see a doctor.”

But the coughing became more painful. While shoveling, it stopped him in his tracks.

“I was outside shoveling snow when I turn behind me and  see a trail of blood.”

His sister noticed he didn’t look well and insisted he go see a physician.

“That’s when I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. I was shocked.”

James felt anxiety, depression and uncertainty about his future at this time. Young believes Eko DUO will not only help alleviate false alarms and unnecessary hospital readmissions, but needless worrying as well.

“Eko DUO would have given me assurance the doctor knew where I stood daily. If there were any issues outstanding needing to be addressed immediately. It gives the doctor an opportunity to respond expeditiously to those concerns.”

Today, James is doing great and is a national spokesperson and heart failure Ambassador for the American Heart Association.

“I went from a 25% functioning heart to being an avid runner and cycler. I’ve taken on a new lease in life. As a community advocate I can help inspire others and give them hope.”

The newly FDA approved Eko DUO brings that to the next level.

To learn more about this remarkable 21st Century technology we love visit:  http://www.ekodevices.com

Eko DUO.  A real game changer for heart patients worldwide.

http://www.ekodevices.com

LYME DISEASE IS GRADUALLY RISING ACROSS THE U.S.

THE ILLNESS IS SPREAD WHEN BACTERIA IS TRANSMITTED THROUGH A TICK BITE.

TIME SPENT OUTDOORS INCREASES THE CHANCES OF BEING BITTEN BY A TICK BUT CLEVELAND CLINIC’S DOCTOR ALAN TAEGE (TAY-GEE) SAYS THERE ARE STEPS YOU CAN TAKE TO REDUCE THAT RISK.

CG: Dr. Alan Taege /Cleveland Clinic “You can protect yourself. Use the insect repellent, particularly those with DEET, D-E-E-T, when you go out to work in your yard, camping, hiking, whatever you’re doing, put it on, because it can be very effective.” [:16]

IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE CAMPING, DOCTOR TAEGE SAYS YOU CAN ALSO USE AN ADDITIONAL CHEMICAL ON CLOTHING, TENTS AND CAMPING EQUIPMENT CALLED PERMETHRIN (PER-METH-ER-IN) TO KEEP TICKS AWAY.

ACCORDING TO DOCTOR TAEGE, IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO TUCK PANT LEGS INTO SOCKS OR BOOTS. THIS MAKES IT HARDER FOR TICKS TO GET ONTO YOUR SKIN.

HE ALSO RECOMMENDS WEARING LIGHT-COLORED CLOTHING.  IT WILL BE EASIER TO SPOT AND SWAT A  DARK-COLORED TICK ON A SLEEVE OR PANT LEG.

HE SAYS THE AVERAGE TICK HAS TO BE ATTACHED FOR SEVERAL HOURS BEFORE IT CAN CAUSE ILLNESS.  REMOVING THEM QUICK IS VITALLY IMPORTANT.

CG: Dr. Alan Taege /Cleveland Clinic “When you come in from any of those activities where you’ve exposed yourself to ticks you should do a tick check to try to be sure that you haven’t collected any of the little creatures on your body.” [:12]

[MEDIA:  Pathfire#: 10808 “Preventing Lyme Disease” June 14, 2017 Sound Bites/VO]

Someone needs blood every 2 seconds.

On average, 6.8M people in the U.S. donate blood each year. 38% are eligible, but less than 10% donate.

One in 7 people entering a hospital needs blood.  One day, that may be you.

Your donation can save up to 3 lives.

Every year, on 14 June, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day (WBDD). The event serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.

Q: Why should I donate blood?

A: Safe blood saves lives and improves health.

Q: Who benefits from my blood donation(s)?

Blood transfusion is needed for:

women with complications of pregnancy, such as ectopic pregnancies and haemorrhage before, during or after childbirth;

children with severe anaemia often resulting from malaria or malnutrition;

people with severe trauma following man-made and natural disasters;

and many complex medical and surgical procedures and concern patients.

It is also needed for regular transfusions for people with conditions such as thalassaemia and sickle cell disease and is used to make products such as clotting factors for people with haemophilia.

Q: Why do I need to donate again if I already did?

There is a constant need for regular blood supply because blood can be stored for only a limited time before use. Regular blood donations by a sufficient number of healthy people are needed to ensure that safe blood will be available whenever and wherever it is needed.

Blood is the most precious gift that anyone can give to another person — the gift of life. A decision to donate your blood can save a life, or even several if your blood is separated into its components — red cells, platelets and plasma — which can be used individually for patients with specific conditions.

Q: How often can I donate?  

Every 3 months.

Q: What can I do to help?

What can you do? Give blood. Give now. Give often.

Take a break today. Give blood. It only takes 15 minutes.

#WorldBloodDonorDay

DANIELA SEMEDO reports on a European project, which aims to develop an innovative endoscope device that can detect and diagnose colorectal cancer in its early stages.

Called PICCOLO, the project is funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program. It’s tackling one of the world’s predominant cancers by using new optical technologies that identify precancerous polyps and early colon cancers.

Colorectal cancer represents around one-tenth of all cancers worldwide, and nearly 95 percent of these cases are adenocarcinomas, which typically start as a tissue growth called a polyp.

Early and accurate diagnosis and precise intervention can increase cure rates to up to 90 percent.

A colonoscopy is currently the method used to screen for colon cancer. But while up to 40 percent of patients who undergo colonoscopy present one or more polyps, almost 30 percent of these polyps are not detected.

Of the polyps detected by colonoscopy, 29 to 42 percent are generally hyperplastic and will not develop into cancer. The remainder are neoplastic polyps, representing colorectal cancer in its earliest stages.

There is an urgent need for new diagnostic techniques that are equipped with enough sensitivity and specificity to allow in situ assessment, safe characterization, and resection of lesions during clinical practice interventions.

The multidisciplinary PICCOLO team proposes a new compact, hybrid, and multimodal photonics endoscope based on Optical C, a medical imaging technique that uses light to capture micrometer-resolution, three-dimensional images from within optical scattering media.

Artzai Picon of Tecnalia Research & Innovation says, “We hope that PICCOLO will provide major benefits over traditional colonoscopy. Firstly, by developing an advanced endoscope, using both optical coherence tomography (OCT) and multi-photon tomography (MPT), we will provide high-resolution structural and functional imaging, giving details of the changes occurring at the cellular level comparable to those obtained using traditional histological techniques.”

“Furthermore, when multiple polyps are detected in a patient, the current gold standard procedure is to remove all of them, followed by microscopic tissue analysis,” he said. “Removal of hyperplastic polyps, which carry no malignant potential, and the subsequent costly histopathological analysis, might be avoided through the use of the PICCOLO endoscope probe, which could allow image-based diagnosis without the need for tissue biopsies.”

Researchers behind the project believe the new device may not only add to colon cancer detection, but could also be applied to diseases in other organs of the body.

Investigators expect their first prototype to be fully developed by the end of 2018 and plan to start testing the device in clinical studies in 2020.

DANIELA SEMEDO, Colon Cancer News
https://coloncancernewstoday.com/2017/06/08/bristol-myers-squibb-novartis-to-test-mekinist-opdivo-combination-in-advanced-colorectal-cancer/

http://www.fightcolorectalcancer.org

Maria Dorfner is the founder of NewsMD: What’s Hot in Health, a division of Healthy Within Network.  Have a story to share with healthcare consumers and media?

Contact: maria.dorfner@yahoo.com

Today, TRICE MEDICAL closed $19.3M in Series C financing for their tiny needle-based camera to analyze joint injuries and expedite orthopedic diagnosis without the need for an MRI.

Mi-Eye2 is a hand-held imaging scope which received FDA-clearance.It enables doctors to diagnose a sports-related injury in the office, without an MRI.

It consists of a hypodermic needle with a small camera tethered to a Microsoft surface tablet that shows high-definition pictures.

Jeffrey O’Donnell, Sr. who is President and CEO of Trice Medical says this latest round of financing is a “significant milestone” and will help expand the company’s U.S. market.

Check out CBS2’s Dr. Max Gomez report:

CBS 2’s DR. MAX GOMEZ: If you’ve ever injured your knee it can be hard to tell exactly what’s causing the pain, so the doctor usually sends you for an expensive MRI and maybe an arthroscopy in the O.R. to take a look inside. But what if you could do a scope in the doctor’s office cheaper and safer.

Lemouchi Soufinae injured his knee in a car accident two years ago. Since then he hasn’t been able to play his beloved soccer, because of the pain in his knee.

“I can’t walk more than three blocks, have to lay down, have trouble sleeping at night, lot of strong pain,” he said.

DR. MAX GOMEZ: Two MRIs later, it still wasn’t completely clear what was causing his knee pain.

Lemouchi, Liz Meris has been having severe knee pain. “I couldn’t kneel or straighten without pain, can’t get out of car, swelling in back of knee, hurts to walk, feels unstable,” she said.

DR. MAX GOMEZ: Worse yet, Liz is claustrophobic in an MRI.

“I hate em, I’m claustrophobic. I’m out, I’m in, I’m out again,” she said.

DR. MAX GOMEZ:  The next is usually a trip into the operation room to look around by sticking a scope in the knee. It’s expensive and requires anesthesia. Why not do that in the office, under a local anesthesia?

Thanks to a tiny scope with a hi-def camera on the tip, doctors can do in the office what once took a trip to the O.R.

“It’s a huge game changer, been trying to do for 10 to 15 years, clarity and resolution are now tremendous,” Dr. James Gladstone, Mt. Sinai Health System said.

DR. MAX GOMEZ:  Using only a local anesthesia, Dr. Gladstone inserts the MI-Eye-2™ into Liz’s knee. She was actually watching the same thing Dr. Gladstone was seeing.

It allows him to check and see what and where there’s damage inside the knee.

“Almost as good as O.R. scope, and in many ways better than MRI because it can give you direct visualization,” Dr. Gladstone said.

DR. MAX GOMEZ:  Better yet, if the damage is minimal it saves the patient a trip to the O.R. for a conventional scope, and here’s the best part; it costs under $500 to do this in the doctor’s office as opposed to the $1,500 or $2,000 for an MRI and thousands more for an O.R. scope.

Almost any joint that you can scope can be done with the MI-Eye™: shoulder, wrist, ankle, elbow.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT   http://www.tricemedical.com

Maria has created the first coloring book for Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers.  And we’re excited about it.  I’ve known Maria Shriver since the ’80s and even had an opportunity to fill-in for her during technical rehearsals on an NBC show called Main Street. She and Bryant Gumbel hosted it.  She’s an incredibly intelligent, affable and warm person. So, I’m delighted to share this news with you.

 

Maria with her dad, Sargent Shriver, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2003

[Photo Credit:  Laurence L. Levin]

The project was inspired by Shriver’s quest to find ways to be close to her father, Sargent Shriver, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2003.  He passed away in 2011.

“When I would go to visit my dad as his disease progressed, I had fewer and fewer things that I could do with him,” Shriver told NBC’s TODAY.

“I could take a walk with him, but a lot of times he didn’t want to walk. I played puzzles with him and sometimes drew on a piece of paper.”

Images in Maria Shriver’s book were developed through visits to the nursing home.  They include upbeat, positive, fun, hopeful images for stress-relief.

It also includes tips for caregivers culled from conversations with doctors and families.

Dr. Richard Isaacson, director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital says the coloring book can help start a conversation and help families do an activity together.

Isaacson tells TODAY, “The person with Alzheimer’s may not be able to communicate his or her thoughts as well as they used to or may not remember what happened to the conversation 10 minutes ago, but they’re able to express themselves through art — through drawing.”

Dr. Isaacson continues, “Some patients with Alzheimer’s like to move and can’t sit still… coloring is a great way to refocus negative energy and do something more calm.”

June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month. More than 5M Americans live with it–one in 8 people age 65 and older, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Maria Shriver says this coloring book is a labor of love, “I’m really hopeful this is filling a void and a need and will change people’s lives,” she says, noting she would have liked to have shared it with her dad.

“I think it would have brought laughter. It would have enabled us to do something together.”

We think so too.  Thank you, Maria Shriver.

Visit NBC TODAY for more on Maria Shriver’s story:

http://www.today.com/health/alzheimer-s-disease-coloring-book-created-maria-shriver-t112805

Links to Purchase Maria’s book at end of article.

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Consequently, a year ago, I was interviewed by Cable Neuhaus in the Saturday Evening Post about the health benefits of adults coloring. He saw my positive FB posts about it.

I told Neuhaus I never stopped coloring, but thought it was an oddball habit of mine.

Years ago, while working at The Crayola Experience in Easton, PA I observed parents enjoy coloring as much as kids and posted about it on FB. They looked so relaxed.

I thought they’re in the moment –essentially what meditation is all about. Makes sense.

Shortly thereafter, adult coloring books began to appear.

Coloring Books for Grown-ups

By: Cable Neuhaus

In Issue: March/April 2016

If, as some say, you can judge an entire society by the way it treats its most vulnerable, then I’d argue it is equally fair to measure a nation by the way its citizens fritter away their spare time.

Lately, Americans are frittering like mad in a couple of surprising ways: on outdoor courts playing a game called pickleball, and in coloring books.

Let’s begin with the coloring books, which are meant for adults. The craze began more than a year ago. Color me skeptical, even now, but the wild enthusiasm for this hobby shows no signs of fading. Several of the books sit atop our national best-seller lists. (Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden was the first of the blockbusters, but dozens have followed.) Who, exactly, is buying these — and why?

An admission: When I heard about this fad, my initial thought was unashamedly elitist. What kind of latte-fueled exurbanite would exchange nightly yoga classes for the joylessness of coloring? Maybe someone with no life to speak of? Okay, big mistake. Huge. Turns out that adult coloring books are a raging success across nearly every shade and stratum of the American landscape, from pastures to plains to the towers of Manhattan.

Take, as an example, Maria Dorfner, a native New Yorker who freelance produces at networks. “It calms and centers my mind,” Dorfner, an avid colorer, told me. “Adults need to learn to be more in the moment, like kids with crayons.”

Asked about a Psychology Today story that contended coloring cannot possibly constitute a spiritual experience, despite claims to the contrary by the hobby’s millions of evangelists, Dorfner says, “They’re just wrong about that.” Backing her up is a widely shared perception that coloring does indeed both soothe and heal the mind. (And let’s please agree that the illustrators of these exquisitely drawn books are artists; the color-inners are not.)

“Adults need to learn to be more in the moment, like kids with crayons,” one avid colorer says.

So, what we have here in our go-go digital age is an analog diversion for stressed-out grown-ups. One sits and colors and dreams, and the day’s tiny troubles appear to vanish.

At the other end of the spectrum is a (slightly) more physically demanding pastime, the game of pickleball. Imagine tennis played with wiffle balls and paddles on a diminutive court — Ping-Pong on a grander scale. The sport has rapidly attracted participants coast to coast, mainly among oldsters: The thrill of victory never flags, but the viability of older knees often does, alas.

This helps explain why pickleball, which has been around for a while, exploded in popularity only recently, as our aging population surged. The USA Pickleball Association reports it witnessed an 84 percent membership increase in the last two years alone and now boasts more than 400,000 active players. An Oregon documentarian is developing a movie about its rise.

Steve Brodsky, a 61-year-old Floridian, captured the excitement perfectly: “Pickleball is for older folks who’ve got the fire in the belly,” he told me. “Guys like me can feel, ‘Wow, I’ve still got it!’”

Hot on pickleball’s heels is a variation on that game called POP Tennis, a rebranded version of what we once knew as paddle tennis. Backed by a fresh infusion of cash from Hollywood agent Ken Lindner (Matt Lauer and Lester Holt are among his clients), the U.S. POP Tennis Association is currently rolling out a national tour. It’s aimed at picking up where pickleball leaves off. The appeal of POP Tennis, Lindner told me, is that “anyone can play, young or old. If you can walk, you can hit the ball immediately.”

What conclusions can be drawn from these trends? Well, whether we choose a pencil or a paddle, and whatever our age, Americans seldom let time go to waste. It’s in our character to be restless; it’s a trait that’s long served us well.

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Don’t forget to pick up a copy of Maria Shriver’s book. Links to purchasing it here:

Barnes and Noble:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/color-your-mind-maria-shriver/1126249685

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Color-Your-Mind-Coloring-Alzheimers/dp/1944515488

If you’re an Alzheimer’s caregiver and you pick up the book, please let me know if and how it’s helped. I’d love to hear and share your story.  Email: maria.dorfner@yahoo.com
Subject line:  Caregiver Story: Color Your Mind book

   Maria Dorfner is the founder NewsMD Communications and Healthy Within Network.  This is her blog.   Contact: maria.dorfner@yahoo.com

MORE INFORMATION:

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/jun/20/researchers-say-theyve-unlocked-key-to-cancer-meta/

VIDEO LINK:  

http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/93637026-132.html

Maria Dorfner is the founder of NewsMD Communications and Healthy Within Network. This is her blog.  Contact: maria.dorfner@yahoo.com

Mai (pronounced M-A-Y) Griffith, a 16-year-old student in California started her own 501c3 called Hearts for Hearts to bring medical supplies and volunteer in third world countries that are in need.

Mai is a sophomore at Santa Margarita Catholic High School. She volunteers at Saddleback Memorial Hospital in her free time and has a passion for serving others.

Mai hopes to study medicine in college and use her practice to continue to help those in need of medical assistance.

Each weekend, we’ll feature someone beautiful like Mai, doing something cool to make the world a better place.  I spoke with Mai and and her Mom today before they depart to NYC next week.  From there, she takes off for her journey to Ghana.

Mai, what first prompted you to start the foundation?

MAI:  “I first started volunteering at a hospital near my house. I met a lot
of people who were going through a lot of difficulty and that was what made
the first impression on me. Then, hearing about all of the violence and war
in the news like the war in Syria in the past year, and all of the refugees
who direly needed help, I couldn’t think about anything but helping these
people. It is very hard not to see all of the people calling out for help
in all of these places, especially with everything going on in the world
today.”

Where do the medical supplies come from?

MAI:  “The medical supplies come from personal donations from people,
solicited donations from hospitals, and other non-profits whose goal is to
provide supplies to foundations like ours to deliver to the countries.”

How did you even know to create a 501c3? Who helped you?

MAI: “People tend to donate more when they know that it is a legitimate
non-profit. Making it a 501c3 gave credibility to the cause and gives us
the platform to get corporate sponsorship in the future. My mom helped me
set it up, from being on a non-profit board before, she knows how important
that status is.”

Where do you get funding to go to third world countries?

MAI:  “We get funding from fundraising, selling pins with our logo on them,
and sugar scrubs that we make with our logo on them as well. Spreading the
word about our foundation also helps to bring in donations in many forms.”

What do your parents think about what you’re doing?

ANN MARIE (GRIFFITH) DRYDEN, MAI’S MOM: 

“Mai is a very independent young woman and has compassion that is
truly lacking in our society these days. She is interested in medicine and
has been volunteering at a hospital for a year now and has been frustrated
that she can’t actually HELP anyone because of HIPPA rules and her age.
The whole reason she wanted to volunteer was to “give back” to others and
she kept being told NO.

Mai has volunteered on trips outside of the US so she started looking at
ways to volunteer in underdeveloped countries that need the help the most.
From that it kind of evolved into bringing medical supplies to starting a
501c3 in order to have companies be willing to donate the supplies.

As far as her going all the way to Ghana, I am admittedly nervous about it.
I have been in contact with the US Consulate in Ghana as well as reached
out to reporters in the area to see what they have to say about safety and
everyone says the Cape Coast in Ghana is really safe.

So I am feeling about as good about it as I can. When Mai watches YouTube videos
of helping people in these underdeveloped areas she is literally brought to
tears. So….how can I possibly say no. I love Mai for who she is and the
fact that she wants to do this.”

We do too.  It can’t hurt that you’re a marketing and finance wiz yourself. I also noticed you have a TV background.  How did your background help Mai?

ANN MARIE:  “I was the Chief Operating Officer for a company called PowerDirect, which does a lot of demographic data for Fortune 500 companies, and we deliver jumbo door hangers for people’s doors. As odd as that sounds, our clients are big companies, such as Google, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Comcast, Best Buy, Verizon, Team Mobile and others.  I managed all aspects of operations and finance. It also includes marketing, advertising, television production, manufacturing, strategic planning and operations.

I’ve been in executive leadership roles for multiple companies for more than 15 years including HBO, True Designs/True Innovations and Sentinel Offender Monitoring. Clearly, my experience has had a tremendous influence on my daughter  as I always talk to her about my work.

As a female executive, I think that’s real important.  So, the first time Mai expressed an interest in doing something to help people my reaction was that it was typical for her because she’s always had a huge heart.  

She has a tremendous amount of compassion.  At the age of 7, she had a lemonade stand and she’s always been into helping others. She volunteered at the hospital, but was frustrated about not really feeling that she was helping enough. She felt she could do more abroad.

The more we talked about it, we brainstormed on what was the best way that she could go about making it a reality.  Then, she did a fundraiser on the beach in Orange County to get people to donate.”

Will you be going to Ghana with your daughter?

ANN MARIE:  “No, she’s joining another volunteer international group called Project Abroad, and they have chaperones, so she’ll be going with them. Originally, I thought the medical supplies would be shipped separately, but yesterday we learned it’s better to pack them in suit cases.  

We’re getting as many suit cases as we can donated. We’ve even been asking on Facebook.  It costs a lot, but we’re trying to get other kids to take a suitcase with them as each is limited to two bags.

The supplies end up going to 3 different locations:  The Cape Coast Orphanage, The Ankafu Leprosy Camp, and The Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. I reached out to Johnson & Johnson in Dubai trying to get them to give us test strips, so they can use the blood sugar testing machines that will arrive.”

What safety precautions has she taken?

ANN MARIE (MAI’S MOM): “She’s done vaccines and anti-malaria because she’ll be dealing with kids with malaria. I contacted the U.S. Consulate in Ghana and reached out to different people who have already done things there, so we can get feedback before she goes there and everyone has said that she’s going to an area that is the original area in Africa that slave trading started, so it’s an area that is definitely not very developed.

It’s not a tourist area, but it means it’s less likely to have terrorist activity.  She has a straw that filters water. She’ll be in a place that she can get bottled water brought in from ACCRA, the capital of Ghana.

I made sure Mai really understood what she was doing because most kids her age are at the beach during the summer and here she is wanting to place bandages on sick children.”

What will you and Mai being doing while in New York City?

ANN MARIE:  “We’ll be in NYC looking at Columbia University, where she’d like to do Pre-Med, and then she flies out on Friday, July 7.”

That’s wonderful.  Let’s talk to Mai again. Mai, we love what you’re doing. Good luck at Columbia and on your trip to Ghana. Tell me about your future aspirations.

MAI: “I’m interested in medicine and have a compassion to help, and I
aspire to be able to reach those across the globe who are in true need of
medical attention. I want to continue with my foundation and to grow it
globally so that I can reach more countries and areas that would benefit
from our help.”

How can other people help support what you’re doing?

MAI:   “Other people can help by sending us medical supplies and products
they no longer need like band aids and other items alike. A lot of times
expiration dates on the boxes do not matter to the places accepting our
donations, so anything helps. Along with supplies, monetary donations
through the link on our site help to pay for shipping, costs and delivery
of the supplies.”

If people want more information, where should they go?

MAI  “Our website http://www.hforhfoundation.org and our Instagram is @hforhfoundation

Your trip is coming up soon. How do you feel about going to Ghana?

MAI:  “I am extremely excited to go to Ghana, as I really want to be able to
help where I am needed and make a real difference. I am also a little
nervous as well, because it is hallway across the globe, and it is so
different from how I live at home. Overall, I really cannot wait because I
know this will be an amazing experience to contribute to the world we all
live in and to make it a better, safer place for generations to come.”

When do you get back from Ghana?

“I get back July 23. There’s a few hour layover in NYC and then back to Orange County.”

Thank you to Mai and her Mom for all they’re doing to help others, and for taking the time to speak with me. Wishing her a safe and wonderful trip and experience.

http://www.hforhfoundation.org

ABC News LA did a story on our Health Hero this week, which you can view here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzxYf7TwDSINNWVzWU9sWmtyMDA www.hforhfoundation.org

Mai and her Mom can also be reached on Twitter at:  @hforhfoundation

If you know someone beautiful doing something cool to help others, let us know.

   Contact:  Maria.Dorfner@yahoo.com. Subject: Health Hero

Happy, Healthy Fourth of July, everyone!

Write for us

New research now links sleep problems with Alzheimer’s disease.  According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than five million Americans live with Alzheimer’s.

CG: Stephen Rao, PhD /Cleveland Clinic:  “The basic finding is that the more disturbance of sleep that people reported, the more likely that they were going to have pathology in their spinal fluid that related to Alzheimer’s disease.” [:15]

 

CG: Stephen Rao, PhD/Cleveland Clinic:  “We don’t know what the chicken or egg cause is here, it may very well be that sleeping longer will help us to prevent us from developing or slow down the process of Alzheimer’s disease but we certainly  don’t have the definitive answer as yet.”

  Maria Dorfner

Swimming is one of the best cardiovascular exercises and great for your mind, body and spirit. Simply floating in water is meditation. You need to be still. Being still leads to deeper breathing and clearing your mind of clutter.

Browsing the web, watching television, checking emails and your phone are all things that can keep you up at night. Swimming removes the anxiety that comes with too much information and technology usage. You sleep soundly.  And your spirit will thank you.

During summer, it’s important to be reminded about water safety.

I recall an incident at my home in NJ. There was an inground pool. Property was gated, but a neighbor strolled in with her 4-year-old child through an opening on the side.

As she was chatting with me, she took her eyes off her child for all of two seconds, and he fell in the pool.  His cries were the only reason we turned around. Immediately, it was apparent he couldn’t swim. His mom screamed even louder. I instinctually jumped in and got him out quickly. It forever changed my view about unattended children around pools.  Drowning can happen in the blink of an eye.

Hold your child’s hand if they can’t swim and you’re near water.

Even if they CAN swim, never ever take your eyes off of them, not even for a second.

I also think swimming lessons should be mandatory in schools. To this day, I meet adults who can’t swim and say they’re “afraid.”

Remember, it’s never too late to learn, even if it’s only as a survival skill.

Check with your local YMCA about lessons. It’s well worth it.  I’m a certified aerobics instructor with CPR certification, and taking a water aerobics class is a great way to get comfortable in the water before taking swim lessons.

A Few Alarming Swimming Factoids:

70% of African American children cannot swim
60% of Latino children cannot swim
40% of Caucasian children cannot swim
Ten people drown each day in the U.S.

37% of people can not swim the length of a pool
Drowning is 2nd leading cause of childhood unintentional death for children under 14

Formal swim lessons could reduce the likelihood of childhood drowning by 88%.

Water safety education can save a life, including that of a loved one, a child or your own.

Here are a few more swim factoids.  I’m still working on #2:

1. Drowning is silent. In every fatal or near fatal case of drowning, the victim goes under water without thrashing about and yelling for help.

2. NEVER swim alone. Even the strongest swimmers can drown. 

3. WATCH your child/children. Do not take your eyes off of them. It doesn’t matter how well they can swim (see #2.) Watch them vigilantly if they are anywhere NEAR a body of water- you never know when they’ll end up IN the water.

Read more water safety rules HERE.

Besides keeping you safe, there are SO many health benefits to swimming.

Stay healthy!

Maria Dorfner

contact:  maria.dorfner@yahoo.com