Pulse on Health by Jeff Hansel

Shriners Hospitals to visit Lake City...

The Shiners Hospitals for Children-Twin Cities has an orthopedic evaluation clinic coming up for children up to age 18 regardless of the patients' ability to pay.

If you think your child has a bone, muscle or joint problem, you can get "comprehensive medical, surgical and rehabilitative care" for your child.

Time: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Date: Saturday, March 26, 2011

Location: Lake City Medical Center-Mayo Health System, 500 W. Grant Street, Lake City, Minnesota

Appointments: Call Osman Shrine at 651-452-5660.

Walk-ins: Are welcome.

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Mayo Clinic trustees.... #RochMN

The Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees announced new members and professorships this month.

The announcements include:
• Hugh Price, former president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League, elected Emeritus Trustee.
• Dr. Veronique Roger (director of the Mayo Clinic Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery) named internal trustee for four-year term.
• Jeffrey Bolton (Mayo Clinic chief financial officer) named internal trustee for four-year term.
• Robert Brigham elected to one-year term as internal trustee.
• Dr. Nina Schenk, Jeff Kormo and Craig Smoldt "recognized for completion of their service as internal trustees."

Mayo Clinic officers now include:
• Marilyn Carlson Nelson, chair
• Dr. John Noseworthy, president and CEO
• Shirley Weis, CAO and vice president
• Dr. William Rupp, vice president
• Dr. Victor Trastek, vice president
• Jeffrey Boldon, CFO
• Jonathan Oviatt, secretary
• Harry Hoffman, treasurer

Named professorships:

• Dr. Larry Baddour, chair of the Division of Infectious Diseases, was recognized as the "HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Professor of Infectious Diseases Honoring Walter R. Wilson, M.D. HH Sheikh Khalifa is president of the United Arab Emirates, and established this professorship in gratitude for the care his family has received from Dr. Wilson," says an announcement from the clinic. "He is the eldest son of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, former president of the United Arab Emirates and a Mayo benefactor who provided support for the Mayo Clinic Zayed Cardiovascular Center."

Baddour's research has focused on cardiovascular infections, and skin and soft tissue infections.

• Gary Sieck, chair of the Department of Physiology & Biomedical Engineering, dean for research academic affairs and deputy director for research, was recognized as the Vernon F. and Earline D. Dale Professor.

"The professorship was established in 1977 through a gift from the late Earline Dale of Onalaska, Wis. Vernon Dale was a visionary and entrepreneur who started and ran several successful business ventures," the Mayo announcement says.  His research has focused on neuromuscular physiology.

Dr. P. Leif Bergsagel, a consultant in the Division of Hematology and Oncology, was recognized as the David F. and Margaret T. Grohne Research Professor of Therapeutics for Cancer Research.

"The professorship was established through the generosity of David F. and Margaret T. Grohne of Wilmington, Ill., and Sarasota, Fla. Mr.Grohne is chairman of the board of Independence Tube Corp., where Mrs. Grohne also served as secretary," the Mayo announcement says.

Bergsagel's research has focused on multiple myeloma, "monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance", amyloidosis and "Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia," according to the clinic.

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

75,000 ER visits at Saint Marys Hospital.... #RochMN

An article on Page B3 of the Post-Bulletin Weekend Edition should have said Mayo Clinic's Saint Marys Hospital emergency department here in Rochester, Minnesota gets 75,000 patient visits per year, with 15,000 to 20,000 of the visits from children.

Plans for a $25.8 million renovation and expansion of the emergency department have begun. Internal and external "stakeholders" such as the various other hospital departments (laboratory, phlebotomy, surgery, intensive care, etc.) are expected to be asked for input into the planning process yet this spring.

The emergency department expansion is intended to bring state-of-the-art technology and emergency design.

[The new emergency department at Saint Marys Hospital is expected to have an entrance closer to the main hospital entrance, pictured here, when complete. Photo by Jeff Hansel. Please click to enlarge. Copyright.]

Separately, the $33 million Mary Brigh East expansion will add 118,000 square feet, filling the entire space behind Marian Hall, which is bordered by Mary Brigh on two sides (east and south), Marian Hall on the north and Old Marian Circle on the west. The Mary Brigh expansion is to add space for pre- and -post surgery patients, as well as for surgical teams.

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Preventive medicine saves your $.... #RochMN

Olmsted Medical Center is reporting that you can save money by using preventive medicine.

You know, all that advice about eating fruits and vegetables, exercising daily and taking medications as directed. Well, "research shows that simple preventive strategies also can help curb medical costs," says "Health Notes," OMC's newsletter. 

Decrease alcohol consumption, quit smoking, increase physical activity and eat nutritiously and 40 percent of deaths in the U.S. each year could be prevented, OMC quotes the New England Journal of Medicine as saying.

Here's what OMC quotes as recommendations (I paraphrase):
• Stop smoking.
• Get a vaccination against flu (all ages except infant younger than 6 months), and against pneumonia too (if older than 65).
• Move (basically go walking to get yourself moving).
• Eat right.
• Manage long-term diseases to the best of your ability.
• Get screened with breast exams and Pap tests for women, and talk about the possibility of a prostate exam for men. Also, get colorectal cancer screening. 

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

NIH wants to decode genome of disorders....

The National Institutes of Health's National Human Genome Research Institute "envisions scientists being able to identify genetic bases of most ingle-gene disorders and gaining new insights into multi-gene disorders in the next decade."

It's being called a "strategic plan" that comes 10 years after the human genome was first sequenced.

"Researchers around the world are working towards a future when health care providers will use information about our individual genomes to better diagnose and treat disease," NHGRI director Dr. Eric Green is quoted as saying in an announcement.

Already, I'll point out, Mayo Clinic recently teamed with TGen, the Translational Genomics Institute, in an Arizona effort to sequence the genes of an individual patient's pancreatic cancer and also sequence the genes of the man's normal, non-cancerous cells, something TGen indicated is a step toward individualized medicine.

With federal urgency in the mix, maybe that individualization will happen even faster.

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Trauma, women and alcohol....

Washington University in St. Louis is reporting that trauma among women increases the likelihood of alcohol-related problems.

"Young women who have experienced traumatic events are more likely to become alcohol dependent than those who have not," the university says.

I think the take-home message from this is not to say: Well, yeah, of course it does! But instead, to recognize, that if you're a survivor of rape, domestic violence, war or other trauma, you need to be aware of the danger of alcohol problems and give yourself the opportunity to consciously decide to avoid alcohol's pitfalls.

Researchers studied 3,768 female twins ages 18 to 29.

"They asked participants about exposure to a range of traumatic events, including assaultive traumas such as childhood physical and sexual abuse and rape as well as non-assaultive events such fire, flood, natural disasters, accidents and witnessing someone else being seriously injured or killed," the university reports.

One in three women who had PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) developed alcohol dependence. 

Importantly, "women who experienced trauma but did not develop PTSD had double the rates of alcohol dependence of women with no history of trauma: 14.8 percent to 7.3 percent."

The researchers accounted for cofounders such as depression and specifically blame life trauma for the increased risk.

So if you've experienced traumatic life events as a woman, you might want to be cautious around alcohol.

Also interesting was that "the researchers found that genetic influences accounted for 72 percent of the risk for developing PTSD following a traumatic event. For alcohol dependence, genes accounted for 71 percent of the risk."

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Why farm kids have lower asthma risk....

MedPage Today, a publication to alert physicians about health news their patients are reading, is reporting that the reason children who grow up on farms have a lower risk of asthma is "exposure to a larger range of bacteria and fungi in the barnyard."

My grandmother probably still wouldn't think it was a good idea for me to collect monstrous night crawlers from the manure pile. But they sure grew well there! 

Two large European studies of asthma, and allergies that occur in places in the body not exposed to the allergen (studying more than 16,500 school children) elicited the conclusion, MedPage says, citing a study in the Feb. 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

In summary, "children living on farms were exposed to a wider range of microbes than were children in the reference group, and this exposure explains a substantial fraction of the inverse relation between asthma and growing up on a farm," the NEJM study conclusion says. 

The study results tacitly imply that you should get your kids to go root around in the soil a little bit. Of course there are other things in the soil that could cause health problems. But, for now, it's interesting to know that you can decrease your kids' chances of developing allergies if you can just get them outside at the family farm.  

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Sports physicals at Mayo Clinic.... #RochMN

Mayo Clinic has announced spring sports physical for area athletes at the Sports Medicine Center.

Get your form: At your high school athletic offices and/or the school website (should be completed ahead of time and take them along to the exam).
Time: 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Date: Saturday, March 5 (2011)
Location: Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center, Charlton Building, Desk LC, 10 3rd Ave. N.W., Rochester
Cost: $20 per student
Appointments: Not necessary
Wear glasses or contacts? Bring them along.
Have a known medical condition? It is recommended you be seen by your family physician.

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Can you help save babies...? #RochMN

The southeast Minnesota chapter of the March of Dimes here in Rochester plans a fun gathering for kids (and adults) this coming Saturday (February 26, 2011) at Clements Chevrolet Cadillac Subaru, 1000 12th Street S.W.

But there's a serious purpose to the event as well.

"On average, a baby is born too soon every minute. More than 7,650 of babies in Minnesota will be born premature this year," says the March of Dimes.

During the polio years, the early version of the March of Dimes funded research to discover a vaccine. Today, the March of Dimes is focused on prevention of premature birth.

A "March for Babies" is scheduled for April 30 (2011) at the Eagles Club in Rochester, 917 15th Av. S.E.

If you're interested in participating in the walk, you can register Saturday at Clements, where there will be "fun activities" and snacks from 10:30 a.m. until 12 noon at the Apache Mall location in Rochester.

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel

Medical education and economic impact at Mayo Clinic... #RochMN

Mayo Clinic's strong financial performance in 2010 gets most of the attention this week (check today's print edition of the Post-Bulletin if you want a ton of good news).

Lost amongst the big news, though, is what happens at Mayo Clinic here in Rochester, Minnesota on a day-to-day basis.

For example, according to Mayo, the clinic's College of Medicine trained 2,014 medical and allied health program students in 2010. It also trained 1,483 medical residents and fellows. A profound statistic, in my opinion, is Mayo's note that there were 116,814 "physician and allied health participants" in continuing medical education programs (some of whom I presume are repeat Mayo staff and others are visiting outside professionals receiving continuing education).

Mayo CEO Dr. John Noseworthy reminded his audience Thursday, when announcing Mayo's financial performance, that the clinic has a $9.6 billion annual impact upon Minnesota and a $22 billion impact on the United States nationally.

The clinic also noted that it "directly and indirectly" support 144,468 jobs in the United States, and 70,777 here in Minnesota. I add that Mayo employs 32,000 people here in Rochester alone. As goes Mayo, so goes Rochester, the old saying goes.

Because Mayo prevented layoffs by tightening its belt (thanks to its employees), Rochester held steady during the Great Recession.

Now, Mayo plans a variety of construction projects that will spur economic growth through construction job-creation. Those workers will need a place to live (the housing market will improve), along with food and goods (the retail and services environment will improve).

These aren't imaginary projections, but rather real-world multi-million-dollar construction projects (about $258 million worth in Rochester alone, not to mention Austin's multi-million-dollar Austin Medical Center-Mayo Health System expansion). Design work is expected to begin immediately, Mayo announced Thursday.

Thus, job creation also begins immediately. 

Pulse on Health
By Jeff Hansel, member Association of Health Care Journalists
Health Reporter for the Post-Bulletin newspaper, 18 1st Ave. S.E. in Rochester, Minnesota 55904 
Twitter Hansel's Pulse: @Jeff Hansel