Health
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- Written by: Upper Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church
Rizo and Merlie Etcobanez, experienced lifestyle educators, will be presenting this series beginning on Monday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. at the Upper Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church, 699 Second St.
It will continue every Monday evening for four sessions.
Come and learn how to implement lifestyle practices that will improve your health.
Watch plant-based cooking demonstrations and enjoy tasty food samples.
Admission is free.
For more information, call 707-275-8071.
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- Written by: Mendocino College
Four fire engines, a Reach Air Ambulance, and dozens of Mendocino College students in the nursing and emergency medical services programs participated.
Several volunteer victims of the simulated two-car crash had a range of mock injuries for the students to diagnose and treat, including two deceased victims.
The objectives of the simulation were triage assessment, professional communications, and the use of the “jaws of life” extraction tool for trapped victims.
Prior to the actual simulation, a half day of workshops were held focusing on response to trauma events that included orthopedic and burn trauma, facial trauma, C-spinal immobilization skills, and mass casualty triage.
Students earned up to ten clinical hours of credit for participating in the simulation.
The result of five months of careful interagency planning, the event was designed to address the need for health care students to engage in inter-professional training – a need identified by the Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Coordinating the event were Mendocino College’s Nursing instructor Kimberly Swift, and EMS instructor Theresa Gowan.
Support from Amy Henry with Reach Air, and Chief Kirk Thomsen of Ukiah Valley Fire Authority also made the event possible.
Additional guidance and support came from Dr. Duncan Johnston and Dr. Gerry Lazzareschi from Adventist Health Ukiah Valley, who were present to assist students in their trauma assessments in the state-of-the-art simulation lab in the nursing program area at Mendocino College.
The event was rich with information and hands-on experience, benefiting students who will go on to serve those in need in their health services careers.
More information can be obtained at www.mendocino.edu/nursing or by calling 707-468-3099.
The Mendocino College Ukiah campus is located at 1000 Hensley Creek Road, Ukiah.
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- Written by: Smart Care California
The Honor Roll recognizes 122 hospitals that met or surpassed a federal target aimed at reducing births via Cesarean section (C-section) in first-time mothers with low-risk pregnancies.
On the list are both of Lake County’s hospitals, Adventist Health Clear Lake in Clearlake and Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport.
View the complete list of hospitals here.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services adopted the Healthy People 2020 target of reducing nationwide C-section rates for low-risk, first-births to 23.9 percent, in part to respond to a rapid rise in medically unnecessary C-sections across the United States.
The California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) announced the awards, which reflect 2017 hospital discharge and birth certificate data from 240 California hospitals that offer maternity services. The 122 hospitals represent more than half of all hospitals that offer maternity services in California. By comparison, 111 hospitals made the 2017 Honor Roll.
“I congratulate these hospitals and providers for their work in reducing medically unnecessary C-sections,” said Michael Wilkening, CHHS Secretary. “The data shows that we are heading in the right direction, but we have more work to do.”
Evidence suggests that the chance of having a C-section delivery largely depends on aspects such as where a woman delivers and the practice patterns of her obstetric care team. Even for low-risk, first-birth pregnancies, huge variations are noted in rates of C-sections at individual hospitals. In California hospitals, these rates range from less than 15 percent to more than 70 percent.
Overuse of C-sections matters. For mothers, it can result in higher rates of complications like hemorrhage, transfusions, infection, and blood clots. Once a mother has had a C-section, she has a greater than 90 percent chance of having one again for subsequent births, leading to higher risks of additional major complications. The surgery also brings risks for babies, including higher rates of infection, respiratory complications, and neonatal intensive care unit stays.
Of the 122 hospitals being recognized this year, 71 have achieved Honor Roll status three years in a row.
"The increasing number of hospitals making the Honor Roll shows that collaborative action can lead to positive change,” said Elliott Main, MD, medical director for the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC), which is leading a quality- improvement collaborative to promote vaginal birth in more than 100 California hospitals. “Thanks to the efforts of key stakeholders, we’ve been able to enhance data transparency, create a toolkit for obstetric providers, form hospital quality improvement collaboratives, engage purchasers and health plans, and much more.”
Health care purchasers are working with health plans to narrow variation around the national performance target for C-sections for low-risk, first time pregnancies.
Hospitals that submit data to the CMQCC Maternal Data Center and participate in CMQCC sponsored collaboratives to adopt best practices are progressively moving toward that target.
“Purchasers understand that variation starts with us if we each ask the delivery system to focus on different improvement targets,” said Lance Lang, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Covered California. “Through Smart Care California, the three state purchasers and the Pacific Business Group on Health have together made improving maternity care a priority and the results of the latest honor roll reflect how the delivery system has responded and we are delighted.”
To further address the problem, earlier this year the California Health Care Foundation, in partnership with CMQCC and Consumer Reports, launched My Birth Matters, a statewide educational campaign aimed at informing expectant mothers about the overuse of C-sections and encouraging meaningful conversations between patients and their care team.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The estimate includes $480.7 billion in direct health-care costs and $1.24 trillion in lost productivity, as documented in America’s Obesity Crisis: The Health and Economic Impact of Excess Weight.
The study draws on research that shows how overweight and obesity elevate the risk of diseases such as breast cancer, heart disease, and osteoarthritis, and estimates the cost of medical treatment and lost productivity for each disease.
For example, the treatment cost for all type 2 diabetes cases – one of the most prevalent chronic diseases connected to excess weight – was $121 billion and indirect costs were $215 billion. On an individual basis, that comes to $7,109 in treatment costs per patient and $12,633 in productivity costs.
America’s Obesity Crisis assesses the role excess weight plays in the prevalence of 23 chronic diseases and the economic consequences that result. To mention a few, obesity and overweight are linked to:
– 75 percent of osteoarthritis cases;
– 64 percent of Type 2 diabetes cases;
– 73 percent of kidney disease cases.
The findings suggest that more effective weight-control strategies could reduce both the health and economic burdens of chronic diseases, according to co-author Hugh Waters, director of health economics research at the Milken Institute.
“Despite the billions of dollars spent each year on public health programs and consumer weight-loss products, the situation isn’t improving,” Waters said. “A new approach is needed.”
The impact of obesity on chronic disease is not limited to the stress that added weight places on joints and the cardiovascular system.
For example, research indicates that hormones secreted by fat cells may trigger inflammation and increase insulin resistance. These reactions can, in turn, contribute to greater risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers.
Nearly 40 percent of Americans were obese and 33 percent were overweight but not obese in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The numbers have climbed steadily since 1962, when 13 percent of the population were obese and 32 percent were overweight.
Direct medical costs include payments made by individuals, families, employers, and insurance companies to treat the diseases in question. Indirect costs include the economic impact of work absences, lost wages, and reduced productivity of patients and caregivers.
The estimates in America’s Obesity Crisis are based on an analysis of data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Center for Health Statistics, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The report relies on the World Health Organization’s definition of overweight as a body mass index of 25 to 29.9 and obesity as a BMI of 30 or higher.
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