Health
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Celebrating a 38-year medical career, including 14 years as a pathologist at Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Dr. Muoi Arnold retired on Jan. 31.
She continues to work one day a week while sharing a very active lifestyle with her husband, Dr. Keith Arnold.
“Doctor Muoi Arnold has been a tremendous asset to our hospital since arriving in 1999 by supporting our surgeons and radiologists in studying and diagnosing specimens in the lab,” said Dr. Diane Pege, medical director of Sutter Lakeside Hospital. “Her nearly four decades of experience gave her valuable insights into the pathology of a broad range of diseases and helped us successfully treat thousands of patients.”
Dr. Arnold witnessed many improvements at Sutter Lakeside Hospital through the years. Today the hospital offers four operating rooms and technology has added a number of advanced diagnostic tools, including telemedicine and electronic monitoring of the Intensive Care Unit.
During her tenure at Sutter Lakeside, Dr. Arnold was instrumental in streamlining internal department processes.
“I’ve worked with Dr. Muoi Arnold for five years,” said pathologist Dr. Phillip Chen. “She is an excellent, resourceful and energetic colleague that everyone likes. One of her many contributions was helping us organize our workflow so we can perform more efficiently.”
Dr. Arnold’s medical career began in 1974 after graduating from the Medical School at Saigon University.
During the Vietnam War she was an intern working at the Cho Quan Hospital with her mentor and future husband.
She later became an infectious disease specialist of this facility where she treated hundreds of patients with conditions such as bubonic plague, rabies, cholera, malaria and typhoid fever.
She left the country in 1978 with a group of “boat people” three years after the North Vietnamese Army invaded the South.
The following year was spent on a previously uninhabited Malaysian island along with 6,000 refugees until everyone could be reassigned to other countries. Dr. Arnold exchanged medical services for food and shelter.
Dr. Arnold qualified again as a doctor in Hong Kong under the British system; after briefly coming to America and marrying Keith, she returned with her husband to practice as a physician in the crown colony. When Hong Kong was to be turned over to Communist China in 1997, they left the country and returned to America.
After undergoing additional training, Dr. Arnold became a pathology specialist. She is a member of seven professional pathology and pediatric pathology societies around the globe and has published over 40 scientific research papers in peer reviewed medical journals.
Throughout her career she was also an academic physician, teaching, doing research and taking care of patients in university medical schools, and she has taken care of patients in Vietnam, Hong Kong and America.
“I never considered my career as work. For me, every day was a holiday that I enjoyed without ever looking at my watch,” Dr. Arnold said.
Born in Vietnam of Chinese parents, she is fluent in Vietnamese, Mandarin and Cantonese, with a working knowledge of French and Spanish.
She and her husband collaborated on translating an important Chinese medical book on malaria and its treatment that was recently published.
Dr. Arnold and Keith enjoy backpacking and have trekked throughout the Balkans, Bulgaria and Romania, among 80 other countries.
She is a member of the “Clear Lake Clikkers,” a clog-dancing group, and sings with the local chapter of the “Sweet Adelines,” a female group singing four-part harmony in barbershop style.
She is learning to play the piano and the violin and is studying the Cambodian language prior to going there on a research project.
Sutter Lakeside Hospital Chief Administrator Officer, Siri Nelson, added, “Dr. Arnold is a force of nature at this hospital. We’re definitely going to miss her knowledge and her energy.”
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- Written by: Gary Quackenbush
SACRAMENTO – Legislation that establishes the Community Based Adult Services (CBAS) program as a permanent Medi-Cal benefit in California passed the Assembly Health Committee on Tuesday, April 9.
AB 518, authored by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (D–Davis), chair of the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care, and Bob Blumenfield (D-San Fernando Valley), chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, received unanimous bipartisan support with a 19-0 vote.
The CBAS program replaces California’s Adult Day Health Care program (ADHC) which was eliminated as an optional state Medi-Cal benefit in 2011.
CBAS offers seniors and persons with disabilities a cost-effective alternative to nursing homes by providing integrated medical and social services in community-based settings.
“With a rapidly aging population, and California's most turbulent budget decisions behind us, it is time to start re-building a network of home and community-based options for the elderly and persons with disabilities,” Yamada said.
CBAS was established in settlement of the Darling v. Douglas lawsuit brought against the state on behalf of disabled individuals whose independence was jeopardized by the elimination of California’s long-standing Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) program.
The settlement agreement expires in June of 2014, leaving the future of the program uncertain.
“Thousands of patients and their families don’t know what their future holds when the settlement period expires,” said Blumenfield, author of legislation vetoed in 2011 that closely resembled the CBAS program. “Uncertainty is a nightmare that these families have endured over many years about access to vital care for their loved ones. This bill helps end that.”
AB 518 intends to stabilize the CBAS program by establishing it as a permanent program in state law. Over the past few years, 48 adult day health care centers have closed their doors at a time when demand for such services is growing.
The Legislature agreed to eliminate ADHC during the height of the state’s budget crisis in 2011 based on an understanding that a similar, though smaller program would replace it.
Lawmakers were blindsided when Governor Brown vetoed the “step-down” program, leaving seniors and persons with disabilities stranded without an affordable alternative to more costly institutional care.
“Making CBAS permanent fulfills the Legislature’s intent to preserve adult day health care services in California,” Yamada said. “Programs like CBAS that enhance well-being, meet consumers' preferences, and provide working families a sense of security for their loved ones should be enhanced, not eliminated,” she said.
The bill will be heard next in the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care.
Assemblymember Yamada represents the 4th Assembly District, which includes all or parts of Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
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- Written by: Editor
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Sutter Lakeside Hospital and St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake announce the creation of the Lake County Cares Campaign, a fundraising partnership that will support health care in Lake County.
The campaign officially launches on April 15 and will focus on garnering support from Lake County employees through payroll deductions.
“It’s in everyone’s best interest to have great health care in Lake County, no matter where your doctor is located,” said St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake Vice President of Operations David Santos. “Philanthropy allows both of our hospitals to make sure that we can offer the latest medical equipment and health care programs to our patients.”
Siri Nelson, Sutter Lakeside Hospital’s chief administrative officer, agreed, adding, “Charitable giving to health care offers our community a safety net. Our hospitals can’t afford to pay for every new piece of medical equipment or health care program that Lake County needs. That’s where philanthropy comes in – and time after time, our donors have stepped up to fill these needs.”
Donors will be able to support either Sutter Lakeside Hospital or St. Helena Clear Lake – or both hospitals, and donors can also select what program they would like to support at each hospital.
Development officers Rebecca Southwick and Melissa Nevin Kinsel will begin speaking to groups of Lake County employees about the community’s specific health care needs beginning April 15.
Employee payroll deduction funds will be managed by Mendo Lake Credit Union and Campaign paperwork will be audited by a third-party certified public accountant.
“We feel that the Lake County Cares Campaign strength comes from working together,” said Stephen Lundin, chief development officer of the St. Helena Hospital Foundation. “We really hope that this Campaign will also serve to communicate our passion about providing excellent health care to the residents of Lake County.”
Penny Vanderwolk, Sutter Health’s director of development for the North Bay Region, adds, “Lake County is a place where everyone knows you by name. It’s small enough that all gifts make a big difference.”
To learn more about the Lake County Cares Campaign, please contact either Rebecca Southwick at Sutter Lakeside at 707-262-5121 or Melissa Nevin Kinsel at St. Helena Clear Lake at 707-995-5677. You may also send email inquiries to
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- Written by: Editor
Millions of Americans are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, yet the exact causes of diabetes still puzzle scientists.
Now, new research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) finds that the amount of melatonin a person secretes during sleep may predict their risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The study appears in the April 3 issue of JAMA.
“This is the first time that an independent association has been established between nocturnal melatonin secretion and type 2 diabetes risk,” said Dr. Ciaran McMullan, a researcher in the Renal Division and Kidney Clinical Research Institute at BWH. “Hopefully this study will prompt future research to examine what influences a person’s melatonin secretion and what is melatonin’s role in altering a person’s glucose metabolism and risk of diabetes.”
Melatonin is a hormone that is produced by the brain and secreted into a person’s bloodstream.
As melatonin is mainly produced at night, melatonin’s blood levels peak during the nighttime allowing regulation of circadian rhythm.
For this study, researchers identified 370 women who developed diabetes while taking part in the Nurses’ Health Study and 370 control subjects of the same age and race.
When the two groups were compared, researchers found the study participants with low levels of nocturnal melatonin secretion had about twice the risk of developing type 2 diabetes than participants with high levels of nocturnal melatonin secretion.
The study accounted for other well-established risk factors for diabetes, such as body mass index, family history of diabetes and lifestyle factors including diet, exercise, smoking and sleep duration and still found that melatonin secretion remained a significant risk factor.
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- Written by: Editor