LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Sutter Lakeside Hospital Foundation announced the kickoff its 2013 Heart Health fundraising appeal on Feb. 1, the first day of National Heart Month.
The foundation’s appeal will focus on raising $85,000 to purchase a new Philips IE33 Vision Echocardiogram and complementing software.
Echocardiogram technology is routinely used to diagnose, manage and monitor patients with possible heart diseases and remains the most common cardiology diagnostic test.
“Lake County has the unfortunate distinction of having one of the highest rates of diagnosed heart disease in the state,” said Dr. Diane Pege, director of Medical Affairs at Sutter Lakeside Hospital. “We also have the highest occurrence of hypertension. The echocardiogram that we currently use was purchased over ten years ago. We want to offer our patients the latest technology available, particularly as heart disease is so prevalent in our community.”
While Sutter Health is financially strong, every hospital is tasked with making responsible spending and medical technology is notoriously expensive.
“As our community and staff witnessed last year, Sutter Lakeside had to make a lot of difficult financial decisions in 2012,” said Krista Touros, Sutter Lakeside’s chief finance officer. “And while being affiliated with the Sutter Health system is advantageous for us in so many ways, no health system has an endless supply of funds. That’s why the matching grant program that’s available to Sutter’s smaller hospitals is such an advantage for Lake County.”
Sutter Health gives the communities their hospitals serve the opportunity to work together to raise money for items that are relevant to their particular area, offering a guaranteed match up to a certain dollar amount if donors can gather funds by a set deadline.
Foundation Board Chair Dr. Mark Buehnerkemper, explained, “Sutter’s matching grant program has a solid, successful history in our community. We funded the Mobile Health Services Unit with the help of a matching grant from Sutter back in 2008 and our Stroke Telemedicine equipment was purchased with a matching grant, as well. Our Mobility Park was the result of a successful matching grant fund drive and proceeds from the 2012 Women’s Imaging campaign will purchase a new DexaScanner and a MammatomeÒ Breast Biopsy system for the hospital’s Imaging Department this summer.”
Cash and pledges to the Heart Health fund drive must be committed by Dec. 31, 2013, pledges are payable through Dec. 14, 2014.
If you would like to make a gift to the Heart Health restricted fund, please visit www.sutterlakeside.org/giving and click on “Ways to Give” or call Rebecca Southwick in the Foundation Office at 707-262-5121.
The risk of hospitalization or death from heart disease is 32 percent lower in vegetarians than people who eat meat and fish, according to a new study from the University of Oxford.
Heart disease is the single largest cause of death in developed countries, and is responsible for 65,000 deaths each year in the UK alone.
The new findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that a vegetarian diet could significantly reduce people's risk of heart disease.
“Most of the difference in risk is probably caused by effects on cholesterol and blood pressure, and shows the important role of diet in the prevention of heart disease,” explained Dr. Francesca Crowe, lead author of the study at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford.
This is the largest study ever conducted in the UK comparing rates of heart disease between vegetarians and non-vegetarians.
The analysis looked at almost 45,000 volunteers from England and Scotland enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Oxford study, of whom 34 percent were vegetarian.
Such a significant representation of vegetarians is rare in studies of this type, and allowed researchers to make more precise estimates of the relative risks between the two groups.
The EPIC-Oxford cohort study was funded by Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council and carried out by the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford.
Professor Tim Key, co-author of the study and deputy director of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, said, “The results clearly show that the risk of heart disease in vegetarians is about a third lower than in comparable non-vegetarians.”
The Oxford researchers arrived at the figure of 32 percent risk reduction after accounting for factors such as age, smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity, educational level and socioeconomic background.
Participants were recruited to the study throughout the 1990s, and completed questionnaires regarding their health and lifestyle when they joined.
These included detailed questions on diet and exercise as well as other factors affecting health such as smoking and alcohol consumption.
Almost 20,000 participants also had their blood pressures recorded, and gave blood samples for cholesterol testing.
The volunteers were tracked until 2009, during which time researchers identified 1235 cases of heart disease.
This comprised 169 deaths and 1066 hospital diagnoses, identified through linkage with hospital records and death certificates. Heart disease cases were validated using data from the Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project (MINAP).
The researchers found that vegetarians had lower blood pressures and cholesterol levels than non-vegetarians, which is thought to be the main reason behind their reduced risk of heart disease.
Vegetarians typically had lower body mass indices (BMI) and fewer cases of diabetes as a result of their diets, although these were not found to significantly affect the results.
If the results are adjusted to exclude the effects of BMI, vegetarians remain 28 percent less likely to develop heart disease.
The findings reinforce the idea that diet is central to prevention of heart disease, and build on previous work looking at the influence of vegetarian diets, the researchers say.
ST. HELENA, Calif. – St. Helena Hospital Napa Valley has been named by Becker’s Hospital Review to its listing of 100 Hospitals with Great Heart Programs.
The list names hospitals in the country exhibiting excellence in heart care and research, selected based on clinical accolades, outstanding local and national reputations, recognition for quality care, and contribution to the field of cardiology and cardiovascular surgery.
Becker’s highly-regarded lists are compiled independently based on extensive staff research and recommendations from reputable outside sources.
The Becker’s review highlights St. Helena Hospital’s long history of innovation in cardiac care, including its history of “firsts” in the North Bay area.
St. Helena was the first hospital in the area to perform coronary angiogram, coronary angioplasty and coronary bypass surgery.
It also was the first in the area to offer minimally invasive cardiac bypass surgery and percutaneous thoracic aortic aneurysm repair.
Becker’s also recognized St. Helena Hospital as one of few hospitals in the region with the rapid-response care team and specialized technology required to respond to the most serious form of heart attack, an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).
St. Helena Hospital has previously been recognized by the Coastal Valley EMC Agency for its best-in-the-region STEMI response time.
From the inception of its first destination cardiac surgery program by Dr. Wilfred Huse in 1975, to the first-ever North Bay area deployment of the Impella heart pump in 2012, St. Helena Hospital has taken a pioneering role in cardiac medicine in Northern California.
Among other accomplishments, it was the first to offer “off pump” coronary cardiac bypass surgery and endovascular repair of thoracic aortic aneurysms.
That history of innovation and leadership now allows patients of the Adventist Heart Institute-St. Helena Hospital Napa Valley to benefit from access to the region’s most-honored doctors and specialists, the latest technologies and equipment, a fove-star catheterization lab, and the highest level of care.
“This is an extremely well-rounded team of physicians,” says Dr. Andreas Sakopoulos, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon. “We have experts from every field of cardiac care, all working together to give each of our patients seamless access to the precise type of care their particular situation requires. We do more complicated cardiac procedures than most hospitals our size, and that experience makes a big difference in our ability to care for all our patients.”
In staying at the forefront, St. Helena Hospital is pleased to welcome to the medical staff Gan Dunnington, MD, a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon specializing in minimally invasive cardiac and thoracic surgery, with special interest in treating patients with arrhythmia.
Dr. Dunnington will be instrumental in the opening of Adventist Heart Institute’s new Arrhythmia Center.
For more information about the St. Helena Adventist Heart Institute, visit www.AdventistHeart.org or call 888-529-9018.
SACRAMENTO – Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and state health officer, warned consumers with food allergies not to eat certain pasta products due to undeclared allergens.
Yolanda Quality Foods Inc. of San Gabriel is voluntarily recalling various Yolanda brand gnocchi, ravioli, tortellini, and tortelloni products because the product labels failed to declare food allergens (wheat and/or milk) in the ingredient statements.
GN12
Classic gnocchi
12 ounce
Undeclared allergens: Wheat and milk
TIC12
Cheese Tortellini
12 ounce
Undeclared allergens: Wheat
TIS12
Spinach tortellini with cheese
12 ounce
Undeclared allergens: Wheat
TOC12
Cheese tortelloni
12 ounce
Undeclared allergens: Wheat
JCF12
12 jumbo Florentine ravioli classic
12 ounce
Undeclared allergens: Wheat
LSM12
Classic large square ravioli mushroom
10 ounce
Undeclared allergens: Wheat
TIS10
Spinach tortellini with cheese
10 pound bulk case
Undeclared allergens: Wheat
TIC10
Tortellini with five cheese
10 pound bulk case
Undeclared allergens: Wheat
TOC10
Cheese tortelloni
10 pound bulk case
Undeclared allergens: Wheat
TOS10
Spinach tortelloni with cheese
10 pound bulk case
Undeclared allergens: Wheat
CDPH is working with the manufacturer and distributors to identify the specific distribution of the recalled pastas. Consumers with food allergies in possession of the recalled products should discard them in the trash or return them to the place of purchase for a refund.
People who have an allergy or severe sensitivity to wheat or milk run the risk of a life-threatening allergic reaction, that requires immediate medical attention should they consume these products.
Consumers who have experienced allergic reaction after consuming any of these products should contact their health care provider.
Consumers that observe the products being offered for sale are encouraged to report their findings to the CDPH toll-free complaint line at 800-495-3232.