LAKEPORT, Calif. – Donors, employees and physical therapy patients gathered at the Sutter Lakeside Hospital campus on Aug. 30 to celebrate the opening of the completed outdoor mobility park.  

The park will provide a private space for those recovering from illnesses and injuries to master real-world skills, from navigating difficult terrains to redeveloping fine-motor skills under the watchful eye of a physical therapist.  

The mobility park allows patients to build their physical skills while developing the sense of confidence necessary to accomplish these tasks in a public environment.

Dr. Martin Brotman, Sutter Health senior vice president of education, research and philanthropy, spoke about the importance that philanthropy will play in the future of health care.  

“Philanthropy actually has a Greek origin. ‘Philos’ means ‘loving’ and ‘anthropos’ means ‘man.’ So the word means “love of mankind in general,” Dr. Brotman explained. “And Lake County particularly exhibits this quality.”

Chief Administrative Officer Siri Nelson agreed with Dr. Brotman’s sentiments. “I am just so excited to share this project with you. The mobility park, this space that we’re looking at right now, would still be just grass and trees without your generosity and support. Thank you for believing in this project.”

Director of Rehabilitation Services Joe Prisco introduced a physical therapy patient who attended the ribbon cutting ceremony to guests, adding, “The mobility park will make an enormous impact on so many people for years to come. It provides a higher level of rehabilitation that will help our community members gain the essential level of skills that they need to return to an active, satisfying and happy life.”

Certification of the park is expected to be completed before Oct. 1 and physical therapy patients of Rehabilitation Services at Sutter Lakeside will use the park immediately.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Ruth Lincoln, clinical nurse and staff educator at Sutter Lakeside Hospital, announces a Stroke Support Group kickoff meeting scheduled from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 24.

The meeting will take place in the Hospital Conference Room at Sutter Lakeside Hospital. Community members are welcome and the meeting is free of charge.

The California HealthCare Foundation, which publishes California Healthline, reported in January of 2012 that Lake County residents have the second highest rates statewide of a stroke prevention procedure called carotid endarterectomy.  

Because of the prevalence of strokes in Lake County, Sutter Lakeside Hospital decided to create a support group for stroke survivors and their families and friends.

The first meeting, scheduled to take place on Sept. 24, will provide an opportunity for community members affected by stroke to meet and share stroke recovery information.

“Almost everyone is touched by family and friends who have experienced stroke, and I know firsthand the importance of connecting with available resources and services,” said Lincoln. “We would like to create a safe place for stroke survivors and their loved ones to share the information that they’ve learned as well as their experiences.”

Chief Nursing Executive Teresa Campbell added, “Sutter Lakeside Hospital is committed to making sure that our patients and their families have access to the tools that they need to recover from strokes. Studies have shown that the supportive environment of a peer group can go a long way towards improving a patient’s quality of life. We’re excited to offer this group to the public and look forward to getting to know how we can support Lake County residents and families who have been affected by strokes.”

Light refreshments will be served and all community members are welcome. RSVPs are not required. If you have questions concerning the kickoff meeting, please contact Ruth Lincoln at 707-262-5032.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – If you’re diabetic or prone to diabetes, having a steady job appears to be good for your health, and not just because of the insurance coverage.

A new University of Michigan study found that that jobless working-age people with diabetes are less likely to adhere to their oral anti-diabetic medications than diabetics who are employed.

Further, people of working age with diabetes are more likely to be unemployed than those who do not have diabetes.

The lack of a clear-cut, cause-and-effect relationship between insurance and medication adherence surprised lead researcher Rajesh Balkrishnan of the U-M College of Pharmacy and School of Public Health.

“Improved use of medications is more than just a facet of having medical insurance. It is linked to bigger issues such as being employed, periods of joblessness or a personal financial strain,” said Balkrishnan, who believes that a healthier, active lifestyle and access to medical care resources through employers that want employees to remain productive play a big role in adherence.

Other factors that account for lack of medication adherence include lack of financial resources, stress due to unemployment and lack of access to health care.

Researchers looked at diabetes because it is one of the most commonly present chronic conditions in working-age adults in the United States, Balkrishnan said.

Globally, diabetes is the seventh-leading cause of death and the eighth-most costly disease to treat.

In 2007, total health care costs for diabetes were estimated at $174 billion.

Policy changes would help, Balkrishnan said.

“Workforce participation for adults with diabetes and other chronic conditions command the attention of public policymakers, particularly when prioritizing resource allocation,” he said. “As a starting position, health care providers and systems need standard processes to identify individuals facing financial pressure and their vulnerability to lower medication adherence.”

EMERYVILLE, Calif. – More than 80 percent of drivers age 65 and older regularly take medications, yet only half have talked to a medical professional about possible safety issues related to driving.

With 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day, AAA Northern California strongly urges seniors to understand how medications may affect their ability to drive safely.

By using Roadwise Rx, an online tool, seniors can access personalized information on how their medications can impact their safety behind the wheel.  

Developed by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Roadwise Rx details common side effects of prescription and over-the-counter medications.

The tool generates personalized feedback on how medications, herbal supplements and foods, interact with each other, causing potential risk for drivers.

Seniors are encouraged to discuss the confidential results with their doctor or pharmacist to learn how to mitigate possible crash risks.

“Earlier research by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that nearly one out of five older drivers use five or more prescription medications,” said AAA Northern California spokesperson Cynthia Harris. “With medical conditions typically on the rise as people age, and treatment often dependent on medicinal interventions, there was a critical need to develop a tool to help older drivers understand the safety risk.”

Roadwise Rx is not a substitute for professional medical advice, but it is the only tool of its kind that looks at medications and associated driving hazards.

A recent AAA survey found that women (58 percent) are more likely than men (46 percent) to seek counsel on the risks of driving while on medication, yet this is an issue that all older drivers and their families need to address.

Roadwise Rx lets users more easily pool together their pill bottles' information and talk to their doctor.

Due to chronic medical conditions, older adults often must take multiple medications. Certain types of medications, like antidepressants, have been shown to increase crash risk by up to 41 percent.

Ingredients like Diphenhydramine, commonly found in over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines, can have the same effect on driving as being above the legal limit for blood alcohol concentration.   

It is estimated that by 2020, just eight years from now, nearly one in six people will be age 65 or older and most of them will still be licensed to drive.

Roadwise Rx is available, at no cost, to all seniors and their families at www.SeniorDriving.AAA.com .

Turning the volume up too high on your headphones can damage the coating of nerve cells, leading to temporary deafness, scientists from the University of Leicester have shown for the first time.

Earphones or headphones on personal music players can reach noise levels similar to those of jet engines, the researchers said.

Noises louder than 110 decibels are known to cause hearing problems such as temporary deafness and tinnitus (ringing in the ears), but the University of Leicester study is the first time the underlying cell damage has been observed.

The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

University of Leicester researcher Dr Martine Hamann of the Department of Cell Physiology and Pharmacology, who led the study, said:

“The research allows us to understand the pathway from exposure to loud noises to hearing loss. Dissecting the cellular mechanisms underlying this condition is likely to bring a very significant health care benefit to a wide population. The work will help prevention as well as progression into finding appropriate cures for hearing loss.”

Nerve cells that carry electrical signals from the ears to the brain have a coating called the myelin sheath, which helps the electrical signals travel along the cell.

Exposure to loud noises – i.e. noise over 110 decibels – can strip the cells of this coating, disrupting the electrical signals. This means the nerves can no longer efficiently transmit information from the ears to the brain.

However, the coating surrounding the nerve cells can reform, letting the cells function again as normal. This means hearing loss can be temporary, and full hearing can return, the researchers said.

Dr Hamann explained: “We now understand why hearing loss can be reversible in certain cases. We showed that the sheath around the auditory nerve is lost in about half of the cells we looked at, a bit like stripping the electrical cable linking an amplifier to the loudspeaker. The effect is reversible and after three months, hearing has recovered and so has the sheath around the auditory nerve.”

The findings are part of ongoing research into the effects of loud noises on a part of the brain called the dorsal cochlear nucleus, the relay that carries signals from nerve cells in the ear to the parts of the brain that decode and make sense of sounds.

The team has already shown that damage to cells in this area can cause tinnitus – the sensation of ‘phantom sounds’ such as buzzing or ringing.

The research was funded by the Wellcome Trust, Medisearch, GlaxoSmithkline and the Royal Society.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the viruses that most infected people carry without ill effects. Once infected you are infected for life and, although it normally is dormant, it can become active again at any point in time.

New research published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Immunity and Ageing shows that CMV infection is a significant risk factor for the type 2 diabetes in the elderly.

Obesity, inactivity and aging are known to be associated with insulin resistance, one of the first signs of incipient diabetes. However only a third of those with insulin resistance go on the develop type 2 diabetes.

So what marks these people as different? Why do their pancreas’ fail? Genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a part but so also does inflammation. People with type 2 diabetes usually have raised levels of biological markers for inflammation such as elevated CRP and larger numbers of active white blood cells.

Chronic infections including CMV can “stress” the immune system and when researchers from Leiden University Medical Centre and University of Tubingen Medical School compared glucose regulation with antibodies to CMV (or CMV seropositivity) in over 500 participants of the Leiden 85-plus Study they found that having CMV was associated with type 2 diabetes.

The researchers suggest that CMV could be either acting directly on pancreatic cells or indirectly by causing the immune system attacking the pancreas.

Dr Andrea Maier, who led the investigation explained, “ In our study we realized that although CMV seropositivity was associated with type 2 diabetes, higher levels of HnA1c and high non-fasting glucose the actual level of antibodies against CMV was not.”

This study is looking at the effect of CMV on the very old.

By their very nature these people have had longer to become infected with CMV and have low risks for other factors which are linked to diabetes or to cardiovascular disease.

While it may not be possible to extrapolate these findings to the general population it seems likely that finding a way to overcome CMV infections may reduce diseases, such as diabetes, later in life.