International Walk to School Day is Wednesday, October 5, 2011. According to Safe Kids USA, a government site devoted to helping to keep children safe, approximately 13,000 child pedestrians age 14 and younger are injured each year in crashes with motor vehicles. For the twelfth year, Safe Kids and FedEx will team up to teach …
At about 2:00 pm, second grade student Michael Rodriguez slipped on some water at school and hit his head. By 6:00 pm, his mom was rushing him to the hospital. The basic story is simple, but the lessons are in the details. According to a Texas-based news source, VictoriaAdvocate.com, by the time 7-year-old Michael got …
A Brain Injury at School…a Cautionary Tale for Parents Read More »
A commentary in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) talks about the common problem facing nursing home residents: Unnecessary hospitalizations due to untrained nurses or substandard medical protocol when an elderly resident becomes ill. According to the articles authors, Dr. Joseph G. Ouslander and Dr. Robert A. Berenson: More than …
Results of a study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) suggest guidelines for patients that could help keep them safer after carotid stenting. In fact, this advice might even save lives. A stent is a tiny tube that acts to keep an artery open, allowing blood to flow properly. Stents …
Earlier this year, California Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard introduced legislation known as H.R. 2552: “Nursing Home Patient Protection & Standards Act.” (The “H.R.” stands for House of Representatives, signifying that the bill started in that body of Congress.) H.R. 2522 was introduced to ensure consistent standards in nursing homes across the nation. It provides training and whistleblower …
Helping to Ensure Nursing Home Patient Protections Read More »
Lilah Gray of Rocky Mount, NC, has the horrific distinction of being the only person to have a confirmed fatal reaction to pesticide poisoning. Like just about everywhere in the world, North Carolina is experiencing a panic over bedbugs. These nasty little insects are infesting more and more dwellings. They can live in even the …
Today, September 21, 2011, is World Alzheimer’s Day. Every year on September 21st, Alzheimer associations across the globe unite to recognize World Alzheimer’s Day, and this year is no exception. World Alzheimer’s Day is a day that unites opinion leaders, people with dementia, their carers and family, medical professionals, researchers and the media from all …
This feels like a win for everyone in North Carolina, and for everyone who loves an individual with traumatic brain injury (TBI): Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D., works at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center. Through is research, he has made strides in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of …
North Carolina Scientist Wins MacArthur Genius Award Read More »
This is one of those good news stories we don’t get to write about often enough. First, a little background: Most people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia eventually develop agitation as asymptom of their disease. While “agitation” sounds benign, akin to being “cranky,” it is, in fact, a serious concern for dementia …
This is a frightening new statistic: Between 2001 and 2008, the number of accidental drug poisonings surged 22 percent among children ages 5 and younger. According to research published in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers gathered data on more than half a million cases reported to the poison control center. In 95 percent of cases, …