A Child’s Place at Mercy and the Fred Rogers Company Announce “When Your Baby Cries … Ways to Soothe Your Baby”
Most people would agree that being a parent is the most rewarding and fulfilling job they have ever experienced. It also is probably the most challenging.
Research shows that about 20 percent of babies cry for several hours a day without physical cause — something many parents and caregivers know from firsthand experience. For most infants, crying is a baby’s way of letting us know that he or she is hungry, needs to be changed, or is simply tired. Some babies go through fussy periods of crying for no apparent reason. These periods can last until the baby is four to six months old, which can seem endless for parents who are unsure of what to do.
A Child’s Place at Mercy, the official Allegheny County Child Advocacy Center, an accredited member of the National Children’s Alliance and a part of the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, announces the release of “When Your Baby Cries … Ways to Soothe Your Baby,” a 15-minute educational DVD designed to teach new parents understanding of and tolerance for normal amounts of infant crying, techniques that can help soothe a crying infant, increase the quality of parent-child bonding, and help to deter child abuse.
Parents delivering a baby at hospitals in Allegheny County will be eligible to receive a free DVD over the next year. DVDs will also be available for purchase.
For online support and more information, check the website www.babycries.org. In addition, A Child’s Place at Mercy is developing a training curriculum it will use with health care and social services professionals, and others. For more information about “When Your Baby Cries,” contact A Child’s Place at Mercy at (412) 232-7200.
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Highmark to open four additional health insurance stores in Pennsylvania
Highmark recently announced that it will open three additional Highmark Direct retail health insurance stores in the Pittsburgh area.
Highmark is the only health insurer to operate retail stores in Pennsylvania. The company opened its first Highmark Direct stores in March 2009 in Pittsburgh's McKnight Seibert Shopping Center.
The new Highmark Direct stores are scheduled to open in 2010 at the following locations.
• Monroeville: 4008 William Penn Highway
• Robinson Township: Lafayette Plaza Shopping Center, 218 Summit Park Drive, North Fayette
• South Hills: Norman Center II, 1775 North Highland Road
Highmark Direct offers consumers in Highmark's service area the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a health insurance specialist to discuss their health insurance options and their benefits as a Highmark member. The stores sell health insurance plans to individuals, seniors and small businesses. iDentalSM, a dental insurance product of United Concordia Dental, a Highmark subsidiary, was recently launched in the store and is designed to cover routine dental care.
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AGH Neurosurgeons Explore Use of Drug that Illuminates Brain Tumor Cells To Guide Surgery
Pittsburgh, PA (February, 18, 2010) – Neurosurgeons at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) are exploring use of a drug that illuminates brain tumor cells to determine if the experimental visualization technique will enhance their ability to surgically excise tumors and improve patient survival.
AGH is one of just three medical centers in the country approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to investigate the efficacy of an oral fluorescent compound, called 5-aminoevulnic acid (ALA), in a clinical trial of patients diagnosed with a glioma, the most common form of primary brain tumor.
Gliomas strike an estimated 10-12 thousand people each year in the United States and vary in severity. High grade gliomas, such as glioblastoma multiforma, are rapidly progressive and fatal malignant tumors. Low grade gliomas are more treatable, but also pose a risk of becoming cancerous overtime.
Regardless of grade, however, removing as much of a glial tumor as possible is critical to the patient’s outcome, said Matthew Quigley, MD, director of AGH’s Division of Neurosurgical Oncology.
“The nature of gliomas is such that regardless of the extent of surgery, some tumor cells will remain in the brain. Nevertheless, one of the few things we can do to improve somebody’s survival from this disease is to perform as complete a tumor resection as possible. We know that patients who have a clean post-operative MRI tend to live longer,” said Dr. Quigley, who is the hospital’s co-lead investigator in the study of ALA with Khaled Aziz, MD, Director of AGH’s Center for Complex Skull Base Surgery.
According to Dr. Aziz, gliomas are particularly challenging to resect because the infiltrative nature of the malignant cells produces indistinct borders between normal and diseased tissue.
“These tumors are often difficult because the lack of easily identifiable tumor margins under normal, direct vision of the operating field confounds the surgeon’s attempts toward total resection. Any technique that would enhance our ability to more precisely determine these margins could make a significant difference for the patient,” Dr. Aziz said.
“That is why we are so excited about investigating ALA as an adjunct to our conventional surgical approach. The preliminary experience with this innovative procedure has been extremely promising.”
5-aminolevulinic acid is a compound that is converted into a fluorescent substance called photoporphyrin when it enters glioma tumor cells. The conversion does not occur in normal tissue. Thus under blue ultra-violet light conditions, the tumor appears as red.
After administering an oral dose of ALA to patients about three hours prior to surgery, surgeons use a modified surgical microscope that incorporates ultra-violet blue light to see the glowing tissue and guide their excision of the tumor.
In Germany, where ALA has already been approved for use in brain surgery, researchers have shown significant benefits associated with the therapy.
Reporting in The Lancet (Lancet Oncol. 2006 May; 7(5): 392-401), a team from the Heinrich-Heine University in Dusseldorf, Germany showed that nearly twice as many patients receiving fluorescence-guided surgery had their tumors completely removed as assessed by post-operative MRI scan, compared to those who received conventional surgery under white light.
Additionally, six months after surgery, 41 percent of those in the ALA treatment group had no progression of their tumor compared to 21 percent of those receiving conventional surgery. Though not designed to reliably measure overall survival, the study did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference between the two groups.
Still, Dr. Quigley said even extending lives by three or four months is progress in a group for whom time is so precious.
“Our goal in treating some who receives this devastating diagnosis is to do everything we can to maximize the quantity and quality of time they have left,” Dr. Quigley said.
While the German studies focused primarily on high grade gliomas, Dr. Quigley said the AGH clinical trial will also explore ALA therapy in patients with low grade gliomas, where there is currently little data. The hospital has enrolled 12 patients in the study to date and has approval from the FDA to treat a total of 50 patients.
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County Health Department Reports Growing Incidence Of Diarrheal Illuness
Urges Hand Washing to Keep Shigella Infections From Spreading
The Allegheny County Health Department today reported that a growing number of County residents are being diagnosed with a diarrheal illness known as shigellosis.
The disease is caused by a group of bacteria called shigella that can be easily spread person-to-person or through contaminated food, water or beverages when people do not carefully wash their hands after using the toilet or changing diapers.
Sixty shigellosis cases have been reported countywide since October – 34 so far this year – compared to just 12 cases of the disease in all of 2008 and five in 2007. Nearly half of the 60 cases were children five or younger and about one-third of the cases had contact with a family member or someone in a school or day care center who had diarrheal illness.
Besides diarrhea which may be bloody, symptoms of the disease include fever and stomach cramps that appear a day or two after being exposed to the bacteria. The symptoms usually last five to seven days, but in some cases people have no symptoms at all yet may still pass the bacteria on to others.
While anyone can get shigella, the disease is most severe in children and the elderly but rarely requires hospitalization. Most people get better on their own, but those who have diarrhea for more than a couple of days should contact their health care provider. Antibiotics help relieve symptoms and reduce the chance of transmitting the disease to others.
The best way to prevent shigellosis is to your wash hands frequently with soap and warm water for at least 30 seconds, especially after using the toilet, changing diapers, handling any stool-soiled material and before eating or preparing food and beverages.
Most people with a diarrheal illness such as shigellosis may return to school or work after their symptoms go away as long they maintain good hygiene.
However, food handlers, health care workers, child care workers and children in day care who can more easily spread the disease to others should stay home until they’ve had two negative shigella tests at least 48 hours after completing their treatment with antibiotics.
For additional information about shigellosis, please contact the Allegheny County Health Department at 412-687-ACHD or www.achd.net
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New Book Explores Relationship Between Stress and Illness
Paths to Health and Resilience by Dr. Richard H. Rahe offers a study in how stress and coping mechanisms affect physical well-being Paths to Health and Resilience, a new workbook and self-help book by Dr. Richard H. Rahe, intends to educate readers on how to increase their resilience to illness by managing the stress in their lives.
With decades of experience as a psychiatrist working with returning prisoners of war and a former consultant to the United Nations regarding international war crime victims, Rahe has dedicated his professional life to helping others cope with stress. Through his research and training, Rahe realized there was a direct correlation between the mind's stress level and the body's resilience to illness.
Paths to Health and Resilience seeks to inform readers of five main forms of stress and five ways of coping. Through a series of exercises, readers calculate their degree of illness risk and resilience based on the main stress factors in their lives. According to Rahe, by identifying primary stress indicators and understanding how one responds to and copes with stress, one can learn the steps to take toward improved health and well-being.
Paths to Health and Resilience is available online at Amazon.com
and through additional wholesale and retail channels worldwide.
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New Cookbook Benefits Cancer Research and Patient Assistance
Living to Cook, a collection of favorite recipes from local professional cook and food writer Jane Citron, is now available for purchase in Pittsburgh bookstores. All proceeds from book sales will go to the Jane and Carl Citron Endowed Chair in Colon Cancer at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the UPMC Cancer Centers Patient Assistance Fund.
Citron, who died in 2006 from colon cancer, spent 28 years writing about food for various Pittsburgh publications, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Pittsburgh Press. Living to Cook contains Citron’s personal cooking and tasting notes, as well as her memories of serving favorite dishes to her family and friends.
To learn more about Living to Cook, contact Michelle Houser at housermk@upmc.edu or (412) 647-4241.
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New Initiative to Support Caregivers Launches in Allegheny County
The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) is launching a new initiative, the Caregiver Champions Program. The program is designed to support and empower the many caregivers of frail, older adults in Allegheny County by helping them to better care for themselves, reduce stress and gain access to important caregiving information and resources.
“There has been a dramatic shift in policy, particularly in Pennsylvania, from institutional care for frail elders to new programming that enables adults to remain in their homes as long as possible,” said Karen Wolk Feinstein, Ph.D., president and CEO of JHF. “Yet little attention has been paid to the informal caregivers who now shoulder the physical, mental and financial demands of keeping their loved-ones independent.”
Local caregivers can participate in the program two ways.
The first way to get involved is by becoming a Caregiver Champion. The Foundation is currently recruiting experienced family and informal caregivers. Selected candidates will take part in a facilitator training that will empower them to become a resource of information and support within their own communities.
The second way to get involved is by attending Caregiver Salons. Caregiver Saloans are free, two-hour sessions that provide informal learning in a casual setting. Attendees will learn about several topics including caregiver burnout, asking for help, accessing local tools and resources and advocating for loved ones. Respite services are available, during the times that Salons are held, at no cost to you while you attend.
“This initiative will create a new generation of caregivers,” said Feinstein. “Right now many caregivers don’t have easy access to the tools, resources and skills needed to care for their older loved ones. We’re going to connect the missing dots so that these people can not only provide better care for their loved ones, they can also improve the quality of their own lives.”
To become a Caregiver Champion, or to learn more about upcoming Caregiver Salons, contact Beth Polonchak at (412) 594-2569 or Pam Vingle at (412) 594-2583.
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OVGH Adds New Physician Practice
Ohio Valley General Hospital (OVGH) is pleased to announce the addition of Vidhu K. Sharma, M.D., to its medical staff. Dr. Sharma will lead Pittsburgh’s Family Care Center – a new family practice center located at the Ohio Valley General Hospital Pain Treatment and Wound Care Center in Kenmawr Plaza, Kennedy Township.
Dr. Sharmahas experience in family health and preventative medicine and personal care home patient management.
To schedule and appointment or for more information on Dr. Sharma and Pittsburgh’s Family Care Center, please call 412-250-2607.
UPMC Mercy Chosen as Primary Referral Hospital by The Midwife Center for Birth and Women’s Health
UPMC Mercy has been selected as the new primary referral hospital for The Midwife Center for Birth and Women’s Health (TMC). A state-licensed freestanding birth center, TMC is required to maintain a referral relationship with a nearby hospital. UPMC Mercy is located less than 10 minutes from the birth center, allowing easy transfer of care. In addition to accepting most major health insurance plans, TMC accepts the UPMC Health Plan, which covers birthing services at TMC.
TMC’s new primary consulting physicians will be Greater Pittsburgh OB/GYN (GPOB), a group of 15 obstetricians/gynecologists available at UPMC Mercy at all times if a midwife needs to consult, or for a caesarean delivery. TMC clients who need additional levels of care will have immediate access to internationally renowned experts in preterm and high-risk pregnancies from the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine of Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC.
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Need Help With Medicare Prescription Costs?
Changes Make it Easier to Qualify for Extra Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs
Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, and Chubby Checker, Grammy Award winner and rock and roll legend, launched a new campaign to inform millions of Americans about a new “twist” in the law that makes it easier to qualify for extra help with Medicare prescription drug costs. The extra help program currently provides assistance to more than nine million senior and disabled Americans -- saving them an average of almost $4,000 a year on their Medicare prescription drug plan costs. To apply for extra help, there is an easy-to-use online application available at www.socialsecurity.gov.
“The changes in the Medicare law that take effect this month will allow hundreds of thousands of Americans who are struggling to pay their prescription drug costs to get extra help during these tough economic times,” said Commissioner Astrue. “I am thrilled that Chubby Checker has volunteered to help us spread this important message through a new television, radio, and Internet spot as well as pamphlets and posters.”
To qualify for extra help, people must meet certain resource and income limits. The new Medicare law eases those requirements in two ways. First, it eliminates the cash value of life insurance from counting as a resource. Second, it eliminates the assistance people receive from others to pay for household expenses, such as food, rent, mortgage or utilities, from counting as income. There also is another important “twist” in the law. The application for extra help can now start the application process for Medicare Savings Programs -- state programs that provide help with other Medicare costs. These programs help pay Medicare Part B (medical insurance) premiums. For some people, the Medicare Savings Programs also pay Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) premiums, if any, and Part A and B deductibles and co-payments.
To learn more about the extra help program and to view the new TV spot featuring Chubby Checker, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/extrahelp.
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St. Clair Hospital Purchases Site for New Medical Office Building
Breaks Ground for New Operating Rooms
St. Clair Hospital announced the purchase of property in Peters Township to construct a new medical office building and outpatient center. The new facility will be constructed along Route 19, just south of Donaldson’s Cross Roads. St. Clair purchased the nearly three acre site for $2.995 million. While detailed plans for the new building are still being formulated, the project is expected to break ground in 2010.
St. Clair Hospital also announced that it has broken ground for the construction of three new operating rooms at its primary campus in Mt. Lebanon. The 7,429 square foot addition is expected to open in summer 2010. The hospital is offering free valet parking service during construction.
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Nominations Sought For Breastfeeding Friendly Place Awards
Nursing Moms Asked to Identify Places Where They Feel Welcome
The Allegheny County Health Department, in cooperation with its Breastfeeding Promotion Steering Committee, is taking nominations for its 15th annual Breastfeeding Friendly Place Awards.
The awards are presented to workplaces, public places and other sites away from home that make an extra effort to accommodate the special needs of breastfeeding mothers by offering a positive attitude and supportive environment.
Employers can help by offering flex time or extended paid maternity leave; a health plan with breast pump coverage; work site day care; and making provisions for breastfeeding at work, such as a place and time for pumping milk and a refrigerator in which to store the milk.
Public places and other areas away from home -- restaurants, malls, libraries, theaters, parks, places of worship as well as sports and entertainment facilities -- can be supportive by providing an attractive, clean, private area and comfortable seating for mothers to use when nursing, and by having signage to welcome breastfeeding mothers and let them know special accommodations are available.
“Making places outside the home more breastfeeding friendly will encourage women to breastfeed longer,” said County Health Director Dr. Bruce W. Dixon.
Studies show babies derive greater health benefits when breastfed for six months or longer. However, surveys have found that only 43% of babies nationwide and 36% in Pennsylvania are breastfed six months or longer, due in part to a lack of support in the workplace and other areas outside the home.
Breastfeeding friendly workplaces are also good for business, because breastfed babies are less likely to get sick throughout childhood and that means lower absentee rates for working moms and dads due to a child’s illness.
To nominate an employer, public place or other site outside the home for the awards, please call the Allegheny County Health Department at 412-687-ACHD or visit www.achd.net. Nominations will be accepted until May 14, and the awards will be announced during World Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7.
The award winners last year were Ernst & Young LLP, an accounting firm, in the workplace category and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh in the public place category.
In previous years, Memorial Park Presbyterian Church in McCandless, Babies “R” Us in Monroeville, the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, The Mall at Robinson and Shaare Torah Congregation in Squirrel Hill were winners in the public place category.
Workplace winners have included MEDRAD, INC. in Indiana Township, The Children’s Home and Lemieux Family Center, Bayer Corp., FedEx Ground, NOVA Chemicals, Development Dimensions International, PNC Financial Services Group, Crouse & Company, Magee Womens Hospital, Sewickley Valley Hospital, Deloitte Consulting Group, Mellon Bank, Price and Associates, and the dental practice of Dr. Arman Kilic.
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For more articles, download the Winter '10 issue (PDF)
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