Friday, November 30, 2007

“Martin Memorial Healthcast” to Provide Health Info on the Go for Multi-Taskers

Multi-tasking. Is it becoming a worn-out phrase or does it just wear us out? For me, it means sitting at my home computer writing a marketing plan while being peppered with questions from a 5th grader such as what’s the common factor of 48 (no, I’m not smarter than a 5th grader), meanwhile keeping an ear on the sound of the shower so at exactly 10 minutes I can yell to my teen: ‘don’t make a career out of taking a shower.’ By the way, dinner’s in the oven, the dog wants out and my cup of dark chocolate M & Ms is running low.

Multi-tasking means using the left and the right side of our brains at the same time. It’s texting with the zeal of a 14-year old at a school dance while in the drive thru at Starbucks. It’s answering a few of those daily voice mails while grocery shopping. No matter your version of multi-tasking, we’re all trying to be efficient with our time and accomplish more with less.

When we started this blog, we promised to help you prevent disease and live longer. We also know that sometimes you need health information in a to-go box. That’s why we created Martin Memorial Healthcast, a new weekly podcast premiering Dec. 3 that will deliver health information you can use in a voice file. Simply go to http://www.mmhs.com/ and click on Martin Memorial Healthcast, where you will find programs to help you get fit or prevent disease, all for downloading to your iPod or computer. Listen to Healthcast while doing one of those 100 million other things you do. Like refilling the cup with dark chocolate M & Ms.

--Lisa McCluskey
Director of Marketing Communications

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Hit the Home Stretch for Fitness

The Fall 2007 edition of For Your Health, Martin Memorial’s community health magazine, hits mailboxes starting next week. The magazine, which comes out four times a year, provides a wide array of health tips and resources to help Treasure Coast residents stay healthy.


Here’s a preview from the magazine that features tips on how stretching can help you reach your fitness goals, courtesy of Lonee Halbach, a certified personal trainer and program coordinator of group exercise classes at Martin Memorial Treasure Coast Health and Fitness Center.

Aerobic conditioning and strength training are key elements to any fitness program. But many people aren’t aware of the importance of flexibility training and its role in injury prevention. By consistently following a static stretch program, your range of motion can increase, enabling you to move, bend, and reach with greater efficiency (Ute Schwartz, a certified trainer at Martin Memorial Treasure Coast Health and Fitness Center, demonstrates stretching techniques in the picture at left). This increased ability to move with greater ease and fluidity is a key component in injury prevention.

Keep these tips in mind:
  • Like any exercise program, start off slow and easy. Begin with three to four days a week, making sure to include all major muscle groups.

  • Hold each stretch with an intensity level of one to three on a scale of 10, with light tension.

  • Hold each stretch for 10 to 15 seconds. Repeat each stretch two times. Do not bounce.

  • As you progress in your stretch program, gradually increase the days, intensity level, duration, and repetition of each stretch. Before you know it, you’ll be walking taller, reaching higher, and moving with greater grace and ease.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Drink a Day Keeps the Doctor Away?

For those so inclined, the holidays are often a time when spirits are plentiful – and I’m not talking about the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

Alcohol flows freely around the holidays, whether it’s champagne on New Year’s Eve, or wine with Thanksgiving dinner, or a shot of Jack Daniels to help calm frazzled nerves when visiting relatives have overstayed their welcome.

Finally, scientists are finding that it’s not only OK to down a couple martinis to get you through the office holiday party, but it could be good for your health.

An article that appeared recently on msnbc.com from SELF Magazine suggests that alcohol can help your heart, your pancreas and your joints. The article also suggests women who down a few drinks have better overall health than women who don’t. In other words, you’re cheating yourself if you turn down a glass of merlot.

With alcohol being considered as a preventative medicine, America’s bartenders and liquor store owners may soon be considered primary care providers. People who hate going to the doctor will be more than willing to go for their annual checkup at the neighborhood pub. There may also be a tremendous sigh of relief from holiday imbibers who can tell chiding spouses that they’re simply following doctor’s orders when having another spiked egg nog.

Of course, like any of the other seemingly endless scientific health studies that are printed each year, there are caveats. The key to all of this is moderation, which generally is considered to be just a drink a day.

That means going to the bar isn’t considered a workout. It also means that just because one drink might be healthy, chugging a six-pack after work won’t make you a health nut.

So as the onslaught of holiday parties, family get-togethers or tailgating for college football bowl games reaches a crescendo, keep in mind that too much health can be a bad thing.
--Scott Samples

Friday, November 23, 2007

Cancer on Trial

As a nurse coming from the ER, working at the Robert and Carol Weissman Cancer Center has opened my eyes to a lot of things we do at Martin Memorial that I didn’t even know about. Do you want to know one of the biggies? OK, get ready, get set…we do clinical trials!

We have protocols for different types of cancer through the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, cooperative groups and pharmaceutical companies. Now that you’re over the shock of finding out that our community hospital actually has a research department, I would like to tell you about some of our upcoming and ongoing trials.

For lung cancer, the MAGRIT trial will open in December. This is a vaccine trial through GlaxoSmithKline that tests for certain antigens that are only present on cancer cells called MAGE-A3. This is for non-small cell lung cancer, stages IB-IIIA that has been completely resected.

For pancreatic cancer, we have a trial through Pfizer. This is for cancer that is locally advanced, unresectable or metastatic. The regimen assigned would either be Gemcitabine (medication that is currently standard of care) and Axitinib (new medication), or Gemcitabine alone. Pfizer is trying to find out if adding Axitinib would change the survival rates for these patients.

For breast cancer, the SoftScan trial is still ongoing. We currently have 122 patients out of the 200 that are needed. The SoftScan machine could replace biopsies if proven effective. Women with an abnormal mammogram could have this non-invasive scan instead of a biopsy. The machine is approved for use in Europe and Canada.

For all cancer, Total Cancer Care is coming! Watch for more details on this (hint: it’s all very exciting!).

--Lindsay Mattino, RN
Clinical Research Coordinator and Genetics Nurse Educator

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Safe Holiday (and Every Day) Cooking

As we approach Thanksgiving and the wonderful abundance of festive foods and gatherings of the holiday season, once again there is the challenge of preparing foods that are not only aromatic, sumptuous and aesthetically appealing, but safe as well. Safe food preparation (demonstrated by the author below) is certainly a practice that everyone should be fully aware of at all times but is especially important around the holidays – whether enjoying feasts at the homes of others or providing the festivities yourself.

Turkey, as well as other poultry products that are often the traditional center of attraction for the holidays, are potentially hazardous foods if not handled properly. Here are 10 tips to keep in mind while preparing and serving (or eating) your goodies:

No. 10: Always use separate utensils for serving different foods.

No. 9: Thaw frozen turkeys, chicken or ground meats only under refrigeration (never at room temperature). Large birds may take three to five days to thaw, so plan ahead.

No. 8: If there is not enough time, birds may be thawed in a sink of water with the water running up to 1 hour.

No. 7: Do not stuff turkey the night before cooking because this may pose a serious hazard due to the difference in temperature of the products.

No. 6: Always wash the poultry with clean, lukewarm water inside and out before cooking (one part vinegar to three parts water is a great anti-bacterial wash and will not alter the flavor)

No. 5: All poultry should be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (check at the center of the thickest part of the thigh).

No. 4: When serving, keep hot foods hot (140 degrees or above) and cold foods cold (40 degrees or below). Do not leave foods out of this range for more than 40 minutes.

No. 3: Cool leftovers rapidly (in the freezer is a good way). Spread out things like stuffing and mashed potatoes to increase surface area. Foods should be cooled to a maximum of 70 degrees in two hours and to 40 degrees in an additional four hours.

No. 2: When reheating, all foods should be brought to a minimum of 165 degrees in less than two hours.

And the No. 1 way to reduce the risk of food-born illness during the holidays (and all year long) is ... wash your hands! A lot! Wash hands before, during and after handling raw foods, switching from food to food, handling different utensils, touching your hair face or body, using the restroom and if just leaving your preparation area to do something else.

May you and your families have a safe and happy holiday season!

--Robert J. Barbeau, MPH
Director of Nutrition Services

Monday, November 19, 2007

New York State of Mind

I’ll do most anything to get a beer.

So when I visited New York City for the first time with my wife last weekend, getting a beer at cool little spots our friends recommended often meant walking. And walking. And walking.

From our base in the West Village, we trekked through Lower Manhattan, strolled around Midtown and Times Square, sojourned through Central Park and over to the Upper East Side, hiked through part of Harlem and ambled through Greenwich Village.

Though we both work out, my wife Eve and I (seen here during the Central Park sojourn) felt like we’d run marathons by the end of our three-day trip. While our dogs were tired, we appreciated the ability to walk to most of our destinations without having to get in a car.

That’s something missing in a lot of cities (including much of the Treasure Coast). Port St. Lucie, where we live, doesn’t have sidewalks in a lot of places. That can turn walking from a form of exercise into a live-action version of the video game “Frogger.” And often there’s not much to walk to besides other houses.

While getting hit by a car can be a sure-fire health drawback, so can lack of exercise. For many people, walking is an easy way to burn calories: Prevention magazine’s November issue cites a study that says when women over age 40 annually add an average of 3,520 steps – or roughly 1 ¾ miles – they lost an additional five pounds during a year and cut their belly fat by 12 percent.

There are scientists looking at whether urban sprawl, which generally creates more dependence on cars, has helped lead to increases in obesity rates. Less walking and more driving, they say, means fatter people.

As a lifelong suburbanite, I’m used to getting where I want to go by car. But there is something to be said for using your feet to get there instead. For instance, that beer and a slice of pizza at John’s of Bleecker Street? Probably in the neighborhood of 800 calories. To burn those calories means I’d have to walk about seven miles.

Which means it’s time to lace up those walking shoes.


--Scott Samples

Friday, November 16, 2007

Understanding Diabetes

November is Diabetes Awareness Month, so we thought we’d provide some information to help you decipher the signs and symptoms of this invisible epidemic. Read the post from Maureen Daniello, Martin Memorial’s diabetes education program coordinator, to learn more or take this diabetes quiz to test your knowledge. Check out the Palm Beach Post’s report on our weight management programs, aimed at preventing type 2 diabetes in teens and adults.

When you have diabetes, the food you eat cannot be used for energy either because your body is not making enough of a hormone called insulin, or the insulin you have is not working the way it should.

Either way, sugar cannot get into your body’s cells. Instead of entering the cells, it stays trapped in the bloodstream, raising the amount of sugar in your blood to abnormally high levels.

There are some tell-tale signs of diabetes. Because your body is not getting the sugar it needs, you are likely to feel tired. You may urinate more often than usual, you may be very thirsty, or you may lose weight even though you are eating the way you normally do.

If you are diagnosed with diabetes, keeping your blood sugar low is crucial. According to the American Diabetes Association, a normal fasting blood sugar range for a person who does not have diabetes is less than 100 mg/dL and the target blood sugar for most people with diabetes is 90-130 mg/dL .

Unfortunately, your body cannot lower blood sugar by itself. You have to help, by balancing what you eat with regular exercise, medications (if prescribed) and weight loss (if you are overweight). Knowing what to eat and how it affects your blood sugar is vital to controlling diabetes.

Martin Memorial’s diabetes education program can help you learn how to live with diabetes. For more information, call (772) 223-2822.

--Maureen Daniello, RN
Program Coordinator, Diabetes Education

Martin Memorial Center for Health and Healing

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

A Real “Dear John” Letter

Ordinarily, I delete emails that have been forwarded over and over again – especially the ones that insist you need to send it to everyone on your address list. But when I got this e-mail I had to open it (mainly because I am the director of the neuroscience unit) to see what kind of crazy advice people are spreading on the Internet. It read:

Subject: FW: FW: FW: FW: A SIGN OF STROKE
Importance: High
A MUST READ! A SIGN OF STROKE

It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within three hours, he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within three hours, which is tough.

My friend sent this to me and encouraged me to post it and spread the word:

During a barbecue, a friend stumbled and took a little fall – she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital – at 6 p.m., Ingrid passed away. She had suffered a stroke at the barbecue. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead…

I really think there are people out there who want to help others, which is why e-mails like this are forwarded so often. I agree with much of the content, because stroke can be deadly: it’s the third-leading cause of death in America today and a major cause of severe, long-term disability.

Identifying a stroke and getting treatment quickly is crucial, because there’s a strict three-hour window for treating certain types (but not all) strokes. A medicine can be given in some cases that dissolves clots that occlude blood flow to your brain.

But there are definitive criteria that must be met before the medicine can be safely given, which is why a thorough screening takes place in the emergency department to determine eligibility. After three hours, it is generally considered too dangerous to give the medicine.

That’s why it’s extremely important to recognize when a stroke is occurring and get immediate medical care if you or someone you know is experiencing one. The five warning signs of an acute stroke are:
  • Sudden numbness of the face, arms or legs, especially on one side of the body.
  • Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
  • Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
  • Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
  • Sudden severe headaches with no known cause.

If you recognize these signs taking place, call 911 immediately or have someone drive the stroke victim directly to the hospital. Ingrid might be alive today if someone had recognized the signs.


--John Romano, RN, BSN
Director of Medical Surgical and Neuroscience

Monday, November 12, 2007

A Weighty Study

Feeling guilty about eating that third burrito from Taco Bell? Don’t! Gut bursting from one too many slices of greasy sausage pizza? Relax!

After years of being advised to eat healthy, get exercise and reduce our weight, along comes a scientific study conducted for all of us who’ve been fattening up like grizzly bears ready for hibernation feel just a little better about ourselves.

The study, which came out last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests that carrying a few extra pounds may not be catastrophic to your health and can actually protect you against some diseases.

While being overweight can contribute to things like diabetes and kidney disease, it may not have any correlation with heart disease or cancer. (That’s not the case, however, for people who are obese.)

Some health experts instantly disputed the new findings. Others supported it. Still others couldn’t comment, their mouths filled with chicken wings.

I found the findings to be fantastic news as I crammed my face into a platter of cookies (visual evidence at left) that one of my coworkers brought in – all in the name of health, of course.

Granted, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a new study that claims to have all the answers to all our health questions. Picking and choosing which study to believe just because you want to keep doing the things you’re already doing isn’t necessarily a sound health strategy.

And really, just because you might be OK with a few extra pounds doesn’t mean you’d be better off without that additional weight. Besides, in a couple more days another study will come along discounting the previous one, and we’ll be freaking out about the five pounds we gained after believing heart and soul in the previous study.

Until then, however, I’ve got a plate of nachos calling my name. I think I can still fit a couple more pounds under my belt.
--Scott Samples

Friday, November 9, 2007

Get fit, not fat!

With the holidays right around the corner, make your way through without guilt or added pounds. The secret is balance over a several day period.

Instead of reaching for caffeine, go for a walk or take an exercise class. Too much caffeine can make you feel tired and wired, but a good workout helps you feel physically relaxed but mentally alert. It relieves tension and stress and helps concentration. Exercise also enhances sleep quality.

Plan to do cardiovascular activities several times a week, but be realistic. This is a special time of year to spend with family and friends. Set a goal to maintain, not raise your fitness level. Shorter workouts are better than none. Try a fitness DVD, park a long way from the mall, take a walk before or after work to regroup before the activities begin. Carry water and healthful snacks with you. Don't skip meals. Eat healthful foods before parties and practice portion control.

Try strength training circuits instead of your regular routine. It will help get you in and out of the gym quickly, but still allow you to receive the benefits from weight training. Plan to do some daily stretches and find some time for some longer relaxation or yoga sessions.

Your goal during the holidays should not be just to survive them, but enjoy them. Fitness is a great gift to yourself, even during the busiest time of year!

– Laura Henry, manager, Martin Memorial Hospital South Health and Fitness Center

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Having a Ball at the Ball

The first pair of shoes Karen Keane wore to last week’s Martin Memorial Foundation Chrysanthemum Ball didn’t last long – they were quickly taken off and replaced with another, slightly more comfortable pair.

But those shoes hurt her feet too, which is why they were soon gone as well. Finally, like Goldilocks finding the perfect bowl of porridge, Keane slid into a third pair of shoes and was soon dancing the night away.

Sore feet or not, the Chrysanthemum Ball was once again a huge success. The annual fund-raiser brought in $1.2 million that will be used to purchase a second cardiac catheterization lab for the Frances Langford Heart Center.

Keane, who is director of the cardiac cath lab, has seen first hand how much of a difference the advanced technology makes for patients. In the first year that the heart center was open, physicians (such as Dr. Stephen McIntyre, pictured at right) performed 775 interventional catheterizations – something they could not do before the heart center was here.

“This year has seen major growth and changes in the way we take care of patients with cardiac disease. Having state-of-the-art equipment and interventional cardiologists on site has allowed us to give immediate care to patients,” Keane said. “We are incredibly thankful to everyone involved with the Chrysanthemum Ball and to those who support Martin Memorial in helping us provide the best possible care for this community.”

The event itself was, as always, elegant and glamorous. The music was festive and fun, with guests dancing all night long in a setting designed to replicate a restaurant rooftop. The vistas of several cities – places like New York, Seattle and others – slowly rotated so that it looked like you were visiting a bunch of places without ever leaving Stuart.

But the volunteer committee comprised of about 30 women won’t have long to rest on its laurels: planning for next year’s event begins in just a couple weeks.
--Scott Samples

Monday, November 5, 2007

Know Thy Enemy

A friend of mine, now in his early 40s, told me recently that the last time he’d been to the doctor for a physical was just before he went into college.

And while he may have been in perfect health before going in, I’m pretty sure that, like many of us, he probably did some major damage to himself between his freshman and senior years. Tack on another 20 years of aging and there’s bound to be some wear and tear on the body.

The thing is, he was telling me this while residing as a guest in our heart unit. He has high blood pressure – and knew it – but chose not to do anything about it. Until, that is, he had to drive himself to the emergency department with chest pains.

This isn’t unusual. Dr. Julie Price (pictured at left), a family physician in Hobe Sound, said she sees the phenomenon all the time. There are people who don’t want to go to the doctor or get screenings and tests that will tell them if there are problems. And if there are, they simply don’t want to take the medications that will help solve those problems.

“My goal as a doctor is to try to prevent my patients from getting sick and dying,” Dr. Price said. “I want to offer them screenings and preventative methods so we can treat them.”

As an example, Dr. Price said that if I have my cholesterol level tested and the numbers come back high, I can still lower those levels to decrease my risk of heart disease or stroke 30 to 40 percent by treating the condition with diet, exercise, lifestyle changes such as quitting smoking, and taking statin drugs.

There are all kinds of screenings and tests out there that will help doctors determine whether something’s wrong with you or not. That includes everything from mammograms to colonoscopies, blood sugar levels and pap smears.

Ultimately, the goal is to find out if you have a health problem before you know it. Because the sooner you know, the better you’ll be able to treat it.


Fortunately, my friend is doing fine. And now that he's actually seen a doctor, he's decided to follow his directions and work toward fixing the problem.
--Scott Samples

Friday, November 2, 2007

Navigating Lung Cancer

Quick quiz!

Which form of cancer causes the highest number of deaths in American women each year? Nope, not breast cancer.

OK, what kind of cancer kills the most men each year in the United States? No, it's not prostate cancer.

Alright, what form of cancer kills more Americans each year than breast, prostate and colorectal cancers combined? No fair if you’re looking up the answer (although I did).

The answer, if you haven’t guessed by now, is lung cancer. According to information from the American Cancer Society, an estimated 213,380 new cases of lung cancer are expected to be diagnosed in 2007, accounting for about 15 percent of cancer diagnoses. There will also be an estimated 160,390 deaths for both men and women, accounting for about 29 percent of all cancer deaths.

However, while there are huge campaigns for breast and prostate cancers that raise money as well as awareness of the need for prevention and early detection, there has been less of a crusade against lung cancer.

Part of that could stem from a social stigma. The most common factor for developing lung cancer is smoking and since most everyone by now (except, apparently, the tobacco companies) knows that smoking causes cancer, there seems to be less sympathy for those being diagnosed.

“People think, ‘You smoked, you got lung cancer, what did you expect?’” said Lindsay Mattino, clinical research coordinator and lung cancer navigator at the Robert and Carol Weissman Cancer Center at Martin Memorial. “But nobody deserves to get cancer.”

To help lung cancer patients, Martin Memorial developed the lung cancer navigator program that began Nov. 1. It is similar to the breast health navigator program at the cancer center, which has been very successful in its two-plus years assisting patients with breast cancer.

Mattino will work with Paulette Craft, Martin Memorial’s oncology social worker, and they will help provide patients with access to resources. That can include financial assistance, help navigating through their treatment options and support groups.

“This is like a mission for me,” Mattino said. “I feel like we’re really going to be helping a population that needs help.”

For more information about the lung health navigator program, call Mattino at (772) 223-5945, ext. 1669.
-- Scott Samples