Health & Wellness
Healthbeat
ALS Registry Act signed
The ALS Association and people living with Lou
Gehrig's Disease across the country celebrated a
tremendous victory as President Bush signed into law
S. 1382, the ALS Registry Act, in the late afternoon
00 Wednesday, Oct. 8. :
The registry would establish the first ever nation
al patient registry of people with Lou Gehrig's
jjDve&se, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, to be
j administered by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. The registry would collect information
loading to the cause, treatment and cure of the deadly
neurological disease that took the life of baseball leg
end Lou Gehrig in 1941 .
. The ALS Association has been working with
Congress for nearly four years to pass the ALS
'Registry Act, which was first introduced in 2005 by
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and
Senator John Warner (R-VA) and U.S.
Representatives Eliot Gngel (D-NY) and Lee Terry
(R-NE). Thanks to their leadership, the bill passed the
U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives with
near unanimous support in late September.
Nursing honor goes to Whitaker
, Dr. Von Best Whitaker. a research associate pro
fessor at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical
State University School of Nursing, has been named
the 2008 Research Nurse of the Year by the North
Carolina Nurses Association (NCNA). She was rec
ognized at the NCNA annual
JWUlvM?tAn in WlnctAn ,r'ir" -
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11-3.
In addition, a manuscript
by Whitaker and a
Carolina State
colleague, investi
the elimination of
! disparities won the
of the year from
ican Society of
Registered
I Nurses/ American Academy of WhUaker
In collaboration and partnership, Whi taker shared
the Johns Hopkins University School of
{, a five-year $2.3 million grant from the
Institutes of Health to create a Center on
: Disparities Research at N.C. A&T School of
She serves as primary investigator and co
? of the center.
? is a Fellow of the American Academy of |
and serves on its Expert Panel on
She is a member of the Moses
Community Health
and also serves on the
-community philanthropic organizations,.
Carolina Nurses Association
nurses association that
1 nurses in the state. HI
grant for A&T
?
Jeffrey A. Edwards and Lyubov A. Kurkalova,
both associate professors in the department of
. Economics and Finance at North Carotin
Agricultural and Technical State University, received
a three and a half year research grant from the
National Science Foundation in the amount of
j $747,528 to study changing societal attitudes towards
scarcity as affected by ethanol production and
groundwater depletion of the Ogallala1
^Undergraduate students from the School of
Business and Economics and PhD. students from the]
jinergy and Environmental Studies interdisc
gram will participate in the research. The _
involve collaboration with geographers and
scialists from Texas Tech University and
State University.
Girls Magazine talks back
i Palin on abstinence stance
AUSTIN, Texas Latinitaa,
agazine.org) the first digital magft-l
s for and by Hispanic girls, knows firsthand]
of abstinence only sex-education, being
t*8 sub-group that experiences the highest
I of teen pregnancy than any other community in
I States.
; the U.S. Census bureau, 53 percent of
^^^Hispanic teens get pregnant atj
least once before age 20, i
is nearly twic^ the
average. Research also
that 69 percent of
teenage moms end of i
ping out of high school.
.Girls who contribute
Latinitas magazines ar?
cerned about GOP
Presidential-candidate
Sarah Palin's abstinence -only
in sexual education stance,
I her own 17 year old daughter's pregna
i abstinence policy that Palin supports
r own home, yet she expects pec,
it will work for others, who have'
I access to reproductive health
MM' editor Laura Donnelly.
I Ramos, a junior reporter for the magazine
:es in Latinitas' after school programs in
iucu: "They need to teach us about [sex ed]
m J we don't know ,ih<>ut it, how can we pre
( pregnancy )" IMH
BOTding to the U.S. Census bureau
: fastest growing minority group in the U
ixas boasts the highest rates of teen prcpnai
i country and coincidentally employs
*7 ?et education in school* statewide
Program aims to better treat local athletes
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
A new Wake Forest University
Baptist Medical Center program has
been designed to assess and manage
sports-related concussions.
The program will incorporate
ImPACT, a neurocognitive test that
grew out of a decade of university
based research, fhe 20- minute test
documents and evaluates verbal and
visual memory, attention
span, Drain-processing
speed, reaction time and
post-concussion symp
toms. It has already been
implemented at the high
school, collegiate and pro
fessional levels of sports.
With ImPACT, Dr. Daryl
Rosenbaum, an assistant
:i. .
piuicaMJi ui laimiv anu
Community Medicine who
is sDeciallv trained in snorts
medicine, said athletes can establish
their baseline cognitive status with
the computerized test. They can take
a quicker sideline test, if needed, or
the computerized testing may be
given following a concussion to track
recovery. A patient with a suspected
concussion can take the test before a
physician examination, giving the
physician additional information. If
the player has had a previous baseline
test, results from both tests will be
compared.
It is a new approach, since physi
cians often rely on observations and
symptoms that the patient reports to
diagnose a concussion.
"This gives us an additional tool
to objectively evaluate a player's cog
nitive status, their recovery and
whether or not they can return safely
to sports,'' Rosenbaum said.
Rosenbaum and Dr. Jong-Yeol
Kim, assistant professor of neurolo
gy, are co-directors of the sports con
cussion program. The concussion
program at Wake Forest Baptist was
developed by physicians
from sports medicine and
neurology who serve as team
doctors for Wake Forest
University, Winston-Salem
State University, the Twin
City Cyclones, the Winston
Salem Warthogs, University
of North Carolina School of
the Arts dancers, as well as
Rosenbaum
Pnn
? multiple local nign scnoois.
The Centers for Disease
frol nnH Pripv*?ntir?n MhmaJpv ac
many as 3.8 million concussions
occur in the United States each year.
Rosenbaum is conducting a class
at BestHealth, the community
resource center at Hanes Mall, at 6:30
p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4, titled
"Confused About Concussions?" It
will include an explanation of the
technology and procedures that
enhance diagnosis and treatment of
this common injury.
For more information about
sports medicine and the concussion
program, go to the Web 'site at
wfubmc . edu/sportsmedicine / .
Drug Abuse:
The Deadly Truth
WW* Form IMfttraiW Bitfcta I
m
Drug abuse and dependence can ,
lead to devastating health affects or ,
death; however, the impact of illicit ,
drug use affects more than the indi- ,
vidual user. The consequences of
drug abuse can impact the entire fam
ily and the community and often lead
to violence. . According to the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA),
approximately 43 percent of African
Americans reported using' illicit drugs at sotne point during their
lives, and 16 percent report using during the last year. What is even
scarier is that almost 27 percent of African American young people
between the a pes of 12 and 17 ?
report using drugs at some
point in their lifetime.
It is essential that we work
together to decrease the rates
of drug use in our community.
We must educate ourselves so
we are better able to prevent
drug abuse, recognize its
signs when it does occur, and
help those who suffer from
addiction find appropriate
treatment.
What is drug abuse?
Drug abuse is defined as
the use of illegal drugs or the
abuse of prescription or over
the-counter drugs for purpos
es other than for what they are
given or in amounts other than
directed. Common illicit
(illegal) drugs include mari
juana, cocaine ('crack' and other forms), heroin, and crystal metham
phetamine ('ice'). Sedatives, tranquilizers, and pain medications are
frequently abused prescription drugs. ^
Drug abuse over a period of time can develop into drug addiction. '
Drug addiction is a complex brain disease that consists of drug crav
ing, physical dependence (needing a drug to function in daily life), j
and drug use that can persist even in the face of dangerous or life
threatening risks. Drug-seeking behavior often becomes compulsive, j
which causes many people to resort to unhealthy and unsafe behav
iors, such as violence or prostitution, to "feed" their addiction.
See Drugs on A13 '
Halloween safety tips
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Halloween is an exciting time of year for kids. To ensure chil
dren have a safe holiday, Brenner Children's Hospital and the
American Academy of Pediatrics offer the following safety tips:
' Create a costume from fire-retardant material. If you are going
to purchase a costume, buy one that is flame-resistant.
?Make sure the costume is short enough so that children don't
trip.
? Use face paint and hats rather than masks. Loose-fitting masks
with small eyeholes can obstruct a child's vision. Secure hats
tightly so they don't slip over ^
your child's eyes.
? Children who will be trick- I
or-treating after dusk should
have reflective tape on their
costumes and carry flash-,
lights with fresh batteries.
Make sure swords and other
props are flexible.
? Dress children in comfort
able shoes that fit. Adult-size
shoes can cause blistering or
make a child trip and fall.
? Small children should never
carve pumpkins. Children can
draw a face with markers.
Parents can do the cutting.
Under parents' supervision,
children ages 5 to 10 can
carve with pumpkin cutters
equipped with safety bars. Votive candles are safest for candle-lit
pumpkins.
? Lighted pumpkins should be placed on a sturdy table, away
from curtains and other flammable objects, and should never be
left unattended.
? Serve kids a healthy dinner (with foods they like) before trick
ar-treating, so they won't fill up on candy.
? Offer trick-or-treaters something other than candy. Give them
:olorful pencils, stickers, large erasers or decorative shoelaces.
Set a number of days that candy can remain in the house before
it gets thrown out.
? Children shouldn't snack while they're trick-or-treating.
? Parents should check treats at home.
? Watch for signs of tampering, such as small pinholes in wrap
pers and torn or loose packages. ,
? Parents of young children should get rid of choking hazards
such as gum, peanuts, hard candies or small toys.
? To keep their home safe for visiting trick-or-treaters. parents
should remove anything a child could trip over such as garden
noses, toys, bikes and lawn decorations.
? Parents should check outdoor lights and replace burned-out
bulbs.
> W<t leaves should be swept from sidewalks and steps.
UNCG: Grueling hours take toll on nurses
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
A local professor is studying how the
long, grueling hours worked by nurses
impacts their health and ability to perform
their jobs.
Dr. Susan Letvak, a professor of nursing
at The University of North Carolina at
Greensboro, has won a highly competitive
$264,106 grant from the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation to probe the subject.
While doctors' health and work environ
ment has garnered a great deal of attention,
Letvak says, nurses have been overlooked.
"No one has really looked at this before,"
she said. "We're one of the first teams to look
at the link between nurses' health and the care
they provide."
UNCG awarded Letvak a $5,000 research
grant to complete preliminary research. She
used the money to conduct personal inter
views with 14 RN's working with their own
health problems in North Carolina hospitals.
What she found was a proliferation of chron
ic musculoskeletal problems (caused by lift
ing patients) alongside depression. Several of
the nurses did not disclose their health prob
lems to their managers and even insisted on
meeting outside of the towns they are work
ing in because they teared their healtn proo
lems might cost them their jobs.
"We need research to speak for them, to
initiate policies and changes. Nurses at the
bedside don't have the power to change prac
tice," Letvak says.
Valuing older nurses for their experience
rather than their brawn would benefit nurses,
patients and hospitals, Letvak says
"We're losing our experience, and noth
ing's being done to assist an older nurse. A
healthy work environment for an older nurse
is a healthy work environment for a younger
nurse."
Now, armed with the Robert Wood
Johnson grant, Letvak will survey 2,500
RN's working in hospitals across the state
She will also conduct focus groups for nurses
working with health problems, their healthy
co-workers and nurse managers to get an
accurate picture of "the whole dynamic ."
She wants to use what she learns to
improve working conditions for Registered
Nurses, the majority of whom work exhaust
ing 12-hour shifts, care for too many patients
and are expected to compete physically with
their younger counterparts.