11 minute read
Health news and notes
from Rep April 21
Read up! Eat up!
The foods and beverages that you consume have a profound impact on your health, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in its recently published Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, 9th Edition. The scientific connection between food and health has been well documented for many decades, with substantial and increasingly robust evidence showing that a healthy lifestyle – including following a healthy dietary pattern – can help people achieve and maintain good health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases throughout all stages of the lifespan. The new edition of Dietary Guidelines is 150 pages long, but full of easy-to-understand verbiage and graphics.
Breast density best measured at age 40
High breast density not only has a masking effect on mammogram reading, it also increases the risk of breast cancer. However, most women do not know their breast density classification until after their first mammogram at age 50. A recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that a mammography screening strategy based on a baseline breast density measure at age 40 may be the most effective and cost-effective way to reduce breast cancer mortality. (Current breast cancer screening guidelines recommend that mammography begins at age 50 for women at average risk.) The Breast Density Notification Act requires providers to inform women who have a mammogram whether they have dense breasts.
Cognitive aging can be slowed down or even reversed
Aging and inflammation go hand in hand. Overactive inflammatory responses lead to conditions more common in people over 65 – atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and frailty. In the brain, inflammation is also tied to cognitive decline. Myeloid cells that should clear debris no longer do so, but instead go into inflammatory overdrive
that contributes to neurodegeneration. The newsletter Stat reports that a new study in the journal Nature of aging mice and older human cells shows that treating myeloid cells with a drug that suppresses a pro-inflammatory signaling molecule corrected glucose metabolism, controlled inflammation, and restored cognition – as measured by tests of mouse memory and spatial navigation. “Our study suggests that cognitive aging is not a static or irrevocable condition but can be reversed,” the authors write.
Folic acid helps prevent major birth defects
Folic acid is an important part of planning for a healthy pregnancy, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC urges all women of reproductive age to consume 400 mcg of folic acid each day, in addition to consuming food with folate from a varied diet, to help prevent major birth defects of the baby’s brain (known as neural tube defects). The two most common types of neural tube defects are anencephaly and spina bifida. Anencephaly is a birth defect in which parts of a baby’s brain and skull do not form correctly. Babies born with anencephaly cannot survive. Spina bifida is a serious birth defect in which a baby’s spine does not develop correctly and can result in some severe physical disabilities. All women, but especially those who might become pregnant, need 400 mcg of folic acid every day.
Two arms … two different BP readings?
Generally, a small difference in blood pressure readings between arms isn’t a health concern, according to Mayo Clinic. However, a difference of more than 10 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) for either your top number (systolic pressure) or bottom number (diastolic) may be a sign of blocked arteries in the arms, diabetes or other health problem. People who repeatedly have an interarm blood pressure difference of 10 to 15 mm Hg for systolic pressure are more likely to have vascular disease. They also have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease and related complications during the next 13 years. If you have a large difference in blood pressure readings between arms, talk to your doctor.
Hard Riding
Susan Van Cleve seeks excellence working with colleagues, customers – and her horses
Susan Van Cleve was born into one of the original South Texas ranching families. The Van Cleve Picosa Ranch was founded in 1888 by her great grandfather, who passed along his love of ranching to her grandfather and father … and to Susan.
She maintains her passion for riding and showing horses today, and finds it a welcome balance to her job as senior account manager for McKesson Medical-Surgical, Home Care – HME/DME sales, for the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, Central Texas and El Paso. It’s a passion that has also given her a community of friends, who have helped her through good times and bad.
Breaking into sales
Van Cleve was born and raised in Cypress, Texas. Her father, Delbert W. Van Cleve, owned a family business specializing in the design, installation and maintenance of commercial and residential water treatment plants. He passed away in August 2019. Her mother, Diane E. Van Cleve, continues to maintain accounting and administrative responsibilities for the business.
She graduated with a registered nursing degree, in addition to a bachelor’s degree with a business emphasis, from Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. She had an interest in the business aspect of healthcare and looked to her father for some career guidance. “He asked me, ‘Have you ever thought about sales? Why don’t you use what you’re good at – meeting people, making friends?’ He was right. I’ve never met a stranger.”
She found out that the road to medical sales isn’t always a smooth
one, particularly for someone lacking sales experience, even for someone with a nursing degree. But she was committed to entering the field and decided if she couldn’t enter through the front door, she’d go through the back. So, she searched for an outside sales position and found one with Waste Management, known for its renowned sales training program, to gain the sales experience needed to ultimately secure her dream job in medical sales.
For three years, she called on strip malls, independent businesses and other commercial customers that generated large volumes of waste. “The job taught me how to present a value prop and the reasons someone should choose our company over another,” she says. “It is a very competitively priced market, and there were a lot of ‘no’s before ‘yes’s. So I had to be very knowledgeable about what set us apart, instead of running a race to the bottom on price.”
After three years at WM, she had the opportunity to move into healthcare sales with a manufacturer of biohazard bags, and then, to First Quality.
A chance to help people
“First Quality was an opportunity for me to make a difference by representing a product line that truly helped people. I had struggled with incontinence during my youth prior to corrective surgery, and First Quality was a way to give back to others because I had actually ‘walked in their shoes.’
“I was passionate about the educational side of my sales role – assisting caregivers in proper application and utilization of the products for their loved ones and clients. I was known by my distribution partners for being one of the only reps who would perform an in-service for the nursing staff with a personal demonstration of how to properly apply the briefs. Hence, I wore dress pants to work most days.”
At First Quality, she was responsible for the relationship with McKesson Medical-Surgical reps in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, one of whom was Ken Stansberger. “Together, we had significantly grown the First Quality business through McKesson,” she says. After he had been promoted to a management role, one of his tenured reps retired, and Van Cleve applied for the position.
“I was very happy at First Quality, but I had also spent many years as a ‘road warrior,’ covering multiple states. The opportunity to have a local territory was very appealing, especially when it came to work/life balance.”
Serving on both sides of the desk – first as a manufacturer, then a distributor – has enabled her to provide guidance to her customers on navigating contracts, GPOs and formularies, she says. “It also lends itself to stronger distributor/manufacturer partnerships, which ultimately benefit the customer. I will forever be grateful to Ken Stansberger and Jeff Bowman for believing in me and offering me a position on the home care team.” While Stansberger has continued to rise through the leadership ranks with McKesson, Van Cleve considers herself very fortunate to now have the support of her current region manager, Ryan Partridge.
A chance to heal
“I have always taken great pride in being a top performer professionally, and strive to overachieve in all aspects of my life,” she says. And what goes for sales goes for riding as well.
Susan Van Cleve’s show horse, Rigby, is considered a ranch horse, that is, one that is well suited for working with livestock, particularly cattle. Ranch horses are characterized by agility, alertness, stamina and powerful hindquarters, she says. They are noted for their intelligence, willing attitude, enthusiasm and “cow sense,” that is, an instinctive understanding of how to respond to the movement of cattle so as to move livestock in a desired manner with minimal or no guidance from their rider.
These horses are used both as working animals on livestock ranches, and in competition, where they are evaluated on their ability to perform ranchtype activities. Coupled with their understanding of how to respond to movement of cattle with little guidance, ranch horses in shows perform gait transitions and maneuvers based on non-visual cues of leg/ seat pressure, along with the rider’s verbal cues.
Her father, Delbert, was a “real cowboy.” He spent many years rodeo competing in bareback bronc riding. In fact, that passion during his college years at Texas A&M University afforded him the opportunity to double for actor Paul Newman in the 1963 Western “Hud.” He also shared his love of horses and riding with his daughter from the time she was little. When he passed away from cancer in August 2019, Van Cleve made a promise to herself to make a concerted effort to achieve more work/life balance. “Life is short, and we are not promised tomorrow.”
In December 2019, she purchased Rigby, a four-yearold American Quarter Horse, through Bud Lyon of Bud Lyon Performance Horses in Tioga, Texas. She had actually visited Lyon with the intention of buying another horse, but he suggested she try Rigby. The two hit it off immediately. “Rigby’s sort of like an old soul,” she says. “He tries really hard to make sure he’s doing what I ask him to do.” In rider’s parlance, Rigby is “good-minded.”
Purchasing Rigby and meeting some of the people through that purchase – including Lyon and his wife, Kim, and assistant trainer Jenna Seal, as well as Rigby’s previous owner/breeder, Brooke Wharton of WT Waggoner Estate -- helped Van Cleve heal following the loss of her father. “Keeping my mind focused that whole year of my Dad’s illness and passing made 2019 probably the toughest year I’ve had. Rigby, and the wonderful people I have met through him, have been a blessing that lifted my spirits. I know my Dad would be so happy for me.”
Thanks to Lyon and Seal’s training, and her own hard work, Rigby took the Amateur SPB American Paint Horse World Championship in Ranch Rail Pleasure and the Reserve World Championship in Amateur SPB Ranch Trail in September 2020, as well as the Open Level World Championship, receiving a Gold Globe in Jr. Ranch Riding, at the American Quarter Horse World Championship Show in November 2020.
“My personal American Paint Horse World Championship Show wins on Rigby as an Amateur are a dream come true for me,” she says. “This was actually my first World Championship Show as a competitor, and also the first major show for Rigby and me as a team, which made the wins even sweeter.
“To qualify for, compete at the highest level, and ultimately win a Golden Globe at the American Quarter
Horse World Championship Show, is the pinnacle of achievement that many competitors and their horses work years and years for, but never reach. For Bud Lyon and Rigby, reaching this milestone together on their first attempt, while outperforming 75 horses, was truly an amazing feat.”
Face to face
“I use all of the lessons I have learned from owning and showing horses – responsibility, compassion, empathy, attention to detail, patience, competitiveness, work ethic and relationshipbuilding – daily in my interactions with customers,” she says. And she looks forward to those interactions occurring face-to-face following the COVID-19 shutdown.
“When you’re sitting down in front of [customers], you can bring something valuable to them. Can I convey that over the phone? Sure. But in conversation, things come up that might not come up on the phone. This is consultative selling – sharing news of the industry, processing updates/changes, in-services, truly listening to your customer’s needs.”
Her husband, Nick Jung, is extremely supportive of his wife’s career and horses, “although he prefers golf as his hobby,” she says. “Having a spouse that encourages your dreams while doing all he can to help you achieve them is a true gift.” She has a 13-year-old stepson, and the family lives on 13 acres in the Texas Hill Country town of Fredericksburg.
“I may be conducting business on a PTO day, but I don’t mind at all, because I know that once I have assisted the customer, I can return to the joy I receive from my partnership with my horses. These partnerships have provided new meaning to work/life balance for me.”
