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OCTOBER 2021 • ISSUE 262

HELPING YOUNG CANCER PATIENTS 13thirty Cancer Connect is a fairly new nonprofit in CNY — they started a chapter in Liverpool in 2019 — but they provide a crucial role: helping teens and young adults with cancer live their best lives. P. 18

Special Issue on Breast Cancer INSIDE Upstate Mammography Van is helping provide a safe and private screening service to women across the region. P. 20

Health Career PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT A fulfilling, broad-based healthcare career that comes with a median salary in CNY of $116,930

Diet, Hormones Can Play a Role in Women’s Hair Loss PAGE 24

ALSO INSIDE • EXPERTS SAY: DROP DETOX PEARLS • CALCIUM AND OTHER BONE BUILDERS • BACK HEALTH DURING PREGNANCY

POISON IVY Until there’s a vaccine, avoiding contact with poison ivy is the best way to avoid the itch. See article by Eva Briggs, M.D. P. 12

New ‘Mu’ Coronavirus Variant: What You Need to Know

A

new coronavirus variant called "mu" that may be able to evade existing antibodies, including those from vaccines, is under close watch by U.S. health officials.

The variant hasn’t taken extensive hold in the United States at this point, but the U.S. National Institute

of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is taking it "very seriously," according to its director, Anthony Fauci.

“We’re keeping a very close eye on it... but it is not at all even close to being dominant,” Fauci told CBS News. “As you know, the delta is more than 99% dominant.”

Do you use I-81?

He noted that while mu, technically known as B.1.621, has mutations suggesting “it would evade certain antibodies,” there isn’t a lot of clinical data to suggest that.

“It is mostly laboratory in vitro data,” Fauci explained.

He added that officials “don’t

consider it an immediate threat right now,” CBS News reported.

In early September, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated mu a “variant of interest,” and said more research is needed to determine if it can evade existing antibodies.

Mu was first detected in Colombia in January.

Mu has been responsible for the country’s third wave of coronavirus infections from April to June, Colombian health official Marcela Mercado told a local radio station. She said there were nearly 700 deaths per day during that wave, and nearly two-thirds of tests from people who died came back positive for the mu variant, CBS News reported.

In the past week, Colombia has seen just under 14,000 new cases of COVID-19 and 530 new deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Less than 30% of the country's citizens are fully vaccinated, CBS News reported.

“Although the global prevalence of the mu variant among sequenced cases has declined and is currently below 0.1%, the prevalence in Colombia (39%) and Ecuador (13%) has consistently increased,” according to the WHO, CBS News reported.

Some larger outbreaks of the mu variant have been reported in South America and Europe.

Johns Hopkins University reported that Colombia has had about 14,000 new cases of COVID-19 and 530 deaths in the first week of September, CBS reported. Its vaccination rate is below 30%.

How to make your comment

We can create a thriving community grid AND build a landmark tall bridge that keeps us moving. Before there is a final decision about the I-81viaduct, NYSDOT is required to consider your opinion.

The public comment period ends Thursday, October 14th.

Phone Email Web Mail

855-481-8255 i81opportunities@dot.ny.gov www.dot.ny.gov/i81opportunities Mark Frechette, P.E. NYS DOT Region 3 333 East Washington St. Syracuse, NY 13202

make your voice heard.

It’s go time!

Contact DOT and tell them to to:build a better bridge.

Page 2

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

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MEET THE UPSTATE UROLOGY TEAM Chairman Urologic oncology; robotic and laparoscopic surgery of prostate, kidney, bladder and adrenal

General urology, andrology

GENNADY BRATSLAVSKY, MD ZAHI N. MAKHULI, MD

Male infertility, erectile dysfunction, andrology, general urology, prosthetics, and Peyronies

OLEG SHAPIRO, MD

Pediatric urology, treatment of hernias and hydroceles, robotic surgery, urinary tract infections, penile abnormalities

MATTHEW D. MASON, MD

JC TRUSSELL, MD

General urology, female and reconstructive urology

ELIZABETH FERRY, MD

General Urology, Endourology and Laporoscopic Surgery

EDWARD IOFFE, MD

Urologic oncology and endourology, robotic and laparoscopic surgery of prostate, kidney, bladder and adrenal; kidney stones

General urology, male health, urologic oncology, enlarged prostate, kidney stones At Upstate Urology of Auburn.

RYAN SIDEBOTTOM, DO

Reconstructive urology; incontinence, prosthetics, urinary fistula, neurogenic bladder, urinary diversion. Robotic surgery.

Urologic oncology; robotic and laparoscopic surgery of prostate, kidney, bladder and adrenal

RUBEN PINKHASOV, MD, MPH Pediatric urology, treatment of hernias and hydroceles, robotic surgery, urinary tract infections, penile abnormalities

ANTHONY J. TRACEY, MD, MPH, FAAP

DMITRIY NIKOLAVSKY, MD

IMAD NSOULI, MD

MAHMOUD CHEHAB, MD

Female and reconstructive urology, urinary incontinence in women, pelvic floor treatment and neurourology

NATASHA GINZBURG, MD Urologic oncology; robotic and laparoscopic surgery of prostate, kidney, bladder and adrenal

NICK LIU, MD Urologic Oncology; robotic and laparoscopic surgery of prostate, kidney, bladder, and adrenal

Urologic oncology; robotic surgery of prostate, kidney, bladder

TOM SANFORD, MD

Pediatric urology, treatment of hernias and hydroceles, robotic surgery, urinary tract infections, penile abnormalities

JEFF VILLANUEVA, MD

TIMOTHY K. BYLER, MD

General urology, male health, urologic oncology, enlarged prostate, kidney stones , and robotic surgery

Kidney Stones, Minimally Invasive Kidney Surgery, Enlarged Prostate

SCOTT WIENER, MD

MRI fusion, male health, prostate cancer and kidney stones

General urology

Urologic oncology; robotic and laparoscopic surgery of prostate, kidney, bladder and adrenal

JOSEPH JACOB, MD

STEPHEN BLAKELY, MD

Incontinence, urethral stricture disease, vesicovaginal fistula, reconstructive surgery, transgender care

HANAN GOLDBERG, MD, MSc

General urology

ROBERT FLEISCHER, MD

UROLOGY

FOR QUESTIONS OR TO MAKE MAK KE A REFERRAL, CALL 315.464.1500 October 2021 •

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

•

Page 3

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HERPES BUT HONEST

Q. You joined AMP in July this year. What drew you to this community?

A. I was at Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology in Boston as a medical director. I was very excited to come to this area, first and foremost, to join this very dynamic group of doctors that combines treatment for a variety of patients, but predominantly for those who have genital-urinary issues. There are other things we treat like standard cancers. I knew this was an excellent group with excellent programs. It’s an area I’ve had a focus on for years. I know this area of New York because of friends and family and I also worked at Roswell Park in Buffalo in the late ‘90s.

I know the area and the people well.

Another thing that drew me here is in my other position as medical director; I was doing both administrative and clinical work. I wanted to focus on clinical. It was like two jobs. I wanted to focus on clinical.

I can treat things I enjoy treating.

Q. What drew you to a career in treating cancer?

A. I had experienced as a young man in my early 20s the death of my father from prostate cancer.

That motivated me to go into medicine, particularly for cancer. I went to medical school in Boston and was at first thinking of surgical oncology, but

Professional Male Seeks

professional non-smoking woman 50-62. Must be understanding or have gone thru the same unfortunate experience.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

my background in biophysics led me to radiation oncology because I wanted to use my background and fight cancer. That drew me to this particular field. I had all my training in Boston at Harvard Medical School and worked out there most recently. I had worked initially at Roswell Park, both patient care and research. Then my focus has been on patient care.

Q. What are your professional goals?

A. I’m very much interested in obviously continuing the excellence in care but adding potentially other treatments to patients. That’s a general statement, but what I’m hoping to be able to do.

Q. What has proven the biggest challenge in your career move?

A. In medicine, it’s learning the people and the systems. There really haven’t been any big challenges.

I’m very excited to be here and the people have been very friendly, and the doctors.

Even the systems around the facility, the hospitals and the people I’ve met a have been terrific.

Q. What has been the most challenging about reopening as the quarantine period ended?

A. What excited me about this is the different doctors working in different specialties working in one unit provides effective,

efficient care so patients don’t have to travel to different places and see different people. That can affect their planning. Especially in a time like this with COVID, we can spare patients long waits, traveling and deciding what’s the best treatment with a multi-disciplinary team that helps us expedite their care. I like working with colleagues this closely on a common cancer.

Q. What are the most recent innovations in cancer treatment?

A. The biggest type of innovation is corollary to what I just said.

We’re combining systemic and local treatment. We can give patients treatment in cancers with radiation that treats local areas and combine it with treatments that work throughout the body like immune therapy, chemotherapy and hormone therapy. Those are just the main ones. To combine systemic treatment with local treatment that allows us to combine these treatments, we’ve seen improvement in eradication of cancer and improvement or extending survival in patients with metastatic disease where we didn’t see survival before.

We treat primary cancer and metastatic sites. That’s a brand-new development. It’s a big one. We’ve come so far since years ago when once patients had metastatic spread; it was one treatment for the whole body or treating just where the cancer was.

With radiation, we can provide targeted, accurate treatment to improve not only the accuracy but avoid other types of tissues to avoid side effects.

That’s a big development in radiation. We can give types of doses that we couldn’t, that would cause more side effects. There are things we do now that we hadn’t even dreamed of.

Q. How do you keep up with advances in your field?

A. No sleep! Actually, like all of us, it’s a lifetime of learning and going to meetings and conferences.

Now we can do a lot online. We work together in educating each other.

We’re not alone in a vacuum. The urologists learn certain things and we learn certain things and we’re often on the same track for treating them.

It maximizes the learning experience, being able to teach and learn from each other. It’s always a challenge.

Things have changed so much over the decades. I’m very happy to be here and be part of this system and contribute to the community. I want to continue to bring things that I might have perspectives on that can bring new ideas.

Lifelines

Name: Gary M. Proulx, MD Position: radiation oncologist with Associated Medical Professionals, Syracuse Home state: New Hampshire Now lives in: Liverpool Education: Harvard Medical School Fellowship: Clinical fellow in radiation oncology Family: Wife, Sarah, and their grown daughter, Kylie Hobbies: playing the guitar and writing mystery & suspense fiction. Proulx published “Seeds of Destruction” (Abbott Press: 2015) and is working on his second novel. He donates the proceeds from book sales to fund to cancer patient support programs.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 5

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Healthcare in a Minute

By George W. Chapman

Providers Refusing Treatment to Unvaccinated Patients

Y

es, they can. This will become more prevalent as the pandemic continues to surge.

Understandably, physicians must protect both their stressed out and frustrated employees and vaccinated patients from unnecessary exposure to the virus. Non-vaccinated patients have the option of being seen via telemedicine.

Critics have falsely claimed this policy violates a physician’s Hippocratic Oath. The oath requires a

physician to do no harm. Exposing staff and patients to the virus constitutes doing harm. Physicians reserve the right to fire noncompliant patients. However, they must continue to care for patients in the middle of treatment or find them an alternative provider.

Providers may soon require new patients to furnish proof of vaccination. This would have to be approved by the insurance companies with which they participate.

2022 Insurance Rates

higher rate increases than northeastern states. MEDPAC, the Medicare advisory committee, is considering a temporary increase in payments to providers who are on the front lines of the pandemic war. Rural hospitals and physicians have been hit hardest by the pandemic.

The pandemic has been a giant curveball and it has actuaries scratching their heads when pondering insurance rates for next year. They must tease out “normal” trends in healthcare utilization from “temporary” trends created by and endemic to the pandemic. The current surge of the delta variance does not make their calculations any easier. Keep in mind the ACA requires insurers to spend at least 85% of premiums and revenues on claims. They can retain 15% of premiums for profit and operating expenses. Any amount less than 85% must be rebated to employers or individuals. Insurers have three years to calculate and comply. Most insurers issued rebates in 2018 and 2019.

So any fears of significant premium increases or price gouging by insurers in 2022 is mitigated by the ACA 85% rule. Actuaries did not factor in COVID-19 adjustments to their 2021 calculations due to the uncertainty created by the novel virus and that they had to issue rebates in 2018 and 2019. However, now that they have plenty of actual pandemic data, so there is less uncertainty. Most likely, COVID-19 adjustments will be factored into 2022 rates. Rates will vary by region based on the percentage of population vaccinated, COVID-19 related emergency room claims and of course hospitalizations. Theoretically, southeastern states could incur Page 6

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Hospitals Under Siege Hospitals and their staffs are our much-underappreciated frontline in the war against the virus. Currently, with the surge in the delta virus fueled primarily by vaccine hesitancy, it seems we are all losing the war.

(1,500 deaths per day as of mid September.) Incredibly, despite massive staff burnout, turnover, resignations and financial distress, Congress is cutting their funding in the midst of the war. The shortsighted “Pay As You Go” act of 2010 decrees unbudgeted increases in overall federal spending triggers automatic cuts in some programs like — Medicare.

In defense of the curious act, it was written almost a decade before the pandemic. Consequently, the hospital lobby has been busy. The mandated cut of 4% or $36 billion went into effect Sept. 30. Even if the lobby convinces Congress to cancel the 4% cut, their work is just beginning. Incredibly, the recently passed $1 trillion infrastructure bill calls for cuts to…

Medicare to pay for it. And this was written in the middle of the pandem-

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

ic. Cutting hospital funding in the middle of a war is patently absurd.

On top of this all, the payroll tax supported Medicare hospital fund (Part A versus physician Part B) is projected to run out in five years. The main reason is less people working the past two years means less taxes collected.

Theranos Scandal Three years since being indicted on 11 counts of fraud and conspiracy, the trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has begun. “Wunderkind” Holmes quit Stanford after one year in 2003 to start a lab that promised to produce several blood assays on just a few drops of blood (versus the traditional several vials of blood).

Investors including Walgreens, Henry Kissinger, Betsy DeVos and Rupert Murdoch were quick to dump more than $600 million into the fledgling startup Theranos. By 2015 the company was valued at an incredible $10 billion despite never having produced a single test. When asked to do so, she ran blood tests on standard blood analyzers. Holmes is facing 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine per 11 indictments.

Best Cities for Mental Health A national survey conducted by a telehealth company ranked the quality of mental health services in our 50 most populous cities. Seven factors went into calculating the rankings: cost per therapy session; total prescription charges; mandatory treatment laws; criminalization of mental illness; provider to population ratio; poor mental health days; overall community well- being.

The “best” cities were: Denver, Salt Lake, Minneapolis, Seattle, Hartford and Baltimore. The “worst” cities were: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami. As for entire states, Colorado had the lowest cost per therapy session at $115, one of the best ratios of providers per population at 1/70 and one of the lowest total prescription charges at just over $3 billion. (While that sounds high, we lead the world

in prescription drug usage at $1,300 per person annually. The total mental health drug charges in “worst” city Dallas were more than $23 billion.) In Florida, with three of the “worst” cities, the average therapy session cost $142 an hour and there is only one provider per 590 people. The cities with the best provider to population ratios were New York, San Francisco and Portland.

Drug Prices You have may noticed two new, ubiquitous, polar opposite, TV ads regarding drug pricing. One ad, sponsored by a consumer advocacy group, implores Congress and Medicare to use its vast purchasing power to fairly negotiate prices with drug manufacturers. Drug manufactures have been free to raise prices at will, totally unrestricted. (It should be noted that Medicare does not bother to negotiate prices with physicians and hospitals as it literally SETS what they will pay.) Medical debt, often the result of hugely expensive drug copays, is the number one cause of personal bankruptcy. The other ad is sponsored by the drug manufacturers. It attempts to scare people into believing their medicine will no longer be available if Medicare negotiates prices. There isn’t a drug company, let alone ANY company, in the world that would refuse to sit down and fairly negotiate with a buyer (Medicare) representing more than 160 million consumers. The drug ad leads you to believe innovation will be negatively impacted. Over the last five years, most of drug profits have gone towards buying back stock.

George W. Chapman is a healthcare business consultant who works exclusively with physicians, hospitals and healthcare organizations. He operates GW Chapman Consulting based in Syracuse. Email him at gwc@gwchapmanconsulting.com.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 7

Live Alone & Thrive

By Gwenn Voelckers

Practical tips, advice and hope for those who live alone

Having the Courage to Live Alone

I

was inspired to write this column on courage after receiving this email below from a reader:

Dear Gwenn, You would appreciate this. I just have to share these two recent experiences I had as a single woman.

Last week, on the spur of the moment, I got up and off my couch and went to an outdoor concert at a cool, rustic music venue called Lincoln Hill Farms overlooking Canandaigua Lake. It’s the first live music I’ve heard since COVID turned me into a couch potato.

A self-described old hippie, I thought this Woodstock-ish farm setting would be a safe bet for me. So, I mustered the courage to make a solo trip to the lake to listen to an acoustic duo play oldies, but goodies.

Easy, right? Well, not so much.

After ordering a salad (delicious!) from the food truck, I took a seat at one of the picnic tables near the stage and tried to adopt the carefree posture of a single confident woman on her own. I faked it for a while, then retreated to the safety of my car, and ultimately to my couch at home. Still, I felt good I made the effort!

Then this week, I went to meet a “match date” — only I went to the

right place on the wrong day. I waited an hour, established rapport with the single-mom hostess, and then gave up. I moved inside to a high-top near the bar and ordered a glass of wine and an appetizer.

I could tell the waitress thought it was odd I was alone. (I did not have the courage to eat outdoors where all of the other couples had seen me waiting for an hour). Last night, I met the guy at the right place on the right day.

Being single requires courage!

Erica (not her real name)

—

How right this reader is. Living alone does require courage. In fact, “Erica’s” email got me thinking about all the many and varied ways that living alone asks (demands) that we demonstrate courage, almost on a daily basis.

On my own, I’ve discovered it takes courage to: • Sleep alone. That “bump in the night” can test even the strongest among us. Thank goodness for my white-noise maker.

• Get up alone. Where did all this anxiety come from? I just woke up for cripes sake! This is when I repeat my mantra: “All I need is within me now.” Then I set my intentions

for my day.

• Show up alone. Early on, this was hard for me, especially if I suspected my ex might be at the event.

I discovered that a little preparation goes a long way. I would visualize handling the encounter with grace and, importantly, brevity.

A few pleasantries and a “take care” helped me move past the encounter in a relatively quick and painless manner.

• Throw a party. What was I thinking? Will anyone show up? The bathroom still needs cleaning! As a single host, I found that starting small was key. Having a few friends over for a “breakfast at Wimbledon” get-together got the ball rolling for me. And it was easier than I thought.

Since then, inviting friends and family into my home has been a tremendous source of joy.

• Ask for help. It took me a while to overcome my fear of being seen as weak or vulnerable after my divorce.

When I finally acknowledged that I did, indeed, need help from time to time, I was pleasantly surprised by the kindness of others and deeply touched by their willingness to pitch in and offer a helping hand.

• Set a mousetrap. Or worse, dispose of one that’s “occupied.” Mice, spiders, pet accidents, a plugged toilet: you name it, I’ve dealt with it.

And so can you. All it takes is a little resolve and a heavy-duty pair of rubber gloves. One exception: I found a bat in my living room a few years ago and needed to call in reinforcements.

• Say “yes” to a welcome invitation. He’s kinda cute. But then what?

At my age? I say give it whirl! One of the advantages of being a little older is increased self-awareness and the confidence to be who you truly are “as is.” Pretending to be otherwise will only compromise your chances of meeting someone who loves you

just the way you are.

• Say “no” to an unwelcome advance. The ring on his finger is a real turn-off! Depending on the situation, and with a clear unapologetic voice, consider one of these responses: I don’t welcome this kind of attention; No, I’m not interested; This makes me uncomfortable, please leave me alone.

• Travel alone. Traveling alone, just like living alone requires the right frame of mind to be successful and enjoyable. When people hear about my solo travels, many exclaim, “Oh, you are so brave!” I want to respond, “Well, not really.”

With thoughtful planning and precautions, going it alone can be empowering and exhilarating. When was the last time you experienced the freedom to do whatever you wanted to do on your terms, your budget, your time table?

• Make a major purchase. I knew I should be practical, but what I really wanted was that sporty, little red sedan. What to do? I bought it! All on my own.

In my teens, I relied on my father’s advice when making major purchases. When I got married, I relied on husband’s. Now, I rely on myself. And that’s major.

When we demonstrate courage, when we take risks, we grow. We become stronger, more resilient, more independent, and more able to live the life of our dreams.

We become better at living alone.

Gwenn Voelckers is the founder and facilitator of Alone and Content, empowerment workshops for women and author of “Alone and Content,” a collection of inspiring essays for those who live alone. For information about her workshops, to purchase her book, or invite Voelckers to speak, visit www.aloneandcontent.com

Kids’ Accidental Poisonings Are on the Rise: Protect Your Child

A

s the COVID-19 pandemic grinds on and stress on families mounts, more kids are falling victim to accidental poisoning.

Experts attribute the surge to disrupted sleep patterns, work schedules and parenting routines.

“I think what’s happening is, parents are challenged with a couple of things,” said Helen Arbogast, manager of the injury prevention program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “One is working from home, so they may be incredibly distracted and leave things around that they ordinarily use. And I also think we can’t underestimate the impact of the stress caused by the pandemic. Medical marijuana is one of the strategies people use to alleviate some of that.”

The hospital, which typically sees one or two poisoning cases a week, saw that double in the second half of 2020. Edible marijuana and

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prescription meds are the most common ingested substances.

To keep kids safe, Arbogast suggests parents and caregivers start by making sure medications are locked up and out of reach. Keep them in the childproof container supplied by the pharmacy, she urged, and not in a Sunday-through-Saturday pill box, which can be easy for a child to open.

If pills have expired, dispose of them responsibly.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a primer on safely getting rid of unused meds. The best way with most is to take them to the pharmacy or designated take-back site. Some meds can be placed in household trash and a few can be flushed down the toilet, Arbogast said. The FDA has a list of those.

She said the whole family needs to be educated and on top of safety.

While grandparents may be caring for young grandchildren, their home

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

Edible marijuana and prescription meds are the most common ingested substances by kids. may not be childproofed.

“Now grandma’s doing the work, and it’s been a long time since she’s had a small child,” Arbogast said. “So she doesn’t even think to put her heart medication away.”

Make sure everyone who cares for your child is aware of the potential for poison ingestion. Remind them to put all medications or cannabis away.

Keep the poison control number (800-222-1222) handy. Call it immediately if you suspect your child has swallowed something poisonous.

Don’t wait for an adverse reaction to confirm it, because reactions vary by the toxin consumed.

“Some may cause vomiting;

some may cause lethargy where the kid is kind of non-responsive; some might cause a stomach illness,” Arbogast said. “If you think they ingested edibles, that’s not going to have the same kind of reaction as prescription medication. We can’t say, ‘If they look like this, do this.’”

Poison Control can help you determine next steps.

“This pandemic is not behind us yet, and families are still trying to figure out what normal is,” Arbogast said. “So, it’s time for us to think about having our children in new environments. We just want them to be thinking about their child’s safety at every destination.”

15 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Wasted in U.S. Since March 1

A

t least 15 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been thrown away in the United States since March 1, government data shows.

That’s a far greater amount than previously known, but it is still just a small fraction of the total doses administered in this country, according to NBC News.

The data is self-reported by pharmacies, states and other vaccine providers, but does not include some states and federal providers, and it also does not explain the reasons doses were thrown away, NBC News reported.

Four national pharmacy chains each reported more than 1 million wasted doses, led by Walgreens with 2.6 million, the most of any pharmacy, state or other vaccine provider, followed by CVS (2.3 million), Walmart (1.6 million) and Rite Aid (1.1 million), NBC News reported.

There are numerous reasons why doses may be marked as wasted, from a cracked vial or an error diluting the vaccine to a freezer malfunction to more doses in a vial than people who want them. A wastage report can also happen when a vial contains fewer doses than it should, NBC News said.

As early September, 438 million doses have been distributed in the

United States, while an additional 111.7 million doses have been sent to other countries since Aug. 3, NBC News reported.

The data was released as many countries struggle to get COVID-19 vaccines.

“It’s really tragic that we have a situation where vaccines are being wasted while lots of African countries have not had even 5% of their populations vaccinated,” Sharifah Sekalala, an associate professor of global health law at England’s University of Warwick who studies health care inequalities in infectious diseases, told NBC News.

But Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the portion of wasted doses “remains extremely low.”

“As access to COVID-19 vaccine has increased, it is important for providers to not miss any opportunity to vaccinate every eligible person who presents at vaccine clinics, even if it may increase the likelihood of leaving unused doses in a vial,” Nordlund told NBC News.

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Change in the Kitchen Could Help Men in the Bedroom The Mediterranean diet can bring many benefits for the human body, including a healthier heart and a sharper brain.

But there’s another benefit that might be of particular interest to men.

Following a Mediterranean diet can lower a man’s future risk of erectile dysfunction, according to research presented online in August at the European Society of Cardiology’s annual meeting.

Researchers found that the diet improves blood vessel health throughout the entire body — includ-

ing the penis.

Men following the Mediterranean diet had higher levels of testosterone, better erectile performance and more flexible arteries, results showed.

“It seems plausible that this dietary pattern may improve fitness and erectile performance by enhancing function of the blood vessels and limiting the fall in testosterone that occurs in midlife,” physicians Athanasios Angelis, from the University of Athens in Greece, said in a meeting news release.

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In Good Health is published 12 times a year by Local News, Inc. © 2021 by Local News, Inc. All rights reserved.

P.O. Box 276, Oswego, NY 13126 Phone: 315-342-1182 • Fax: 315-342-7776 • Email: editor@cnyhealth.com Editor & Publisher: Wagner Dotto • Writers: Deborah J. Sergeant, Jim Miller, Gwenn Voelckers, Deborah Banikowski, Anne Palumbo, Chris Motola, Melissa Stefanec, Eva Briggs (MD), Mary Beth Roach, Sady Alvarado-Fischer, Molly English-Bowers • Advertising: Cassandra Lawson, Amy Gagliano Layout & Design: Joey Sweener • Office Manager: Nancy Nitz

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Page 9

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Page 10

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

Still Using Hand Sanitizers?

Some Contain CancerCausing Ingredient

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

F

or more than 18 months, much of the world has been slathering on hand sanitizer to protect against COVID-19.

That may not be a good idea.

A new study found in several brands of sanitizer high levels of “contaminants” — including benzene, a cancer-causing agent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The FDA has issued a list of sanitizer brands to avoid.

Valisure, a product testing company in Connecticut, examined 260 bottles of sanitizer from 168 brands and discovered that 17% of the samples contained detectable levels of benzene. Of those, 21 bottles contained levels of benzene above two parts per million. The FDA set that amount as a temporary measure to help supply sanitizer during the pandemic. Ordinarily, the FDA ranks benzene as too toxic for inclusion in personal care products.

Ramsey Farah, dermatologist with Farah Dermatology in Syracuse, said to simply “avoid the sanitizers

on that list. Common sense dictates that if you have one on that list to not use it and get a different one. If possible, wash with water and soap.

Use that as much as possible as a replacement for hand sanitizer if hand sanitizers are a concern for you.”

He does not see the hand sanitizer contamination issue as resulting in a rise in cancer.

“The amount of hand sanitizer getting into your body is pretty low,” he said. “Your skin is warm. Some harmful chemicals will evaporate away before absorbed. Some people are going to be at higher risk than others for absorption.”

He listed people in healthcare, who use hand sanitizer constantly.

But those not using it repeatedly all day should have no concern about its use. Farah does not advocate abandoning use of hand sanitizer when hand washing facilities are not available.

Although sanitizing stations have become part of most public facilities, taking your own bottle from

Leading by Example with an I.D.E.A. Mindset

By Sady Alvarado-Fischer

A

Medicare Made Simple, LLC t Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, we believe we have an opportunity and duty to pave the way for positive change in the communities we serve. This starts internally, as we define our health plan’s core values and behaviors, and resonates outward through our relationships with community partners.

“The Medicare OneLady” initiative we’re most proud of is our work to foster an environment where inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (I.D.E.A.) are explicitly recognized as fundamental to our corporate culture. The I.D.E.A.

mindset guides us in all we do, creating spaces for all people to be valued, seen, and empowered. We are intentional in our approach to addressing and mitigating the impact of biases, and remain committed to equitable treatment for all, inside our organization, and beyond our walls.

Steps taken to ensure this momentum include the creation of a department within our organization devoted to this work. Internally, we have launched a Stand Against Racism Pledge signing campaign to encourage employees to get engaged in this issue. We created our own

home can ensure you have a safe product to use.

Rich Pinckney, pharmacist at Rx City Pharmacy in Auburn, advises clients to properly wash whenever possible.

“We’re trying in the pandemic to keep everyone healthy and kill as many germs as possible,” Pinckney said. “If you can’t get to soap and water, which kills COVID for sure, hand sanitizers will kill it. You should still wash with soap and water.”

Washing all surfaces of the hands for a total of 20 seconds and rinsing should suffice.

Using sanitizer to try to scrub off soil uses much more of the product and is not as effective as washing for removing soil.

Reducing the amount of sanitizer used can help reduce exposure to any possible contaminants and minimize drying of the skin. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention page on hand hygiene recommendations at https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing, which recommends using hand sanitizer of at least 60% alcohol content when soap and water are not available to clean hands.

Pinckney encourages those who use sanitizer—especially those who use it regularly—to seek a name brand.

Off brands could be sourced from countries not as stringent with ingredients as the United States, which means contaminants not deemed safe by the FDA could be present.

“Stand Against Racism Curriculum” to educate our employees on implicit bias, white privilege, microaggressions, allyship, and more. We introduced our staff to a series presented by the New York Times called “Conversations on Race,” and participated in hugely successful 21-day Racial Equity Challenge.

Excellus BCBS observes Juneteenth and Pride Month, providing opportunities not only for celebration, but also to raise awareness, provide resources, share stories, and engage in dialogue that deepens our commitment to equity and inclusion. Our employees are encouraged to join employee resource groups designed to increase cultural understanding through the sharing of ideas among ethnically and culturally diverse groups.

Our organization was recently listed among the Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality by the Corporate Equality Index that is administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, and a Best Place to

Work for Disability Inclusion by the Disability Equality Index that is administered by Disability:IN and the American Association of People with Disabilities.

While we have made great strides, guided by the I.D.E.A. mindset, Excellus BCBS’s efforts are ongoing, and we hope an inspiration to other employers to follow suit.

Together we can make a difference.

Among our next steps, Excellus BCBS recently announced a Health Equity Award competition to help fund health and wellness programs that address racial and ethnic health disparities in Central New York.

Nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organizations throughout our region’s five counties are invited to apply. Find details online at www.excellusbcbs.com, then type “community investments partnerships” in the search menu.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 11

My Turn

By Eva Briggs, MD

Leaves of Three, Let it Be

Until there’s a vaccine, avoiding contact with poison ivy is the best way to avoid the itch

M

ost of us – 85 % — react to poison ivy.

The rash itches severely, hurts and blisters. Untreated, it drags on for weeks. My husband, a forester, is ultra-careful to attempt to avoid poison ivy. He wears long sleeves and washes as soon as he exits the woods. He still manages to contract it almost every year. Ten percent of lost-time injuries for forest service employees are caused by poison ivy.

The culprit is an oily chemical called urushiol. Poison ivy and its many relatives in the genus toxidendron deposit it in their leaves and

stems. The name toxidendron derives from the Greek toxicos (poison) plus dendron (tree.) The word urushiol comes from the Japanese word for lacquer tree, whose sap produces a hard, skin-irritating, lacquer.

To make matters worse, rising carbon dioxide levels from climate change induces the plants to make a more toxic variety of urushiol. Unlike many allergic skin reactions, the rash of poison ivy is not caused by the release of histamine chemicals. So, antihistamines like diphenhydramine (Benadryl), cetirizine (Zyrtec) and loratadine (Claritin) don’t help. Topical

steroid creams like hydrocortisone are not particularly effective, either.

Steroid pills relieve poison ivy but often have side effects and require prolonged use.

If histamine is not the culprit, how does poison ivy cause such misery? One itch-producing chemical is interleukin-33, or IL-33. In mice, blocking either IL-33 or its receptor resolves the itch. Poison ivy may be common but, in the great scheme of things, it’s not a top medical research priority. Because IL-33 plays a role in asthma and eczema, at least two drug companies are working on potential

drugs to block it. A treatment for poison ivy could be a nice secondary bonus.

A second pathway contributing to the miserable itch of poison ivy involves release of chemicals from a type of immune cell called mast cells.

This is another potential target for future poison ivy treatments.

How about a vaccine to prevent contracting poison ivy in the first place? Research on a chemical called PDC-APB is under way in humans.

This synthetic version of the active portion of urushiol was developed at University of Mississippi. Injected every one to two years, it may reduce or eliminate reactions to poison ivy, oak and sumac. It’s been successful in pilot trials in guinea pigs.

In the meantime, learn to recognize the waxy green leaves, in groups of three, which turn crimson in the fall. Avoid them. Wear long sleeves if you are sensitive and likely to encounter poison ivy. Wash off immediately after returning inside. Soap is required to remove urushiol which is oily. Automotive grease hand cleaners work especially well.

Eva Briggs is a retired medical doctor who practiced in Central New York for several decades. She lives in Marcellus.

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Page 12

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

Health Career

Physician Assistant: A Fulfilling, Broad-based Healthcare Career

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

F

ew careers in healthcare share the same kind of impact as the physician assistant.

The PA often performs tasks and works in roles like that of the medical doctor, but the PA educational path is shorter than the MD’s. That means that more PAs can enter the field to fill the gaps in healthcare caused by the increased demand and massive number of MD retirements happening. Like the MD, the entrance into PA programs is tough. Only about 2%-3% of applicants even enter the program.

“Oftentimes, they want a 3.5 GPA, but they also look at how your grades have progressed throughout your undergraduate experience,” said Cathy Burkett, director of advanced practice providers at Crouse Health. “Maybe in the first two years you didn’t tailor your undergrad courses or you started out rocky and ended up strong. They look at the entirety of your transcript to see how competitive you are as a student.”

She added that students applying to a PA program also need to present experience in the healthcare field. LeMoyne, for example, requires 750 total hours. It’s also helpful if applicants have participated in extracurricular activities such as sports that demonstrate high achievement and teamwork.

“You also need letters of recommendation to get into school,” Burkett said.

Students can enter a PA program directly out of high school, which is a five-year program instead of a total of six years for those who complete a bachelor’s and then enter a two-year PA program.

The entry is so challenging that nationwide, PA programs boast an attrition rate of less than 1%. The applicants can participate in the five-year program directly out of high school or enter the two-year program if they already have a bachelor’s degree.

The final year of either program is working at hospital, rotating through a variety of settings every four or five weeks. After graduation,

PAs must take a board exam and pass a background check to obtain their state license. At that point, they can practice in every setting in healthcare and in any specialty, augmented by on-the-job training. They must also complete 100 hours of continuing education credits every two years and sit for the exam every 10 years.

The flexibility of the PA field is part of what drew Matthew Kohls to become a physician assistant. He currently works at Oswego Health Fulton PrimeCare.

“I’m not stuck in one medical specialty,” Kohls said. “If I’m in family medicine, I could see if there’s a position in surgery. I’d get transferred to work in surgery. As a MD, once you do your residency, you stick with that specialty.”

PAs receive on-the-job training to different shift specialties. The licensing process varies among the states. For example, in New York, a PA needs only one license to practice with a MD or a doctor of osteopathic medicine. In Pennsylvania, PAs need separate licenses.

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are sometimes referred to as “physician extenders”— not a term preferred by PAs — because they allow the office to extend care to more patients. “Mid-level provider” is also a term viewed negatively by PAs. PAs and NPs perform similar tasks. However, PA training focuses on the medical model and NP training on the nursing model, which is patient-centered.

“Both get an adequate amount of schooling,” Kohls said. “Both work alongside a physician to examine patients, prescribe medication, treat, and can be a primarily healthcare provider.”

PAs can progress into management roles and into education.

Kohls enjoys seeing patients and helping people.

“The medical field just fascinates me,” Kohls said. “You see someone surviving this crazy thing or some doctor comes in and turns around a

The annual median pay for a PA in the Central New York area is $116,930. medical situation. It’s a great career to get into. It’s great meeting and talking with patients.”

PAs can perform physical examinations, diagnose, order lab work, interpret lab work, perform procedures and assist at surgeries. At some practices, they see their own panel of patients.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook from 2020 through 2030 is 31% growth, much higher than most other careers.

“A lot of the reason is that a lot of doctors are starting to retire and not as many doctors are coming into the field,” Kohls said. “NPs and PAs are filling that gap when doctors retire.”

The annual median pay for a PA in the Central New York area is $116,930.

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Page 13

Loop the Lake Trail

The peak of the West Shore bridge provides a view of the East Flume, a breakwall with resting waterfowl, the occasional fishing boat and the southeastern shoreline of Onondaga Lake.

Newest segment of Onondaga Lake Park Trail offers novel views of the lake and a safe pathway to the city

New Races Use New Trail

P

lenty of running races use the eastern trail of Onondaga Lake Park. Here’s a new event that begins at Chevy Court on the State Fairgrounds and uses different portions of the westside trail, depending on the race distance.

It’s called the Great New York State Marathon. The shorter distances will take place Oct. 16, while the longer two races will be Oct. 17. Runners can opt to double up for the weekend, combining a Saturday race with one on Sunday to complete an Excelsior Challenge.

The 5K and 10K distances head southwest before turning back and finishing at Chevy Court. The half-marathon will truly “loop the lake” while the full marathon will take Route 370 toward Baldwinsville before turning back and picking up the West Shore Trail to the same finish.

The event benefits Kalleigh’s Cause. Founded in Central New York, the charity is set up to help raise awareness for rare diseases, provide family resources and fund research in the search to find a cure for arteriovenous malformation.

Race fees range from $35$115.

Find more information at greatnewyorkstatemarathon.org.

By Molly English-Bowers

I

t may be only 1.1 miles long, but it’s a big step toward completing the long-awaited Loop the Lake trail.

We’re talking about the extension of the West Shore Trail running roughly parallel to Route 690 from near the Orange Lot to the Onondaga Creekwalk. It opened a little more than a year ago, on Aug. 14, 2020.

“That new spur of the trail is awesome,” said Brian Kelley, commissioner of Onondaga County Parks, in a telephone interview. “People get to see a view from that side of the lake that they never were able to see before. It’s popular beyond our wildest dreams.”

The new asphalt trail starts at Honeywell’s Onondaga Lake Visitors Center across Harbor Brook via a really cool bridge to Hiawatha Boulevard, lengthening the Loop-theLake project to nearly nine miles out of 13.5 planned.

From the Creekwalk at Hiawatha, walkers, cyclists and the like can eventually pick up the Empire State Trail that runs to DeWitt along several miles of bike path built into the median of Erie Boulevard. You could get to Albany and New York City from here.

Would you rather go to Buffalo?

Then head uphill to the West Shore Trail to cross the orange lot to the State Fairgrounds. There you will pick up the Empire State Trail that heads west. So not only can you ultimately reach New York City from this new link, but it’s the next step in the long-anticipated plan to loop the lake.

“We are in the planning stages to get over the railroad tracks behind Destiny USA and access Murphy’s Island,” Kelley said. “We don’t know yet how that’s going to be done. We have to establish the hurdles and then construct that portion the right Page 14

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From left Honeywell paved the West Shore trail leading up to the bridge, which measures 1,000 feet long and 12 feet wide and allows users to safely cross over CSX railroad tracks below. The bridge’s incline complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act; Another view of the bridge as it heads toward the terminus of this section of trail at Hiawatha Boulevard in Syracuse. Onondaga County received approval from CSX to build the 23-foot-high support structure for the bridge. way protecting the environment and making sure it is safe.”

While Murphy’s Island is known for bald eagle sightings, this new trail also provides plenty of opportunities for bird-watching: more than 135 species of birds have made their way here, according to Honeywell’s website lakecleanup.com.

“It’s an excellent bird-watching spot,” said Kelley.

If you prefer relaxing with a rod and reel, this new trail offers several fishing access sites as well as a boat launch next to the visitors center.

Anglers can park at lots adjacent to the fishing sites.

“The fishing opportunities are so robust,” Kelley said.

While it’s still questionable to eat fish caught in the lake, dozens of species find their way there. Among those, according to the New York State Department of Environmental

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

Conservation, are large- and smallmouth bass, tiger musky, northern pike, walleye, pumpkinseed sunfish, bluegill, black crappie, rock bass and yellow perch.

To enhance fishing opportunities, plans are in the works to construct a 100-foot-long deep-water fishing pier along with a nearby parking lot for 30 vehicles. Honeywell has also planted wildflowers and installed benches on either side of the trail.

An impressive bridge looms as you head southeast toward the city or northwest toward the lake. It was completed in December 2020.

“The bridge allows our trail to continue the effort in looping the lake,” Kelley said. “The main draw is the view; it’s breathtaking.”

Indeed, if you face north at the apex of the bridge you will see Onondaga Lake laid out in front of you, including sailboats and birds. The

bridge makes it possible for the trail to continue above Harbor Brook and the railroad tracks below.

If you can handle the windchill, in winter the view will be vastly different. Leaf-less trees will reveal more shoreline and you’ll be able to see the Christmastime Lights on the Lake display from a different perspective.

The new trail will not be plowed in winter, Kelley said. So visitors can cross-country ski and snowshoe.

These projects are part of an agreement among Honeywell, Onondaga County, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the DEC to restore and protect wildlife habitat and water quality and to enhance recreational opportunities.

When Allied Chemical (the major polluter of the lake) came under the Honeywell umbrella in 1999, the contaminated lake was part of the deal. Given no choice from governmental entities, Honeywell devised a plan for lake mitigation, which has included dredging the lake, capping portions of the one-time Superfund site to contain contaminants, contributing to trail construction and building the visitors center.

Furthermore, this 1.1-mile walkway represents the promise of Loop the Lake and the recreation potential of the lake. These have been discussed for decades and it’s finally seeing progress. This new lakeshore trail represents another step in that process.

“It’s an exciting time for parks,” said Kelley. “As tough as 2020 was, we were busier than ever. People weren’t traveling and our parks became a haven to get out of the house and exercise. It was a wonderful thing to have this trail available. The trail is one of the unique recreational opportunities you will find in the Syracuse area.”

SmartBites

By Anne Palumbo

Healthy Vegetable Cabbage Soup

The skinny on healthy eating

Why Often-Overlooked Cabbage Deserves a Closer Look

I

always love a good nutritional surprise; and cabbage doesn’t disappoint.

Although many varieties abound, today’s column focuses on the most popular cabbage consumed in the US: green cabbage.

So what’s so surprising about this underrated vegetable? One, it’s a nutritional powerhouse, on par with many of its cruciferous cousins: broccoli, cauliflower and kale. Two, it’s inexpensive and versatile: as delicious raw as it is cooked. Three, it’s climbed to the top of pandemic cooking for this mundane reason: it lasts longer in the fridge than most vegetables!

Let’s start with one of cabbage’s most noteworthy health perks: its potential to keep chronic inflammation in check. Although inflammation plays a vital role in healing, chronic inflammation may increase the risk of certain diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and some autoimmune diseases. Cabbage teems with powerful compounds and vitamins that quell inflammation by gobbling up toxins that attack tissues and subsequently cause a high inflammatory response.

Another perk to ponder? Cabbage is surprisingly good for hearts, and in more ways than one. Its fiber helps prevents heart disease by lowering both blood pressure and cholesterol and also by filling us up, which helps us eat less and maintain a heart-friendly weight. Its vitamin K benefits tickers by preventing a

build-up of calcium in our blood—a buildup that can harden arteries, a leading cause of heart attacks and strokes. And, as mentioned, its inflammation-busting antioxidants— from vitamin C to manganese to phytonutrients—are a heart’s best friend.

If cancer concerns you, this leafy superfood should find its way into your diet on a regular basis. According to the National Cancer Institute, cruciferous vegetables, like cabbage, contain unique sulfur-containing compounds—glucosinolates—that help the body fight cancer. They do this by impeding the growth or development of cancer in a number of ways: by causing carcinogens to become inactive, by inhibiting the formation of blood vessels in tumors, by hindering the migration of cancer cells, and much more.

More good reasons to reach for this nutrient-dense hero: it’s super low in calories (only 20 per chopped, raw cup); it has no fat or cholesterol; and it’s available year-round.

Just How Healthy Are Pomegranates?

P

omegranates can be a little intimidating. Cutting one open requires some precision. And are they even worth the work to free all those little ruby red buds inside?

Nutritionists think so.

“Pomegranates are high in dietary fiber and antioxidants,” said Penny Kris-Etherton, the Evan Pugh University Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania.

The fruit’s red color comes from plant pigments called polyphenols found in many plant-based foods that work as antioxidants in the body and help fight inflammation and aging.

When you open a pomegranate, you find a bounty of red, round arils that have a sweet but tart taste.

Inside each aril is a small seed. It’s OK to eat the arils as a whole or stick with the juice and spit out the seeds.

But don’t eat the rind and white areas, called membranes, around the arils.

Half of a cup of arils has 72 calories, 16 grams of carbohydrates and

three grams of fiber. Pomegranates also have a lot of folate, potassium and vitamin K. Originally from Iran and India, the “jewels of autumn,” as pomegranates are called, are actually considered a berry. They grow primarily in the Mediterranean, Middle East, South Asia and parts of Arizona and California. Even long ago, pomegranates were associated with abundance, fertility and luck.

Pomegranates are believed to boost heart health, although according to the National Institutes of Health, so far research on the berry is still limited.

Kris-Etherton said the antioxidant content in pomegranates could help lower inflammation and, as a result, promote healthy arteries. How

Helpful tips Select cabbage heads that feel solid and heavy in your hand, with leaves that are tightly attached to the head. Avoid buying precut cabbage (including shredded); once cabbage is cut it begins to lose its vitamin C content. To store in the fridge (preferably in the crisper drawer): Keep your cabbage whole, don’t rinse it, and place it in a plastic bag.

Properly stored, cabbage can last from 3 weeks to up to 2 months.

When preparing cabbage, avoid long cooking methods and boiling, which cause vital nutrients to diminish.

pomegranates affect heart disease, however, is not known and requires further study.

A 2017 review published in Pharmacological Research of eight clinical trials showed pomegranate juice reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The effect remained even when consuming pomegranate juice at different amounts. The authors concluded it “may be prudent to include this fruit juice in a heart-healthy diet.”

Results, however, are mixed on whether pomegranate juice helps lower cholesterol.

Researchers in a 2019 review published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine examined 17 trials but did not find any significant effects on cholesterol. Researchers said it was hard to compare the trials because they were designed differently and did not use consistent amounts of pomegranate.

Keep in mind a few precautions before you go pomegranate crazy.

October 2021 •

Adapted from Delish.com Serves 6 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 2 large carrots, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped ½ teaspoon chili powder ½ teaspoon cumin ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon coarse black pepper 1 (15 oz) can white beans, drained and rinsed 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon dried thyme 4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth ½ large head cabbage, cored and chopped 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice pinch of red pepper flakes (optional) In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes; then add carrots, celery, chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper and cook for about 5-6 minutes more, stirring often. Stir in beans, garlic, and thyme and cook for 1 minute more. Add broth and bring to a simmer.

Stir in tomatoes and cabbage and cook on low until cabbage is wilted, about 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and red pepper flakes, if using. Adjust seasonings and serve.

Anne Palumbo is a lifestyle colum-

nist, food guru, and seasoned cook, who has perfected the art of preparing nutritious, calorie-conscious dishes. She is hungry for your questions and comments about SmartBites, so be in touch with Anne at avpalumbo@aol.com.

Because it can lower blood pressure, Kris-Etherton cautions to first check with your doctor if you take blood pressure medicine. The two together could lower blood pressure too much.

Also, pomegranates could slow the speed at which the liver breaks down some types of medicines.

This includes cholesterol-lowering medication like statins. Pomegranates also may interact with the blood thinner warfarin, decreasing the blood-thinning effect and increasing the chance of clotting. To be safe, talk with a health care professional before regularly consuming pomegranate fruit or pomegranate juice.

A small number of people may experience digestive issues such as diarrhea from eating pomegranates, the National Institutes of Health reports.

Although you probably won’t eat the root, stem and peel, consuming too much of these parts of the fruit may not be safe.

For most people, pomegranates offer yet another tasty option to eat more fruit. At the store, look for pomegranates that feel heavy and have firm skin. Enjoy the fruit on its own, or add it to smoothies, soups and salads.

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 15

Women’s Health Saint Agatha Foundation: Laurie Mezzalingua’s Legacy Nonprofit helps uninsured and underinsured women in the Central New York area with their financial needs during their cancer treatments

By Mary Beth Roach

“A

good life will be a rich one, though not necessarily in monetary forms. It will be one that is rich in friendships, experiences and adventures. It will be one where you give instead of take.”

These words are from Laurie Mezzalingua’s commencement address in 2005 to Manlius Pebble Hill School in Dewitt, her alma mater.

The words also seemed to have guided her life and ignited the spirit in which she created the Saint Agatha Foundation in 2004 to help uninsured and underinsured women in the Central New York area with their financial needs during their cancer treatments.

Mezzalingua, a Manlius native, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. It was while she battled the disease herself, she established the foundation and named it for Saint Agatha, the patron saint of breast cancer patients.

Mezzalingua would succumb to cancer in 2009, but her foundation is continuing to help thousands of patients.

According to the organization’s website, www.saintagathafoundation. org, 830 patients had been served in 2019 alone. Over the past decade, it has offered financial assistance to more than 6,750 breast cancer patients by providing grants to hospitals and organizations for more than $12.5 million. Mezzalingua’s mother, Kathy Mezzalingua, serves as president of the foundation board and one of her brothers, Dan, is a member of

the board.

Prior to her diagnosis, Mezzalingua had been involved in the Syracuse-based family business, PPC, which manufactures coaxial cable connectors for the cable TV industry globally. The family has since sold that business. Mezzalingua would go on to become president of Kajola Kristada, PPC’s location in St. Kitts, West Indies. (The name of the company came from Kathy, taking the first few letters from her children’s first names: Karen, John, Mezzalingua, Kristen, Tracy and Dan.) Mezzalingua became so involved in various aspects of the life on the island; her family would go on to fund several educational facilities and programs in the island’s capital of Basseterre.

This sense of giving back was evident throughout Mezzalingua’s cancer journey, becoming a devoted advocate for breast cancer patients.

She became president of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and twice chaired its Race for the Cure event. In 2005, she was honored with the National Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Outstanding Volunteer Award in 2005. That same year, she was named Citizen of the Year by Temple Adath Yeshurun in Syracuse.

Kathy Mezzalingua explained that Laurie was frustrated that so many women with breast cancer could not afford the treatments or that their families could only visit them sporadically in the hospital because perhaps they were not able to afford parking or the gas if they

Laurie Mezzalingua, a Manlius native, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 and later in 2009 died from the disease. She created the Saint Agatha Foundation in 2004 after realizing many women were not getting the care they needed because they were uninsured and underinsured. Her family continues the work at the foundation.

were traveling from an outlying county. So after Laurie was released from the hospital following a surgery and while she was still bandaged, Laurie Mezzalingua was on the phone, figuring how to establish the foundation.

“She had so much compassion.

She said, ‘I can’t handle this. It’s all consuming for me and these poor women have to worry about how to put the next meal on the table. That can’t happen.’” Kathy said.

“That was Laurie’s mission in life.”

In a quote from the foundation’s website, Laurie Mezzalingua had said, “It breaks my heart to see women dealing with not only the emotional and medical piece of breast cancer, but also the financial stress.”

The organization covers Onondaga, Cortland, Cayuga, Jefferson, Madison, Oneida, and Oswego counties and with limited programs in Chenango and Otsego counties, according to Andrea Rush, from the National Philanthropic Trust, which handles the administrative business of the foundation. She provided some information on how the foundation works.

The foundation does not award cash gifts directly to patients, since that would result in taxable income for them, Rush said, although they sometimes will receive gift cards to grocery stores of for gas. The

funds, she added, are used to make payments directly to the providers on behalf of the patients. And the foundation’s website provides a list of partner organizations that can assist patients in receiving financial assistance for their needed care.

Breast cancer, according to the NYS Department of Health, is one of the most common cancers among women in the state. Each year, more than 16,400 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and about 2,500 women die from the disease. It is estimated that one in eight women will develop breast cancer during her life.

To be able to carry on Laurie Mezzalingua’s legacy is very rewarding, her mother said.

“I think it helped me to withstand her passing. Even when she died, I knew that this was not the end. Her name and her foundation will live on forever, if we can,” she said. With 14 grandchildren, Kathy is hopeful that future generations of the family will become involved and carry on its work.

“If you have breast cancer, you don’t have to panic,” Kathy added. “We’re going to wrap our arms around you and just take care of anything you need. Don’t be afraid.

We’ll help you.”

To find out more about the foundation, visit www. Saintagathafoundation.org.

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Request an appointment on sosbones.com or call 315.251.3100 - Option 4, Option 2 Page 16

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

FOR WHAT’S NEXT

Our Women’s Health Team Is Here For You. Women are experts at handling each next big thing with grace, grit and strength. And we’re here to be partners throughout every phase of your health journey. From performing standard annual screenings to managing chronic and acute conditions to helping you bring new life into the world, our top-of-the-line doctors, nurses and specialists are here to provide the personalized care you need at this stage of life and the next.

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| womenshealth.sjhsyr.org

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

9/21/21 2:41 PM • Page 17

Women’s Health 13thirty Cancer Connect: Amy Bobbette, left, Syracuse center manager; Erin Beitz, center, a member of the group; and Lauren Spiker, founder and executive director of the nonprofit.

13thirty Cancer Connect Grassroots group helps teens, young adults battle cancer

By Mary Beth Roach

I

t all started with a promise between a mother and her daughter.

As Melissa Sengbusch battled acute myeloid leukemia from 1998 to 2000, she told her mother, Lauren Spiker, that “if you have learned anything from me through all of this, do something with it to make a difference — to make things better.”

Cancer would claim Sengbusch’s life in 2000, when she was only 19.

However, Spiker, of Rochester, has made good on her promise to make a difference and make things better. She formed Melissa’s Living Legacy Teen Cancer Foundation in 2001 in Rochester, a peer support group for teens with cancer. In 2015, Spiker said the organization felt it could expand its programming to include young adults through the age of 30, and it became known as 13thirty Cancer Connect. In 2019, the group opened its Liverpool site at 1035 Seventh N. St. Spiker is the executive director.

The mission, she explained, is “to help our teens and young adults live their very best lives today.”

“What we observed when our daughter was sick was that teenagers and now young adults needed to know right now how to move forward,” Spiker said. “They needed to know right now, how to go back to school bald, how to go back to work after my cancer treatment. How do I, right now, tell my first significant other that I have cancer? Those were the issues we saw our daughter wrestle with.”

These issues have also been recognized by the American Cancer Page 18

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Society. It has said that for teens and young adults, a cancer diagnosis can make them feel cut off from friends and family who don’t understand what they’re going through. Often, they feel like they’re losing their independence just when they’re starting to gain it. Also, many of them are supposed to be enjoying their senior year in high school and preparing for college, like Sengbusch, or beginning their careers or a new family.

Statistics from the National Cancer Institute show there is an estimated 88,260 new cases among people between the ages of 15 and 39, in 2021.

When Spiker and her team first started the project in 2001, she said there had been very little attention being paid to teens and young adults with cancer, especially as compared to other age groups. Today, she sees more support and services available that did not exist when Sengbusch was sick. She believes 13thirty Cancer Connect is one of those groups that have helped to focus attention on this issue.

It offers programs at the Rochester and Syracuse locations that fall into three categories, Spiker explained.

The wellness programs focus on nutrition and the development of new and healthy habits. The Syracuse site has a workout area and fitness programs are led by a local trainer.

The Rochester site has a full gym in its building and its fitness coach is a physical therapist. Another initiative is the expressive arts program, which provides time and space for them to

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

express, reflect and help them cope; and the third is what Spiker calls the “for fun” programs, which encourage social interaction among the participants.

While the COVID-19 pandemic prevented 13thirty from doing any in-person programs for more than a year and hampered the team’s ability to visit patients in the hospital, it did provide some silver linings, Spiker said. “We discovered we could use technology to better reach not only more kids, but kids who weren’t able to come to the programs for various reasons,” she explained.

Turning to virtual programs also led the team to create the 13thirty Cancer Connect Wellness App, which they hope to launch at the beginning of the year, and it will allow the organization to expand its outreach beyond its geographical boundaries.

Spiker has also been instrumental in the creation of the CNY Cancer Alliance, an effort begun just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, to bring as many cancer support agencies in the Central New York area together to provide a central resource for information. Spiker heads up the alliance. Its other members include: The KEYS program, Hope for Heather, Camp Good Days and Special Times, CancerConnects, On My Team 16, Upstate Cancer Center, and the YMCA of Central New York. Access is available via Facebook.

13thirty Cancer Connect has become a lifelong resource for “our kids,” she said.

One of those “kids” is Erin Beitz, 28, of Syracuse. She was 16 and a

sophomore in high school when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Although 13thirty hadn’t started in Syracuse yet, Beitz said that at the time she was apprehensive about joining any kind of support group. She said that she assumed all they’d talk about was cancer and after numerous consecutive days of chemotherapy treatments, she didn’t want to talk about it.

Beitz persevered and would eventually go on to graduate from the Wegmans School of Pharmacy at St. John Fisher College in Rochester.

As part of her studies, she needed to do volunteer work and became involved in 13thirty. Because of her experiences, she felt that she could understand what some of the group’s members were going through.

“Deep down, I had this strong connection with them. It felt like I was supposed to be there,” she said.

Over the years, she has become more involved and while she has been able to help some of the youth in the group, she said that she has found support in dealing with her own struggles.

Today, Beitz is a pharmacist at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse and the mother of an 8-month-old baby boy, and she hopes that she can reassure the younger members of 13thirty that a cancer diagnosis does not need to derail their aspirations.

“It doesn’t have to ruin all your dreams,” she said.

For Spiker, seeing Beitz and the others do well brings her much happiness.

She said that people will sometimes comment that her work must be a constant reminder of Sengbusch’s battle.

“Watching other kids doesn’t serve to remind me because those memories are seared forever in my heart. When our kids do well, and the majority of our kids do go on to survive their cancer, that fills me with joy, to see other kids do well, to see other kids not have their dreams dash. Is it hard? Sure. It’s always hard to see beautiful kids with such potential go through what they go through. It’s very hard. But on the other hand, it is just joyful when they do well and survive.”

She added she has seen far too many children that she’s come to love pass away. “It brings me great peace knowing those kids died knowing that their lives mattered, they had friends who will never forget them,” she said.

In creating 13thirty Cancer Connect, Spiker has been able to not only fulfill her promise to Sengbusch, but it has helped to give her a purpose.

“This organization has helped me find new purpose in my life. It helps me reconcile my daughter’s death, that Melissa’s life had very important purpose, that now has become part of mine. Purpose comes in many shapes and forms. For me, seeing 13thirty Cancer Connect thrive over all these years and continue to grow, makes my sense of purpose in this world a little bit more important than it may have been otherwise.”

For more information, visit 13thirty.org or call the Liverpool office at (315) 883-1862 or email the Syracuse center manager, Amy Bobbette, at amy@13thirty.org

From left to right: Dr. Tanya Paul (OBGYN), Marilyn Degiovine (Patient), Scott Berlucchi (President & CEO), Dr. Ranjna Sharma Medical Director of Breast Cancer Program, Dr. Amy MacDonald, (OBGYN)

BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

MORE THAN 250M+ WOMEN

were diagnosed with cancer last year, according to the American Cancer Society.

• More than a quarter of a million women in America were diagnosed with cancer last year, according to the American Cancer Society.

• Breast Cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the United States.

• In New York alone, an average of over 14,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.

• An average of nearly 3,000 lose their battle with the disease each year, according to the New York State Department of Health.

• In Central New York, an average of 865 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. Nearly 160 die each year from breast cancer.

MARILYN DEGIOVINE IS WINNING HER BATTLE

“I am more than pleased with the care that I continue to receive from Dr. Sharma, Auburn Community Hospital, and the Upstate Cancer Center. The mammography technologists at Auburn Community Hospital are so thoughtful and very accommodating to my needs. Dr. Sharma is a wonderful surgeon who takes the time to listen to my concerns and explain everything in detail. She is so compassionate and If I need her, all I have to do is call her. I just started my first radiation treatment with Auburn and Upstate and I am feeling very optimistic because of the the quality of care I have received from everyone.”

- Breast Cancer patient at Auburn Community Hospital and Upstate Cancer Center

LET OUR WOMEN’S HEALTH EXPERTS HELP YOU Women who get regularly screened for breast cancer have a 47% lower risk of dying from the disease compared to those who don’t. Breast cancer deaths have been declining since 1990 thanks to early detection, better screening, increased awareness, and new treatment options.

October 2021 •

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 19

Upstate Mammography Van Provides Women a Safe, Private Screening Since the van was first introduced in 2019, 1,359 patients have used the service

By Mary Beth Roach

I

t’s pink and blue. It’s 45 feet long and travels hundreds, if not thousands, of miles each year throughout Central and Northern New York to provide breast cancer screenings for women.

The Upstate University Hospital’s Mobile Mammography Van offers screenings at more than 20 locations throughout the region over the next six months.

From September to March 2022, it will have been to at least one community in the eight counties it serves — Onondaga, Oneida, Oswego, Madison, Herkimer, Lewis, Jefferson and St. Lawrence.

The goal is to reach more women and get more women screened “because we can go to them, instead of them having to come to us,” said Wendy Hunt, program manager.

The screenings are done in private on the van, using 3D mammography equipment, the same that’s used in Upstate’s breast imaging center, Hunt said. Results are usually available in two to 10 days.

Women, 40 or older, interested in a screening should make an appointment (contact information is below),

although walk-ups with a doctor’s order for the mammogram may be able to be accommodated, if time allows, Hunt said.

The unit does mammogram screenings only. Women who have problems with their breasts should contact their physician.

Women need a doctor’s order for the mammogram. If they don’t have a primary care doctor or an OB-GYN, a nurse at the van can do a breast exam and obtain an order from one of the doctors for the mammogram.

The turnaround time for the order is quick, so the exam and screening can be done in all one visit.

The screening process takes about 30 minutes with another 30 minutes if a breast exam needs to be done.

The van is climate-controlled.

There’s a lift for those who have difficulties navigating stairs.

The Upstate team has provided for a very safe environment for the testing, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its protocols.

Hunt said patients wait in their cars, instead of a waiting room, until they’re seen. If another patient is hav-

ing a breast exam done while there’s a screening going on, the patients are in separate parts of the van. Their paths never cross.

While insurance should cover screenings, it’s suggested to check with the carrier to verify. Women without insurance or those who don’t have primary care providers are also eligible for a screening at the mobile unit. The staff will not only connect them with the New York State Cancer Services Program for payment, but will also connect them with a provider who can manage their care for the long term, Hunt explained.

The Cancer Services Program is by the New York State Department of Health. There is a Cancer Services Program in each county in the state.

For women aged 40 and older, who don’t have insurance, the program will pay for a mammogram and clinical breast exam yearly, and will pay for follow-up services if needed.

It also covers cervical and colorectal screening for people without insurance, Hunt added.

Since the van was first introduced in 2019, 1,359 patients have used the service. From June 2019, when it was first introduced, until December 2019, they saw 286 patients. In 2020, there were 539 patients and from January through mid-September of this year, there have been 534 patients.

They’re on pace to see an increase between 2020 and 2021.

“Our numbers are increasing. Of course I would love to provide this service to as many women as possible,” Hunt said.

That increase is, in part, due to the pandemic. They were off the road for 3-1/2 months in 2020. Hunt believes that another factor is the unit

Upstate Mammography Van will visit more than 20 locations in the next six months. provides a safe option for patients, with its protocols. In addition, the van is traveling more extensively.

The unit has been very well-received by patients.

“We’ve such a wonderful response from our patients. They are so appreciative for the service. Some telling us that they would not have gotten a mammogram if we had not come to their town or to their employer,” Hunt said. “Our staff is very compassionate and warm with the patients. We get many amazing comments about them from the patients as well.”

Those interested in a screening need to pre-register. To arrange for an appointment, to check out their schedule this fall, winter and spring, or for organizations or employers inquiring about the unit visiting their locations, visit www.upstate.edu/ mobile-mammography/ or call 315464-2582.

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View our online informational video — and then consult with members of our bariatric team via telemedicine visits to start your journey.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

BREAST CANCER SCREENING EARLY DETECTION IS KEY For women of average risk, the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) recommends:

Q A &

with Maria Fibiger

CancerConnects consulting executive director talks about her organization and its services it provides. In 2019 it served more than 2,500 cancer patients

By Mary Beth Roach

C

ancerConnects, Inc. started in 2006 to provide needed support and guidance to cancer patients while on their journey and to help facilitate connections to resources, whether it’s mentoring for the patient and caregiver, financial assistance or help in signing up for insurance. Maria Fibiger, consulting executive director, discusses the nonprofit’s mission and services.

Q: Can you describe some of the programs CancerConnects offers patients and caregivers?

A: There is the volunteer mentor program, which is where we match cancer patients with folks who have already been on their cancer journey or still might be. It’s a great way for people to talk through and navigate some of the difficulties. We match based on diagnosis or treatment.

We have about 75 active volunteer mentors.

The other is the complimentary therapy program, where we provide free vouchers to patients throughout our area for therapy, such as massage, reiki, acupuncture, yoga therapy, reflexology. This in no way takes the place of traditional medicine, but it’s to help the whole mindbody spirit. Stress and anxiety are a really big part of cancer. We typically provide about 400 patients with

complimentary therapies, about 2000 vouchers a year.

A new DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) Initiative will ensure people in CNY from various communities of color, socio-economic disparity, new American communities and specific rural areas with limited health care access, etc., have knowledge of and access to our breast cancer financial assistance program together with other supportive free programs offered, as well as cancer prevention health education.

There are also other programs — the Saint Agatha Foundation (a separate entity that CancerConnects partners with for financial grants for patients) and the Angel Fund, which is our program for all other types of cancer. We provide up to $500 in assistance and it could be anything from paying medical bills to getting them gift cards for nutritious groceries. We also provide gas cards through both of those programs, so people have transportation. Angel Fund is 100% donor funded from the CNY community. We typically spend $50,000 a year helping Angel Fund patients.

One thing we’ve made a priority is health insurance. We connect them with other organizations in Central

ALL WOMEN SHOULD HAVE A RISK ASSESSMENT BY AGE

30 40 0 75+

Especially minority women, to ensure that they are not a higher risk category.

ANNUAL MAMMOGRAPHY SCREENING STARTING AT AGE Greatest breast cancer mortality reduction.

Diagnosis at earlier stage.

Better surgical options and more effective chemotherapy.

SCREENING SHOULD CONTINUE PAST AGE No upper age limit unless severe comorbidities limit life expectancy.

Upstate offers multiple options to get a mammogram – including two different locations and a mobile mammography van.

TO LEARN MORE VISIT WWW.USPTATE.EDU/MAMMO To schedule an appointment, call 315-464-2582 and follow the prompts for one of our three breast imaging options.

continues next page October 2021 •

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Page 21

Parenting

CancerConnects: Providing Services In Person, Online, Over the Phone continued from last page

By Melissa Stefanec

New York that can get them signed up.

Q: What is your organization’s coverage area?

A: We serve adult cancer patients in primarily six counties: Onondaga, Oneida, Oswego, Madison, Cayuga, Cortland. But also provide services and programs for patients outside of those counties who may work or receive cancer treatment in one of those six counties. We work with all hospitals, medical facilities, etc.

Q: Is there a fee for the services?

A: Patients and their families receive all services for free.

Q: What kind of budget do you work with and how are you funded?

A: Our operating budget for 2021 is a little more than $1 million.

Individual community donations, grants from community foundations and private foundations; two events each year that we host; and a handful of third-party fundraisers that others run and donate proceeds to CancerConnects. (Example: The Stupid Dumb Breast Cancer group from the east side on Onondaga County just ran its annual “Teed Off at Cancer” golf tournament to benefit our Angel Fund raising more than $10,000 in net proceeds, and the CNY Traveling Golf League just held its golf tournament and decided to donate proceeds of nearly $8,000 to the Angel Fund.)

Q: With the COVID-19 pandemic, how is CancerConnects providing services?

A: We have always done a tremendous amount of our work via phone and email. If we’re helping someone get financial assistance or pay a medical bill, we can do most of that over the phone.

Our complimentary therapy program did go on hiatus with only virtual complimentary therapy for a while. In June of this year, we brought it back in-person. That said, if the numbers continue to go in the direction they’re going in the Central New York region, we will be going back to virtual.

We have been paying for transportation to vaccination appointments. We will also do that for family members and caregivers to make sure that people around the patient are taken care of.

Q: How many people do you serve in a year?

A: We serve directly — comp therapy or our mentoring program or financial — about 2,500 a year.

Indirectly, in a year when there isn’t COVID, when we’re able to get out into a lot of outreach and education programs, about 5,000.

Q: How would a patient or a loved one access help from CancerConnects?

A: Just call the office at 315-6345004 (office phone). They can also go to the website. There’s also a “Contact Us” page on the website.

SCHEDULE A CLINICAL BREAST EXAM! 315-598-4740

QUALITY REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES FOR ALL THE CENTERS FOR REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH offer family

planning, clinical breast cancer screenings, mammogram referrals, and more at our centers located in Oswego, Fulton, Mexico, and on the SUNY Oswego campus.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, schedule your clinical breast exam with us today! 315-598-4740.

@OCOTheCenters

Page 22

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@ocorephealth

www.TheCentersAtOCO.org

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

MelissaStefanec@yahoo.com

Bless My Heart: Mom’s Best Laid Plans Go Awry

O

ne thing that bemuses me to no end is the list of things I said I would never do as a parent. In my pre- and early parenting years, I made a lot of naive and self-righteous promises.

Like most new parents, I had a list of things I thought I would be above. I also had a list of things that were too good for my child. Most of these plans were rooted in good intentions; I wanted to give my children the best life possible.

However, once I had kids, things went awry. Awry is defined as “away from the appropriate, planned, or expected course; amiss.”

If I had only planned for things to go awry, I wouldn’t have resolved myself to so many embarrassing things.

So, as an act of self-deprecation, here is a list of things I said I would never do as a parent. Feel free to chuckle at my pretentiousness.

—

• Let my kids be seen with messy faces — In my teen years, I was a cashier at a grocery store. When families came through my line, I would often be appalled by the kids’ messy faces. How hard is it to wipe a kid’s face before you venture out?

As a parent, I have discovered a phenomenon. I wipe my kid’s face clean and, seconds later, ketchup or chocolate magically reappear. No amount of wiping or maintenance does the trick. Children just have dirty faces.

• Feed my babies a lot of storebought food — I don’t know why I was afraid of store-bought baby food.

Even 10 years ago, there were plenty of organic options. And, even if I had bought by daughter the cheapest stuff on the shelf, a little thing called the FDA had her covered.

I liked the idea of making my daughter’s food and refining her young palette. Eventually, demands caught up with me. In short order, she was sucking food out of pouches like every other baby. By the time my son came along, our shelves were stocked with the store-bought stuff.

• Be late all the time — As a child, I hated that we were late to almost everywhere we ever went. I couldn’t imagine what was taking my parents so long. Why couldn’t they just get ready and leave? When I became a parent, I was sure I would get up and get going early enough to maintain the steadfast arrivals and punctuality I prided myself on.

Since I’ve had kids, I plan on being at least a little late to every obligation I have. I now know what my parents were doing to make me so late as a child—everything.

• Give my kids food with dyes — Food dyes bother me. It’s probably not rational, but that’s how I am. I

thought anything that could turn a tongue “raspberry” blue couldn’t possibly be good for a human. I swore I would only let my kids have dyed food at other people’s gatherings.

The reality is, food dyes are nearly ubiquitous in foods for kids.

Sure, more companies dye things with beets today, but no amount of beets is going to give that “cherry” gas station slushy its brilliant, red hue. These days, when my family is on a road trip, I choose a content kid who is full of red dye over a whiny kid who was denied a slushy full of red dye.

• Let my kids eat in the car — This one dovetails nicely onto the slushy talk. As a teenager, I had siblings who were much younger than me.

Cereal and crackers were common offenders in my family’s vehicles.

I vowed to never let my kids (if I ever had them) destroy my car with juice, crumbs and wrappers. However, as a parent, I discovered hungry toddlers are angry, loud and disagreeable. I couldn’t get puffy snacks in the hands of my kids (and all over my backseat) fast enough.

• Let my kids eat school lunches — I recoiled at the idea of my kids eating school lunches. They contained things like canned vegetables and processed meat. I had delusions of grandeur when it came to packing my kids’ lunches.

Then, I found myself exhausted at 10 p.m. and feeling incapable of doing any more things. It wasn’t long before I was drawn to the siren song of school-made lunches. The wholegrain hamburger buns made everything OK. • Yell at my kids in public — Before I had kids, I couldn’t help but feel disdain toward parents who yelled at their children in public. What I never really processed was that every parent is human and has bad days.

Today, when I see a parent yell at a kid in public, I remind myself how little I know about their story.

Chances are, I just caught this parent in a weak moment. Some days, I am there myself. When kids are being out of line, none of us is capable of being a role model every time.

In conclusion

Now that I’m a parent, I can’t help but look back at my younger self and say, “bless her heart.” I hope that parenthood keeps teaching me to be more forgiving of others (and myself).

I can’t wait to see what the old-lady-version of myself will chuckle regarding the resolutions I’m making today. (Something to do with cell phones, maybe?)

I guess that’s something to look forward to.

Women’s Health

Sen. Amy Klobuchar: Routine Mammography Reveals Breast Cancer

U

.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar revealed in early September that she’s been treated for early-stage breast cancer, including surgery to remove a lump and radiation therapy.

The 61-year-old Minnesota Democrat said in a statement posted on social media that Mayo Clinic doctors found worrying signs during a routine mammogram in February, including "small white spots called calcifications."

A follow-up biopsy revealed that Klobuchar — who campaigned in the

Democratic presidential primary in 2020 — had stage 1A breast cancer.

Based on Klobuchar’s description on Twitter, “it sounds like she is very fortunate that the cancer was in an early stage, picked up on a screening mammogram,” said breast cancer physician Paul Baron, who wasn’t involved in her care.

“You always want to find your cancer on a screening mammogram because most of the time it's very early and very curable," said Baron, who directs the breast cancer program at Lenox Hill Hospital,

in New York City.

Klobuchar said that after other tests, she returned to Mayo for a lumpectomy that removed the cancer from her right breast. She completed radiation treatment in May, and by August her doctors reported that her therapy went well.

“Of course this has been scary at times, since cancer is the word all of us fear, but at this point my doctors believe that my chances of developing cancer again are no greater than the average person," Klobuchar said.

Women with breast cancers de-

tected before they spread to other parts of the body have a 99% fiveyear survival rate, according to the American Cancer Society.

Klobuchar urged Americans to not put off routine medical exams because of the pandemic, noting that more than one in three adults have delayed or not sought health care because of concerns over COVID-19.

“Over and over, doctors are seeing patients who are being treated for more serious conditions that could have been caught earlier,” Klobuchar said. “[Americans] are constantly balancing their families, their jobs, and their health. It’s easy to put off health screenings, just like I did. But I hope my experience is a reminder for everyone of the value of routine health check-ups, exams and follow-through,” she continued.

One breast cancer specialist agreed.

“Sen. Klobuchar’s experience is similar to that of many women — during the early days of the pandemic many routine tests such as mammography were delayed," noted physician Nina Vincoff, chief of breast imaging at Northwell Health in Lake Success in Long Island. “But for those who did not have their regular preventative care, including mammography, because of the pandemic, it is critical to return to care now.”

Klobuchar described herself as fortunate “to have caught the cancer at an early enough stage and to not need chemotherapy or other extensive treatments, which unfortunately is not the case for so many others."

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Women’s Health

Diet, Hormones Can Play a Role in Women’s Hair Loss

Quite a few things good for your whole body are good for your hair

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

M

ale pattern baldness is very difficult to treat. However, in many cases, women’s hair loss can be treated successfully. Unlike the “horseshoe” pattern of baldness affecting men, women tend to experience overall thinning or thinning at the temples, with the exception of alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease, which causes recurring patchy baldness.

Most women experience extreme shedding after pregnancy, but that is normal. They are shedding only the extra hair gained during pregnancy to get back to pre-pregnancy thickness. Hormones also influence hair thickness during perimenopausal, as

a reduction in reproductive hormones can mean thinner hair.

For either case, Kelly Springer, registered dietitian and owner of Kelly’s Choice Nutritional Company in Skaneateles, encourages women to eat a healthful diet to support both good health and healthy hair.

“No supplement is going to replace real food because of the perfect way foods are naturally packaged,” Springer said. “It’s why no supplement will ever take the place of food.”

Vitamin D can affect digestive health and many people are deficient in D. Since few foods contain D and it is generated through sunlight;

Springer said that supplementation may be necessary in the winter.

“If you don’t have strong digestive health in good gut microbiome, that truly can affect anything from bone loss to hair health,” Springer said.

A healthful diet should also include adequate protein and iron, from foods such as beef. Many fruits and vegetables are good sources of vitamins A and vitamin C. “These have been correlated with protecting our hair follicles and helping boost collagen production,” Springer said.

Whole grains, nuts and seeds are sources of B vitamins and, in some cases omega-3 fatty acids. Springer said these reduce inflammation.

“Foods that counteract inflammation will encourage hair growth and prevent hair loss and promote healthy skin and nails,” Springer said.

Adequate hydration is also important to healthy hair.

Limiting damage to hair can help hair appear fuller. Damage can be caused by heat, chemical treatments such as coloring, perming, straightening or wearing tight braids, buns or ponytails. Use gentle products on the hair and avoid rubbing it or combing it while it is wet.

Hair loss may be caused by certain prescriptions. Rich Pinckney, pharmacist with Rx City Pharmacy in Auburn, listed medications that treat seizures, migraine headaches, weight loss diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

“All of them can cause hair loss,” Pinckney said. “We try to limit the amount of exposure to certain drugs but unfortunately, when you alter the body, it alters the body systems. Every medication—anything you put in your mouth—will have a side effect.

Read the pamphlet your pharmacy gives you. Talk with your pharmacist who can coach your doctor. Or he can talk with your doctor and refer you

from dietary to see if it’s coming from there.”

Ramsay Farah, dermatologist with Farah Dermatology in Syracuse, said that genetics and hormones can affect hair thick- Kelly Springer ness.

“You should get an evaluation by a physician,” Farah said. “The physician should draw a battery of tests. Obviously, some will include hormone values and other tests as well to make sure the hair loss isn’t from a hormonal issue or related to lupus or anemia or another medical condition. It’s good to get a set of lab tests to make sure it’s not something else.”

Once the reason is determined, a provider can use the best approach.

Some can be resolved with over-thecounter Rogaine or Minoxidil. Prescription medication may also help, such as spironolactone.

“That’s a blood pressure medicine, but one of the side effects is it blocks the conversion of androgen to its active form,” Farah said. “If you block the hormones from becoming active, they don’t act on the hair. In a similar hormone blocking fashion, there are other medicines like finasteride that one would give for men with enlarge prostate and lower doses to women.”

Platelet rich plasma is among the newer treatments for hair loss. A provider draws the patient’s blood, separates the cells from the plasma, and then injects the platelet-rich plasma.

“Attached to those platelets are a lot of growth factors that cause the hair stem cells to activate and grow hair,” Farah said.

Surgical options such as hair transplants also offer lasting results.

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Women’s Health

Experts: Drop Detox Pearls They say practice offers no benefit

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

T

wo generations ago, young women were advised to douche to achieve feminine hygiene.

Today, the trend is detox pearls, also called yoni pearls or gems.

These cloth-covered balls of herbs are inserted into the vagina and are purported to clean the vagina, “detox” the uterus, improve fertility, reduce inflammation, promote circulation, stop odors, clear up cysts and remove dead cells.

Just because something is popular does not necessarily mean it is a good idea. Numerous studies indicate that douche does not offer any health benefits and can interfere with vaginal health. Yoni pearls are similar in numerous ways, including why women buy them.

“We should be looking at these

things skeptically. Why do I need these pearls to be liked, to be considered good enough?” said Nicole Christina, a licensed clinical social worker practicing in Syracuse, who created the Zestful Aging podcast and sees many patients about body image issues. “This is about anxiety.

Shame is a huge thing. What if someone says, ‘I don’t like you because you’re stinky.’ Is your ego that fragile that this would destroy you?”

Yoni pearls are often sold by manufacturers in countries lacking the same level of oversight as the United States. This also troubles Christina.

“How eager we are to give over our health to some entity who we don’t have any proof of their expertise,” she said. “It seems so sketchy.

Back Health During Pregnancy

Experts offer tips for a more comfortable pregnancy

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

P

regnancy can certainly do a number on a woman’s back, both from the extra weight gain—much of it concentrated in the belly—and also postpartum hunching to nurse. Plus, joints naturally loosen up during pregnancy to allow for easier birth. Moms can easily mitigate some of these effects.

Ideally, women should plan to become pregnant. Part of that should include developing a level of pre-pregnancy fitness.

“If you are proactive, you can minimize problems,” said Warren Wulff, orthopedic surgeon with St. Joseph’s Health. “By planning ahead, and consulting with the OB-GYN, you can plan an expected course of exercise and diet that will optimize a healthy pregnancy and mother.”

The U.S. Surgeon General recommends 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise and strength training five days a week or 150 minutes per week. With each workout, stretching 10 to 20 minutes before and after is also important.

Wulff also advised avoiding excessive weight gain, as that can worsen back pain and cause complications with pregnancy.

“A lot of that is the growing fetus and everything that goes with it,” Wulff said. “There is also weight gain to the woman’s body. During fullterm pregnancy, some people will gain 30 pounds or more. Your body may not be accustomed to that and may not fully compensate for that.”

As moms gain more weight up front, they tend to try to compensate by arching their backs for better balance. Stretching more can help mitigate the effect.

A pregnancy support belt can transfer the effect of the weight to elsewhere in the body. However, Wulff said that these can ultimately weaken the muscles.

Exercise can relieve pregnancy-related back pain, according to Dale Buchberger at Active Physical Therapy Solutions in Auburn, a physical therapist, doctor of chiropractic, certified strength and condi-

It is really sad that we’re so eager to believe that we need to be fixed, improved; that our lives should be a self-improvement project.”

The FDA has not evaluated yoni pearls for use. Anything at all could be inside the mesh balls.

“It’s a horrible idea, to be quite blunt,” said Jessica L. Schock, certified nurse midwife with Canandaigua Medical Group. “The vagina is a self-cleaning oven. It’s one of the few places that regulates itself and cleans itself.”

Like Christina, she thinks that the desire to clean or “detox” the vagina stems from misconceptions about anatomy as well as cultural notions.

“We have this thing about the female genitalia and sexuality,” Schock said. “It’s another way to say there’s something wrong with you and we made something to fix it. Consumers are throwing money at people who feed into a shame cycle for women.”

The vagina naturally discharges clear to whitish fluid as part of its self-cleaning capacity. Sometimes that discharge is greater than at other times and may have a scent. However, that does not indicate a problem.

“People who think something is wrong with them because it doesn’t smell like a daisy feed into this whole issue,” Schock said.

Most of the time, the offensive odor is perspiration—not an indicator that something is wrong with the vagina.

Visiting a gynecologist can determine if discharge is harmless.

Trying to fix the “problem” with yoni pearls can actually cause problems.

If they are effective at

killing bacteria, killing the good bacteria can cause an overpopulation of the harmful bacteria and cause toxic shock syndrome. Tampons should not remain in the body for more than eight hours because of the risk of TSS. However, yoni pearl producers advocate leaving their product in the vagina for 24 to 72 hours, which allows more time for bacteria to build up on the pearls. That can lead to TSS and pelvic inflammatory disease.

“Putting something that’s unknown into your body, it opens you up to issues like vaginitis, vagina irritation,” Schock said. “And if you get rid of the healthy mucus, you can open yourself up to damage to the vagina.”

The texture of the cloth can also irritate the delicate tissue of the vaginal wall.

Manufacturers of yoni pearls claim that their products can prepare the uterus for pregnancy and tighten the vagina. However, no evidence exists that these claims are true—and anatomy says differently.

“When you think about how the uterus, cervix and vagina work, the cervix is tightly shut unless menstruating or pregnant,” Schock said.

“Using pearls increases risk for toxic shock. It’s also unregulated and a lot of these come from out of the country. Even if it has what it says in it, should it really be in the vagina?”

While manufacturers may claim that yoni pearls’ herbs mean that they are natural, inserting herbs into a body cavity is much different from ingesting them and does not necessarily mean they are safe used in that way.

Women concerned about vaginal discharge should seek help from their healthcare provider instead of inserting anything into the vagina.

tioning specialist, and diplomate of the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Physicians.

“Try lying down on the back briefly and arching the back and pelvic tilts,” he said.

Cross the legs by resting an ankle on the opposite knee and then drawing the leg towards the chest.

He advises women to exercise under their obstetrician’s guidance and to use these stretches and more daily throughout pregnancy.

“I’m not going to say you won’t get back pain, but you’ll minimize the chances of getting back pain,” Buchberger said.

It is OK to apply ice to the back to relieve pain, but take care with using heat for the baby’s safety.

Many women in the latter stages of pregnancy find that pregnancy pillows and body pillows can support the belly and knees while lying down in the safest pregnancy sleeping position, the side.

According to the American Pregnancy Association, “it provides the best circulation for you and your baby. It also places the least pressure on your veins and internal organs. Sleeping on your left side will increase the amount of blood and nutrients that reach the placenta and your baby. Plus, good circulation helps reduce potential swelling,

varicose veins in your legs and hemorrhoids.”

Sleeping on the side can be hard for back or stomach sleepers to comfortably achieve without support pillows.

After the birth, losing Elissa Gibbs weight right away can help relieve lingering back pain and help support the mom’s overall health.

While the belly may reduce, the breasts enlarge after birthing. To help compensate wear a well-fitted, supportive nursing bra.

Ergonomics also matter while nursing. Elissa Gibbs, postpartum doula in Baldwinsville, advises moms to try different nursing positions.

“You can lie down; you don’t have to nurse sitting up,” she said.

“Take the baby to you. Don’t lean over the baby. A lot of moms baby-wear and it’s easy to transition to feeding. Switch it up so you’re not leaning over.”

Nursing pillows can help achieve a comfortable position. The Boppy brand nursing pillow is one example.

October 2021 •

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

•

Page 25

Women’s Health U.S. Kidney Transplant Outcomes Are Improving

L

ong-term survival rates have improved for kidney transplant recipients over the past three decades, a review published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine shows.

“There has been a gratifying improvement in kidney transplant survival, both for patients and the kidney graft itself, from 1996 to the current era,” said review author Sundaram Hariharan, a senior transplant nephrologist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

The five-year survival rate of recipients who received kidneys from deceased donors increased from about 66% in 1996–1999 to just over 78% in 2012–2015. Survival increased from 79.5% to about 88% among recipients who received kidneys from living donors.

“These improvements have occurred despite unfavorable increases in obesity, diabetes and other conditions in patients and donors,” Hariharan said in a university news release.

“We have learned a lot through research and by taking care of kidney transplant patients.”

Hariharan explained that improvements in tissue matching, organ distribution systems, surgical techniques, immune-suppressing medicines and after-transplant medical care have helped contribute to better survival rates.

Longer survival times not only benefit kidney transplant patients and reduce health care costs, they also mean more kidneys are available for the approximately 90,000 Americans waiting for a kidney transplant, the researchers noted.

Despite progress in U.S. kidney transplant patients’ long-term survival, rates are below those of other developed nations. That’s likely because immunosuppressant drugs are covered by Medicare for just three years after a transplant, according to the study authors.

Those drugs must be taken by transplant recipients for the rest of their lives to help prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organ. A new law passed last year will eventually provide U.S. transplant recipients with lifetime coverage of these essential medications.

“The passing of this law is a great victory for kidney transplant patients, and we anticipate further improvements in long-term kidney transplant survival over the next decade,” said Hariharan.

Page 26

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Calcium and Other Bone Builders Don’t forget your vitamin D, as well

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

C

alcium has earned a reputation as a bone builder and rightfully so. Found in dairy products, dark leafy green vegetables, salmon and tofu, calcium is the main stuff that bones are made of. However, it takes more than just adequate calcium consumption to build strong bones.

In addition to adequate calcium intake and supplementation, ranging from 1,000 to 1,200 mg. daily, depending upon age and gender, other minerals are necessary. Instead of taking it all at once, the calcium supplements should be taken in 400-500 mg. doses throughout the day with a meal.

“Calcium should be paired with D3 and K2,” said Laurel Sterling, registered dietitian, nutritionist and educator with Carlson Laboratories in Canastota. “They work together in helping the calcium get to the bones and teeth, versus staying in the soft tissue where you don’t want it to be. That leads to calcification of the blood vessels, which we don’t want.

Magnesium is a major mineral to re-mineralize. Boron and strontium are some major players.”

Since skin exposure to sunlight for 20 to 30 minutes three times weekly generates enough vitamin D production in the body, most people who live in the North lack it during the winter. Obtaining a vitamin D blood test can reveal how much supplementation an individual needs.

Reaching 800 international units (IU) of vitamin D should suffice.

Dietary sources of vitamin D include canned and fresh salmon, sardines and tuna; mushrooms; eggs, especially from pastured chickens; and fortified foods such as milk, cereal and oatmeal.

“K2 is in fermented soy products and other food sources we may not eat enough of,” Sterling said. “That should be looked at more through supplementation. The other minerals, you can get through food but you might not get enough. A general daily multivitamin may be good enough if it’s good quality. If someone has osteopenia or if they have osteoporosis, they’ll need an extra bone supplement.

“Magnesium is found in avoca-

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

does, black beans, certain nuts. You can get magnesium in a lot of your foods.”

Lacey Roy, owner of Full Bodied Health in Syracuse, said that in addition to dairy, calcium-rich foods include dark leafy greens, like kale and spinach. She pairs calcium with magnesium and zinc for better absorption.

“If you eat a standard American diet, supplementation may make sense unless you’re more plantbased,” Roy said. “Not having animal protein for all three meals, you might not lack them.”

Kelly Springer, registered dietitian and owner of Kelly’s Choice Nutritional Company in Skaneateles, encourages food sources for nutrition. Since magnesium is often overlooked, she encourages consumption of avocados, nuts, seeds, ground flax and chia, along with whole grains.

“When we talk about getting in all the things our bodies need, these foods come in the perfect package so that combination of calcium, vitamin D and magnesium are key to bone health and making sure we have these in our meals through real foods,” Springer said. “We don’t need to think about buying these nutrients in a bottle. We can get them right through our food. When we eat foods like these, it helps reduce inflammation as well and it keeps our bones healthy and strong.”

Springer encourages clients to eat sufficient protein, fiber and whole produce for overall health, including bone health.

Susan E. Brown, PhD, clinical nutritionist and head of The Center for Better Bones and the Better Bones Foundation in East Syracuse, names 20 nutrients essential for bone health: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, chromium, silica, zinc, manganese, potassium, strontium, vitamin D, vitamin C, vitamin A, copper, boron, vitamin B6, folic acid/folate (vitamin B9), vitamin B12, vitamins K1 and K2, essential fats and protein. The amount of supplementation varies, depending upon age, gender, other health issues and diet.

“What people are generally eating is way under the recommended daily allowance,” Brown said. “We

always say that if you follow our belief system, everything you do for bone is good for the entire body. You can’t isolate bone from the rest of the body.”

In addition to a balanced diet and supplementation where necessary, she encourages people to limit sugar and processed foods. While a plant-based diet offers many benefits, it can contribute to fractures if not managed carefully.

“Too little protein will damage the bones,” Brown said. “Vegans have twice the fractures as non-vegans.”

Many medications can cause bone loss. Brown said that steroid medication such as prednisone causes 20% of all osteoporosis cases. She also listed antidepressants, proton pump inhibitors, and medication for seizures among the many medications that harm bone health. She also warned against tobacco use, excess alcohol and unmanaged stress as damaging to bones.

In addition to proper diet and moderate sun exposure, healthy bones also need exercise. Previously, experts believed that exercise builds only muscle. However, engaging in weight-bearing exercise also lays down bone.

“Impact exercise is great for bone health,” Brown said. “I interviewed Dr. Belinda Beck at The Bone Clinic in Queensland Australia. She has documented that post-menopausal women can rebuild bone with high-intensity, high-impact exercise.

They work with trainers and lift substantial weights. They work up to very high weights. They build 5% to 10% bone mass. We know exercise is important. Any helps. But our guidelines are, if you build muscle, you will build bone.”

Her organization hosts seminars and, in current times, webinars, on bone building diet and exercise. She advises mixing strength training with weight-bearing exercise for the best bone-building workout. Strength training might include lifting weights in the gym, using exercise bands or performing body weight exercises, like pull-ups, chin-ups, push-ups, squats and calf raises. Aerobic activity that is weight-bearing might include walking on a treadmill, running or cross-country skiing.

A primary health provider can provide guidance on taking supplements, exercised and, if applicable, recommend community resources to obtain a home fall risk assessment.

By Jim Miller

How to Handle Your Medicare Coverage if You Move

Dear Savvy Senior, My husband and I are moving to a different area of the country to be near our daughter. Will this affect our Medicare benefits? Will we need to adjust our coverage or re-enroll in a new plan?

Moving

Dear Moving, Moving can indeed affect your Medicare benefits depending on the type of coverage you have and where you move to.

If you and your husband are enrolled in “original Medicare” Part A and Part B, you’ll be happy to know that you won’t need to change your plans when you move because they’re the same throughout the U.S. You will, however, need to notify the Social Security Administration of your change of address, which you can do at SSA.gov/myaccount/ change-of-address.html or by calling 800-772-1213.

But if you’re enrolled in a Medicare (Part D) prescription drug plan or a Medicare (Part C) Advantage plan and you move out of your plan’s service area, you’ll need to choose a new plan that serves your new area. Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll need to do depending on the type of coverage you have.

• If you have a Part D plan: If you’re in rolled in original Medicare and have a stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, you’ll need to contact your Part D plan to find out if it will work in the area you’re moving to. If it doesn’t, you’ll need to enroll in a new plan that provides coverage in your new location.

You can make this switch the month before you move and up to two months after the move.

Otherwise, you’ll need to wait until the next open enrollment (in the fall) and could be penalized for having no acceptable prescription drug coverage.

• If you have a Medicare Advantage plan: If you’re enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, again,

contact your plan to find out if it will serve your new area. If it doesn’t, you’ll need to enroll in a new plan that does. To shop for new Advantage or Part D prescription drug plans in your new location, see Medicare.gov/ plan-compare.

You can switch Advantage plans the month before you move and up to two months after you move.

But be aware that if you relocate out of your Medicare Advantage plan’s service area and fail to enroll in a new plan in your new area, you’ll automatically be switched to original Medicare. This will happen when your old Medicare Advantage plan is forced to disenroll you because you don’t live within its service area anymore.

• If you have a Medigap policy: If you’re enrolled in original Medicare and have a supplemental (Medigap) policy, you’ll need to notify your provider that you’re moving, but you should not need to change insurance companies or plans. (Note: there also are Medicare Select plans, which are Medigap plans that are network-based and are available in a few states. These plans may require you to change.)

Medigap plans are standardized across the country; for example, Medigap Plan F offers the same coverage in one state as it does in another state (Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have waivers from the federal government allowing them to standardize Medigap plans differently, so plan designs are different in those three states).

But be aware that Medigap costs vary by location, so your monthly Medigap policy premium may be higher or lower depending on the cost of medical care in your new area.

Call your provider and tell them the new ZIP code, and they’ll let you know the cost. Sometimes you’ll be pleasantly surprised that it’s lower.

If it’s not, you could look for a cheaper policy. However, you may have to undergo medical underwriting. Medigap policies come with their own rules for enrolling, and some states have different enrollment standards than others.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior. org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

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Stoneleigh Apartments Stoneleigh Apartments 400 Lamb Ave, Canastota • 697-2847 400 Lamb Ave, Canastota • 697-2847

Where your neighbors are like family!

InvitingInviting one bedroom apartments essential services one bedroom apartments close close totoessential services and stores, as well as emergency and health services for and stores, as well as emergency and health services for Seniors (over 62) or receiving SS with a permanent mobility Seniorsimpairment (over 62) or receiving SS with a guidelines permanent mobility within income

impairment within income guidelines

Maintaining a Community Connection “Our mission is to provide nutritious meals to seniors, the homebound & the disabled in north Onondaga County...”

• Helping seniors and disabled individuals stay in their own homes and maintain their independence • Home delivered meals and a daily contact • From our kitchen to your home, delivered by caring volunteers • Over 40 years serving our local communities in the north suburbs.

We take pride in having provided vital benefits and services to this great nation for 86 years. America has a diverse population with a variety of needs. To meet those diverse needs, we’ve created web pages that speak directly to groups of people who may need information about our programs and services. These pages are easy to share with friends and family on social media. Here are just a few resources that might help you or someone you love: • We proudly serve wounded warriors and veterans, who made sacrifices to preserve the freedoms Americans treasure. Many veterans do not know they might be eligible for disability benefits from Social Security. Please share this page with them to make sure they get the benefits they deserve: www.ssa.gov/ people/veterans.

• Social Security plays an important role in providing economic security for women. Nearly 55% of the people receiving Social Security benefits are women. A woman who is 65 years old today can expect to live, on average, until about 87. A 65-year-

Q&A Q: If I retire at age 62, will I be eligible for Medicare?

A: No. Medicare starts when you reach 65. If you retire at 62, you may be able to continue medical insurance coverage through your employer or purchase it from a private insurance company until you become eligible for Medicare. For more information, read Medicare at www.ssa.gov/pubs, or call us at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778).

old man can expect to live, on average, until about 84. With longer life expectancies than men, women tend to live more years in retirement and have a greater risk of exhausting their sources of income.

Women often have lower lifetime earnings than men, which usually means lower benefits. Women need to plan early and wisely for retirement. We’re here to help with valuable information. Please share this page with someone who needs this information and may need help planning for their golden years: www.ssa. gov/people/women.

• Do you know someone who is just starting their career? Now is the best time for them to start preparing for retirement. Social Security benefit payments provide only a portion of retirement income. Those starting their careers should begin saving early to have adequate income in retirement. Please share this page with a young worker you know: www.ssa. gov/people/earlycareer.

These are just a few of the web pages tailored to specific groups’ needs. You can check out our People Like Me home page at www.ssa.gov/ people to see all of them.

Q: I have diabetes and I have to take insulin. Is my insulin covered by Medicare?

A: Medicare Part B does not cover insulin unless use of an insulin pump is medically necessary.

However, certain Medicare Part D prescription drug plans may cover insulin and certain supplies used to inject insulin, like syringes. For more information, visit www.medicare. gov/coverage/insulin.html.

Meals on Wheels services are provided on a short-term or long-term basis: • While caregivers are away • To those who are rehabilitating at home, short-term or long-term • To those who are unable to shop and/or preapre their own meals • Those in need of a special diet • Elderly, homebound, permanently or temporarily disabled • Living in the towns of: Brewerton, Cicero, Clay, Salina, North Syracuse, Liverpool, Mattydale, and areas in Bridgeport and Baldwinsville

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

In Good Health P.O. Box 276, Oswego, NY 13126

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The right diagnosis means everything.

Your doctor ordered laboratory tests. Tests can diagnose disease, assess the effects of treatment or confirm good health. When you and your doctors know more, you can make better choices sooner and plan the next steps.

Decisions that are dependent on timely and reliable laboratory results.

The professionals at Laboratory Alliance work round the clock, 365 days a year in Central New York. Laboratory tests make up an estimated 70% of your medical record. We understand the importance of what our testing provides and offer industry-leading technology vital to assure accurate and timely laboratory results.

We’re a partner in the care of your health. When you need lab work, we’re in your neighborhood. Learn more at laboratoryalliance.com

AN EASIER MOVE TO MEDICARE. That’s the Benefit of Blue.

SM

If you’re turning 65 or retiring, don’t be intimidated by the move to Medicare. You got this – and you have local experts who are here to help.

Click

Connect with us to explore plans with more of the benefits that matter, lower costs and a trusted network of doctors and hospitals.

ExcellusForMedicare.com

Call

1-877-406-8562 TTY: 711 Open hours: 8:00am – 8:00pm, Monday – Friday

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is an HMO plan and a PPO plan with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in Excellus BlueCross BlueShield depends on contract renewal.

Our Health Plan complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.

ATENCIÓN: si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. Llame al 1-877-883-9577 (TTY: 711). 注意：如果您使用繁體中文，您可以免費獲得語言援助服務。請致電 1-877-883-9577 (TTY: 711)。 A nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association October 2021 •

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Health News ConnextCare Expands Services to Central Square ConnextCare has announced the opening of a new office in Central Square. The new site will offer primary care and mental health services and will open its doors this winter.

ConnextCare is a federally qualified health center currently operating six health centers and seven school-based health centers throughout Oswego County. It offers primary care, mental health and dental services.

The expansion to Central Square supports ConnextCare’s ongoing mission to provide accessible, comprehensive and premier health care to Oswego County residents and surrounding communities.

“We are excited to announce the establishment of a ConnextCare health center on this side of the county,” said Tricia Peter-Clark, president and CEO of ConnextCare. “The addition of the Central Square practice further strengthens our ability to deliver high quality health services to new and existing patients at a location that is most convenient for them. We will now be more ‘connexted’ than ever before, with our network spanning across the entire county, providing

a medical home for more than the 27,000 patients we already serve today.”

ConnextCare’s Central Square location will operate out of the Oswego Health Central Square Medical Center located at 3045 East Ave. This will continue to strengthen the ongoing partnership between ConnextCare and Oswego Health to work together in providing the community with accessible locations that offer a wide variety of services under one roof.

Currently, ConnextCare and Oswego Health jointly operate out of facilities in Pulaski, Fulton, Mexico, Oswego, Parish and Phoenix.

“Oswego Health’s mission is to provide accessible, quality care and improve the health of residents in our community,” said Michael Backus, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Oswego Health.

“Our goal is to ensure the safety net of care in Oswego County and we are always looking for ways to collaborate with other providers. We strongly value our partnership with ConnextCare and when they approached us about expanding their primary care in Central Square, we knew we had an opportunity that could benefit the community in that area.”

Tricia Peter-Clark, president and chief executive officer of ConnextCare, and Michael C. Backus, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Oswego Health announce the opening of a medical office at 3045 East Ave. in Central Square.

DEPEND ON THE UPSTATE HEART TEAM

Upstate’s cardiologists diagnose, treat and prevent a wide range of heart disease.

Our united expertise brings you advanced technology and streamlined care.

As part of the Upstate Heart Institute, we provide connections to research and surgical care.

OUR OFFICE LOCATIONS

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5112 WEST TAFT ROAD Liverpool • 315-701-2170

208 TOWNSHIP BLVD Camillus • 315-488-2372

102 WEST SENECA STREET Manlius • 315-464-9335

510 TOWNE DRIVE Fayetteville • 315-663-0500

90 PRESIDENTIAL PLAZA Syracuse • 315-464-9335

138 EAST GENESEE STREET Baldwinsville • 315-720-1305

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021

Count on HOA for chemotherapy & medical IV therapy that’s expert, caring and close-to-home!

With the same skill our cancer patients receive, our expert team at Hematology-Oncology Associates of CNY now offers chemotherapy and medical IV therapy services for asthma, anemia, lupus, multiple sclerosis and osteoporosis, among other conditions – in all three locations! Our Medical IV therapy patients receive: • care from nationally certified RNs with on-site doctors, pharmacists, NPs and PAs • convenient appointment times at your choice of three locations, all with free parking • a private, relaxed environment with personal TVs, free headphones, Wi-Fi and refreshments • all provided with robust COVID-19 precautions AUBURN RESIDENTS PLEASE NOTE: Our experts provide chemotherapy and medical IV therapy in our fully staffed Auburn office in the Health Central building; there’s no need for travel to Syracuse or elsewhere!

To learn more, call us at 315-472-7504 or visit hoacny.com today!

Pre-Planning Made Easy with the

Interactive Lot Selector

Woodlawn Cemetery makes it easy to pre-plan final arrangements with the new online interactive lot selector.

Conveniently browse mausoleum, inground and cremation options to find your ideal location, then purchase right on the website or schedule an appointment with our staff.

A Better P lace to Remember

Visit woodlawnsyracuse.org/selector to get started.

October 2021 •

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MEET ONE OF THE BEST ACUPUNCTURE DOCTORS IN THE WORLD Acupuncture is a general practice alternative medicine, it can help a wide range of health problems at different extents.

Ask for professional, confidential, personalized evaluation / consultation appointment before starting any treatment

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LIFE CHANGING MEDICINE, MOVING MEDICINE FORWARD Page 32

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • October 2021