Central New York In Good Health by In Good Health: CNY's Healthcare Newspaper

in good June 2011 • Issue 138

More Than a Survivor

Patti McGee was director of the Oneida city recreation department when she found out she had cancer. That changed her life. Literally

CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

Vegetarian in Chief Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney has been a vegetarian — and proud of it — for nearly 20 years, but she says there was a time she hid that fact because of the stigma associated with vegetarianism. Story and two of her favorite recipes on page 9

s n i m a t i V Sure, you know all about vitamin C or D. But how about the lesser-known vitamins?

New Study:

Teens Prefer Liquor to Beer, Hardly Touch Wine

The Best Cup of Tea?

Immigrants to U.S. Get Supersized

White, green or black? Find out what’s the best tea you can buy 42 — That’s the number of new generic drugs about to hit the market. See entire list

Meet Your Doctor:

Brian Johnson

FREE FREE

Bringing Oncology Nurses Together The Oncology Nursing Society recently celebrated 25 years in CNY

Men’s Health

Study shows new immigrants to U.S. getting obese within 15 years

• Vasectomy Reversal Offers Hope for Fathering Again • ADD in Adult Men. What to Expect • What to Do When a Daily Shave is a Real Pain June 2011 •

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Premier Joint Replacement: At St. Joseph’s, we approach each surgery as a team, but treat each patient as an individual. Seth Greenky, MD, & Brett Greenky, MD Co-Directors, St. Joseph’s Joint Replacement Program

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�� At St. Joseph’s, we’re proud of our reputation for joint replacement: outstanding outcomes, shorter lengths of stay and an award-winning program—all while performing the most joint replacement procedures in Central New York. But the fact is, with each new patient who walks through our doors, we’re building a different kind of reputation by working with them and their families as a team—before surgery, during the procedure and throughout recovery. To us, that’s what a higher level of care is all about. ��

Recipient of HealthGrades Joint Replacement Excellence Award™ (2011)

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Five-star rated by HealthGrades for joint surgery (2007-2011)

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Designated a Blue Distinction Center for Knee & Hip Replacement® by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield

13th Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study. Designation as Blue Distinction Centers® means these facilities’ overall experience and aggregate data met objective criteria established in collaboration with expert clinicians’ and leading professional organizations’ recommendations. Individual outcomes may vary. To ﬁnd out which services are covered under your policy at any facilities, please call your local BlueCross and/or BlueShield Plan. 2011

Orthopedic Services ��

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

U.S. Immigrants Get

Supersized

CNY Obstetrics & Gynecology PC

Providing Comprehensive Care for All the Seasons of a Woman’s Life

Study shows new immigrants to U.S. getting obese within 15 years

mmigrants to the United States may be packing on the pounds, in part, because of a desire to fit in with the citizens of their new country, a new study suggests. Immigrants and their children are known to put on weight after moving to the United States, with some approaching levels of obesity within 15 years. While the abundance of junk food in the American diet no doubt plays a role in their weight gain, immigrants and their families may choose typical American dishes as a way to show that they belong and to prove themselves as Americans, the new study finds. “People who feel like they need to prove they belong in a culture will change their habits in an attempt to fit in,” says researcher Sapna Cheryan, a psychologist at the University of Washington. The study, which surveyed AsianAmerican and white college students, found children of immigrants are often embarrassed by consuming food from their home country in front of others. Sixty-eight percent of the Asian-American respondents recalled food-related insecurities around white peers while growing up, such as awkwardness about using chopsticks and the custom of eating all parts of the animal (chicken feet, fish eyes, and pork heads). Only 27 percent of white respondents remembered embarrassing food practices from childhood. The researchers also measured whether the threat of not being identified as American had an influence on food preferences. To trigger this threat, a white experimenter asked half of the participants, “Do you speak English?” before beginning the experiment. Then the 53 participants — all English-speakers and a mix of whites and Asian-Americans — wrote down their favorite foods. Inquiring about English skills prompted 75 percent of Asian-Americans to mention a typical American food as their favorite compared with 25 percent of Asian-Americans who had not been asked if they spoke English. White participants’ lists of favorite foods did not differ whether the experimenter asked if they spoke English or

not.

Finally, 55 Asian-Americans were asked to select a dish to eat from local Asian and American restaurants. Before making this selection, researchers told some participants: “Actually, you have to be an American to be in this study,” as a way of threatening the participants’ American identity. The Asian-American participants whose American identity was threatened chose more American dishes, such as hamburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches, than Asian-American participants who were not asked if they were American. Because the sampled American dishes tended to have more fat, threatened participants ended up consuming an extra 182 calories, 12 grams of fat and seven grams of saturated fat than participants who were not asked if they were American. “In American society today, being American is associated with being white. Americans who don’t fit this image — even if they were born here and speak English — feel that pressure to prove that they’re American,” Cheryan said. The study will be published in the June issue of the journal Psychological Science.

Bienestar Bilingual Counseling Center, LLC

2717 Bellevue Avenue 1st Floor Syracuse, NY 13210 (315) 437-1304 Randy Stetson, LCSW-R rstetson@bienestar-bcc.com www.bienestar-bcc.com

We work as a team with our patients to provide the best medical care to women.

Complete Gynecological Care

Adolescent Medicine Contraception and family planning Diagnosis & treatment of abnormal Pap smears Heavy, irregular, painful menstrual cycles Perimenopause & Menopause Evaluation & Treatment Osteoporosis Screening and Management Oﬃce Surgical Procedures Patient Education Urinary incontinence Well Woman Exams

Complete Obstetric Care Infertility, Recurrent pregnancy loss Low and High risk pregnancy

Connie Caughey, NP meets one-on-one with our patients to support a healthy lifestyle. Connie offers a Smoking Cessation Program and works closely with our patients to encourage success. Individual Lactation Consultations help our mothers and babies learn to breastfeed with confidence. Our onsite La’ Petite Boutique offers our nursing mothers Medela Pumps and supplies at cost, Rentals and Nursing Bras.

Same Day & Evening Appointments 445-2701 Call for an Appointment, our Staﬀ will be happy to assist you. 5800 Heritage Landing Drive, Suite C, East Syracuse, NY 13057

4,000-plus weight loss surgeries. That’s a lot of smiles. Our program has successfully met the highest standards set forth by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and is recognized as an ASMBS Center of Excellence. Surgeries are performed at Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare in Utica, and at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse. Dr. Graber is the Director of Bariatric Surgery at both hospitals.

Visit drgrabermd.com, or call 315-624 -4740 to discuss ��

ONONDAGA, OSWEGO, CAYUGA AND MADISON COUNTIES in good A monthly newspaper published by

Health CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

Local News, Inc. Distribution: 35,000 copies. To request home delivery ($15 per year), call 342-1182.

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In Good Health is published 12 times a year by Local News, Inc. © 2011 by Local News, Inc. All rights reserved. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 276, Oswego, NY 13126. • Phone: (315) 342-1182 • Fax: (315) 342-7776. Editor & Publisher: Wagner Dotto • Associate Editor: Lou Sorendo Writers and Contributing Writers: Suzanne M. Ellis, Jim Miller, Eva Briggs, M.D., Gwenn Voelckers, Deborah Banikowski, Deborah Jeanne Sergeant, Anne Palumbo, Aaron Gifford, Chris Motola, Sylviane Duval, Melissa Stefanec • Advertising: Donna J. Kimbrell, Tracy DeCann • Layout & Design: Chris Crocker • Proofreading: Shelley Manley • Ofﬁce Manager: Laura J. Beckwith

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June 2011 •

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CALENDAR of

HEALTH EVENTS

June 4

Multi-organ blood analysis event held in Fulton Oswego Health and the Fulton Kiwanis Club will team up once again to offer the community a multi-organ blood analysis on Saturday, June 4, in the cafeteria of G. Ray Bodley High School. This full battery of tests can help prevent potential health problems. The cost of the analysis is $35. Typically these tests can cost more than $340. In addition, there is an optional $20 prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, which is recommended to men older than age 50. To make an appointment, residents can call 341-0094. The screening will be offered from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. A 12hour fast is required. Checks to cover the cost of the screenings should be made out to Oswego Health. For more information, call (315) 349-5500 or visit oswegohealth.org.

June 6

June 17

St. Joseph’s hosts weight loss surgery seminar

Panel to discuss vision loss, diabetes issues

St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center will host a free informational session on “Weight Loss Surgery: When is it the Best Option?” at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 6, at Northeast Medical Center, located at Medical Center Drive in Fayetteville. The seminar takes place the fifth floor conference room. William Graber, a board-certified surgeon specializing in weight loss surgery, will explain what qualifies as obesity, when surgery is the best option and review what can be expected after surgery. Space is limited. To register for the session, call St. Joseph’s at 744-1244 or email community.programs@sjhsyr.org.

June 10

Oswego’s breast cancer support to host speaker Oswego Health’s breast cancer support group will host a guest speak-

Meet your

er from Camp Good Days & Special Times at its June 10 meeting to be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the lower level conference room of the Oswego Health Services Center, which is adjacent to Oswego Hospital. Renee DeVesty, the Central New York outreach coordinator of Camp Good Days & Special Times, will share details of the camp’s weekend oncology programs that are free and open to women. The program is open to women that are age 18 or older whose care ranges from a recent cancer diagnosis to remission. During the weekend, the activities may include arts and crafts, music, dancing, massage, yoga, manicures, a ropes course, rock climbing, swimming, boating and fishing. For more information on the weekend events, visit www.campgooddays.org. Oswego Health’s breast cancer support group is free and is lead by Amy Conzone, a certified breast care patient navigator in imaging, breast care and cancer. For more information on the support group or the navigator program, please call 349-5789.

Oswego County Visually Impaired (OCVI) is planning a panel discussion on vision loss and diabetes by two local doctors on June 17 at Springside at Seneca Hill. Ivan Proano, an ophthalmologist, and Francis Arce, an endocrinologist, will draw on their specialties to take a look at medical approaches to, and patient practices for, vision loss and related diabetic issues. The panel presentation will take place at 12:30, preceded by a luncheon at 11:30. There is no fee for those who only want to attend the presentation. There is a fee for the luncheon. “Much progress is being made in the prevention, early detection and treatment of diabetes and the vision loss that sometimes accompanies it. This will be a timely, educational presentation and I encourage the community to attend,” said Anne Costa of Aurora of CNY, Inc. Aurora is the only nonprofit in Central New York that works exclusively with people with vision and hearing loss. Reservations

for the event are required by June 9, and Call-N-Ride transportation will be available. For luncheon cost, to make reservations, or for more information, call Laura Smith at 343-4781, Betty Jaekle at 343-4556 or Tammy Russell at 625-4263.

June 20

Golf tournament to honor M. Catherine Richardson The Eldercare Foundation has announced that the 2011 Eldercare Celebrity Open will be held in honor of M. Catherine Richardson, distinguished attorney, prominent community volunteer and longtime Syracuse resident. A former teacher, Richardson worked as a health care and corporate attorney for many years and served as general counsel for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. She is a retired partner of Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC. and served as the first woman president of the Onondaga County Bar Association, president of the New York State Bar Association, and member of the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association. The Eldercare Foundation is one of many charitable organizations that have benefited from her expertise and generosity. The Eldercare Celebrity Open, scheduled for Monday, June 20, at the Links at Erie Village, will feature golf entertainer Brad Denton and national long drive champion and former LPGA player Sally Dee. The celebrities will participate in a noon exhibition, play with tournament golfers, and host a special cocktail reception. For more information, call 476-4295, ext. 258 or visit www.eldercarecny.org.

Oct. 1

Walk To End Alzheimer’s scheduled for Liverpool The Alzheimer’s Association, Central New York chapter, calls upon the Syracuse area to join the “Walk To End Alzheimer’s.” The chapter will hold its annual event at Oct. 1 at Long Branch Park. Registration begins at 8 a.m. with the walk following at 9:30 a.m. Last year’s event drew nearly 1,000 people and raised a record-breaking $128,000. The “Walk To End Alzheimer’s” is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support, and research. Of the 5.4 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, more than 45,800 live within the Central New York Chapter’s 14-county region. “This is our chance as a community to stand together with one voice and speak out against Alzheimer’s,” Catherine James, chief executive officer for the Alzheimer’s Association, Central New York Chapter, said. “By registering and asking your friends, family, and co-workers to join you, we can raise the volume of that voice to a fever pitch.” There is no registration fee and materials are available at www.alzcny.org/walk, walk@alzcny.org or by calling 315-4724201 x106.

June 23

Learn how to adopt, become foster parents The Onondaga County Department of Social Services is offering two programs designed for people interested in becoming foster/adoptive parents. They are both held at Thursday, June 23. One meeting will take place from 10–11:30 a.m. at Onondaga Free Library, 4840 West Seneca Turnpike in Syracuse; the second will take place from 5:30–7 p.m. at Fayetteville Free Library, 300 Orchard St., Fayetteville. Registration is required for all meetings. Call the Department of Social Services at 435-3827 or visit www. giveyourlifeasmile.com.

Oswego Hospital offers mental health support group Oswego Health’s behavioral services department will hold LIGHT mental health support group meetings every other Tuesday in the large conference room at the Behavioral Services office at 44 Bunner Street in Oswego. The LIGHT, or Learning about Illness and Generating Hope Together, is a free program that offers support and education to family members of individuals with serious mental illnesses. The group recognizes that mental illness affects the entire family, and can cause frustration and feelings of helplessness. Leading the group are experienced mental health professionals. The meeting dates are June 7 and 21; July 5 and 19; Aug. 2, 16 and 30; Sept. 13 and 27; Oct. 11 and 25; Nov. 8 and 22; and Dec. 6 and 20. To learn more about either support group, call Linda Nicholas at 326-4176.

care team… Professional Excellence, Compassionate Care…Close to Home. At Auburn Memorial Hospital, we respect that you have a choice of medical facilities. The decision is not one you take lightly…neither do the physicians who overwhelmingly refer their patients to us. When you are our patient, our highly qualiﬁed Care Team focuses on one thing: YOU. We take the time to understand your medical history and we personalize a care plan just for you. We strive to minimize your waiting time and give you priority treatment for acute conditions. AMH has invested in a state-of-the-art, ultra secure Electronic Medical Records system to seamlessly, instantly share your information among all members of your Care Team. That means you only tell your story once and your Care Team stays up-to-date on all aspects of your care. We are 800 staff members and 230 clinicians strong. We perform thousands of inpatient and outpatient procedures each year…focusing on one patient at a time. When you choose AMH, your Care Team provides professional excellence and compassionate care….close to home.

Auburn Memorial Hospital 17 Lansing Street, Auburn, New York 13021 P:315-255-7011

www.auburnhospital.org About the Care Team: The AMH Care Team of 800+ employees and 230+ clinicians perform thousands of inpatient and outpatient procedures each year. Our physicians are Board-certiﬁed in one or more specialties, including: Anesthesiology, Emergency Care, Medicine (including Allergy, Cardiology, Dermatology, Endocrinology, Family Practice, Gastroenterology, Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Neurology, Oncology/Hematology, Pulmonary Diseases), Oral Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pathology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Radiology (MRI & Nuclear Medicine), and Surgery (Bariatric, Ear, Nose & Throat, General, Orthopedic, Ophthalmology, Plastic Surgery, and Urology).

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

Job Loss Greatly Increases Risk of Premature Death, Especially in Men

n a meta-analysis of 42 studies with data on 20 million people regarding the relationship between unemployment and the risk of death, a team of researchers at Stony Brook University found that the risk of death was 63 percent higher in those who experienced an episode of unemployment than those who did not. They also found that the increased risk was greater for men (78 percent) than for women (37 percent). Reported in Social Science & Medicine, the overall study results reveal that the relationship between unemployment and mortality risk has Schwartz remained constant for the past 50 years. “Our study results clearly indicate that unemployment is not just bad for your pocketbook; it’s also bad for your health,” says Joseph E. Schwartz, senior author and professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. “The results suggest a causal relationship between unemployment and higher risk of death, as well as the need to identify strategies to minimize the adverse health effects of unemployment.” Schwartz points out that while unemployment is always an issue for society, the current economic crisis and unemployment rates intensify the need to research the relationships between unemployment, health risks, and premature death. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the national unemployment rate reached 9.6 percent in August 2010, near its highest level in

25 years. The rate continues to be high, at 9 percent in April. The study, titled “Losing life and livelihood: A systematic review and meta-analysis of unemployment and all-cause mortality,” included an analysis of working-age men and women mainly in Western countries over a 40-year period. Employment and unemployment were documented in the studies for people in all phases of their careers. Individuals were followed for different lengths of time in the various studies. The researchers also found that for those who were younger (under age 50) and who experienced an episode of unemployment, the risk of death was greater (approximately 75 percent) than for those who were 50 or older (25 percent) experiencing the same. “Those studies that followed people for more than 10 years showed a weaker relationship between unemployment and risk of death,” adds David J. Roelfs, first author, and a doctoral candidate in the department of sociology at Stony Brook University. “This finding strongly suggests that the increase in risk is greater during an episode of unemployment and the initial 10 years thereafter.” Schwartz and colleagues emphasize that future research should focus on possible mediating, moderating, and confounding factors, and on whether the risk of death could be modified in individuals, either at the health care system level or individual level. Some methods they suggest could include public health initiatives that target unemployed people for more aggressive cardiovascular screening, or targeted interventions to help unemployed individuals reduce risk-taking behaviors.

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Macular Degeneration Dr. George Kornfeld uses miniaturized binoculars or telescopes to help those with vision loss keep reading, writing driving and maintaining independence.

By Elana Lombardi Freelance Writer

Oswego Health Care for Your Lifetime

Comfort and Peace of Mind Early detection of breast cancer increases the chances for survival. At Oswego Health we offer high technology of digital mammography, and a little pampering with our new soft pink robes.

Call 315-349-5540 to make your appointment ��www.oswegohealth.org

Just because you have macular degeneration or other eye diseases like diabetic retinopathy doesn’t mean you must give up driving. “People don’t know that there are doctors who are very experienced in low vision care.”Dr.George Kornfeld, a low vision optometrist. Low Vision patient, Bonnie Demuth, with Bioptic Telescopes

Bonnie was helped with two pairs of glasses: Special $475 prismatic glasses let her read the newspaper and bioptic telescopes helped her distance vision. June 2011 •

“My new telescopic glasses make it much easier to read signs at a distance.” Says Bonnie, “Definitely worth the $1950 cost. I don’t know why I waited to do this. I should have come sooner.” Low vision devices are not always expensive. Some reading glasses cost as little as $450 and some magnifiers under $100. Every case is different because people have different levels of vision and different desires. “Our job is to figure out everything and anything possible to keep a person functioning visually.” Says Dr. Kornfeld. Dr. Kornfeld sees patients in his five offices throughout upstate New York including North Syracuse. For more information and a FREE telephone consultation call:

585-271-7320 Toll-free 1-866-446-2050

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Meet

Your Doctor

By Chris Motola

Dr. Brian Johnson Upstate psychiatrist talks about new approaches to treat addiction Q: How did you become interested in psychiatry? A: I have that story that a lot of people do. I grew up in an addicted family. Our family was dirt poor and wildly out of control. Just when I was starting to get the idea that I could maybe help my father who used drink a quart of Johnny Walker red label scotch in front of television every night, he died suddenly, as people do, from their addiction. Going to medical school, I realized that I had many issues myself and needed treatment. It’s almost like the AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] model where the sponsor is just a little ahead of the people their helping. I therefore have some insight into the patients. Q: You’ve written some literature on the subject for a non-medical audience. A: There’s an attribute of psychoanalysis that it’s a social theory as well as an individual approach. I wrote this all down as an e-book I published in 2009. It’s written for teenagers and their parents at a sixth grade reading level. The concept is to expose them to the ideas of how addiction works before or while they’re first being exposed to drugs. The name of the book is “Widespread Zombification in the 21st Century.” It’s written as a page turner and I hear that’s how kids experience it. I use the term zombification as a way to illustrate how addiction takes over brain function and who benefits from your addiction. If you smoke 20 cigarettes a day, you’re handing the tobacco companies $10 a day. This is why drug sales are so lucrative. It’s a product that actually changes the brain of the user so that you start behaving in a way that benefits the seller. Q: What are the mechanisms for addiction? A: There are actually three mechanisms. One is that the addictive behavior functions as a relationship. People will say, for example, that heroin was my girlfriend, my boyfriend, my only friend; the person who has difficulty making human relationships actually uses the addiction as a relationship. The second mechanism has to do with managing aggression. The person gets mad and doesn’t know what to do with it. You would think someone who is drinking a quart of vodka a day and their spouse and children are suffering—there’s enormous hostility in that, but the person who has the addiction is not conscious of that. I was seeing someone the other day in the intensive care unit who got mad at his parents and almost killed himself with a drug overdose—it was an expression of feeling, but it wasn’t conscious. The third Page 6

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thing is the addiction pattern that starts in the mid-brain and runs on a number of neurotransmitters, but dopamine is a key neurotransmitter. The upper drugs—nicotine, cocaine and methamphetamine directly turn on dopamine and we know exactly how that works by now. They’re intensely addicting. The vast majority of people can’t use those and not become addicted. Then there’s a separate downer pathway— alcohol, benzodiazepines like Xanax and cannabinoids like marijuana. This is a less-direct pathway that turns on dopamine. They’re less addictive drugs, but a vulnerable person who is repeatedly exposed eventually sees their dopamine firing increase and eventually urgently craves the drug. But it’s a lesser pathway and many people use those drugs without developing an addiction. Q: You’ve cited denial as playing a major role in addiction. Can you elaborate? A: Once you urgently need the drug for one of these three reasons, and it’s injuring you, you have a conflict. It doesn’t matter if your brain is calling out for cocaine for the dopamine boost or if your brain is calling out for alcohol because, when you get mad, you can’t bear the idea of taking it up with the source interpersonally. So you create this unconscious system that makes it reasonable for you to do what you’re doing despite the harm. Since the denial system is purely internally directed, it has nothing to do with reality. The denial always sounds bizarre. So smokers will say “everybody’s got to die sometime” as though inhaling a carcinogen that’s full of dirt and builds up plaque inside your arteries makes it perfectly reasonable. The fact that smokers die an average of 14 years earlier is overlooked. Their family—and their doctors—get very upset that they’re smoking, but the denial system allows the

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

behavior to continue. It’s the same with any. One thing that’s uniform in the denial system is idealization. People who drink heavily will say, “I have an amazing ability to drink. I can drink a full case of beer, most people can’t do that.” Outside the denial system, you’d wonder why you’d want to do that. Q: What does it mean to have an addictive personality? Is there any validity to the idea or is it just pop psychology? A: I have a paper in the Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis in 2003 that takes up that question. At first it reviews the psychiatric literature that shows that the concept of addictive personality is dead as a doornail. That no one believes in it. Then it notices that everyone talks about addictive personalities and then it describes what an addictive personality would be and what the DSM [diagnostic and statistic manual] criteria could be for it. Q: So what’s the prevailing opinion? A: If you’re asking Brian Johnson, then of course there’s an addictive personality. I’ve dealt with it in multiple papers and explained how an addictive personality is similar and different from codependence, which is another concept that should be in the DSM-V. From a neuropsychoanalytic point of view, addictive personality makes perfect sense, but it’s also very much a minority view. Q: How would you describe it? A: It’s got a number of features: idealization, denial and some of the things I’ve mentioned. I talk in the paper about the difference between physical addiction—the dopamine pathway—and psychological addiction, which has to do with warding off dependency or consciousness of aggression. There are criteria in the paper for both. An addictive character, which is purely psychological, involves turning to addictive behaviors rather than interpersonal support. One unique idea with multiple publications has to do with drug dreams. That the dreaming pathway and craving pathway are actually identical. So what you find is that when people become physically addicted, they start to have dreams of chasing their drug. They might be going to a cash machine in their dreams and trying to make a withdrawal to buy cocaine. What’s typical of these dreams is the frustration involved. Often people don’t of-

ten get the drug. The idea is that these are manifestations of seeking the drug. Gratification is a whole difference neural system. Q: Can you talk about the success rate of Upstate’s addiction medicine program? A: When you have a difficult problem, there’s usually not one blockbuster idea that it going to solve everything. You use the many concepts available. No. 1: it is a requirement to have any evaluation here to come with a sober support person. I don’t know of any other program that does this. What it forces patients to do is ask for help before they show up. There’s a related thing where the lying and using go together. They don’t tell anyone that they’ve relapsed, that they’re using. They go back out and use again because they’re maintaining their dishonesty. Here, they have to start being honest before they even walk in the door and then they tell their story in front of someone who loves them. The second thing is that everyone who comes in needing a detox is evaluated by a psychiatrist during their intake. This is not the case with addiction treatment centers run by OASAS [Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services]. Psychiatrists in those programs are consultants after the person has had an intake and a certain amount of treatment. The third thing is that we do detox in a unique way. The fourth thing is that everybody gets daily psychotherapy their first week of withdrawal. They take up whatever issues are important to them. In other programs, it’s a cognitive behavioral approach where the counselors will be trying to teach the addicted people things the counselors think are important. Here, the patient is the center of the treatment and we talk about the issues they raise. The fifth thing is that, since co-morbid psychiatric problems like depression are so common, we jump immediately into treating those right along with the addiction. Q: How do you go about opiate detox? A: We require people to arrive in withdrawal then we give them a large dose of buprenorphine. It follows the principle that you replace a short-acting drug with a long-acting drug like bruprenorphine, which has a 30 hour half life. They take the drug in front of us and they only get one dose. So no one suffers bruprenorphine withdrawal. Q: You’ve mentioned that there are some regulatory challenges to providing effective addiction treatment. Can you elaborate? A: It has to do with integrated treatment. Everyone agrees publicly that it’s the ideal. In practice, getting licensing for integrative treatment is difficult. The reason for that is there’s a whole administration for addiction treatment OASAS and whole different administration for psychiatric treatment, which is the Office of Mental Health. From the neuropsychoanalytic perspective, there’s no difference; these are all psychiatric disorders. It’s hard to provide combined treatment and get it licensed.

Lifelines Brian Johnson is a psychiatrist and associate professor at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.

42 New Generic Medicines in 2011-2012 to Hit the Market Excellus’ report says Upstate New York can save nearly $900 million annually

pstate New York could see nearly $900 million in annualized savings as a result of 42 brand-name prescription drugs becoming available in their generic form during 2011 and 2012, led by Lipitor, Plavix, and Singulair, according to a report issued May 18 by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. “Consumers will see major savings from the generics in the form of lower copays, and those paying the larger tab of health insurance coverage will see lower prescription cost assumptions built into future premium rates,” said Joel Owerbach, vice president and chief pharmacy officer, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. Prescription drug spending represents about 15 percent to 17 percent of health coverage premiums. According to the Excellus BCBS analysis of prescription patterns in 39 counties of Upstate New York, 18 brandname medicines were identified as becoming available as generics this year. They are used to treat conditions ranging from cholesterol to acne and have average wholesale prices that produce an estimated annual spend of $340 million. Once those medicines become available as generics, the health plan’s projections show a potential annualized savings of $272 million. In the report, “The Facts About Opportunities for Generic Savings in 2011 and 2012,”brands that become available as generics are listed by the conditions they treat in the order of the estimated month that the generic becomes available. The report is available by going toexcellusbcbs. com/factsheets. Most drug manufacturers are granted an exclusive patent to produce the brand-name drug for a fixed period of time. “Once the patent expires, multiple companies can produce a generic version, resulting in lower costs for consumers,” said Owerbach. “On average, the cost of a generic drug could be 50 percent, 75 percent, and even 90 percent less than the brand-name version.” In 2011, the largest potential long-term savings will come from Lipitor, which has 154,000 users in Upstate New York. In 2012, the largest potential long-term savings will come from Plavix with its 80,000 Upstate New York users and Singulair with 102,000 users. Once their generics become widely available, potential annual savings could total $376 million from these three drugs alone. Other drugs with patents scheduled to expire in 2011 and 2012 include Xalatan, Nasacort AQ, Levaquin, Lexapro, Actos, Avalide, Avapro, Diovan and Diovan HCT. Since October 2005, measurable increases in the use of generic drugs as alternatives to higher-priced brand-name drugs have resulted in savings of more than $1 billion for upstate New Yorkers, according to analyses by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. June 2011 •

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Live Alone & Thrive

By Gwenn Voelckers

Practical tips, advice and hope for those who live alone

Getting Comfortable in Your Own Skin D

id you notice my new photo? I thought it was about time I updated my picture with something more “age appropriate.” Of all the challenges I’ve encountered on my own, accepting my aging self has been one of the most complex and tricky. It ranks right up there with managing a plumbing disaster, purchasing a new furnace, and finding the perfect anti-aging face cream. As if living alone weren’t challenging enough all by itself! Living alone as we age can cause even the most confident among us to lose precious beauty sleep. The antidote? Getting comfortable in our own skin. We need to see ourselves as beautiful inside and out, wrinkles and all. And since we’re all going to live in our own skin for the rest of our lives, the sooner we get comfortable with it, the better. How have I tackled this age-old challenge? With a change of attitude, a sense of humor, and a few practical purchases. If on occasion, you, too, look in the mirror and think “oh, no!” you might find some encouragement in some of my coping strategies below. Here’s what I’ve chosen to do:

Call a truce

For me, my journey toward selfacceptance began when I called a ceasefire with my aging face and body. I made a conscious decision to stop critiquing my every flaw and imperfection, and instead to make peace with the older, wiser woman in the mirror. Do you fall prey to self-criticism? Make a pile of all your negative body images, light ‘em on fire, and let the wind take them far, far away.

Appreciate wrinkles

They’re here to stay, so I decided to focus on how they got here. This shift in thinking changed everything and I now have a warm fondness for my wrinkles. The furrows between my brows come from the tough decisions I make every day at work and at home. The deep lines come from helping friends and family through difficult times. And the wrinkles under my eyes come from the crying and heartache I felt when losing my dad, my dear friend Cosmo, and my beloved springer spaniel Lillie. I’ll never, ever want to erase the crow’s feet and lines around my smile

KIDS Corner Teens Prefer Liquor to Beer, Hardly Touch Wine By Sylviane Duval

early half of American teen drinkers would rather have a shot of liquor than a bottle of beer, a new study finds. The golden brew and malt beverages only come a distant second and third, and wine barely registers on the radar. Teens who prefer liquor are much more likely to indulge in high-risk behavior, like binge drinking, drinking and driving, smoking tobacco or marijuana and having multiple sexual partners, researchers also found. The study, which covered 7,723 teens aged 12 to 18 in eight states, uses

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data from the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Researchers found that boys were more likely to prefer liquor and beer than girls, and that teens “graduate” to liquor and beer from malt beverages — such as Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Silver or Hard Lemonade — and wine coolers as they get older. African-Americans and Hispanic teens preferred malt beverages to beer, but not to liquor. “The number of liquor advertisements on TV has increased dramatically,” said lead study author, Dr. Michael Siegel of the Boston University School

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

that come from all the laughs I’ve enjoyed with my funny sister, Annie.

Respect the reminders of youth

A pimple here, a blemish there. These persistent reminders of my teenage years keep me humble and test my confidence (not to mention my sense of humor). My skin thinks I’m 16. I’m not going to argue with that!

Say good riddance

I avoid or part ways with youthobsessed people. Who needs it? I choose to spend time with mature, empathetic peers who share my fears, frustrations, and fascination with the natural, normal changes that come with growing older.

Avoid comparing

She’s 30-something. Her skin is flawless and she’s fit as a fiddle. She’s on a magazine cover in the checkout line, in the crowd at the concert, or strutting her stuff in the mall. I’ve decided to admire her beauty (briefly) and then to look the other way. I’m done with comparing myself to air-brushed models and other younger women. It only serves to kindle my insecurities and I’m choosing not to go there.

Invest in better skin

On the practical side, I’ve stepped up my skin-care routine in the morn-

of Public Health. “So it’s not surprising that liquor has become very popular among underage drinkers and surpasses beer as the alcoholic beverage of choice.” The study appears online and in the April 2011 issue of the “American Journal of Preventive Medicine.” Siegel said he does not believe that the type of alcohol teens consume affects their health directly. However, indirectly, the drinking patterns associated with the different types do have a strong influence. “The study results suggest that youth might initiate drinking with sweeter, more-flavored alcoholic beverages like malt beverages and wine coolers, and that they progress toward harder alcoholic drinks, like beer and hard liquor — and the high-risk behavior,” Siegel said. “Any time MADD sees a study showing the prevalence of teen drinking, we are concerned about the health and safety of America’s youth and the harmful effects on their decision-making ability,” said Laura Dean-Mooney, national president of Mother Against Drunk Driving (MADD). The group re-

ing and at night. I’ve never been one to spend much time or money at the cosmetics counter, but there are better products on the market these days for both women and men. These are worth a look. I’ve invested in better moisturizer, sun block, and sun glasses, and I’ve vowed to drink more water and get more sleep.

Soften the lighting

My female readers will relate to this. When shopping for clothing, there are some dressing rooms that just feel better than others. The lighting is natural and pleasing, which makes the whole experience much more enjoyable. I’ve taken my cue from these dressing rooms, and replaced the harsh lighting in my bathroom with softer, more flattering light. It’s made a nice difference!

Embrace it: beauty is skin deep

Learning to accept my wrinkles, age spots, and gray hairs didn’t happen overnight. It’s been a process, not unlike the one I undertook when I made the decision to create a wonderful life on my own, in my own home, in my own way. The path was full of twists and turns and, yes, wrinkles — some deep, some fine. With time and the wisdom that comes with age, I believe it’s possible to fully embrace the notion that beauty really is only skin deep. I believe a face that reflects the profound joys, sorrows, laughter, and losses one has in life is the most beautiful face of all. Gwenn Voelckers is the founder and facilitator of Live Alone and Thrive, empowerment workshops for women held throughout the year in Mendon, New York. For information about her upcoming workshops or to invite Gwenn to speak, you can call her at (585) 624-7887, email her at gvoelckers@rochester.rr.com.

ports that underage drinking kills 6,000 people in the United States each year. A solution could lie in the way alcohol is marketed to teens. Wine, for instance, is not advertised heavily in teen-oriented media and does not appear to be part of their partying and drinking scene, all factors that might contribute to its lack of popularity. Siegel said that restricting advertising for malt beverages and wine coolers in youth-oriented media could have a dramatic effect on overall youth drinking. “The association between drinking hard liquor and increased risky behaviors is not surprising,” said Pat Paluzzi, head of the Healthy Teen Network. “It is often the same group of youth who engage in multiple risky behaviors, and this relationship is especially true for drinking and unsafe sexual practices. If this study leads to more effective prevention and intervention measures, the impact could go beyond what these authors note.” Sylviane Duval is a contributing Writer for Health Behavior News Service.

Vegetarian-in-chief Onondaga County Executive has been a vegetarian for nearly 20 years

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By Aaron Gifford

nondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney, 45, has had a few close calls. Among them was an event during her 2007 election campaign where a newspaper reporter observed her at dinner avoiding the chicken in her Caesar salad. During the race, Mahoney’s supporters joked that if her secret got out, voters might brush her off as a radical. But now, nearly 20 years after Mahoney made the lifestyle change, she can be more open about her decision not to eat meat without worrying about the stigmas that used to be attached to vegetarianism. “Back then there was a whole persona about it,” Mahoney said, “so I just tried to keep it very low-key.” Mahoney grew up in a Syracuse household with eight siblings where big dinners of roasted poultry or grilled meats were commonplace. Over the years, Mahoney “experienced a culmination of things” that made her lose her appetite to meat. She became a vegetarian in 1992, after finishing law school. She was living in Ithaca, which at the time was considered a vegetarian-friendly city compared to other communities in the region. There was a vegetarian restaurant there that had some tasty dishes and the young attorney purchased from there a cook book that she still uses today. “But still,” she recalled with a laugh, “I had way more than my fair share of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.” Mahoney got involved with politics in the late ‘90s. At that time, vegetarianism was becoming more popular on college campuses and a local animal rights organization had become adversarial to City Hall. Mahoney continued to keep her choice not to eat meat on the down low. The lifestyle was still far outside the mainstream. Mahoney remembers the lack of choices at local restaurants and at campaign events. “You could go to restaurant after restaurant that did not have vegetable choices. You had to order a meat dish and just eat around it [meat] to get some vegetables and rice,” she said. “At events, basically they had just plan pasta with a vegetable on top of it.” But the world has changed in recent years. These days, Mahoney said, restaurants and caterers will serve pasta and mushroom dishes that even have the carnivores coming back for seconds. “Really,” she said, “I can go to a barbecue and have a loaded veggie burger that tastes great.” Mahoney is not a vegan, and still enjoys dairy products and fish, though she says only a few seafood dishes appeal to her. Although Mahoney became a vegetarian for personal reasons and not for health purposes, she began to feel better and more energized shortly after making the change. Physicals in the past 19 years have indicated that she’s in great health. “I felt better right from the beginning, but I can’t stress enough that it’s not a way to lose weight, because there are still a lot of starches,” she cautioned. Mahoney said she still has a sweet

tooth and is easily drawn to ice cream and cakes. Her dentist warns her to stay away from the hard candy. “Don’t make assumptions that I’m still always a healthy eater,” she quipped. “I love

Two Favorite Vegetarian Recipes From the Mahoneys’ Kitchen ■ Oat Burgers 4 1/2 c. water 1/2 c. soy sauce 4 1/2 c. old fashioned oats 1/3 c. oil 1 diced onion 1 t. garlic powder 1/4 c. yeast flakes 1/4 c. sesame seeds 3/4 c. walnuts ground well Cook oats in boiling water and soy sauce for about 5 minutes. Mix remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to cooked oats and mix well. When cool enough to handle, form into patties and bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes ( Turn after 15-20 mins) until nicely browned on each side. It makes 20-24 large burgers and you can freeze them cooked or uncooked.

■ Chopped Salads Chop a bunch of your favorite lettuce into small pieces. I add cooked white beans, a chopped tomato with seeds removed, chopped onion, almonds and feta cheese. With a little of your favorite dressing and some crusty bread and it makes a great dinner.

desserts and I love junk food.” Mahoney, who is married with four children, said maintaining the vegetarian lifestyle with a family is easier than most people would think. One of sons is a vegetarian, but her other three boys and her husband eat meat. And yet, it’s not unusual for the whole family to enjoy a vegetarian dinner together a few times a week. A household favorite is tacos made with “Quorn,” a soybean product that Mahoney swears tastes just like ground beef. “I challenge anyone to tell the difference,” she said. The county executive shops in “regular grocery stores” and splits cooking duties with her husband. Their 14-year-old became a vegetarian three years ago for animal rights issues and doesn’t even eat seafood, but their 15year-old is “pure carnivore,” Mahoney said. Her advice to parents that are considering a vegetarian lifestyle for their family: Consult a pediatrician first to learn about nutrition and available, reliable protein sources. And, start gradually. Work in a few meat-free meals into the week and allow your family to develop a taste for it before cutting out meat entirely. Mahoney said she thinks families will quickly find that eating more vegetables and significantly less meat is not only more healthy, but also much less expensive. On the go, Mahoney often eats lunch at Subway, which has vegetable wrap sandwiches. But she was quick to point out that just about every fast food restaurant has some type of salad or vegetarian dish. Even the famous Dinosaur Barbecue, one of the Salt City’s most famous institutions, has non-meat choices. Her favorite restaurants include Alto Cinco on Westcott Street and The Mission on East Onondaga Street. Besides Mexican and Pan-American food, Mahoney has also found a large selection of vegetarian dishes at several local Chinese and Thai restaurants. Mahoney said exercise is the second component to her healthy lifestyle. Luckily for her, she and her husband and sons all love hiking and the outdoors. If parents have difficulties finding activities they can enjoy with their children, then it’s important for every member of the household to take up something that keeps them physically active, whether it’s walking, running, joining a gym or playing sports. These days, more people from all walks of life are becoming vegetarians strictly for health reasons or because they are aware of how energy is used to process meat and they want to reduce their carbon foot prints, Mahoney said. “I think now more people that do it are like me,” she said. “They keep their reasons to themselves and they are happy with the way they feel. The purpose isn’t to be self-righteous.” In 2008 study by Harris Interactive found that 7.3 million American adults favor a vegetarian diet, and about 22.8 American adults favor a “vegetableinclined” diet. Harris Interactive also reported that about 1 million Americans in 2008 were vegans who don’t consume any animal products. June 2011 •

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My Turn

The difference between a Pap smear and a pelvic exam

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By Eva Briggs

eorgios Papinikolaou, a Greek physician who immigrated to the U.S. in 1913, made a serendipitous discovery while researching the changes in the cells found in the vaginal fluid during the course of a woman’s menstrual cycle. One of his subjects happened to have cervical cancer, and he was able to clearly observe the cancerous changes in her cells. He initially presented his findings at a 1928 medical conference, where it was met with skepticism. It wasn’t until 1941, when Papinikolaou and gynecologist Herbert Traut published a paper on the subject, that the medical community began to embrace the technique now known as the Pap smear. The Pap smear is a screening test for cervical cancer. It’s performed during a pelvic exam, but not every pelvic exam includes or requires a Pap smear. More on that later. To obtain a Pap smear, the physician uses a speculum to hold open the vaginal opening in order to obtain a sample of cells from the lining of the cervical canal. A special paddle and brush or a broom-shaped device collects the cells. The cells are either smeared onto a glass slide or, in newer technologies, placed into a liquid medium. In the lab the cells are treated with dyes and acids that make cellular detail

visible under a microscope. A cytotechnologist (or computer) scans the cells to detect abnormalities of cancer, or cancerous precursors. Cervical cancer is caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV). Most sexually active women acquire the HPV soon after becoming sexually active — although that may change as use of the vaccine to prevent HPV becomes more widespread. Fortunately most women infected with HPV control the virus with their own immune system. This initial reaction may appear as abnormal cells on a PAP smear. So the current recommendation is to wait until three years after a woman becomes sexually active before initiating regular Pap smears. This reduces the risk of misidentifying the healthy immune reaction to an HPV infection as precancerous changes. Delaying the initial Pap smear until three years after initial sexual activity does not increase the risk of missing a precancerous lesion. There is some confusion in the minds of some of my patients between a Pap smear, as described above, and a pelvic exam. The term Pap smear refers only to the specific test described above. Pelvic exam is a broader term encompassing the clinical evaluation of

a woman’s reproductive organs. The pelvic exam starts with a visual examination of the woman’s external genitalia. The examiner is looking for rashes, lesions, and other skin changes, as well as for the effects of hormones. Next, the examiner inserts a speculum, a special device that holds the vagina open to let allow visual inspection of the vagina and the cervix (the lowest portion of the uterus.) While the speculum is in place, the physician may choose to obtain other tests and specimens as indicated. Here’s where patients often become confused. Many women mistakenly assume that any specimen obtained at this time is a Pap smear. But there are many other tests, including the following. Screening tests for chlamydia and gonorrhea, the two most common sexually transmitted diseases. If the history or exam suggests a herpes infection, a special viral culture can be sent to the lab. If there is any discharge it can be cultured for bacteria, trichomonas, or yeast. The discharge can be examined under a microscope. After obtaining specimens, the examiner removes the speculum and performs a bimanual exam. With one hand on the patient’s abdomen and a gloved lubricated finger inside the vagina, the examiner palpates the woman’s uterus, ovaries, tubes, and adjacent organs. This helps discover enlarged organs and can assist in pinpointing the location of any pain. I hope this helps clear up the confusion about the difference between the Pap smear and the pelvic exam.

Eva Briggs, a board-certiﬁed physician, works on the staff at Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, in its two urgent care centers: one in Ithaca, and the other in Cortland.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

My Pregnant Life By Melissa Stefanec

Baby Shower and My First Expectant Parent Class

8 Months

t eight months and still in the womb, this baby has taken over my brain and my life. You are constantly being told a child will change your life in every way. What you aren’t told is that pregnancy will change your life in almost every way. The odd part is, I don’t even mind the hijacking of my life from this little body inside of me. I actually find myself wanting to meet and exceed her expectations and deadlines (if fetuses have expectations that is). Last month my husband and I attended the expectant parent classes at Community General Hospital in Syracuse. Although I’ve been reading everything I can get my hands on and asking my midwife questions as though I were about 3 years old, I learned a lot from these classes. My husband, who is an only child and not used to children or pregnancy, learned a great deal as well. He didn’t yawn and slouch like many of the other husbands. He paid attention and left the classes so informed and confident I couldn’t help but be proud. The classes weren’t easy to stomach. Men are slightly removed from their reproductive details. They don’t start going to a gynecologist in their teen years, seek out birth control or pay the attention most women do to the reproductive system. Besides a little turn-your-head-and-cough action, men are basically left alone. These classes shed some light on things most men have never even thought about. These classes weren’t for the meek, but they were great in preparing us for what was to come. I feel so much more confident about labor, delivery and infant care after attending. I understand no class can prepare you for the unknown and unexpected, but I’m confident I won’t be going into finals without doing a little studying. If this is your first pregnancy or it’s been a while, go to these classes at your hospital. You will not regret it. In other more exciting pregnancy news, I had my baby shower. It was held on one of the few sunny days in April and went fabulously. Everyone was so kind and energetic. It also had the added bonus of making this whole pregnancy and eventual birth thing a lot more real. I try to imagine holding my baby in my arms and can’t quite get there. The whole thing just still seems so foreign to me. However, the shower made me feel a little less like a stranger in a strange land and made me feel more like a houseboat floating in a sea of pink and cupcakes. I recently presented my midwife with my birth plan. I was worried she might find it a little too detailed or exclusionary of medical professionals. She listened and was on board with everything. It made me feel a little less

These people are all host parents in the Treatment Foster Care Program at Cayuga Home for Children like a control-freak mother. I’d like to think that through using this birth plan that I will have a controlled natural birth, but I know I better. I realize I stopped making all the decisions about eight months ago. I hope I’m not alone among firsttime moms when I say I’ve been living in a bit of denial. I knew when I got pregnant that there was a good chance the whole charade would end with a baby. However, there are days where I can’t believe this is really happening. I am unbelievably excited and unbelievably scared. As the day approaches, I have to learn that not all of life can be planned and that I will have to adapt and move forward. Overall, I’m feeling pretty good. I’m still going to the gym, although I’ve lightened my workout. I walk or hike every chance I get. However, I’m getting more and more tired. I’m not quite going to bed at 7 p.m. most nights like I did in the first trimester, but already I find myself running out of steam. Sometimes I run out of steam halfway through my work day and other times I run out half-through picking something up off the floor. My new credo is, ‘Do I really need that’? On the horizon, I am obviously looking at birth. I also have a prenatal photo shoot (a generous shower gift) where I hope to look beautiful and classy and not like a worn-out blimp with pregnancy skin. I also have lots of decorating, reorganizing, storing and nesting to do. Let’s hope my husband and I can stay awake and manage it.

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Patti McGee was director of the Oneida city recreation department when she found out she had cancer. She beat the disease and changed her life. Her latest project: a book “Hope: An Inspiring AZ Guide for Cancer Patients, Survivors and Caregivers” By Aaron Gifford

atti McGee beat breast cancer but refused to stop fighting. After going into remission, the Oneida resident focused on a new career, continued raising her son and started to enjoy life to the fullest. And yet, she found herself spending hours a day reflecting on her ordeal. Beating the disease was not enough. “I was just lying there and thinking about the things I would have changed,” McGee, 47, recalled. “How can I help other people?” So McGee founded local cancer support groups and established the Oneida Relay-for-Life event, which has occurred annually since 2004. Last year, the event surpassed the $1 million mark in total funds raised. Along the way, McGee corresponded with hundreds of cancer survivors. Many of McGee’s peers beat the disease, many did not, but anyone who lives with cancer for one day is considered a survivor. To share the variety of perspectives and situations of cancer survivors, McGee recently published a book, “Hope: An Inspiring A-Z Guide for Cancer Patients, Survivors and Caregivers.” The book, published by Amazon, is expected be released in June. “Cancer changed my life,” she said. McGee was diagnosed in 2002 at the age of 39. It began with a sore shoulder. McGee didn’t think too much of it at the time, and assumed she had just injured herself slightly taking down some Halloween decorations. Later, she noticed a lump above her breast. The tumor was malignant, surgery was required and McGee spent her Christmas holiday that year terrified and on edge, waiting to hear back whether her cancer had spread. The cancer had not spread, but McGee still required radiation and chemotherapy. It was an especially challenging time for McGee, who was a single mother and had a high-stress job as director of the Oneida city recreation department. She couldn’t go back to work for nearly a year. McGee’s son, who was 10 at the time, helped with household chores and comforted his mother during her weakest hours. McGee’s written dedication to Dylan, who will head off to college this fall, is her favorite part of the book. “He was always there to remind me — ‘It’s OK…you’re not ugly.’ And he kept the humor going. He had to give up a lot of things and he had to become a grown-up when I was sick. He definitely sees things differently that a lot of other kids.” McGee said one of the worst parts of her experience was dealing with the side effects of medication that

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

made her shift from happy to extremely depressed. Another low point was when she asked her sister, Kelly McGee, a cosmetologist, to shave her head. “That was really hard for her,” Patti said. “We were both crying.” As a cancer patient, McGee “Cancer changed my life,” Patti McGee says. realized the benShe is now publishing a book, “Hope: An Inspiring A-Z Guide efit of massage for Cancer Patients, Survivors and Caregivers,” where several therapy, so she survivors share their experiences. decided to become a caregiver year. She also went into remission, but in that field. She quit her job as Oneida the cancer later came back. recreation director, enrolled in a mas“I wanted to get the book done sage therapist licensing program and before she died,” McGee said. “Her’s was forced to go on public assistance for about one year until she could open [tumor] spread to the brain. She lived eight years longer than they said she her own practice. “I was a single mom with a job that would. And by her great attitude, you wouldn’t have even known she had provided good pay, vacation time, and cancer. We’re inspired by her.” good benefits. I wouldn’t have had the Several contributors are breast courage to leave that to go after somecancer survivors, but there are chapthing new. After going through cancer, ters from those who survived colon, I found the motivation,” McGee said. thyroid and other types of cancers. Today, her business, “Time for There’s also a story from a woman Reflection Massage Therapy and Rewho gave birth to a healthy baby after source Center” has offices in Oneida and Whitesboro, where she works with surviving cancer, as well as letters from several cancer patients. McGee also be- oncologists, surgeons, cosmetologists and others from the treatment or cancer came a certified yoga instructor and is support community. currently working on her certification McGee said friends and relatives to become a personal trainer. helped her edit and format the book She started working on the book in before the package was submitted to 2005, inspired by letters she received Amazon.com, which will sell the book from cancer patients she met at Camp on its website for $14.95. McGee said $1 Good Days and Special Times. McGee from each sale will go toward helping asked her peers if they would be willcancer patients who incur unexpected ing to share their stories, and reached out to others in her community that she expenses during their treatments. Lynne Browne, a cancer survivor met in cancer support groups or fundfrom Utica who helped McGee format raising events. the book, told McGee: “Many of the “The hardest part of the book is stories had me crying because they getting someone to tell their story,” were so similar to my story. I think this she said. “They want to hold it all in, book will be very helpful. Congratulaall that frustration. But writing about tions!” it and talking about it helps tremenMcGee hopes readers are equally dously.” inspired by the stories, but she advises “Anyone with cancer should write cancer patients and their loved ones a journal and talk to people,” McGee that it takes more than sheer deteradded. “And it’s so important to remination to beat the disease. A sense member that you’re not alone.” of humor is also important. Be ready McGee wrote an introduction for for unexpected turns, and don’t get each chapter, which begins with A and discouraged if your spirit weakens at ends with Z. Each chapter contains a times. story by or about a different survivor. “Life is not about climbing a ladder The first chapter, “A is for Attitude,” straight up,” she said. “It’s more like a is dedicated to McGee’s friend Sandra rock wall. Sometimes, you have to maMiller, who passed away in February neuver in different ways to get over it.” at the age of 47. She’s the same age as McGee and began treatment the same

SmartBites

By Anne Palumbo

The skinny on healthy eating

Unbeatable Beets

ike so many folks whose memory isn’t what it used to be, I do what I can to stave off brain drain. I exercise, get a good night’s sleep, do crossword puzzles, see friends, and eat foods linked to keeping the mind sharp, either by reducing inflammation or by increasing blood flow to the brain. While blueberries, walnuts and salmon have always topped my brain-booster list, I have now added beets to the mix. A recent study at Wake Forest University has discovered that the natural nitrates in beets can increase blood flow to the brain. More blood means more oxygen, and more oxygen means improved mental performance. Mensa high-IQ society, here I come! More food for thought: Beets are also good for your heart. Extensive research, conducted by scientists at London’s Queen Mary University, has not only linked the nitrates in beets to lowered blood pressure, but it has also attributed the betaine in beets to reduced blood concentration of homocysteine, an amino acid linked to heart disease and stroke. Apart from its head and heart

benefits, beets are low in calories (58 per cup), high in fiber, and teeming with folate (critical for developing babies), potassium (good for maintaining proper blood pressure) and manganese (a workhorse micronutrient tied to digestion and healthy bones). But what about a beet’s high sugar content? Indeed, it’s higher than your average vegetable, clocking in at about 16 grams of carbohydrates per cup. That said, if carbs are something you monitor, you’ll want to keep this in mind. Helpful tips — Purchase beets that are firm and smooth, with greens attached. The edible greens, rich in vitamin A, are delicious raw or lightly cooked. Fresh beets last about a week in the refrigerator. To store: Trim off leaves (leaving an inch of stalk above bulb), do not wash, and put in a plastic bag. If using greens, place washed and dried beet greens in a plastic bag and store in refrigerator for up to three days.

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7 Lesser-known Vitamins and Minerals You Need to Know About By Melissa Stefanec

ating a balanced diet is a daunting task. You have to make considerations for fat, calories, salt, protein and carbohydrates. You also want to make sure you are getting enough vitamins and minerals. A lot of us know we need common vitamins such as vitamin C or D, or minerals such as iron. However, there is a host of other vitamins and minerals most of us know very little (if anything) about. In Good Health sat down with two registered dietitians, to get the story on some of the less publicized vitamins and minerals and how they fit into a healthy diet. Maureen Fauler from Crouse Hospital and Julie Mellen from University Healthcare Center at Upstate University shared their knowledge on the subject. Here is the list of some of these nutrients Fauler and some information that will help you navigate the vitamin and mineral maze.

Folate (Folic Acid)

Folate is a B vitamin that is crucial for the prevention of birth defects such as spinal defects. It’s water soluble, which means Mellen you can’t get too much of it because the body will dispose of it through urination. It helps in the formation of red blood cells and is necessary for cell division. Folate is needed to make DNA and RNA and it helps prevent anemia. It is also necessary to reproduction. Sources: Leafy green vegetables, fruits, especially citrus fruits and juices, dried beans and peas, yeast and liver.

Phosphorus

Next to calcium, phosphorus is the most

abundant mineral in the body. These two important nutrients work closely together to build strong bones and teeth. Phosphorus helps filter out waste in the kidneys and plays an essential role in how the body stores and uses energy. It also helps reduce muscle pain after a hard workout. Phosphorus is needed for the growth, maintenance and repair of all tissues, cells, DNA and RNA. Phosphorus helps the body balance and use other vitamins and minerals, including vitamin D, iodine, magnesium and zinc. Sources: Protein-rich foods such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts, and legumes (beans). Other sources include whole grains, hard potatoes, dried fruit, garlic cloves and carbonated beverages.

role in protecting cells from free-radical damage. It is also an important part of red blood cells and plays a role in cardiovascular function. It also works in combination with proteins to help regulate thyroid function and aid the immune system. Sources: Protein-rich foods, meat, eggs, milk, nuts, whole grains and garlic.

Zinc

This mineral is needed for many biochemical reactions in the body. Magnesium also helps regulate blood sugar levels, promotes normal blood pressure and is known to be involved in energy metabolism and protein synthesis. It plays a role in activating the different enzymes in the body. It helps build strong bones and teeth and supports cardiovascular function. Sources: Legumes, nuts, whole grains, tofu, bananas, apricots, seafood, coffee, tea, wheat bran, wheat germ and vegetables

This mineral is important for cellular metabolism. It is required for the activity of approximately 100 enzymes, plays a role in immune function, protein synthesis, wound healing, DNA synthesis, and cell division. It supports normal growth and development during pregnancy, childhood and adolescence and is required for proper sense of taste and smell. Sources: Oysters, red meat and poultry, beans, nuts, crab and lobster, whole grains, fortified breakfast cereals, liver, wheat germ, brewer’s yeast and dairy products.

Selenium

Manganese

This mineral is required only in small amounts. It is involved in bone formation and wound healing. It plays in important role in the metabolism of proteins, cholesterol, glucose and carbohydrates. It is also an antioxidant. Sources: Pecans, almonds, legumes, green and black tea, whole grains coffee, tea, egg yolks, cocoa and pineapple juice.

Magnesium

Vitamin K

This mineral is important, but is only required in small amounts. It plays an important

This vitamin is fat soluble. A fatsoluble vitamin is stored in fatty tissue and can become toxic to the body if intake is too high. Vitamin K is needed for blood clotting and calcium metabolism. Sources: Cabbage, cauliflower, green leafy vegetables such as spinach, cereals, soybeans, vegetables and green tea. Vitamin K is also made by the bac-

teria that line the gastrointestinal tract.

Whole Foods Vs. Supplements

Although most nutritionists will recommend getting nutrients from whole foods, many of us don’t eat a perfectly rounded diet each day. That’s why taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement is ideal. “Realistically, not everyone is going to eat a balanced diet every day to get all of their needs,” said Maureen Fauler of Crouse Hospital who is a certified dietitian nutritionist and also holds a master’s in health administration. It doesn’t matter what kind or brand of multivitamin and mineral supplement you take. It can be store brand or geared toward a specific demographic such as a women’s or senior’s supplement. Taking any supplement with 100 percent of your daily value of most nutrients should fill in any gaps in your diet. “You don’t eat perfectly every single day, so a multi vitamin and mineral supplement will give you a little extra insurance,” said Julie Mellen, a dietitian who is also a certified diabetes educator at Upstate University in Syracuse. Taking a single daily dose of a multivitamin and mineral supplement should be adequate for most people. If you take too much of a supplement it will either build up to toxic levels in your body (in the case of fat-soluble vitamins) or you will just get rid of it while urinating (in the case of water-soluble vitamins). Striking a healthy balance of nutrients is essential. “Don’t mega dose on any of those nutrients,” said Mellen. “They all work together.” Taking extra supplements of a single vitamin or mineral isn’t typically necessary for a healthy person. Exceptions can be made if a doctor does a blood test and determines you don’t have enough or have too much of a certain nutrient. “Normally that is only warranted if someone has some sort of medical condition,” said Fauler.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

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Tea: Rich in Antioxidants But what is the best tea — green, black or white? By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

cup of tea can do much more than warm you up on a blustery day. It can also improve your health. Several studies indicate that tea contains cancer-fighting antioxidant properties. A buzzword in natural and nutrition health, foods from blueberries to broccoli are said to have antioxidants. What’s the “best” tea: White, green or black? All come from the same plant, camellia sinensis. But the experts say that white tea is tops for fighting cancer development. White tea was the choice of the royal court in China’s Ming Dynasty and for good reason. Made from the white buds of the plant, it’s rare and may be harvested only in the spring. The buds are steamed and dried slowly. “Because it’s the least processed, that’s why it has more of its antioxidant properties,” said Lolane Glundal, wellness educator and Chinese herbalist at Natur-tyme in Syracuse. “The more processing, the more nutrients are harmed.” Green tea is made from the dried leaves of the same plant. Black tea, commonly used for iced tea and hot tea, may be roasted or fermented. Because it is the most processed of the three varieties, black tea’s antioxidant properties are the least. “It’s high in antioxidants and it also has a number of different constitu-

ents in tea,” Glundal said. “The main constituent in the tea that is anti-cancer is the antioxidant EGCG.” Short for epigallocatechin gallate, EGCG is said to have many times the antioxidant properties as vitamin E. “EGCG inhibits an enzyme which is required for cancer cell growth,” said Eric Mena, store manager of The Mustard Seed in Oswego. John K. Reynolds, doctor of naturopathic medicine for Integrative Natural Health Improvement in North Syracuse, explained how white tea impacts the body in relation to cancer. “White tea contains phytochemicals especially antioxidants many of which are known as polyphenols which resist cancerous formations due to free radical activity,” he said. “The polyphenols also have been found to possess antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties which may support cancer resistance.” For people who have cancer, Glundal said, drinking tea “will be beneficial for you, but it is not going to replace therapies recommended by the doctor.” Swigging cup after cup of white tea may seem like an easy way to ingest more antioxidants; however, Glundal advises people to drink up to two cups daily. In addition to its antioxidant

properties, tea contains “the catagen polyphenols that accelerate the body’s energy expenditure and helps the body deal with stress,” Glundal said. “That increases gamma delta T cells, which are part of the immune system. It lowers cortisol levels, the stress hormone.” Some natural health experts express concern about people consuming fluoride because of toxicity arising from the levels of naturally-occurring fluoride in tea adding to the amount ingested from drinking municipal water, most of which is treated with fluoride. “Don’t worry too much,” Mena said. “You would have to drink more than eight cups a day for 10 years straight for any potential harmful side effects to possibly occur, and even that is unlikely. White tea contains the least amount of fluoride.” For optimal flavor, Glundal recommends brewing tea by heating water to near boiling and steeping tea 30 to 60 seconds. Any shorter, and it’s too weak, and if steeps too long or is boiled, tea becomes bitter. “And it destroys the nutrients,” Glundal said.

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Yesterday, I got out my fishing rod. I couldn’t help thinking of everyone at HOA. It was last spring when I found out. I was overwhelmed, distraught - and scared. I thought my fishing days were over. Then I went to HOA. My medical team all said, “We have the technology to fight this thing!” and showed my the CyberKnife. It sounded scary, but when I learned how it worked and how safe it was, I had hope for the first time. Your attitude really inspired me, your staff always encouraged me and your plan of action worked. I may have had cancer, but cancer never had me. Today, my kids and I are heading up to the lake.

June 2011 •

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Page 15

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ONS: Bringing Oncology Nurses Together Group recently celebrated 25 years in Central New York By Suzanne M. Ellis

he Oncology Nursing Society traces its roots to the first National Cancer Nursing Research Conference in 1973, which was attended by members of the American Nurses Association and the American Cancer Society. Following that conference, a small group of oncology nurses got together to discuss the need for a national organization that would support their profession. Since its incorporation in 1975, ONS has become a leader in cancer care and grown to include 231 chapters around the world, according to the organization’s website. The Central New York Chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society was founded 10 years later, according to Madeline Fostveit, a registered nurse and an oncology-certified nurse who has worked at Hematology Oncology Associates in East Syracuse for the past 30 years. “We have approximately 120 members, and all of them are involved in cancer malignancy and the care of cancer patients,” Fostveit said. The local chapter, which has members from all around Central New York, was founded in 1985 by a group of nurses who worked in oncology, the field of medicine devoted exclusively to cancer and its victims. “They thought it was important to bring the oncology nurses in this area together to make sure we all had the same standards of care for our patients,” Fostveit said. In 2010, the local chapter celebrated its 25th anniversary. “Being a member of the society is all geared toward furthering our education as oncology nurses,” she said. “We do some fun things, too, but education is our main purpose. There is a great camaraderie, and this is a great alliance for the nurses.” When your days are spent with cancer patients, support from others in the same profession is extremely important. “I love the fact that I have a professional organization where I can go to find the answers I need to provide the most up-to-date care for my patients,” said Susan Tiffany, of Manlius, a clinical research nurse for cancer control and prevention at Hematology Oncology Associates and a member of the local ONS chapter. “ONS allows me to access educational programs and gives me the opportunity to network with other oncology nurses. ONS provides us with up-to-date information about

the newest drugs and therapies and guidelines based on clinical evidence,” Tiffany said. Oncology nursing is a specialized field that isn’t for everyone. In addition to nursing school, oncology nurses must complete a chemotherapy/biotherapy course to learn about cancer drugs and how to administer them. They must also learn how to handle the drugs safely because they are all considered hazardous, Fostveit said. Every two years, they take an online course and an examination to be recertified as an infusion nurse. Nurses also take an exam to become an oncology-certified nurse, and that must be renewed every four years, she said. Many, if not all, must deal with the emotional toll that oncology nursing takes. “We develop very close relationships with our patients, and when they lose their battle, that’s always very difficult because we get so close to them,” Fostveit said. For Tiffany, it’s all about what the patients give back. “There is nothing more rewarding than caring for an oncology patient, to be able to guide them through a very difficult time in their life,” she said. “Honestly, it is very heartfelt when I say that this is the most rewarding job I have ever had.” “You don’t work in oncology unless you really love it,” Fostveit said. “For me, I think it’s a niche because I really love our patients. They are incredible people, and they teach me so much about living. Suddenly they are given this horrible diagnosis of a disease that could someday take their lives. Yet they live life to the fullest every single day.” The local chapter of ONS, which is open to any oncology nurse in Central New York, meets the third Thursday of every other month from September until May. Special programs are offered, including education on the new cancer drugs that are coming out. Sometimes they bring in speakers from Dana Farber Cancer Institute or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “ONS meetings are all geared toward furthering our education as oncology nurses,” Fostveit said. For information on becoming a member of the Central New York Chapter of the Oncology Nursing Society, contact membership coordinator Susan Tiffany at 472-7504 or stiffany@hoacny.com

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

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iscovering that a member of the household has a pet allergy can be discouraging for a pet lover; however, it doesn’t always mean giving away the family dog or cat. There are ways to help those with pet allergies keep pets as part of their lives. Pet allergy symptoms can include difficulty in breathing, hives, allergic rhinitis (commonly known as a stuffy or runny nose with itchy, watery eyes and nasal congestion), and dermatitis (inflamed skin) when touching the pet. Of course, giving up the family cat or dog is the best way to deal with pet allergies; however, “very seldom is that actually done,” said Michael Sheehan, board certified allergist with Allergy Asthma Rheumatology in Syracuse. “We try to achieve a compromise by keeping the pet out of the bedroom. We want that to be the allergy sanctuary.” Combined with time at work or in the classroom (providing no service animals are present), an allergy patient could have 15 hours of each day without pet dander near him. It’s the dander that is the real cause of the problem, not the pet’s hair. That’s why air purifiers can help minimize pet allergies. “Use of a HEPA air filter in the bedroom can minimize exposure if the pet cannot be removed from the room,” said allergist Julie D.K. McNairn with Asthma and Allergy Associates, PC in Fayetteville. Cleaning the dander off pets regularly may also help minimize symptoms. “It’s been studied with cats if you wash them once a week, that helps,” Sheehan said. “Most cats get very upset. Dogs take better to water. Washing can be useful.” Some cat breeds, such as the Maine coon, tolerate water well and may accept bathing if it’s introduced early and repeated weekly. Because pet dander is the actual culprit and not hair, “hypoallergenic pets” aren’t for real.

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Epilespy Foundation of Rochester-Syracuse-Binghamton Visit www.epilepsy-uny.org to Register “There are some dogs which are likely to produce less of the protein that causes allergy symptoms, however this is highly individualized both to the patient and the dog,” McNairn said. “A ‘hypoallergenic’ dog does not guarantee a lack of allergy symptoms on a dog-allergic person.” Some people say that they do not have allergic reactions to specific breeds such as poodles, saying that their fur does not readily shed and that helps keep their skin flakes under control better. For those whose allergies are mild, choosing a small dog may help because the animal would produce less dander than a large one. If environmental controls aren’t effective in controlling symptoms, medication may be the next step. It’s usually inhaled nasal steroids to reduce inflammation in the nose and sinuses and antihistamines to reduce sneezing, itchy eyes, and running nose. “There are a lot of good over-thecounter antihistamines and allergy eye drops,” Sheehan said. “If medicine and avoidance don’t help, allergy shots can help.” Allergy shots can help reduce symptoms by helping the patient’s body become acclimated to trace amounts of the allergen and then gradually increasing the amount to develop a greater tolerance. “Allergen immunotherapy, ‘allergy shots,’ is highly effective in minimizing or completely controlling symptoms caused by pet allergies,” McNairn said. “Often patients have an on-going response to the benefits of shots even after the injections have been completed, often after approximately 5 years. “Occasionally patients opt to remain on monthly shots over a longer time period.” During the time the patient receives immunotherapy, it may be counterproductive to own a cat or dog. “Allergen immunotherapy is 85 percent effective under ideal circumstances,” Sheehan said. “If you own the animal, it’s less than that. It just doesn’t work well. Desensitization can be helpful if they want to visit friends and family who have a pet.”

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Men’sHealth ADD in Adult Men

Those who have never been diagnosed as children may notice ADD first when they struggle to stay employed or maintain healthy relationships By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

ttention Deficit Disorder isn’t a condition just affecting children. The Attention Deficit Disorder Association (www.add.org) estimates that 4.4 percent of adults in the U.S. have ADD but only 11 percent of them received specialized treatment. ADD (also called ADHD to include hyperactivity as a symptom) can cause problems for adults with slightly different symptoms than children. It also manifests differently between the genders. Teachers frazzled by disruptive, fidgety, impulsive and out-of-control boys are more likely to focus their attention on those students than the ADD girls who quietly daydream and doodle at their desks and have low motivation or, at worst, chatter with classmates. “As men and women with ADHD reach adulthood, their symptoms are often the same,” said Melinda Hathaway, licensed psychotherapist in Hathaway private practice at

Wellness Therapy Center in Syracuse and United Church of DeRuyter in DeRuyter. “Women with ADHD will continue to show the same type of difficulties as their male counterparts in disorganization, difficulty staying on tasks and adhering to schedules, easily forgetful, problems with communication, and patterns of difficult if not failed relationships.” Once boys with ADD have grown up, their condition also may be indicated by disorganization, risky behavior, lack of focus on goals, problems with keeping employment and, largely stemming from their frustration over being misunderstood, anger. “Some adults may not have diagnosed as children because the firm structure and relatively minimal demands of childhood meant their symptoms did not create noticeable problems,” said Anil K. Verma a psychiatrist with Psychiatric Wellness Care. “Later in life, however, Verma the demands of adult-

Men Report Persistent Sexual Impairment After Use of Common Hair Loss Drugs Research shows that symptoms persisted for at least three months, despite stopping use of drug

new study by The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, that will be published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, suggests men who take the drug finasteride, commonly marketed under the trademark names Propecia and Proscar, may report an on-going reduction in sex drive, and in some cases, prolonged periods of erectile dysfunction even after they stop using the medications. “The study looked at the reported types and duration of persistent sexual side effects in otherwise healthy men who took finasteride for male pattern hair loss,” said Michael Irwig, assistant professor of medicine. “While finasteride has been associated with reversible adverse sexual side effects in multiple randomized placebo controlled trials, this is the first series to find that symptoms persisted for at least three months despite stopping finasteride.” Irwig conducted standardized interviews with 71 men aged 21-46 who reported they were in otherwise good health and who claimed they expePage 18

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rienced the new onset of sexual side effects after they began finasteride. Of the men studied, 94 percent said they developed low sexual desire, 92 percent said they developed erectile dysfunction, 92 percent said they developed decreased arousal and 69 percent said they developed problems with orgasm. Men in this study reported they used finasteride for an average of 28 months and reported an average duration of persistent sexual side effects was 40 months from the time of stopping finasteride to the interview date. Additionally, the study found the mean number of sexual episodes the survey respondents reported per month dropped, and the reported total sexual dysfunction score increased before and after finasteride use, according to the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale. Although the exact incidence of persistent sexual dysfunction is unknown, Irwig recommends that men contemplating the use of finasteride discuss the potential risk for persistent sexual side effects with their doctors.

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

hood and the struggles that ensured made those adults’ symptoms overt, and treatment becomes necessary. When adult males started to have problems at home and work due to ADHD that force them to seek treatment.” People with ADD are usually of average or greater intelligence and many create means of coping that help them compensate for their tendency to be scatter-brained, such as using lists, mnemonic devices (such as, “I need MATS at the store: Milk, Applesauce, Tuna and Saltines”) or alarms as reminders on their cell phones. Those who have never been diagnosed as children may not realize why they are different. They may notice ADD first when they struggle to stay employed or maintain healthy relationships. “They have higher rates of divorces or separation, unstable relationships, unable to plan and share tasks, domestic violence, marital discords, many sexual partners, early pregnancies due to impulsivity, constant tension with family members, difficulty juggling family, work and other responsibilities,” Verma said. “Adults have problems such as procrastination, lack of motivation, stubbornness, chronic conflicts with authorities.” Workplace tardiness, blowing off assignments, missing deadlines or skipping over details can make it tough to keep employed. It’s hard for men with ADD to keep the “big picture” in mind or complete many steps toward a long-term. Types of employment where ADD men thrive include artistic endeavors such as sculpting, painting, graphic arts, performing arts. They also tend to do well working outdoors or in other active type of employment such as farming, construction, logging, fire fighting, or fishing. “Although it has become more of a common practice to diagnose children with ADHD, it has been an underdiagnosed practice among adults,” Hathaway said. “By the time they are getting help, they are often at their wits’ end and are experiencing many personal consequences as a result of the ADHD.” If a man sees ADD symptoms in himself, he should seek help instead of trying to get by with coping mechanisms or treating it himself. “Oftentimes, men and women are coming in with complaints of anxiety and depression, marital and relationship problems, as well as work related problems,” Hathaway said. “They are coping with symptoms but oftentimes at their own personal expense. However, with individual and/or family and couples therapy and medications, these symptoms can be managed.” Any mental health care professional with experience in treating ADD would be able to help. A typical first visit could include screening, record-

Dr. Anil Verma shared a few facts on ADHD: • “ADHD is one of the most common mental disorders in adults. • “Approximately four percent of adults have ADHD. • “Childhood ADHD was first recognized in the early 1900s, but ADHD persistence into adulthood did not occur until the 1970s. • “Adult males with ADHD are higher risk for alcohol and substance use disorder, antisocial behaviors (anti-social personality disorder) and these coexisting mental disorders: substance abuse disorders (50%), anxiety disorders (40%), major depression (35%), bipolar disorder (15%), anti-social disorder (10%). • The difference in co-exciting behavioral problems (conduct and oppositional disorder) is at the ratio of 10:1 (boys:girls). Interestingly, in adults, the ratio is 3:2.” ing their medical history and school history. “Many adult males get diagnosed after their child gets a diagnosis with ADHD,” Verma said. “When a child gets treatment and Father sees marked improvement, then they realize that they were just like their children when they were a child.” The psychologist or psychiatrist may refer them for consultation for a prescription such as Ritalin. The drug works quickly and the patient will soon find he’s able to focus better and stay better organized. Several other medications are available that gradually release into the system, enabling the patient to take it only daily instead of twice a day like Ritalin. “Simply learning about the disorder is an important part of treatment,” Verma said. “Individual or group psychotherapy [is recommended because] patients have low self-esteem, work problems, and family discord.” An ADHD therapist addresses skills in the cognitive, behavioral, organizational and social/interpersonal domains of the male’s life. “This is most rewarding disorder we treat,” Verma said. “You see remarkable improvement in fa ew weeks. With treatment, prognosis is great.”

Men’sHealth Vasectomy Reversal Offers Hope for Fathering Again Procedure’s successful rate can be as high as 95 percent but it can cost you more than $6,000 By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

man seeks a vasectomy reversal for many reasons. Perhaps he wants to have additional children after remarriage. Or after the loss of a child, he longs to have another. Financial changes in his life may make fatherhood feasible. William Foresman, urologist with Lake Region Urology in Auburn, said that vasectomy reversal is not covered by insurance. “You have to pay for yourself,” he said. The cost for the procedure starts at about $6,000. Whatever the reason, the chances are good that a man seeking vasectomy reversal will be a dad again. The success rate of vasectomy reversal can be as high as 95 O’Brien percent. Jeanne O’Brien, associate professor of urology and male infertility at the University of Rochester Medical Center, is a regionally known expert in vasectomy reversal, receiving referrals from all over Central New York, including from Foresman. O’Brien explained that many factors play into the procedure’s success.

If it has been less than 10 years since an uncomplicated vasectomy, 75 to 95 percent of men have a successful reversal and their wives’ pregnancy rate between 30 to 75 percent. Of course, the woman’s fertility influences the chances of pregnancy, too. “If you have a couple that has had one or two children and decide they want another child and the woman’s 40, vasectomy reversal may not be the best choice for them,” O’Brien said. “It could take up to a year for the sperm to return to the ejaculate. “If someone has a new partner, advanced age and she’s never had a child, that wants a reversal, they may have a low chance of success.” Typically, a reverForesman sal is more involved than a vasectomy. General anesthesia is required because the delicate nature of this three-hour microsurgery. “The sutures are so thin you can’t see it with the naked eye,” O’Brien said. The type of reversal a surgeon performs depends upon what is found upon performing the surgery. The basic

vasectomy reversal is the vasovasostomy, which involves stitching together the severed ends of the vas deferens, the tubes that carry sperm. “I do a microscopic exam of the fluids before I make a connection,” O’Brien said. “I can know if it will be a good connection.” If the surgeon finds a blockage or it appears that a vasovasostomy won’t work because of a low sperm count in the fluid, a vasoepididymostomy is the likely type of surgery. The surgeon will attach the vas deferens to the epididymis, a tube at the back of the testicle. Either type of surgery will be done that day. The patient won’t need to return. Men may return home after surgery. They may not do any heavy lifting for a week or engage in sex for three weeks. “For most men, they either say it’s the equivalent to having a vasectomy or a little less,” O’Brien said. “They’re sore two to three days.” Rest, hydration and applying ice packs help soothe the pain and promote healing. Bleeding, infection, late stenosis (narrowing) of the reversal in about six to nine months are some of the possible complications. Six weeks after surgery, patients submit a semen sample. If it has a low

sperm count, they may have to re-submit for up to a year to test the success of the connection. “A patient should understand that by no means it’s 100 percent successful,” Foresman said. “There are alternative options.” If neither of the surgeries works or the patient isn’t a good candidate, surgeons have other options to offer, including sperm retrieval. Using local anesthesia in the office, a doctor can make a small incision to retrieve sperm to be used for in vitro fertilization. Upon finding sperm during the reversal, some doctors will also extract and freeze it in case the reversal does not work. In some cases, intracytoplasmic sperm injection may be an option, since it involves directly injecting sperm into an egg. If you’re seeking a vasectomy reversal surgeon, ask about the option of sperm retrieval during the surgery. Foresman said, “If it were me, I’d want someone who has fellowship training. After urology training, you can go on for one to two years for further training. It’s a microsurgery; ask how many they’ve done. “A lot of urologists do it, but if you want the best results you should go to the person with advanced training.”

Tips for When Shaving’s a Pain By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

lthough hirsute male faces are in vogue, many men still want a smooth-shaven face. Blade shaving results in the closest shave but can result in a bevy of problems: bumps, sores and rashes. Men with sensitive skin or wiry hair (or worse still, both) may find that the daily shave is a real pain. Here’s how to lower the risks of shaving. Most of the time, the little bumps or rash-like appearance that crops up after shaving is caused by hair curling back into the skin. It may look like acne, but it’s really the body’s foreign object response. The skin becomes inflamed and red because it’s trying to get the object out of the skin. Some men have more trouble than others with this problem. “Curly beard hair curls back into the skin,” said Carlton Collins, owner of Collin’s Barber & Beauty Shop in Syracuse. “Coarse hair is harder to

shave. Some people just can’t take a razor at all.” Using the right preparation techniques makes a huge difference. Anthony Nappa, owner of Saving Face Barber Shop in Syracuse, recommends that men wet their faces with a hot washcloth or at least a splash of warm water “to open the pores and soften the hair. The hot towel also lifts the hairs. “Once you shave down with the grain, re-lather before shaving up with it. Rinse the blade a lot. Use a slow, gradual motion. When you’re finished, rinse your face with cold water to close the pores and soothe your face with aloe and something with no alcohol in it.” A dull blade can cause irritation, as can shaving against the direction of the hair growth and stretching the skin during shaving. “People who want a close shave go against the grain,” Collins said, “and

most the time, that’s what’s causing the bumps.” The razor itself makes a difference as well. Many razor brands offer features such as vibrating heads, self-lubrication and double, triple, quadruple or even quintuple blades. But all that technology won’t save you from having skin problems. “A lot of that is an added thing to sell razors,” Nappa said. “Any blade is fine. It’s the method that’s critical. It’s not so much the razor you use. I don’t recommend a cheap disposable, though.” Shelly Crim, a nurse with the dermatology office of Douglas Ahn in Utica, advises men with sensitive skin to avoid shaving foams or gels. “They can be very irritating to the skin,” she said. “Use a moisturizing cream.” Men who get bumps even after using good shaving supplies and techJune 2011 •

niques “need to come in to be seen,” Crim said. “It could be folliculitis. A bacterial infection caused by shaving, folliculitis manifests with pink or skin colored bumps or a pustule at the follicle. Topical or oral antibiotics can help the body clear up these infections more quickly. Tinea barbae is a type of folliculitis that’s caused by a fungus in the hair follicle. Topical or oral antifungal prescriptions can treat it. For some men depilatory cream, which causes hair to break off at the surface of the skin and leaves a blunt tip, is recommended. Shaving leaves behind a sharp tip, which can puncture skin. Laser treatments and prescriptions like Vaniqa slows hair growth. Retinoid creams can get rid of dead skin cells to release ingrown hairs and help diminish irritation.

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Life coaching business, Map 2 You, opens in Liverpool Business designed to help people better themselves By Suzanne M. Ellis

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here’s a new health and wellness business in the village of Liverpool, and it’s called Map 2 You. Its doors were opened in mid March by owner and operator Kristin MacDonald, a music therapist, life coach and consultant. MacDonald leases space at 101 First St. in a building that also houses Entirely You. Even though the businesses operate independently of each other, both owners share a belief in the principles of holistic health, supporting the theory that when it comes to wellness, mind, body and spirit all work together and must be treated together. “I liked their concept, their holistic approach to wellness, so that’s how I kind of fit in with them and ended up there,” said MacDonald, of Pennellville. “We both believe that the mind, body and spirit work together so you need to treat the whole person and not just their symptoms.” MacDonald earned an undergraduate degree in music, with a concentration in psychology, from SUNY Oswego in 1996 and a master’s degree in music therapy from Temple University in 1998. Before leaving the workforce to be home with her young children, she was a music therapist at Four Winds, a psychiatric hospital in Syracuse that has since closed, and also at Alterra Wynwood, an assisted-living facility in Manlius. She also did private consultations and assessments for local school districts and provided musical therapy at a daycare facility. This spring, she became an adjunct professor at SUNY Oswego, teaching introduction to music therapy. The opening of Map 2 You represents a “part-time reentry” into the professional world, MacDonald said. “I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for the past five years, raising my three children,” she said. “Next fall, two of the children will be in school full time and one will be in school part time, so at that point I will go full time with my business and teaching.” Currently, MacDonald’s clientele is all adults, but she welcomes children in her practice. The reasons people contact her, she said, are varied. “They are normal adults, just like you and me, who have always felt, perhaps, that something was missing in their lives,” she said. “Or they feel that there is a piece of themselves that was never connected. They might have a history of depression. They might be people who have different methods of escape and avoidance, such as the use of alcohol or drugs or overeating or undereating, all to avoid emotional issues,” MacDonald said. “They are people who struggle in their relationships with others, people who aren’t

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

Kristin MacDonald, a music therapist and life coach, opened her new business, Map 2 You, in March in space she shares with Entirely You at 101 First St. in Liverpool.

sure what they want or where they want to go in life.” Not surprisingly, music plays a part in the work MacDonald does. “Music therapy is a profession that uses music as a tool to help people increase awareness of their subconscious emotions and bring them to the surface so they can talk about them,” MacDonald said. “It helps them achieve emotional health by using improvisation, therapeutic song writing, lyric discussion and analysis.” By spending time with her, MacDonald said, people can learn how to better themselves, how to awaken their awareness and how to improve relationships with their spouses or partners, and how to accept themselves and others. The first 20-minute telephone consultation is free. An initial face-to-face session, whether it lasts one hour or three hours, is $100 as are subsequent sessions which generally last an hour to an hour and a half, MacDonald said. She offers free group seminars on Wednesday evenings, by appointment only, and arrangements can also be made for group seminars on location. So what’s with the name, Map 2 You? “That came to me because the whole point of this process is to increase awareness and achieve self acceptance,” MacDonald said. “The problem is, we are our own worst critics and we have difficulty accepting

ourselves, and therefore we hide from ourselves and others. That’s why we might have relationship problems. “My job is to help you, the client, understand how to read your own map, how to interpret your own map, and to help you find the way to connect your intellectual self with your emotional self. Most people are compartmentalized and have several different pieces. My job is to help you connect all those pieces so you can be one, true authentic self. “ It’s a rewarding job, MacDonald said. “I, personally, have been through a similar process and it has helped me with feeling good about myself, feeling confident and knowing that I can achieve whatever I want to achieve,” she said. “It’s been a great gift, and I want everyone to have that experience. It’s wonderful to see somebody in the moment and know that they are finally getting it and knowing then that they are going to feel better about themselves.”

Just the Facts What: Map 2 You Where: 101 First St., Liverpool Owner: Kristin MacDonald Phone: 450-5747 Website: www.map2you.org More information: info@map2you.org

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By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

ccording to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, “an allergist is trained to find the source of your symptoms, treat it and help you feel healthy. After earning a medical degree, the doctor must complete a three-year residency-training program in either internal medicine or pediatrics. Then, an allergist completes two or three more years of study in the field of asthma, allergy and immunology.”

• “An allergist is specially trained to diagnose these sensitivities and recommend a course of action for treatment. Treatment options typically include avoidance, medications, and allergy injections.

• “Patients would be a lot better off if they followed their doctor’s advice. Very often, patients don’t follow intelligent recommendations.

• “Immunotherapy is usually covered by insurance plans as well.

• “If they’re pollen allergic, they should try to keep windows and doors closed to keep pollen out, and instead use an air conditioner to filter the air. • “With medicine and avoidance measures, we try to control the problem. If you can’t change the environment for an individual, you have to change their response to it. • “We’re trained in defining a problem and finding an effective treatment. • “There’s a variety of things we treat: sinus disease, asthma, eczema, and more. • “We try to understand causative factors and once that’s been understood, how best to approach the problem. • “Symptoms are similar, but you treat each patient as an individual.” Michael Sheehan, board certified allergist with Allergy Asthma Rheumatology in Syracuse • “Allergies are the body’s abnormal response to an external substance. • “In a patient with allergies, the body makes an antibody to the foreign substance/protein in order to help the body eliminate the substance/protein. • “In the case of environmental allergies, the substance could be animal dander, molds, pollens, dust mites, or other items. The response includes itchy eyes, nose, throat, sneezing, tearing and in some cases even cough or asthma attacks.

• “The process of receiving injections is the only way we know now to change the body’s reactivity to these items, and can be helpful in terms of decreasing medications and symptoms.

• “Allergists diagnose allergies with testing, often skin or prick tests. These tests are very well tolerated even by young children. • “In some cases the allergist will rule out an allergy. “There is a genetic component to allergies; if your parents have allergies you are more likely to suffer yourself. • “Allergists also treat asthma and food allergies, bee sting allergies, drug allergies as well as many skin disorders and problems with frequent infections. • “The best way for you to help your allergist is by providing a good history of your exposures and symptoms, as well as medications that have been tried and how effective they have been. • “An allergist has completed training in pediatrics, internal medicine, or both followed by two to three years of specialty training in allergy, asthma or immunology.” Julie McNairn, allergist at Asthma & Allergy Associates PC in Fayetteville, Cortland, Ithaca, Vestal and Elmira

Deborah Jeanne Sergeant is a writer with In Good Health. “What Your Doctor Wants You to Know” is an ongoing column that appears monthly to give our area’s healthcare professionals an opportunity to share how patients can improve their care by helping their providers and by helping themselves.

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Make Sure You Get the Right Amount

t Social Security, the goal is to worker’s compensation or other public make sure you are paid the disability benefits — or if your discorrect amount, on time, every abling condition improves. month. Some things have made that If you receive SSI, you need to job easier over more than 70 years of report any changes that can increase paying benefits, such as direct deposit or reduce the amount of your benefit, and electronic application systems. such as changes in address (even if you But some of the factors that determine get electronic payments), changes in your payment amount still depend on living arrangements, income, good old-fashioned human inor increased savings that inch tervention. And in some cases, over the resource limit ($2,000 getting the correct payment for an individual, $3,000 for a amount depends on you. couple). Any changes in your You certainly don’t want living arrangements, income, to be paid less than you’re or resources could change entitled to receive. But what your SSI payment amount. can be even more difficult, in • Learn more about the the long run, is to be overpaid kinds of things you need — in which case you’ll probto report when you receive ably have to pay us back, cutSocial Security retirement and ting your payment down each survivors benefits by reading month until the debt is repaid. Banikowski our online publication: www. What can cause an overpayment? socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10077.html Sometimes an overpayment (or even • Read about reporting responan underpayment) occurs because sibilities for people receiving Social the person receiving benefits did not Security disability benefits here: www. report a change to us. socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10153.html For example, if you receive Social • Learn all about the sorts of things Security retirement or survivors bento report when you receive SSI by readefits and are under your full retirement ing over this online publication: www. age and working, we usually ask you socialsecurity.gov/pubs/11011.html to estimate your earnings for the year. If you’re underpaid in any given If you realize your earnings will be month, once we verify the information higher or lower than you estimated, let that caused you to be underpaid, we us know as soon as possible so we can will send you any money you are due. adjust your benefits. • If you’re overpaid, read our online If you receive Social Security fact sheet to learn what happens next: disability benefits, you should tell us www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10098. if you take a job or become self-emhtml ployed, no matter how little you earn. With your help and by diligently You also need to report if you begin reporting any applicable changes, we’ll receiving or have a change in any achieve a goal we can all agree on: paying you the right amount, on time, every month.

Q&A

Q: Is it true I must now receive my benefits through direct deposit? A: Anyone applying for benefits on or after May 1, will be required to receive their payments electronically, while those already receiving paper checks will need to switch by March 1, 2013. Paper checks will no longer be an option for most people. If you don’t have a bank account, you can get your benefits through the Direct Express debit Mastercard. Switching from checks to electronic payments is fast, easy, and free at www.godirect. org. You also can call the U.S. Treasury Processing Center’s toll-free helpline at 1-800-333-1795 or speak with a bank or credit union representative or contact Social Security for help. Q: How do I know when it’s the right time for me to begin getting retirement benefits? A: If you use our online Retirement Estimator, you can get estimates of your benefit at various ages from age 62, the earliest eligibility age, to age 70, the age when you can take full advanPage 22

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

tage of delayed retirement credits. It allows you to key in a multiple scenarios so you can get an instant, personalized estimate of your future retirement benefits. It’s the best way to begin planning for your retirement. You can find the online Retirement Estimator at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator. Q: I’m applying for disability benefits. Do I automatically receive Medicare benefits if I’m approved for disability benefits? A: You will receive Medicare after you receive disability benefits for 24 months. When you become eligible for disability benefits, we will automatically enroll you in Medicare. We start counting the 24 months from the month you were entitled to receive disability, not the month when you received your first payment. Special rules apply to people with permanent kidney failure and those with “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Learn more about Social Security disability benefits by reading our publication at www.socialsecurity. gov/pubs/10029.html.

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Gravesite Care When You Can’t Get There Dear Savvy Senior, Do you know of any services or organizations that provide gravesite care and decorating? My 82-year-old mother cannot take care of dad’s grave anymore, and I don’t live nearby to do it either. Need Help Dear Need, Depending on where your dad is buried, there’s actually a hodgepodge of places you can turn to for gravesite grooming, decorating and special care when you can’t get there. Here’s what you should know. Gravesite Care As a general rule, most cemeteries only provide basic grounds maintenance like mowing the grass and trash pickup. Special gravesite care is almost always up to the family. But for elderly seniors who have trouble getting around, or for families who live a distance from their loved one’s burial place and can’t get back very often, what options are available? Here are several to check into. A good starting point is to call a friend or family member in the area, or contact your parent’s church or religious affiliation to see if they would be willing to help you. If that’s not a possibility, contact some local funeral homes or the cemetery staff where your dad is buried to see if they offer any gravesite services or know of anyone who does. If you don’t have any luck there, another option is to hire a gravesite care company. These are small individually-owned businesses that provide services like plot maintenance, including grass trimming and weeding, headstone cleaning and restoration, flower and wreath deliveries and more. And, so you know the work was completed or the flowers were delivered,

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many companies will take pictures of the gravesite and email or mail them to you. There are literally dozens of small businesses that provides gravesite care services in communities or regions across the U.S. To find them, try contacting your nearby memorial society or local funeral consumer alliance program (see www.funerals.org/affiliates-directory or call 802-865-8300 for contact information). These are volunteer groups that offer a wide range of information on local funeral and cremation providers, cemeteries and more. They may be able to refer you to a local service — if one exists. You can also do a search online. To do this, go to any Internet search engine and type in “grave care services” plus your city or state. If you can’t find a local service to help you, check into some national companies like Grave Groomers (gravegroomers.com), which has 22 different businesses in 12 states. Or Gravesite Masters (gravesitemasters. com, 877-476-6687), which provides a wide array of services nationwide through its nearly 200 subcontractors around the U.S.

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The cost for most gravesite care services can range from $30 to $50 for flower and wreath deliveries, $20 to $60 for plot grooming, and $40 to $150 for headstone cleaning and memorial restoration. Special discounts for multiple gravesite services and visits may also exist.

��

Savvy Tip

��

If you’re looking to decorate your dad’s grave with fresh cut flowers or live plants, another option is to call a local florist to see if they can make a delivery directly to his grave site. Many florists will accommodate this request if you provide them the cemetery location and plot number, but you probably won’t get a photo verifying the delivery.

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

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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H ealth News Tully Hill executive director honored in Arizona Cathy L. Palm, executive director at Tully Hill Chemical Dependency Treatment Center, has received the Administrator of the Year Award from the American College of Addiction Treatment Administrators (ACATA). The award was presented by the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers at its annual leadership conference held in Phoenix, Az, in May. The award recogPalm nizes administrators who have made outstanding contributions in the field of addiction treatment administration and management. Palm was chosen to receive the award to recognize the work she does at Tully Hill Chemical Dependency Treatment Center, in the community and in her role as NAATP board chairwoman.

Kelly Quinn joins the Franciscan as head of PR Kelly Quinn has been appointed director of marketing and public relations at The Franciscan Companies, an affiliate of St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center. In this role, Quinn will direct public relations and marketing communications efforts, including media relations, advertising and community relations for Franciscan’s programs and joint ventures. Quinn came to The Franciscan Companies from WSYR-TV NewsChannel 9 where she served as news reporter and anchor. She is also a freelance writer for several websites. Quinn’s broadcasting career spanned more than 12 years, taking her to television and radio stations in the Northeast Quinn and Midwest. She cov-

ered everything from deadly tornadoes to presidential visits. Quinn has been honored by the Associated Press for post Sept. 11 news coverage, as well as the Syracuse Press Club for her 2010 coverage of a fire at the Marsellus Casket Company and a piece on early warning signs of autism. Quinn graduated cum laude from Marist College in Poughkeepsie with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and a minor in Spanish. She regularly hosted the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon and volunteers for the March of Dimes. Quinn is married with a toddler and lives in Syracuse.

Upstate breaks new record for United Way/SEFA giving Upstate Medical University employees raised more money than ever before for community human service agencies as part of the United Way and State Employees Federated Appeal 2010 fundraising effort. Nearly 1,700 Upstate employees raised more $609,270. Upstate’s giving level increased more than 15 percent over 2009’s total of $527,947. “Giving back to the community is a central part of Upstate’s mission,” said Deb Stehle, Upstate assistant vice president for strategic planning and management, who served as community giving campaign co-chair with Upstate University Hospital CEO John McCabe, M.D. “We are grateful to have the opportunity to give so generously to help others.” Upstate was honored by the United Way this year with the Spirit of Caring Leadership Development Award, which recognizes institutions that strive to encourage leadership gifts of more than $1,000. Upstate had 250 leadership donors who raised more than $360,000. Upstate’s leadership campaign is a model for other organizations, the United Way noted in a press release announcing Upstate’s honor. It continued: “The senior management team is extremely supportive, the campaign coordinators emphasize the importance of Leadership giving with personal appeals, and Upstate honors each Leadership donor within the organization.”

Letter to the Editor Caesarian Section Spike I’m writing to provide some feedback on articles that recently appeared in your publication. I do agree that there are several factors behind the caesarean spike, however I feel that the “teaser” on the front page was a bit misleading. Women rarely choose caesareans. As the ob/gyn in the article pointed out, many women who “choose” a caesarean do so based on fears and misinformation. Often, these fears and misinformation are from horror stories of vaginal birth, frequently Page 24

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from women not feeling supported, informed, or from being overly intervened with during birth. I feel that the two doulas quoted in the story did a wonderful job of pointing out the real issue at hand: that the support a woman receives and the interventions applied are often the biggest factors in whether a baby is born vaginally or by caesarean. According to the World Health Organization, cesarean rates above 10-15 percent do more harm than good to babies. With the cesarean rate constantly climbing — currently

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2011

Reading program at Heritage Family Medicine Getting books from the doctor is now a routine part of well-child visits at Heritage Family Medicine in Cazenovia, as doctors and nurses welcome the Reach Out and Read program to the practice. Heritage Family Medicine joins more than 103 programs in Upstate New York and 4,535 programs nationally that are working to make books part of a healthy childhood. Reach Out and Read is a simple, yet highly effective concept. The program targets children who may be growing up without books and features three key elements: volunteers read with children in office waiting areas; physicians educate parents about the importance of reading with their children every day; and every child from the age of 6 months to 5 years receives a new book to take home and keep when they come in for a well visit. “Giving a book to a young child, along with age-appropriate advice about sharing books for the parents, may be the only concrete activity a pediatrician can routinely do to promote child development,” said Barry S. Zuckerman, ROR co-founder, and chief of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. “With the support of St. Joseph’s Hospital, we are very excited to make this program available to children and families in our office,” said Dr. John O’Brien of Heritage Family Medicine

8 p.m. Interested individuals should email auburnyouthgroup@yahoo.com or call 701-2422 for location information. ACR’s goal is to provide a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQ youth to gather for support, information, fellowship, and fun. Members will have the opportunity to share their experiences with others who understand and accept them. Three adult facilitators for the support group work in the fields of education and social services and have many years of experience working with teens. Pizza and beverages will be provided at each meeting.

Nursing home caregivers in Cortland form union Caregivers at Crown Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation voted 117 to 21 to join the healthcare union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East on April 27. The 187 certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, dietary and maintenance are now part of the largest and fastest growing healthcare union in the country. Crown Center administrators agreed not to interfere in the election and allowed workers to vote without fear of reprisal or intimidation. Workers decided to form a union to address staffing issues, particularly what they said was unfair mandatory overtime. Affordable healthcare was also a key issue.

Auburn hospital gets gift from First Niagara Bank

AIDS Community Resources (ACR) has established a support group for Cayuga County LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) youth, aged 12-19. Group meetings are held on the first and third Wednesdays of every month from 6 to

Auburn Memorial Hospital’s (AMH) has received a $20,000 contribution from First Niagara Bank toward the ongoing renovation of its maternity unit. Nancy Thomas, area sales manager/vice president presented the check. “At First Niagara, we realize the value AMH brings to our local community,” she said. In the fall of 2010 the hospital launched a construction/renovation

almost 35 percent in Upstate New York — it is obvious that there are numerous factors other than the health of moms and babies that are driving this rate up. Regarding the article about St. Joe’s private rooms, I think it’s important to point out that the baby-friendly initiative focuses on promoting breastfeeding. St. Joe’s currently does not allow a woman to plan a vaginal birth after cesarean, even though the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ newest statement on vaginal birth after caesareans (VBAC) states that it is unethical to implement onesize-fits-all VBAC bans — and even though ACOG’s own president is St. Joe’s own Dr. Waldman — if the facility that the president of ACOG works at doesn’t even allow a woman to opt out of avoidable surgery, what are women and babies up against? I am not sure how the area facil-

ity with the highest caesarean rate and who also essentially forces moms and babies into the risks of avoidable surgery can truly be designated as “baby friendly.” Caesareans can be lifesaving and worth the risks involved when applied appropriately within the evidencebased standards set by the World Health Oranization, but they do carry risks to moms, babies, and moms’ future children and also increase the likelihood of breastfeeding difficulty which is why it is so important to only perform them when necessary. When facilities’ intervention statistics are within the established evidence-based standards, only then will they truly be mother-friendly and baby-friendly. Because intervention rates are so far above what they should be, it is unrealistic to expect things to change overnight. However, the num-

AIDS group provides new service in Auburn

H ealth News initiative for the labor and delivery area. This initiative will provide a safe, comfortable and efficient place for mothers and babies, and provide the necessary state-of-the-art facilities to assist the exceptional maternity staff in providing the best possible care. The renovation area is approximately 6,600 square feet and will feature: Four birthing rooms, each with flat screen television, private bath and jetted tub; seven post-partum rooms, each with flat screened television and private bath; two welcoming and comfortable reception and waiting areas for families and visitors; exam room; and a labor-delivery-recover room, among other amenities.

Food Bank of CNY unveils new building A new chapter in the history of Food Bank of Central New York recently unfolded with the official grand opening of Food Bank’s new food distribution center, located on 7066 Interstate Island Road, Syracuse. Expansion to the new 74,000 square foot facility was essential based on the increasing need for food assistance throughout Food Bank’s 11-county service area. The new space has already proven its value, according to officials: Food Bank has been able to accept unprecedented amounts of USDA commodities, such as one-quarter million pounds of chicken leg quarters, and large-volume donation offers. For example, Food Bank took delivery of eight truckloads with nearly 12,000 cases per truck of canned whole kernel corn in less than a month’s time. Before, at the former Schuyler Road location in East Syracuse, Food Bank would have turned away these donations for lack of ample refrigeration/freezer and general storage space. “This will make a significant difference in our work” said Tom Slater, executive director of Food Bank of Central New York. “We now have the capacity to process food donations and have ample storage space for meat, produce, non-perishables and whole grains. We will have cost savings by

bers are continuing to climb up when they should be moving in the other direction. Caesareans, inductions, and episiotomies are still being performed at alarmingly high rates and being far overused. It takes a lot more than just a private room, hair dryer, and television to ensure a truly safe, supported, evidence-based experience. I encourage area families to reach out to groups like ICAN (www.icanofsyracuse.com), interview many different care providers to find the right one for them, set up an experienced labor support team, and remember that they have the right and responsibility to be active in their health care decisions. Lauren Cooper ICAN Chapter Director www.ican-online.org

being able to take advantage of bulk purchasing.” The cost of purchase and renovation of the food distribution center is $5 million. Food Bank of Central New York welcomes donations for their capital campaign online at www.foodbankcny.org or 437-1899 ext. 246.

OCO Welcomes New Board Members

Karen Hoffman joins Farnham Family Services Karen Hoffman has been named prevention director at Farnham Family Services, an Oswego-based substance abuse clinic. She will oversee all prevention services offered by Farnham. “Karen has a significant amount of experience and expertise in the field of substance abuse prevention,” said Jeanne M. Unger, the agency’s executive director. “We’re extremely pleased to have her overseeing our student assistance program and helping to shape the direction of our youth services division for Farnham Family Services.” Hoffman most recently worked for two years as the coordinator Hoffman of the Central Region Prevention Resource Center, covering 13 counties. Hoffman has 22 years of teaching experience at SUNY Delhi and the NYS School for the Deaf in Rome in the Mohawk Valley region. She also previously served as the director of prevention services at the County of Oswego Council on Alcoholism & Addictions for 17 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, and an a master’s degree in education from SUNY Cortland. Hoffman is credentialed by the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. Hoffman is a past president of the board of directors for the Oswego County Humane Society. In 2010 she was one of 12 recipients of the Central New York American Red Cross “Women Who Mean Business Award”.

Oswego County Opportunities welcomed two community members to the agency’s board of directors at its annual meeting in April. Pictured from left are: incoming OCO Board President Joe Caruana; new board members, Cynthia and Daniel Thrower of Lacona, elected for three-year terms; Alan DeLine, appointed representative by the mayor of Fulton; and OCO Executive Director Diane CooperCurrier.

News from

Crouse Hospital to Test Amadeus Next Generation Surgical Robotic Platform — Toronto-based Titan Medical Inc. has recently announced an agreement with Crouse Hospital in which Crouse will test and evaluate the company’s Amadeus Next Generation Surgical Robotic Platform. Crouse will provide Titan with detailed feedback as appropriate. “We are very excited to work closely with Crouse Hospital, a recognized pioneer in ambulatory surgery, in the pursuit of validating and advancing our next generation robotic surgical system into clinical trials,” said Dr. Reiza Rayman, president of Titan Medical Inc. David Albala, chief of urology at Crouse and medical director for Associated Medical Professionals, said, “This is an exciting development for robotic surgery in Central New York and it certainly speaks volumes about Crouse

Hospital’s commitment in advancing surgical technology as a means to deliver the best potential outcomes to the community. I am thrilled about the opportunity to be one of a few sites in the country that will perform further testing of Titan Medical’s next generation robotic surgery system. My early testing of Titan’s prototype platform has been very encouraging. The Titan system already delivers many improvements from our current system and I am optimistic that there is more to come.”

Kelley

Staff Member Receives Excellence Award From Parents For Public Schools — Crouse Hospital Community Health Outreach Manager Leesa Kelley received an Excellence Award from Parents for Public Schools (PPS) of Syracuse. Kelley was nominated for her in-

Prom season: Teens feel more pressure to use alcohol and other drugs As prom and graduation nears, students and families begin planning celebrations to mark these important milestones. Prom and graduation season is a time in which teens may feel more pressure to use alcohol and other drugs. Research indicates that from 2008 to 2009 the percentage of teens who reported that their friends “get high at parties” increased from 69 percent to 75 percent. Teen perception of the availability of both prescription drugs and alcohol is that they are easy to obtain. The fatality analysis report released by The National Highway Traf-

fic Safety Administration shows alcohol-related fatalities increase significantly between mid April and June. The report indicated that 58 percent of traffic fatalities during graduation period were alcohol related. Alcohol continues to be the drug of choice by teens. With alcohol being a legal drug that is easily obtained, prevention efforts must be heightened in order to ensure the safety of teens. Parents, teacher and the local community should remind teens of the dangers of using alcohol and other drugs and help them celebrate prom and graduation safely. Some tips for parents to help June 2011 •

keep their teens safe during prom and graduation season include: setting clear rules about alcohol use, establishing consequences and reinforcing expectations, provide safe and fun alternatives like chaperoned drug-free parties, be aware and ask questions, know who your teen is with, where they will be at what times, etc. Additional information about talking with your teens about alcohol and other drugs can be found at www. theantidrug.com BRiDGES, Madison County Council on Alcoholism & Substance Abuse

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volvement in helping to advance health and wellness activities at Hughes Magnet Elementary School in Syracuse. The award was presented during PPS’s recent annual Celebration of Excellence ceremony at Syracuse Stage. Hughes Magnet has benefited from the hospital’s community health outreach program for the past six years. The partnership began during the 20052006 school year and has continued since, with on-site health and wellness screenings and speakers provided by Crouse. In her role as community health outreach manager, Kelley coordinates all activities, which have also included hat/mitten drives to help ensure that the school’s 525 students stay warm during winter as well as school supply fundraisers at the hospital to purchase back-to-school supplies for the students. In 2009, Kelley oversaw a Crouse campaign to raise funds to create a health and wellness section of the school’s library, which resulted in more than $1,500 worth of books being purchased for library. In addition to Crouse’s work with Hughes, Kelley serves as a liaison between the Syracuse City School District and the hospital, coordinating training and health screening activities provided to the district by the hospital. PPS of Syracuse is part of a national network of parents and concerned citizens united to foster and support public education. PPS has chapters in more than 20 states.

News from

St. Joseph’s Designated Bariatric Surgery Center Of Excellence — St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center has been designated as a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. The ASMBS Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence program was established in 2004 to advance the safety, efficacy and efficiency of bariatric and metabolic surgical care. Surgical Review Corporation administers the program on behalf of the ASMBS. The ASMBS Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence program recognizes surgeons and facilities that demonstrate an unparalleled commitment and ability to consistently deliver safe, effective, evidence-based care. The program is structured to help bariatric surgery providers continuously improve care quality and patient safety. There are three surgeons practicing at St. Joseph’s who have earned the ASMBS Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence designation: William Graber, Matthew Fitzer and Dmitri Baranov.

St. Joseph’s Intensive Care Units Earn Silver 2011 Beacon Award For Excellence — The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), Aliso Viejo, Calif., recently conferred a silverlevel Beacon Award for Excellence on St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center’s surgical and medical intensive care units. The Beacon Award for Excellence — a significant milestone on the path to exceptional patient care and healthy work environments — recognizes unit caregivers who successfully improve patient outcomes and align practices with AACN’s six Healthy Work Environment Standards. Units that achieve this three-year, three-level award with gold, silver and bronze designations meet national criteria consistent with Magnet Recognition, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the National Quality Healthcare Award. St. Joseph’s silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence signifies continuous learning and effective systems to achieve optimal patient care. The hospital network’s ICUs earned the silver award by meeting the following evidence-based Beacon Award for Excellence criteria: leadership structures and systems; appropriate staffing and staff engagement; effective communication, knowledge management, learning and development, best practices; evidence-based practice and processes; and patient outcomes. Grant From CNY Affiliate Of Susan G. Komen For The Cure For Lymphedema Education And Prevention — The Central New York Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure has awarded an $18,260 grant to St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center Foundation to support lymphedema education and prevention. The grant from Komen for the Cure will support the Lymphedema Education and Prevention from Stage 0 (LEAP from Stage 0) program at St. Joseph’s Outpatient Physical Therapy. Lymphedema, or blockage of the lymphatic system, is a harmful side effect of breast cancer treatment that can lead to permanent disability if not treated. The grant will increase awareness in the community as well as provide lymphedema education and treatment services for breast cancer patients. Between 20 and 40 percent of women and men who have received treatment for breast cancer develop lymphedema. Now in its sixth year of funding from the Komen Foundation, LEAP from Stage 0 will also provide lymphedema education to St. Joseph’s medical providers, raising their awareness about the treatment tools available through LEAP from Stage 0, including one-on-one pre-surgical classes; bandages and customized garments (which are normally not covered by insurance providers); rehabilitative exercises; as well as educational materials and classes.

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