B12
MID-VALLEY HEALTH Albany Democrat-Herald ■ Corvallis Gazette-Times
Sunday, March 30, 2014
HEALTH STAT Quick reads about health topics in the news
Diabetes talk The Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center diabetes support group invites the public to hear speaker Julie Ahrendt, RN, certified wound ostomy continence nurse, discuss diabetes foot care – symptoms, complications and prevention. The diabetes support group is free to attend and will meet Tuesday, April 1, from 5 to 6 p.m. at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis. For more information, contact the hospital’s Diabetes Education Department at 541-768-6973. — Mid-Valley Health
Extreme injuries The thrill of extreme sports comes at a price: a higher risk for severe neck and head injuries, according to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Extreme sports are gaining in popularity: skateboarding has surged 49 percent to 14 million U.S. participants, and snowboarding now claims 7.2 million enthusiasts, up 51 percent since 1999. Researchers reviewed data for seven popular sports: surfing, mountain biking, motocross, skateboarding, snowboarding, snowmobiling and snow skiing. Of the 4 million injuries reported for extreme sport participants, 11.3 percent were head and neck injuries. The sports with the highest incidence of head and neck injuries were skateboarding, snowboarding and skiing. The academy recommends helmet use for biking, skiing, snowboarding and other sports. — American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
New knees and hips More than 7 million Americans are living with an artificial (prosthetic) knee (4.7 million) or hip (2.5 million), which may have significant future implications in terms of the need for ongoing patient care. That’s according to new research presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Two related studies also found a growing incidence of adults younger than age 65 undergoing total knee replacement and total hip replacement surgeries. The study found that about 0.8 percent of Americans are living with a hip replacement, and 1.5 percent with a knee replacement. States with the highest number of total knee and hip replacements are California, Florida and Texas; the two states with the lowest numbers are Alaska and Hawaii. — American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Fried foods and obesity People with a genetic disposition to obesity are at a higher risk of obesity and related chronic diseases from eating fried foods than those with a lower genetic risk, according to a new study. The study, from the Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard Medical School, is the first study to show that the adverse effects of eating fried foods may depend on a person’s genetic makeup. The study appears in the March 18 edition of the British Medical Journal. In the study, participants filled out food frequency questionnaires. Genetic risk scores were calculated based on genetic variants associated with body mass index (BMI). The results showed that regular consumption of fried foods was associated with higher BMI. In addition, the study showed that the association between overconsumption of fried foods and obesity was particularly pronounced among people with a greater genetic predisposition to obesity. — Harvard School of Public Health
Stephanie S. Cordle/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/MCT
Local fashion designer Amy Johnson, of KayOss Designs, has a glass of juice at her home in the Central West End neighborhood in St. Louis, in February. Her dog Chihuly is in the foreground.
Designer fashions alternative therapy BY BLYTHE BERNHARD ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
T. LOUIS — As a vegetarian and daily yoga practitioner, Amy Johnson thought she was healthy before she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last August. Now she consumes 50 pounds of carrots, 25 pounds of Granny Smith apples and 14 heads of romaine lettuce each week in an effort to keep it from coming back.
S
Because Johnson can’t find some of the organic vegetables she needs for her green juices, she's started to grow them.
family, and she and her mother traveled to Mexico in October to learn about the therapy that requires a drastic lifestyle change. “I know chemo works for The 43-year-old fashion many people. It didn’t make designer has embraced an unsense to me. I wanted to pump conventional and controvernutrients into my body, not sial cancer treatment called toxins,” Johnson said. Gerson therapy, named for the Doctors, friends, family doctor who developed the members and her design vegetarian diet to treat his miclients tried to talk Johnson graine headaches in the 1940s. into going the traditional Eventually, his practice grew route with chemotherapy. Her to include numerous other mother, a nurse, was initially maladies, including cancer. fearful of the decision. The therapy “I was just is not approved very leery by the Food and about it all, “Chemo didn’t Drug Adminisbut Amy make sense to me. tration or recseems to adI wanted to pump ommended by just to things national cancer nutrients into my body, so well,” said organizations. Carolyn not toxins.” Patients pay Johnson of $11,000 to Highland, AMY JOHNSON spend two Mo. “She’s weeks at a Gergained back son clinic in most of her Tijuana, Mexico, to learn the energy and emotionally, she’s diet of juicing, supplements so much better. Her father and and enemas that they stay on I are just amazed at how well for two years. she’s handling all this.” Gerson therapy teaches that After surgery to remove the the body needs to be cleansed right ovary, doctors discovof toxins to allow the immune ered Johnson’s cancer was a system to heal itself. Particirare and aggressive form of pants eat and drink 15 to 20 clear cell carcinoma that may pounds of organic fruits and not respond well to drugs. vegetables daily. They drink Johnson had more surgery, inone fresh-squeezed glass of cluding a hysterectomy, and juice every hour, up to 13 a then decided against chemotherapy. She has raised day. They also take up to 60 $24,000 from friends and vitamins and enzyme pills
Tired all the time? Take this quiz!
No proof it works The National Cancer Institute disavows any evidence of the effectiveness of Gerson therapy absent a peer-reviewed clinical trial. The idea of diet as cancer treatment is not widely accepted in the medical community. Fruits and vegetables are thought to play some role in preventing cancer, but not treating it, according to the American Cancer Society. Coffee enemas can lead to infections and dehydration. Critics take an even harsher stance, calling the Gerson method quackery that preys on the hopes of people with cancer. “I can’t figure out why anyone thinks it’s natural,” said Dr. David Gorski, a surgical oncologist in Detroit and editor of the blog Sci-
If you answered yes
to one or more questions,
care provider about getting a sleep evaluation. Samaritan Sleep Medicine
Are you excessively tired during the day?
Do you have a history of
Is your neck size greater than 17 inches (male) or 16 inches (female)?
high blood pressure?
each day. Five times a day, they complete a liquid coffee enema to help the liver “in eliminating toxic residues from the body for good,” according to Gerson’s website. Castor oil, a laxative, is also taken by mouth regularly. Johnson still sees a doctor at Barnes-Jewish Hospital for follow-up blood work and scans, but she doesn’t want to identify him out of concern for maintaining their relationship. Her last scan in December showed no signs of cancer, and her blood work is normal.
you may have an underlying sleep disorder and should talk to your health
Have you been told you stop breathing during sleep?
Do you snore?
ence-Based Medicine. “What’s natural about all these supplements? It’s not natural to put coffee up your behind. The surgery is what cures the cancer if the cancer’s going to be cured. The chemotherapy decreases the chances of its recurring.“ Gorski said Gerson patients probably would have the same results with a typical, healthy diet after cancer surgery. “The thing about cancer, its course can be really variable,” Gorski said. “Patients can live a lot longer than expected, they can live a lot shorter.” Gerson’s website says the program is “remarkably effective at treating a wide range of chronic degenerative diseases,” including melanoma, lymphoma, ovarian cancer and lupus. The clinic does not accept patients with acute leukemia, brain tumors, organ transplants or kidney failure and says the therapy doesn’t work for Parkinson’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Staff members from the Gerson Institute in San Diego did not respond to a request for comment. About seven years ago, Johnson left a career as an environmental engineer to pursue her dream in fashion, creating KayOss Designs with a studio in the Central West End. Her work has been featured in high-end boutiques, on runways and on national television. Because her new lifestyle keeps her essentially home-bound, she has temporarily given up social events, fashion shows and photo shoots. But she has started to take a few appointments in her studio again. And she recently walked to a nearby cafe to meet some friends, bringing her own tea. “That’s what cancer is telling you — something needs to change in your life,” Johnson said. “I’m not saying this is for everybody. You have to do what you feel is best for you.”
Controversial Gerson diet claims to treat cancer
services are provided in Albany, Lebanon and Corvallis.
Call 541-754-1268 for more information.
samhealth.org/Sleep
corvallisclinic.com
Comprehensive sleep medicine services are offered throughout Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties through a partnership between Samaritan Health Services and The Corvallis Clinic.
ALBANY DEMOCRAT-HERALD, CORVALLIS (OR) GAZETTE-TIMES
SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 2014
B11
Content provided by Samaritan Health Services
Patients line up in the morning for medical care at the Faith in Practice clinic in Chivaretto, Guatemala, May, 2013. Photo credit: Martina Robinson
Samaritans take health mission to Guatemala “The beautiful people of Guatemala, the culture, the ability to help improve someone’s life and the chance to work with people from all different backgrounds, all add up to something that is almost indescribable. All I can say is that I get so much more than I give.”
Faith in Practice volunteer Linda Fox, MD, with a surgery patient. Photo credit: Marybeth Kampman
S
Mary Gallagher, RN, clinical coordinator, Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center
everal Samaritan Health Services physicians, nurses and other care providers boarded planes headed for Guatemala on Friday, as part of a medical mission with Faith in Practice. Faith in Practice is an interdenominational nonprofit organization that has been providing medical care in Guatemala for more than 20 years. The volunteer-driven medical mission is the second largest provider of health care in Guatemala, after the national government, with 23 teams that operate in two hospitals and nine primary care medical teams reaching out to rural villagers. “Nothing in the U.S. can prepare you to see a line of over 400 indigenous and impoverished Guatemalan villagers waiting for you as the medical teams bus pulls in early in the morning,” said Faith in Practice volunteer and Family Nurse Practitioner Kim Montagne. Montagne, the director of the Samaritan Heart & Vascular Institute in Corvallis, has seen patients carried into the clinic on homemade stretchers, wheelbarrows and on the backs of their loved ones.
“Many of them have travelled hours or days on foot,” she said. “Nearly all of them suffer from intestinal parasites, chronic malnutrition and dehydration from lack of access to clean water. Because of the lack of access to care, we see and treat things we rarely see here, like goiters the size of melons, gallstones the size of large walnuts, untreated diabetes causing patients to look cachectic and skeletal. Anything we do for them is a help, even if just the minimal interventions of antiparasitics and vitamins.”
Samaritans arrive at the Guatemala airport for the 2013 Faith in Practice medical mission. (L. to R., back row) Linda Fox, MD; Pam Snider, CMA; Gloria Nordyke, RN; Mary Hinckle; Sally Faddis; and Kim Snider. (L. to R., front row) Mary Gallagher, RN; and Dee Riley. Photo provided by Linda Fox, MD
pay for the medical supplies, medical tests for patients, support of the Casa de Fe (Ronald McDonald House), local staff, etc. “The impact of what seems to us like small interventions is life changing for the Guatemalan patients,” said Montagne. “It is an honor for me to be able to help others in this way and to help health care be a right we all have access to.”
Gynecological surgeon Linda Fox, MD, of Samaritan Gynecology & Surgical Associates, has travelled with Faith in Practice to Guatemala for 13 years in a row, and calls herself a “lifer.”
Two teams from Corvallis, including many Samaritan Health Services providers, have been going to Guatemala since 1998. This year the teams will be working in Antigua and two towns in the Peten in northern Guatemala. Dentists accompany both teams. For more information about the Corvallis “We go there to help people who otherwise Faith in Practice teams, visit faithinpractice. In 2013 Faith in Practice performed wouldn’t get medical care, but I always org and look for teams 396 and 397 come back with so much more than I give,” approximately 1,500 surgeries and saw in the Team Blogs section; or contact Fox said. “The people are incredibly humble, approximately 20,000 patients in rural Wendy Robinson, team administrator, at grateful and giving. They remind me of why I clinics. All services are provided free or on robburton@comcast.net or 541-753-6101. became a doctor in the first place, and they a sliding scale. All volunteers pay their own Donations are welcome at faithinpractice.org way and are asked to raise funds to help always minister to me deeply.” for the benefit of Team 396 and/or Team 397.
Thank you for your dedication and compassion March 30 is Doctors’ Day, a day to recognize the dedication and commitment of physicians in our community and across the nation. We value and appreciate the compassion and professionalism shown by physicians each and every day. We are honored to work by their side to help transform the way we deliver health care to build a healthier community.
In four days in the spring of 2013, the Faith in Practice group Montagne travelled with treated more than 2,000 patients with a team of only 12 providers. “The dental team alone saw over 400 patients and extracted 600 teeth,” she said.
samhealth.org