Sarasota Health

Historic Anti-Smoking Bill

2009-06-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

New legislation was passed that will help reduce the hundreds of thousands of smoking-related deaths each year in the United States. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act will give the FDA more regulatory power over the tobacco industry. The FDA will have the ability to regulate marketing, sale, and tobacco product content. One of the major goals of the legislation is to reduce the number of young people who start smoking by eliminating flavored cigarettes and getting rid of product labels such as "mild" which might make users think they are smoking a less harmful cigarette.

--http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31305225/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

Double The Calories

2009-06-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

A healthy diet is not just about what you eat but how much you eat. The food in our pantries and restaurants are actually a lot bigger in portion size than they were two decades ago. A bagel is twice the size and more than double the calories. A portion of spaghetti and meatballs now averages over 1,000 calories, more than double the 500 calories it used to be.

--http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/user-post-portion-explosion-456931/

This Is HOT -- Health Technology

2009-06-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

Hothead Technologies in Atlanta created a football helmet that measures body temperature in athletes as they play and sends that information to coaches. The helmet uses a system called HOT (Heat Observation Technology) that incorporates a thermometer in the padding of the helmet and transmits temperatures to coaches so they can be aware of whether a player is close to getting ill.

--http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-05/burn-notice

Weekly Address: Health Care Reform

2009-06-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

President Obama focuses on the rising cost of health care to make the point that health care reform is urgent.

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the United States has the most expensive healthcare system with people paying approximately $316,600 in healthcare costs over their lifetime.

Car Smells

2009-05-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

So how are car smells related to health? Cars are made of all sorts of material, some of which are toxic to humans. The hosts of the radio program, Car Talk, had a great interview with Jeff Hearhart who has studied car smells to identify what car chemicals are released into the air.

The folks at HealthCar.org have studied as many cars as they can to identify some of the best rated cars with the least toxic chemicals and those cars with the worst ratings. The Nissan Versa was rated the worst while the Chevy Cobalt was rated the best. You can check to see the rating of your car if it has been tested, here.

Our Nation's Power

2009-05-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

NPR created a great graphic on our nation's power grid. It maps out our current power usage and shows our future capacity for solar and wind power.

Green House

2009-05-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

Clayton Homes has introduced a home that is stylish, innovative, environmentally friendly, and affordable. The homes cost approximately $100 per square foot and the cost of living is low since the energy savings of having a home with solar panels, energy efficient windows, and a rain water catchment system is usually large. According to the manufacturer, it only costs a $1 a day in energy costs to run utilities. Surprisingly, it also looks comfortable with bamboo floors, a lot natural light from windows, and a modern kitchen. They call it an i-house.

Here are some of the features of the i-house.
And here is a virtual tour of their houses.

A Vision for High Speed Rail

2009-04-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

This is a very exciting project--it'll improve our rail system, decrease our automobile dependency, provide a variety of people with access to travel they would not normally have, and increase economic and commercial development along the routes.

Health Gadgets: CardioTrainer

2009-04-14T15:41:00.001-07:00

Cell phones are now being used to keep healthy. Android phones, like the G1, allow users to download applications made by developers. One application made by WorkSmart Labs, called CardioTrainer, allows users to track their workouts. It will record your jogging, biking, or hiking route and give you detailed information about how far you went, what your average speed was, and how the elevation changed throughout the route. It's a great program to help you keep track of your workout goals. You can even send your route to Google Maps and share them with your friends, like this Myakka hike-

View Myakka in a larger map

Ugly Statistics

2009-04-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

Timothy Noah at Slate.com, wrote a very interesting article on the importance of health care reform.

It starts here: "Between 1999 and 2008, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums increased six times faster than wages."

Here is a graph from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services--

Based on the families I've talked to, this graph accurately represents our health care reality.

Timothy notes what this means for the average worker, "Whatever pay increases the average worker received were wiped out, and then some, by the rapidly growing amounts deducted from his paycheck to cover health insurance." Wages have not increased in proportion to health care costs. Instead, health care costs have increased tremendously over the past ten years, making it harder for Americans to afford adequate care.

NPHW Day 7: Wrap-Up

2009-04-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

National Public Health Week comes to an end today. If there is anything we learned it is that public health is an important and diverse field. This week, we have focused on communities, climate change, workplace health, and health at schools.

In the beginning of the week, we tried to illustrate how broad the public health field is by showing you three random pictures and asking what they have to do with public health. We covered the first picture of suburbs here.

One other picture was a music player.

Public health departments across the world have started to experiment with using music to help communicate health messages. Music is such a strong part of any culture, so if health concepts can become attached to this facet of society, public health might become better integrated into communities. Health is often seen as a separate entity or industry, but so many things in our community affect our health. Using music to demonstrate the importance of this has been a new way for health to become more salient.

Additionally, music activism has become a popular way of communicating health messages. Popular performers can raise the attention of certain health issues by encouraging listeners to promote health. Take a look at the 2007 Unite Against AIDS Concert. Music artist, Bono, has been using his popularity to help increase awareness and efforts for a variety of global health issues, such as AIDS.

The last image was an airplane.

The inspiration for this image came from President Obama who strongly supports a global public health infrastructure since "these days, a pandemic can get on a plane" and be in America overnight. Airline travel has brought diseases halfway across the world to our doorstep. President Obama notes public health is our way of preventing and protecting the world from global health issues.

NPHW Day 6: The Sunshine State

2009-04-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

Today we are going to focus on a local public health story that has made headlines around the world. Florida Power & Light is starting a project to create a solar-powered city, the first in the world.

"Called Babcock Ranch, the city will aim to build 19,500 houses and about 6 million square feet of retail, light industrial, and office space when it is completed, the developers said." --Reuters

The clean energy project has so many benefits, starting with creating 20,000 new jobs in Florida and then reducing energy costs for city residents and businesses while decreasing the amount of pollution in our atmosphere.

NPHW Day 5: Quote of the Day

2009-04-10T20:20:00.001-07:00

I think this quote displays the meaning of public health quite nicely.

"Although it is an essential part of the picture, health is so much more than just access to care, which is most frequently discussed. It’s federal funding that provides for public health programs across the nation, it’s communities that are built in a way the supports physical activity, it’s workplaces that provide resources to help employees become tobacco-free, it’s schools that offer healthy food choices and it’s families that support each other in living and adopting healthy behaviors." --NPHW

NPHW Day 4: Health at Schools

2009-04-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

The American Public Health Association is increasing awareness today about unhealthy food options in American schools. "Public health professional shave made great strides in raising awareness of the importance of getting unhealthy vending machines out of schools and replacing them with healthy options...But it's not enough. Too many schools continue to sell high calorie foods because they need the additional revenue to cover budget shortfalls."

A recent study showed startling statistics on what vending machine foods are available to students at school.

80% of the snacks were candy, chips, or sweet baked goods
.0026% of the snack options were fruits or vegetables
75% of the drinks had poor nutritional value
85% of snacks had poor nutritional value

Some school districts have successfully eliminated unhealthy food and drink options from public schools, like this district in California. More schools are considering a ban on unhealthy vending machine options as criticism mounts over the negative health consequences. Although money is an issue, one major report found that schools can raise just as much money without unhealthy food options than with.

NPHW Day 3: Health at Work

2009-04-08T19:16:00.000-07:00

The American Public Health Association spent today focusing on health at work. They talked about how wellness committees can promote worksite health. "These committees advocate for healthier food options in the company cafeteria, set up discounted gym memberships for employees, offer workshops on stress reduction and much more. They work to ensure that the workplace helps workers become healthier, rather than serves as a barrier," APHA noted.

World Health Day 2009: Save Lives

2009-04-07T14:14:00.001-07:00

Today is also World Health Day. Each year, World Health Day focuses on a major health issue. Last year focused on climate change. This year is focused on the safety and quality of health facilities, especially their ability to handle the health effects of major disasters.

"When an emergency or disaster occurs, most lives are lost or saved in the immediate aftermath of the event," Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Margaret Chan, said in her statement. "The tragedy of a major emergency or disaster is compounded when health facilities fail...In large emergencies, such as those caused by earthquakes or floods, some countries have lost as much as 50% of their hospital capacity, right at the time when life-saving services were most acutely needed."

In 2008, there was an alarming increase in natural disaster deaths. According to the WHO, 235,816 people were killed last year by such disasters. This was four times higher than the average death toll over the previous seven years. This increase was the result of two major natural disasters--Cyclone Nagris in Myanmar and a major earthquake in China.

The World Health Organization offered six solutions to help with the problem of insecure healthcare facilities.

1. Situate, design and build new health facilities
2. Assess the safety of existing facilities
3. Retrofit existing facilities
4. Protect non-structural elements: essential services, equipment, medicines
5. Plan and train for emergencies
6, Build partnerships for safe health facilities

NPHW Day 2: Community

2009-04-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

The second day of National Public Health Week presents this question: How do we make sure that people understand that simply providing health insurance to all Americans isn't enough to make us healthy?

So many things in our community affect our health and livelihood. Check out this post about how where you live is important to your health.

How does this image relate to public health?

In so many ways.

Suburban neighborhoods provide safe roads for kids to play and less exposure to violence. However, there are also higher rates of obesity in suburbia, which many attribute to how suburban communities are designed. Suburban communities have an interesting geographic layout. For instance, a home might be geographically close to retail locations, but take a long time to get to because sprawling neighborhoods block easy access to a variety of locations. Cities often grow vertically, meaning that there are so many places in a short distance from any given place. However, suburban neighborhoods grow horizontally, making pedestrian travel inconvenient. Take a look at this picture--

View Suburban Community in a larger map

How long do you think it would take to get to a nearby retail location from the house down the street?

View Suburban Geography in a larger map

The house is only 1156 feet away, but according to Google Maps, the 1156 feet turns into 1.7 miles of driving because of the way the neighborhood is built into the surrounding roads.

View Driving to Retail in a larger map

The map shows that residents would have to drive over .5 miles before they can exit their neighborhood. Then they would have to drive another mile to get to the intersection, and finally do a u-turn to get to the opposite side of the road where retail locations are located. There are a lot of instances in suburban areas where residents are geographically close to many locations, but must take a longer drive to reach those areas. Suburbia promotes a driving lifestyle, which not only decreases physical activity of its residents, but also leads to higher levels of traffic pollution.

NPHW Day 1: Healthiest Nation in One Generation

2009-04-06T11:34:00.001-07:00

National Public Health Week starts off with a campaign to create the healthiest nation in one generation.

Public health is your health. Many communities go far to make sure their citizens are safe, healthy, and happy, but much more is needed to create one of the healthiest generations in the world. Our country certainly has the resources, but it takes a large campaign like this to help spread the importance of all sorts of health factors, from clean air to safe roads.

National Public Health Week '09

2009-04-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is a very exciting week--tomorrow will be the first day of National Public Health Week. This blog will cover how people all across the country are observing public health week. We will also investigate the importance of public health in our lives. The American Public Health Association's current motto is "protect, prevent, live well." These are values that will be explored throughout the week.

Public health is a broad field and we are faced with public health related objects everywhere we go. Can you tell how the following pictures relate to public health?

Find out this week.

Walgreens Offering Free Health Services

2009-03-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

Walgreens is offering free clinic visits and treatments for a variety of health issues for their clinic patients who lose their job and are uninsured.

"Drugstore operator Walgreens will offer free clinic visits to the unemployed and uninsured for the rest of the year, providing tests and routine treatment for minor ailments through its walk-in clinics — though patients will still pay for precriptions.

"Walgreens said patients who lose their job and health insurance after March 31 will be able to get free treatment at its in-store Take Care clinics for respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions, among other ailments. Typically those treatments cost $59 or more for patients with no insurance." -Associated Press

Walgreens offers health services through their Take Care clinics in select stores. Walgreen's is calling their program the "Take Care Recovery Plan", which can be found here.

These free services will be offered Monday-Friday, between 11am and 3pm. Immediate family members will be eligible for free services, but as a note, these services do not include check-ups and prescription medication will still cost money.

This is a generous service offered by Walgreens. Below are the nearest locations with Take Care Clinics in the Sarasota area, unfortunately, the closest one is in St. Petersburg.

900 49th St. N
St. Petersburg, FL 33710

View Larger Map

Other locations-

3851 4th St. North
St. Petersburg, FL 33703

6560 Ulmerton Rd
Largo, FL 33771

14004 Walsingham Rd.
Largo, FL 33774

128 E Brandon Blvd
Brandon, FL 33511

Fast Food Culture

2009-03-22T12:40:00.001-07:00

You can now watch the famous fast food documentary, Super Size Me, on Hulu for free. I watched the film and read the comments other viewers left. There were many interesting remarks. Some people commented on the effectiveness of the film: "This film single-handedly did away with a lucrative marketing gimmick from one of the most powerful corporations on the planet." Other comments were neutral with many people noting that they realize fast food is bad but they cannot help themselves--"had it yesterday" one person said. Other comments rated the film negatively, stating that the film has a "look how smart I am, look how dumb you are" preachy vibe that "does nothing to curtail non-sensible dietary habits."

The comments made me wonder what is the most effective way of going from a fast food culture to a healthy food culture? It seems that advertising campaigns and entertaining scare-tactic documentaries will only go so far when fast-food lifestyles are tightly tied into our society. It seems what we need is a large-scale cultural shift for us to move away from our high calorie, low activity lifestyles. Does that happen incrementally--through lawsuits, new policies, and bigger and better health food companies? Or is it something that will sweep through our culture as a result of a major event or news story?

It is obvious that cultural changes are difficult considering the fast food industry is so widespread. Fast food is easy food. Everywhere we go, we are surrounded by places that provide quick, inexpensive food--from gas stations and convenient stores to food chains like Burger King. These fast food establishments are part of our culture, as Super Size Me notes. Many of these locations have toys and play areas to attract young kids and families. Children at a young age associate fast food with fun food. There is a purpose behind the naming of "Happy Meals."

Here is a glimpse of how widespread fast food establishments are in our neighborhood--

Within a 10 mile radius from downtown Sarasota there are

14 McDonald's
8 Wendy's
6 Burger Kings
6 KFCs
3 Taco Bells.

In a 10 mile radius, you can find 37 of the top fast food establishments, many of them with drive-thrus. In other words, you should be able to find nearly four fast food restaurants in a one mile radius.

So, one of the major problems is that fast food is convenient and affordable. Another problem is a lack of universal knowledge about food. Many people realize "fast food is bad" and "vegetables are good" but when you ask why, it is hard to get a thorough answer. In Super Size Me, people were randomly asked, "what is a calorie?" A lot of people laughed and said they did not know. I honestly think food science should be a mandatory course in public education. Even students I talk to in biology courses in college have a difficult time explaining how nutrients are absorbed by our body. Without this knowledge, it is difficult to know exactly what foods are healthy and what foods are not--and why that is the case. We need good information to make good decisions about our health and diet instead of relying on superficial knowledge of food. Our society needs to internalize food information before people can start rejecting fast food in favor of healthier food establishments. Until this happens, people will continue to eat at places where their friends and family eat, places that are affordable and easy to get to, and places that have tasty food that make them happy.

Advertising Health: Anti-Smoking Campaigns

2009-03-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

There are a variety of ways anti-smoking campaigns use video advertisements to promote their message.

Song and Dance

This advertisement uses entertaining humor to grab your attention by using musical sarcasm to illustrate how ridiculous tobacco companies are with their attempts to cover-up the negative health consequences of smoking cigarettes.

Not Quitting is Harder

Some believe the most effective anti-smoking ads have real people, real stories, and negative emotions. These type of advertisements are supposed to make viewers relate to a smoking sufferer on a serious, emotional level. Many of these ads can be graphic like the one below.

Scientific Facts

Other anti-smoking ads make their point using a simple, direct, scientific message: smoking is very unhealthy.

Reverse Psychology

One of my favorite anti-smoking advertisements use a method of "reverse advertisement." Tobacco companies are notorious for their sexy advertisements that are intended to make smoking appear cool and attractive. This advertisement does a good job at targeting this approach.

Low Cost Health Food

2009-03-02T22:25:00.000-08:00

Here's the list-

Frozen Vegetables
Canned Salmon
Brown Rice
Edamame
Sweet Potatoes

On a personal note--edamame is sooo good.

Discrimination and Health

2009-03-01T19:58:00.001-08:00

I wanted to continue the discussion on the association between discrimination and health since I came across a good article that outlines five inequality variables that lead to negative health outcomes. This blog has talked about two major factors -- access to quality health care and social stress. This article mentions these two factors and notes additional factors that are important to consider.

These five variables are a result of a variety of inequalities found in lower socioeconomic brackets.

The first variable is economic and social deprivation. The author notes "residential and occupational segregation lead to greater economic deprivation...and increased likelihood of living in neighborhoods without good supermarkets, thereby reducing access to affordable nutritious diets; risk of hypertension is elevated by nutritional pathways involving high fat, high salt, and low vegetable diets."

Second, residential inequalities lead to higher exposure of toxic substances and hazardous conditions among those with a lower socioeconomic status. "Residential segregation increases risk of exposure to lead...contaminated soil..."

The third factor is socially inflicted trauma. This ranges from psychological stress caused by formal or informal discrimination to violence. These conditions "provoke fear" which can cause sustained levels of hypertension and high blood pressure, plus increasing the risk of injury as a result of violence.

The fourth factor is targeted marketing of legal and illegal substances, such as alcohol and junk food. Studies have found targeted alcohol beverage marketing in lower income communities. This type of marketing increases the "harmful use of alcohol" to cope with distress.

The fifth factor is one that this blog has talked a lot about--inadequate health care, including access to health care facilities. "Insufficient and inappropriate" medical can lead to undiagnosed or poorly treated conditions.

An abstract of the article, written by Nancy Krieger (Professor of Society, Human Development and Health at Harvard School of Public Health), can be found here.

Sarasota Emissions

2009-02-28T18:16:00.000-08:00

Purdue University released an informative Google Maps overlay that will show you the amount of CO2 emissions for each county in the country, plus showing you the sources of the emissions. Sarasota emitted 723,239 metric tons of CO2, mostly coming from onroad emissions (from cars, trucks, and buses). Per capita, Sarasota's CO2 emissions are low compared to other counties. Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee, and Manattee counties had higher CO2 emissions per capita than Sarasota County.

Check it out here.