Health and Wellness News

As part of a national campaign to raise $500,000, Massage Envy's five Connecticut franchises will participate in the fifth annual Massage for the Cure. On Sept. 15, the franchises in Fairfield, Milford, South Windsor, Glastonbury and Brookfield, will offer $35, one-hour therapeutic massage sessions, with $10 from each massage donated to the Connecticut affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure,...
October 14, 2009
As part of a national campaign to raise $500,000, Massage Envy's five Connecticut franchises will participate in the fifth annual Massage for the Cure. On Sept. 15, the franchises in Fairfield, Milford, South Windsor, Glastonbury and Brookfield, will offer $35, one-hour therapeutic massage sessions, with $10 from each massage donated to the Connecticut affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure,...
October 14, 2009
LANCASTER, Pa., Oct 15, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) - Many are awaiting the H1N1 flu vaccine but U.S. steam cleaning experts say keeping homes germ-free can help guard against illness. The Haan Corp., which specializes in steam cleaning products, say steaming home items to 212 degrees Fahrenheit kills 99.9 percent of bacteria just by using water. To reduce germs at home during flu season, Haan suggests:...
October 14, 2009
WASHINGTON - A coalition of labor unions is emerging as a leading critic of an $829 billion health care bill heading toward a Senate vote, complicating debate among Democrats over how to pay for the measure. Unions had largely supported President Obama's effort to revamp the nation's $2.6 trillion health care system, but 27 labor groups have launched a campaign against key provisions in the bill passed...
October 14, 2009
With delivery this week of the first doses of injectable vaccine against swine flu, Baltimore City and some area counties have begun scheduling their first public clinics for priority groups: those ages 6 months to 24 years, pregnant women, health care workers, people taking care of infants, and adults ages 25-64 with underlying health conditions. Baltimore City will hold its first large swine flu...
October 14, 2009
The state health agency set up a Web site Wednesday to help people find the swine flu vaccine, but many places listed on the site don't have it. At least one isn't even in business yet. The state Department of Community Health established the Web site - at health.state.ga.us/h1n1flu - to help people find the closest place to them that has the vaccine. The site allows a person to type in his or her...
October 14, 2009
Millions of women and children are eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains in a public-health campaign that all states had to join by this month. In the largest overhaul since it began in 1974, the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program has begun giving vouchers for a wider variety of food to its 9.3 million low-income participants: mothers, infants and children up to 5...
October 14, 2009
Oct. 11 - There was something new Saturday afternoon at the massive San Jose Flea Market, amid the rows of booths hawking "six for $10" T-shirts, car parts, colorful Mexican soccer jerseys, melons, peppers, miniature bananas and fluorescent paintings. Nurses. Blood pressure kits. Flu shots. Cholesterol tests. And all of it free. Demand was robust for the 8th annual Open Air Health Fair, a two-day event...
October 14, 2009
DENVER, Oct 13, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) - A Colorado insurance company will drop a ban on providing health coverage for infants considered to weigh too much for their length, a company spokeswoman said. The policy drew national attention with news reports about 4-month-old Alex Lange, whose family applied for healthcare coverage last week with Rocky Mountain Health Plans, based in Grand Junction, Colo....
October 13, 2009
CHARLESTON, W.Va. Walk-in urgent care centers are seeing an increased number of patients with flu-like illnesses due to an earlier active seasonal flu season and the second wave of H1N1. And health officials say people still should go to these centers, or their primary care physicians, if they suspect they have the flu, rather than clogging up hospital emergency rooms. "We are certainly seeing swine...
October 13, 2009
ATLANTA, Oct 13, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) - Almost 10 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine are available and about half are the injectable kind, U.S. health officials said Tuesday. Orders are being processed and vaccine doses are heading out in a process officials said would take weeks. The first batches of the vaccine were in the nasal spray, FluMist, but since it uses "live virus" it's only recommended...
October 13, 2009
President Obama set the soft-drink industry fizzing recently when he mentioned the possibility of a "soda tax" on sweetened beverages as a way of combating America's obesity crisis. "I actually think it's an idea that we should be exploring," he told Men's Health magazine. "There's no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda." The notion of a soda tax got a lot of people riled up, and in the hullabaloo,...
October 13, 2009
DAVIS, Calif., Oct 14, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) - Altruistic behavior, self-sacrifice among strangers has more to do with nurture than nature, or culture more than genes, U.S. researchers suggest. Adrian V. Bell and colleagues of the University of California, Davis, say behaviors that help unrelated people while being costly to the individual and creating a risk for genetic descendants could not likely...
October 13, 2009
More than half of sudden infant deaths reviewed in a study released Wednesday occurred while the babies shared a bed or sofa with a parent. The incidence of so-called sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, increased when the adult "co-sleeping" with the infant had recently consumed alcohol or drugs, the study found. SIDS entered the medical vocabulary some 40 years ago to describe cases in which babies,...
October 13, 2009
89% of 200 non-profits surveyed rely on social networking to raise money. Here's how one woman reached out to save her sister's life. When Amy Cowin's sister was told by doctors she needed a kidney transplant, Amy decided she couldn't wait until Medicaid could pay for the operation. So she did something that a growing number of people are doing: She reached out to her personal network on Facebook and...
October 13, 2009
Brooke Mulford, who likes jokes and Curious George, is plotting the 5th birthday party she hopes to have next month. "We'll have a pioata," she says, her voice rising with excitement. "Lollipops are my favorite candy." The Salisbury, Md., girl can't be sure about that party just yet because her immune system is weak from battling neuroblastoma, a deadly type of nerve cancer afflicting infants and young...
October 12, 2009
Here are a few tips to help prevent infection with H1N1 influenza and to lessen the impact if you do get sick: -Get lots of rest. Eat a well-balanced, nutritious diet. Vitamin supplements, especially vitamins A, C and D, can help boost the immune system. Exercise regularly. "Anything that helps our immune systems stay robust helps prevent us getting infected with any disease," says Dr. Bonnie Henry,...
October 12, 2009
WASHINGTON - When 12-year-old Chloe Harris sees a large-screen image of a stick-thin model in a new ad campaign, the seventh-grader from Alexandria, Va., says the picture makes her "feel sick" because the model looks so "unnormal." Her reaction is on target, says body-image expert Jess Weiner, who speaks about the eating disorders that began for her at age 11. "Every single person here wonders whether...
October 12, 2009
Hospitals, churches, firehouses and even taxi companies are loading up on hand sanitizer, changing behavior and taking other steps to prevent the spread of swine flu. Bottles of hand sanitizer are within sight of passengers in all 16 taxis operated by Yellow Cab of Iowa City, says accounts manager Roger Bradley. "It's a small step, but who knows? It might be an effective one," he says. Drivers offer...
October 12, 2009
NEW YORK, Oct 13, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) - Researchers say the fastest growing U.S. healthcare sector - home care - may pose greater risks for nurses. The study, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, finds the risk of needlestick injuries in home healthcare nurses was 7.6 per 100 nurses. A critical finding of the study was the statistical correlation between needlesticks and exposure...
October 12, 2009
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct 12, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) - A new therapy is doubling survival rates for high-risk childhood Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Canadian researchers said. The Phase 2 trial, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, involved nearly 20 North American centers with a total of 92 patients ages 1-21. "Adding continuous exposure to imatinib...
October 12, 2009
This is one in a series of QandAs about swine flu. You can send us questions at www.sunsentinel.com/swineflu. We cannot reply to all but will answer as many as possible. How do I protect my new baby from swine flu? Newborns have incomplete immune systems, putting them at higher risk for H1N1 flu virus. Babies under age 6 months cannot get flu vaccine, so the federal Centers for Disease Control and...
October 12, 2009
If you break smokers down by their occupations, the workers who are most likely to smoke are in the food-service industry, says a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Out of all U.S. full-time employees ages 18 to 64, more than 33.6 million (28% of the total) smoked cigarettes in the past month. Yet almost 45% of food-service workers reported smoking cigarettes...
October 11, 2009
Parents who are having a hard time communicating with their teenagers can get some help. The Shippensburg Area School District will be hosting eight monthly meetings called "How to Survive the Teen Years," starting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Shippensburg Area Middle School. The series will start with Angie Tobias, Women In Need Services Manager, talking to parents about effective ways to communicate...
October 11, 2009
Just Breathe Studio will raise funds and awareness for the Savannah River Cancer Foundation on Saturday. Those attending yoga classes from 8:45 a.m. to noon Saturday at the yoga studio will be asked to donate $10 to the foundation and will receive a coupon from Aiken Regional Medical Centers for a 15 percent discount on mammograms. The fundraiser is dedicated to the memory of the late Suzanne Messick,...
October 11, 2009