Halloween Health and Safety

Happy Halloween! Today is one of those holiday's where you can dress up to be any person or any thing you want.  That can be a lot of fun, but it can also be very dangerous and cause chaos to many communities.  Aside from the psycho people who use halloween for crime,  Halloween is known to be the "deadliest day" for children pedestrian fatalities.  "One hundred and fifteen child pedestrian fatalities occurred on Halloween over the 21 years of our analysis.  This is an average of 5.5 fatalities each year on October 31, which is more than double the average number of 2.6 fatalities for other days" (Halloween Deadliest Day Article).  Car crashes/accidents are what kill most pedestrians on this day.

Emergency-room visits are said to be the "scariest" part of Halloween for hospitals.  "We can't say for sure that Halloween is the most-dangerous holiday of all.  But it wasn't Valentine's Day that sent 4,400 people to hospitals last year.  That's the number of emergency-department visits attributed to Halloween activities between Oct. 1and Nov. 30 in 2013, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission" (The Columbus Dispatch-Emergency-room visits scariest part of Halloween).  The accidents range from carving pumpkins, to people getting hit with cars.  People are advised to wear bright clothing and carry flash lights.  The holiday is meant for fun and games, not to be stuck in an emergency room dressed up in your favorite costume. 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/10/28/Halloween_scares.html

http://www.bestplaces.net/docs/studies/halloween_deadliest_day.aspx

Long-term Care

I thoroughly enjoyed our class speaker, Tom Lavallee, from Monday's lecture on long-term care.  He talked about many interesting points of his experience in working in these types of facilities.  Part of my reasoning for wanting to become a radiation therapist was because I liked to help people will cancer, of all ages, but specifically, I like working with the elderly.  I have a strong place in my heart for the elderly, and always have.  They are so sweet (most of the time), and always look at you as if they see themselves in you, so many years ago.  I find their stories and compassion for things so interesting.  I somehow get along very well with them as well.  It takes certain people, and specific characteristics to be able to be a good employee in a long term care facility.  You have to love what you do, and want to do it. 

 My grandmother is currently struggling with huge health obstacles, and was just moved from a hospital into a long-term care facility.  She is not an easy patient to have.  She likes her meals exactly right, when she rings the buzzer she expects someone to be there instantly, and she does not like people telling her what to do.  That is how she felt while she was staying in the hospital.  However, since placed in this long-term care facility, although she is in pain, she is more comfortable here than she was in the hospital.  She has told me all of her nurses are extremely kind and generous, and help her whenever she needs help.  She is now happy because she is able to eat turkey and mashed potatoes, not only because of her diet change, but because it is actually edible!  That goes to show how much of an upgrade long-term care facilities are from hospitals.  It seems as if their goal is to just keep the patient as happy and comfortable as they can.  Long-term care facilities used to be a place people were sent to live out the rest of their lives comfortably.  Now, they are looked at more as rehabilitation centers.  I agree with that statement because yes, my grandmother is very sick, but she is out of a hospital now and in a place of rest.  She is here in order to make her feel better and work to getting stronger, and that is just what they are doing.  

Overall, I think long-term care is a great part of healthcare.  It shows that our elderly are treated with the most care and compassion.  It is hard for some elderly people to move out of their homes, and become dependent on other people.  But with a good, welcoming staff, it will help them make their stay as "home-y" as possible.  

The ACA and Pre-Existing Conditions

I have always wondered how some people diagnosed with AIDS in the 1980's were able to pay for treatments and medicine revolving around their pre-existing conditions.  Through research, I came to realize that before the the Affordable Care Act, many people with these conditions struggled with coverage.  It is a huge contributor to the allowance of healthcare to people suffering with AIDS, Asthma, and Cancer.  The ACA has allowed no American to be denied healthcare who has a pre-existing health condition.  "The Access, Care, & Engagement TA Center provides tools and resources to support the enrollment of people living with HIV in health care coverage" (The Affordable Care Act and HIV/AIDS). This is a great center to have in order to guide HIV patients to the right path to finally get the healthcare coverage they have been longing for.

In terms of Medicaid expansion and eligibility, the ACA has allowed for the expansion of Medicaid to those with low incomes and below the poverty line.  It is said in the HIV.gov website, that today, Medicaid is the largest payer for HIV in the U.S. This is a fact I was surprised about, because you do not hear to much, publicly at least, about HIV and those who are affected still.  "In states that opt for Medicaid expansion, people living with HIV who meet the income threshold will no longer have to wait for an AIDS diagnosis in order to become eligible for Medicaid.  That means they can get into life-extending care and treatment before the disease has significantly damaged their immune system" (The Affordable Care Act and HIV/AIDS).  This is a great expansion that the ACA is allowing because it can help so many suffering AIDS victims.  However, the population under the poverty line do not benefit from this.  There is only so much Medicaid can fund, and if people cannot pay for needs such as blood tests and other testing, it will be hard for them to receive the care they need to stay alive.

Overall, the ACA has definitely been a huge contributor to the HIV/AIDS community.  It has given ample opportunities for coverage that was not given to the sick in the 80's.  The ACA is able to give people of the proper income the treatment they need in order to become healthy and live a normal life as best they can. 



https://www.hiv.gov/federal-response/policies-issues/the-affordable-care-act-and-hiv-aids   

The Opioid Heroine

As we all know, the abuse of opioids now is extremely exponential.  Tracey Helton, also known as the "Heroin heroine", is taking a different approach to the abuse of opioid usage today.  She mails out dosages of the generic version of the drug, which revives people of an overdose, only if they want it.   Although she is aware that what she is doing is illegal, she is saving many lives.  "This epidemic kills tens of thousands of people in the US each year", says CNN.  She feels as if the law is wrong and being a "civil disobedience" by counting what she is doing as illegal.  There is a case in which Helton helped save a young mans life.  Ryan Coleman, 36, met Helton in 2013.  She mailed him the drug called Naloxone, to use in case of an overdose.  Coleman explained to his roommate how to use the drug if he ever overdosed, and needed to be revived.  A case happened where Coleman did overdose, and his roommate injected him with the Naloxone, and he turned pink again and was revived.  The same event happened another time, however, this time Coleman was with another friend, and he was the one who overdosed.  This time, the Naloxone did not work until the third time.  It did end up finally saving his friend on the third time.  However, I have some skeptic in this method of saving young people from opioid abuse. This method produced by Helton still allows the people to do the drugs just as much as they were before, but it gives them the reassurance that there is a backbone there that will save their life.  In this case, after these two events happened to Coleman, he decided to become sober, but he was lucky.  The reverse drug worked for him in both overdoses, but for some, they might not get that second chance.

I believe the overall motive Helton is trying to proclaim is a good start.  However, in my opinion, it could also rub people the wrong way in a certain sense.  Some might take this method as a lesson learned, that they cannot live off this reverse drug their whole life and that they should just quit using drugs in general.  Others might use it as just a simple crutch in their life.  Something that enables them to keep doing what they do in their every-day lives, but helps them stay alive along the way.  Helton's method could go two ways.  As readers, which route do you think drug abusers might be prone to lean towards more?

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/02/health/heroin-heroine-naloxone-eprise-profile/index.html

How Does a Hospital Manage a Mass Shooting?

As many of you may know, on Sunday, October 1, the deadliest mass shooting massacre in the U.S. took place at a country concert in Las Vegas, Nevada.  59 people were killed, and 527 were injured.   After killing that many people, the gunman then killed himself.  As of right now there is no ulterior motive to the actions of the shooter.  This current event inspired me to think of the question 'How does a hospital manage a mass shooting?'.  On the CNBC website, I read about how the Las Vegas hospitals are dealing with this crisis.  "Nevada has just one Level-1 trauma center in the state, University Medical Center in Las Vegas" (How Las Vegas hospitals prepared for a massacre-CNBS). I can only imagine how packed this hospital must have been when the shooting first occurred, and even now.  It says that officials have asked many people to donate their blood to patients in need, probably because of how busy the hospitals are.  "As the numbers go by, the umbers continue to increase," said Clark Country Sheriff Joseph Lombardo.  Since 9/11, these hospitals in Nevada, as well as over the world probably, are increasing their "hospital preparedness" to allow them to be ready for situations as horrible as this one.   In July, this Level-1 trauma center hospital held a training session involving the first responders from around the area.  This seems extremely beneficial and almost strange timing in the sense of preparedness for the shooting.  It is definitely a good tactic for hospitals to have in order to be ready for any tragedy that could take place.

One of the specific methods the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada used during the events of the massacre were "to prioritize patients, first responders and hospital staff use triage, evaluating who needs emergency treatment immediately, who can wait a bit longer, and who can wait beyond that" (CNBC article listed above). The article also noted that the "triage at mass shooting incidents can be complicated by the ongoing threat and mechanism of injury". I can see how using the triage method could raise anger to patients and their families because everybody wants to be healthy fast.  I believe it is the most fair, and efficient method in a time like this one.  Overall, I have learned that these tragic events do happen, and it is good that this Nevada hospital was prepared at best they could be.  All hospitals should be ready for anything that comes their way because you never know what can happen.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/02/las-vegas-hospitals-dealing-with-hundreds-of-mass-shooting-victims.html