October 5, 2012 - Baptist Memorial Health Care

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Couch to 5K program gets Baptist North Mississippi colleagues in stride for a good cause Foundation. The 5K raises money for arthritis research and awareness. “Rheumatology is one of our newer service lines. Our rheumatologist, Dr. Kirk Eddleman, serves as the vice chair for the Arthritis Foundation, and we thought it was a great idea to join the effort and get our colleagues involved.” says Jondi Roberson, director of Marketing at Baptist North Mississippi. The program is led by Hayley Womack, a certified personal trainer with experience leading the Couch to 5K program. On Sept. 5, 63 colleagues and their families began training for their first 5K with the beginners’ running program, Couch-to-5K. The program gives Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi colleagues the opportunity to get off the couch and start exercising. “The Couch to 5K program is for true couch potatoes! The best part is it works! I have seen amazing results in every program I’ve coached. One participant lost 30 lbs, she was dedicated. I expect this group at Baptist North Mississippi will have similar success! They are working hard.” Throughout the 12 weeks of training, participants will receive t-shirts, gym bags, sports bottles and attend motivational lunches hosted by the Arthritis Foundation. “As leaders in the health care industry, we must demonstrate a healthy lifestyle ourselves,” says Melissa Wommack, coordinator of the program. “I wanted to offer a way for us as colleagues to get in shape together.” The 12-week program will culminate with the Jingle Bell Fun Run, a 3.1 mile course through downtown Oxford in support of The Arthritis “Getting together outside of the office for such a positive cause really makes a difference in our work day. We pass one another in the hallways at the hospital and joke about being sore or how we need to run faster. The friendly competition is great for our work relationships. Morale is up and our blood pressures, BMIs and heart rates are down! I think every industry should provide this program for their colleagues,” said Wommack. Patient testimony: Balance therapy program helped me walk again In the fall of 2008, my life took a drastic, unexpected turn. I accidentally fell while working at my job as a hair dresser. I thought it was due to my bad knees as they had been giving me a lot of problems, but after the fall, my physical abilities kept deteriorating instead of getting better. I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon in Nashville and had a total knee replacement in Jackson in January 2009. After my knee replacement surgery, my body continued to get worse, and my mobility became more limited. After three rehabilitation facilities and seven different doctors’ visits to determine the problem, a neurologist discovered I had a benign tumor on my upper spine that was causing the total immobility of my lower extremities. By this time, and for five months, I could not move my body from the waist down. I was in a bed or a wheelchair, and relied totally on others to care for me. In March 2009, a neurosurgeon at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville removed the benign tumor and prescribed extensive physical therapy. Following the procedure, I remained at the hospital for two weeks and spent the next three weeks at Cane Creek Rehabilitation Center and then three months at Huntingdon Health and Rehabilitation. During this time, I relearned how to walk and increase my physical body strength and was finally able to leave the rehab center using my walker. I continued outpatient physical therapy three times a week at Baptist Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine and after this therapy, I began walking with a cane. Even though I was thankful to be walking with a cane, my balance was not what it should be and I continually feared that I would fall. I tried to be courageous and began walking without a cane, but my fears became a reality when I fell coming out of church one night without my cane. As a result, I broke my hand and bruised my body and face. After the fall, I used my walking cane every day. One day, I saw an advertisement in the newspaper for Baptist Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine’s balance therapy program and asked my doctor if this might be something that would help me. My doctor prescribed the balance therapy program, and I participated in the maximum number of therapy sessions prescribed. The program uses a Biodex product that has testing and training components. During my first visit, a fall risk assessment was performed. This compares me to others in my age group and determines if I am at risk for falls. If patients return for further treatment, they will undergo several balance training activities as well as balance exercises in the clinic. The falls risk test is then performed periodically to see if there is improvement from the therapy. I walked out of therapy without my cane, gained back my confidence in my mobility, and felt a renewed thankfulness for my faith in God, love of family and friends, and staff and balance machine at Baptist’s balance therapy program. I would recommend this highly to anyone of any age with balance problems. Page 4
B R E A S T C A N C E R AWA R E N E S S Ask the Expert: Breast Cancer Dr. Alyssa Throckmorton Dr. Alyssa Throckmorton, breast surgeon with Baptist Medical Group, answers questions for this month’s Ask the Expert column for Breast Cancer Awareness month. 1. What are some common misconceptions about breast cancer? People commonly expect that those who develop breast cancer are old, women, feel ill or have a history of breast cancer in their family. Age is one of the most common risk factors. As you age, you become more likely to develop breast cancer. However, every year around 10,000 women younger than 40 will develop breast cancer. Women younger than 30 represent 1,000 of that 10,000. 2. How does breast cancer develop? All cancers are made of abnormal cells that are able to grow and divide without dying as normal cells do. Cancer cells are also able to grow into and invade other tissues, which normal cells cannot do. Out-of-control growth and invading other tissues defines a cancer cell. Breast cancer develops from the cells of the lining of the milk ducts, the lobules or milk-producing cells, or the other tissues in the breast. 3. What are the types and stages of breast cancer? Breast cancers can be classified in several ways. One way is to describe them based on the type of cells from which the cancer originated. Ductal cancer, those forming from the milk ducts, are most common. Cancer can be identified by using gene profiles to describe the cancer by the types of genes shown in the cancer. Another method involves describing the type of substances that can stimulate the cancer cells, such as estrogen, progesterone and Her-2/neu, a protein that appears on the surface of some breast cancer cells. Currently, most physicians describe breast cancer using a combination of the type of cells the cancer originated from along with those things that can stimulate the cell (i.e. ductal carcinoma, estrogen positive, progesterone positive, Her-2/neu negative). Staging is a way of describing how advanced a cancer is and allows physicians and scientists to group patients together to offer treatment as well as perform research studies and evaluate outcomes. The staging for breast cancer is based on the size of the cancer within the breast, how many lymph nodes are enlarged and whether the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. Stages I and II are considered “early stage” while stage III is considered “locally advanced” because the cancer in the breast is large or a number of lymph nodes are involved. Stage IV is when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, regardless of how large the tumor in the breast is. Stage IV is not considered “curable” but women can live a number of years with a breast cancer at that stage. 4. How can women reduce their breast cancer risk? There are several lifestyle changes women can make to reduce their risk of breast cancer, such as daily exercise, losing weight and limiting alcohol intake. Women who are at high risk have options including medications for prevention or risk-reducing surgery. Join the Baptist Race for the Cure Team Join the Baptist Memorial Health Care team for the Komen Memphis- MidSouth Race for the Cure Saturday, Oct. 27 at the Shops of Saddle Creek in Germantown at 8 a.m. Metro entities including Baptist Collierville, Baptist DeSoto, Baptist Medical Group, Baptist Corporate, Baptist Women’s, Baptist Memphis and Baptist Rehabilitation-Germantown are all listed with Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation. To join a Baptist team, go to www.komenmemphis.org, find teams under the Komen Race for the Cure tab and locate the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation teams listed with existing teams. Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women is one of the largest recipients of Komen grant funds, which are used to provide free health screenings to underserved and uninsured women. Baptist Women’s has provided more than $1 million worth of free services for Komen patients since November 2007. 5. What are the signs and symptoms of breast cancer? Many women have no signs or symptoms of breast cancer. That is why many cancers are found using screening mammography. A new breast lump, reddened breast skin, nipple changes, lump in the armpit, nipple retraction, and puckered or dimpled breast skin can all be signs of breast cancer. Women should bring any new breast changes to the attention of their doctor. Breast pain is a common complaint for women. New pain or persistent pain should be evaluated but is not a common symptom of breast cancer. 6. Does one’s diet or lifestyle affect their risk of breast cancer? There are a number of risk factors for breast cancer. They fall into two categories: those we can change and those we cannot. Age, gender, race, genetic risk, family history of breast cancer, starting menstrual periods before age 11 or going through menopause after age 55, some benign breast changes, increased breast density, and radiation treatment to the chest at a young age all increase a woman’s risk by varying amounts but are not risk factors that can be modified. Women do have the opportunity to affect their breast cancer risk, as some risk factors can be changed. Women who have multiple children and begin having children at a younger age have a lower risk of breast cancer. Use of hormone replacement with estrogen and progesterone does increase the risk of breast cancer, but the risk appears to drop back to normal within five years of stopping therapy. Some studies have shown that breast-feeding decreases the risk slightly; however, this has been difficult to study due to the few women in the United States who breastfeed. Women should moderate their alcohol consumption. Any level of alcohol consumption raises the breast cancer risk; however, women who consume more than two alcoholic beverages per day have a risk 1 ½ times higher than their counterparts who do not drink as much. Being overweight or obese raises the risk of breast cancer as well as other health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Exercise, even as little as walking 1 hour 15 minutes per week decreases the breast cancer risk by 18 percent. Page 5
Page 1 and 2: October 5, 2012 • Volume 76 • N
Page 3: A R O U N D T H E S Y S T E M Codin

October 5, 2012 - Baptist Memorial Health Care

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?