September/October 2016
Medical NewsLife is a Journey
Did you get away this summer? Travel to new places and meet new people? Maybe you are one who packs up each May and leaves the desert for cooler climates. If so, I admire you. Packing up your life and setting up camp in a different location takes a lot Read more…
Health is a ChoiceWhen it comes to health, there is strength in numbers
Whether it’s a workout buddy, Zumba class, or a Spartan team, working towards wellness alongside others creates a sense of accountability, motivation and fun. So why is it that the place many spend most of their day with the largest group of people–the workplace–is often the least healthy? From hours Read more…
Desert HealthThe Desert through the Eyes of a Child
Summer is a time for vacation, families, barbeques and friends. But our toasty temps often keep friends and family – and even many of us – far away from June through August. This summer we were thrilled to have our 7-year-old granddaughter come stay with us for a week. It Read more…
Medical NewsFailure of Surgical Gowns
Just as every patient trusts his or her surgeon, surgeons must be able to trust their equipment. What happens, though, when the surgeon’s equipment fails? We are not discussing robotic devices or mechanical issues, but rather something significantly more dangerous: the timeless routine of gowning and gloving surgeons before surgery. Read more…
Medical NewsSummer Internships Focus on Mental Health Careers
Twenty-five Coachella Valley undergraduate health science students helped advance critical need projects for local health care businesses this summer through the Health Career Connection (HCC) internship program. Hosted for the seventh year in collaboration with the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP), the HCC program offers ten-week, paid summer internships for Read more…
Medical NewsThe Known and the Unknowns of the Journey
This column is a continuation of last issue’s feature story on Shay Moraga who at 39 years old was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. We are honored to have Shay sharing her journey with Desert Health® readers in an ongoing column. When we left Shay, she was close to Read more…
Medical NewsEmotional Aspects of Chronic Pain
Individuals suffering from chronic pain assume that the pain symptoms are purely physical. There are many times though that clinicians scratch their heads to identify painful symptoms when nothing structural presents itself in an effort to prove a mechanical problem as the pain culprit. Dr. John Sarno, author of Mind Read more…
Medical NewsHas Lower Back Pain Got You Off Course?
Most amateur players spend a lifetime trying to attain the perfect golf swing. Today, professional golf has evolved into a game that demands a team approach bringing together the most elite specialists including coaches, nutritionists, and medical professionals to provide tour players with every possible advantage over the competition. Without Read more…
Medical NewsLasers: Not just Science Fiction
James Bond, Star Trek, Star Wars. We’ve grown up seeing lasers as technology of the future or science fiction, but they are real and their use is changing many areas of our lives as we know it. One of these areas is the health field, specifically dentistry, where their use Read more…
Medical NewsThe Advancement of MRI for Detection, Localization and Treatment
This literature review is an important update on the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment. Over the past ten years, physicians and researchers all over the world – and right here in the desert – have been exploring new ways to detect, diagnose and Read more…
Natural OptionsThe Cupping Craze
The use of cupping therapy by athletes has grown over the last decade as evidenced by the marks on Olympian Michael Phelps’s shoulders and back. Cupping has been used historically, not only in China and Asia, but also in Greece, Russia, Italy and South America. The technique has been in Read more…
Natural OptionsGluten-Free with Tiffany
The most common struggle for those with digestive trouble is accurately identifying foods that could be causing symptoms such as bloating or diarrhea. At some point, we are likely to opt for traditional food sensitivity testing via blood sample. This form of testing produces results in one to three weeks Read more…
Natural OptionsPolitics and Our Health
Everywhere we look nowadays there is political antipathy. Two parties approach the finish line on November 8th holding steadfast to their ideals and platforms, as well as their assumptions about the opposite party. We get very wrapped up in the drama and constant barrage of media influence related to the Read more…
Natural OptionsIV Therapy for Treatment and Wellness
Intravenous therapy, commonly known as I.V. therapy, is often thought of in conjunction with cancer chemotherapy or as a necessity for hospitalized patients. However, it has a wide variety of applications from eliminating migraines to helping the body get over a cold or flu to assisting in athletic training. I.V. Read more…
Integrated PracticesMedicine: In Need of Change
Have any of you wondered about this column’s title, The Paradigm Shift in Medicine Today? What is the paradigm shift it references? Why does this matter? And, why would this be important to me? A paradigm shift is an expansion of perspective to include more information. The revelation that the Read more…
Integrated PracticesHealth Care Professionals Learning to Manage Stress
Health care stress is rampant― affecting its providers (employees and the organizations) and customers (patients and their families) alike. “Most stress in life is unnecessary, though some of it is inevitable,” says Kiran Dintyala, MD, MPH, a board certified internal medicine physician with Eisenhower Medical Center. “There are simple things Read more…
