The Palm Desert High School Health Careers Academy junior class participated in a job shadow day on March 16. Three vans transported 43 students to 20 medical-related locations including JFK Memorial Hospital, Eisenhower Medical Center, medical clinics, dental offices, senior centers, JW Marriot Desert Springs Resort & Spa, and even animal care facilities. The students… Read more »
So many things change as women age. Our bodies, our minds, our purpose, all appear to go through a major transition between the ages of forty-five and sixty. Perhaps the biggest of the female changes is that of menopause, the end of a woman’s reproductive ability. Currently, the average age for menopause is fifty-one. During peri-menopause,… Read more »
Before you go saying, “Why would I ever listen to my good-for-nothing son?” let me start by clarifying that this title and the article to follow only apply to food and health. News and discoveries on the food/health connection are progressing so profoundly that even medicine is starting to consider the cause and effect. Yes,… Read more »
When caring physicians, nurses and health care professionals place medical supplies in a back pack and hit the streets to serve the homeless population, it is referred to as “street medicine,” and communities throughout the world are experiencing the benefits. There has been much talk about starting a street medicine program in the Coachella Valley… Read more »
Benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, is a very common condition in which the prostate enlarges as men get older. Over 70% of men in their 60s have symptoms of BPH which affect more than 500 million men worldwide!1 While BPH is a benign (non-cancerous) condition, it can cause loss of productivity and sleep, depression and… Read more »
Ever wonder if that achy knee is something to worry about? Or how your numbers add up for heart health? Now you can get free advice without a trip to the doctors through science-backed questionnaires available on the JFK Memorial Hospital website. When I first heard about these new self-service health profilers, I thought they… Read more »
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, major depressive disorder impacts roughly 1 in 6 Americans at some point in their lifetime and is now a leading cause of disability as well as one of the factors impacting the growing incidence of suicide. The costs associated with major depression are estimated to be $210… Read more »
An allograft is a bone or tissue surgically transplanted from one human donor to another, which may sound frightening, but is actually safe and has been in use for quite some time. The most common tissues are amniotic tissues which are attained only during childbirth. The tissues are processed and preserved to maintain viability from… Read more »
Dr. Jones, a busy local surgeon, presented with a six-week history of knee pain, which was not improved with aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication. A knee MRI showed moderate to severe osteoarthritis without a definitive surgical indication. Dr. Jones was offered an image-guided cortisone injection directly into the knee joint, and 48 hours after the… Read more »
Health care in United States is very costly. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. spent 17.1% of its Gross Domestic Products (GDP) on health care in 2013. A report published by Common Wealth Fund last year states that the U.S. spends most of its money on medical technology, procedures… Read more »
“Life is 5 % what happens to you and 95% what you do with that.” Although life doesn’t come with a re-set button, you can give your personal life a fresh start anytime you choose. Why not declare that “2016 is going to be a fresh start”? I believe that what we do every day… Read more »
There are many things you need to do before going on a trip. You need to know what you will be doing, how long you’re going to be there, how you will get there, where you will be staying, and when you will be coming home. Getting ready for joint surgery is like that –… Read more »
Low back pain is a significant health issue and one of the most common reasons for a doctor’s visit. Over 80% of the population has experienced at least one memorable episode of significant back pain in their lifetime, and it is the leading cause of disability and days lost from work. The spine is a… Read more »
It’s very common to fear what we don’t understand and then hide behind blinders, living in denial or buried in fear. This pattern usually causes more problems than are necessary. This is certainly true around the subject of memory loss. We see some changes in ourselves or a loved one and imagine the worst–something we… Read more »
How many doctors do you know who are truly healthy and fit? Why is that? Aren’t they in the health industry? The answer to that is no. Most doctors learned their trade in traditional medical schools which taught little about health and wellness, and a lot about medicine. We can be thankful for the latter,… Read more »
Do you know the most important part of an inpatient treatment program for addiction? The first hour after discharge. Learning much about the “addict self” which looms large, while supporting and building a sometimes underdeveloped and undernourished “sober self” is quickly put to the test when on one’s own, often feeling vulnerable and raw. There… Read more »
“TMJ” is a term many people have heard but few know what it really means. The TMJ refers to the Temporomandibular joint, the connection between the jawbone and the skull. As many people who experience problems associated to it know, it can be very fickle. The official term for any dysfunction of the TMJ is… Read more »
Dr. Joe Crowe, a famous breast cancer surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, had operated tirelessly all day on that Friday in November 1996. After he said goodbye to his last patient, he got a very bad headache, which hit him in a flash, and he had to sit down. A minute or two after that,… Read more »
The majority of people believe that men and women have about an equal incidence of eye disease causing vision impairment. The reality is that women are more affected than men, with the difference starting to accelerate at about age 50. Women have a higher incidence of cataract, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. This trend… Read more »
Humans are funny. More often than not, it takes a dive in the wrong direction to make us consider doing something to prevent that fall in the first place. Science seems to follow the same bell curve. As problems or statistics start to rise, researchers (who are human by the way) increase their efforts to… Read more »