We're Part of the 2012 Blogathon!

Keeping up a blog can be tough when life gets busy. I often have great ideas to put on this blog but then I get side tracked and I figure I'll come back and do it later. Unfortunately, "later" will become "never" much of the time.

The thing is - this is a popular blog even though it's not updated regularly. I check my stats and I get a good number of visitors every single day. This blog has raised my profile as a health writer and not only have clients found me through the blog, I have helped many people with some of the information I've posted.

So, because I know my poor blog has been neglected and I keep saying I'll be better at posting, I have decided to join the 2012 Blogathon. I committed to writing a blog post a day from today until May 31st. Hopefully, the topics I choose will be interesting and entertaining and my poor blog will no longer feel left out of my writing life.

Many of my regular readers know that I am particularly passionate about a few specific healthcare topics. One is sepsis, a disease that kills over 700 people PER DAY in the United States. Yes, per day. Sepsis Alliance is one of my clients. Yesterday was the 10-year anniversary of the death of the founder's daughter. Erin Flatley was only 23 years old - the age of my daughter now. Erin went in to the hospital for minor elective surgery. She died of sepsis five days later.

There are even higher numbers of people who get sepsis and live - but are left with severe life-altering after effects, such as limb amputations, organ dysfunction, post traumatic stress disorder, and more.

In 2011, we instituted Sepsis Awareness Month, to be held every September. This year, the Global Sepsis Alliance has declared September 13th to be World Sepsis Day. This is a huge opportunity to help raise more awareness of this horrible illness. If you would like to watch a video on the impact of sepsis, Sepsis: Emergency is quite powerful.

Want to learn more? Dr. James O'Brien was interviewed on BlogTalkRadio. Listen to how he describes what sepsis is, what can happen with it, and how it could be treated:

Listen to internet radio with Boomer and The Babe on Blog Talk Radio

Now, is there anything in particular you would like me to talk about? Are there any health topics that are concerning you? There is so much in the news these days from issues about autism to childhood obesity.

Our Childhoods: The Games We Used to Play

Do you remember running around, playing freely with friends, siblings, or cousins? Do you remember the  freedom that came from organizing your own games of tag, hide and seek, Red Rover, and all those other games?

This type of free play was very active, with lots of running, jumping, throwing balls, and more - our bodies were moving, often for hours at a time. We may not have realized it back then, but we were getting exercise while we were having fun.

Our games were also very social. Because they were pick-up games, they were organized by us. Someone got the kids together, someone supplied the tools (ball, etc.), if needed. Rules were discussed, compromises made, and the games then played. Sometimes, negotiations were needed as some players decided they wanted to play the game one way, while others disagreed.

Playing was a part of our life. That was what we did. No matter what socioeconomic group, culture, geographic location - with the rare extreme exception - all of us played. 

Games We Used to Play is a site where people can submit their memories of games they played. It's part of a project to help people remember the simpler times, where games were played with a minimum of objects. No electricity, no Internet connections - just imagination and time. There is also a Facebook page: When I Was a Kid, I Played, where others are also discussing the games of their childhood. Everyone is welcome, no matter where in the world you are, to share your stories. Please do.

Recruiting Kidney Donors and Cancer Patients through Social Media

Guest post by Brian Flora

Last month Tom Brady, the quarterback for the New England Patriots, lost his longtime personal coach Tom Martinez to a heart attack. Martinez was just days away from potentially life-saving kidney transplant surgery when he suffered a heart attack after dialysis, which took his life at the age of 67.

While this is sad news for sports fans, it’s become national news for another reason. Using the power of social media, Brady was able to get over 10,000 people to register with matchingdonors.com, a site that matches kidney patients with potential donors, as reported by the Baltimore Sun.

It was through Twitter and Facebook that Brady asked his extensive fan base to register with the site. Even though he wasn’t successful in saving the life of his friend and coach, he has developed a passion for helping people recognize the need to register as kidney donors. And he has shed light on the ability to use social media to recruit for medical purposes.

Activism through social media

The National Kidney Foundation in the United States estimates that over 100,000 people are on the national waiting list for a kidney transplant, and 30 percent of those will likely die before they’re able to receive a kidney. But because living donors can donate a kidney with little impact on their overall health, patients waiting for kidneys don’t always have to wait until a donor is deceased. Tom Brady and other celebrities like him are using social media to raise awareness about kidney diseases and transplants.

This story shows just how influential social media can be, even in the medical field. For patients, social media can provide a way to build support as they face treatment. For example, cancer patients need a tremendous amount of support as they fight their disease, yet they often don’t feel well enough to visit a support group or participate in other activities. Through social media, cancer patients can connect with others who have been down their road before, and get the support they so desperately need.

Doctors are also taking notice of these trends, particularly the ease with which Brady got his recruits. One area where this is particularly important is in trials for cancer treatment. Only about three to five percent of cancer patients participate in trials, according to the Biotech Strategy Blog, often because they are not informed about the trials available to them. Many doctors and researchers alike want these numbers to be higher. Patients can follow social media outlets to find these trials even when their personal doctors may not actively recommend them. As a result, researchers are hoping to get greater numbers to sign up in the future.

These trends and Tom Brady’s success show that social media is powerful, even in the field of medicine. Through it, patients, doctors and researchers can hope to connect even more efficiently in upcoming years than ever before. If this means thousands more participate in trials or register as kidney donors, then it is a good thing.

Nurses and Caring for Our Seniors

I just got back from a wonderful conference that was held in New Orleans, LA - the NICHE 2012 conference, which focused on nursing and nursing research in geriatric care. It was gratifying to see so many nurses, including those who haven't been that long out of nursing school, so dedicated to improving the quality of care given to seniors in both the hospital and home care environment.

There were 92 posters submitted by nurses from all over the United States. Many were on fall prevention and many were about dementia and other similar issues. We got to hear about a wonderful new senior care unit that was designed with the patient and staff in mind, limiting the chances of falls and mistakes. We also learned about issues with delirium, as opposed to dementia, and how much work still needs to be done in this field.

Towards the end of the second day, we listened to nurses who worked through Hurricane Katrina and what they and the administration learned about how to prepare and how to function through a disaster and the final endnote speaker took us through the history of geriatric nursing. I only touched on a few of the presentations and it was all very interesting.

Senior care in North America is still way behind what it should be. The resources are lacking and, for some reason, the will to get more resources is also lacking much of the time. The problem is as more and more people in North America get older and live longer, we will have so many more elderly patients in the hospital and in the home health environment that we can no longer ignore their special needs.

I'm going to be writing up some of the things I learned over the past couple of days. And, although I enjoyed the conference and learned so much, I do wish that we weren't so far behind, that we weren't having to come up with so many solutions for problems that have been around for so long. It's time we put senior care to the front of the line rather than thinking of it as an afterthought, don't you think?