A collection of articles from our blog.
Dr. G. Alan Yeasted was surprised one day — he was working in the rooftop garden when he heard a knocking on the window behind him. Turning around, he saw a patient giving him a thumbs up from inside the hospital, where the garden was in full view. Rows of tomatoes, peppers, and herbs grace one of the lower rooftops of St. Clair Health as part of the initiative to create healthier environments.
If you often find yourself feeling tired and short of breath, you may have a condition known as iron deficiency anemia. It means your body doesn’t have enough of the iron it needs to make hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen to the body’s tissues. Although Iron deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia, you can go years without even knowing you have it.
Mental health and substance use disorders are nationwide problems that have only been exacerbated by COVID-19. This is why Dr. Julia D’Alo’s work bringing together St. Clair Health and Gateway Rehab is changing the way we care for these patients. “There is significant comorbidity with substance use disorders and mental health disorders,” Dr. D’Alo says. “A large percentage of people have these co-occurring diseases which tend to feed one another, making them challenging to treat.” However, the biggest concern when it comes to treatment? A patient’s willingness. “It can take a lot of time to sit down with a patient and have a meaningful conversation about treatment — which can be challenging in a chaotic emergency department,” says Dr. D’Alo.
Health Unit Secretaries are a key asset to our health system’s high-quality and performance
During World War ll, many remember the bravery, the sacrifice, the loss, and how the healthcare industry was booming and in desperate need of workers. As Hospitals were overwhelmed, nurses and providers not only took care of the patients, but managed all administrative duties such as communicating with the families to filing charts. To ensure the physicians and nurses were focused on treating the patients, Health Unit Secretaries were introduced.
Annual mammograms are the main tool doctors use to screen for breast cancer and diagnose, evaluate and follow up with those who’ve had breast cancer. Using non-invasive X-rays to examine the breast tissue, mammograms not only detect cancer, but also other breast tissue abnormalities—some of which may increase the chances of developing breast cancer in the future. While the recommended age for women to begin screening is 40, women who are at high risk may need to begin sooner.
Did you know that more than half of the women in the world will have at least one UTI in their lifetime?
Urinary Tract Infections, commonly referred to as UTIs are mostly identified in the female population. A UTI is also known as a bladder infection and can be extremely painful if left untreated.
Jourdan Schmitz, an OB/GYN physician with St. Clair Medical Group says, “UTIs are caused by bacteria or, rarely, yeast getting into your urinary tract. Once the bacteria are there, they can multiply and cause inflammation (swelling) and pain. A small amount of bacteria doesn’t normally cause an infection because the urine itself doesn’t give the bacteria an opportunity to travel up into the urinary tract. When you urinate, the flow simply flushes away bacteria that might harm you.”
Keeping knees, shoulders and hips healthy involves athletes, parents, coaches and physicians. And it starts early.
There’s been a shift in youth sports. Whereas in the past kids tended to play different sports in different seasons, exercising different muscle groups and parts of their bodies, the trend today is for kids in competitive leagues to dedicate all of their athletic activity to one sport—soccer, baseball, lacrosse, hockey, basketball—year-round, practicing several times a week, using the same muscles.
It’s about that time of year to begin scheduling your child’s sports physical for the upcoming season!
A physical is a routine test or evaluation completed by a primary care physician (PCP) to check your child’s overall health. A sports physical evaluation is also known as a pre-participation physical examination (PPE). These yearly exams give parents the opportunity to discuss medical history, daily activity barriers, or request medical advice for ways to keep their children healthy. As a result, sports physicals also help determine whether or not a child (or young adult) is physically prepared and able to participate in a sport safely.
A Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), also referred to as a Nursing Aide, provides health care and support to patients in a medical setting. CNA’s core responsibilities include offering basic physical assistance to patients, feeding patients according to certain dietary needs and recording vital signs.
“Heart disease” is actually a very broad term that describes a number of issues that can affect the heart. Some of the more common are coronary artery disease (blocked heart arteries), problems with any of the four valves in the heart, and problems with the electrical system of the heart (arrhythmias). Each of these issues present many overlapping symptoms. Some of the more common symptoms include: