After the rain, sleet and snow of early spring the weather was as beautiful as the message being taught at Longview Regional Medical Center’s (LRMC) monthly Healthy Woman’s program. Dr’s Nutrition Stephen Lewis started out by telling the ladies the obvious fact that excess weight leads to poor health.
It was a boost to his credibility to hear presiding Lewis commend not only his, but all weight loss programs. His family situation makes weight control a personal issue to him.
prescription drugs without a prescription online “My dad was 240 pounds, and so are my brother and sister,” cialis soft he said. “I have gained 12 pounds that I need to lose.”
He freely admitted that his weakness for peanut butter cookies was the root of his problem. He explained that we all need to balance our tendencies toward pleasure. He said we all need both some pain and some pleasure to attain balance. He believes there is a spiritual need to be healthy.
Living in our land of unhealthy plenty gets in the way of pursuing a healthy lifestyle, so we all must make continual efforts to eat right. He recommended organic foods because they contain more nutrients than most foods.
Apart from Dr’s Nutrition supplements he discussed fiber, fructose corn syrup, insulin resistance, probiotics, estrogen dominance, toxic environments, stress, cholesterol, the human liver and taste buds. He also discussed vitamins at length. Some, he said, are better for us than others. He elaborated on those with the greatest benefits.
Dr. Lewis even displayed typical groceries at the seminar, demonstrating what we all should be eating. The women packing the auditorium had many questions. For further information call (903) 663-1036 or visit www.etxdrsnutrition,com.

Spring is in the air! To celebrate the season, we all look forward to warm weather and the colorful wildflowers that vividly paint our Texas roadways. Thanks to the dedication and hard work of our Adopt-a-Highway (AAH) volunteers, the beauty of our handsome landscape is preserved. OR IS IT?

Volunteers work hard to maintain the splendor of Texas roadways. Unfortunately, many of our fellow Texans don’t feel the same way. They are busy throwing trash from their vehicles and littering the roadways.

In 2009, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) spent approximately $48 million on litter pick up on Texas Highways. In the Atlanta District alone, TxDOT has spent prescription drugs more the $700,000 on litter and debris removal. We have over 160 AAH groups who have adopted miles of right of way and still they can not make a dent in the amount of trash being thrown out of vehicles.

Some folks may not be aware that they are littering since they don’t see their feed, fertilizer and ice bags blow out of the back of their trucks. Some are very aware when they openly throw from their vehicle windows beverage cans and bottles, fast food containers, empty cigarette packs and drug paraphernalia.

Texans should take pride in our beautiful landscape and we should take great measures to keep it litter-free. In order to keep our roadsides beautiful we have to stop littering. Wait and throw your litter in a trash can, and don’t dump your old furniture and scraps on the right of way because “everyone else does.”

We have all heard the old saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” Well here in East Texas, “You can’t see the wildflowers for the trash.”

Be proactive and help us this April 10th to help clean up East Texas. Start by picking up any trash that you see, even cheapest price for cialis if it isn’t yours. If you see someone littering take their license number and report them on the www.dontmesswithtexas.org website. If you see someone dumping items on the right of way, take their license number and report them to your local sheriff’s office. Anyone or group of people wanting to adopt a section of highway to keep clean can call 903-799-1221.

We all need to remember, that if folks keep littering and dumping on our rights of way, we all end up paying to clean it up with our tax dollars.

Irene Webster is the Adopt-a-Highway Coordinator in TxDOT Atlanta District

Like most pastors, my father had a fascination with the cross. He loved hymns that celebrated the mystery of Good Friday. His study at church had more than a few books on the atonement. Unlike many of his Evangelical colleagues, the wall over his desk boasted a crucifix. Even when my dad transitioned from pastoral ministry into the business world, that wooden crucifix graced his office.
As a successful businessman in his community, my dad maintained his spiritual disciplines of Bible study and prayer. His favorite activity each day was the hour he spent before breakfast in his favorite chair with an open Bible in his lap and a pen in his hand. On more than one occasion he told me how much he anticipated his appointment with his Heavenly Father each morning. He could hardly wait to see what insights he would glean from God’s Word.
When I became a pastor, my dad enjoyed comparing notes. He would often relate observations he’d mined from his personal study. He’d share sermon illustrations he’d discovered in real life he thought I could use. He would suggest ways I might approach preaching a particular text. Similarly, I would regularly give him a preview of a forthcoming series I was planning or walk him through my outline of next Sunday’s sermon.
Without fail, whenever I shared how I was planning to preach on the cross, he would say: “Remember, Greg, the message of the cross is not so much the physical torture Christ endured. It’s the fact that the sinless Son of God bore the sin of the world as he suffered, bled and died.”
It’s not an overstatement to say my dad gloried in the cross. He saw in it a source of healing in life and in death. It was a mystery he held on to in both pleasant and challenging times. During my father’s fourteen year battle with cialis professional tadalafil cancer, he often meditated on Isaiah 53:5. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
My dad hoped for complete healing. When that did not appear to be God’s plan he took comfort knowing that he had lived seven years longer than most with his particular diagnosis. When his oncologist indicated my dad had just weeks to live, I asked my congregation to pray for dying grace.
One afternoon while stopping Buy Propecia Online Without Prescription by to pray with a member of our church battling throat cancer, Larry’s wife said he had something for my dad. She proceeded to hold out a small hand-carved wooden cross. “It’s a holding cross,” she explained. “It’s asymmetrical shaped so that it fits easily in your fingers as a meditation tool. I ordered one for my husband and one for your dad.”
A couple days later I made the two and a half hour drive that had become a weekly pilgrimage. As I held out the cross to my dad, his shriveled hand took hold of it. I explained about the shape of the cross and the woman who had ordered it for him. His eyes teared up. A smile crossed his face. It was as if he’d been given a million dollars.
For the last month of my dad’s life, he clutched that little olivewood cross continuously. Whether watching his favorite cable news channel, The Price is Right or a Gaither Homecoming video, he held on tightly to that cross. As members of his small group dropped by to visit or the hospice nurses attended to his needs, he clung to the cross. What had been his focus in living defined his hope in dying.
The night my dad died, I sat by his bed reading the Bible to him. Although he was unresponsive to my voice, his right hand continued to cradle that little cross. He was holding it securely when he took his last breath.
As we sang The Old Rugged Cross at his memorial service, the lyrics took on new meaning for me. “So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross ‘til my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.” No wonder St. Paul wrote, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 6:14)

In the aftermath of the foiled “underwear bomber” attack on Christmas Day, there’s a major push to install whole-body X-ray scanning machines at airport screening areas. It’s being led by former Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, now a paid consultant for a manufacturer of these X-ray machines. He’s calling for their “large-scale deployment.”
Chertoff has dismissed objections raised about these devices. “The ‘safety’ concern,” he claimed In a Washington Post op-ed, “is particularly specious, because the technologies expose people to no more radiation than is experienced in daily life.”
Not quite. Whole body X-ray scanning machines were developed and first used to detect theft at gold and diamond mines on and inside the bodies of workers in Africa. They are fluoroscopic X-ray machines that provide a real-time image of a person’s body using “back-scatter,” or “soft” X-rays. They emit much less penetrating energy than machines found in a medical setting, such as CT scanners. However, like all machines, if their design, manufacture, calibration or maintenance is defective, then doses to passengers and security staff could be larger than claimed. The recent reporting of dozens of cases of harm to patients from the misuse of CT scans should serve as a cautionary warning.
Unfortunately, the doses of radiation experienced in everyday life, especially flying long distances in jet aircraft, pose risks we should also carefully heed.
Flight crews are considered by the United Nation’s Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic discount cialis Radiation as radiation workers who, because of exposure to cosmic radiation, are the most highly exposed group in the world. For instance:
• According to UN data, in 2000, air crews made up about 3 percent of the radiation workers in the world, but received about 24 percent of the total collective dose for all exposed workers, which include people employed at uranium mines, nuclear weapons sites, and nuclear power plants. The average estimated annual dose to flight personnel, and frequent international flyers such as professional couriers, is about 2.5 times higher than the combined average for all radiation workers.
• Aircrew and frequent long-distance passengers are chronically exposed to buy online drugs more biologically damaging forms of radiation, such as neutrons, than the majority of nuclear workers.
• Pregnant women have a heightened risk of cancer to their embryos. During the early part of the first trimester, when radiation sensitivity is the highest, some women may not know they are pregnant. This is why European airlines ground pregnant aircrew to prevent overexposure.
• Over the past decade, at least 11 studies of civilian and military airline crews show significant increased risks of dying from cancers considered to be radiogenic. The aircraft environment includes other potential and multiple risk factors that aren’t as well understood as radiation, such as electromagnetic fields, changes in body hormones, time-zone changes, pesticides, pressure changes, chronic fatigue, and lifestyles. The aircraft environment includes other
Given the dire economic problems airlines face, this problem is the last thing that they want to surface. But if crew members and passengers already face largely unreported radiation risks from long-distance flying, we should have the right to know just how whole-body radiation scanning machines are part of this risk.
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As Congress begins debate over what to do about the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy, I hope it has the courage to let my tax cuts expire. It would be the right thing to do.
Back in 2001, Congress voted for President Bush’s tax program, including substantial tax reductions for those of us with incomes over $250,000. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, our nation had to borrow more than $700 billion over the last decade to pay for those cuts.
When these tax cuts were enacted, congressional forecasters projected budget surpluses totaling more than $5 trillion over the ensuing decade. In the meantime, as we all know, the fiscal situation of the nation has dramatically deteriorated.
But the cuts were never meant to be permanent. They are now due to cialis online no prescription expire at the end of this year, but some lawmakers want to preserve them. I would pay less in taxes if Congress extended my tax cuts, but as a citizen I think it would be irresponsible.
Retaining the tax cuts for another 10 years would cost our nation $826 billion. No one is suggesting I pay back the tax breaks I’ve already received, but we cannot afford to continue them.
The good news is that there were benefits built into the Bush tax program that affected middle-income families, too. Congress should take steps to preserve these tax cuts, because for half a century we’ve been shifting taxes off the wealthy and onto the middle class. We’ve cut top income tax rates and taxes on capital gains and inheritances, tilting the system in favor of taxpayers like me and further exacerbating the great inequalities in wealth and income in our society.
Preserving the cuts for middle-income families and eliminating tax breaks for incomes over $250,000 is a solid first step toward rebalancing our nation’s tax code.
No one likes to talk about taxes in a positive light, but the truth is that our nation has built a remarkable marketplace for enterprise and wealth creation. Taxes paid for the public investments in research, education, infrastructure and technology that made this possible. They paid for law enforcement and orderly marketplaces. These public investments buoyed my personal opportunities and wealth. I am certain they have done the same for millions of other Americans.
We should remember this on Tax Day, as Congress debates what to do about tax cuts. Some of our leaders will argue that allowing the tax cuts for the wealthy to expire will have an adverse effect on the economy, job creation, and that it will punish success. They will argue instead for deeper spending cuts in Medicare, Social Security, education, and social spending.
But our country needs the estimated $45 billion in annual revenue that these taxes would generate.
Those of us who have benefited the most during abundant times have a duty to our country during lean times.
Yes, I can voluntarily pay more taxes, just as I choose to give more money to charity. But that won’t address the magnitude of the problem we are leaving to future taxpayers. The issues before Congress are the structure of the tax code and the question of how we, as a nation, take responsibility for the reckless buying prescription drugs online without a prescription debts of the past.
Congress can take a responsible step in the right direction: Let my tax cut go.

Longview Regional Medical Center (LRMC) has announced that it has earned its Advanced Primary Stroke Care Center Designation from the Joint Commission. This makes LRMC Longview’s first Stroke Center-designated hospital. LRMC Stroke Coordinator Tom Dupree, RN expressed the hospital staff’s delight at their new accreditation.
“Longview Regional is excited for our community to be Longview’s first Joint Commission Accredited Advanced Primary Stroke Center,” he said. “We are committed to treating, educating and preventing stroke for our community. This is a very positive direction for our community.”
With the city’s population being 17% over age 60 having a facility specializing in stroke treatment is a great asset. Being specialized cheap Levitra in this field means the hospital has isolated and prepared for stroke patients’ particular needs and has designed an infrastructure to support health professionals who concentrate on this field of medicine.
The administrators and medical practitioners of LRMC are committed to implementing treatments to provide the best possible care for stroke patients cialis in usa from professionals trained to the utmost ability in this area of medicine. These methods are to not only be the most effective in improving the health of stroke victims, but also affordable to the patients who will also be educated in stroke treatment and prevention.
Nurse Dupree and Dr. Richard Hamer, MD will head the medical staff dedicated to insuring LRMC stroke patients receive the highest standards of treatment set by the American Heart/Stroke Association. LRMC Chief Quality Officer Ann Huffman, RN clarified the goal of the new unit.
“These guidelines are evidence based on standards of care designed by neurologists, neurosurgeons, emergency physicians and many others, which will insure that any patient with stroke symptoms that presents to our hospital will receive treatment in a systematic and comprehensive approach,” she said. “We all know of people or family members that have delayed seeking treatment for stroke symptoms such as weakness in the arms and legs, facial drooping, slurred speech or difficulty speaking. Our job is to educate our community that time is brain-saving, and we can possibly give medication if they present to the hospital within three hours of the symptoms.”

The American Heart Association has released some sobering facts about stroke:

* It is a leading cause of adult disability.

* Many strokes are preventable.

* Someone suffers a stroke every 45 seconds.

* Annually twice as many women die from strokes as from breast cancer.

* Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

* 750,000 Americans suffer strokes yearly.

* There are 4,000,000 stroke survivors in the U.S.

LRMC hopes to educate both stroke patients and their families not only as to what caused a loved one’s stroke, but how it might have been prevented. The Stroke Team will provide patients and their families with this information.
“I know personally the overwhelming experience of having a loved one experiencing a stroke,” said Dupree. “We are aware of the challenges and endeavors it requires of patients and their families. I have personal satisfaction to be a part of our stroke team and their commitment to all aspects of care.”

Good Shepherd Health Center has reached an understanding with the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) to collaborate on a three-year internal medicine residency initiative to operate out of Longview’s Good Shepherd Medical Center. Good Shepherd Health System President and Chief Executive Officer Edward Banos is upbeat on the program’s potential.
“By combining the expertise and resources of our two outstanding institutions we will be able to offer a depth of medical training that will be of tremendous benefit to the long-term health care needs of our region,” he said. “As the only academic medical center in Northeast Texas, UT Health Science Center is an experienced leader in medical education, and we could not find a better partner to work with us to develop a first-rate internal medicine residency program at Good Shepherd.”
Dr. Kirk A. Calhoun, MD, UTHSC president, aims to build this new department into a medical facility next to none.
“Good Shepherd has an excellent clinical infrastructure and environment that will be well suited to creating innovative learning experiences for new doctors,” he said. “We know from our experience with our Family Medicine and Occupational Medicine residency programs that many residents typically stay in or near the community where they complete their training.”
UTHSC’s Family Medicine Residency Program has already been around 25 years and of the 132 physicians that have graduated from it about half have remained in East Texas. Since its 1994 inception the Occupational Residency Program has graduated 22 physicians with a full 60% staying in the Lone Star State. Furthermore, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME,) which oversees medical residency programs nationwide, has just re-accredited UTHSC’s family medicine and occupational medicine residency programs for another five years, which is the maximum period of accreditation.
“Texas currently has a significant shortage of physicians, ranking 42 out of 50 buying prescription drugs states in number of physicians per capita,” said Banos. “Even more alarming, it is projected that Texas will need an additional 40,000 doctors by 2025 to keep up with Texas’ growing population. Having an internal medicine residency program in Longview will allow us to train and retain some of the best and brightest physicians graduating from top medical schools across the country.”
Because it is ACGME accredited, the UT Science Health Center will sponsor the new program. A graduated medical education committee made up of both the UT Health Science Center and a graduate medical education committee will provide the initiative with overseers. UTHSC Vice-President for Clinical Affairs Dr. David Coultas, MD, will handle scheduling, curriculum and rotation development.
After passing four years of medical school, young physicians will enter a three-year internal medicine residency program at Good Shepherd and other participating East Texas facilities. The student/residents will further their basic medical knowledge of clinical research via UTHSC’s program. This method of educating young doctors will increase their professional versatility by training them in various settings such as inpatient, outpatient and emergency care.
“Our goal is to work together to train physicians who are well-rounded, highly competent and compassionate internal medicine doctors, generic cialis review and are equipped to begin a general practice or to pursue a fellowship that may lead to an academic or subspecialty career,” said Calhoun.
The recruiting of faculty, program and curriculum development, and conditional ACGME accreditation are the main steps toward beginning the new internal medicine residency program. Classes are tentatively slated to commence in July 2012.
There is also a bonus for the local economy. The salaries paid to the residents will add approximately $3 to $5 million to the local economy. For more information visit www.uthct.edu.

Tyler Independent School District (TISD) Foundation executive Director Larry Goddard has been called on to address three conferences on the state, national and international level in April. He will first cialis prices face the Texas Pioneer Education Foundation Summit in San Marcos, where he will be keynote speaker for an assortment of public school education staff and board directors. He will deliver a humorous lecture on donor acknowledgements.
His next stop will be Chicago where he will address the National School Foundation Association on the best practices for collaborative boards of directors. His will be advising this group of about 200 education foundation representatives on how to best create boards of directors.
Lastly he will journey to Baltimore for the global conference of Association of Fundraising Executives to participate in the signing of strategic alliance agreements with Brazilian and Kenyan fundraising operations. Although Bishop Desmond Tutu will be keynote speaker, Goddard will lecture fundraisers from all over the globe. Also he will advise the Global New Markets Task Force on methods of fundraising and how to identify new markets.
A graduate of Texas A&M at Commerce, where he served on the university staff for 15 years, Goddard has two degrees from this school. He graduated Levitra from high school in Cooper, Texas.

This coming Tuesday, May 4 is the day the Longview Chamber of Commerce is hosting the 14th yearly Business EXPO business-to-business trade show at Maude Cobb Convention Activity Center. From 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. about 60 exhibitors will showcase their wares and jobs with more than half of the booth space to be taken up by out-of-town business people.
This event is intended to assist various exhibitors construct mutually profitable liaisons with local businesses. Yet this is not a generalized trade show, but rather a business-to-business marketing opportunity. This approach has resulted in fewer exhibitors over the years, but those that do come have higher value opportunities to offer. Attendees and committee volunteers consider this the show’s greatest asset.
The EXPO is being sponsored by Angelina College Procurement Assistance and the Better Business Bureau. Booths can be rented for rates starting at $500, with discount rates down to $350 for local chamber members. For more information on renting cialis 2.5 a booth call (903) 237-4000, e-mail infol@longviewtx.com or visit www.longviewchamber.com. prescription drugs online

The public is invited to participate in the Get Fit Longview 5K Run and 1-Mile Fun Walk event scheduled for 8:00 a.m., Saturday, May 1, 2010. The event is sponsored by the City of Longview and Get Fit Longview.

The race will begin at where to buy prescription drugs without prescription St. Mary’s School, 405 Hollybrook Drive, and will continue throughout the surrounding neighborhood. If registering before April 15, the entry fee for the 5K Run is $20, and the 1-Mile Fun Walk is $15. After April 15, the 5K Run will be $25, and the 1-Mile Fun Walk will be $20.

Registration forms are available at the Longview Parks and Recreation Department, at the Good Shepherd Institute for Healthy Living, St. Mary’s School, and online at www.GetFitLongview.com.

T-shirts and gift bags are included in the entry fee. Get Fit Longview can only guarantee race numbers and t-shirts for those who register before April 15. If registering after April 28, wait until day of race and register on-site with cash, check or money order. Awards will is cialis over the counter be given to the top finishers in each age group.

For more information about this event or Get Fit Longview, please contact 903-237-1089 or visit www.GetFitLongview.com.