The Northeast Texas Public Health District (NETPHD) is participating in an international initiative to educate the public on the need for various immunizations.  The NETPHD has singled out August as National Immunization Awareness Month, and is urging East Texans of all ages, sexes and persuasions to make sure they are caught up on their vaccinations, especially with a new school year approaching.

“We have the power to prevent many diseases with a simple vaccine,” said NETPHD Director of Immunization Sylvia Warren, RN.

She added that inoculations are for persons of all ages.

“Vaccines aren’t just for babies,” she said.  “From a child getting vaccinated against measles and whooping cough, to an adolescent being protected from meningitis, to an older adult avoiding the pain of shingles, there are good reasons for all of us to discuss vaccines with our health care providers.”

Vaccination is one of the easiest and most effective tools in fighting illness.  Not only does it protect individuals, but it hampers the spread of infectious disease.

For more information on National Immunization Awareness Month please call (903) 535-0030 or visit www.healthyeasttx.org.  Vaccination services are available at the NETPHD’s new facility at 815 North Broadway in Tyler.

Total Healthcare Center (THC) will celebrate National Health Center Week August 8-14 with  the nation’s 1,200 Federally Qualified Health Center’s (FCHC).  This year marks the 45^th anniversary of community health centers, whose goal is to provide high-quality, affordable access to preventive and primary care for low income and uninsured patients.

Nationwide, community health centers are the medical and healthcare home to approximately 20 million people.  THC served almost 9,000 patients in more than 22,000 visits in 2009.   FQHC’s also provide mental health, dental and pharmacy services.  THC provides more than $1 million in free medications annually.  FQHC’s reduce the need for more expensive hospital and specialty care, saving the taxpayers billions of dollars.

Across the country, 70% of patients are below the federal poverty level.  Locally, 42% of patients are at 100% of the poverty level or below and 98% of patients are at 200% of the poverty level or below.

Nationally, uninsured health center patients represent 38% of clients and locally 58% of patients are uninsured.  The U.S. Census bureau estimates that almost 45,000 Smith County residents, 26.5%, were uninsured in 2007. Additionally, 38% of health center patients nationwide rely on Medicaid.  THC follows this trend with 37% of patients utilizing Medicaid.

Health center patients also tend to be members of racial and ethnic minorities.  In 2009, THC’s patients were 43% Hispanic, 18% black and 39% white.

For more information on National Health Center Week go to www.healthcenterweek.org/.

Total Healthcare Center is located at 938 N. Glenwood Blvd. Its mission is to provide a medical home for patient-centered access to affordable, quality primary and preventive care.  The clinic provides primary care for children and adults, children’s dental and family planning services.  No one is turned away due to their inability to pay.  For more information, visit the Center’s website at thctx.org or call (903)533-7400.

August is the international healthcare community’s month to advocate  breastfeeding as a favored means of insuring infant (and their mothers’) health.  The Northeast Texas Public Health District (NETPHD) will join in this initiative.  This month’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) statewide theme is Every Ounce Counts: Supporting Moms Beyond the First Weeks.

Although Texas is ahead of the Healthy People 2010 goal of 75% breastfeeding initiation rate, the state has not achieved the objectives of 40% exclusively breastfeeding at three months, 17% exclusively breastfeeding at six months, 50% any breastfeeding at six months, or 25% breastfeeding at 12 months.  To accomplish these aims a major drive is needed to support breastfeeding women in their quest for these levels.

As their babies grow older breastfeeding mothers are faced with changing needs.  Assisting moms in overcoming these challenges will boost breastfeeding durations in Texas.  Compassionate support from friends and family members is a great help.  NETPHD’s WIC Director Tecora Smith points out the significant advantages of breastfeeding.

“Health professionals will agree–breastfeeding is the healthiest choice for babies,” she said.  “Breast milk costs absolutely nothing, decreases chances of breast cancer, fights against obesity, and creates an amazing bond between mother and baby.”

Those wishing to attend the NETPHD’s celebration of World Breastfeeding Month should come to the Salvation Army location at 633 North Broadway in Tyler from 8:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. August 21.  For more information please call (903) 535-0030 or visit www.healthyeasttx.org.

By T&H Healthmart Pharmacy

Some days, arthritis pain may make you not want to do much more than hit the couch. But the Arthritis Foundation says the following tips can help prevent and decrease the pain and disability of osteoarthritis:

Make movement a daily routine. Incorporate exercise into your daily life, even if you only add a daily walk of 15 to 30 minutes. If pain or being overweight makes it difficult to exercise, try one of the Arthritis Foundation’s Life Improvement Series Programs, which apply less stress to joints.

Control Your Weight. For every one pound you lose, that’s four pounds of pressure off each knee. Losing as little as 11 pounds may reduce knee osteoarthritis. For those already living with arthritis systems, losing 15 pounds can cut knee pain in half.

Know Your Risks. Although heredity and other factors can put a person at risk for developing osteoarthritis, a healthy lifestyle can play a significant role in preventing and successfully managing osteoarthritis. Find out your risk for osteoarthritis and get a personalized plan to reduce your risks ay www.fightarthritispain.org. Visit www. HealthMart. com to learn more about living with arthritis.

By T&H Healthmart Pharmacy

Talk about a double whammy.  If you’re a smoker, it’s not just the cigarette smoke you directly inhale that hurts you.  It’s also the secondhand smoke.  That’s the combination of smoke from the burning end of the cigarette, pipe, or cigar as well as smoke that you exhale.  According to a recent study, the impact of secondhand smoke from smoking 14 cigarettes is like inhaling 3 more.

Of course, this says nothing of the impact on others – those who don’t choose to smoke – your children, your partner, even your dog.  For them, this may be the “gift that keeps on giving.”  Now there’s evidence that children living with smokers have early signs of clogged arteries by the time they’ve turned 13, as well as other risk factors for heart disease.

Children of smokers also have a higher risk of developing emphysema early in life, even when they don’t become smokers themselves.  This could be the result of lungs that never fully recover.  The lung changes are dramatic enough to have shown up on CT lung scans of nearly 1,800 non-smokers who lived with at least one smoker while growing up.

But that’s not all.   Secondhand smoke may also boost you risk of getting tuberculosis (TB), a serious lung infection.  A study looked at the impact on more that 15,000 non-smoking women living in Hong Kong.  Those exposed to secondhand smoke were 1.5 times more likely to develop active TB than those who weren’t.  These women were also more likely to have developed another type of lung disease.

This simply lengthens the list of risks already linked with secondhand smoke.  For example, it’s already known that it can prompt asthma in children. And, secondhand smoke increases the risk of lung and nasal sinus cancers.  This should come as little surprise since secondhand smoke contains more than 50 substances that can cause cancer.

Here’s the real kicker:  even third-hand smoke leaves behind a toxic “time bomb.”  Researchers have found that cancer-causing agents in tobacco smoke cling to many surfaces.  This includes floors, carpets, drapes, walls and furniture.  Here it can hang out for months.  And, who is most likely to pick it up?  Those who explore more with their hands:  children and infants.  This study raises new questions about whether or not electronic cigarettes are truly safe.  They may not produce smoke, but they do still produce nicotine.

So here’s the good news:  Smoking bans in public places have shown how cutting secondhand smoke can help.  Heart attack rates started decreasing right away as a result of smoking bans in the United States, Europe, and Canada.  Three years later, the heart attack rate was reduced by a third.

If you’re a smoker and all this news is prompting you to stop, get help.  I can advise you about quit-smoking aids such as nicotine patches.  And you can find other quit-smoking resources in your community.   Or, call the American Lung Association at 1-800-586-4872 or the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345.  Stop smoking tools assist online, and visit www.healthmart.com for more information.

By Annette Bridges

Change — some people dread it, and others can’t get enough. It may be much like the idiom, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” When it comes to what we would alter or why we would make a modification, the answers vary because we all have different things we value, want, need and consider important.

Unlike some empty nesters, I’m one of those who can’t get enough change. Even when I’m not actively seeking it, I feel a hunger for it. And this often results in my imagination working overtime, wondering what I could change — replace, remodel, reorganize or improve and do differently.

Certainly, there are things I would never trade about my life. I adore my husband — one fact that is firm and fixed. Unfortunately, my dear husband is one of those folks who dreads change, so there are times his feelings impact the possibilities of what I would and can change in my own life.

Furthermore, sometimes what I think I might like to change and what I feel I can or would are different. When this happens to any of us, I think it’s important to examine why we feel we can’t or wouldn’t make a change.

What’s stopping us?

When I mention to my husband something I’m thinking about changing, he often responds with, “Why now?” And my response to him is always, “Why not?”

I think it’s the “Why not?” question that must be answered when we’re hesitant to make a change. And when I find my hesitancy is based on a fear, that’s when I become determined to conquer the fear.

Many times in my life I’ve let fear stop me from reaching some goal or aspiration. Since I can’t go back and change all the things I wish I had done, and living in regret is completely pointless, today my resolve is fierce when I’m faced with a fear that is trying to hold me back.

In short, I simply can’t allow fear to be what stops me from making a change!

Now, I do believe in making informed and educated decisions. And there could be information that might stop me from making a change.

It could also be that certain changes really are better at one time than at another. So, if a desired change shouldn’t happen today, it doesn’t mean that at some point in the future, that desired change couldn’t or shouldn’t happen.

But one thing is for sure, my friends — do not let fear paralyze you with uncertainty, indecisiveness and inaction. We must stop fear before it stops us.

It’s helpful to look at your fear straight on and examine what it is telling you. Perhaps your fear is saying, “You can’t do it or it will be too difficult.” “You’re afraid of what others will think.” “You will fail.” “You will be wrong.” “You won’t like the outcome.”

Some people say that fears can be rational and logical and are a helpful instinct that protects us from danger. I don’t think it is fear that makes decisions and actions rational, logical and safe, but rather knowledge, understanding, common sense as well as divine inspiration and revelation that serve us well.

At least from my own experience, I’ve found that fear is irrational and baseless. It is some illusive belief that would stop me from making my life better — happier, more satisfying, more interesting, more productive, more fun.

Changes are a natural — and can be a progressive — aspect throughout our life. Making a well thought-out change need not be feared but welcomed, explored and enjoyed.

Asking ourselves “Why not?” when considering some change can be very telling. We just may find that there really isn’t a good enough reason not to!

UT Health Science Center says if you’ve recently been diagnosed with diabetes, you can find reliable and up-to-date information about the chronic disease and its treatment at the upcoming Empower Diabetes class at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler.

A new Empower series of four free diabetes education sessions begins Tuesday, Aug 3, in Hudnall Auditorium at UTHSCT, 11937 U.S. 271 in Tyler. Each free session is offered from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on successive Tuesdays: Aug. 3, Aug. 10, Aug. 17, and Aug. 24.

Sessions cover different topics, including high and low blood sugar, meal planning, glucose monitoring, exercise and diabetes, medications and insulin administration, and foot care. Pre-registration is recommended, and the deadline to register for this series of classes is 5 p.m. Thursday, July 29. For more information or to register, call (903) 877-7569.

By Annette Bridges

Being the youngest in my family with three big brothers, I must admit that I always seemed to find something to tattle about. Was my tattling a ploy to get attention? I suspect so — at least some of the time.

Whatever my reason, some might say my childhood job was to be the family informer. Sometimes I think I tattled because I was mad at one of my brothers, and I wanted to get him in trouble. Of course, this particular brother usually did something worthy of getting in trouble for. I just passed along the incriminating information.

Many children fear the label of rat, squealer, fink or blabbermouth, but there are things children should feel free and comfortable to tell.

Children may be embarrassed or ashamed of the inappropriate behavior someone has had toward them. Their confusion can make them hold their tongue when they should in fact tell what was done.

Sometimes our friends confide in us, and it can be difficult for us to know the difference between secrets that we should keep and those that we need to share with another.

I had a young childhood friend who vowed me to secrecy about an adult’s inappropriate behavior toward her. And I have to tell you that her secret was one I kept her entire life. My friend passed on several years ago, but I’m still sad because she may have endured much pain and unhappiness, and I never did anything to stop it.

It had been so easy for me to snitch on my brothers. Yet I can’t explain why I couldn’t blab about my friend’s experience to my mother or some other authority figure.

When I think back on all the tattling I did on my brother, I think that in fact, this brother was doing things that he shouldn’t have been doing. At the time I didn’t understand why I needed to tell on him — that it wasn’t to get him into trouble but to help him stop doing things that were harmful to his health.

Children need to be taught the difference between senseless tattling and a legitimate complaint or concern. As in many areas of our lives, an examination of our motives is paramount.

Is what we feel compelled to share something that affects ours or others’ physical or psychological safety? Is our motive with the intent to protect? Is there an emergency — when danger is imminent?

When I was eleven, I had a friend tattle on me that resulted in my suspension from school for three days. I don’t think I ever thanked this friend for her brave actions. It was clearly her concern for my safety as well as that of others that she snitched. I was at first humiliated and angry. But I can tell you now that her tattling completely altered my life. I was forced to make some needed changes that put me on a better path for the rest of my life.

If you have a child who never hesitates to keep you informed, don’t discourage the line of communication. We don’t want to teach our children to shut up. The era of children seen and not heard has long ended. Let’s teach our kids how to evaluate and process information so they know what’s important and know how and when to tattle.

Your child may end up saving another child’s life just like my friend saved mine.

By Annette Bridges

Blame can be contagious — a conclusion reached by a recent study published in The Journal of Experimental Psychology. This was no surprise to me, since we live in a culture of blame and see “blame” played out in the news every day.

I dare say we’ve all pointed fingers at some point in time to a person, place or thing as an excuse for our misery or a problem. And whether or not you or I believe we were justified in that blame doesn’t matter.

In the book of Genesis, we read that Adam blamed Eve when the Lord confronted him about eating the fruit he had been told to stay away from. (Genesis 3:12) But did Eve cram the fruit in his mouth? Did she force him to eat it? At least Eve told the truth and owned up to her mistake. Adam made a choice as surely as Eve did!

If we are ever going to learn to be good problem solvers, then we need a shift from finding fault to taking responsibility.

Pointing a finger is a way to pass the buck in an attempt to protect our own self-image perhaps — another finding in the study. Yet blame becomes an excuse, a justification, a defense — a bad habit — and keeps focus away from making the effectual changes that solve a problem.

“The dog ate my homework” excuse doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your homework. Whether the excuse is truth or lie is inconsequential. Either you get your homework completed and turned in for a grade or you get a zero. The consequence is going to be the result of the choice you make.

Noted Jewish-American trial lawyer, Louis Nizer once said, “When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself.” We must sooner or later own up to our own mistakes and learn the lessons needed to not repeat them. Maybe the dog really did eat our homework, but maybe we left our homework on the floor in the first place.

But again, where the fault lies is not of immediate importance. What matters most — or at least first and foremost — is what we do to correct and resolve what needs fixing. We must get our homework done even if we have to start over from scratch!

Getting trapped in a cycle of blame distorts objectivity, clouds reason and almost always results in a power struggle. Problem solving demands respect for other viewpoints, along with a recognition that there is not just one way to reach a solution. So we must break the blame chain in order to make any needed changes.

We need to move beyond the “It’s not my fault” victim mentality and imbibe the humility, grace and courage to do whatever it takes to accomplish change, progress, and success. As long as we think of ourselves as victims, we remain so and accomplish little or nothing.

Parents often blame their child’s teachers, friends, television or music for a behavior problem or for a learning difficulty. And they often blame themselves and ruminate over what they have done wrong. Again, the problem with all the blaming is that it takes the attention and focus away from where it should be — on the child and meeting the child’s needs.

My approach to teaching as a public school teacher and as a homeschool teacher was the same. I believed that anything could be learned. If my children were failing or having difficulty mastering a skill or subject, then it was the teaching method that needed to be changed to better meet the child’s learning style and needs. It wasn’t that the children were dumb or incapable of learning. It wasn’t that I was a bad teacher. The solution was to adapt and continue to try a new approach until mastery was achieved.

Opportunities are available, and success can be reached. The road may appear easier or faster for some than for others. It may or may not be fair. Some may have more hurdles to overcome. So be it. I’ve often said and proven in my own life, difficult does not mean impossible.

There is much that needs fixing in our country and world today. My prayer is that we stop playing the blame game. Stop the excuse making and start problem solving. Nothing is so hard that it can’t be done. When we open our hearts and minds to believe that anything is possible, solvable and attainable, then it will be so.

With summer temperatures rising, here are a few tips on how to keep your cool for a safe and fun summer.

1.  Wear loose lightweight cottons and linen clothing.  Remember to choose white or lighter color clothing which reflects heat over black and darker colors that tend to absorb the heat.  Watch your head!  Hats are a great way to shade your face and keep your head cool!

2. Drink plenty of water. Your body is estimated to be about 60 to 70 percent water.You need to sweat to stay cool. You can’t sweat if you are dehydrated. How much water do you need?  A good estimate is to take your body weight in pounds and divide that number in half. That gives you the number of ounces of water per day that you need to drink. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, you should drink at least 80 ounces of water per day. If you exercise you should drink another eight ounce glass of water for every 20 minutes you exercise.

3. Avoid alcoholic beverages and beverages with caffeine, such as coffee, tea, and cola. Alcohol and caffeine constrict blood vessels near the skin reducing the amount of heat the body can release. Although beer and alcoholic beverages appear to satisfy thirst, they actually cause the body to dehydrate.

5. Slow Down Your Pace – Summertime is the time to take things slow and easy.  Don’t over exert yourself and if you must engage in physical activities, slow down your pace and choose the coolest time of day to do so. Exercise early in the morning,  or later in the evening when the sun goes down.

6. Time your showers. Take a shower if you are home around dinner time. It will cool you down for about one hour and at the time when your home starts to cool down.

7. Don’t over eat. Eating a big meal forces your body into metabolic mode causing more heat, so try to eat more frequent snacks throughout the day.  Instead of hot foods, try lighter summer fare including frequent small meals or snacks containing cold fruit and vegetables or low fat dairy products.

8. Use your microwave to cook. It is your most efficient kitchen appliance and it will not fill your home with heat, like an oven.

9. Shut down unnecessary electronic devices. Many new TVs, VCRs, chargers, computer peripherals and other electronics use electricity even when they are switched “off.”  Although these “standby losses” are only a few watts each, they add up to over 50 watts in a typical home that is consumed all the time.  And remember to turn off lights in unoccupied rooms!

10. Reduce the temperature in your water heater!  Set the thermostat to 120 degrees or less for normal use, and lower the setting when away from home for extended periods. For every 10 degrees decrease in heater temperature, energy use may be cut by 3 to 5 percent.

11. Close doors to unused rooms and open closets. Make sure your home is air-tight when you need to keep cooler air inside. In the morning, close up your house and draw blinds and drapes so the house stays darker and thus cooler. If you have blinds, close them or angle them upwards. That way, light is reflected up and into the room and the direct rays of the sun are not let in.

12. Use box fans along with ceiling fans. During the summer, a ceiling fan should (in most cases) be running counterclockwise when viewed from below. Combine that with box or window fans to draw air into your room and then out of your room.

13. Get out! Bowling or catching a reduced-price matinee movie during the daytime in an ice-cold movie theater is a great alternative to staying at home. The local public library offers a great place to read for hours — as well as offers all sorts of movies, books and music to check out for free.

Remember to check daily on the elderly, infants, and anyone with a chronic illness since they are especially susceptible to the heat-related illnesses and dehydration.

Using common sense and a few safety precautions, when dealing with the summer’s heat, will lead to a healthy, safe and fun filled summer for all!