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Mental Health Moment: Isolation is alienation

Get out and about or stay in and be grim! WE USE SOLITARY CONFINEMENT to punish people. In fact, we put a limit in this country to how long we can impose it in a prison due to the adverse effects of it. It can cause psychosis. They use it to calm down violent people,…
Ask a PA Who Knows!: Indoor tanning myths debunked

… and why you should consider an alternate tanning method EVERYONE LIKES to look good, and most people enjoy the bronzed look of a tan. Unfortunately, too many try to achieve the look of a golden tan through the use of indoor tanning methods like tanning beds. Just like tanning in the sun, indoor tanning…
Growing young with grandchildren

How interaction with children can keep you sharp as you age “AN HOUR with your grandchildren can make you feel young again.” Grandparents like Susan Sartain, a marketing and communications manager for Baycare’s Bartow Regional Medical Center, will tell you such a sentiment is true, and now there’s even science to back it up. Australian…

Health Impacts of Opioid Addiction on Patients

As a spine surgeon, I routinely see various life-threatening consequences of opioid addiction. These could include severe spinal instability and paralysis that develops from infection, that occurs due to intravenous injections of opioids — by patients who are addicted to opioids. These patients typically started by taking that single initial opioid tablet, and quickly developed…
COVID-19 and the Heart

COVID-19 (coronavirus SARS 2) is obviously an infection that primarily affects the lungs. As we know, this is a pandemic that has affected all our lives. Does it have any cardiac issues directly or indirectly? Direct Problems COVID-19 has been known to cause weakening of the heart in some cases. Thankfully this is rare, but…
Myopia Control in the COVID-19 Era

My weekends are admittedly different now. Before my weekends were filled with time spent with friends, in person, but now they are Zoom calls, Brady Bunch style. We hosted our game night online, and we chat while we bake or make dinner. Even at our practice, we are utilizing the ability to work remotely, and…