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How a life-saving transplant transformed my life

| Annemarie Ward shares her journey of keeping hope alive amidst heart disease | NEARLY 15 YEARS AGO, Annemarie Ward was walking the family’s three dogs with her mother Polly and sister Emily when she collapsed. At age seven, Annemarie had suffered a heart attack. She was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or enlargement of the…
Pop Quiz: Maintaining optimal optical health

| Understanding the causes of low vision and taking precautions as you age | EYESIGHT is a precious thing, and unfortunately there are many threats to optimal optical health. One common eye problem is low vision, and it affects seniors the most. Low vision, in its simplest terms, is any vision loss that interferes with…
Celebrating Black History Month with a look at local African-Americans in medicine

ALEX ALEXANDER Registered Nurse Bartow Regional Medical Center As a black registered nurse from North Carolina, 56-year-old Alex Alexander has had his run-ins with prejudice. But he’s learned to remember who he is, treat others like his brothers and sisters, forgive, and … not believe everything he hears. “You earn things by your merit and…

Healthy Cook: Food safety for the outdoor cookouts

Food Safety for the Outdoor Cookouts The sun is shining and the kids are playing and the picnic lunch is waiting to be eaten. It’s a perfect day in Florida. But tomorrow could be a bummer if the cook and helpers don’t know how to keep the food from spoiling. Food safety is a…
Editor’s Dose: My tips if you plan to do a ‘staycation’

In my opinion, there’s nothing better than summer in Florida. You have the beaches, the theme parks, and of course, the sunshine to beckon you outdoors. For residents planning their vacations this season, there are just as many reasons to stay close to home as there are to get away. So how do you…
Get healthy STAT!

Weighing in on National Statistics Take a Shot 13 percentage of parents not vaccinating children on the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended schedule. Source: U.S. CDC The rates in Polk County of parents not completing immunizations on time is 1.6 percent for kindergarten and 1.3 percent for seventh grade, but they…