Health News
Features
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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…
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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…
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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…
Columns
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July is UV Safety Month
When we think of summer, images of beaches, theme parks, and outdoor sports and activities come to mind. While getting out of the house and doing things outside is generally considered healthy, there are risks involved, one of which is exposure to the dreaded UV light. Ultraviolet (UV) light refers to the region of…
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Understanding Tailbone and Pelvic Pain
We’ve all heard it: “This is a pain in the butt,” right? As with most expressions, fables and fairytales, that expression came from somewhere. Pain in your tailbone and pelvis can be very debilitating but different from other forms of back pain like sciatica or stenosis, which basically are inflammation or pinching of nerves and…
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The Dangers of Diabetes
Diabetes affects millions of people in the U.S. It is one of the most common diseases affecting the developed world and is strongly linked to the obesity factor. It’s a chronic illness, and like HIV, people don’t die of diabetes but its complications. More than 7 million people with diabetes are undiagnosed, and 1 in…
