Health News
Features
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Pop Quiz: What’s your Medicare IQ?
A Test that Will Help You Get Smarter About Your Coverage For youngsters, autumn means going back to school. For seniors and those who qualify, fall signals that it’s Medicare enrollment and renewal time. The Medicare Fall Open Enrollment Period is specially geared towards choosing Medicare Advantage Plans and Prescription Drug Plans, and it lasts…
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Approaching health care with dignity, concern, and compassion
How the Central Florida Physician’s Alliance Serves Patients Spending more time in the waiting room than with the doctor… not having questions fully answered… finding no help with medical insurance… these are just a few of the patient complaints that plague healthcare, and many of us have likely experienced similarly frustrating interactions at the doctor’s…
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Bringing hunger awareness to the table
The staggering facts on food insecurity among our fellow neighbors September and Hunger Awareness Month is especially important in Polk County, where food scarcity plagues nearly 17.9 percent of the population.
Columns
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The Heart of the Matter: Recommendations from the USPSTF for low-dose aspirin use
LOW-DOSE ASPIRIN has long been a therapy for those with a risk of cardiovascular disease, and studies have shown it to be effective at lowering the risk of colorectal cancer as well. However, aspirin also has been shown to have health dangers, such as increasing the risk for bleeding in the stomach and intestines and…
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Healthy Cook: Adding on calories when your senior loved one is too thin
BEING A FEW POUNDS overweight can be a pain in the patootie. That can often be solved by using the simple food equation: calories in versus calories out. On the other hand, people who are too slim and can’t gain weight often have no patootie to speak of. Their challenge of putting on a few…
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Surgery Facts: Answering the question: ‘Doc, do I need my gallbladder?’
AS A SURGEON, I am asked this question all the time, usually right after I inform a patient that their abdominal pain is due to gallstones. There is an aura of mystery surrounding this little green organ, with a lot of folks unclear as to its exact role in our bodies and our health. Gallbladder…
