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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Skin Cancer Screening a Necessity for Floridians
It should come as no big surprise that simply living in Florida puts you at an increased risk for skin cancer. The reason for this is simple: The biggest cause of skin cancer is exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV light) from the sun. There’s a reason that Florida is called “the Sunshine State,” and while…
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Diagnosis and Treatment Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
Last month, I explained what an aortic aneurysm is, how it can be detected, its presentation and risk factors. How Is It Diagnosed? An abdominal aortic aneurysm can be diagnosed with the help of an ultrasound, a safe, painless test that does not involve any radiation. If confirmed and found to be larger than…
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Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
An aneurysm is a “weakening” or “dilatation” in a part of an artery. An estimated 15,000 people die of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) every year in the US. About 200,000 new cases of AAA are diagnosed every year. Most of these are diagnosed by tests that are done for unrelated reasons. The aorta is…