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Community outreach programs make check-ups more available

Free dental exams, preventative tooth care, and more Several outreach programs in Polk County recently offered free dental exams and other tooth services to spread awareness about the need for dental health care. At the Haines City Dental Clinic, the Florida Department of Health in Polk County (FDOH-Polk) offered free comprehensive dental exams to children…
Helping make the healthier choice, the easier choice

About the Building a Healthier Polk initiative Building a Healthier Polk is a group of community partners brought together by Polk Vision who are working towards the goal of reducing the obesity rate in Polk County. Polk Vision is a broad, community-led partnership of organizations, businesses, government, and individuals. In 2012, Polk Vision’s Quality of…
The trouble with trigger finger

Local surgeon develops alternate solution for a tricky procedure There’s no getting around this fact: you need your hands. When one or more of your fingers or thumbs doesn’t function properly, it interferes with work and play. Correcting a condition such as trigger finger once meant a trip to a hospital or surgery center for…

Get health STAT

Weighing In On National Statistics A Taxing Diet 52 Percent of U.S. adults say it’s easier to do their own taxes than it is to figure out how to eat healthy. Source: International Food Information Council Foundation’s 2012 Food & Health online survey of 1,000 adults This speaks true close to home as…
Eating in or dining out: Realistic steps to keep your diet resolution

Someone long ago said half a loaf is better than none. Half a loaf instead of a whole loaf is better for your waistline. By now, some of us have made the well-intended (but weak) resolutions for eating better, and either broken or forgotten them. But some forethought can make weak resolutions strong enough…
Healthcare report

Three Things You Need to Consider About the Affordable Care Act The next phase of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—PPACA—is soon to begin, and some people are understandably puzzled. One of the biggest issues is that even those in the insurance industry are not quite sure how everything will play out. However, the…