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Outdoor safety tips for summer

Just in Time for Fireworks and Grilling Season According to the American Pyrotechnics Association’s National Council on Firework Safety, each year in the United States, fireworks cause 20,000 fires and almost 10,000 people are injured from activities related to fireworks. On average, four people die from their injuries each year. What is extremely eye opening…
A campaign to help those with hearing loss

How the ‘Loop Florida’ Initiative Will Create Better Quality Hearing for those in Need “Loop Florida” is a phrase that you will be hearing more often from now on. On April 17, the Loop Florida initiative was officially launched. Spearheaded by the Central Florida Speech and Hearing Center with participation by the Hearing Loss Association, Lakeland…
Spring cleaning for your skin

4 Bad Habits and How to Fix Them Dr. Marci Pepine, a board certified dermatologist at Adult and Pediatric Dermatology in Lakeland and a Polk County Medical Association member, has certainly seen her share of skin related problems and needs. What strikes hardest for her is that so many of the problems she encounters are…

Medical Advice: 7 steps to living healthy with diabetes

I met a man once who said being diagnosed with diabetes saved his life. What a powerful statement that was. He explained that before being told he had diabetes, he didn’t pay attention to health habits that were causing him great harm. When he learned he had diabetes, he attended classes to learn to take…
Publisher’s Note: Florida launches a pain-pill database

With 2,710 deaths resulting in prescription drug overdoses last year, and after a bitter 10-year political debate, a Florida pain-pill database was launched on October 18. The purpose of enacting this new computer system is to help the medical community curtail drug addicts and traffickers from obtaining large quantities of pain pills. Unfortunately, Florida…
Signs & Symptoms

Seeing the Forest for the Trees with Prognostic Factor Testing Prognostic factor testing is critical for directing proper therapy in individuals diagnosed with breast cancer. We have known for quite some time that there are several different types of breast cancer. Some tumors grow slow. Some tumors grow fast. Some tumors rapidly spread to…