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Open Enrollment

It’s Time to Evaluate Your Options and Choose the Insurance Plan That’s Best for You by TERESA SCIHFFER It’s open enrollment season for Medicare and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans. If having health insurance that covers your actual medical needs, as well as your preferred doctors and necessary medications, is important to you, then…
Pop Quiz: If You Don’t Snooze, You Lose! How Much Do You Really Know About Sleep Apnea?

A full night’s sleep is supposed to be restful and recharging, but for millions of Americans, that’s not the case. Many wake up in the morning tired and unrested, and most don’t know that sleep apnea is to blame. Sleep apnea is a condition that disrupts sleep, keeping sufferers from getting that restful, restorative sleep…
Young Warriors

Twins Don’t Let Type 1 Diabetes Stifle Their Dreams by TIM CRAIG photos by CELESTE JO WALLS When 8-year-old Amelia Walls was hospitalized in 2016, Cecilia, her older sister by a whole 10 minutes, was worried. When Cecilia found out that her identical twin sister was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, she went from worried…

Medical Advice: Back-to-school tips and the 5-2-1-0 program

AS STUDENTS and families prepare to return to school, the Florida Department of Health in Polk County (FDOH-Polk) would like to take this opportunity to remind them to take the proper steps to stay healthy this school year. Good health is important for students in order to maintain regular school attendance and be ready to…
Hospice Help: Hospice myth busting

WHEN MOST PEOPLE hear the word “hospice,” they immediately associate the provided care as being intimately tied to hours, or if lucky, days before death. Then there is also the supposition that hospice is only for cancer patients. These are just two myths that need to be busted when it comes to understanding hospice.
First impressions of our daughter’s new specialist

WE HEARD IT growing up from our mothers all the time, but we didn’t quite understand the true significance of it. As adults, we begin to see the value in making a good first impression. Whether it’s for a job interview, that first parent-teacher meeting, or sitting down with a new doctor, first impressions play…