Local Beat
"Why I Give Thanks..."
Jan 2009 In the past two issues Health Journal asked readers to share their reasons for being thankful this holiday season, and here is what they had to say:
We found this story of Christmas miracles, submitted by Kathleen Schmidt of Yorktown, especially moving, and we think you will, too.
Every Christmas morning, I stand at the top of the stairs, camera in hand, and look down at my husband to take the annual "Christmas morning" photo, and feel more than ever a wave of thankfulness for miracles.
My husband and I hosted our annual neighborhood Christmas party on the evening of Dec. 16, 2001. We cleaned up and got to bed at 3 a.m. Sunda. . . read more
Treating Disease: Colonists Relied on Natural Remedies to Cure Ailments
Jan 2009 Though some of the illnesses and diseases that plagued the American Colonists of the 17th and 18th centuries, such as malaria and smallpox, still threaten parts of the world, medical treatments for many of those conditions have improved a great deal.
During the summer after the arrival of the first settlers at Jamestown in 1607, some of them experienced "cruel swellings," while others reported "burning fevers," according to Terry Bond, a historic interpreter for Jamestown Settlement. It would later be determined that the swellings were possibly caused by hypernatremia, or salt poisoning, which can result from heavily-salted foods or excess. . . read more
Shhhhhhhhh!
Dec 2008 Best-selling author Dr. Harvey Karp, often dubbed "the Baby Whisperer," recently shared his baby-calming tips—known as the 5 S's—with Hampton Roads Parents.
We hear them in the elementary schools and movie theatres across the country. They lurk in libraries and museums. They are everywhere. They are "shushers."
But compared to renowned pediatrician Dr. Harvey Karp, who has been dubbed "the baby whisperer," they are mere amateurs. Karp is widely regaled—mostly by parents—as the king of shushers, the man who can effortlessly harness quiet from chaos.
Karp's career as a pediatrician, child development expert and assistant profe. . . read more
A Place to Call Home
Dec 2008 St. Mary's Home for Disabled Children, Virginia's only long-term care facility for pediatric patients age 21 and under, provides a safe haven for children from all over the state who have severe physical and intellectual disabilities.
A few months ago, the mere mention of a boy at her school caused 15-year-old Amelia Perdue to blush with embarrassment. To make matters worse, her mother Myra was standing next to her at the time, eager to find out more details about the young man who had caught her daughter's eye.
"I was tickled by it," chuckles Myra. "She had the same response that most 15-year-old girls would have had if they were in h. . . read more
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Pediatrician-Founded Company is No Accident
Dec 2008 More than three years ago, I was a new mommy existing in a new world where catching the Washington DC Metro into work each morning was replaced by catching my son Sam before he got into something dangerous.
My husband Bob and I thought we had done everything right in childproofing our home; we bought plastic electrical outlet covers, latches for cabinets, and invested a small fortune in baby gates. Yet it quickly became apparent that with childproofing, there is more to it than meets the eye.
Take, for example, the time when Sam decided to use a tall bookcase to aid in pulling himself up or when he got his chubby arm caught in a round . . . read more
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Inside the Operating Room
Nov 2008 Assistant Editor Brenda Welch shares her experience of being a "fly on the wall" during a milestone procedure for Hampton Roads.
On Oct. 2, I called my closest friends and said, "I'll be in surgery all morning, so if there is an emergency, page me."
I am not a surgeon, nor do I have a pager. I do have fantastic friends who put up with my not so subtle, or particularly funny, attempts at humor. And technically, I was in surgery—groundbreaking surgery—but merely as an onlooker.
When I got the invitation to watch Dr. Robert Knowles, a general surgeon and active member of Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center's surgical staff in Norfolk, r. . . read more
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Nutrition Colonists Didn't Count Calories
Nov 2008 This is the first in a new series examining the health practices and issues that were commonplace in Colonial Virginia, including Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. Each month Health Journal will focus on a different aspect of health during the Colonial period and examine how well early Virginians maintained their health or didn't in comparison to modern citizens of our region.
The fear of consuming too many calories weighs on the minds of many Americans today, especially as we begin to celebrate the holidays with elaborate dinners and desserts, but what was it like for those living in Colonial times? What role did nutrition play in the. . . read more
Local Company Offers New Method for Detecting Breast Cancer
Oct 2008 The National Institutes of Health estimate that, this year alone, 182,460 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time. So, chances are pretty good that you either know a woman who has battled this disease or you will in the future. A scary moment for any woman would be sitting on an exam table and hearing the news that she has a suspicious lump in her breast. Fortunately, doctors can use many non-invasive tools to detect cancer at an early stage. One such tool is Breast Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI), made possible with a special camera developed by Newport News-based Dilon Technologies.
Breast imaging techniques such as . . . read more