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☆ Native American communities have the highest suicide rates, yet interventions are scarce
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Cheryl Platzman Weinstock | Kff Health News | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

He spent more than a week in an inpatient mental health unit, but once home, he was offered sparse mental health resources. Despite decades of research into suicide prevention, suicide rates among Indigenous people have remained stubbornly high, especially among Indigenous people ages 10 to 24, according to the CDC. Experts say that’s because the national strategy for suicide prevention isn’t culturally relevant or sensitive to Native American communities’ unique values. Several tribal communities are attempting to implement a similar system in their communities, said Cwik. Pamela End of Horn, a social worker and national suicide prevention consultant at IHS, said the Department of Veterans Affairs “has a suicide coordinator in every medical center across the U.S., plus case managers, and they have an entire office dedicated to suicide prevention.

Persons: Amanda MorningStar, “, ”, MorningStar, Ben, Ben MorningStar, Mary Cwik, ” Cwik, Joseph P, Gros, Stephen O’Connor, Teresa Brockie, Brockie, Fort Belknap, It’s, Cwik, Pamela, Department of Veterans Affairs “, Robert Coberly, Coberly, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, ” Ben MorningStar Organizations: Health, Blackfeet, Centers for Disease Control, Montana Budget, Policy, . Montana, CDC, Indian Health Service, IHS, Center, Indigenous Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Harvard University, Division of Services, Intervention, National Institute of Mental Health, ”, NIMH, National Institutes of Health, Mental Health Services Administration, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, American Public Health Association, Department of Veterans Affairs, Oglala Lakota, Rural Behavioral Health Institute, CNN, CNN Health, Kaiser Health, KFF Locations: Heart Butte , Montana, United States, Heart Butte, Baltimore, Montana, Fort, Aaniiih, Fort Peck, Peck, Arizona, U.S, South Dakota, Tulalip, Washington

☆ Medical imaging struggles to read dark skin. Researchers say they’ve found a way to make it easier
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Kaitlyn Schwanemann | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Traditional medical imaging – used to diagnose, monitor or treat certain medical conditions – has long struggled to get clear pictures of patients with dark skin, according to experts. Researchers say they have found a way to improve medical imaging, a process through which physicians can observe the inside of the body, regardless of skin tone. They found that a distortion of the photoacoustic signal that makes the imaging more difficult to read, called clutter, increased with darkness of skin. The applications of photoacoustic technology vary, but with the researchers’ new developments, it may help diagnose health issues more accurately and equitably. We know there’s no basis in the human genome for racial sub-speciation.”This study isn’t the first to find skin color biases in medical technology.

Persons: –, Muyinatu Bell, it’s, ” Bell, Theo Pavan, “, ” Pavan, ”, Guilherme Fernandes, Camara Jones, ” Jones, Bell Organizations: CNN, Ultrasonics Systems, JHU, University of São Paulo, American Public Health Association Locations: Brazil

☆ One-size-fits-all blood pressure cuffs ‘strikingly inaccurate,’ study says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Giri Viswanathan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

But after a second check from the blood pressure machine, and taking his own blood pressure at home, it had returned to much more acceptable levels. At the hospital, his first blood pressure cuff had been too small, and it was changed only at his request. Now, a new clinical trial highlights how much an improperly sized blood pressure cuff can distort blood pressure readings taken by automated blood pressure devices. But frequently, only regular-sized cuffs are used to take someone’s blood pressure, even though clinical guidelines recommend using cuffs suited for a person’s arm circumference. Either way, experts say, a one-size-fits-all approach can skew blood pressure readings, interfering with core metrics that doctors use to monitor and treat heart conditions.

Persons: Georges Benjamin, Benjamin, ”, “, Benjamin said, Tammy Brady, ” Brady, Brady, Dr, Sanjay Gupta Organizations: CNN, American Public Health Association, Johns Hopkins University, Get CNN, CNN Health Locations: Baltimore

☆ Do No Harm, a group of 'medical professionals' fighting 'woke healthcare,' is behind many anti-trans laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The AP analyzed 130 bills across 40 states, finding common language attributable to a group called Do No Harm. Do No Harm is one of several right-wing organizations advocating against trans inclusion in healthcare. Do No Harm is much newer, launching last year in an effort to shield "patients and physicians from woke healthcare." "We know that woke medical education and research are already impacting healthcare providers, and now federal and state policymakers are forcing woke policies into medicine," Kristina Rasmussen, executive director of Do No Harm, said in an April 2022 press release. Several other medical groups have joined calls to stop anti-trans policies from taking hold across the nation — like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and the National Education Association, to name a few.

☆ A Texas judge tried to school the FDA on the abortion pill. Only problem? He used debunked research and a study based on an anonymous blog to do it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A Texas judge on Friday issued a ruling overturning FDA approval of an abortion medication. The 67-page document, written by right-wing Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, cited Wikipedia and is full of inaccuracies and falsehoods about the health effects of medical abortion, experts told Insider on Friday. Julia Steinberg, an expert on mental health and abortion, told Reuters in 2012 that most women in the study who experienced mental health issues after having an abortion had also experienced them before the abortion. The study also did not note whether or not the abortions had been done for health reasons or were elective abortions. So he is really outside of his lane making, in essence, a medical judgment that was informed by really, really bad information."

But agency veterans, outside public health officials, and workplace organization experts said the current workplace structure could be a major barrier to that goal. As of early 2020, much of the workforce of the FDA and the National Institutes of Health was working remotely. Today, the NIH is mostly back in the office, but the FDA said many of its employees continue to work remotely when possible. Many people have fled the U.S. public health workforce in recent years, burned out from the covid-19 response. Benjamin said the CDC would likely have made its pandemic stumbles even if staffers hadn’t been working remotely.

☆ Black and Hispanic adults less likely than Whites to receive ‘potentially lifesaving’ bystander CPR during cardiac arrest, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The data also showed that 38.5% of Blacks and Hispanics received bystander CPR when the cardiac arrest happened at home, compared with 47.4% of Whites. He added that not receiving bystander CPR during a cardiac arrest can have “significant clinical outcomes” for the person whose heart stopped pumping. “Bystander CPR ensures some level of blood circulation, oxygenation of the brain and other vital organs,” Benjamin said. “Certainly time to intervention is critical, and bystander CPR and defibrillator access and use is a part of that,” she said, adding that disparities in how much CPR training is conducted in communities also plays a role in the likelihood of someone receiving bystander CPR. “We need to use what we learn about disparities to help improve the likelihood of bystander CPR for everyone.

☆ Doctors decry 'record profits' for fossil fuel companies as climate change weighs on global health
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The report’s theme reflects a growing frustration and helplessness expressed by medical professionals left to deal with the impacts of climate change as world leaders struggle to address the root cause. The annual report catalogs the health impacts of change worldwide and a separate policy brief outlines impacts in the U.S. Tiny particles released into the air as pollution during fossil fuel use were responsible for 1.2 million deaths in 2020. Climate change is taking a toll on mental health. The report notes growth in renewable energy investment, increasing media coverage of climate change and growing engagement from government leaders on health-centered climate policies.

☆ How to stay warm in the winter without breaking the bank
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-29 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Here are 25 ways to stay warm this winter — with or without indoor heating — that won’t break the bank. How to warm your bodyPortable electric warmers are one way to temporarily keep parts of the body warm. “If you warm the core you can warm the hands and feet. It is harder to warm the core by warming the hands and feet.”Be careful that you don’t burn yourself, Benjamin said. Physical activities like indoor exercise or dancing can help you warm up, but don’t get to the point where you’re sweating, Smith said.

Persons: Georges Benjamin, JohnEric Smith, Benjamin, “, don’t, Smith, ” Smith, Snuggles, ” Benjamin, johns Organizations: CNN, American Public Health Association, Mississippi State University Locations: United States, kinesiology

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