IGH - CNY 253 January 2021

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CNYHEALTH.COM

JANUARY 2021 • ISSUE 253

Time to Rethink New Year’s Resolutions COVID-19 has changed everything. P. 17

ALSO INSIDE • FITNESS AND WEIGHT LOSS TRENDS • TOP 10 ACTIVITIES TO HELP YOU STAY IN SHAPE • HOME FITNESS TREND CONTINUES WITH PANDEMIC • DRINKING WATER FOR WEIGHT LOSS?

Pandemic Cost Draining EMS Coffers

Age 42 and Pregnant: Becoming a Mom at Last Many people dream of becoming a parent someday. Tiffany Latino-Gerlock of Clay had to wait until age 42 before seeing that dream come true. P. 11

P7.

Healthier Chicken Wings? They Do Exist!

P.15

Later Motherhood Offers Benefits, Problems

P.10

Working at Home Brings Its Own Health Perils: Survey

W

orking from home may take its toll on mental and physical health, but making some tweaks to your workspace and your headspace may help maximize

the potential benefits and minimize any downsides, a new survey suggests.

Nearly 65% of people who were working from home due

to COVID-19 restrictions reported new physical woes including “tech neck” and lower back pain, and about 74% said they had one new mental health issue, such as anxiety or depression. These risks were heightened among women and parents of toddlers and infants, who were juggling work and life responsibilities.

The findings were published online recently in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Overall, telecommuters felt that more was expected of them and that the distractions were far greater at home.

“The shift to work from home was abrupt when COVID-19 first hit, and no one was truly prepared,» said study author Burcin BecerikGerber, co-director of the Center for Intelligent Environments at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. “It is super stressful and the demands and work expectations didn’t go down, plus many of us also have to be a teacher and a parent,” said Becerik-Gerber, who is also a mother of three who now works from home.

Work from home does have it perks, namely more flexibility, no commute and more family time. And it is likely here to stay even after the pandemic ends now that many companies have systems in place, she said.

In the study, Becerik-Gerber and her colleagues asked close to 1,000 people who transitioned to work from home due to COVID-19 how the new arrangement affected their physical and mental well-being.

They asked about overall mental and physical health, and took a deeper

dive into specific symptoms and conditions.

The survey spanned many occupations and took place during the early days of the pandemic.

On average, workers spent about 1.5 hours more per day at their work station when they worked from home. Telecommuters also reported getting less physical activity and eating more than they did before the shift.

“Improperly fitted desks and chairs, and extended periods of sitting and sedentary behavior can increase risks for physical problems,” Becerik-Gerber said.

In the study, just one-third of respondents had a dedicated area for their work, while close to 50% shared their workspace with others. Those who scheduled their work around others were more likely to report new physical or mental health issues, the survey found.

Other factors that can increase productivity and boost physical and mental health while working from home include adequate natural lighting, which helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle, BecerikGerber said. “Having access to nature is extremely important, and setting your work station up where you can see trees may help offset mental health problems,” she explained.

In the pre-COVID-19 days, coworkers provided social support, and telecommuters are feeling this loss, she noted. “All of those interactions with co-workers or even seeing people on the way to a meeting are the things that take your mind off of work and are very important to mental health,” Becerik-Gerber added.

Thank You To our physicians, providers and employees Thank you for your resilience, dedication and teamwork as we have worked together to keep patients, visitors, staff and our community safe and healthy during this challenging time. You are true superheroes.

To our community We extend sincere appreciation to the individuals, businesses and organizations across Central New York that have generously donated financial contributions, personal protective equipment/ supplies, food, electronic devices and other items in support of Crouse Health and our fight against COVID-19.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

crouse.org/covidthanks

We’ve Got What It Takes to Keep You Safe.

At St. Joseph’s Health, we’ve watched these past few months bring out the best in our community. And we continue to work every day to keep you healthy as we emerge from this crisis.

Here are some of the measures we’ve got in place to bring you a higher level of safety and care.

Screening

Enhanced Cleaning

We’ve got temperature and symptom screening for everyone who enters our facilities.

We’ve got increased frequency and intensity of cleaning — using robust disinfecting processes.

Required Masking

COVID-Free Zones

We’ve got masks, and we require that staff and visitors wear them at all times.

We’ve got COVID-Free Zones in many of our facilities where we provide care only for people known to not have COVID-19 or COVID-19 symptoms.

Separate Staff We’ve got separate staff to treat patients in each zone — so you won’t be treated by doctors and nurses who are treating patients with COVID-19.

A H I G H E R L E V E L O F C A R E | WeveGotThisSJH.org © 2021 St. Joseph’s Health. © 2021 Trinity Health. All rights reserved.

January 2021 • SJH20022_FY21_Resize_Reopening_Safety_In-Good-Health_9.75x13.75_v01.indd 1

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 3

12/14/20 2:35 PM

Meet

Your Doctor

By Chris Motola

Nikhil Joshi, M.D. How to Be a Living Liver Donor

A

bout one in five Americans waiting for a liver transplant dies before getting the organ. Their odds might be better if more people knew they could donate a portion of their liver in a process called living liver donation.

Doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnessota, want to raise awareness of these living liver transplants.

“About 12,000 to 13,000 people are on the liver transplant waiting list, which means about 2,500 people who are on the list each year will either die or become too sick while waiting for a liver transplant,” said physician Timucin Taner, surgical director of liver transplantation at Mayo.

In a living donor liver transplant, a portion of the healthy person’s liver is removed surgically and placed in a person whose liver does not work properly. The liver regenerates in about three to four weeks in both the donor and the recipient. Patients who receive a transplant from a living donor generally have better results.

“The incidence of technical issues during surgery can be somewhat higher for the recipient because it’s more difficult to transplant a partial organ. There can be increased risk of bile duct complications and arterial thromboses,” said Taner. “But in living donor liver transplantation, the transplant typically occurs before the recipient becomes dangerously ill awaiting transplant, which improves the outcome.”

Donors typically are under age 60, must be in good physical health and will undergo blood tests to ensure blood and tissue types are compatible with the recipient.

“It’s a significant operation for the donor,” Taner said. “Although in the past, it required a larger incision, over the past four years, we’ve used a hybrid procedure that reduces the size of the incision, which translates into better pain control. The time in hospital is about four to six days, and typically it takes about four to six weeks for donors to have a full recovery.”

The number of living donor liver transplants doubled last year, to 6% of all liver transplants nationwide.

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Crouse cardiologist specializes in electrical problems in the heart. He discusses pacemakers, defibrillators and why even young people have heart problems Q: What does your practice cover?

A: Currently we have a group of 12 cardiologists. The practice has been around for several decades.

It used to be a private practice but shortly before I joined they developed an affiliation with Crouse Hospital and became part of the Crouse Medical Practice. So it’s a mix of non-invasive, general cardiologists, interventional cardiologists who do stenting procedures and myself and one other cardiologist who do electrophysiology. That’s putting in devices like pacemakers and defibrillators and doing procedures called ablations for irregular heartbeats.

Q: What do modern pacemakers look like? How big are they?

A: Overall, the newer ones are pretty small. The diameter is less than if you made a fist with your hand, and the thickness is on the order of a few centimeters. Decades ago it was a big device that you had to wear on your abdomen. The first ones you even had to be physically connected to something. But the new ones have come a long way in battery technology. We can even monitor them remotely without the patients in the office.

Q: So it directly transmits the information to providers?

A: Yeah, there’s three or four different companies that make them, and they each have their own servers that do the monitoring. And we enroll the patient if both the physician and patient are interested in periodic transmissions, which gives us basic information about the devices. It can help us decide if we need to see them or not, which is especially helpful with the state of things now with coronavirus.

Q: How does the data compare to what you’d be able to get in person?

A: It’s similar to what you could get in person.

Sometimes there are subtleties to the

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

checks that are better done in person, and you can’t make any programming changes from the remote visits.

That’s why we try to see the patients regularly in the office. The remote monitoring just adds some extra data on top of that.

Q: What does your patient base look like in terms of ages?

A: I really see quite a broad mix. Electrical problems can be present from childbirth. Kids can be born with abnormal heart rhythms.

There’s a pediatric subspecialty in my field as well. I’ll see patients as young as 16 or 17. In terms of pacemakers, it’s generally patients who are older, but we do see some patients who need them who aren’t as old. So I’d say from 16 to a few patients over the age of 100 who are still active. So it’s really a pretty big range of patients with these electrical issues, even if their heart is otherwise normal.

Q: Rumor has it you’re a hit with the younger patients.

A: Yeah, I guess I didn’t realize that. I’m not the youngest in the practice, but I’m on the younger end.

That may be why. We have a few different ways for patients to communicate with us, like through the patient portal where you can sign up and communicate digitally. Patients of all ages use it, but the younger ones seem to like it the most. So I communicate with them through that. Beyond that? I’m not sure there’s anything really unique that I do that draw them to me.

You do sometimes get patients telling you they prefer a younger doctor because you’re not going to retire anytime soon.

Q: Where do electrical problems in the heart come from? How do they develop?

A: Sometimes you’re born with it.

Some people can, rarely, be born with an extra

“cable” on the microscopic level, which conducts electricity to the heart. Those cables can generate abnormal rhythms. With older patients sometimes it’s the accumulation of scar tissue over time, whether from a heart attack or diabetes, or high blood pressure, or they are very overweight. One of the most common ones is atrial fibrillation, and it’s more common in the U.S. than other countries, which speaks to their being some kind of lifestyle component, whether it’s higher stress, dietary or exercise. It’s a pretty big burden on health care costs.

Q: What effect is COVID -19 having on your patients’ heart health?

A: We’re definitely seeing issues.

Many of our patients fall under the high-risk category for COVID. Most have done a good job of wearing masks and socially distancing. Many of the snowbirds who would normally spend the winter somewhere warmer have stuck around this year to avoid travel. We’ve done a lot of telemedicine to give patients an option to be seen remotely. But we have had patients with COVID who came in extremely sick, but we don’t see too many, because they usually are treated in the ICU. You do hear about some young and healthy patients who get a very bad case and develop heart issues, whether arrhythmia or anything else.

Q: Do you do screenings as well?

A: I see patients of all different types, but I usually get referred patients whose symptoms suggest some kind of electrical problem, whether it’s their heart racing, or palpitations, or have been fainting. But I do also see patients who are monitoring their blood pressure and general issues.

Q: When should a patient think about seeing someone in your subspecialty?

A: With younger patients they can tend to come on like a light switch. One moment you’re feeling fine, and then the next you feel your heart racing, or a lump in their threat or neck, or feel like they’re going to pass out in extreme cases. These are very general symptoms, so sometimes we’ll run tests and not really find anything. But once in awhile we do.

Lifelines

Name: Nikhil Joshi, M.D. Position: Clinical cardiac electrophysiologist at Crouse Hospital Hometown: Pittsford Affiliations: Crouse Medical Practice , Crouse Hospital Education: Bachelor’s degree: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Medical school: Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook; residency: University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester; board certified in cardiovascular disease, internal medicine; fellowship in cardiovascular disease, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia; fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia Organizations: American College of Cardiology; Heart Rhythm Society; American Board of Internal Medicine Family: Wife, two daughters Hobbies: Time with family, golf, tennis

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Healthcare in a Minute

By George W. Chapman

Meet the New Secretary of Health and Human Services

P

resident-elect Biden has nominated current California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for the post of secretary at Health and Human Services.

Becerra will replace former big pharma executive and lobbyist Alex Azar. As California AG, he was a strong champion for consumers. Becerra sued giant Sutter Health System for driving up prices causing Sutter to settle for $575 million. He sued Teva pharmaceutical for a “pay and delay” scheme causing Teva to settle for $70 million. Becerra will inherit a surging pandemic, overwhelmed and financially stressed providers and the mass distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. He will oversee rule changes for expanded telehealth services, hospital pricing transparency and provider reimbursement that is transitioning away from traditional fee for service to pay for performance and bundled care reimbursement. Industry trade associations like the AMA, AHA and Association of Health Insurance plans (AHIP) have lauded the nomination hoping Becerra hits the ground running. They see him as a much-needed consumer advocate in that position.

Geographic Direct Contracting

The new HHS secretary will oversee the rapidly increasing transition from fee-for-service volume-based reimbursement to more cost-effective models that require coordination and risk assumption among providers in a specific region.

The goal is to improve the quality, access, integration and outcomes of medical services delivered to Medicare and Medicaid members while also lowering costs. Physicians and hospitals serving a defined region would coordinate management services, telemedicine, provider recruiting, purchasing and develop a preferred panel of quality providers.

The new entity would be paid via capitation, so much per member per month, based on the area’s historical claims. The entity can keep any savings it creates based on the amount of risk it assumes.

The incentive for Medicare members to join the newly formed integrated network is improved care and a reduction in the amount of health premium deducted from their social security check. CMS, which determines physician reimbursement, recently proposed a “budget neutral” fee-for-service schedule. What that means is increases for some services, typically primary care, will be offset by decreases in other services, typically specialty. While the AMA

has registered disappointment, CMS is sending a clear message that feefor-service reimbursement is being phased out in favor of alternative payment models as herein described.

New CDC Director

Biden has nominated current chief of infectious disease medicine at Massachusetts General, physician Rochelle Walensky, for the post of CDC director. She will replace Robert Redfield. Walensky is also on the faculty at Harvard. Two thirds of us live in areas with limited to no access to an infectious diseases specialist.

There has been a critical shortage of I.D. physicians. Thanks to the notoriety of colleague Anthony Fauci and her recent nomination, applications to medical school are up 18%, an all time high. The expectation is many medical students will elect to specialize in infectious diseases.

Retail Primary Care Accelerating

Retail druggist Walgreens has invested $1 billion in primary care provider VillageMD. The partnership plans to expand beyond their Houston-based pilot market and open up 40 more pharmacy/primary care centers by summer and 500 more over the next five years. The business model intends to increase the involvement of pharmacists in

the delivery of effective primary care to its members with emphasis in underserved areas. The entry of these well-financed for-profit retail medicine clinics into the market presents a competitive threat to typically under-financed private practices, federally sponsored clinics and hospital-sponsored practices.

Tech oriented primary care startup Carbon Health recently received a $100 million infusion from investors in addition to the initial $28 million infusion in May. The goal is to open 1,500 clinics by 2025 and 100 pop up COVID-19 clinics now. Carbon Health will offer “omnichannel” care via retail clinics, video, phone apps and work place clinics. Traditional providers of care have their reimbursements controlled and set by Medicare and commercial payers which prohibits them from amassing decent profits and building huge cash reserves for expansion.

The entry of cash laden for-profit corporations, which have been free of price controls of any kind, creates an unfair playing field.

Vaccine Distribution

“Operation Warp Speed” has accomplished the “easier” part of the mission: development and approval of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2020. Several drug manufactures — including Pfizer, Moderna, Astra Zeneca and Johnson & Johnson — met the challenge. The harder part of the mission will be the efficient distribution and storage of the vaccines in 2021. The plan is to have 100 million of us vaccinated by the end of February, which should cover healthcare workers and nursing home residents.

The challenges are: ensuring the second dose of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are available and given within the recommended follow-up period; storing the Pfizer vaccine in super sub-zero refrigerators; (Moderna can be stored in regular refrigerators); ensuring providers, typically clinics and physician practices, that give the vaccines are adequately trained and prepared for the onslaught; and determining priorities based on: age, comorbidities, essential, military, school, etc.

ICU Nurses Give Perspective

The Washington Post recently January 2021 •

ran interviews with ICU nurses from across the country: Idaho, Mississippi, Iowa, Illinois, Utah and Ohio.

Most of us are far removed from the battle zone in hospitals and need to be reminded what it is like for our first defenders and healers. The nurses revealed what it’s like to work in their highly stressful environments.

Here is the gist of the interviews.

Some people arrive barely short of breath and tell the nurses they feel fine. Within just hours, many of these patients go into rapid oxygen decline and end up on a vent or deceased.

Nurses are used to processing death, but they say the pace of death caused by the virus is overwhelming. (As of this writing we are over 3,000 deaths per day.) Nurses and physicians are getting sick, but it’s not from lack of PPE. It’s from community spread.

They are angry at people who believe the virus is no big deal or even a hoax and bristle at the mixed messages from our leaders. As the surge in hospitalizations increases, and vents are fully utilized by COVID-19 patients, nurses worry about treating incoming heart attacks and other serious illnesses or injuries requiring an ICU bed. They are pleading with us to do our small part and follow CDC guidelines.

Music can soothe

A survey by music streaming service Pandora, with about 65 million users, revealed 80% of respondents said music has helped them cope with the pandemic. 58% of the respondents said music was their “go to” coping mechanism. The average time spent listening to music was 40 minutes. Experts report music can ward off or mitigate anxiety and depression, improve blood flow and lower stress-related hormones

George W. Chapman is a healthcare business consultant who works exclusively with physicians, hospitals and healthcare organizations. He operates GW Chapman Consulting based in Syracuse. Email him at gwc@gwchapmanconsulting.com.

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 5

Live Alone & Thrive

By Gwenn Voelckers

Practical tips, advice and hope for those who live alone

Coming Home Alone

Put Out the Welcome Mat ... For Yourself

H

aving a “home sweet home” has taken on a whole new meaning and imperative as we continue to shelter in place during this pandemic. Our homes have become our sanctuaries, as well as our safe places.

Now, more than ever, I encourage those who live alone to take a fresh look at your indoor and outdoor space with an eye toward comfort, peace, security and happiness.

I’ll be joining you!

Making small, meaningful improvements at my own “House Content” is on my growing list of New Year’s resolutions.

As I contemplate these changes, I am reminded of an experience I had in my early 30s that influenced my perception of home. I remember it well.

I was working for a small nonprofit agency and was asked to deliver a document to a board member who lived in one of Rochester’s older, gentrified neighborhoods.

As I walked up the steps to Jane’s front porch, three things caught my eye: the seasonal bouquet in a hand-painted ceramic pitcher, the tasteful wreath on her door and a doormat that simply said “All are welcome here.”

A good feeling came over me.

I announced my arrival by softly

tapping the sweet little heart-shaped iron knocker on her front door. Then I waited. I stood on Jane’s porch feeling as if I had arrived at a special place — a place that held the promise of comfort and hospitality.

When Jane answered the door and invited me in, I saw that she had brought the warmth of her front porch into her home.

I walked into an oasis of rich earth tones, subtle lighting and art from around the world that invited inspection.

I just wanted to sink into one of her overstuffed tapestry chairs and savor the warm embrace of her home.

And so it came as a big surprise to me when Jane told me she lived alone. I remember thinking: “What? This can’t be.” It just didn’t add up. I had assumed that a home this wonderful — a home this lovely and complete — could only be the home of a family or, at the very least, a couple. But no; this was Jane’s home. Her retreat. Her wonderful life.

Little did I know that, years later, my experience on Jane’s front porch would stay with me and influence the way I decorated and furnished my home inside and out. Unbeknownst to her, she was a role model and, by example, showed me that a

house can be a home, even when it’s occupied by only one person.

Thanks to Jane, I found the inspiration to make my home inviting for the most important visitor of all: me.

If returning home alone triggers feeling of loneliness and loss for you, you might consider making some changes yourself. I suggest starting with your front porch: • Set the stage. I want to feel welcome even before I set foot on my front porch. That’s why you’ll find flameless candles glowing in my windows all year long, not just during the holidays. Programmed with timers, the candles come on at dusk and their soft luminescence fills me with warmth and security as I approach my home after dark.

• Keep your front porch clean. It’s no fun (in fact, it can be a real downer) to come home to a messy front porch cluttered with muddy boots, tools or a pile of collapsed shipping boxes. I’ve learned that lesson!

These days my porch is clear of extraneous items and I make good use of the handmade artisan broom I have hanging by the door. Once a month I wipe the cobwebs and “bug juice” off my porch lanterns, window sill and hand railings.

Stepping onto a nice clean porch makes me feel good about myself. A sense of pride wells up in me before I even walk over the threshold. That little boost gets my evening off to a good start.

• Add some inspiration. I see my porch as a blank canvas, and I’m the artist.

I delight in making decorative changes that reflect the seasons, capture my taste, and stimulate the senses: My wind chimes create an immediate soothing effect, my “Believe” wreath reminds me to have faith, and my charming little chalkboard invites messages from visiting friends and relatives.

One friend recently wrote “Welcome Home, G.” I left his kind message in place and enjoy this friendly greeting on a daily basis.

I know that coming home alone can be a challenge, especially if you are accustomed to returning to a house filled with the hustle-bustle of family life. I also know that making “welcome” changes can ease the way into a new life and home of your own.

Roll out the welcome mat for yourself and discover all the good things that may arrive at your doorstep!

Gwenn Voelckers is the founder and facilitator of Alone and Content, empowerment workshops for women, and author of “Alone and Content,” a collection of inspiring essays for those who live alone. For information about her workshops, to purchase her book, or invite her to speak, visit www. aloneandcontent.com

s d i K Corner

Teen Smoking Rates Drop, E-Cig Use Rises: Study

A

merican teens’ use of tobacco cigarettes and smokeless tobacco has dropped to record lows, even as their use of electronic cigarettes increased, new research shows.

For the study, researchers analyzed nationwide data on tobacco product use among 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders from 1991 to 2019.

Daily smoking rates among 12thgrade boys rose 4.9% a year between 1991 and 1998, but fell 8% a year between 1998 and 2006, and 1.6% from 2006 to 2012. There was a 17% annual decline from 2012 to 2019. Overall, daily smoking among 12th-graders

fell to about 2% by 2019, the study found.

“This is an astoundingly low rate, and our goal from a public health perspective should be to keep smoking at this rate or lower,” said study co-author David Levy, a professor of oncology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Similar results were seen for boys and girls in all grades and for both Black and white teens. The researchers also reported similar rapid decreases in teen use of cigars and cigarillos, along with consistent declines in smokeless tobacco use in the last five years.

Lead study author Rafael Meza said, “While the increases in e-cigarettes are indeed concerning and is something we need to address and reverse, the decreases in other tobacco products, in particular, cigarettes — the most concerning form of tobacco use — are accelerating.” Meza is associate professor of epidemiology and global health at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The across-the-board decline in cigarette smoking is something to highlight and celebrate, and it “suggests that it’s a general pattern, that kids are just not into smoking anymore,” Meza added.

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There have been concerns that increased e-cigarette use among teens could lead to a resurgence in use of traditional cigarettes and other tobacco products.

“But, in contrast, what we found is that the decline in smoking has accelerated,” Meza said. “So I think the good news is that the rapid increase in e-cigarette use has not yet resulted in a reversal of the decreasing trends of cigarette smoking and smokeless tobacco use, and if anything, those trends have accelerated.”

The report was published online Dec. 2 in JAMA Network Open.

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Pandemic Cost Draining EMS Coffers

By Payne Horning

A

s coronavirus cases continue to spread throughout the state, it’s the ambulance providers who are calling for help.

The pandemic, which is nearing the one-year mark in the United States, is straining EMS finances to what those in the industry say is a dangerous level.

Lon Fricano, director of operations at TLC EMS, an ambulance provider that serves Cayuga, Onondaga and Cortland counties, says every year is tough in EMS. In fact, he says there’s a saying for it: it’s the toughest job you’ll ever love. But this year is something else entirely.

“The pandemic has doubled down on the difficulties,” Fricano said. “It’s very hard, very difficult.

We have to run a very tight ship, watch every penny, and be conservative in what we spend money on.”

Yet, costs are going up regardless of what Fricano or his colleagues do. The pandemic has necessitated a stockpile of safety equipment like gloves and facemasks for both staff and patients who are transported.

There’s also a need for some items you wouldn’t even think of — like an ‘ozone device’ that disinfects and sanitizes an ambulance for about an hour after a patient is delivered. The main financial cost, though, is coming from the calls themselves.

Ambulance providers for years have lamented the reimbursement rates offered by the federal and state government for Medicare and Medicaid patients, but Jeff Endler with the United New York Ambulance Network said this insufficient funding can be most directly pinned to the issues the industry is experiencing now. A 2017 study by the New York State Department of Health found that ambulance services are underfunded to the tune of about $31.4 million. The problem is not only persisting this year, it’s gotten worse as more of these calls have come in.

“This has taken place all while ambulance services have provided an effective backstop against

overwhelming hospital systems by treating and releasing patients with low medical complaints on the spot,” Endler said. “Yet the industry has been woefully undercompensated for these efforts, adding to the strain.”

Endler is referring to the treat and release initiative. In the wake of major patient surges in state hospitals, EMS workers have been asked to care for patients at their homes where possible. The goal is to cut down on traffic at hospitals, especially from those with COVID-19. Patients are thus treated at their homes unless there is a pressing need to take them to the emergency room. The trouble is that these services are going unpaid.

“In ambulance industry, you’re only compensated for transporting a patient — wheels have to be turning in order to get paid,” Fricano said.

“So, all of that is a service we provide that is absolutely uncompensated.”

This is despite the fact that EMS workers are expending time, resources, and manpower to respond to these calls. It’s why Fricano, Endler, and others in the industry are calling upon government leaders to respond with funding and support.

The industry got $350 million from Congress earlier this year. In mid-December, the Department of Health and Human Services released more than $1 billion in further assistance. Fricano and Endler say it’s this kind of assistance EMS workers need and that must be continued as the pandemic continues, otherwise, some ambulance providers could go under.

“We always face some dangers in EMS, but today every single call we go on represents a potential danger to our providers and their families, so the level of stress people are under is enormous and yet these folks show up for work every day and they walk into the valley of death, if you will, and face the consequences of taking care of very sick people and they do it every day,” Fricano said. “We wish we could compensate them better for their work.”

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Page 7

My Turn One in Five Children in the U.S. Will Have Some Degree of Hearing Loss

By Eva Briggs, MD

B

y age 18, one out of every five children in the United States will have some degree of hearing loss. Identification is vital.

Decreased hearing impacts speech, language, education, social functioning, cognitive achievement and quality of life.

At birth, approximately one in 1,000 newborns has severe to profound hearing loss. Another one or two have lesser degrees of hearing loss.

Fortunately, current technology allows screening newborn infants for hearing loss in the nursery. If an infant fails the screening test, more detailed testing confirms or rules out hearing loss. One downfall is that some forms of hearing loss are not present at birth but develop in the first few months or later in childhood.

Here’s a quick refresher on the anatomy of the ear. Hearing starts with the outer ear, as sound travels down the ear canal to vibrate the ear drum. The eardrum transmits vibrations to tiny bones (ossicles) in the middle ear. The ossicles send the vibrations to the cochlea, the fluid-filled organ in the inner ear.

Here the vibrations are converted to electrical impulses which are transmitted to the brain via the cochlear nerve. Hearing loss can be conductive (problems in the ear canal or middle ear obstructing sound wave

vibrations), sensorineural (affecting the nerve), or a mixture of both types.

The most common causes of permanent congenital sensorineural hearing loss are: (1) congenital infection with cytomegalovirus (5-20%), (2) abnormalities of the temporal bones (30-40%), and (3) genetic causes (50%).

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus that affects one in three children by age 5, and by age 40 about 50% of people. It usually causes no symptoms or a mild respiratory illness. If an infected mother passes the virus to an unborn baby, it can cause health problems including hearing loss.

Risk factors for early hearing loss include premature birth, low birth weight, jaundice, infections, prolonged mechanical ventilation and certain medicines.

Delayed hearing loss may be suspected when caregivers are concerned about a child’s hearing, speech or language. Many genetic causes of hearing loss have a delayed onset. CMV and other congenital infections (Zika virus, toxoplasmosis, rubella, herpes, syphilis) can cause delayed hearing loss. Other acquired causes of hearing loss are trauma, medications, and autoimmune disorders.

The Individuals with Disabilities Act (2004) provides free intervention services from birth to age 3 years

Walkable Neighborhoods Promote Good Health Walking is a healthy habit but some have problems finding a safe place to walk

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

A

brisk walk on a crisp autumn day can provide exercise and a sense of rejuvenation. As gyms and other places of fitness have been slowly reopening, walking can offer many people an accessible means of exercise.

It takes little equipment to enjoy walking — a pair of comfortable shoes and perhaps a jacket — but finding a place to walk can present more of a challenge to some people.

Before the pandemic, Fred Wilson of Camillus taught six aerobics classes at a variety of senior centers in the area. He’s a big believer in walking, too.

“Right now, that’s about the only exercise you can get,” he said of walking. “I’m fortunate because I live in an apartment complex, so there’s not much traffic, but in other areas, it’s tough. A lot of people live in neighborhoods that aren’t safe and

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for any child in United States identified with hearing loss. There is also a provision to provide educational assistance for children ages 3 to 21 through individual education plans and programs for hearing disability.

Speech-language therapy and consideration of assistive devices should be started as soon as possible. The goal is to facilitate effective communication, and eventual academic success.

Most people are familiar with hearing aids. These devices are worn externally. A microphone detects sounds and feeds it to an amplifier to increase the signal reaching the inner ear. Children with severe to profound hearing loss may benefit from a cochlear implant. These surgical devices convert sound into electrical impulses transmitted directly to the cochlear nerve. They’re approved for children as young as 9 months. The internal portion has a receiver and stimulator. An external component worn around the ear has a speech processor, microphone, and transmitter. A third type of device, called a bone-conduction hearing aid may

be either implanted or attached to the skin. This type of device bypasses the middle ear to transmit sound vibrations to the cochlear nerve.

What about sign language versus spoken language versus teaching both? Although there is controversy, many advocate for teaching all children with deafness sign language.

Assistive devices aren’t perfect.

But 96% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, most of whom don’t know sign language. I don’t know the answer, but believe that parents should make the decision in consultation with professionals with expertise in the field.

also accessible for people using strollers and those who have trouble with mobility.

“The neighborhood needs mixed income and mixed use,” Saboruin said. “If it’s a slum, you won’t feel so safe. It needs to be safe and aesthetically pleasing. It’s like being downtown in the summer here. There’s ordinarily a lot of festivals to keep people engaged and it’s all walkable.”

“When you jump in the car and drive, you don’t’ get to see your neighbors,” Wheelock said. “When you’re walking, you see them working in the yard.”

To develop a walkable community, enough people must live in sufficient density to sustain the businesses and services. The community plan also contributes to walkability.

Wheelock said that having treescapes in neighborhoods offers shade and a buffer between sidewalks and streets to help walkers feel safer.

Wheelock likes to see good planning for effective neighborhood density.

“If you have a lot of vacant plots of land, it may not be as attractive or feel as safe,” he said. “Good lighting is another thing. It helps to make a good pedestrian-friendly area.”

Connecting people with destinations walkable at all.”

Walkability includes many different facets — and without walkability, walking for exercise may be difficult, uninviting and even unsafe.

Randy Saboruin, owner of Metro Fitness in Syracuse, said that regular walking can help people lose weight; however, “you’ve got to have walking access,” he said.

Citing www.walkscore.com, he said that the average resident of a walkable neighborhood weighs six to 10 pounds less than those who live in less walkable neighborhoods.

Traits of walkable communities include places to walk that are safe from traffic, such as sidewalks in good repair, appropriate pedestrian-scale lighting, safe cross walks and drivers who practice safe driving habits. Bike racks are offered for cyclists’ use. The sidewalks are cleared of debris, snow and ice and

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

Walkable communities should also connect people with destinations and create a vibrant neighborhood, or what Austin Wheelock calls unique places to live and work.

“Pedestrian-friendly pathways are one of the most cost-effective ways to do that,” according to Wheelock, who is deputy director at Operation Oswego County, Inc., and board member of Oswego Renaissance Association.

For example, walking to a store where healthful food is for sale at affordable prices helps people who do not have access to vehicles or public transportation. People who walk to what they need save on transportation and can allocate those savings towards health needs like medication and better food choices.

As another health benefit, people who walk stress less about their neighbors if they know them.

Eva Briggs is a medical doctor who works at two urgent care centers in the Syracuse region.

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Women’s Health Later Motherhood Offers Benefits, Problems Study suggests older maternal age for a woman’s last child may indicate greater longevity; experts say late pregnancy brings more risks for the unborn

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

A

study published in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society, suggests that later maternal age for a woman’s last child may indicate greater longevity for the mom.

While it is yet unknown if the ability to naturally achieve a later pregnancy indicates a healthier woman or if the later pregnancy causes a longer life, it is still an interesting finding.

Most news for older moms is not as positive. For many reasons, it is ideal for the health of moms and babies for mothers to become pregnant younger; however, life does not always happen that way.

“From what we know so far, if you’re 35 or older, it presents more challenges and you’re at greater risk for birth defects, premature birth, getting pregnant with multiples and complications in pregnancy,” said Darcy Dryer, director of maternal and child health for March of Dimes, which covers Central New York and other Upstate locations.

She said one of the reasons behind the uptick in complications is that many women as they hit their mid-30s are more likely to have chronic health problems such as diabetes, hypertension and high blood pressure. Fertility also begins to decline.

Dryer encourages women who want to have a baby to get healthy before getting pregnant. “Everyone should try to get healthy, but if you’re hoping to have a baby, these

things carry more weight. Get a pre-conception health check up at the OB-GYN and manage any chronic health conditions.”

If left untreated and unmanaged, chronic health conditions can contribute to more problems; however, the age of the mom also matters. A woman’s eggs are formed when she is developing as a baby in her mother’s uterus. She is born with all the eggs she will ever have. New eggs do not develop. The eggs age along with the woman, so with many women, eggs fertilized at age 37 are more likely to have suffered age-related degradation than those fertilized at age 27. To an extent, her lifelong health habits do play a role in the health of her eggs.

Physician Sarah Berga, president of UBMD Obstetrics & Gynecology and department chairwoman at University at Buffalo, said that a major risk of waiting to conceive is not getting pregnant. “When they’ve studied populations that don’t use contraception, the last age for spontaneous conception is usually around age 42. We have many years of experience. We understand that not every woman gets the same number of eggs and not everyone’s eggs last as long. People sometimes run out before age 40. Some don’t completely run out but their eggs aren’t as fertile.”

She added that for women at age 42, the chances of becoming pregnant without medical intervention is about one in 10,000.

“In the fertility business, we’d rather see people try when they’ve discovered a problem while they’re younger rather than when they discover they have a problem with fertility and they have waited until the last possible moment to see us.

Even with in-vitro fertilization, it’s hard to get women pregnant after 42.

It has a less than 10% success unless you use donor eggs.”

The risk of pregnancy complications increases with age, including fetal anomalies and genetic disorders — and not just because of the mother’s age. Berga said that the father’s advanced age — not just the mother’s — can cause a greater likelihood of chromosome conditions like trisomy 13 and trisomy 18.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), most children with trisomy 13 die before their first month of life and survivors commonly experience lifelong disabilities and complications, including breathing issues, deafness, feeding problems, heart failure, seizures and vision problems. Those surviving infancy may also have intellectual disabilities and developmental delays and higher risk for cancer. The NIH describes trisomy 18 a chromosome disorder that can cause a hole in the heart, wasting syndrome, permanent flexion of the finger and cognitive impairment.

Berga added that mothers above 40 also have higher risk for preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, premature labor, premature rup-

ture of membranes, labor problems, post-partum hemorrhage, labor problems, and prolonged labor.

While some younger mothers experience complications and it is impossible to eliminate risk during pregnancy, it is helpful for any mother to take care of herself prior to and during pregnancy. Improving maternal health includes achieving a healthy weight before conception as well as managing any pre-existing conditions.

Brittany Rabuano, owner of Achilles Heel Training in Camillus, is a certified personal trainer who works with prenatal and postnatal clients. She advises clients to follow their provider’s recommendations for exercise; however, for many healthy women with low-risk pregnancies, “if you were already working out, keep doing it. You won’t need to make any changes in your workouts early on. Movement throughout your pregnancy will help so very much.”

While activities that involve impact will be taboo, as well as those that require lying prone or with a likelihood of falling, women can still participate in many fitness activities.

“Keep the pace between 130 and 150 beats per minute,” Rabuano advised. “You wouldn’t want to do a high-intense interval training workout.”

High intensity interval training — or HIIT — involves working the body as hard as possible for a few minutes with brief intermittent periods.

U.S. Moms-to-Be Are Much Less Healthy Now

I

n the past 30 years, U.S. women have been in progressively worse physical shape as they become pregnant, a new study finds.

A combination of obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and having children later in life have led to potentially more complications, and even infant and maternal death, researchers say.

Obesity is a major driver of these complications, said lead researcher, physician Eran Bornstein. He’s vice chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

“They’re also going to have more hypertensive disorder [high blood pressure] because older women are at a higher risk for all of these complica-

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tions,” he said. “Basically, we showed that over the last three decades, women’s health in the United States has worsened.”

For the study, Bornstein’s team used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to calculate risk factors and trends in pregnancies from 1989 to 2018.

During that period, the prevalence of high blood pressure disorders rose 149%, the investigators found.

Specifically, chronic hypertension increased 182%, diabetes increased 261% and having babies at an older age rose 194%. Also, the number of twin and triplet births increased 33%.

The increase in chronic hyperten-

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

sion was mostly seen in the past 20 years. High blood pressure tied directly to pregnancy and having more than one baby was seen largely in the last 10 years, the findings showed.

The rates of all these conditions were highest among women who had children later in life, the study authors noted.

“Hypertensive disorder is associated with significant morbidity to the mother and significant complications for the baby,” Bornstein said.

“Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are one of the three major risks for maternal mortality.”

The advice to women is twofold, he said. “First of all, even before pregnancy, young women should concentrate on improving their

health and their metabolic status.

That means that they watch their weight, diet, exercise – just the basics in good health care,” Bornstein said.

Second, women should be aware of the potential consequences of delaying childbearing, “and try to complete childbearing at a younger age,” he said.

It’s difficult to tell women they need to complete childbearing by a certain age, but childbearing at 40 is associated with major complications, Bornstein said.

The report was published online recently in the journal E Clinical Medicine.

Women’s Health

Age 42 and Pregnant: Becoming a Mom at Last

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

M

any people dream of becoming a parent someday.

Tiffany Latino-Gerlock of Clay had to wait until age 42 before seeing that dream come true.

Latino-Gerlock, a government relations and communications director for MACNY in Syracuse, wed at age 38. Her husband, Rich, is an operations manager for Cook’s Coffee in Syracuse.

“I probably would have liked to have had children earlier, but life happens,” Latino-Gerlock said. “I absolutely always thought I would be a mom.”

She has enjoyed spending time with children, including her niece and nephew. Latino-Gerlock’s twin sister had no problems becoming pregnant with her second child at age 40, so Latino-Gerlock hoped she would also readily become pregnant.

After about three years, she sought fertility treatments at CNY Fertility and achieved a viable pregnancy.

“I suffered some pregnancy loss,” she said. “I was told it was most likely due to advanced age.

There were some other fertility issues so we turned to a fertility specialist.”

Rich is 10 years older and has a son. Latino-Gerlock expressed thankfulness for his experience as a parent and his support through the years of waiting for their baby. Around Christmastime in 2019, she learned she was pregnant.

“It was wonderful,” Latino-Gerlock said. “I told my twin sister and parents and only they knew. I drank soda in my wine glass.”

The couple did not let anyone else know she was expecting until they passed the three-month mark when they felt that the greatest danger of a miscarriage had passed.

“I am a spiritual person; I did a lot of praying,” Latino-Gerlock said.

“I had a lot of great family support. I kept being positive and doing things the doctor said, like eating healthy and doing yoga.”

While these are certainly good ideas, they do not guarantee a healthy pregnancy. Latino-Gerlock remained “cautiously optimistic” throughout her pregnancy.

The pandemic hit just as her three months of extreme morning sickness had passed. While she felt disappointed that she had to cancel her baby shower, Latino-Gerlock enjoyed the support of friends and family with a socially distanced, masked celebration of her baby.

She appreciates that her team of healthcare providers “treated me as a whole person” and not just a woman in her 40s.

Many providers refer to pregnant women who are age 35 and older as being of “advanced maternal age” or even “geriatric maternal age.”

Latino-Gerlock said that her

Tiffany Latino-Gerlock, her husband Rich and their new baby, Chase. “Having a baby at 42 makes me feel even younger,” she says. Photos courtesy of Rebecca Milner Photography.

Latino-Gerlock holds her son. “When you have a dream and it comes true it’s a total blessing,” she said about giving birth to her child. providers did not treat her as only an age number.

“I received great care and I kept staying positive and hopeful,” Latino-Gerlock said.

Right away, she was monitored

for high blood pressure. She also had severe preeclampsia. She received medical monitoring and bedrest at St. Joseph’s for a month. Fetal monitoring doctors met with them several times per week to keep a close watch January 2021 •

on the baby.

At 34 weeks, her labor was induced and at 4 lbs., 14 oz., little Chase joined his parents.

He experienced jaundice — not unusual even for full-term infants — but few other issues. Like a typical preemie, Chase needed to learn how to coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing before he could go home. He stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for a little more than three weeks.

“He did really well,” Latino-Gerlock said. “I am grateful for all the NICU nurses and doctors and the other hospital nurses and doctors. I had to stay a few days longer because the preeclampsia.”

Though younger women also experience preeclampsia, Latino-Gerlock said that it was possibly because of her age.

Also called toxemia, the condition affects more than 3 million American women annually. It can restrict baby’s growth, separate the placenta from the uterine wall, cause premature birth, and threaten the mother’s life as well. Though it has no cure, proper treatment can manage preeclampsia.

“I have heard of others where preeclampsia wasn’t caught,” Latino-Gerlock said. “Women should talk with their doctors and not hide anything. If you have swelling, you should talk about it.”

Swelling can be a sign of preeclampsia, as well as abdominal pain, headaches, dizziness, vomiting, changes in vision and reflexes, decreased urine output and shortness of breath.

Despite the number of candles on her last birthday cake, Latino-Gerlock said that she does not feel like she is 42.

“I don’t feel like I’m ‘that age,’” she said. “Having a baby at 42 makes me feel even younger. There are people who say, ‘Wow, 42.’ Biologically, a number matters for women.

“I’d probably have more energy if I had a baby younger in life. But I’ve been dreaming about having him so long. I’m now well established in life. I have a good work-family balance now. I have been able to work at home and Chase is with me.

“I’m blessed and lucky to be in the current situation I’m in. I’m very focused. I’m very prepared for him.”

While she encourages couples who want children to not wait too long, she also does not want women in their 30s and 40s to give up hope.

“Women are having babies much later than they used to,” she said. “I had to try a little harder and overcome some obstacles. It can be done easily. There are a lot of women with success stories and there are a lot of great doctors.

“I know some women have chosen to freeze their eggs. There are various options, like IVF, for women who haven’t conceived when they wanted to. I want to let women know they can do it. They shouldn’t consider themselves ‘older.’ If they’re in their 40s, it’s not as big a deal as others might think.”

When the weather was nice, she enjoyed taking Chase out for stroller rides. Now settled in for winter, she has been cooking more, playing and reading a lot with Chase, and watching movies with her husband.

“When you have a dream and it comes true it’s a total blessing,” Latino-Gerlock said. “Despite the challenges, it was all worth it, and we couldn’t be happier.”

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Women’s Health

Study: Home Hair Color Not Strongly Linked to Increased Cancer Risk Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

A

new study published by BMJ indicates that permanent hair color does not increase risk of most cancers and only slightly elevates risk of a few.

For 36 years, the study followed 117,200 women in Boston who did not have cancer at the beginning of the study.

The women who used hair dye did not show an increase of cancers of the bladder, brain, colon, kidney, lung, blood and immune system nor those effecting the skin or breast.

Only slight risk of basal cell carcinoma of the skin was seen in women with naturally light hair.

Certain breast cancers also showed a slight risk in correlation with the amount of dye exposure.

Risk for Hodgkin lymphoma increased for women with naturally dark hair.

The research is limited because it mainly included white women of European origin and no men, although only 10% of men use hair color.

The study also was not conducted as scientifically as possible because some of the women stopped and restarted using color or may have misclassified their coloring

product as permanent when it was temporary.

Still, the research does not indicate a marked elevation of risk, which should be a relief for the scores of those turning to bottles of dye to maintain their look while at home during the pandemic.

“It’s not clear how much personal hair dye use might raise cancer risk, if at all,” said Jason Coleman, Cancer Control Strategic Partnerships manager for American Cancer Society throughout Upstate New York. “Most studies done so far have not found a strong link, but more studies are needed to help clarify this issue.

“If someone is still concerned about hair dye safety, they can embrace their natural hair color or try some of the newer hair dye products that are vegetable-based. These products may have some drawbacks, such as not being able to change hair color drastically or having the color fade sooner than is seen with permanent dyes unless they contain some of the same ingredients as the permanent dyes.”

There is also a difference between home color available at stores and

color used at salons by professionals such as Keisha Boothman, teacher assistant at Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES’ cosmetology program.

“All of these products we use are approved by the FDA and everything we use is safe,” Boothman said.

“The greater danger is the at-home mess-up that you have to have fixed at the salon. That will cost more in the long run.

You’ll spend four times the amount to get it fixed if the boxed color goes wrong.”

One of the problems of over-the-counter color is that the solutions are not custom Castetter prepared for the

user’s needs like salon color. Kasey Castetter, owner and color specialist for Evan Michaels Salon in Syracuse, said that boxed color is one-size-fits all. “That’s not the case here. We formulate for each client.”

She has worked in the industry for 25 years.

Salon professionals also patch test new clients or if using a new product on an existing client. Home users may not want to waste their product and simply go for it, risking a bad reaction.

“You may get something that’s too strong for you,” Castetter said.

“We can do something that’s less potent and made for your hair’s needs—made for you.”

She said that the product she uses has long since removed all the ingredients that were associated with elevated cancer risk.

Home Fitness Trend Continues with Pandemic

‘You don’t necessarily need to have equipment,’ says trainer

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

A

s ever-changing pandemic guidelines persist, many people have turned to working out at home.

Many gyms have limited the number of people able to participate at a time to prevent crowds and some people do not feel comfortable with exercising at a gym. Winter weather can also make getting to the gym difficult.

That is why it can be important to develop a back-up means of working out at home. For many people, home exercise is not as easy as going to the gym.

“It takes away the social interaction and one-on-one attention from a personal trainer,” said Brittany Rabuano, certified personal trainer and owner of Achilles Heel Training in Camillus. “You may need that guidance. It could get boring. There’s no appointment. The accountability is not there.”

Helen Green, owner of Powerhouse Gym in Syracuse, also said that creating home gyms has become popular, including equipment such as the Peloton bike, which offers accompanying content via its app.

“They can keep up with their routine,” Green said, “but they still need that one-on-one contact some-

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times with a trainer. If you don’t have someone seeing what you’re doing, you could be doing it incorrectly.

You need that connection of knowing what muscles you’re activating. I have had a personal trainer and without their help, it is hard to know how to do everything. It should not be a fast motion. It helps to have a trainer there to help you with that.”

Still, she added that working out at home is better than doing nothing at all.

Brandon Anderson, certified personal trainer at Blink Fitness Onondaga, said that Blink members can access the gym’s app, which offers 500 at-home workouts.

“The Blink app challenges the one-size-fits-all gym philosophy with curated content and digital workouts that allows our members to workout anytime, anywhere,” Anderson said.

Blink’s app includes healthy lifestyle support with recipes, guided meditation, and audio and video coaching.

When getting to the gym isn’t possible, a popular compromise is accessing virtual workouts with a trainer. These allow participants to sweat at home under the personal guidance of a professional for optimal safety and results, compared with doing

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

so alone. While not the same as the in-person session, virtual workouts provides both assistance and motivation--elements lacking in many home workouts.

Not everyone has the means to access virtual workouts or pricey equipment.

“You don’t necessarily need to have equipment,” said Kevin Webb, certified personal trainer and owner of KW Fitness in Fayetteville. “You can use body weight exercise. Have a space and commit to a time to do something. You can find simple things online to do. Body weight exercises can keep you moving until you get back to what you’d normally be doing.”

Old-school jumping jacks, pushups, sit-ups, squats, calf raises and planks use the body’s weight as the resistance. Compared with using free weights, body weight exercises have a lower risk of injury.

“Fitness equipment is really expensive right now and most people can’t invest in a whole gym,” said Sara Walls, certified personal trainer at Train Hard Fitness in Liverpool.

If cost is a factor, she advises purchasing just one or two pieces of versatile equipment: kettle bells and TRX straps. Kettle bells are round-

shaped free weights with a handle on the top, like a kettle. TRX straps are resistance bands used as part of the Total Resistance Exercises (TRX) System developed by former Navy Seal Randy Hetrick to incorporate exercise bands and body weight to improve strength, flexibility and balance.

Walls said that kettle bells work the posterior chain, enlisting muscle groups from the calves through the waist. Kettle bells also may be incorporated into many different exercise movements.

“If you spend a lot of time hunched over at a desk, those muscles get weak and it leads to back pain,” Walls said. “A kettle bell swing can reverse some of that damage. TRX straps can be modified to work with a door frame. It’s a good way to build strength and core stability and balance.”

To stay motivated, it may help to set goal such as getting in fit for a race or to build up to a certain number of pushups per week.

Walls recommends getting a dog to walk.

“It’s one of my favorite things to do: walk eight miles a day with my dog,” Walls said. “Throw on a good podcast and you’re ready to go.”

Fitness/Weightloss

Weight Loss, Fitness Trends for 2021

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

I

f losing weight and staying in shape is among your New Year’s resolutions, learn about the trends for weight loss and fitness local experts foresee for 2021. Here they are:

• “Stick with what works. Science has proven that eliminating sugars and complex carbohydrates will reduce body fat.

One of the newly mainstream diets that does that is the ketogenic diet [low carb, high fat].

Murphy Although this diet has been around since the 1930s, it has recently hit the mainstream fitness industry because of the great results it gives.”

– Jill Murphy, certified personal trainer and co-owner of Mission Fitness in East Syracuse • “I think people will want to work out with a personal trainer or at home because of everything going on.

The large gym membership might not be as popular. People are looking for private, safe alternative routes.

Webb • “People are a lot more conscious of taking care of their health.

• “Buying treadmills, Peloton bikes and recumbent bikes will be very popular.

• “Resistance bands are very hard to come by as people are building their in-home gyms. People are buying them up.”

– Kevin Webb, certified personal

trainer and owner of KW Fitness in Fayetteville • “I think that a lot more studio gyms will be wanted. There will be a need for those smaller settings where things can be controlled and contact traced. Everything here is appointment based. I have a feeling that more class-style workouts will be favored over open gym settings.

• “There’s a big movement on self-love-self-care. I hope that the year will go more into a balanced lifestyle approach. No food group should be out of your everyday life.

• “Intermittent fasting is a big thing. It’s good for a busy lifestyle person and can help some with their relationship with food. They are eating what they should be. The other benefit is overall energy. You’re more productive throughout the day and it helps with those with autoimmune disorders. It is not for everybody. If you have bad relationship with food, I wouldn’t recommend any style of dieting. It reduces your eating window. Any diet can lead to disorders. If you’re someone who likes to eat regularly throughout the day or if you’re at a stay-at-home mom or have a sedentary job, it’s hard because when we’re bored we tend to get hungry.”

– Brittany Rabuano, certified personal trainer and owner of Achilles Heel Training in Camillus • “We are looking into having trainers go out into the field if there is someone who feels their health compromised.

• “I think people will be getting out more in 2021. Bikes have been flying off the shelves. People will be getting outside more than they ever have for their cardio.”

– Helen Green, owner of Powerhouse Gym in Syracuse • “What I’ve been seeing a lot of is a return to simple stuff and breaking away to simple calorie tracking.

Some aren’t caring as much about macro counting but protein intake if you want to lose fat and gain muscle.

Macronutrients are carbs, fats and proteins.

Most foods have all of Walls them. Even a potato has protein. If you’re trying to dial in what’s good for your body, pay attention to having them in balance. It can be a little complicated.

You need a food scale and a book that tells you how many grams of protein are in this many ounces of chicken.

It can be tedious as you get started.

Once you get through the learning curve, it’s an accurate way to track your diet. You become in tune with the foods that help you feel good and help you stay energized. You may need more fat or more carbs.

• “I’m seeing a lot less emphasis on high-intensity interval training.

We’re going back to some more simple exercise: stair climber and going for walks with your family. That has grown huge during the quarantine and people see how it’s a basic thing to do for your health.

• “I also think we’ll see more people investing in personal training because they feel ‘off’ and stiff from being cooped up so long. They’ll want to get back to the gym but do so safely.”

– Sara Walls, certified personal trainer at Train Hard Fitness in Liverpool • “Some popular diets include Keto, Paleo and intermittent fasting.

There are pros and cons to all weight loss fad diets. A common con with most diets is always how generalized they are. Everyone’s body is beautifully unique, especially when it comes to how they process and distribute everything we ingest.

• “The common ideology seems to be that all diets must be a struggle to adhere to, or that in order to lose weight you have to be miserable.

This should not be the case! Just because a diet works really well for one person, and makes them feel fantastic, doesn’t mean that you have to, or will, feel the same! You shouldn’t necessarily be sticking to a diet if it’s not working for you. There are many different diets out there, find the one that makes you feel great. It shouldn’t just be about how your diet is making you look; it should most importantly be how your diet makes you feel.

• “As for intermittent fasting, I personally absolutely love it. It works perfectly for my daily life and I feel amazing while adhering to a consistent eating cycle. A general negative of fasting is that people can’t adhere to it. You spend your entire life being told to consistently eat throughout the day or “three main meals”–that’s a long-standing habit to break. Many people find themselves breaking their fast consistently and in turn, just having an unhealthy- irregular eating schedule.”

– Sarah Green, certified personal trainer, certified in nutrition and club manager at Blink in Liverpool January 2021 •

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Page 13

Drinking Water for Weight Loss: Does it work?

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

C

ould something as simple as water help you lose more weight?

Area experts say yes.

While it is obvious that replacing caloric beverage with calorie-free water would help with weight loss, water offers other advantages to people working at weight loss.

People often mistakenly think they are hungry but they are actually thirsty, especially when the craving is for sweet or salty foods.

“If someone’s feeling hungry, I tell them to have water,” said Kevin Webb, certified personal trainer and owner of KW Fitness in Fayetteville.

Drinking calories can add many more calories to a daily diet than one realizes. That is why Webb recommends drinking water.

“It can replace caloric drinks someone might be drinking and water can remove liquid calories,” he said.

Drinking during a meal can also help people feel full sooner instead of continuing to eat after they are satiated.

Jill Murphy, personal trainer and co-owner of Mission Fitness in East

Syracuse, said that when cutting caloric intake, most people feel more hunger.

“Staying hydrated is one way to curb hunger,” she said. “One symptom of dehydration is hunger, therefore staying hydrated will make it much easier to stay within your allotted caloric intake for your weight loss program.”

As the body heats up any cold water that a person drinks to bring it up to body temperature, it burns a few calories.

Drinking enough can also help improve workout sessions. That same energizing component, along with providing enough hydration to the body, can boost performance.

“A higher intake of water helps your body naturally detox, perform at a higher athletic threshold, aid in weight loss, and impacts overall brain functioning and energy levels,” said Sarah Green, certified personal trainer, certified in nutrition, and club manager at Blink in Liverpool.

“Your body needs water to burn fat.

An increase in water intake increases lipolysis, the process of the body breaking down fats through hydro-

lysis.”

Feeling too drained to make it through the afternoon without a snack? Reach for that water bottle instead. Staying hydrated helps the body feel more energized.

“Our bodies are mostly water,” said Sara Walls, certified personal trainer for Train Hard Fitness in Liverpool. “We can’t function well if we’re not hydrated. Get your water intake in check before you do physical things.”

To make consuming water more palatable, use glass or stainless-steel containers. Sometimes, plastic containers can give water an off taste.

Add a tiny amount of juice to give it a splash of flavor. Add slices of cucumber, citrus fruits or berries to a pitcher in the refrigerator. It will not add calories but does offer a light flavor.

Walls likes unsweetened hot tea to help drink enough fluids daily but she said that caffeine-free options are better because caffeine can cause fluid loss and interrupt sleep.

“I used to have a massive soda habit— a pack a week,” Walls said.

“A big thing that helped is flavored sparkling water. It tastes like a treat

but doesn’t have the sugar, caffeine and acid that are hard on your teeth.”

She warned about sports drinks such as Gatorade. While it may seem sensible to reach for a sports beverage after exercise, she said that most people do not need it.

“Gatorade is great if you’re running a marathon to replenish what you’re losing from sweat,” she said.

“If you’re not sweating for hours, it’s way more sugar than what you need.

It was created for football players working out in the hot sun all day.

Drinking Gatorade after 20 minutes of cardio does more harm than good. It’s the same for juices. They’re delicious but they take all the fiber and pulp out, which is where most of the nutrients are, and leave you with sugar water.”

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Page 14

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

UPSTATE PHYSICIANS FROM LEFT: Timothy D. Ford, MD Luna Bhatta, MD Robert L. Carhart, Jr., MD Debanik Chaudhuri, MD Hani Kozman, MD Sakti Pada Mookherjee, MD Avneet Singh, MD Tama Szombathy, MD Amy Tucker, MD Daniel Villarreal, MD

SmartBites

The skinny on healthy eating

Healthier Chicken Wings Do Exist!

A

re you sitting down? Last year, on Super Bowl Sunday, we Americans consumed 1.4 billion chicken wings. Holy hot sauce!

That’s a lotta wings!

But no surprise, right? Football and wings go together like chips and dip.

Decades ago, before kids, my husband and I wolfed down a basket of chicken wings every Friday. We were on a mission to find the best wings in town. Our focus? Taste and crisp factor. Our lack of focus? Nutrition. Never, not once, did we even wonder about fat, calories or sodium back then.

Chicken wings can have that effect. They’re so delicious, so addictive, so (for some) special occasion, that you just want to enjoy them without the guilt.

Are you still sitting down?

Chicken wing consumption doesn’t have to be riddled with guilt! With a few tweaks here and a few bad-for-you ingredients slashed there, you can easily make this popular appetizer a whole lot healthier.

But before we delve into wing do-overs, let’s talk nutrition.

While clearly there are healthier parts of the chicken to be had, wings still have something to cluck about. When roasted in the oven, one drumette with skin provides about 100 calories, 9 grams of protein, and decent amounts of both niacin and selenium.

An essential nutrient that powers many chemical reactions in our body, protein helps to keep our muscles and bones strong, which is important for maintaining balance and mobility

as we age. Niacin, a B vitamin, helps convert food to energy and influences how we process cholesterol, while selenium, a powerful antioxidant, plays an important role in the health of our immune system and helps to protect our body from damage caused by oxidative stress.

Unadulterated, chicken wings are super low in sodium and fairly low in cholesterol. Wings are, however, the fattiest part of the chicken, delivering about 6.5 grams per wing (2 grams saturated). So, what happens to sodium, cholesterol and fat when wings are drenched in flour, deep-fried in oil and slathered with hot sauce? All levels skyrocket. As an example, a popular chain restaurant posts the following amounts for 10 fried Buffalo wings: 5,020 mg of sodium, 515 mg of cholesterol, and 69 grams total fat (18 grams saturated).

To shed perspective on these amounts: The USDA recommends that healthy adults limit their sodium intake to less than 2,400 mg per day, their cholesterol intake to no more than 300 mg per day, and their total fat intake from 44 to 78 grams per day (with saturated fat making up no more than 22 grams). Again, that’s per day, not per appetizer!

Healthy Cooking and Eating Tips Grill or bake wings. Read wing sauce labels, opting for one with less sugar, sodium and calories. If recipe calls for adding butter to the sauce, replace it with heart-healthy olive oil or better yet, skip it altogether. Make your own blue cheese dipping sauce with Greek yogurt. Be mindful of your intake: calories quickly add up!

Crispy Baked Chicken Wings 2 pounds chicken wings (about 20 drumettes and wingettes) 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 tablespoon smoked (or regular) paprika 2 teaspoons ground cumin 2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons onion powder ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt 1 ½ teaspoons coarse black pepper Celery, trimmed and cut into sticks Hot sauce of choice (optional)

Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce 4 tablespoons blue cheese or gorgonzola crumbles ½ cup nonfat Greek yogurt 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice ½ teaspoon garlic powder ¼ teaspoon each salt and coarse black pepper pinch of cayenne pepper (optional) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil and place an oven-safe rack on top of the foil. Coat the rack with cooking spray or a light layer of canola oil.

Pat chicken wings dry to remove moisture. Place wings in a large bowl and rub olive oil well into each piece.

Combine all seasonings in a small bowl; sprinkle over wings; toss until thoroughly coated.

Arrange wings in a single layer on the prepared rack and bake for 30 minutes. Flip wings and bake 20 minutes more or until the skin is crispy.

To make the dip: Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.

Serve wings with celery, blue cheese dip and (optional) a small bowl of hot sauce for dunking.

Anne Palumbo is a lifestyle colum-

nist, food guru, and seasoned cook, who has perfected the art of preparing nutritious, calorie-conscious dishes. She is hungry for your questions and comments about SmartBites, so be in touch with Anne at avpalumbo@aol.com.

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Confidentiality and professional discretion are assured.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 15

Parenting

By Melissa Stefanec

MelissaStefanec@yahoo.com

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A

s far as the Gregorian calendar is concerned, 2020 is officially behind us.

Traditionally, we would be focusing on resolutions. We would ask ourselves: how we can make this year better than the last by way of our own actions and resolve? However, resolutions feel almost frivolous at a time like this.

Want to commit to going to the gym more? Nope, we can’t go to gyms. Want to spend more time with our families? Nope, 2020 gave us loads of family time (thank goodness). Want to drink less and cut back on sugar? Nope, we need something to boost our dopamine levels while trapped in our homes. The resolutions of years past simply won’t hack it this year.

And, perhaps, those shouldn’t hack it in any year. Resolutions are all foresight. They don’t demand much hindsight or insight. Resolutions are about abandoning what came before and starting anew. They tell us not to look back, which is ironic. I think there’s a saying that starts out, “those who don’t learn from history…”

Instead of making resolutions, maybe we should look at the information 2020 gave us, sit with that information for a while, and then arrive at insights.

At my day job, we talk a lot about “therefore, we shoulds.” It’s a basic concept that asks, “now that you have this information, what actions will you take because of it?”

It sounds simple, but it’s anything but. It requires one to be honest about what they’ve learned and then act from a place of knowledge.

So, in lieu of my usual New Year’s resolutions, I will share my pandemic parenting “therefore, we shoulds.” We can do better in 2021, but only if we embrace what 2020 taught us and ask how that should change our behavior.

It felt good to slow down; therefore, we shouldn’t resume the chaos of pre-pandemic life.

Before this pandemic, most parents were burning a candle at four ends. My family sure felt the same way. When this is all over, maybe we can find a balance between almost never leaving our property and almost never being on our property.

We found out who was there for us when things got tough; therefore, we should nurture those relationships moving forward.

When things got tough, some people kept in contact and some didn’t. When our lives are once more a social free-for-all, let’s surround our families with those people.

We adapted to most changes fairly easily; therefore, we should not fear change and learn from our children.

A lot of adults were having some really big feelings about all of the changes 2020 brought. For the

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

Therefore, We Should…

most part, our children rolled with the punches. What if us adults had skipped the martyr phase?

We watched how quickly our children mastered technology; therefore, we should teach our children how to use it safely.

If there is one place we can’t afford to be ignorant, it’s technology.

We need to monitor how our kids are using it and who they are engaging with on it. Most importantly, we need to teach them how to use it safely and autonomously.

We looked to the arts for beauty and consolation; therefore, we should teach our children how to support artists.

When the world felt like too much, we turned to music, books, poetry and art. We looked to the artists to rescue us. We need to teach our children to value art and support it. Think about how much more painful 2020 would have been without art. That’s reason enough to take our children to go to museums, concerts and local bookstores when this is all over.

We saw how quickly people can turn against each other; therefore, we should be empathy role models for our children.

Many adults have been frighteningly divisive. We need to raise people who can listen to other side and be willing to compromise.

We learned there is so much we can’t control; therefore, we should coach our children on self-control.

In our current social and political climate, self-control is a bad word.

It shouldn’t be this way. We should coach (and model) grace and poise during periods of adversity. We should work with our children to embrace their emotions and still treat others with respect.

We witnessed how quickly and easily things can fall apart; therefore, we should challenge our children to be resilient problem solvers.

Our children will inherit the problems we could not deal with.

The least we can do is encourage them to ask tough questions and work together to find solutions.

We didn’t miss consumerism nearly as much as we missed our loved ones; therefore, we should start giving each other the gift of time.

How are we going to spend our time when all of the restrictions are lifted?

We quickly realized how much we took for granted; therefore, we should encourage ourselves and our kids to make the people we love feel our love.

We should engage of small acts of simple kindness. We can make 2020 the year that changed our perspective (and our world) for the better.

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touring our arts centers, lunching on the waterfront and visiting places like Olcott, Ellicottville and the Elmwood Village for a local shopping excursion will be much needed ventures after the long hiatus.

Finances

My expenditures have definitely changed this past year. With my youngest child returning from college and grocery prices going up, my weekly grocery bill increased considerably. At the same time, our social budget diminished without daytrips, dinners out, movies and the like. It is time to redraft the monthly budget to take these new factors into account.

It’s also a great time to check out the balances on your mortgage, loans and credit cards, and touch base with lenders for better rates. If you are able to put more into savings, shop around for the best rate and don’t forget to check rates at your local credit union to keep the funds in our regional market.

Organize and Declutter

Decluttering is a goal I began during the stay-at-home phase of the pandemic that I continue to complete in the new year. After 20 years in our house there are objects stored in the back of our closets that need to find a new home. Surely my son will not miss that Ninja Turtle suitcase from 1995. While continuing my efforts in 2021, I am redistributing what I can to those in need and donating useful items to local donations centers to avoid them ending up in a landfill.

There are more people than ever utilizing donation centers due to financial constraints and a perfect time to donate to them.

The above are my traditional top resolutions. But in 2021 it is time to add a new resolution:

New Year: Time to Rethink Resolutions

Reach out to Others

By Catherine Miller

L

ike many others I use the fresh start of the new year to reaffirm my goals and make resolutions to enhance my life.

Losing weight, improving finances and trying new experiences tend to top my yearly list.

But what happens after a year like 2020?

Last year’s list was thrown into the wind during the chaos of the pandemic. Getting to the gym and eating healthier were replaced with making sure we had food on the table and taking care of families in need.

But now that we have had time to absorb the changes in our lives, it is time to take a fresh look at our traditional goals and fine-tune them to make the most of the coming year.

Health: Physical and Mental Goals Health goals top my list each year. This year it is a two-fold resolution. In addition to improving physical health, I have added improving mental health to the list. The stress

of the past year has hit most of us. I like ritual. I like planning. 2020 took me out of my office routine and into a homebound work format that had to be reset. This year I plan to use daily meditation to relax and reassess daily goals. There are so many variables in our lives now that it’s important to be fluid in what we plan to accomplish on a day-to-day level on both a personal and professional level. I plan to go back to regular yoga classes that will help with both mental and physical health. With the use of DVDs and online videos I can continue yoga while social distancing. Daily walks will continue to be my go-to fitness and de-stress tool.

Read Daily

Offering relaxation, what better way than reading to transport your mind from the cold WNY winter to a distant place with crowds of characters waiting to be discovered.

Reading stimulates brain activity and promotes creativity and imagination.

As our current world becomes more limited in experiences, reading offers a way to expand our horizons. Our

local bookstores have thousands of books that offer an immediate retreat to a new realm and visiting our community bookstores aids in our local economy. A definite win-win.

Travel Local and State-wide

Every year I try to visit new destinations along with rediscovering a few from my past. The pandemic is making this difficult, but not impossible. Even with elevated positivity rates you can visit outdoor or non-populated venues and get away from your daily routine. Niagara Falls, often noted as one of the seven wonders of the world, is available for a day trip and displays its winter beauty in cascades of frozen snow and ice. The Festival of Lights is underway and is breathtaking. Having not visited in years, the falls will remake an appearance on my travel list, along with trips to the Thousand Islands and Adirondack Mountains.

All venues offer non-populated open-air activities. Once nicer weather makes its way back to the region, I plan to visit local venues that have taken an economic hit. Kayaking, January 2021 •

Normally a very social person, there has been a marked decrease in my interaction with people since the onset of the pandemic. Working from home and minimizing time with family and friends to limit exposure have combined to make my social life nearly non existent. I reside with two family members which gives me daily human interaction, but I know many who live alone. This year I resolve to reach out on a regular basis to those who are isolated. While phone calls are the easiest, I have decided to use video calling more regularly to allow for a more personalized experience. The next few months promise to be difficult for those that are isolated, and a friendly face might make all the difference.

As we trek into 2021 we should be mindful that times of transition offer a chance for new growth. Instead of continuing resolutions of old, we should embrace this opportunity to change things a bit to suit the current climate and embrace activities within our current limitations. Certain changes made can aid the local economy — which is a much-needed bonus. If you are planning to add health goals to the new year include activities that can be completed with social distancing and improve your mental health as well as physical.

Finding new ways to keep active, socialize and relax will continue to be essential as we learn to roll with what comes our way in the 2021 frontier.

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 17

Fitness/Weightloss

Make Fitness Fun in 2021 Top 10 activities for you to stay in shape this season

By Kyra Mancine

H

appy New Year! It’s time to head outside and get active.

Don’t let the cold weather stop you. Dress in layers, grab a friend or family member and get started.

Did you know that the American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity a week? Choose from this list and you’ll be well on your way to meeting your exercise and fitness goals this year.

Walking — The Erie Canal 1.

Trail offers hundreds of miles of flat and scenic paths across

Upstate New York, making it ideal for all ages. Pick a different section each week and start racking up those miles. Visit https://nycanalmap. com/ for an interactive map with descriptions of each section of the canal path.

Chasing Waterfalls — Many 2. waterfall trails are inaccessible in winter due to treacherous con-

ditions. However, these are safe to trek to, making the walk well worth the reward.

• Niagara Falls, 332 Prospect St., Niagara Falls. The colder it gets, the more breathtaking this trip becomes.

The falls never freeze entirely, however the combination of the cold and wind (especially the effect on the trees opposite the falls) make this your winter wonderland workout.

• Taughannock Falls, 1740 Taughannock Blvd., Trumansburg — These falls, at 215 feet, are three stories taller than Niagara Falls. You can view them from the overlook or take the ¾ mile flat trail to the bottom.

This is one of the only gorge trails in the New York state trail system open in the winter.

• Upper, Lower & Middle Falls — Letchworth State Park, 6786 County Road 38, Castile. There are many trails and areas you can hike in order to view these spectacular waterfalls.

If we get a really frigid season, you can see the “Ice Volcano” outside the Glen Iris inn. This ice “mountain” grows when the fountain in the pond freezes. Note some entrances of the park will close depending upon conditions.

Learning to Snowshoe — The 3. city of Rochester offers snowshoe rentals at the Recreation Bureau Office at 400 Dewey Ave. You can also rent snowshoes at the Hansen Nature Center (1525 Calkins Road, Pittsford) and the Helmer Nature Center in Irondequoit (154 Pinegrove Ave., Rochester).

Start a Running Streak — Track 4. how many days you can finish a mile or more. Or, make your goal to run or walk a marathon (26.2 miles) by the end of the month.

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Niagara Falls never freezes entirely, however the combination of the cold and wind make this your winter wonderland workout.

Shown is a mist rising above the falls at Niagara Falls State Park.

Get creative — you could plot your course to go around one or more of the Finger Lakes or across New York state — without ever having to leave your own town. If you’re looking for a virtual race for added motivation and accountability, visit https://runsignup.com/

5.

Outdoor Ice Skating — You’ll heat up quickly as you torch calories on the rink. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park offers rentals and season passes. You can also ice skate at Churchville Park (bring your own skates) and Ellison Park.

Downhill and Cross-Country Ski6. ing — Head to Bristol Mountain (38 slopes), Swain (35 trails) or Hunt Hollow in Naples (80 acres of trails) for your skiing adventure (including lessons), day or night.

7.

Snowboarding — Combining elements of surfing, skateboarding and skiing, your snowboarding experience awaits at Brantling Ski & Snowboard Center in Sodus, Bristol Mountain in Canandaigua, Swain Ski Resort or Kissing

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

Bridge in Glenwood. Many resorts offer a ‘snowboard school” for beginners. Visit www.iskiny.com/skinew-york for additional information, including instructional videos and up-to-date snow conditions.

Sledding — You’re never too 8. old to go sledding! If you want to go beyond smaller slopes

in your neighborhood or backyard, there are plenty of places to hike up that hill and fly down it. A few cool spots include parks in Pittsford-Mendon Ponds (try the hill on Douglas Road and Canfield Road) and Powder Mills Park (near the North and South lodges), Black Creek Park in Chili, Ellison Park in Penfield, Cobbs Hill in Rochester and Webster Park.

Snow Tubing — Looking for 9. a dose of adrenaline and adventure? Give snow tubing a try!

These rubber inflatable discs are faster than a sled and intended to maneuver over special courses with moguls and bumps. Snow Tubing at Greystone (1400 Atlantic Ave., Walworth) offers a 10-lane, 1,000-foot snow-tubing run. For more information, visit www.greystonetubing.

com. If you’re willing to travel a little farther, head to the Holiday Valley Tubing Company (5673 Bryant Hill Road, Ellicottville) or Greek Peak Adventure Center (1856 NYS Route 392, Cortland) which offers a tubing center with 18 lanes.

Hiking — The city of Roch10. ester offers free Weekend Park Hikes for youth and adults from 10-11:30 a.m. starting January 16th.

They will even provide snowshoes if conditions warrant. Hikes include Washington Grove, Seneca Park and Turning Point Park. Visit www. cityofrochester.gov/winteradventures/ for more details. In addition, there are 21 parks in Monroe County that total 12,00 acres with miles of trails to choose from. Visit www. monroecounty.gov/parks for more information.

Editor’s Note: Due to COVID-19 and CDC and county guidelines, it’s advisable to check each venue for hours, availability, and protocols (including advanced online registration) regarding upcoming events.

bers, and that’s a great community for our caregivers to post questions, ask about resources and just share.

All of the services we offer are free of charge for the family.

Q: What is your budget?

A: This upcoming year, we look to raise between $650,000 and $700,000.

Q A &

With Kate Houck

Executive director talks about the mission of David’s Refuge, a nonprofit that helps parents of children with special needs or chronic diseases

K

ate Houck is the executive director of David’s Refuge, which has been offering a respite for parents of children with special needs or chronic diseases since 2011. What started out as a small program run out of a couple’s home in Manlius has grown over the years, and with its own office space now, it serves hundreds of families a year. Houck has been running the nonprofit since 2014.

goal was to remind caregivers that they are not alone. They wanted parents to know how deeply caring for their children with special needs mattered, this was such an important role that they were playing in keeping their child safe and keeping their family strong.

Q: What is David’s Refuge?

A: Our organization supports parents who have children with special needs or a child with a life-threatening illness. What we’ve turned into is a network of moms and dads or guardians who are all on the same journey of being caregivers and mommies and daddies to their children.

Q: How did it grow from there?

It got so big so fast, they started utilizing existing bed and breakfast locations and they no longer were serving couples in their home. It’s still the model that we carry out. We serve parents, caregivers, in existing bed and breakfast places, scattered across New York state, and we still offer two nights all expenses paid.

We also have a mentor couple that go along on the weekend and provide that caring, that remembrance that they’re not alone.

Q: How and when did it come about?

A: David’s Refuge was started

by Warren and Brenda Pfohl. Their middle son was David, who was diagnosed with a genetic disorder, Batten Disease, at age 8. They became primary caregivers to David. He ended up passing away just before his 21st birthday. They took time to grieve. A year later, they decided to open David’s Refuge in their home in Manlius. They wanted to provide a respite service, an overnight, bed and breakfast, extravagant beautiful place for parents. This was back in 2011. They started welcoming these caregivers into their home, where they would give them two nights — no expense. They would give them a beautiful breakfast every morning.

They would send them out to dinner both nights, and they would provide this extraordinary love. Their whole

Q: What services does the Refuge offer?

A: Our mission statement says that we provide respite, resources and support to caregivers. They’re eligible for that service once per year.

Additionally, we provide year-round programs and events. The events are mostly tailored to creating a fun experience that inspires community within the families we serve. Isolation is a huge problem for families who have children with special needs. Our programs are set up to create a resource for caregivers and their kids so that they are open to learning about self-care because selfcare is at the core of what we do. We want caregivers to remember the importance of caring for themselves. We also do support. We have an extensive, closed Facebook page that’s just for caregivers with over 800 mem-

Q: How are you funded?

A: We’re funded through a variety of ways, none of them being state funding. We work with individuals who are committed to our mission and give annually to David’s Refuge as an investment. We also do have an avenue where we accept donations in the form of legacy gifts. We work with many local foundations, who year after year help us with specific programs to support some of our initiatives. And then businesses. So many local businesses and even businesses from afar see the work we’re doing and invest annually through events or just give because they want to see our mission grow.

Q: How many families have been served by David’s Refuge since it opened?

A: I don’t have the exact number. You could easily say thousands.

Every year we’ve grown and this year, specifically, we have seen such a growth with the virtual aspect of our offerings. We’re having families who haven’t ever gone away overnight but they are calling into our monthly webinars. We want to make sure that families feel welcomed at whatever part of the journey they’re on.

Q: How big is your staff – employees and volunteers?

A: We have a small staff – four part-time employees and two full time. Our key volunteer group would be comprised of about 20 people, between our board of directors and our really active committee members.

Q: How has the pandemic affected your services?

A: The pandemic has obviously forced us to make changes to the services. We’ve had to be really careful about gathering people into groups. Two successful programs were launched during COVID. We sent 800 care packages that included all sorts of items that would help our caregivers know that we were still very much here. We’ve had to change our respite weekend program slightly. We had to take a couple months off in the thick of COVID. It’s making us a more well-rounded organization in the way we can come alongside families regardless of where they are, if they can come to us or not.

Q: What is the most rewarding part of your job?

A: What I found so rewarding about David’s Refuge is twofold.

When I get to tell a caregiver what we do, what our mission is, and their face changes, their body relaxes, they get excited because so many caregivers feel forgotten. On the other side, it’s the same connection when a local business leader or local company or local individual says we believe so much in what you’re doing that, we want to become part of it. It’s connecting people who want to do good and want to move this mission forward.

For more information, visit www. davidsrefuge.org.

January 2021 •

Don’t Schedule Your Operation on Your Surgeon’s Birthday

I

f you have a choice, you might want to avoid having an operation on your surgeon’s birthday.

A new study finds that seniors who have emergency surgery on their surgeon’s birthday have a much higher risk of dying in the following weeks.

Researchers analyzed data on nearly 981,000 emergency surgeries performed on Medicare beneficiaries by about 48,000 surgeons between 2011 and 2014.

The analysis included 17 different types of surgery.

Of those operations, 0.2% occurred on the surgeons’ birthdays.

In the 30 days after surgery, death rates were 6.9% among patients whose procedures were performed on their surgeons’ birthdays and 5.6% among other patients, a difference of about 23%.

Surgeons may be more distracted on their birthdays than on other days, but further research is needed to learn more about this issue, according to the authors of the study, published Dec. 10 in the journal BMJ. “Our study was the first to show the association between a surgeons’ birthday and patient mortality, but further research is needed before we make a conclusion that birthdays indeed have a meaningful impact on surgeons’ performance,” said researcher Yusuke Tsugawa, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles.

“But at this point, given that evidence is still limited, I don’t think patients need to avoid a surgical procedure on the surgeon’s birthday,” Tsugawa said in a university news release.

The study had a number of limitations, the researchers noted.

They weren’t able to identify the mechanisms that led to a higher death rate among patients who had their operations on their surgeons’ birthday, so it wasn’t possible to prove a causal link between surgeons’ birthdays and patient deaths.

Also, the study was limited to older patients and the findings may not apply to younger patients or those having elective surgery.

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Oswego County Group Wants Seniors to Be Active, Healthy Rural Health Network of Oswego County compiling list of things for seniors to do, places to get free food

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aring Community Advocates of Oswego County, a subcommittee of the Rural Health Network of Oswego County, is compiling and sharing information for seniors and caregivers in Oswego County so they can stay active, social and healthy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the winter.

“Seniors are feeling isolated due to the pandemic and with winter upon us the committee wants to offer seniors a variety of choices to be active, social, and healthy, both physically and emotionally,” said Jen Rice, liaison from Kindred at Home and chairwoman of the Caring Community Advocates.

Leanna Cleveland, coordinator of Community Health with OCO, says, “There are several programs happening virtually that seniors can become involved with. OCO’s nutrition services is offering grab-and-go meals and take-home activities. The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America has a calendar of virtual events for each month, and there are volunteer opportunities through RSVP of

Oswego County. That’s just naming a few things.”

The Caring Community Advocates will utilize press releases and social media to inform and update the community of the various programs and offerings geared toward seniors and caregivers to ensure they are staying active, social, and healthy.

Follow Caring Community Advocates on Facebook at OCO Rural Health Network of Oswego County for regular updates.

A list of upcoming events and programs can be found below:

Nutrition OCO Nutrition Services has five grab-and-go meal sites where Oswego County residents 60 and older can come to the site and pick up meals.

• The Central Square Community Church: 833 Route 11, Central Square. Open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Call 315-720-9723 in advance to sign up and place an order.

• The Fulton Municipal Building: 141 S. First St., Fulton. Open 11 a.m. to 12 noon, Monday through Friday.

Call 315-592-3408 in advance to sign up and place an order.

• The Hannibal Community Library: 162 Oswego St., Hannibal.

Open 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 pm. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Call 315-564-5471 in advance to sign up and place an order.

• OCO Mexico Nutrition Kitchen Site: 5871 Scenic Ave, Mexico. Open 11 a.m. to 12 noon Wednesdays and Fridays. Call 315-806-1917 in advance to sign up and place an order.

• The Congregational Church of Phoenix: 43 Bridge St., Phoenix.

Open 11 a.m. to 12 noon Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Call 315695-4841 in advance to sign up and place an order.

• Follow OCO Nutrition Services on Facebook and give it a “Like” at OCO Nutrition Services as there are fun activities, nutrition education, and giveaways being offered each week.

• The Food Bank of CNY holds a

lunch-and-learn the first Wednesday of every month at noon on Facebook with giveaways. Follow the Food Bank of CNY on Facebook for these opportunities.

Social Opportunities • Community Living Advocates offers several classes, social opportunities, and events such as Gwen’s Healthy Hearts, Cup of Comfort with Gwen, Rhythm and Moves, The CNY Senior Talent Show, and more! Visit www.communitylivingadvocates. com/events.

• The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America offers several virtual programs such as art class, virtual visits to places such as The Tenafly Nature Center, cooking classes, etc. They list a monthly calendar. For more information, visit https://alzfdn.org/events/ • RSVP of Oswego County offers a variety of volunteer opportunities for seniors to do at home or while social distancing. Call 315-312-2317 for more information or email rsvp@ oswego.edu for more information.

• Senior Planet offers virtual fitness, wellness and discussion groups.

Folks from all over the United States offer a wonderful opportunity to build a virtual friendship while staying active. Visit the site here: www. seniorplanet.org • Looking for websites for online games to keep the mind active and strong? Check these out: https://games. aarp.org/ — it offers several games such as Mahjong, solitaire, crossword puzzles, word scrambles, and word searches; https://thejigsawpuzzles.com/ — it offers countless jigsaw puzzles with mystery puzzles offered daily.

RECONNECT WITH YOUR HEALTH. WE’RE HERE TO HELP. At Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, we’re here to care for communities across Upstate New York. And a big part of that is helping people take care of themselves. If you’ve been holding off on scheduling appointments or addressing ongoing health concerns, now’s a good time to reconnect with your doctor. So focus on your health and move forward with confidence, knowing that we’re with you every step of the way.

Get started today at ExcellusBCBS.com

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

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COVID-19: Excellus Provides Funding to Domestic Violence Prevention Groups

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xcellus BlueCross Blue Shield is providing $50,000 in financial support to domestic violence prevention organizations across Upstate New York as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the Central New York area funding will be provided to Vera House in Syracuse.

The health plan has committed to spending more than $162 million to help its members and communities fight the pandemic.

“With the numbers of people that

continue to get sick, the growing unemployment rate, and an increase in anxiety and financial stress, this pandemic has created the perfect storm for an exacerbated domestic violence crisis,” said physician Sudha Bakshi, Excellus BCBS medical director.

“Helping to put an end to domestic violence and removing barriers for those in need is our main objective with this funding.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three women and one in four men

Planned Parenthood Reports Dramatic Drop in HIV Testing in Upstate Agency officials expects greater spread of HIV as a result

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

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or people at risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, receiving regular testing and prompt test results can help reduce their chances of spreading HIV. Since the pandemic began last spring, testing and prompt results have been disrupted.

According to Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York, which maintains offices serving the Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse areas, testing for HIV has decreased dramatically since the local onset of the pandemic.

The agency facilitated 4,644 tests from Mar. 1, 2019 through Oct. 1, 2019. During the same period in 2020, the number of tests plummeted to only 2,403. That is 51% fewer tests.

The reasons vary behind why testing has declined so dramatically.

“I think that is directly related to our patients not wanting to come in,” said Amy Hsi, nurse practitioner for Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York in Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse. “In general, it’s because of the risk of COVID and having to adjust for safety reasons.”

The healthcare industry underscored the seriousness of COVID-19 by suspending non-emergency services for weeks during the pandemic’s onset. Although on April 1, Planned Parenthood announced expansion of telehealth, testing for HIV through Planned Parenthood requires a physical presence.

“Most healthcare providers are offering telehealth services so people can get care, but for HIV testing, you have to go somewhere,” Hsi said.

“They need to come in or we could order it and they could go to a lab.”

The agency does not provide home-based tests for patients to take or mail to a lab. Home tests are available at pharmacies such as CVS and Rite Aid for about $35 to $45. Oral tests offer accurate results in minutes; however, they are only accurate if the test is taken after three months of the exposure incident. For people who frequently engage in risky activity, waiting that long for test results can contribute to the spread of HIV. Although healthcare providers have opened back up for seeing more patients, the social distancing rules

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in the United States have experienced violence from a partner in their lifetime — and the risks to victims are severe. Victims of domestic violence face more social isolation in general, even when there isn’t a widespread pandemic. Abusers have more tactics at their disposal when victims can’t easily get away from home.

With the multitude of entities closed to the public it is important for those in high risk situations to know that courts, many domestic violence organizations, phone hotlines, and shelters are available to help. Domestic violence organizations are also working to develop new strategies to support victims during the coronavirus pandemic, by offering hotline services through online chats or texting, in case victims cannot call with an abuser at home.

The domestic violence preven-

tion organizations receiving funding from Excellus BCBS comprise the following organization: • RESOLVE of Greater Rochester, Rochester, https://resolve-roc.org • Willow Domestic Violence Center, Rochester, https://willowcenterny.org • Family Justice Center, Buffalo, www.fjcsafe.org • Pinnacle Community Services, Niagara Falls, www.pinnaclecs.org • RISE, Endicott, http://rise-ny. org • Vera House, Syracuse, www. verahouse.org • YWCA Mohawk Valley, Utica, www.ywcamv.org For the latest information on the health plan’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, members, providers and employers are encouraged to visit www.chooseexcellus.com/covid19.

mean fewer patients can be admitted in offices at a time. That can hamper providers’ ability to offer services in a timely fashion.

Hsi said that periodic surges in COVID-19 infection numbers continue to keep many wary patients away.

She thinks that the pandemic may cause greater spread of HIV compared with previous years. At this point, it is difficult to tell.

“If people really are self-quarantining and not getting out as much, they may not be doing at-risk activities,” Hsi said. “Then again, maybe people at home are having more unprotected sex without knowing their HIV status. If people can’t get condoms and PrEP, it puts them more risk.”

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is a daily medication that can prevent people at high risk for HIV from contracting the infection.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “In the United States, HIV is mainly spread by having sex or sharing syringes and other injection equipment with someone who is infected with HIV. Substance use can contribute to these risks indirectly because alcohol and other drugs can lower people’s inhibitions and make them less likely to use condoms.”

tests.”

Fewer access points may be why the number is going down across the region. For example, Oswego County Health Department and the satellite office in Mexico have remained open for HIV testing, but its satellite offices at SUNY Oswego and in Central Square and Pulaski closed until further notice.

Cayuga County Health Department outsources its HIV testing to facilities, including East Hill Family Medical, Inc.in Auburn.

“HIV testing is going down a little bit,” said Chris Soprano, health programs specialist at East Hill. “At the beginning of the pandemic, no one was coming in, but it is gradually getting better.”

The facility never shut down during the pandemic. Soprano attributes the lower numbers of people seeking testing for sexually transmitted infections to the public’s hesitancy of going places because of COVID-19.

Soprano said that overall fewer patients are seeking testing for sexually transmitted disease. This could indicate that transmission rates will rise “to the highest they’ve been in a very long time,” Soprano said.

Because of the pandemic, patients are not seeking testing and may be unwittingly spread infections.

The state provides a Home Test Giveaway (HTG) program which offers consumers a free home HIV test kit as needed. The request form for the NYS HTG is at https:// survey.alchemer.com/s3/5977532/ HHTG-Fall-2020-Eligibility-Survey-Live.

Fewer access points

Locally, Jiancheng Huang, public health director for Oswego County Public Health, said that numbers in Oswego County have decreased for those seeking HIV testing.

“I think that COVID has overtaken everything,” he said. “A lot of people aren’t coming in to have HIV January 2021 •

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 21

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Loretto Launches New ‘Memory Life’ Community ‘This is going to be the future of memory care,’ says Loretto CEO

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s you enter the Memory Life Community, you are transported to what feels like a whole new world. An entire world contained within one building, thoughtfully designed for a very specific type of resident: dementia patients.

Loretto is nearing completion of its multi-million dollar investment to become the only provider in Upstate New York with this high level of innovative, state-of-the art, dedicated memory care support.

Every single detail was very intentional and extensively researched, from the unique exterior of each apartment to the red dishes which studies have shown help to increase appetite in dementia patients. The facility also features a stunning two-story 2,000-sq.ft. indoor garden with two water features and specially-lit ceiling to replicate the sky with clouds, stars and more.

“This is going to be the future of memory care,” said Kimberly Townsend, president and CEO at Loretto. “We’ve seen it work successfully in the Netherlands and we know this is what’s needed here in the U.S.” The Borer Memory Life Community is named for Frank and Patti Borer, who are lifelong residents and donated $1 million to support

this project. The Borers started the Petr-All Petroleum Corp in 1973, which grew to 80 convenience stores over 45 years — focused on providing good career opportunities for many in Central New York. They are dedicated to their faith and active parishioners of Holy Cross Church.

Patti is currently a resident at The Nottingham.

The building is connected by an enclosed pedestrian bridge to Loretto’s full continuum of care at The Nottingham campus, allowing access to the services and professional staff available in other buildings on the campus, as well as allowing residents who live in other facilities at The Nottingham to easily visit their loved ones in the Memory Life Community — such as married couples.

Loretto is actively recruiting for more than 20 new positions, and Dorenda Schmidt has been promoted to administrator of the Borer Memory Life Community. She previously served as a social worker and care manager at The Nottingham. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master of Social Work.

The Nottingham was also just named a Best Nursing Home for 2020-21 by U.S. News & World Report, for the second year in a row!

For more information, visit www. lorettocny.org/BorerMemoryLife.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

Dining area in the new Memory Life Community.

Senior Special • 5 things you need to know about Alzheimer’s • Signs you may need to visit an audiologist • How to find affordable housing for seniors • Make your bathroom safer and easier to use • Latest on hearing aids

By Jim Miller

What You’ll Pay for Medicare in 2021

Don’t miss theFebruary issue of In Good Health —CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper To advertise and reach more than 100,000 health-conscious readers, please call 315-342-1182 / email editor@cnyhealth.com

Dear Savvy Senior, I know there will be a small cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits next year but what about Medicare?

What will the Medicare Part B monthly premiums be in 2021, and when do the surcharges kick in for higher income beneficiaries?

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Inquiring Senior Dear Inquiring, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced their cost adjustments for 2021 and the increases for premiums and out-of-pocket costs for most beneficiaries will be modest. But if you’re a high earner, you’ll pay more.

Here’s what you can expect starting in January.

Medicare Part B While Medicare Part A, which pays for hospital care, is premium-free for most beneficiaries, Part B, which covers doctor visits and outpatient services does have a monthly premium. Starting in 2021, the standard monthly Part B premium will be $148.50, up from $144.60 in 2020. That $3.90 bump represents a 2.7% increase, which is more than double the most recent Social Security cost-of-living adjustment which was 1.3%.

But if you’re a high earning beneficiary, which makes up about 7% of all Medicare recipients, you’ll have to pay more. Medicare surcharges for high earners are based on adjusted gross income from two years earlier, which means that 2021 Part B premiums are determined by 2019 annual income.

So, if your 2019 income was above $88,000 up to $111,000 ($176,000 up to $222,000 for married couples filing jointly), your 2021 Part B monthly premium will be $207.90, up from $202.40 in 2020.

Monthly premiums for singles with an income between $111,000 and $138,000 ($222,000 and $276,000 for joint filers) will rise from $289.20 to $297. Individuals earning above $138,000 up to $165,000 ($276,000 to $330,000 for joint filers) will see their monthly premium increase from $376 to $386.10.

Those with incomes above $165,000 up to $500,000 ($320,000 to $750,000 for joint filers), you’ll pay $475.20 per month in 2021. And single filers with income of $500,000 or more ($750,000 or more for joint filers) will pay $504.90 per month next year.

Medicare Part D If you have a Medicare (Part D) prescription drug plan, the average premium in 2021 will be about $30 per month for most beneficiaries.

But, again for high earners with annual incomes above $88,000 ($176,000 for joint filers) you’ll pay a $12.30 to $77.10 monthly surcharge on top of your regular Part D premiums.

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Beneficiaries that fall into any of the high-income categories and have experienced certain life-changing events that have reduced their income since 2019, such as retirement, divorce or the death of a spouse, can contest the surcharge.

For more information on how to do this, see “Medicare Premiums: Rules for Higher-Income Beneficiaries” at SSA.gov/benefits/medicare/medicare-premiums.html.

Other Medicare Increases In addition to the Part B and Part D premium increases, there are other cost increases you should be aware of. For example, the annual deductible for Medicare Part B will see a bump from $198 to $203 in 2021.

The deductible for Medicare Part A, which covers hospital services, will increase from $1,408 in 2020 to $1,484 in 2021. There are no surcharges on Medicare deductibles for high earners.

For more information on all the Medicare costs for 2021 visit Medicare.gov and click on “2021 Medicare Costs,” or call 800-633-4227.

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Give Yourself a Break: Mental Health Tips for Healthcare Workers

Get Your New Standardized Benefit Verification Letter Online

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By Brenda McCutcheon

T

he pandemic has impacted everyone, and healthcare workers have had a particularly hard

time.

Many have been working nonstop for months and are now feeling burned out and strained.

As we prepare for the darkest time of the year and a difficult start to a New Year, Loretto has been sharing ways that its frontline heroes can practice self-care and try to ease some of the stress.

These tips can be helpful for all members of our community, as well.

Practice Self-Care Self-care involves the body, mind and soul. Daily exercise and movement are important to our health and well-being, as are mental breaks throughout the day. Go outside if you can or find a quiet corner and take five deep breathes. On each inhale tell yourself that you’ve done a terrific job. On each exhale, think of your happy place and loosen your shoulders. These breathing exercises have proven to help calm a busy mind and relax your muscles. Do these as many times as you need throughout the day to feel better and more relaxed.

Taking a hot shower or a long bath at the end of the day helps, too.

The hot water and steam help relax all our muscles and make our bodies feel less tense. Studies have shown that when our bodies feel loose and relaxed, so do our minds.

Keep a Gratitude Journal Jot down three things that made you feel good during the day. It could be a task you’ve accomplished or a positive interaction you’ve had with someone. You may also choose to write down all the things you’re grateful for — loving families, great

friends or simply being in good health. In hard times like these, it’s especially important to focus on the positive things to keep our spirits up every day.

Seek Help When Feeling Overwhelmed Seek help from trusted resources if you’re feeling stressed, anxious or depressed.

The American Medical Association offers free resources to medical professionals, and at Loretto we are not only reminding and encouraging our employees to take breaks, but we’re also surprising them with fun events and celebrations, humor, complimentary meals and more. We want all caregivers to have the support they need.

There is still a dire need for healthcare workers across the country. During a time when things are continuously changing and it’s difficult to feel like you know what is secure, one industry continues to thrive: healthcare. A career in healthcare offers job security, great pay and benefits, opportunities for advancement and development, meeting new people and making a significant impact in our community. Loretto is actively seeking anyone interested in a career in healthcare. For more information, visit: www.lorettocny. org/careers.

Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga and Madison Counties

CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

A monthly newspaper published by Local News, Inc. 35,000 copies distributed throughout more than 1,000 high traffic locations, including all Wegmans stores.

In Good Health is published 12 times a year by Local News, Inc. © 2021 by Local News, Inc. All rights reserved. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 276, Oswego, NY 13126. • Phone: 315-342-1182 • Fax: 315-342-7776.

Editor & Publisher: Wagner Dotto • Associate Editor: Lou Sorendo Contributing Writers: Deborah Sergeant, Jim Miller, Gwenn Voelckers, Deborah Banikowski, George W. Chapman, Anne Palumbo, Melissa Stefanec, Chris Motola, Eva Briggs (MD), Mary Beth Roach, Payne Horning, Catherine Miller, Kyra Mancine, Brenda McCutcheon Advertising: Amy Gagliano, Cassandra Lawson Layout & Design: Dylon Clew-Thomas • Office Manager: Nancy Nitz No material may be reproduced in whole or in part from this publication without the express written permission of the publisher. The information in this publication is intended to complement—not to take the place of—the recommendations of your health provider.

Consult your physician before making major changes in your lifestyle or health care regimen.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

f you receive a benefit verification letter, sometimes called a “budget letter,” a “benefits letter,” a “proof of income letter,” or a “proof of award letter,” we have good news for you! A new standardized benefit verification letter is now available when you need proof of Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income or Medicare.

In addition to name, date of birth and the benefits received, the new benefit verification letter includes other identifiers to prevent misuse and fraud. This is an added benefit to you as proof of income for loans, housing assistance, mortgage and other verification purposes.

The same standardized letter is

Q&A

Q: Are Social Security numbers reassigned after a person dies?

A: No. We do not reassign Social Security numbers. In all, we have assigned more than 500 million Social Security numbers. Each year we assign about 5.5 million new numbers.

There are over one billion combinations of the nine-digit Social Security number. As a result, the current system has enough new numbers to last for several more generations.

For more information about Social Security, visit our website at www. socialsecurity.gov.

Q: I prefer reading by audio book. Does Social Security have audio publications?

A: Yes, we do. You can find them at www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs.

Some of the publications available include “What You Can Do Online,” “Working While Disabled — How We Can Help,” “Apply Online for Social Security Benefits,” and “Your Social Security Card and Number.”

You can listen now at www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs.

Q: I haven’t received my Social Security Statement in the mail the last few years. Will I ever get one again?

A: We currently mail Social Security statements to workers age 60 and over who aren’t receiving Social Security benefits and do not yet have a my Social Security account. We mail the statements three months prior to their birthday. Instead of waiting to receive a mailed statement, we encourage people to open a my Social Security account at www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount so they can access their statement online, anytime.

Q: What type of information will I need to provide if I’d like to apply online for

also available if you need proof that you do not receive benefits, or proof that benefits are pending. If you are an individual representative payee, you can use the my Social Security representative payee portal to access the same standardized benefit verification letter online for your beneficiaries.

This new standardized benefit verification letter is another example of our commitment to improve our service to you.

No matter how you request your letter, whether calling our National 800 Number, your local office, the interactive voice response system, or online with your personal my Social Security account at www.ssa.gov/ myaccount, the benefit verification letter now contains a seamless look.

Social Security retirement benefits?

A: Whether you apply for retirement benefits online or by phone, we suggest that you have the following information at hand when you do it.

This will make completing the application easier for you: • Your birthdate, place of birth, and Social Security number; • Your bank account number and your bank’s routing number, for direct deposit; • The amount of money you earned last year and this year. If you are applying for benefits in the months of September through December, you may also need to provide an estimate of what you expect to earn next year if you plan to continue working; • The name and address of your employer(s) for this year and last year; • The beginning and ending dates of any active military service you had prior to 1968; and • The name, Social Security number, and date of birth of your current and any former spouses.

Depending on your situation, you may need to provide additional documentation with your application. We’ll give you instructions on how to mail it to us. To get started, visit our Retirement Planner at www. socialsecurity.gov/retire2.

Q: If I call 1-800-772-1213, can a Social Security representative take my application for Medicare prescription drug help over the phone?

A: If an interviewer is available when you call the 800 number, he or she can take your application over the phone. If an interviewer is not immediately available, we can schedule a telephone appointment for you.

For the fastest and most convenient way to apply for Medicare prescription drug help, go online to www. socialsecurity.gov/prescriptionhelp.

H ealth News

St. Joe’s, URMC open heart failure clinic

St. Joseph’s Health recently announced that its Cardiovascular Institute has opened a heart failure clinic at its Brittonfield cardiology office.

The heart failure clinic will provide early follow-up (within one week) to patients without an established physician/cardiologist, provide care to the uninsured and serve as a bridge for patients who aren’t able to make a follow-up appointment within one week.

“We see it time and again. People end up in the emergency department with heart conditions and when they are released, they don’t see a cardiologist fast enough, or they don’t start their medications right away,” said physician Russell Silverman, medical director of the St. Joseph’s health heart failure clinic. “This can cause continuing heart issues. The incorporation of the heart failure clinic at St. Joseph’s Health will further improve access to timely, quality care and improve outcomes for our heart failure patients.”

The heart failure clinic is a strategic partnership with University of Rochester Medical Center. URMC cardiologists Leway Chen and Mark Tallman will each see patients at the Brittonfield location, reducing the need for patients to travel to Rochester for routine care. Developing an advanced heart failure treatment clinic also allows St. Joseph’s Health to provide care to its LVAD (left ventricular assist device) patient community, a service that is not currently available.

Strategic placement of the heart failure clinic within the Brittonfield practice offers availability to stress, echo, and EKG services, as well as access to on-site medical cardiologists.

It also supports the goal of reducing preventable readmissions in heart failure patients.

Orthopedic surgeon joins Joseph’s Health Orthopedic surgeon Dermot Reynolds recently joined St. Joseph’s Physicians Orthopedics in Camillus.

Reynolds is a seasoned orthopedic surgeon with more than 25 years of experience. A fellowDermot ship-trained orthopedic, Reynolds specializes in the care of adults with hip and knee pain with a special interest in robotic-assisted joint replacement surgery.

He earned his doctor of medicine degree from the University of Toronto in Canada and completed fellowships at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada and the University of Manitoba in Canada.

Nurse practitioner joins Oswego’s Center for Wound Healing

Tyanna W. Bergeron, a family practice nurse practitioner, has joined The Center for Wound Healing at Oswego Health.

Bergeron will see patients at the center which offers leading-edge treatments, Bergeron including hyperbaric oxygen therapy, negative pressure therapies, bioengineered tissues and biosynthetics to reintroduce the body’s innate ability to heal.

Before joining The Center for Wound Healing, Bergeron worked for Oswego Health Primecare Fulton.

There she saw patients ages 12 and older and assisted with the management of chronic diseases, mental health disorders, prescribed medications and treatments as well as conducted physical exams and health screenings and when needed, referred patients to medical specialists.

Bergeron has extensive experience and has worked in healthcare systems around the country, including Face and Body Center in Flowood and St. Dominic’s Hospital emergency department in Jackson — both in Mississippi — and Valley Children’s Clinic in Renton, West Virginia.

By joining The Center for Wound Healing at Oswego Health, a member of the Healogics network, Bergeron will collaborate with a network of academic medical centers, hospitals and thousands of professionals committed to advancing wound healing by creating, sharing, and activating wound prevention and care expertise.

Bergeron earned her Master of Science in Nursing degree from Gonzaga University in 2018 through its family nurse practitioner program.

Oswego now has new employee experience manager Human resource professional Jennifer Coleman has joined Oswego Health and will serve in a newly-created position, employee experience manager.

A certified human resources leader with over nice years Coleman of progressive experience as a trusted adviser to executives, managers and staff, Coleman demonstrates excellence in coaching to achieve results with teams through improved communication, goal setting, and accountability.

Kelly Quinn Shetsky started Regan’s Acts of Kindness after her 3-year old daughter, Regan Shetsky, was hit by a car and killed in her nursery school parking lot in Eastwood. The nonprofit distributes Christmas ornaments to more than 1,000 children and adults.

L

Regan Shetsky’s big brother Gavin and little brother Grayson help in the efforts to distribute Christmas ornaments to adults and children as part of Regan’s Acts of Kindness’ annual event. Jan 4 marks the fourth year of the death of their sister, Regan.

Regan’s Acts of Kindness Brings Smiles to Children, Adults

ocal nonprofit Regan’s Acts of Kindness has announced it’s bringing smiles to the faces of more than 1,000 children and adults, thanks to the generous response to its 2020 Regan’s Ornament Drive.

The annual event got off to a slow start due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, with the help of social media and an Amazon Wish List, donations started pouring in. The record was 36 separate boxes delivered in one day.

Ornaments are being given to babies born at St. Joseph’s Health Hospital, Albany Medical Center in Albany, and Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Hundreds more are being handed

out to children who are patients at Golisano Children’s Hospital, the Upstate Cancer Center and Joslin Diabetes Center in Syracuse. Still more are going to residents at the Nottingham Assisted and Independent Living, Vera House, McKinley Brighton Elementary School, and Tillie’s Touch.

Regan’s Acts of Kindness (“reegan’s”) is a 501c3 charity started after 3-year old Regan Shetsky was hit by a car and killed in her nursery school parking lot in Eastwood.

Jan. 4 is the fourth anniversary of her death.

For more information, visit regansactsofkindness.com or follow it on Facebook.

Coleman is a certified professional in human resources (PHR) and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management Certified Professional.

The employee experience manager will be responsible for managing all employee relations and employee engagement programs and policies for Oswego Health. This is a highly engaged position in the organization as it will serve as the main HR contact point for the overall employee experience.

“Given the recent changes in healthcare and climate we all live and work in, we feel this position is critical to improving employee engagement and communication within the organization,” said Vice President of Human Resources Marq Brown. “I am pleased that we found a local candidate with such extensive experience as we are confident that Ms. Coleman will help enhance our culture and overall morale at Oswego Health.”

Before accepting this position at Oswego Health, Coleman was the director of employee engagement for EarQ in Syracuse. As a member of EarQ’s executive leadership team, Coleman oversaw all aspects

of human resources including staff development, organizational development, performance management and employee engagement.

January 2021 •

St. Joe’s to help care for Rome hospital’s heart patients Rome Memorial Hospital (RMH) and St. Joseph’s Health are teaming up to offer patients in rural areas access to highly advanced cardiac care.

The “Bluetooth stethoscope” technology being used at the Cardiovascular Institute at RMH allows doctors to hear and see a patient’s heartbeat without physically being there.

“This technology is the first of its kind in the region,” said physician Russell Silverman, medical director of the St. Joseph’s Health heart failure clinic and chief medical officer at RMH. “It enables us to bring high quality heart care to areas that might otherwise not be served by these types of subspecialties.”

During a consultation, the patient at RMH is accompanied by a nurse or respiratory therapist (RT).

They connect via computer to the

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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H ealth News Continued from last page cardiologist in Syracuse. The cardiologist speaks with the patient to assess how he or she is feeling. Then, the nurse or RT moves the Bluetooth stethoscope to different parts of the patient’s chest and neck so the physician can hear and see the patient’s heart activity.

“Our goal is to use this remarkable technology to keep patients close to home,” said Silverman. “By treating their heart issues using the Bluetooth stethoscope, we hope to avoid transferring them out of town to St. Joseph’s Health Hospital if they don’t need tertiary care. They can stay close to their loved ones, which is what we strive for.”

St. Joseph’s Health and RMH are the only hospitals in the region using this technology. Silverman says the increase of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic helped to progress the program and make it a reality. RMH is currently using the Bluetooth stethoscope for inpatient and ER consultations.

St. Joseph’s Health is one of only eight hospitals in the nation to be named an American Heart Association Center of Excellence, one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery according to a national study by Healthgrades, and it received the highest performance rating for Heart Bypass Surgery by U.S. News and World Report.

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SOS and PRL Hold Competition to Collect Donations for the Food Bank

IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021

S

yracuse Orthopedic Specialists (SOS) recently challenged a local business partner, Practice Resources, LLC (PRL), to a competition to collect food for donation to the Food Bank of Central New York.

The companies have each collected food from their employees through Nov. 20. Representatives from each company delivered their collections on Nov. 23 for the final weigh-off. PRL weighed in with 412 lbs. and SOS with 1,176 lbs. In total, the donations will serve 1,320 families in Central New York.

“PRL is a great local business partner to SOS and we thought a friendly competition could strengthen our relationship while at the same time help area residents in need,” said orthopedist Brett Greenky, president of SOS. SOS is committed to supporting local nonprofits and the residents they serve. It has partnered with the Food Bank of the CNY many times in the past, including sponsoring its annual Savor Syracuse Event, to ensure they can meet the emergency food needs of the individuals and organizations in the nine counties they serve and support their mission to eliminate hunger.

From left to right: Dr. Tanya Paul (OBGYN), Marilyn Degiovine (Patient), Scott Berlucchi (President & CEO), Dr. Ranjna Sharma Medical Director of Breast Cancer Program, Dr. Amy MacDonald, (OBGYN)

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

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IN GOOD HEALTH – CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper January 2021