Mv igh 111 may15

in good Dr. Rebecca LaValley:

No snooze, you lose See Page 7

Ready for the caveman diet?

See Page 10

May 2015 • Issue 111

MVhealthnews.com

free

Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper

ARE YOU OCD?

Sufferers talk about challenges associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder See Page 3

Meet Your Doctor

Dr. Jonathan Eli-Phillips Dr. Raphael Kellman:

How is your microbiome?

See Page 8

Technology at OHC Page 11

When I heard that mozzarella cheese has fewer calories and less fat than most cheeses, I nearly choked on my pizza. No way, I thought.

Mozzarella?

Page 11

Care Net Pregnancy Center For many women in the Mohawk Valley facing unplanned pregnancies, the Care Net Pregnancy Center of Central NY is a safe haven.

Page 20

Golden Years Edition Page 14

• For many, love is ageless Page 5

WELCOMING NEW PATIENTS!

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Affiliated with Crouse Medical Practice, PLLC

CNY Medical Center 739 Irving Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13210 Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

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s the area’s largest internal medicine practice, we welcome you and your family to our practice of more than 20 highly qualified, board-certified primary care/internal medicine providers — all affiliated with the Crouse Medical Practice care network and conveniently located across from Crouse Hospital.

Monazza Ahmed, MD

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HEALTH EVENTS

Got a health-related activity or event that you would like publicized? Call Lou Sorendo at 315-749-7070 or email lou@cnymail.com.

Mondays

Support group featured for OCD sufferers The Central New York Obsessive Compulsive Foundation, Inc., a registered nonprofit agency, has offered OCD sufferers in the region a weekly support group since 1997.

The group meets from 6:30-8 p.m. every Monday except holidays at St. Elizabeth’s College of Nursing, firstfloor conference room, Genesee Street, Utica.

Meetings are professionally assisted the third Monday of each month.

For more information, call founder Susan Connell at 315-768-7031, email her at info@cnyocf.org, visit www. cnyocf.org or check out Cen NY OCD Support Group on Facebook.

A speakers’ bureau is available at no cost.

Women’s support group to get together

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A women’s support/therapy group is meeting weekly from 5:30-7 on Mondays.

Groups will be held in a confidential location in New Hartford and group size will be limited to protect anonymity.

Topics of discussion may include family issues, stress, anger, relationships, grief, and more.

Clinical therapist Cynthia Davis, who has over 20 years of experience, will lead the group.

To pre-register, contact Davis at 315-736-1231, 315-794-2454 or email cindycsw@yahoo.com.

Tuesdays

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Insight House offers family support group Insight House Chemical Dependency Services, Inc. is offering a family

Page 2

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IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper • May 2015

support group meeting from 6:15-7:30 p.m. Tuesdays at Insight House, 500 Whitesboro St., Utica.

The group is free and open to anyone who is concerned about a loved one’s relationship with alcohol, opiates/heroin, or other substances.

For more information about the group, call 724-5168, ext. 265, from 8:30-4 p.m. weekdays.

All calls are strictly confidential.

Support for the grief stricken Grief Survivors meets from 6-7:30 p.m. every Tuesday at The Good News Center, 10475 Cosby Manor Road, Utica. Drop-ins are welcome.

This is a faith-based support group for those suffering the loss of a loved one.

For more information, contact Tanya at 315-735-6210, tanya@thegoodnewscenter.org or visit online at www. thegoodnewscenter.org.

Insight House offers family support group Insight House Chemical Dependency Services, Inc. is offering a family support group meeting from 6:15-7:30 p.m. Tuesdays at Insight House, 500 Whitesboro St., Utica.

The family support group is free and open to anyone who is concerned about a loved one’s relationship with alcohol, opiates/heroin, or other substances.

For more information about the group, call 724-5168, ext. 265, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.

All calls are strictly confidential.

Continued on Page 12

Cover Story OCD: anxiety-ridden existence

Disorder of the brain, behavior creates obsessive-compulsive personalities

By Lesley Semel Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a disorder of the brain and behavior, causing severe anxiety.

OCD involves both obsessions and compulsions that take a lot of time and get in the way of important activities or events in a person’s life. Therapists and medications are able to help lower and manage anxiety, but the disorder never fully goes away.

Here are three people who have been living with OCD for many years, having to work endlessly to push past their disorder and not let it control their lives.

Kathy Alshiemer

Kathy Alshiemer has been living with OCD for over 50 years and the first compulsion she remembers was when she was 12 years old.

Religious rituals began bothering her in a way that if something went wrong during a prayer or she wasn’t paying attention in church, she would get anxious.

Her OCD was not as full blown until college, where she would constantly wash her hands and put objects in a specific order.

“In the refrigerator, I would put things in the proper order. If there were three things in the front row, I needed three things in the back row and that went on for quite a while,” she said.

She kept her rituals a secret.

Alshiemer didn’t think many people noticed her obsessions in the way that

she observed. She remembers telling her mother from time to time she felt dirty when her obsessions were extreme, although she took baths every single day.

“My mother saw that I was washing my hands a lot and when I would be finished in the bathroom, there would be water all over the place. She would go in and wipe it all up before my father came in,” she said.

Her fingers would crack and bleed from washing her hands multiple times a day, and she constantly applied lotion just to keep her hands soft.

Alshiemer began to pair specific meals in a certain order and different foods according to what kind of food and color. For example, if she had beef for dinner, for the next morning her toast needed to have raspberry or strawberry jam. Everything had to be just right, but to everyone else it meant nothing.

As her hand washing got worse after college, she went to different therapists to see why she needed to do it more often than normal. It was frustrating for her that no one was able to give her a straight answer.

“I didn’t think I was crazy. But I knew what I was doing wasn’t right.

I was compelled to do these things. I had to wash my hands. I had to line up everything just so and it was an overwhelming thought I couldn’t get rid of,” she said.

She explains her OCD like this: If your house was on fire and you

Help for OCD available

T

he Central New York Obsessive Compulsive Foundation, Inc., a registered nonprofit agency, has offered OCD sufferers in the region a weekly support group since 1997.

The group meets from 6:30-8 p.m. every Monday except holidays at St. Elizabeth’s College of Nursing, firstfloor conference room, Genesee St., Utica.

were unable to go home and couldn’t do anything, it’s that kind of anxiety Alshiemer feels with her own OCD. It wasn’t until her early 30s that she eventually self-diagnosed herself when she went to a class at her local community college. She told her professor what she was doing. Several weeks later, the professor gave her a book about obsessions, compulsions and addictions.

“It was unbelievable. As I read

every page, I kept saying, ‘Well, this is me.’ It was the first time I didn’t feel alone,” she said.

Alshiemer brought the book to a doctor who agreed her issue was in fact OCD. She heard there were medications for the disorder. It took her a while before she found a doctor that was able to prescribe her the medication she needed to help with her compulsions.

Continued on Page 14

Present Tense Psychiatry

Meetings are professionally assisted the third Monday of each month.

For more information, call founder Susan Connell at 315-768-7031, email her at info@cnyocf.org, visit www.cnyocf.org or check out Cen NY OCD Support Group on Facebook.

A speakers’ bureau is available at no cost.

Deanna Brady, NPP-BC, PLLC • 2 Fountain Street, Clinton, NY 13323

ACCEPTING NEW PATIENTS Children and Adults Welcome Call (315) 853-2125 for an appointment today www.PresentTensePsychiatry.com

Personalized consultations, medication management, and psychotherapy Disorders include: depression, anxiety, bipolar, sleep disorders, behavioral disorders, ADHD No third party payments: fee-for-service provider

MVHS celebrates National Healthcare Volunteer Week In honor of National Healthcare Volunteer Week, April 12-18, the Mohawk Valley Health System celebrated the many active volunteers who donate their time, energy and talents to the organization and encourages others to start helping within their communities.

During the annual weeklong celebration, volunteers were offered discount coupons to the hospital gift shops and participated in prize drawings.

Volunteers who reached milestones in their hours of service will be recognized at an annual recognition event in May. In 2014, MVHS had 562 individ-

ual volunteers who contributed more than 75,500 volunteer hours of service to patients and their families. That is equivalent to the work of 39 full-time employees, which saves the hospital nearly $1.7 million per year.

The volunteers at MVHS provide vital services and support to not only the patients and their families, but also to the MVHS staff.

To learn how to make a difference in the community by volunteering at MVHS, visit the FSLH website at www. faxtonstlukes.com/volunteer or call 315-624-6142; or visit the SEMC website at http://www.stemc.org/volunteers or call 315-801-8275.

7 Timmerman Ave. Phone: 518-568-5037 St. Johnsville, NY 13452 Web: www.stjrnc.com

The industry leader in skilled nursing and outpatient rehabilitation services May 2015 •

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper

•

Page 3

Meet

Your Doctor

By Patricia J. Malin

Dr. Jonathan Eli-Phillips Obstetrician-gynecologist Jonathan Eli-Phillips joined the Mohawk Valley Health System Medical Group and the practice of Ashraf Aly at the Women’s Health Center at 2212 Genesee St, Utica, recently. He has seen many aspects of healthcare in different parts of the world and recently spoke about his career with In Good Health senior correspondent Patricia J. Malin.

Q.: Why did you choose the Mohawk Valley Health System Medical Group and the Utica region as a place to practice?

A.: I have doctor friends here, in Oneida County, and at Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown. Most of my connections are in Syracuse and Oneida County.

Q.: Have you had an opportunity to explore the Mohawk Valley in the few months that you’ve lived here?

A.: Yes. The Adirondack Mountains are one of the reasons I came here. I also like the cultural attractions here and in New York City.

Q.: What motivated you to choose obstetrics-gynecology as a specialty?

Did anyone influence your decision?

A.: In medical school, I was exposed to obstetrics-gynecology during my time as a volunteer in both Africa and in the Ukraine. A lot of people don’t have access to mammograms or pap smears or the kind of preventive care we take for granted here.

A lot of women have babies delivered by midwives and some of them have trauma issues related to the births.

Many people go five years or eight years without ever seeing a doctor.

There’s a lack of specialists and access to medical care. I decided to become an advocate for women’s health. I wanted to bring my skills to improving women’s health.

No one in my family is in medicine. Most of them are in business, international affairs or policies, or they’re diplomats. Right from high school, I’ve been interested in medicine and helping people. It’s my compassion. When I was in Ukraine, the year before I went to medical school was when I decided I wanted to help people, especially help women and to be an advocate for people.

Q.: What are the more common illnesses and conditions that you treat?

A.: I see a lot of young women with high blood pressure, diabetes, who are smoking and drinking while pregnant, so I spend a lot of my time counseling my patients. Many of them have high-risk problems.

Some of them have the same problems that the women have in Africa or the Ukraine, but here they have good access to care.

Q.: What are some of the more common procedures that you conduct in treating patients?

A.: I treat women with fibroids, abnormal uterine bleeding, ovarian cysts or abnormal pap smears or who need hysterectomies.

Q.: How can a woman take control Page 4

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Jonathan Eli-Phillips, MD checks the growth of patient Samantha Kabana’s baby at the MVHS Women’s Health Center in Utica. of her gynecological health? Is there anything she can do to maintain and improve it?

A.: She needs to undergo regular screening and prevention, keep her yearly appointments for pap smears, etc., have a good diet and avoid drinking and smoking, especially if she knows she’s pregnant.

Q.: There has been a lot of discussion lately about the need for mammograms and how often to schedule them.

What is your recommendation?

A.: I think 40 is the best age to start. However, if a woman has a family history of breast cancer, she should have an ultrasound or MRI earlier than that. Between 40 and 50, she should have a mammogram every two years, and once a year after 50.

Q.: How has technology improved the practice of OB-GYN? Have there been any new technological developments that have made diagnosis and treatment more efficient?

A.: Yes, it’s changed a lot, especially with electronic medical records.

It helps cut down on costs. We have ultrasounds and MRIs and mammograms that can detect cancer early.

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper • May 2015

Q.: What do you enjoy most about your profession? What gives you the most job satisfaction?

A.: When I see my patients happy.

Some of them have no insurance, so I’m fighting for them to get insurance.

Q.: What are some of the more challenging aspects of your profession?

A.: It takes a lot of hours to help my patients get insurance. Some are un-

employed and don’t have the income.

Another negative is the long hours.

Q.: What do you see as the most significant weakness in the nation’s healthcare system? How can it be remedied?

A.: Some patients don’t have access to healthcare, even with ObamaCare.

Insurance premiums are still high.

Lifelines Age: 46 Hometown: South Africa Education: (scholarship) Medicine and surgery, Odessa Medical University, Odessa, Ukraine; residencies in obstetrics and gynecology at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York City and Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Upland, Pa. Professional Experience: Obstetrics and gynecology residency, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York City, 2007; residency, CrozerChester Medical Center, Upland, Pa., 2009; attending physican, Penn Highlands Medical Center, DuBois, Pa., April 2013.

Certifications: Board-certified in obstretics-gynecology

Golden Years Between You and Me

By Barbara Pierce

Love in the Golden Years Being elderly is no reason to skip the finer things in life

Y

esterday, my grandchildren visited me in my new home for the first time. They spent the day with my partner Dave and I. They — and the other young people in our lives — would be astonished, flabbergasted and incredulous to know what goes on after we send them on their way and shut the doors.

Two aged, lumpy, wrinkled, unattractive bodies can enjoy each other as much as they do in their young attractive bodies.

Yes, we happily discovered there can be a most glorious love between two Pierce who have many, many years behind them.

“The desire for giving and receiving physical expressions of affection doesn’t just vanish with age,” says Eve Pell in her book, “Love, Again.”

“It doesn’t seem to matter what the act consists of — cuddling or full blow intercourse — the connecting of bodies reverberates in the psyche and soothes the soul.”

I can identify with Pell, who describes how she fell in love: “He was a handsome, fit and an engaging widower. After two divorces, I was single and looking.” She’s telling my story.

“I can testify to the fact that falling love in my later 60s made me feel fiercely alive and happier that I ever was before,” she says. I was older, into my 70s, but yes, that’s my story.

The spark that makes you aware that something special is going on between you. You know when it happens, whether it is a gradual dawning or a sudden impact. Things fall into place and you realize this person and you are truly connected.

Oneida, Herkimer in good

‘Sweet intensity’

There’s a sweet intensity to our love, maybe bittersweet, because we know it’s transient. At this time of life, we’ll be walking each other home.

Death is out there; ‘til death do us part’ is all too real. Chances are great that one of us will be the caretaker for the other, then left to grieve alone. Scary things are waiting just around the corner. The risks are huge.

So we forge ahead with all we have, betting that the rewards will be worth the risk. We enjoy to the max the

and

Health MV’s Healthcare Newspaper

For me, it was an ember that gradually gained fire each time we spent time together. I’d met about 98 older men before I met Dave. There was a spark there for only two others, and those sparks never ignited. The spark I felt with Dave was an ember that built up until it burst into flame.

Over my long life, I’ve had a lot of male partners, but none as caring and giving as the one I have found in the last years of my life. And none who understood how to bring me joy like this old, old man. Could it be that I’ve finally got it right?

Madison

counties

A monthly newspaper published

by Local News, Inc. 20,000 copies distributed. To request home delivery ($15 per year), call 315-749-7070.

In Good Health is published 12 times a year by Local News, Inc. © 2015 by Local News, Inc. All rights reserved. Mailing Address: 4 Riverside Drive, Suite 251, Utica, NY 13502 • Phone: 315-749-7070 Email: lou@cnymail.com

time we have together; we optimize every moment together and apart, leave nothing on the table, live life to the fullest. We give thanks for every day that we are together. Yes, it definitely is a bittersweet love.

The premise of “Love, Again” is that late-in-life love is growing, it’s everywhere, and it’s transformative.

“In staggering numbers, old people are meeting and falling in love — in senior living facilities, in retirement homes, in bars, in grocery stores, on cruise ships, on the Internet — brazenly, quietly, unexpectedly. People once written off as too old for intimacy are having romances, beginning intense affairs once thought to be for the young,” Pell says.

The fastest growing demographic in online dating is persons over 60.

It worked well for me, as well as for several of my friends.

“Love, Again” is part memoir and part journey to a new frontier — the new frontier of love in the golden years.

Speaking with couples whose ages range from 61 to 96, Pell reports on their relationships, from saying hello to knowing they’d found the one, from blending routines and traditions to overcoming judgments and challenges.

They open up about old love versus young, the thrill of sex, and the looming shadow of mortality.

“You think when you get to this age that you won’t want to kiss or touch or romp around in bed,” a 72-year-old woman with an 87-year-

old partner is quoted in the book. “You think you won’t have that — but there it is! He turns something on in me that was very dormant, and was for him too.” That’s my story, too.

• Barbara Pierce is a retired licensed clinical social worker with many years’ experience in helping people. If you would like to purchase a copy of her book “If I’m so Fantastic, Why am I Still Single?” or if you have any concerns you would like her to address, contact her at BarbaraPierce06@ yahoo.com.

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Community Information Seminar:

Bariatric Surgery May 13, 2015 • 6:00 pm Presented by

January Hill, MD Utica Business Park 125 Business Park Drive, Suite 150, Utica, NY The offices of William A. Graber, MD, PC

To register call 315-235-2540 or toll free 877-269-0355

Editor & Publisher: Wagner Dotto Associate Editor: Lou Sorendo Contributing Writers: Patricia Malin, Barbara Pierce, Kristen Raab, Malissa Allen, Mary Stevenson, Deb Dittner, Amylynn Pastorella, Mary Christopher, Traci DeLore Advertising: Donna Kimbrell, Marsha Preston Layout & Design: Chris Crocker Office Manager: Alice Davis 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.

May 2015 •

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper

•

Page 5

Golden Years Sleep equals well-being Healthy sleep patterns mean a restored, revived you

By Kristen Raab

W

hen is the last time you slept seven to eight hours and woke up feeling rested?

If you find yourself searching for a day long since forgotten, you may be one of the many Americans who are not getting enough sleep.

Why is sleep so important?

Most of us have heard about how vital sleep is our entire lives, but we may not really understand why sleep is so essential. Let’s get back to basics: “Sleep is the way our body rests and refreshes itself. It is an essential part of our daily activities — just like eating and drinking.

Sleep helps your brain work properly,” said Rebecca LaValley LaValley, a physician at the Sister Rose Vincent Family Medicine Center in Utica.

A Gallup study called the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (2014) found that getting more hours of sleep could boost well-being, and that those with higher well-being may be more likely than those with lower well-being to get more sleep.

“It’s hard to know which came first, but I think there is good evidence that adequate sleep is necessary for

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overall well-being and health,” LaValley said. “Sleep deprivation leads to increased stress and increased cortisol (stress hormone) levels which are for certain detrimental to your health.”

Most importantly, people are not reaching our optimal sleep levels. The same Gallup poll showed that about 42 percent of American adults get less than seven hours of sleep each night.

LaValley said getting seven to eight hours of good sleep is important for physical and mental well being.

Think of the standard recommendation as a starting point, and recognize that people might each require a little more or less sleep than the recommended amount. It is incredibly important to “listen to your body,” LaValley said, as you will know if you are getting enough rest. “We push ourselves to the limit and wonder why our bodies are not cooperating,” she said.

Some people might struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep, which limits their ability to reach the required number of sleep hours. LaValley said the first step is to discuss sleeping problems with your doctor.

Why are you not sleeping well?

“It’s important to take a good history and do a physical exam to look for any signs of why you may not be sleeping well. There are times the doctor can treat those issues, such as sinus problems or sleep apnea. However, if no cause is found, LaValley says the next step is ‘lifestyle modification.

If this step is not helpful, a doctor may suggest over-the-counter medications, “and as a very last resort, prescription sleep aids may be necessary,” LaValley said.

It is common for adolescents, college students and other groups to miss out on sleep at times. “When there are so many obligations or distractions that keep us up, it is easy to skimp on sleep,” LaValley noted.

However, LaValley said not getting adequate sleep can affect one’s mental and physical health.

“It can affect your blood pressure,

your heart, your immune system and your mood,” she noted.

For students skipping sleep to get a few more hours of studying in before a big exam, remember: It affects your quality of life and your performance in life.

We all know that teenager who seems to sleep in far too late on the weekends or over the summer. Or perhaps we have friends who seem to be sleeping more than they are awake.

LaValley says that too much sleep becomes harmful if it is interfering with your daily life.

“It is important for us to view sleep as only a portion of our daily life,” she said. “If it’s causing you to be inactive most of the day, then that is bad for your health.”

As one might expect, adolescents need a bit more sleep.

“They probably still need closer to 10 hours of sleep, and the reality is most adolescents are getting much less especially with technology being such an obstacle to good sleep patterns,” LaValley said.

Both adolescents and adults bring phones to bed. “We never just ‘turn off’ and relax,” LaValley said, which is nec-

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IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper • May 2015

essary for adequate sleep and health.

LaValley shares her tips that might contribute to a better night’s sleep for all age groups: • No TV in the bedroom • Do not use an iPad or cell phone in the bedroom.

• Keep the bedroom a place of relaxation and refuge.

• Avoid caffeinated beverages late in the day • Avoid late-night eating • Do something before bed for relaxation, such as reading a book, taking a bath or listening to your favorite song.

• Avoid alcohol • Keep a regular sleep schedule • Exercise daily but preferably not in the four to five hours before bed Evaluate your own sleep schedule and patterns. Are there changes you can make to improve the quality of your sleep?

It can be hard to leave the busy day behind us because we want to accomplish so many tasks each day.

LaValley explains, “We need to force ourselves to unwind and relax at the end of the day and make time for adequate sleep. Everything else can wait.”

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support group for families dealing with the problems of addiction will meet from 6-7 p.m. May 18 in the second-floor classroom at Rome Memorial Hospital.

The group meets the third Monday of each month and is free and open to everyone.

Charles Pucillo, director of the hospital’s Community Recovery Center, leads the group meeting.

Located at 264 W. Dominick St., Rome, the Community Recovery Center operates from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Monday and Friday and from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.

For more information about the Community Recovery Center, call 3344701.

National Nurses Week True Calling Kristin Burns heeds her calling as a nurse practitioner

By Patricia J. Malin Editor’s note: National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6 and ends on May 12, Florence Nightingale’s birthday.

Mohawk Valley In Good Health recognizes the week by featuring a local family nurse practitioner who goes above and beyond the call of duty.

K

ristin Burns received a degree in anthropology and French from the University of California-Berkeley in 1990.

Twenty years later, she was a student nurse, spending nearly two weeks treating indigenous people in the Amazon River basin in Brazil and learning basic Spanish.

Fast forward to 2015. Her educational background plus those cultural experiences have proven more valuable to her than she could have ever foreseen.

Burns, 47, is now a registered nurse and a board-certified family nurse

practitioner at the Utica Community Health Center, a patient-centered medical home in east Utica that is part of the Rochester Primary Care Network.

Many of her patients are refugees who don’t speak English, who have endured horrific living conditions in war-torn countries and overcrowded camps, and might have had only sporadic encounters with healthcare providers in their native lands.

“I was always interested in other cultures,” said Burns, explaining that it sparked her early interest in anthropology as well as in languages. “It is exciting to be able to help other cultures.

“Then toward the end of my studies at Berkeley, I had a car accident, and being a patient and going through physical therapy, I ended up changing gears and choosing medicine. To be able to help someone’s life had a profound impact on me.”

Although that was a compelling reason, the trip to Brazil sealed her fate more dramatically. It occurred in

Kristin Burns, right, a registered nurse and a board-certified family nurse practitioner at the Utica Community Health Center, an outpatient clinic in east Utica, spends time with intern Lindsay Bailey, a senior at SUNY Poly.

January 2010 while she was studying for her bachelor’s degree in nursing at SUNY Institute of Technology (now SUNY Poly) in Marcy.

“It was one reason I became a nurse practitioner,” she said. “It became a passion of mine to be able to work with different cultures and it meant so much to me.”

May 2015 •

Burns has a unique and diversified background. She has worked as a nurse and health educator in schools, hospitals, an acupuncture office and other health centers.

Burns was born in California and raised in Madison, Wis. She came to

Continued on Page 18

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 7

Go with your gut How the microbiome is vital for healthy aging, weight loss

By Barbara Pierce

T

he hundred trillion bacteria that live in our bodies — making up the gut microbiome — have become a hot topic in many branches of medicine.

Though scientists have long known that bacteria live in our bodies, it is only in the past few years that they have learned the staggering scale of these bacteria and their crucial importance to our health.

Disturbances in these bacteria communities have been associated with a wide range of serious chronic diseases, such as cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies, and even psychiatric and neurological diseases.

“Our bodies are mostly bacteria and this has tremendous implications to the field of medicine and health,” said Raphael Kellman, a New York-based physician and author of “The Microbiome Diet: The Scientifically Proven Way to Restore Your Gut Health and Achieve Permanent Weight Kellman Loss.”

The microbiome is this huge unseen world that is right under our nose. It’s the science right within us that we didn’t know about, that we were blind to. And here we feel that we knew so much about the human body, and all of a sudden, with the discovery of the microbiome, everything is turned on its head.

Kellman is a pioneer in functional medicine with a holistic and visionary approach to healing. In 17 years of practice, he has treated more than 40,000 patients, many of whom have come to him from all over the world.

“This is the greatest turnaround in the history of medicine,” continued Kellman. “In medicine, bacteria were our foe, our enemy; our enemy to be attacked and killed. We’ve now changed

the model 180 degrees, and we now realize that most of the bacteria residing within are very, very important allies — allies that we need for our own survival.”

The microbiome could be our best ally to activate the body’s ability to heal naturally. The microbiome has the knowledge and the power to activate healing in ways that go much beyond what we can do ourselves just by using supplements or other types of holistic therapies, said Kellman.

The microbiome residing in our gastrointestinal tract are friendly; they work with our body, cells, organs and systems as one whole. They support and balance the immune system; they improve gastrointestinal function; they support and help in the development of the brain and brain function; and they play a huge role as gatekeepers to the flow of nutrients throughout the body.

Mighty microbiome

The microbiome plays a critical role. These tiny microbes help us extract the nutrients from our food in addition to exerting enormous influence over our metabolism, hormones, cravings, and even our genes.

The microbiome is the secret to healthy, dramatic weight loss, as well as to significant improvements in overall health, mood, energy and mental functioning.

When your microbiome is healthy and balanced, your skin, hair, mood, and energy levels are at their peak.

When your microbiome is out of balance, you can feel tired, dragged out, foggy, anxious and depressed.

Also, the secret key to healthy aging is in your microbiome.

Drawing from his experience and research into the microbiome, Kellman has developed the first diet based upon on these scientific breakthroughs.

“The Microbiome Diet: The Scientifically Proven Way to Restore Your Gut Health and Achieve Permanent Weight Loss” offers an effective threephase plan to heal your gut, reset your

Health News In Brief Bruce Stewart, DDS

call 315-798-4006 ext. 281.

Open house set for childModern Dentistry Backed Family Support Group careUltra programs by Fashioned addresses addiction issues heOld Upstate CerebralValues Palsy New

T

Learning Center is A support group for families • Discoveries Advanced Laser Periodontal therapy featuring open houses for its Utidealing with the problems of addiction available. ca and Rome preschool and child-care will meet from 6-7 p.m. May 18 in the • Implants placed and restored programs.

• CEREC - beautiful, done in second-floor classroom at Rome MemoThe first Crowns open house willstrong, take place rial Hospital. The group meets the third one visit from 9-11 a.m. and 4-6 p.m May 14 at Monday of each month and is free and the Daniel Learning • DigitalSprock low radiation x-rays Center, 130 open to everyone.

Brookley the Griffiss Technolo• RootRoad at Canal therapy Located at 264 W. Dominick St., gy Park in Rome.

Rome, the Community Recovery • Natural tooth colored fillings The second open house will take Center 8 a.m.NY to 413421 p.m.

• Complete Smile makeovers 321 operates Main St.,from Oneida, place in Utica from 9-11 a.m. and 4-6 Monday and Friday and from 8 a.m. to Complete servicesand including (315)through 363-4940 p.m.•May 19 atrecare the Joseph Inez 9 p.m.

Tuesday Thursday. periodontal and oral cancer1601 screenings Carbone Children’s Center, ArFor more information about the www.oneidanydentist.com moryExtended Drive, Utica.

Recovery Center, call 334Payment Plans through Care Credit Community For more information or to register, 4701. Join Us On FACEBOOK

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IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper • May 2015

metabolism, achieve dramatic, sustainable weight loss, and promote healthy aging.

With delicious recipes, convenient meal plans, and helpful information on microbiome super-foods and super-supplements — including prebiotics and probiotics — the microbiome diet gives you the tools to achieve your healthy weight, boost your mood, and achieve healthy aging.

“Diet plays a critical role,” Kellman explained. “First, you want to remove unhealthy foods: processed foods, packed food, refined sugar, foods with added chemicals. Organic is best. Stay away from genetically modified foods.”

“Eat less. You don’t have to spend more by eating organic; just don’t eat as much of the garbage foods.

“Then you want to really start with the basic foods that provide probiotics, like jicamas, asparagus, artichokes, leeks, onions, garlic, radishes and kiwi.

When I eat a kiwi, I can almost feel my microbiome happy because they’re getting the foods; they’re like my friends, they’re hugging me.”

Some of Kellman’s favorite recipes in his book include sweet potato chips, mussels steamed in beer, mango salad, curried roast cauliflower, braised apple chicken and steamed quinoa.

“The method of eating in this book works. Very quickly too,” says one reviewer of the book. Says another: “I have been on the program for two weeks and right now I feel good! I’m down 12 pounds. I don’t have cravings. I’m sleeping better. I have more energy. My memory and brain function are improving.”

For more information on Kellman and the microbiome diet, visit www. raphaelkellmanmd.com. The book can be ordered through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Walmart and other bookstores.

Cancer patients, survivors to be honored

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ome Memorial Hospital, Mohawk Valley Radiation Medicine and Dr. Linda Schicker invite cancer patients and survivors to the annual Survivors’ Breakfast on May 16 in Rome Memorial Hospital’s cafeteria, 1500 N. James St. Each survivor or patient is encouraged to bring one guest.

Breakfast will be served from 8-11 a.m. Seating is limited and advance reservations are required.

Contact Amy Weakley, Mohawk Valley Radiation Medicine, at 338-0897 before 4 p.m. May 8.

Guests are encouraged to park in the Bartlett Wing lot, with easy access from East Oak Street. There will be signs to direct you to the cafeteria.

This annual breakfast is an opportunity for area cancer patients and survivors to gather before the American Cancer Society’s annual Relay for Life that will be held in Rome, Boonville and Camden.

• Boonville: May 30-31, Boonville Fairgrounds; survivors’ lap, 2 p.m. on May 30 • Rome: June 6-7, NYS School for the Deaf; survivors’ lap, noon on June 6 • Camden: June 6-7, Manley Field; survivors’ Lap, 9 a.m. on June 6.

Survivors are encouraged to pre-register for the Relay for Life opening survivors’ lap at the breakfast by going online to www.relayforlife.org, by calling 1-800-227-2345 or in person at the relay in the survivors’ tent.

Diet & Nutrition The Balanced Body

By Deb Dittner

Proper exercise, nutrition perfect combo When gearing up to exercise or compete, adhere to fuel-building diet “Exercise is king. Nutrition is queen.

Put them together and you’ve got a kingdom.

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— Jack LaLanne

hether you are a high school athlete, yogi, long distance runner or walker, or a weekend warrior, what you eat before, during and after exercise can make all the difference in how well your body will perform and recover.

Nutrition before exercise

Fueling up for any practice, game or training regimen requires preparation.

It begins the day or night before with meals consisting of nutrient-rich foods and proper rest.

The following day, Dittner it’s important to have your pre-workout or pre-game snack or meal approximately two to four hours prior to the event.

The foods you choose should be easy to digest. If you choose a heavy or overly spicy meal, you could run the risk of feeling upset and bloated.

Also, if the meal isn’t digested before or shortly into the event, your meal could be stuck in your stomach and not accessible to the muscles for much needed fuel.

Any undigested food left in the stomach can sit there, heavily creating fatigue and abdominal muscle spasms.

In general, you should aim for meals or snacks consisting of fat, fiber and protein as this combination will keep you feeling fuller longer.

Pre-game though, you want a lower fat, fiber and protein content.

Too much protein can lead to muscle cramping and decreased endurance.

Protein is necessary for muscle building and not needed for fuel. A simple carbohydrate will be the healthiest, such as a fruit that burns more slowly, increasing effectiveness.

Adding a fatty acid such as coconut oil will provide quick energy to burn as fuel in the liver. An example of

a pre-game snack would be dates filled with coconut oil. YUM!!

Hydration before, during and after

Proper hydration before, during and after the game or exercise time will decrease stress on the body, allowing it to work harder, perform better and recover quicker.

Much needed electrolytes will decrease muscle cramping and spasms, allowing for better performance.

Pure water is important, as are electrolytes that can be found in coconut water and homemade hydration drinks that help to maintain smooth muscle contractions and energy levels.

What you consume for fuel and hydration is totally in your hands. No one is going to do it for you. So listening to your body is once again extremely important because it can be the difference between an elite performance, or a very mediocre one.

Fuel up wisely.

Nutrition after exercise

After a hard workout or game, you want to eat a meal within 30 to 45 minutes for cellular reconstruction and recovery.

Your meal should consist of high-quality food, including one part protein to four parts carbohydrate.

A whole-food shake consisting of one piece of fruit, a large handful of your favorite greens and a handful of hemp seeds or raw almonds all blended up is a great way to refuel immediately following any physical exercise.

Too much protein at this time will slow down recovery and should come from an alkaline source.

An hour later, you still don’t want to indulge in a large meal. Large amounts of food require an increase of blood to the stomach, causing it to work harder while digesting.

Oxygen is needed in the bloodstream so the muscles can recover.

Post-game or post-exercise nutrition needs alkalizing foods to repair the

body by decreasing lactic acid buildup and physical stress. Another quick and easy snack would be to blend a frozen banana with one cup of almond milk and one cup of kale.

Food is fuel

A balance of nutrients comes into play.

• Consider a lean protein for muscle repair (organic chicken, wild-caught fish, nuts and seeds such as hemp.

• Whole grain to nourish muscle tissue (brown rice, millet, quinoa) • Lots of produce to supply much needed whole foods (colorful vegetables, dark green leafy vegetables, apples) • Healthy fat to aid in healing and circulation (avocado, wild-caught fish,

coconut oil, nuts, olive oil) • More fluids for rehydration Treat your body to perform its best.

Not only does this mean providing nutrient-rich wholesome foods, but it also means knowing what not to put into your body.

Sugar creates inflammation in the body and can be found in numerous processed foods and drink. Sugars can also lead to the production of fat, specifically around the middle.

So let’s fuel your body with nutrient-dense foods and proper fluids, leading to a healthy and active body.

• Deborah Dittner is a family nurse practitioner specializing in Reiki and holistic nutrition. Visit her at www.The-Balanced-Body.com.

AHA/ASA announce recipients of community impact grants

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leven local organizations will receive funding for community projects to improve the health of the Greater Utica area from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

Dr. Jennifer Carbone Zuccaro, president of the advisory board of the Greater Utica-area AHA/ASA, recently announced the recipients of the Greater Utica Community Impact Grant Awards.

The local chapter of the AHA/

ASA has received $50,000 to provide grant funding for community-based organizations in the Greater Utica area with the mission of building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

The 2015 grants were awarded to the following organizations: • Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Central School District • Mohawk Valley Perinatal Network • Bernard’s Boxing Academy

• Parkway Center • Notre Dame Elementary • Utica Bike Rescue • Mohawk Valley Institute for Learning in Retirement • YMCA of Greater Tri-Valley (New Hartford) • Oneonta Youth Soccer Association • The House of the Good Sheppard • Bassett Healthcare Network Local organizations started applying for grants last December. Project May 2015 •

proposals needed to focus on reducing cardiovascular disease and its risk factors by specifically targeting issues like childhood obesity or family health.

A committee of local community volunteers reviewed and ranked the grant applications by the projects’ alignment with the mission of the AHA and ASA. This year’s recipients received between $2,300 and $5,000, for a total community investment of $50,000.

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Diet & Nutrition

The paleo diet Dieters take a page out of the paleolithic period

By Malissa Allen

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ou may or may not have heard of the diet known as the paleo diet.

Some call it the “caveman” diet due to the amounts of meat one is able to consume on a daily basis. It has proven worthwhile for victims of irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s or celiac disease. Progress has been noted with individuals on the autism spectrum as well.

When starting the paleo diet, there are rules that you must follow in order for it to properly do what its intended purpose is. Changing the way you eat can sometimes become overwhelming.

The Paleo diet really is quite simple to understand, especially if the rules are explained in a way you can easily follow.

Understanding the foods is the first place to start. Let’s take a look at a simple understanding of how to successfully understand and live a lifestyle on the Paleo diet.

This is the only diet that suggests you eat high in fats, and carbs should be kept low. Portion control is really not an issue, but use good judgment.

There is no reason to count calories either.

Be sure to consume a fair amount of saturated fats like butter or separated butter, otherwise known as “clarified” butter. Coconut oil is another great option. Other ways of getting in your healthy fats is to cook with olive oil or sprinkle it on your meats prior to cooking. Olive oil is also good to use on your salads as well as vegetables.

Animal fat needs to be eaten in good amounts, whether it be poultry, red meats, liver, kidneys, pork, heart and eggs. Cook your food wisely.

Deep-fried food is not only unhealthy, but not part of the paleo diet.

You can eat all the seafood you

want. There is no unhealthy seafood unless you deep fry it. Wild caught fish, along with shellfish, are always smart, healthy choices. Cooking with broth is always an option as well.

Always eat lots of veggies. That’s the golden rule to any diet. Do not be afraid of foods like the sweet potato or yams. These are not only delicious, but they are a fabulous source of the good carbs our body needs. You can have frozen or fresh, raw or cooked vegetables. Steamed is always a great option as well.

Be selective with fruit

When dieting, most people bring home bag after bag of fruits of all types. Fruits are good for you but only in low-to-moderate intake on the paleo diet. Same goes with nuts. You need to

stick with fruit low in sugar that has a high consistency of antioxidants.

Nuts and berries both are a good snack; just keep your amount low.

Macadamia nuts are a great source of the good fats our body needs.

Always choose cuts of meats that are lean cuts. If it is at all possible, buy organic grain-fed meat from a local farm. These meats will be much healthier and have less trashy grains fed to them before butchering. Same goes with your fruits and veggies. Not only will you be eating healthier, you will be helping your local farmers survive.

The paleo diet requires that you remove all legumes and cereal grains altogether. This includes rye, oats, wheat, barley, soy, peanuts, brown rice, pinto beans, kidney beans, navy beans

and black eyed peas.

You must stop using all hydrogenated and partly hydrogenated oils, including vegetable oil. This includes margarine, and peanut, corn, sunflower, soybean, canola and safflower oil.

Here is the one that most people frown on — sugar. You must get rid of added sugar such as packaged juices, sweets, fruit juices and soft drinks. Two things you can remember while shopping for groceries: Stay in the meat, produce and fish section and if you see food in a box, you don’t need it!

Believe it or not, you can live without dairy. There are many dairy-free products on the market today that are very tasty. You can use heavy cream and butter from time to time, but only in moderation.

If you are hungry, EAT! No stressing over missing meals or even if you aren’t hungry and you skip a meal.

Although your body reacts better when you eat at least five times a day, do not panic if you miss one; you will make it up.

Get rid of outside stress in your life to the best of your ability. Stress adds tension to your body and fog to your brain, slowing down your entire system. Make sure you get at least eight hours of sleep. Try unwinding two to three hours prior to your bedtime.

Begin taking vitamin D and a good probiotic. Probiotics help keep our tummies intact with both the good and bad bacteria. Taking a daily multi-vitamin is suggested as well.

Be happy! Get outdoors, play, laugh, help a neighbor, go hiking or take a bike ride.

Go outside and play with your children. There is no better medicine that being happy. Clean your mind, your thoughts, live, laugh and love. It will make life seem like a much better place.

Excellus BCBS selects organizations to receive awards

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en local organizations have been chosen from among 242 nonprofits that submitted applications to receive Excellus BlueCross BlueShield’s 2015 Community Health Awards.

Each award recipient will receive up to $4,000 of the $85,000 allocated

by Excellus BCBS to help fund health and wellness programs in its 31-county Upstate New York region.

Through a competitive application process, the company’s Community Health Awards support programs that have clear goals to improve the health or health care of a specific population.

The 10 nonprofit organizations in Excellus BCBS’s 11-county Utica/ Rome/North Country region that were selected from among more than 40 applicants are: • Bassett Healthcare Network, Research Institute, Cooperstown, for its Kids Get Cooking Program This initiative seeks to use hands-on culinary education to empower elementary Page 10

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school students to make healthy food choices.

• Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Utica, for its Preschool Vision Screening Program This initiative provides free vision screenings for children aged 3-6 in Oneida and surrounding counties.

• Clear Path for Veterans, Chittenango, to offer five holistic Warrior Wellness Workshops for up to 20 participants each This is open to all veterans and is targeted especially for those returning from service in Iraq and/or Afghanistan.

• EMS Global, Utica, for its CPR Training for our Non-English Speaking Community (CPR for NESCo) program According the 2010 Census, nearly 25 percent of the residents in the city of Utica speak English as a second language. Partnering with the Multicultural Association of Medical Interpreters

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper • May 2015

and the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, EMS Global will provide free CPR instruction in several languages.

• Madison County Rural Health Council, Oneida, to bring the national program, Girls on the Run, to Madison County The after-school program encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running.

• Masonic Care Community, Utica, for the expansion of the organization’s popular resident garden project Funds will be used to build wheel chair-accessible raised garden beds.

• Northern Adirondack Elementary School, Ellenberg Depot, to support the school’s backpack program Nearly half of the school’s students live at or below the federal poverty level. The program will ensure that students in need receive backpacks filled

with healthy and easily consumable foods each Friday during the school year.

• Planned Parenthood of the North Country, Plattsburgh, for its “Be the Man. Self Exam!” program in Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties This campaign will educate men and their partners on the importance of testicular self-exams, which may result in earlier cancer detection.

• PRIDE of Ticonderoga and Ticonderoga Central Schools, to fund the Ticonderoga-area backpack program The program will ensure that close to 200 backpacks filled with healthy and easily consumable foods will be distributed to low-income children each Friday during the school year.

• Westford Volunteer Fire Department to offer free community-wide adult, infant and child cardiopulmonary resuscitation/automated defibrillator training.

SmartBites

a key role in how the body stores and uses energy.

While mozzarella may indeed have fewer calories and less fat than some cheeses, it has enough of both to moderate your intake, especially if you’re concerned about calories and cholesterol. So when you do make your move on this mild-mannered cheese, remember that a little goes a very long way.

By Anne Palumbo

The skinny on healthy eating

Make room for mozzarella

Helpful tips

When buying mozzarella cheese—fresh or shredded, whole or reduced-fat—always read the nutrition-facts label carefully. Some of the reduced-fat mozzarellas, for example, have more sodium than their wholemilk peers. Fresh mozzarella (hand molded into balls and stored in brine or whey) is often used in salads and sandwiches, where its creamy texture and delicate flavor can shine. Processed mozzarella, on the other hand, which is less flavorful but lasts longer in the fridge, is typically used in cooked dishes because it melts better.

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hen I heard that mozzarella cheese has fewer calories and less fat than most cheeses, I nearly choked on my pizza. No way, I thought. Mozzarella? The gooey cheese that blankets so many Italian dishes with delicious abandon?

Yes way, say nutritionists: Mozzarella, both whole and part-skim, is lower in total fat and calories than many of its cheesy cousins.

Comparing 1 ounce portions (same size as your thumb): whole-milk mozzarella has 84 calories and 6.3 grams of total fat (part-skim mozzarella clocks in at 71 and 4.5); Swiss has 108 calories and 8 grams of fat; and cheddar has 114 calories and 9.4 grams of fat.

Of course, there’s more to mozzarella than its relatively lower fat and calorie counts.

Mozzarella, like so many cheeses, is loaded with calcium, with ½ shredded cup providing close to 25 percent of our daily needs (more if you opt for part-skim). Calcium helps form and maintain healthy teeth and bones and is needed for normal heartbeat. Some evidence suggests calcium also has a role in managing blood pressure and in

preventing breast and colon cancer.

Mozzarella is an excellent source of complete protein, serving up about 8 grams per average slice. Called the “building block of the body,” protein is needed to build and maintain all kinds of body components, from muscles to bones to hair. What’s more, protein helps curb hunger by enhancing how full we feel after a meal or snack.

Another great reason to make room for mozzarella: It’s a terrific source of phosphorus. This essential mineral works closely with calcium to build strong bones and teeth, helps filter out waste in the kidneys, and plays

Pasta Salad with Mozzarella, Basil and Kalamata Olives

½ cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced 8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese,* cut into ½-inch pieces 1 cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced ½ cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional) Kosher salt and coarse black pepper, to taste Blend first five ingredients in processor until tomatoes are coarsely chopped. Set dressing aside.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain and transfer to large bowl. Add dressing to hot pasta; toss to coat. Cool, stirring occasionally. Add chopped fresh tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, basil, and Parmesan; toss. Season to taste with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover; chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.) *I used Trader Joe’s Ciliegine whole-milk mozzarella balls in lightly salted water, and cut them in half.

Adapted from Bon Appétit Serves 8

2 garlic cloves 1 tablespoon drained capers ½ cup sun-dried julienne-cut dried tomatoes (not oil-packed) ¼ cup red wine vinegar 4 tablespoons olive oil ½ pound fusilli whole-grain pasta 4-5 fresh tomatoes, seeded and chopped

Anne Palumbo is a lifestyle columnist, 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.

NOT TAKING YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS AS DIRECTED?

YOU’RE TAKING

A CHANCE.

If you have a chronic condition like high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol, taking your prescriptions as directed is essential to healthy living. So remember:

If you’re not taking your prescriptions as directed, you’re taking a chance.

To learn more, visit ExcellusBCBS.com/TakeAsDirected. #TakeAsDirected

May 2015 •

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 11

Is Weight Loss Surgery Right for You?

Pastor Jack lost 175 lbs. and found a whole new life.

A simple trip to the mailbox used to be a grueling excursion. But since Jack had weight-loss surgery at Crouse, he’s found his old self. Jack also found a caring and compassionate team to help him along his journey. From trusted surgeons to nutritional experts to a support group that shares everything from flavorful recipes to a healthy dose of inspiration. Come to our next weight-loss surgery seminar and discover what you can find.

Upcoming Free Seminars: May 4 • May 22 To register: crouse.org/weightloss 315/472-2464

crouse.org/weightloss

CALENDAR of

HEALTH EVENTS

Continued from Page 2

Wednesdays/Thursdays

Overeaters Anonymous plans meetings

Overeaters Anonymous meets from 5:30-6:30 p.m. every Wednesday in Room 101 (first floor) at Rome Memorial Hospital, 1500 James St., Rome.

It also meets from 7-8 p.m. every Thursday at Oneida Baptist Church, 242 Main St., Oneida. Participants are asked to use the rear door.

There are no dues, fees, weigh-ins or diets.

For more information, call OA at 315-468-1588 or visit oa.org.

Saturdays

MVHS department announces Saturday hours Mohawk Valley Health System’s Hearing and Speech Department, located at the Faxton Campus, 1676 Sunset Ave., Utica, is accepting walkin appointments from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays for patients in need of hearing aid adjustments, assessments or repairs.

Additionally, patients can pre-schedule hearing tests from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

To schedule an appointment, call 315-624-4600 or visit www.faxtonstlukes.com for more information.

April 29

Lyme disease focus of program Allan Smiley will present “Lyme Disease: 1974 to Present,” a public education program, at Slocum-Dickson Medical Group’s New Hartford location at 6 p.m.

April 29 in Education Room B. The event is free

Smiley Page 12

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and open to the public.

Registration is recommended and can be completed by calling 315-7981885.

Smiley is board certified in rheumatology by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He received his medical degree with honors from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Mich.

He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.

He completed his internship, residency program and fellowship at Sinai Hospital of Detroit and Wayne State University.

Free oral cancer screenings available On April 29, the Faxton St. Luke’s Dental Health Center will provide free oral cancer screenings to anyone interested in being checked.

The screenings will be given from 1:15-4:30 p.m. at the dental health center, 1714 Burrstone Road, New Hartford.

More than 43,000 Americans will be diagnosed with oral or pharyngeal cancer this year that will lead to more than 8,000 deaths. Some risk factors that can lead to oral cancer are tobacco and alcohol use, and the HPV16 virus.

Anyone 16 years of age and older is encouraged to get screened. Call Tracy Roth at 315-624-6225 to schedule a free appointment. Walk-ins are welcome.

April 30

May 3

Separated? Divorced? There Free wellness presentation is support The Separated & Divorced Support at Utica College Group will meet from 5-6:30 p.m. May 3 at The Good News Center, 10475 Cosby Manor Road, Utica.

The group meets every other Sunday.

The meetings are free and open to all.

For more information, contact Judy at 315-735-6210, judy@thegoodnewscenter.org or visit www.thegoodnewscenter. org.

Ready to explore The Third Option?

The Third Option support group for married couples will meet from 6:30-8:30 p.m. May 3 at The Good News Center, 10475 Cosby Manor Road, Utica.

The group meets every other Sunday.

For more information, contact Tanya at 315-735-6210, tanya@TheGoodNewsCenter.org or visit www.thegoodnewscenter.org.

Fundraiser to benefit Abraham House Steve Falvo’s Easy Money Big Band will perform a benefit concert for Abraham House from 3-6 p.m. May 3 at Daniele’s Banquet Specialists, 8360 Seneca Turnpike, New Hartford.

The Easy Money Big Band plays songs from the 1930s through today.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the door or anytime at Abraham House, 1203 Kemble St., Utica.

For more information, go to www. theabrahamhouse.org.

Abraham House provides a secure and loving home without charge to the terminally ill in the community.

LFH features Lunch & Learn May 6 MVHS Stroke Support Group series Brandi Clark will discuss importintroduces Tai Chi Chih ant facts about alcohol, such as making sure you’re not mixing it with certain medications and the complications it could cause, at Little Falls Hospital’s Lunch & Learn series, sponsored by Catholic Charities.

This Lunch & Learn series segment will be taking place at LFH at noon April 30 in conference room A on the fourth floor.

Seating is limited. RSVP to the community relations department at 315-823-5326.

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper • May 2015

designated primary stroke center.

For more information or to RSVP, call 315-624-6847.

The Mohawk Valley Health System will host a free stroke support group presentation at 6 p.m. May 6 in the Soggs Room at St. Luke’s Home in the Center for Rehabilitation and Continuing Care Services, 1650 Champlin Ave., Utica.

Tai chi chih is a martial art dating back to ancient China. It includes physical movements, mental concentration and relaxed breathing.

Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare is an affiliate of MVHS and is the area’s only

The Mohawk Valley Health System Wellness Center in conjunction with students from the Utica College Health Studies Program is hosting a presentation on the benefits of aquatic wellness programs at 1 p.m. May 6 in the Macfarlane Auditorium on the ground floor of DePerno Hall at Utica College, 1600 Burrstone Road, Utica.

The program is free and the community is invited to attend. The presentation will feature information on the types and benefits of aquatic exercise, as well as who should consider participating.

Call 315-624-5484 or email wellness@mvhealthsystem.org to register.

May 11

MVHS features cancer support groups The Cancer Center at the Mohawk Valley Health System’s monthly support forum for patients and cancer survivors meets at 6 p.m. on the second Monday of every month in the cancer center’s fireplace lounge on the main floor of the Faxton Campus, 1676 Sunset Ave., Utica.

The next meeting will be held on May 11. Light refreshments will be served. For more information or to RSVP, call 315-624-5241.

May 13

MVHS to host Stroke Education Day On May 13, the Mohawk Valley Health System will host “A Stroke of Knowledge — Essentials of Stroke Care” from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Vernon Downs Casino and Hotel in Vernon.

Physicians, nurses, therapists, students and anyone involved in the medical field are welcome to attend.

The Stroke Center at Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare, an affiliate of MVHS, is the only designated primary stroke center in the Mohawk Valley.

Free admission for MVHS employees is on a first-come, first-served basis. For non-employees, tickets are $60 for students and $125 for other attendees. Breakfast and lunch are included and reservations must be made by May 8.

Contact Jennifer Hurd at jhurd@ mvhealthsystem.org or by phone at 315-624-6649 to make reservations.

The Social Ask Security Office

KIDS Corner Teen use of long-term contraception rising, but remains low

U.S. government report says implants and IUDs are effective and safe options

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he use of long-acting, reversible forms of contraception remains low among sexually active teen girls, though that trend seems to be changing, according to a U.S. government report released April 7.

Among teens aged 15 to 19, the use of long-acting reversible contraception rose from less than 1 percent in 2005 to about 7 percent in 2013, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We encourage teens who aren’t sexually active to continue to wait, but for teens who are choosing to have sex, we want them to make an informed choice,” Ileana Arias, the CDC’s principal deputy director, said during a media briefing.

“We want them to think about the most effective types of birth control, and ask their doctor or family planning counselor about long-acting reversible contraception as well as about other options,” she said.

Long-acting reversible forms of birth control include intrauterine devices (IUDs) and hormonal implants. These forms of birth control are extremely effective, with less than 1 percent of users getting pregnant

during the first year of use, according to the CDC. The report was published online April 7 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Teen births continue to decline in the United States, even reaching an all-time low in 2013, according to the CDC. Nearly 90 percent of teens said they used birth control the last time they had sex.

Still, more than 273,000 babies were born to U.S. teens in 2013. And, the teen birth rate in the United States is up to seven times higher than some other developed countries, the CDC said.

Most teens choose condoms or birth control pills as their preferred method of contraception, according to the CDC. But, if not used consistently and correctly, these methods are less effective for preventing pregnancy than implants and IUDs, the experts said.

Implants and IUDs are the most effective type of reversible birth control because they don’t require taking a pill every day or putting on a condom consistently before sex. Depending on the type of implant or IUD, they can be used for three to 10 years and they’re safe, the CDC researchers added.

U.S. kids getting fewer daily calories from fast food

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merican children are getting fewer calories a day from fast food restaurants, but one-third still eat ready-to-go pizza, chicken and burgers on a daily basis, a new study finds.

Among kids aged 4 to 19, national health and nutrition surveys showed that average daily calorie consumption from fast food restaurants fell by 110 calories between 2003 and 2010, said study author Colin Rehm. Also, the percentage of kids consuming fast food on a given day dropped from nearly 39 percent to about 33 percent in the period, the McDonald’s-funded study found.

“It is good news with a few important qualifiers,” said Rehm, who worked on the research while at the University of Washington. “We need to make sure that the decrease in calories hasn’t been paralleled by a drop in nutrients or food groups.”

The findings suggest young people are consuming fewer high-calorie foods and beverages at burger restaurants during their visits, Rehm said, while making fewer visits to pizza places and

eating smaller portions of pizza when they do. (The percentage of kids who got food at pizza joints fell from 12 percent to 6 percent, the study said.)

“We observed a decrease in calories for burger, pizza and chicken restaurants,” said Rehm, now a nutrition scientist at Tufts University in Boston.

“We did not observe any changes for sandwich or Mexican restaurants.”

Kids’ eating habits are of concern because in the past three decades obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Colleen’s Senior Care Colleen Moylan, LPN, 27 Years Experience

IN-HOME CARE TO SENIORS Transportation, Medical Support, Light Housekeeping, Meal Preparation Fully Insured: Professional Liability 3 Cone Circle, New Hartford, NY 13413 Phone #-315-281-4883 Email: colleen@colleensseniorcare.com Website: colleensseniorcare.com

By Deborah Banikowski

Appealing a Social Security Decision?

Check Out Our Improved Online Appeal Process

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ocial Security listened to customer feedback and made the online appeals process even better. Now, people who disagree with our disability decision can complete their appeal using our improved online appeals process.

More than 90,000 people use our online appeals application each month.

We’ve certainly come a long way since introducing the online appeal option in September 2007. Throughout the nation, applicants, their representatives, third parties, groups, and organizations use the online appeal process to request review of disability decisions.

Responding to feedback from our employees and the public, the new online appeals process is easier to use and improves the speed and quality of our disability and non-disability decisions.

Users told us that the program needed to be streamlined for easier navigation and that it needed to ask for less duplicate information. They also told us that they wanted to be able to complete both the appeal form and the medical

report together, and be able to submit supporting documents as part of the electronic appeal request.

Our enhanced online appeals application incorporates those suggestions and more. People can now submit both the appeal form and the medical report in just one online session and electronically submit supporting documents with the appeal request. The screen messages are clear and concise, the navigation has been improved, and we’ve beefed up our on-screen help.

Additionally, users who live outside of the United States are now able to file appeals online.

As a reminder, representatives who request, and are eligible for, direct fee payments must electronically file reconsiderations or request for hearings on medically denied Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability or blindness claims.

The next time you need to file an appeal, be sure to complete it online at www.socialsecurity.gov/disabilityssi/ appeal.html.

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IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper

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OCD can be terrifying experience Continued from Page 3 “Once in a while they would have a program on TV about OCD and I would just be sitting there and the tears would be streaming down my face because I would know what they meant, I understood,” she said.

Her greatest accomplishment was being able to live a normal life and not succumb to her disorder. After years of having an isolated and confused feeling, she now feels proud to have pushed through her struggles to get to where she is today.

Nancy Mason

Nancy Mason began noticing her thought patterns when she was 19.

She remembers going to work and all of a sudden, she kept traveling back to the bathroom to see if she flushed the toilet. A sick feeling in her stomach grew more intense with each thought.

Her mother believed she had the flu, but for several nights Nancy would be sleep deprived from just thinking about something as forgettable like paying a bill at the florist. Mason’s type of OCD is not so much action-based, but features cognitive compulsions.

“When the OCD goes away sometimes, it will resurface somewhere else. When my thoughts went away, it gave me a speech defect and I could hardly get my words out at times,” Mason she said.

Years passed and after getting married and having her three children, harmful thoughts began to arise after going through surgery.

She looked at her razor and wondered what if she cut herself with it or if she could cut herself with a pair of scissors in the kitchen.

“I started feeling really sick. I would see a knife during dinner and would ask, ‘What if I stabbed someone with that?’ It scared me because I thought there was something wrong with me,” Mason said.

Over a five-year period, it started to worsen with more disturbing

thoughts. OCD individuals do not act upon their thoughts like those who intentionally harm others, but the anxiety makes them feel as if they are going to act on them.

She went to a cognitive therapist, who suggested she tape herself saying out loud what she would do when she was having these dangerous thoughts.

“I wanted to get over this so bad so I sat in my living room and recorded myself going through the steps of what I would do. I made it as long and detailed and gory as I possibly could with the tears running down my face,” she said.

The idea of the tapes was habituation as exposure therapy. By playing these tapes over and over again, she was able to dissociate the harmful thoughts with her anxiety. She made herself look at sharp objects instead of turning away from them.

Instead of thinking about what she would do with them, Mason would describe the details of the object such as the color and the use for it in order to lower her anxiety.

“It’s this concept of the hill and the valley. If you want to deal with this you have to go through your worst anxiety, like I did with the tapes, to get to the other side. You might never get over it, but you learn to cope. The most important thing is to want to help your self get better,” she said.

Mason credits her cognitive therapist, medication and the CNY Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation support group for her doing so well. She will have an occasional thought, but instead of letting it eat her up inside, she can get by without it bothering her.

Maggie Lamond Simone

Maggie Lamond Simone was around 5 years old when her compulsions started as she stepped on cracks as she walked from place to place.

She has two disorders previously classified as impulse control disorders that now have been put under the OCD umbrella – trichotillomania, which is plucking out her eyebrows and eyelashes and excoriation, which is picking at her skin until it bleeds.

Those have remained constant, but other compulsions have come and gone like stepping on cracks, counting to seven and a paralyzing fear of people being angry at her.

“My biggest struggle, until I had kids, was simply surviving. My self-esteem was such that it seemed like every day was another conversation in my head, ‘Why am I still here?’ Having a mental disorder at such a young age robbed me of any chance of self-acceptance–possibly permanently,” she said.

Simone said she spent most of her life hiding her disorder, but it was an endless cycle of defeat. Her anxiety caused her Lamond-Simone to pluck out her eyelashes, which in turn made her angry with herself for doing it. She constantly had a self-hatred for not being able to stop, causing more anxiety, and then prompting a different compulsion until the eyelash-

es grew back.

Simone is the recent author of “Body Punishment: OCD, Addiction, and Finding the Courage to Heal” where she writes about the struggles and feeling of seclusion while she was growing up with the disorder.

She has done talk therapy on and off over the years with the help of anti-anxiety medication to manage her compulsions, but writing has played a huge part in her life.

“Since I started talking about it and writing about it, dozens of people have emailed me or messaged me on Facebook saying they have the same thing, or know someone who does, and people talk to me with some frequency about issues they have or have had with OCD or other mental disorders.

“It makes me feel much more accepting of myself. I still have all of my compulsions, but now when I do them, they’re not followed by self-hatred,” she said.

New hospital comes to fruition Governor, legislature approve $300 million for healthcare integration in Oneida County

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overnor Andrew Cuomo recently proposed $300 million in the 2015 New York state budget to help create an integrated healthcare delivery system in Oneida County.

His proposal was part of a $700 million recommendation to support Upstate New York hospitals.

The proposal for Oneida County became a reality with the recent approval of the budget.

“This is an incredible opportunity for our community and we are extremely grateful to the governor and our legislators,” commented Scott Perra, president/CEO of the Mohawk Valley Health System. “Last fall, we began exploring the concept of a new, free-standing hospital. To be able to move forward with this concept changes healthcare in our community and Page 14

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enhances what we are able to do for the region.”

According to hospital officials, the governor’s recommendation was a welcome surprise and was in addition to a proposal submitted in December under the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program.

DSRIP is a federal and state initiative designed to improve and coordinate care for Medicaid recipients and those without insurance. Funding for the DSRIP project has not yet been announced.

Officials say building a new hospital is costly, estimated at $460 to $500 million. They note that the $300 million helps to lay the foundation for funding. MVHS would still need additional financial support from federal and state governments, lending institutions and

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper • May 2015

philanthropic support from the community.

The new hospital would replace inpatient care provided at the St. Luke’s Campus of Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare and at St. Elizabeth Medical Center.

The project is estimated to take four to six years to complete and there are a number of steps that need to happen even before the first shovels are in the ground.

“One of the most frequently asked questions is, ‘Where would we build a new hospital?’ and we don’t know yet,” noted Perra. “We are working with Steve DiMeo and Mohawk Valley EDGE to look for potential sites in our area. EDGE has tremendous resources and their support is invaluable. It will take time, research and planning to

determine the best location.”

The MVHS Board of Directors will make the final determination for the site.

Officials caution that while many are interested in where the new hospital will be located, there is a long list of additional items that need to be decided. In the next 12 to 18 months, a plan for the hospital, size, structure, location, services and staffing needs to be fully developed.

Administration and the board of directors also need to work on a transition plan for the FSLH and SEMC buildings and will work with the state Department of Health to complete a Certificate of Need application for the new project.

MVHS is an affiliation of FSLH and SEMC.

Healthcare in a Minute

By George W. Chapman

Rochester-based system expands again

By Jim Miller

Meds: Tools to Organize and Remember Dear Savvy Senior, What products or solutions can you recommend to help seniors keep up with their medications? My mom is supposed to take several different medications at different times of the day but frequently forgets.

Reminding Son Dear Reminding, Anybody who juggles multiple medications can relate to the problem of forgetting to take a medication or not remembering whether they already took it. This is especially true for people who take medications at varying times of the day. Here are some different product and service solutions that may help.

Medication helpers

Getting organized and being reminded are the two keys to staying on top of a medication schedule. To help your mom achieve this, there are a wide variety of affordable pillboxes, medication organizers, vibrating watches, beeping pill bottles and even dispensers that will talk to her that can make all the difference. To find these types of products go to Epill.com (800549-0095), where you’ll find dozens to choose from.

Also check out Reminder Rosie (reminder-rosie.com, $130), a voice activated talking clock that tells you when to take your medicine, and can be used for other reminders, too.

And for a super comprehensive medication management device, there’s the MedMinder automatic pill dispenser. This is a computerized pillbox that will beep and flash when it’s time for your mom to take her medication, and will call her if she forgets.

It will even alert her if she takes the wrong pills. This device can also be set up to call, email or text family members and caregivers letting you know if she misses a dose, takes the wrong medication or misses a refill. Available at MedMinder.com, or 888-633-6463, the MedMinder rents for $40 to $65 per month.

Medication packaging

Another possible way to help simplify your mom’s medication use is

to get her prescriptions filled in single-dose packets that put all her medications (vitamins and over-the-counter drugs can be included too) together in neatly labeled packets organized by date and the time of day they should be taken. This does away with all the pill bottles and pill sorting. Some compounding pharmacies or independent drug stores offer single-dose packaging along with a number of online pharmacies like PillPack.com.

Reminding services

Another simple solution that can help your mom stick to her medication schedule is to use a medication reminding service. These are services that will actually call, email or text your mother reminders of when it’s time to take her medicine and when it’s time to refill her prescriptions. Some even offer extra reminders like doctor and dentist appointments, wake-up calls and more.

Companies that offer such services are MyMedSchedule.com, which provides free medication reminders via text message or email. Their website can also help you make easy-to-read medication schedules that you can print out for your mom to follow. Or, if your mom uses a smartphone or tablet, there are free medication-reminding apps that can help, like MediSafe (medisafeproject.com) or MedCoach (greatcall.com).

If, however, your mom doesn’t receive texts or use a smartphone, tablet or computer, OnTimeRx.com or Snoozester.com may be the answer.

With starting prices ranging between $4 and $10 per month, these services will call your mom on her phone (they can send text messages and emails too) for all types of reminders including daily medications, monthly refills, doctor appointments, wake-up calls and other events.

Or, if you’re looking for extra help, Care Call Reassurance (call-reassurance.com, 602-265-5968 ext. 7) may be a better fit. In addition to the call reminders to your mom’s phone, this service can be set up to contact a family member or designated caregiver if she fails to answer or acknowledge the call.

This service runs between $15 and $20 per month.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit www.savvysenior. org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

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he 262-bed Clifton Springs Hospital and Clinic in Ontario County is now the fifth hospital to join the expanding Rochester Regional Health System.

The other four hospitals are Rochester General, Unity (Park Ridge), Newark Wayne and United Memorial in Batavia. RRHS is now the second largest private employer in the greater Rochester area with about 14,000 employees.

The largest private employer in the area is competing health system, the University of Rochester Medical Center, which employs about 25,000.

URMC includes Strong, Highland and Thompson (Canandaigua) hospitals.

NYS enacts price transparency law

The “Emergency Medical Services and Surprise Bills” law went into effect April 1. It provides consumer protection for care received out-of-network by listing pricing benchmarks for various procedures and offers dispute resolution for providers and payers contesting billings.

Consumers are typically responsible for the difference between what their insurance company pays the out-of-network provider and what the out-of-network provider charges.

ObamaCare did not overwhelm physicians

Opponents of the Affordable Care Act predicted physicians, especially those in primary care, would be deluged with 16 million new, formerly uninsured and very sick patients. It was virtually barbarians at the gate.

The same dire prediction was made by critics of the ACA’s predecessor, RomneyCare in Massachusetts. As with RomneyCare, the ACA did not cause a deluge. In 2013, the year before the ACA kicked in, 22.6 percent of patient visits to primary care physicians were new patient visits.

In 2014, the first year of the ACA, 22.9 percent of visits to primary care physicians were new patients. In addition, the complexity of the visits remained unchanged from 2013 to 2014. And, according to a survey from vitals.com, the average waiting time in a physician’s office actually decreased from 20 to 19 minutes.

Cost of newly insured to taxpayers

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the actual cost per newly insured (16 million) Americans is running 20 percent less than expected, at about $4,000. The ACA needs to get the word out. Only 5 percent of people polled know the ACA is costing much less than predicted while 42 percent believe we are spending much more than budgeted.

May 2015 •

NYS ranks health of 62 counties The ranking is based upon length of life, quality of life, health behaviors ( tobacco, diet, exercise, alcohol), clinical care (access, quality), social/economic factors (education, employment, income, family, community safety), and physical environment (air, water, housing, transit).

The top five healthiest counties, one to five, are: Rockland, Putnam, Saratoga, Tompkins and Nassau.

The bottom five, 58–62 are: Chautauqua, Chemung, Greene, Sullivan and Bronx. For a complete list go to www. countyhealthrankings.org/app/newyork/2015/rankings.

NYS endangered hospitals list

There are 28 hospitals in NYS in danger of closing. In order to qualify for special emergency interim funding, a hospital must prove it has less than 15 days operating cash on hand.

The funding is intended to keep the hospitals open long enough for them to find a partner. If these hospitals fail to hook up with a stronger hospital system, like the ones in Rochester for example, they will most likely close.

Low occupancy is the usual cause for closure. Upstate hospitals on the list are Auburn, Carthage, Gouverneur, Lewis County, River (Alex Bay) and Rome. All of these hospitals are within 30 minutes of a more viable hospital.

Health information cyber-attacks increasing

Washington state-based Premera BlueCross figures hackers got access to about 11 million health records. It took Premera eight months to realize there was a breach. Anthem insurance had 80 million records hacked. Stolen information could include contact information, bank account numbers, social security numbers, member ID numbers and claims data. It still remains to be seen what, if any, recourse a consumer has. You may be seeing class action lawsuits.

Medicare fraud Since the inception of the Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Control program in 1997, the Department of Justice has recovered almost $28 billion for the Medicare Trust Fund. $3.3 billion was recovered last year. The DOJ performs criminal and civil investigations of all providers including hospitals, physicians, pharmacies, device manufacturers and nursing homes.

GEORGE W. CHAPMAN is a health consultant who operates GW Chapman Consulting in Upstate New York.

To reach him, email gwc@gwchapmanconsulting.com.

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Page 15

H ealth News Howard earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration, with a concentration in information sciences, at Hartwick College in Oneonta.

Team challenge winner announced The American Heart Association announced the team challenge totals for America’s Greatest Heart Run & Walk Weekend 2015 at the High 5 Club Party recently, hosted by Hart’s Hill Inn in Whitesboro.

The High 5 Club Party and Memorial Awards Ceremony are held to honor those participants who raise $500 or more for America’s Greatest Pylinski Heart Run & Walk.

The High 5 Club has grown since its inception in 1985 and this year’s total of 242 “High 5” club members raised $322,836.

The top fundraiser, Albert Pylinski, Jr., received a 39-inch HD TV. Pylinksi raised $46,375.

A minimum amount of $30 in pledges for participants 16 years and older is required at registration to participate in the Heart Run & Walk. For more information on America’s Greatest Heart Run & Walk 2015, contact the AHA at 315-580-3964 or visit www. uticaheartrunwalk.org.

MVHS names VP of human resources Greg M. Howard has been named vice president of human resources for the Mohawk Valley Health System.

In this role, he is responsible for day-to-day HR operations, HR strategic direction, organizational development and training, and employee relations including recognition and awards for the system.

Howard also oversees two employee health offices.

Prior to working for MVHS, Howard served Howard as vice president of human resources for HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley in Kingston.

During his tenure at HealthAlliance, Howard successfully consolidated a Catholic and secular hospital with a small, critical-access hospital and nursing home. Prior to his position at HealthAlliance, he served as director of human resources for Saint Francis Hospital and Health Centers in Poughkeepsie.

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Director of language assistance program named Sergey Germanovich has been named director of the language assistance program for Mohawk Valley Health System.

In this position, Germanovich oversees daily operations of the program, including the direct supervision of administrative staff members and interpreters throughout MVHS. Germanovich Germanovich has been an employee at St. Elizabeth Medical Center since 2009, serving in various positions in the pharmacy, residency program, language assistance program and the Sister Rose Vincent Family Medicine Center, most recently as an administrative supervisor.

He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and Master of Business Administration in economic crime and fraud management at Utica College of Syracuse University in Utica.

Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare and SEMC are affiliates under the MVHS.

MVHS names medical/ surgical nurse manager Jamie M. Buell has been named nurse manager of 3A (medical-surgical) and 3B (oncology-medical-surgical) at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica.

In this position, Buell maintains nursing operations to include both clinical and administrative responsibilities for 3A and 3B. Buell has served in various positions at SEMC, including data abstractor, nursing quality management coordinator and, most recently, Buell case management supervisor. She has also been an adjunct clinical instructor for the accelerated second-degree nursing program at Utica College.

Buell earned her Associate of Applied Science degree at Morrisville State College in Morrisville and her Bachelor of Science in nursing with a minor in aging studies at Utica College.

Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare and SEMC are affiliates under the Mohawk Valley Health System.

SECON conducts safety drill St. Elizabeth College of Nursing, in conjunction with the Utica Police

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper • May 2015

Department Metro SWAT Team, conducted an “Active Shooter Drill” for its college staff and students recently at the college campus.

The drill is part of the college’s campus safety and security program and is designed to provide students, faculty and staff with a scenario that mimics an actual situation involving an active shooter on campus.

College president Varinya Sheppard has taken a proactive stance in keeping the college community on alert.

“Today we practiced for a situation that we all hope will never take place,” she said. “We are grateful for the excellent assistance we received from personnel at Mohawk Valley Health System, as well as the UPD.”

St. Elizabeth Medical Center restricts entrances St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica is restricting the number of public entrances.

The following four entrances will be open to the public from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. but will only be accessible by identification badges used by employees and medical staff during the overnight from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

• Entrance 1 — front hospital entrance (wooden doors facing Genesee Street) • Entrance 2 — parking garage second-floor entrance (enters on hospital’s fourth floor) • Entrance 3 — admitting entrance (left side of hospital) • Entrance 4 — walk-in emergency entrance An additional four entrances will be closed to the public but will still be accessible by identification badges used by employees and medical staff.

All patients and visitors will continue to use the emergency department entrance between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

The Mohawk Valley Health System’s Safety Department proposed the decrease in the number of unattended entrances as a way to increase the safety and security of patients, visitors, employees and medical staff.

Limiting public access to several entrances provides greater manageability of traffic in and out of the building.

St. Johnsville selects employee of quarter Dawn Carpenter has been elected employee of the quarter for April–June at St. Johnsville Rehabilitation and Nursing Center Carpenter joined the staff as a certified nursing assistant in January of 2006.

“It is evident that the needs of the residents are Dawn’s No. 1 priority.

She works tirelessly at building caring relationships with each resident and their families all while keeping a smile and open hand to help,” a staff member said.

“Dawn is a mentor to not only her peers, but to all who work at St. Johnsville Rehab & Nursing Center.”

VHS names director of nursing Melissa Ippolito has been promoted to director of nursing at Valley Health Services in Herkimer.

Ippolito has been with VHS as a registered nurse since 2001, most recently in the position of nursing care coordinator of the rehab unit. She was also at VHS as a certified nursing assistant from 1993-1996.

Ippolito has a wealth of experience and education in the healthcare field.

Ippolito She has over 20 years of experience in geriatric nursing and possesses a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from SUNYIT, as well as being certified in rehabilitation nursing and wound care.

As director of nursing at VHS, Ippolito will be responsible to plan, organize, develop and direct the overall operation of the nursing services department to ensure that the highest degree of quality care is maintained at all times.

Ippolito resides in Middleville with her husband, John, and two daughters.

New manager at RMH prenatal clinic Annie M. Wafer is the new manager of Rome Memorial Hospital’s Prenatal Care Services Clinic, located downtown at 155 W. Dominick St. The Prenatal Care Service Clinic offers complete pregnancy care and other health services to women living in Oneida and Madison counties who meet certain income guidelines.

A family nurse practitioner, Wafer Wafer has experience caring for both adult and pediatric patients, but she says her first love has always been working with women during pregnancy and childbirth. She has worked in private practice as an obstetrics-gynecology nurse practitioner for several years and, as a registered nurse, she worked in the maternity departments of both RMH and Crouse Hospital in Syracuse.

Wafer earned an Associate of Science degree in nursing from Mohawk Valley Community College, Utica; a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Keuka College, Keuka Park; and a Master of Science degree in nursing/ family nurse practitioner from the University of Cincinnati.

Continued on Page 17

H ealth News Continued from Page 16

Hospitalist joins Rome Memorial team Surinder Khokhar recently joined the staff at Rome Memorial Hospital as a member of its hospitalist team.

A hospitalist is a physician who cares for patients only while they are in the hospital, and coordinates their care with their personal physician and specialists.

The role of hospitalists is important because they see patients when they are acutely ill, Khokhar said.

Although the hospitalist only sees Khokhar the patient while they are hospitalized, they play a vital role by working with primary care physicians and specialists to assure that all providers are working together to achieve the best possible outcome for the patient.

Khokhar spent several years as an instructor at the Government Medical College and Hospital in Chandigarh, India.

Khokhar also has years of experience performing cardiology research, and has had several papers published by various medical journals.

He credits his interests in cardiology and infectious diseases as the factors that ultimately led him to becoming a hospitalist.

A graduate of Silchar Medical College in Silchar, India, Khokhar completed his residency in internal medicine at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. He is also certified in HIV/AIDS prevention and control and recognizing and reporting child abuse maltreatment and neglect.

SDMG appoints clinical coordinator Andrew J. Salvatore has been appointed clinical coordinator at Slocum-Dickson Medical Group in New Hartford.

Salvatore will be responsible for assisting with the clinical operations of the entire organization. His duties will include acting as a liaison between clinical staff, physicians and support staff to help insure that clinical offices are operating Salvatore smoothly.

He began his employment with SDMG in May of 2001 as an electronic medical records analyst where he was responsible for the coordination and development of activities involving the electronic medi-

cal records system.

In 2007, he was promoted to the role of clinical coordinator for the group, where he remained until 2009.

After spending some time at another local healthcare facility in the roles of clinical systems coordinator and director of network clinical applications and working on various healthcare projects as a consultant for an independent agency, Salvatore has returned to SDMG in the role of clinical coordinator.

Salvatore earned his Master of Science degree in health services administration and his Bachelor of Professional Studies degree in business/public management at the SUNY-IT in Utica.

He earned his Associate in Applied Science degree in nursing at Saint Elizabeth’s College of Nursing in Utica.

Salvatore was the valedictorian of his class at Saint Elizabeth’s College of Nursing and the recipient of the outstanding graduate student-health services administration award at the SUNY-IT. He is also active in the community as a member of the Clayville Volunteer Fire Department and the Sauquoit Valley AYSO Soccer League.

SDMG honors longtime employee Slocum-Dickson Medical Group in New Hartford is recognizing Wanda Fischer for her 25 years of service to the group.

A celebratory breakfast for all employees was held recently in honor of Fischer.

She began her career with SDMG in April of 1990 as a cashier in the former Slocum-Dickson Fischer Pharmacy. Within the first three months of her employment, she completed a new system to track inventory that was easy to understand and use by all staff.

During her time with the former Slocum-Dickson Pharmacy, Fischer was noted as having good marketing skills and a vast knowledge of all of the over-the-counter products sold by the pharmacy.

In 1995, Fischer changed career paths and took on the role of switchboard operator-office aide in the business office.

“Wanda maintains a high level of productivity and is always willing to take on additional tasks when needed,” a SDMG spokesperson said.

SDMG receives AAAHC re-accreditation Slocum-Dickson Medical Group in New Hartford has again achieved accreditation by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care.

Accreditation distinguishes this multi-specialty medical group from many other outpatient facilities by providing the highest quality of care to its patients as determined by an independent, external process of evaluation.

Status as an accredited organization means SDMG has met nationally recognized standards for the provision of quality health care set by AAAHC. More than 5,000 ambulatory health care organizations across the United States are accredited by AAAHC. Not all ambulatory health care organizations seek accreditation, and not all that undergo the rigorous on-site survey process are granted accreditation.

Ambulatory health care organizations seeking accreditation by AAAHC undergo an extensive self-assessment and on-site survey by AAAHC expert surveyors — physicians, nurses, and administrators who are actively involved in ambulatory health care.

SDMG is a physician-owned multi-specialty group practice that has been providing quality healthcare since 1938.

The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter, NYSARC is a non-profit human services agency that provides advocacy and services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Oneida and Lewis counties.

For more information about The Arc, visit www.thearcolc.org or call 315-272-1532.

Insight House recipient of holiday match grant

The Friends of The Arc Foundation raised over $30,000 at its “Not So Silent” Auction Arc-Venture held recently at the Yahnundasis Country Club in New Hartford.

Proceeds directly benefit people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through the support of programs offered through The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter, NSYARC. In addition to raffles, silent and live auctions, guests also had the opportunity to donate money specifically to The Arc’s “I have a Dream” program. People receiving Arc services had their stories on display, detailing their specific needs. Because of many generous donations by those in attendance, all six people’s dreams were fully funded.

For more information about The Arc, visit www.thearcolc.org or call 315-272-1532.

Insight House Chemical Dependency Services, Inc. has received a Stewart’s Holiday Match grant of $500 to support its drug and alcohol prevention efforts at area schools.

This funding will be used to purchase supplies for the agency’s Helping Youth through Prevention Education program. It is a skill-based curriculum aimed at increasing awareness and decision-making ability with regards to substance experimentation and use.

Funding was made possible by Stewart’s Holiday Match Grant, as customers donated more than $770,000 last year from Thanksgiving through Christmas. Stewart’s matched the amount collected, bringing the total amount awarded to charities and organizations to over $1.5 million.

The Arc names director of development, planning Frank Coluccio has been promoted to director of development and planning at The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter, NYSARC. Coluccio is a native of Utica. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University in psychology and a master’s degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in school psychology.

Coluccio joined The Arc in 2007 as a Medicaid service coordinator. He was promoted to quality assurance coordinator in 2010, team leader in 2012, and deputy director in 2014, all positions Coluccio within the service coordination department.

In his new role, Coluccio will oversee the department of program development and planning. That department will identify people interested in pursuing self-directed services and supports.

He will also work with agency teams to help develop plans and new options for services.

May 2015 •

Auction fulfills dreams, raises money for programs

PA joins Camden Family Care Rebecca Friemann has joined the staff of Camden Family Care, 5 Masonic Ave., Camden.

A physician assistant is a mid-level medical practitioner who works under the supervision of a licensed doctor, providing care for both pediatric and adult patients.

As such, Friemann will be assisting Benjamin Sommer with well and sick visits, evaluations and management for chronic conditions such as diabetes.

A native of Pennsylvania, Friemann said she is thrilled to have the opportunity to provide care for patients in Camden because she wanted to serve a community where there was a greater need for medical providers.

A graduate of Marywood University in Scranton, Pa., Friemann Friemann earned her Master of Science degree in physician assistant studies. She also received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish language and pre-physician assistant studies with a minor in nutrition and dietetics at Marywood.

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 17

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More info: www.rpcn.org Page 18

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IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper • May 2015

NP brings relief to underserved in Brazil Continued from Page 7 Central New York from the West Coast in 2001 when her husband, Patrick Riley, accepted a position as a French professor at Colgate University in Hamilton.

She had graduated from Berkeley summa cum laude in 1990. She spent five years working as an office manager at an acupuncture center in Oakland, Calif., and assisted in patient care and education in between doing routine office work.

From 1994-2001, she spent time raising her family. Her son, Maddox Riley, 20, is now Burns a college student, and Miranda Riley, 17, is a high school junior. “They are my No. 1 priority,” Burns said.

After she and her husband settled in the Mohawk Valley, Burns turned her attention to nursing fulltime.

Pursues nursing career

She received her associate’s degree in nursing from SUNY Morrisville in 2001 and spent the next 10 years working in a variety of clinical settings.

“I played around with different health careers,” she admitted. “But I knew I wanted to be an RN. The good thing about nursing is that it offers many ways to be flexible, to slowly gain experience.”

She was a student nurse in the telemetry unit at Community General Hospital in Syracuse from 2001-2002, helping nurses track patients who are under continuous electronic monitoring.

She became a staff RN in telemetry at Faxton Hospital in Utica from 20032004 and supervised licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants in a high-acuity setting.

Burns also considered a career in nursing education. She worked as a health care educator at The Arc, Oneida-Lewis Chapter in Utica, from 2005-2009, and became involved with children and adults with autism and other special needs.

She supervised staff and taught medication administration and healthcare delivery specific to special needs populations.

From June 2009 to September 2010, she became a nurse at James H. Donovan Middle School in Utica. She provided routine medical care, first aid and medication administration for a diverse student population of approximately 1,000 students. This is when she first encountered many of the children from Utica’s refugee and immigrant population.

Burns entered SUNYIT in 2009 to obtain her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and simultaneously was enrolled in the accelerated program to a master’s degree. When she observed the work of the NPs in Brazil, it convinced her of the need to advance her career from RN to an NP. As a part of SUNYIT’s international initiative, Burns helped the students coordinate the donation, collection and packing of healthcare

supplies for the medical mission in the Amazon. Once they got to Brazil, the cross-cultural team of college students and healthcare professionals worked to establish a trusting relationship with an underserved indigenous population.

Burns did medical screening and triage in two Amazonian Indian village clinics, assisted NPs in providing medical care in clinics and taught dental hygiene in local village schools.

She was a graduate student assistant at SUNYIT from 2010-2011. One of her assignments was to research the health care needs and resources in a medically underserved community with the goal of opening a clinic run by the college. She also developed entrepreneurial and integrative medicine initiatives for the nursing department.

While working on her degree in 2011, she continued to develop her resume and explore various healthcare paths. She worked briefly at the Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center in Utica, the St. Elizabeth Family Practice in Clinton, and at Bassett Healthcare’s school-based health center in Sherburne.

From January to May 2012, she began a series of clinical rotations and got her first look at the newly established Utica Community Health Center.

She also spent time with Cathy Barry and Associates, an OB-GYN practice in Baldwinsville; Bassett Pediatrics, Herkimer; St. Luke’s emergency department, New Hartford; the neurology department, Slocum-Dickson Medical Group, New Hartford, and Rome Orthopedics, Rome.

After Burns received her Bachelor of Science in nursing and Master of Science in family nurse practitioner from SUNYIT in 2012, she accepted a position as FNP at the St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Little Falls.

She stayed two years and said she enjoyed the hospital and atmosphere, but the two-hour daily commute to Little Falls and back took time away from her family. In October 2014, she welcomed the opportunity to practice in Utica.

At this point in her career, she wasn’t daunted to see that many of the UCHC patients come from the “medically-underserved” community she had studied at SUNYIT. The healthcare center has two primary care doctors in residence — Cynthia Jones and Randolph Snow, but the latter is relocating soon to Oswego.

“The biggest challenge in working with refugees, other than the language barrier, is that people aren’t consistent in taking their prescriptions,” Burns observed. “Sometimes they forget or don’t know about the need to take their prescriptions long term or how to refill their prescriptions.”

Like the local hospitals and medical facilities, UCHC recognizes the value of translators. A poster at UCHC said it has translators available in 29 languages from A to V, Arabic to Vietnamese.

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Riding with Purpose Ride For Missing Children celebrates 30th year

dren in Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, the Capital District-Albany, plus one that started in Texas last October.

As the ride has grown, the preparation, organization and intensity has ballooned. There are about 200 local volunteers now. Even the New York State Police and local police help coordinate the many months of meetings leading to the big day.

The highlight of the 100-mile ride remains its carefully planned stops at about 10 local schools. Students greet the riders, treat them to healthy snacks and turn over modest donations to NCMEC. They also listen to the serious message of how to stay alert and safe from child predators, whether on the Internet, riding their bikes or walking to school.

By Patricia J. Malin

T

raining for a 100-mile bicycle ride has always been a challenge for Kathy White of Clinton.

Entering her 14th year of the Ride For Missing Children, she admits it doesn’t get any easier.

Conversely, her husband Jim is an avid cyclist and is always gung-ho for the ride. He has participated in 16 of these events, which started in 1995 and take place in mid-May. Whether the training is difficult or comes easy is almost negligible since the 500 cyclists are keeping their eyes focused on the real mission of the Ride For Missing Children. “The more people that know about it, the higher chance of finding a missing child,” said Kathy.

The annual ride raises funds to print posters of missing children through the Utica branch of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Every participant in the ride is required to raise a minimum of $500, which represents 2,000 posters. Even with 500 riders, there is a waiting list because so many people are devoted to the cause.

“I was much younger when I started the ride and yes, it was difficult for me and still is, but that does not stop me,” said Kathy, a real estate agent.

Over the last 30 years, NCMEC has printed 9 million posters showing 9,000 missing children. Thousands of children have been recovered and the odds are improving. “Ninety-seven percent of the time, a child is recovered as a result of the posters,” said Kathy.

Jim notes there are fundraisers just about every weekend in the Mohawk Valley for some disease or worthy cause. “This is a giving community,” he observed. “This one is unique. I find people give more freely to this; anyone with a child,” he said.

Many participants train together in spinning classes at a fitness center or at home, an activity that’s very rigorous and demanding using stationary bikes.

“I usually start spinning inside as soon as the weather gets bad,” said Kathy. “But I hit it harder in January, doing 3 to 4 classes a week.”

Jim, 56, who is retired, is in the saddle much more often than his wife and piles up an average of 900 miles a year.

Safety a priority

Kathy and Jim White of Clinton prepare for their next Ride For Missing Children.

In winter, he alternates between long sessions on the bike in the basement or cross-country skiing.

“I probably would not have been able to do the first ride [in 1999] without [Jim’s] help,” Kathy said. “He was a great help getting me up the hills. I still struggle with hills, but I do them.

Not my favorite. Nothing prepares you for the ride like getting on the bike and riding, (but) we have not had the best weather this year to get out on the roads.”

The massive group returns to the great outdoors in spring, and in some years it manages to start hitting the roads as soon as St. Patrick’s Day. One of the first outings this year was April 12 and 150 riders, including the Whites, showed up.

When it all began

Most people in the Mohawk Valley are aware the local ride started in memory of Sarah Anne Wood, a 12-yearold girl who disappeared Aug. 18, 1993, while riding her bicycle on rural

Roberts Road in Norwich Corners in Herkimer County, just south of Utica.

Lewis Lent Jr. confessed to abducting and killing Wood, as well as two other children, and is serving a life sentence in a Massachusetts prison. Police have never found her remains.

Wood’s father, Robert, a minister, organized the first ride in May 1995 to Washington, D.C., with seven close friends to raise awareness about missing children. In 1996, the local group teamed up with NCMEC to spread its message nationwide and bring official sanctioning and support to the fundraising effort.

“There are now five other rides,” Jim said. He started 16 years ago at the request of Frank Williams, a member of that first ride and a vice president at ConMed Corporation. “Back then, it was by invitation only,” said Jim. “We started in Albany and rode 110 miles to Utica.”

In addition to Utica-Central New York, there are rides for missing chilMay 2015 •

Kathy is a volunteer for the speaker’s bureau for the NCMEC. “I go around to area schools teaching children about personal safety and bicycle safety,” she said. “I am also on the corporate benefactor committee which helps procure donations and sponsorships to help underwrite the ride.”

If her training does not match her husband’s level, she has other reasons, as well. “I am also on the new rider committee,” Kathy said.

She and Jim impart their considerable expertise as newcomers prepare for the challenging journey and those daunting hills, plus how to ride with discipline at a pace of 14-18 miles per hour in an extremely large group on the state’s highways, even with police escort.

“When we ride two across, our group stretches for two miles,” Jim pointed out.

On May 17, the day after the ride, comes another momentous adventure: A team of 50 riders will embark on a 450-mile, multi-day ride to Washington to deliver the message of safety and a plaque commemorating 30 years since NCMEC was founded.

Missing Children’s Day is observed in the United States on May 25.

While Jim expects to ride the entire route, Kathy will alternate between riding in the sag wagon and cycling. “I definitely want to ride,” she said. “I’m so passionate about this. I think about a little girl who was abducted in 1993 and is still missing.”

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper

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Page 19

Spotlight on Nonprofits Care Net Pregnancy Center Care Net Pregnancy Center provides web of resources for mothers, families

By Mary Christopher

B

eing a single mom to three young children isn’t always easy and having people and places to turn to every now and then help Leeiycen “Lee” Walker get through tough days.

The Care Net Pregnancy Center of Utica is that safe place for Walker, 21, who started visiting the center in 2009 when she was expecting her first child.

It was at Care Net that she learned about pregnancy and her unborn baby.

She took parenting classes and received the right referrals for testing and proper medical appointments. She still works with Care Net staff by taking classes as part of the LEAP program, which stands for learn, earn and parent. It is aimed at helping her advance as a woman and then she earns “boutique bucks” to buy necessities for her children.

With no real support system at home or growing up, Walker is grateful for the caring “net” the agency has provided her over the years.

“They are here to support you, not judge you,” she said. “There are really great people here who are flexible and understanding.”

Utica’s Care Net location is part of Care Net Pregnancy Center of Central New York. The organization started in Rome in 1989 and then added four other locations in Utica, Herkimer, Oneida and Morrisville.

The primary focus of care revolves around providing free and confidential services for women facing unplanned pregnancy. Programs have been added that help fathers and grandparents and women looking to better themselves.

The agency helps about 2,000 clients per year, including mothers, fathers and grandparents, director of client services Julie Rosati said.

“Everyone is welcome at Care Net,” Rosati said. “We do not discriminate regardless of age, race, sexual orientation or religious (affiliations).

We listen and offer support while (the client) talks.”

Services offered

The nonprofit offers a variety of services that guide women from pregnancy and beyond. They include: • Consulting a woman on pregnancy testing • Going over the options of pregnancy, parenting, abortion and adoption • STD testing through Next Step Testing • Offering classes that explain what happens to the body during pregnancy, fetal growth and development and the dangers of smoking while pregnant • Abortion recovery and support services • Referrals for a free, limited obstetrical ultrasound and making community referrals for whatever needs arise • The LEAP to Success mentoring program that allows mothers to learn and earn items that help her and the Page 20

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Leeiycen “Lee” Walker of Utica is a Care Net client and thankful for the support and resources she receives from the organization. She is surrounded by her children, Isabela, 5; Damari, 1; and Luciana, 6 months. child through one-on-one parenting classes • Mentoring program for fathers • Support for grandparents who may care for a child • Sexual risk avoidance team that works with teens in grades 7 through 12 to understand consequences associated with sex Reaching out to young girls and educating them on the risks of sexual relationships is key to their preventative health. The sexual risk avoidance team uses age-appropriate research to discuss topics ranging from “sexting,” STDs, pregnancy and the option to discontinue a sexual relationship until they are in a committed relationship, said Hannah Strasner, a presenter on the team.

“Many teens have said the program was helpful for positive decision-making,” Strasner said. “They have said they may change certain risky behaviors as part of the three-day program.”

The LEAP program Walker often utilizes allows her to buy diapers,

IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper • May 2015

Refuge for Women The Care Net Pregnancy Center of Utica offers support and services for women facing an unplanned pregnancy. A mentoring program for fathers is also available. The Utica agency is located at 1404 Genesee St., Utica. Anyone wanting more information about the agency or services at all locations should call 315-7389435 or visit www.carenetcares.com.

wipes and other household necessities after completing classes. Care Net has been an invaluable resource for her during her pregnancies and journey into motherhood.

As many women and families go through programs and establish a foundation in parenting through Care Net, they often come back to visit or stay in touch with staff members.

“Ten years later, many of them come back to visit,” Rosati said. “They get attached to us and we to them. We build relationships.”

Walker will always be grateful for the help she received through Care Net. “They have open minds and understand the struggle,” she said.