December 2008
Where caring counts. Feel the difference.
Fantasy Forest Supports Digital Mammography– You Can Now Help
Every year attendees at the Fantasy Forest Gala and Auction on Saturday night donate funds to purchase new medical equipment for Mason General Hospital. This year, the price tag for the new equipment – digital mammography – is $470,000. You too can help fund the purchase of this equipment with a tax-deductible contribution.
Mason General Hospital Foundation is reaching
out to supporters to complete the funding of a new, state-of-the-art digital mammography for Mason General Hospital. Funding of this equipment is critical to continuing Mason General Hospital’s ability to provide quality healthcare and superb support for radiology and diagnostic service areas. The digital mammography equipment, which will be used in MGH’s Diagnostic Imaging Department, offers the highest level of patient diagnostic service as it relates to early cancer detection and treatment. Digital mammography can significantly reduce the overall radiation dose to breast tissue, in part because images may be manipulated on-screen in continued on page 5…
TM
Vol. 24 No. 6
Beyond Healthcare
The Economic Contribution of Hospitals In 2006, America’s hospitals treated 118 million people in their emergency departments,
provided care for 600 million outpatients, performed 27 million surgeries, and delivered 4 million babies. Every year, hospitals provide vital healthcare services like these to millions of people in thousands of communities. However, the importance of hospitals to their communities extends far beyond healthcare. Hospital care is the largest component of the health sector, which itself is a growing segment of the U.S. economy. In 2006, this sector represented about 16 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – a measure of economic output – or approximately $2.1 trillion. Hospitals accounted for $648 billion of that total. The health sector is an economic mainstay providing stability and growth, even during times of recession. In 2006, community hospitals employed more than 5 million people and spent about $286 billion on goods and services in addition to employee wages. Nationally, each hospital job supports almost two additional jobs, and every dollar spent by a hospital supports more than $2 of additional business activity. With these “ripple effects” included, hospitals support nearly $1.9 trillion of economic activity. A strong healthcare network, in which hospitals play a key role, also adds to the attractiveness of a community as a place to settle, locate a business, or retire. Source: Avalere Health and America Hospital Association, April 2008
Healthcare & Hospitals are Major Contributors to the Economy... National Health Expenditures as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product & Breakdown of National Expenditures on Health, 2006 U.S. GDP 2006
$2.1 TRILLION 32% Other
84% Other Sectors
16% Healthcare Expenditures
6% Nursing Home Care 10% Prescription Drugs 21% Physician Services 31% Hospital Care
Small Meals May Lower Cholesterol Animal studies and a number of small studies with human subjects have found that persons eating more frequently have lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol than persons following the traditional three-meal-a-day routine. A study conducted at Cambridge University found that subjects eating six meals a day had an average total cholesterol five percent lower than those eating three meals a day. In one study involving two thousand subjects, even persons taking in more calories per day saw a lowering of their cholesterol when they ate more frequently. {SOURCE: Silvia M.O. Titan, et al, “Frequency of eating and concentrations of serum cholesterol in the Norfolk population of the European prospective investigation into cancer (EPIC-Norfolk); cross sectional study, British Medical Journal, December 1, 2001; Cleveland Clinic Heart and Vascular Institute, “Small meals and cholesterol.”}