“Fallout from nuclear tests leads to health crisis - Yahoo News” plus 4 more |
- Fallout from nuclear tests leads to health crisis - Yahoo News
- Music has healing powers for breast cancer patients - Orange County Register
- Text size - Hartford Courant
- US nuclear tests in Pacific lead to migration tensions, costly health ... - Los Angeles Times
- Plastic Surgery Turf War - Chattanoogan
Fallout from nuclear tests leads to health crisis - Yahoo News Posted: 06 Sep 2009 12:26 PM PDT HONOLULU – Pius Henry fears his adopted government will kill him, that the United States won't live up to a health care obligation to people from Pacific islands where it tested nuclear bombs. Henry, a diabetic from the Marshall Islands, has received free dialysis treatments three times a week for years, but the cash-strapped state of Hawaii has threatened to cut off him and others to save money. Like thousands of legal migrants to Hawaii from independent Pacific nations, Henry believes the United States has a responsibility to provide health care to compensate for the radioactive fallout of 67 nuclear weapons tests from 1946 to 1958. "I don't have any option. I'm asking the government to help us," Henry said. "They say we're like U.S. citizens, but then they don't treat us the same. It's really unfair." A federal judge's ruling Sept. 1 temporarily prevented Hawaii from halting critical dialysis and chemotherapy treatments to hundreds of migrants from three nations: Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. His order lasts at least until October. Those three countries are beneficiaries of the Compact of Free Association, a 1986 pact with the United States granting it the right to use defense sites in exchange for financial assistance and migration rights. With doctors and medical facilities lacking in their own countries, many with life-threatening conditions have moved to Hawaii seeking better health care, education and quality of life. The islanders have struggled adjusting to American culture and their new home. They fill public housing projects and a disproportionate share of homeless shelters, according to a 2007 study. Without college degrees or a command of the English language, many work in fast-food or hotel jobs, which still pay far better than they could earn in their home countries. "We're the last immigrants," said Innocenta Sound-Kikku, a Micronesian whose father, Manuel Sound, suffers from diabetes. "We come here for the same thing everyone else came here for the chance for the American dream. The U.S. has an obligation after what they've done to us." The nuclear testing occurred in the Marshall Islands, carrying the explosive power of 7,200 Hiroshima bombs, said Dr. Neal Palafox, chairman of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Hawaii. The blasts contaminated thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean. The residual radioactivity led to high rates of leukemia and thyroid, lung, stomach, skin and brain cancers, Palafox said. Fallout exposure could result in about a 9 percent increase in cancer in the Marshall Islands, according to a 2004 National Cancer Institute estimate provided to a U.S. Senate committee. "It's a monster increase in cancer rates no matter how you look at it," Palafox said. He said that while the high rate of diabetes isn't directly connected to the nuclear tests, fast foods and processed meats introduced by the U.S. led to worsening diets in a culture that was dependent on fishing. The migrants also widely believe the United States owes them for their various illnesses because of the destruction to their homelands and the displacement and agony they have suffered. While living with diabetes and high blood pressure, Manuel Sound takes about 11 pills daily and said he feels wary of death. If he missed any of his 3 1/2-hour, thrice-weekly dialysis treatments, his health would be in danger. "One day you miss, and the poison begins to circulate in your bloodstream. I could die if I'm not careful," said Sound, who has lived in Hawaii for seven years after migrating from Micronesia. "With these budget cuts, I really thought I was going to go." The state of Hawaii sought to save $15 million by cutting health services to more than 7,000 migrants, who are treated as legal residents lacking citizenship. Their ambiguous status, as well as their cost to taxpayers, led to the state's proposed health reductions. Both the Hawaii government and the migrants argue that the U.S. government should take responsibility for their health treatments. But federal Medicaid funding to the migrant islanders was slashed when welfare reform passed in 1996, resulting in Hawaii picking up the tab. U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, said he is trying to reinstate Medicaid benefits for compact migrants as part of the pending health care legislation. "The United States cannot wash its hands clear of this responsibility because the islands will still have that nuclear testing effect for the next 2,000 years," said William Swain of the Marshallese community organization Pa Emman Kabjere, which means "don't let go of a good hand." In Swain's family, 15 siblings on his father's side died from cancer, with the men suffering from thyroid cancer and the women from urine and breast cancer, he said. His 12-year-old niece has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and his older brother died from thyroid cancer two months ago. While the government lacks data showing how quickly people are moving from these island nations, there were about 12,215 migrants of the Compact of Free Association states living in Hawaii in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many of the migrants said it's racially discriminatory for the U.S. government to grant lifesaving health coverage to poor Americans while denying it to them. "It's wrong for people to be so prejudiced," said Tita Raed of Micronesians United. "Most of the people in Hawaii moved here. This is not their native island, but they're upset when other people move here." This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Music has healing powers for breast cancer patients - Orange County Register Posted: 06 Sep 2009 12:12 PM PDT Breast cancer touches everyone young, old, men and especially women. One in eight finds herself faced with the disease. "Music has the power to heal, especially at times when our lives feel out of control," says Maxim Eshkenazy, Pacific Symphony's assistant conductor, who lost a family member to breast cancer. "For me, music is the best escape, the place to be in the middle of the storm." Mairene Wessel was 39 when she heard the news that would change her life. It was like the band abruptly stopped playing. Bad news, the doctor said, shaking his head. "He began to tell me I had two cancers in my right breast and under my right armpit. He spoke all sorts of medical jargon, but all I could hear were words like malignancy, chemo therapy, mastectomy, mortality." The Aliso Viejo resident remembers it well; it was just one year ago. She thought: "This happens to older people sickly people not me." She learned the cancer in her breast was the size of a tennis ball, and the one under her arm, the size of an egg. And so it began the battle of a lifetime. Mairene's cancer was aggressive, so her treatment had to be too. Her body began to feel like it had been run over by a train. All she wanted to do was sleep. She cried and prayed. She pleaded for strength, hope and courage. Her taste buds began to change and her hair started to shed. "I had a meltdown in the bathroom," she says. "I started cutting my hair from every direction and ended up looking like a punk rocker." She had her friend shave her head and began wearing bandannas, scarves, hats and wigs all to suit different moods. "My short-hair was my happy wig long-hair was for 'just OK' days. Bandannas meant I needed down time." The other thing she put on was music. "Music was instrumental in my healing," Wessel says without hesitation. Last March, she underwent a double mastectomy and had lymph nodes removed. Her friends provided love and support, and music offered some relief. "Music was my escape," she says. "Music allowed me to stay connectedand remember happier times. When I'm sad, I listen to something upbeat like disco. When I want to meditate, I put on classical. When I need to go a little crazy, I sing karaoke. Music helped me recover." In March, Mairene's pathology report came back negative. She is in remission. "Seven months later, the doctor said my cancer had vanished." A CALMING RESPITE Many women identify with Wessel's battle, including Catharine Becker of Huntington Beach, whose mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at 56, and who now finds herself at 43, a mother of three young children who is undergoing treatment for her own breast cancer. "Music has been a way for me to pray, express joy and lift my spirits. It calms me when I'm afraid. I can share it with others or be completely selfish with it. Lyrics can be so powerful they bring you to tears." As she went through all of her tests bone scan, CT scan and MRI Marie was either singing in her head or had music piped into her ears. It helps clear her mind as she drives home from chemotherapy. It cheers her up. "Music expresses so much words aren't necessary." Eshkenazy, who lives in Seal Beach also takes solace in music. "Once I open a score and the music comes to life in my head, all my problems are gone," he says. "It's the same with the violin, because it's quite difficult. You have to focus and forget the world around you." Eshkenazy lost Angelina (his music teacher and cousin's wife) to breast cancer when she was just 46. She endured two operations but the cancer metastasized to her brain and it was too late to save her. "She was my violin teacher through high school. My instrument and my teacher were a very important part of my life. Angelina was the most encouraging person I knew; she pushed me to the limit and helped me be my best. She was also part of my family. When she died, it was very painful." Today Eshkenazy is passionate about two things: music and early breast cancer detection. RETURNING HOME For Cyndi Mancinelli, cancer proved to be a path back to music. Her dad was a professional violinist and she had begun playing the violin at a very early age. She played semiprofessionally in college, winning a symphony audition. After playing professionally for more than 25 years, she suddenly gave it up. "I thought I needed a new challenge." The challenge, as it turned out, was breast cancer. She was 51. Mancinelli was immediately whisked into what she calls the "Breast Cancer Care System," where the support was tremendous. She underwent a single mastectomy with silicone implant reconstruction. "I was so lucky to catch it early," Mancinelli says. It was stage one no lymph node involvement. But during her illness she remained disconnected from music to the point that she had her violin appraised to sell it. "I felt I was done with music forever. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I knew I had to trust the universe." Out of the blue, Mancinelli received a call from the Ballet asking if she could play the fall production of 'Giselle.' She thought, "Well, I'll see if I can still play and if I enjoy it. This will be the final test." She immediately panicked. She had not played a note for more than two years and was terrified she wouldn't remember how, let alone get through an entire ballet. "I set up my music stand, rosined my bow, tuned my violinand began the journey back to music." She admits that music did not help her through breast cancer but that breast cancer led her back to music. "If I had not faced down the fear of breast cancer, I wouldn't have had the courage to face the fear of playing again. At the end of the run of 'Giselle,' I couldn't stop crying. I knew I'd made a very important turn in my life." Mancinelli has been playing ever since and has never been happier. She is certain her career as a musician enhances her health. This past March, she celebrated an important milestone her fifth year cancer-free. Like other cancer survivors, the journey provided the opportunity for her to reassess her life and re-prioritize. "When you're faced with the possibility of dying, it shakes you to your core. You have to decide whether or not to give into the black hole of fear. I deliberately chose to not give in. It made me a stronger woman." To this day, she shudders to think what might have happened had she not been vigilant about her health. "Early detection offers the very best chance for survival." Marie La Fargue, 47, who after 16 years as a survivor, says she has a sense of peace about her multiple bouts of breast cancer. For her, good medicine and faith were mixed with music jazz, classical, R&B, pop, rock and on a few occasions, the blues. "After all the reports, scans and consults, my sentiments became very simpatico with jazz legend Miles Davis, who said, 'Don't play what's there, play what's not there.'" La Fargue, a former Rancho Santa Margarita resident became a master at improvising. "I can now sing with a chorus of other beautiful women who have seen more than a few days of 'Stormy Weather' before they could 'Let the Sun Shine.'" On Sept. 12, Pacific Symphony, led by Eshkenazy, hopes to shine the light on breast cancer awareness and the healing qualities of music, when it dedicates the concert "Tchaikovsky Spectacular," to the survivors of this insidious disease. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Posted: 06 Sep 2009 11:58 AM PDT HONOLULU (AP) — Pius Henry fears his adopted government will kill him, that the United States won't live up to a health care obligation to people from Pacific islands where it tested nuclear bombs. Henry, a diabetic from the Marshall Islands, has received free dialysis treatments three times a week for years, but the cash-strapped state of Hawaii has threatened to cut off him and others to save money. Like thousands of legal migrants to Hawaii from independent Pacific nations, Henry believes the United States has a responsibility to provide health care to compensate for the radioactive fallout of 67 nuclear weapons tests from 1946 to 1958. "I don't have any option. I'm asking the government to help us," Henry said. "They say we're like U.S. citizens, but then they don't treat us the same. It's really unfair." A federal judge's ruling Sept. 1 temporarily prevented Hawaii from halting critical dialysis and chemotherapy treatments to hundreds of migrants from three nations: Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. His order lasts at least until October. Those three countries are beneficiaries of the Compact of Free Association, a 1986 pact with the United States granting it the right to use defense sites in exchange for financial assistance and migration rights. With doctors and medical facilities lacking in their own countries, many with life-threatening conditions have moved to Hawaii seeking better health care, education and quality of life. The islanders have struggled adjusting to American culture and their new home. They fill public housing projects and a disproportionate share of homeless shelters, according to a 2007 study. Without college degrees or a command of the English language, many work in fast-food or hotel jobs, which still pay far better than they could earn in their home countries. "We're the last immigrants," said Innocenta Sound-Kikku, a Micronesian whose father, Manuel Sound, suffers from diabetes. "We come here for the same thing everyone else came here for — the chance for the American dream. The U.S. has an obligation after what they've done to us." The nuclear testing occurred in the Marshall Islands, carrying the explosive power of 7,200 Hiroshima bombs, said Dr. Neal Palafox, chairman of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Hawaii. The blasts contaminated thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean. The residual radioactivity led to high rates of leukemia and thyroid, lung, stomach, skin and brain cancers, Palafox said. Fallout exposure could result in about a 9 percent increase in cancer in the Marshall Islands, according to a 2004 National Cancer Institute estimate provided to a U.S. Senate committee. "It's a monster increase in cancer rates no matter how you look at it," Palafox said. He said that while the high rate of diabetes isn't directly connected to the nuclear tests, fast foods and processed meats introduced by the U.S. led to worsening diets in a culture that was dependent on fishing. The migrants also widely believe the United States owes them for their various illnesses because of the destruction to their homelands and the displacement and agony they have suffered. While living with diabetes and high blood pressure, Manuel Sound takes about 11 pills daily and said he feels wary of death. If he missed any of his 3½-hour, thrice-weekly dialysis treatments, his health would be in danger. "One day you miss, and the poison begins to circulate in your bloodstream. I could die if I'm not careful," said Sound, who has lived in Hawaii for seven years after migrating from Micronesia. "With these budget cuts, I really thought I was going to go." The state of Hawaii sought to save $15 million by cutting health services to more than 7,000 migrants, who are treated as legal residents lacking citizenship. Their ambiguous status, as well as their cost to taxpayers, led to the state's proposed health reductions. Both the Hawaii government and the migrants argue that the U.S. government should take responsibility for their health treatments. But federal Medicaid funding to the migrant islanders was slashed when welfare reform passed in 1996, resulting in Hawaii picking up the tab. U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, said he is trying to reinstate Medicaid benefits for compact migrants as part of the pending health care legislation. "The United States cannot wash its hands clear of this responsibility because the islands will still have that nuclear testing effect for the next 2,000 years," said William Swain of the Marshallese community organization Pa Emman Kabjere, which means "don't let go of a good hand." In Swain's family, 15 siblings on his father's side died from cancer, with the men suffering from thyroid cancer and the women from urine and breast cancer, he said. His 12-year-old niece has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and his older brother died from thyroid cancer two months ago. While the government lacks data showing how quickly people are moving from these island nations, there were about 12,215 migrants of the Compact of Free Association states living in Hawaii in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many of the migrants said it's racially discriminatory for the U.S. government to grant lifesaving health coverage to poor Americans while denying it to them. "It's wrong for people to be so prejudiced," said Tita Raed of Micronesians United. "Most of the people in Hawaii moved here. This is not their native island, but they're upset when other people move here." Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
US nuclear tests in Pacific lead to migration tensions, costly health ... - Los Angeles Times Posted: 06 Sep 2009 11:51 AM PDT Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012 | Copyright 2009 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
Plastic Surgery Turf War - Chattanoogan Posted: 06 Sep 2009 12:12 PM PDT
Plastic Surgery Turf War posted September 6, 2009 This Sundays Chattanooga Times Free Press featured a front-page article This Sundays Chattanooga Times Free Press featured a front-page article about cosmetic surgery in Chattanooga. The Turf War is not, as Dr. Carey Nease points out, about business or finances. It is about providing the highest quality of care for the people of our region. As the article notes, we have had cosmetic surgeons in Chattanooga before Dr. Nease began practice in Calhoun.
When I was interviewed by Emily Bregel for her proposed article, I wanted to be certain that Truth (that is truth with a capital T) in medical advertising was part of the thrust of her piece. I think that she did a fine job. As an academic plastic surgeon, I am intimately involved with the education of plastic surgeons at the UT College of Medicine Erlanger Campus. The training of real plastic surgeons is as rigorous as surgical residency gets. The public should understand the oversight that is involved in the making of a real plastic surgeon. After three to five years in an accredited surgical residency program (see ACGMEs website), the qualifications of these talented young people are scrutinized before they can begin their two to three year long plastic surgery training. We typically interview about 30 surgeons for two slots. All plastic surgery residencies are continually reviewed by the Residency Review Committee (RRC) of the ACGME to be certain that training in all disciplines of our field is standardized across the United States. Upon completion of an approved residency, a surgeon can take his boards in plastic surgery. The American Board of Plastic Surgery (see the ABPS website) is the only Board recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (see ABMS website). A written and then oral examination are performed by the board officers. If the candidate passes, then they are certified by the ABPS. Incidentally, ABPS certification testing must be repeated every ten years. This is to insure that real plastic surgeons stay up to date on current treatment. To quote the ABMS website, Certification is not a hurdle; it is a commitment and an opportunity. All of these organizations, (the ABMS, the ABPS, the ACGME, the RRC) were established to standardize education and provide the best patient care possible for the people of the United States. The American Board of Cosmetic Surgery is not recognized by any of these regulating bodies. The fellowship training of cosmetic surgeons has no recognized institutional oversight. It is of a mentorship style. The type that was abandoned by plastic surgery training programs years ago for its haphazard nature. There is no university in the United States that has a Division or Department of Cosmetic Surgery. Real plastic surgeons dominate the scientific literature. The levels of training between plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery are simply not worthy of comparison. It is utter hubris to argue the opposite. To illustrate the point, I believe I recall former Defense Secretary Rumsfelds comment a battlefield situations potential danger. He said that the most concerning element was that You dont know what you dont know. I think that applies well here, too. An aesthetic breast surgery consultation, for example, should include a thorough review of breast cancer potential, family and personal history, examination, and appropriate breast imaging. What experience does an ear, nose, and throat surgeon have in managing diseases of the breast? Are they confident that they can identify a potential problem? Aesthetic /Cosmetic surgery requires a mastery of patient care that goes beyond the technical ability to correct physical flaws.
Ear, nose, and throat residency training and subsequent board certification permits one to refer to themselves as a facial plastic surgeon. Marvelously orchestrated websites and advertising spin does not change reality. Does a year of cosmetic surgery fellowship equate to the training of a Plastic Surgeon? That is a decision that our community will need to make. However, they should make it with facts in hand.
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