Healthy Times

Mercy Memorial Hospital System will hold its annual free skin cancer screening program from 3:30 to 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 14 at the Corporate Connection Office, 901 N. Macomb St., Suite 1.
No appointment is necessary, and four dermatologists will perform the skin cancer screenings. Each participant will receive a copy of the doctor’s observations during the screening to take home with them. The program is open to all members of the community on a first-come, first-seen basis.
Skin cancer affects one in five Americans, but if detected and treated early, it has a 99 percent cure rate.
Make checking your skin a daily habit. Watch for spots that are changing, growing, oddly shaped or those that may itch or bleed. If you notice a spot with any such symptoms, call your primary care physician or a dermatologist for a more thorough examination. Protect yourself every time you are out in the sun with protective clothing and a good sunscreen product. Avoid tanning beds.
For more information about the free skin cancer screening program, call (734) 240-4162.

Numerous Web sites are available to rate just about any service or product: restaurant food, hotel service and even a pediatrician’s care. However, a new poll from the University of Michigan shows that only 25 percent of parents say they consider doctor rating Web sites very important in their search for a child’s physician.
But the latest University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health did show that younger parents, those under 30, were more likely to say that online doctor ratings are very important. And mothers were more likely than fathers to say that those ratings are very important.
“More and more families are going online not only to find out about medical conditions but also in their search for the right doctor for their child. What we found in the poll was that the perceived importance of online ratings appears to differ widely based on factors such as parent age and gender,” says David A. Hanauer, a primary care pediatrician and clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at U-M. Hanauer collaborated with the National Poll on Children’s Health regarding this study of doctor rating Web sites.

Mercy Memorial Hospital System is emphasizing to patients that it does not purchase products or supplies from the New England Compounding Center (NECC), a Massachusetts company connected with a tainted drug that’s caused deaths and illness due to fungal meningitis.
The Emergency Department physicians at Mercy Memorial have fielded questions from patients for the past two weeks and have assured them that hospital does not purchase products and/or supplies from the company in question, hospital officials said.
The product implicated in the outbreak is Methylprednisolone Acetate, a steroid that is primarily used for epidural back injections. The outbreak has affected 308 patients and caused 23 deaths in 17 states, including Michigan.
MMHS also has no history of purchasing this item or any items from the New England manufacturer, according to Jackie Swearingen, a hospital spokeswoman.
The Food and Drug Administration is advising health care professionals to follow up with patients who were administered any injectable medication from or produced by New England Compounding Center, including injectable ophthalmic drugs related to eye surgery or a cardioplegic solution purchased from or produced by New England Compounding Center after May 21.
Patients who might have received these drugs after May 21 should watch for potential symptoms of infection and to contact their health care provider if they exhibit symptoms. Symptoms include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea and vomiting, sensitivity to light and altered mental status.
Symptoms for other possible infections may include fever; swelling, increasing pain, redness, warmth at injection site; visual changes, pain, redness or discharge from the eye; chest pain, or drainage from the surgical site (infection within the chest).

A new study shows that taking a multivitamin once daily can help prevent cancer in men.
It provides the first hard evidence of what has been suspected for some time.
Read the article here.

Mercy Memorial Hospital System’s Cancer Connection will be the beneficiary of an Italian Dinner and Raffle with Chef Mario Pace from 5 to 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 13 at Grace Lutheran Church, 630 N. Monroe Street. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for kids 6 to 10 years-old and free for kids under 6. Call the Cancer Connection at (734) 240-5400 to purchase tickets.

Michigan and Ohio are among the states that received shipments of a back pain medication that has been connected with an outbreak of meningitis, but no meningitis cases have been reported in the two states so far. For more info, click here.

Two-thirds of American adults consider themselves to be “quite healthy” and the average number of doctor visits declined to 3.9 during 2010, according to a Census Bureau report.

The Monroe Post of the Michigan State Police at 300 Jones Ave. will be one of the sites accepting unused and unwanted prescription drugs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday as part of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.
During the last event on April 28, citizens turned in a record-breaking 552,161 pounds, or 276 tons, of unwanted or expired medications for safe and proper disposal at sites in all 50 states and U.S. territories. When the results of the four previous Take-Back Days to date are combined, the DEA and its state, local, and tribal law-enforcement and community partners have removed more than 1.5 million pounds (774 tons) of medication from circulation.
“We are pleased at the response of the American people once again, and we thank them for participating and contributing to the battle against prescription drug abuse,” said DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “While a uniform system for prescription drug disposal is being finalized, we will continue to sponsor these important take-back opportunities as a service to our communities. Our take-back events highlight the problems related to prescription drug abuse and give our citizens an opportunity to contribute to the solution.”
Improper disposal of medications, such as flushing them down the toilet, also is believed to contribute to water pollution.

A free medical screening camp for the uninsured and underinsured will be held from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Joseph Parish Hall, 924 E. Second St. in Monroe.
Those attending will have an opportunity to get preliminary lab work and see doctors with various specialties. Blood tests will be done and doctors will offer suggestions for care and treatment.
The session will range from dental evaluations to screenings for skin diseases, hearing problems, cancer screenings, eye and foot problems and psychiatric issues among others.
Nearly 30 area doctors will be participating. For more information, call (734) 735-9062.

Obesity, smoking, bullying are among top concerns adults have for their kids, according to C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital study.
To get all the details, click here.