Healthy Life Resources

Illinois health insurance exchange bill gets through Springfield

Posted on by Betty W. McBryde

SPRINGFIELD ON HEALTH CARE — A LEGISLATIVE ROUNDUP: Among the moves by the General Assembly last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker hailed the Illinois House’s passage of House Bill 579, which would allow Illinois to set up its own insurance marketplace similar to Obamacare.

“Through the adoption of a state-based insurance marketplace, we can expand health care access by effectively identifying traditionally underinsured communities, conducting effective outreach to them and assisting in the enrollment process,” Pritzker said in a statement, adding that he looks forward to following the bill’s progress in the Illinois Senate.

A bill that’s already heading to Pritzker’s desk for a signature would require health insurers to cover preventative liver screenings and other diagnostics. The bill, championed by state Rep. Hoan Huynh, D-Chicago, will expand access to tests that may detect forms of cancer and cirrhosis of the liver.  

“People shouldn’t have to choose between buying their next

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Caustic feedback, serious injuries and the quiet mental health suffering of horse racing jockeys

Posted on by Betty W. McBryde

BALTIMORE (AP) — Eurico Rosa da Silva was in a dark place.

On the track, the jockey in his early 30s was winning races and making money. At home, he was fighting suicidal thoughts every day.

“I got to the point where I have no more choice but to go for help,” he recalled recently. “I went because if I have no choice, I would kill myself.”

Da Silva got help in 2006 and…

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BALTIMORE (AP) — Eurico Rosa da Silva was in a dark place.

On the track, the jockey in his early 30s was winning races and making money. At home, he was fighting suicidal thoughts every day.

“I got to the point where I have no more choice but to go for help,” he recalled recently. “I went because if I have no choice, I would kill myself.”

Da Silva got help in 2006 and

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An N.F.L. Doctor Wants to Know Why Some Players Get C.T.E. and Others Don’t

Posted on by Betty W. McBryde

PITTSBURGH — Joseph Maroon, a neurosurgeon, began working for the Pittsburgh Steelers as a consulting doctor starting in 1977 and over 46 years has examined and treated stars from the notoriously hard-nosed dynasty, including the Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw, Mean Joe Greene and Lynn Swann.

Many of them, he said, worry about the health of their brains because they played when concussions were viewed as “dings,” full-contact practices were common and the most violent hits were still permitted.

“Certainly, everyone who has participated at that level has some concern,” Maroon said last week in his office at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian Hospital. “But we haven’t seen the epidemic that one might anticipate from playing in that era with less protective helmets, less rules and harder fields. There’s just so many unknowns.”

A growing number of scientific studies done over the past 15 years have found links

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It was during the middle of my higher secondary education when I started to realise that I wanted to continue my academic education in fine art. I basically just felt the urge to paint consistently for some years or more. Painting helps me feel alive and momentarily stops me from thinking about anything else. I knew I loved how it felt despite all the struggles of the process or any looming stress over my head.

Being an ex-cadet, I had to face a lot of social prejudices when I decided to get admitted into a fine art academy. People around me expected that I would be studying engineering, medical subjects, or some reputed subject at Dhaka University (DU).

For all latest news, follow

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SLO, Santa Barbara county school districts partner with local Medi-Cal plan to revamp mental health services on campuses | News | San Luis Obispo

Posted on by Betty W. McBryde

Twenty-one percent of San Luis Coastal Unified School District (SLCUSD) ninth graders reported that they seriously considered suicide in 2021.

Another 37 percent said they felt chronically sad or hopeless—a number that has steadily ticked up in recent years, according to California Healthy Kids survey results.

“Student behavioral and mental health needs have increased, and nowhere has it been more clear than coming back from the pandemic,” SLCUSD Student Support Services Executive Director Janet Gould told New Times. “There’s just a need, and we need to come up with a response.”

click to enlarge PRIORITIZING WELLNESS San Luis Obispo High School will add a full-time campus counselor next year as the San Luis Coastal Unified School District revamps its mental health services under a new state program. - FILE PHOTO BY KASEY BUBNASH
  • File Photo By Kasey Bubnash
  • PRIORITIZING WELLNESS San Luis Obispo High School will add a full-time campus counselor next year as the San Luis Coastal Unified School District revamps its mental health services under a new state program.

In a recent push to bolster mental health services, SLCUSD has introduced universal social-emotional screenings for all

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In search of the cold rush

Posted on by Betty W. McBryde

Spectators often gather along the ledge of Taylor Dock to observe a group of people jump into the bay. They probably think, “Why on earth would anyone ever jump into that freezing cold water?”

That group is the Cold Plunge Club from Western Washington University. In March 2023, first-year Caleb Barville and his friends decided to start the club.

“We were going out and plunging every day anyway,” he said. “We’ve been doing that since October.”

Rain or shine, club members regularly take trips to local bodies of water and jump, or plunge, below the surface. They stay in for five to ten minutes in order to absorb all the health benefits they believe the cold water offers.

David Hansen, a physician and the interim medical director of the Western Student Health Center, said although scientists have become more interested in this area of study, there is little-to-no evidence-based

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Actor Chantal Maurice found the silver linings, and the silver screen

Posted on by Betty W. McBryde

This story was originally published by ArtsATL.

So many times in life, good fortune springs from situations that may at first appear dire. About five years ago, this was the case for actress Chantal Maurice, known for her roles in the TV series “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Dynasty,” “Blue Bloods” and others.

A bad car accident in Barbados in 2018 pulled Maurice out of her element as a working actress in New York City and forced her back to her childhood home in South Carolina to recuperate. There, the road to recovery wound up leading her to a new home base in the film and TV industry: Atlanta, a city she had eyed curiously as the film industry took hold down South.

Credit: Courtesy of Chantal Maurice

Credit: Courtesy of Chantal Maurice

Maurice, now in Buckhead, opened up about the move and her work as an actor, acting coach and Atlantan.

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Why weight loss is sustainable and obesity manageable with a little help from a mental health expert | Health and Wellness News

Posted on by Betty W. McBryde

You want to shed that weight, knowing it is harming you, but somehow don’t have the will to overcome your faulty lifestyle patterns and slip back deeper into them because they are comforting. Besides, the world doesn’t appreciate you for even the tiny effort you make. Sounds familiar. That’s because the fight against obesity cannot be successful unless it begins in the mind.

Global studies have shown that obesity is directly associated with a significant psychosocial burden. The obese struggle with issues related to their mood, self-esteem, quality of life and body image. Often the pressure of societal disdain for the overweight and even the sneers they get for not meeting their goals soon enough push patients over the edge. This emotional distress plays an important role in poor outcomes in treatment. That’s why obesity treatment is becoming multi-disciplinary with mental health experts being included in therapy protocols.

First, why

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The Main Line Region Responds

Posted on by Betty W. McBryde

Illustration by Jon Krause

With the nation in the throes of a teen mental health crisis, our region is stepping up its response with an expanded array of treatment options.

Lynn’s safe place is a woodsy trail in a Chester County park near her home. It was there that she had a crucial discussion with her daughter’s therapist. “It’s my hard conversation spot,” she says. Elizabeth has been a challenging child. Now a sophomore in high school, she was a student at Malvern’s Fusion Academy, which specializes in supportive individualized learning, offering unique daily scheduling. Administrators promised a soft landing upon her return to public school. “In my mind, no landing’s soft enough,” her mom says.

This past March, Elizabeth completed an intensive outpatient program with Embark Behavioral Health, a treatment center in Berwyn. After multiple levels of intervention, she began turning her troubled teen life around. “Elizabeth is still

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Farxiga demonstrated consistent benefit regardless of heart failure duration and across the full spectrum of cardiorenal disease

Posted on by Betty W. McBryde

Two new analyses from the DELIVER Phase III trial presented at European Society of Cardiology’s Heart Failure 2023 congress in Prague, Czech Republic support the consistent benefits of Farxiga regardless of heart failure (HF) duration1 and across the spectrum of cardiovascular, renal and metabolic (CVRM) conditions.2

Prespecified analysis of the DELIVER Phase III trial examined the treatment effect of Farxiga in patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) greater than 40% based on how long they have had HF: ≤6 months, >6-12 months, >1-2 years, >2-5 years and >5 years. Results showed the benefit of Farxiga was consistent across all categories, regardless of HF duration.1 Furthermore, the absolute benefit was increased in longer-standing HF patients who were older, had one or more comorbidity and had higher rates of worsening HF and death (number needed to treat, NNT: 24 vs 32 for patients with HF duration >5 years

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