Friday, January 16, 2009

News Clipping Archives

 

Maryland health advocates push to keep Medicaid expansion (Baltimore Examiner)

Healthy Maryland Initiative  (Associated Press)

Health advocates call to preserve Medicaid money (Associated Press)

Advocates: Spare Health Care Program From Cuts (Washington Postl)

Health Advocates Call To Preserve Medicaid Money (WJZ TV Channel 13)

Doctor unraveling mystery of celiac disease (Baltimore Examiner)

O'Malley outlines state progress on emergency preparedness (Baltimore Examiner)

Disposal of Coal Ash Rises As Environmental Issue (Washington Post)

Lawsuits Filed Over Rule That Lets Health Workers Deny Care (Washington Post)

Hardy County woman, 101, reportedly fine after night spent outside (Cumberland Times-News)

Va. Police Allege Ruse in Death (Washington Post)

Teens need sex education (Carroll County Times)

UNICEF: Teen births 5 times deadlier than in 20s (Washington Post)

Feds Seek to Raise Testing Bar for Pap Smear Interpreters (Wall Street Journal)

Vitaminwater Marketing Prompts Suit (Wall Street Journal)

Kids' vaccine slashes meningitis (USA Today)

 

Maryland health advocates push to keep Medicaid expansion

 

By Sara Michael

Baltimore Examiner

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus package could include Medicaid matching funds for states, which could ease some of Maryland's costs for the expansion.

 

"It's working," Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens Health Initiative, said of the state's recent Medicaid expansion.

 

But even with proposed federal dollars to help states fund Medicaid, Maryland's expanded health care coverage could be in jeopardy as state lawmakers grapple with a hefty budget deficit, health advocates say.

 

Since July 1, more than 25,000 people have enrolled for benefits after they were expanded to cover parents making less than 116 percent of the poverty level, which is about $20,400 for a family of three. Previously, an adult had to make less than half of the poverty guidelines to qualify.

 

Starting this July, health care coverage will be expanded even more to cover nonparent adults making that less than 116 percent the poverty level.

 

But with Maryland facing a $1.9 billion deficit, the expansion could be threatened, health advocates said.

 

"Everything is on the table," said Del. Dan Morhaim, D-Baltimore County, who supports Medicaid expansion.

 

"There's nothing sacred right now, and nothing should be, and each thing needs to be defended."

 

The expansion plan is expected to cost $38 million in fiscal 2009 and grow to nearly $280 million by 2013.

 

Expanding Medicaid reduces the amount of uncompensated care in the state's hospitals, DeMarco said. That reduces the burdens on insured residents, who are left covering those costs, he said.

 

"This is a money saver," he said.

 

Maryland AARP Director Joe DeMattos said he recognized the economic crisis, but said cutting Medicaid would be a poor decision that would affect many Marylanders.

 

"It's not the right time to end this new outreach to those without coverage in Maryland," he said.

 

The latest expansion would help cover adults over 50 who are too young to receive Medicare, but make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, DeMattos said.

 

"These folks will be very well-served by the extension that goes into place in July," he said.

 

It's hard to estimate how many people would be covered under this expansion, he said, but it would likely be in the "high tens of thousands."

 

"It's too soon," DeMattos said, "to pull the rug out for those other Marylanders whose lives could be positively changed."

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Examiner.

 

Healthy Maryland Initiative

 

TO: Healthy Maryland Initiative Supporters

 

FROM: Vinny DeMarco

 

Yesterday I sent you all old polling numbers and not the attached brand new numbers showing overwhelming public support for fully funding the Governor's Working Families and Small Business Health Care Coverage Act. Sixty-four percent of Marylanders oppose cutting the program!

 

And, below are three great news clips from AP, WJZ TV and the Washington Post blog about our event yesterday calling upon the Governor and General Assembly to fully fund the health care expansion.

 

Thanks so very much to the Maryland Hosptial Association for cohosting the event and to all of our great speakers, particularly to Angela Newman, one of the over 25,000 Marylanders who have so far enrolled in the new health care expansion.

 

Thanks also to the three legislators who attended, Del. Jim Hubbard, Dan Morhaim and Sawn Tarrant for their strong support. Attached is an OPED that was published in the Baltimore Examiner by Del Morhaim and me about how the Medicaid expansion keeps us wealthy as well as healthy! And, thanks to all of you who are contacting the Governor and General Assembly to urge them to keep the health care expansion in tact -- keep those calls and letters coming!

 

--- Vinny DeMarco

 

Health advocates call to preserve Medicaid money

 

By Brian Witte

Associated Press

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Map, News) - Maryland health advocates and lawmakers urged Gov. Martin O'Malley on Thursday to preserve a planned Medicaid expansion to low-income residents, but the governor said the state's budget problems could slow the plan's rollout.

 

Lawmakers approved an expansion of Medicaid coverage to 100,000 low-income residents in the 2007 special session. So far, about 25,000 people have enrolled in the first phase of the expansion, which affects low-income children and their parents. A second phase would extend coverage to poor people who don't have children.

 

Maryland has an estimated 800,000 uninsured residents.

 

Lawmakers supporting the expansion gathered with health advocates at a community center in Annapolis that helps low-income residents to push for full implementation, saying it was more important now during a recession to provide help to the poor.

 

"We all pay for there being people who are uninsured," said Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative. "This law saves lives, saves money."

 

Democrats in Congress are proposing $835 billion in spending increases and tax cuts, including more than $130 billion for health care, much of it to help states cope with the rising demand for

Medicaid, the health care program for the low-income and refuge for the newly laid-off.

 

O'Malley said that could make a big difference in how the budget ends up in April, compared to what he proposes next week. But he noted it remains uncertain what will end up being available.

 

"We're not going backwards, but in order to defend the progress we've made, there will have to be some slowing of the ramp up to full funding of certain additional initiatives that all of us

believe in, we just don't have the money to do," O'Malley said.

 

The first phase of the program costs the state about $38 million in fiscal year 2009. That would rise to $109 million in fiscal year 2010, as the second phase begins to be implemented. The costs would rise to $275 million by fiscal year 2013.

 

Lawmakers who focus on health issues said they were speaking out in favor of the full implementation, because they know the state's $1.9 billion budget deficit is causing the administration to examine allaspects of government for budget cuts.

 

Delegate James Hubbard, D-Prince George's, said Maryland will save money in the long run by expanding health care to treat sick people, whose illnesses will worsen without care and end up costing more money to treat.

 

"If we don't pay now we're going to be paying later at about 100 times the cost," Hubbard said.

 

O'Malley said he believes the full expansion will take place "eventually," but he said he couldn't say for sure whether the state's serious fiscal problems will enable him to put full expansion in the budget he will be submit to the General Assembly next week.

 

"There will be many things in this upcoming budget that we will not be able to fully fund as quickly as we would like to," O'Malley said. "The big variable in that still, however, is the passage of President Obama's recovery and reinvestment act and what that might mean for our ability to fund those things fully with a true federal partner."

 

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

 

Advocates: Spare Health Care Program From Cuts

 

By Lisa Rein

Washington Post

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

The Maryland Hospital Association joined health care advocates today in urging the General Assembly and Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to spare a new expansion of Medicaid to poor adults and families from the budget axe.

 

The expansion, approved by the legislature in a special session in 2007, was the state's most significant health-policy change in years. Maryland previously had one of the worst menus of benefits for poor adults under the state-federal program. It took two years but the bill passed at the urging of House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel).

 

More than 25,000 previously uninsured Marylanders have signed up for coverage since the expansion took effect in July, according to the nonprofit group Health Care for All, which pushed for the change.

 

But with deep spending cuts likely to help close a projected $1.9 billion budget shortfall, lawmakers are talking about delaying when the new coverage is phased in. A total of about 100,000 people will eventually be eligible; the question is when that will be possible.

 

Hospitals are nervous that fewer people on Medicaid will mean more visits to their already overburdened emergency rooms, pushing up the high cost of what is called uncompensated health care.

 

Copyright 2009 Washington Post.

 

Health Advocates Call To Preserve Medicaid Money

 

By Pat Warren

WJZ TV  Channel 13

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

Some health care advocates are worrying about the effect the budget deficit may have on Maryland's uninsured. Political Reporter Pat Warren explains those citizens expressed their concerns Thursday.

 

Governor Martin O'Malley's Working Families Health Care Coverage Act was designed for people like Angela Newman, a working mother who when she lost her job, lost her health insurance.

 

"There's so much stress," said Newman.

 

The expanded health care coverage act that came out of the special session would add 100,000 uninsured to the state's medicaid roles.  But with 25,000 people signed up, the program may have to be put on hold in the face of the state's looming budget deficit.

 

A Gonzales poll conducted for the Maryland Citizens Health Initiative shows 28 percent of Marylanders polled agree that health care should be included in those cuts. Sixty-four percent disagree, and eight percent had no answer.

 

Some lawmakers, aware of what's ahead, will argue to spare health care expansion.

 

"This one is just too valuable," said Dan Morheim.

 

Governor O'Malley said scaling back the program may be unavoidable, along with state employee layoffs.

 

But the state's budget crisis has created uncertainty about whether the state can afford to implement the second phase, which would cover low-income adults who don't have children.

 

Vincent DeMarco, president of the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative, says he's hopeful federal economic stimulus money will enable the program to move forward.

 

Copyright 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

Doctor unraveling mystery of celiac disease

 

By Sara Michael

Baltimore Examiner

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

Dr. Alessio Fasano is director of the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, which is part of the School of Medicine, where he studies a long-misunderstood illness that affects about 3 million Americans. Celiac disease causes gastrointestinal symptoms such as bloating and diarrhea, as well as anemia, joint pain, fatigue and skin disorders. In recent years, research and awareness has grown, as has the popularity of gluten-free foods, the only treatment for celiac disease.

 

Celiac disease is more than just an allergy to gluten, isn't it an autoimmune disease?

For many years [people] were under the impression it was a food allergy. The understanding of it as an autoimmune disease changes a series of paradigms. It has been revolutionary. From a patient's standpoint, knowing it is an autoimmune disease implies you are not going to grow out of it.

 

Is treatment a lot different?

Treatment is more than saying, "You have to avoid the food that contains the material that offends you. But if you by any chance are exposed to it, it's not a big deal because you will pay the price on the spot. You will feel bad, and it will go away."

 

Up-close with Dr. Alessio Fasano

 

    »  Career: Director of the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, which is part of

        the School of Medicine

    »  Age: 52

    »  Hometown: Salerno, Italy

    »  Current home: West Friendship

    »  Education: University of Naples (Italy) School of Medicine; Hopkins Business of Medicine

        graduate from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

    »  Family: Companion Jo Anne and three children, ages 10, 19 and 22

    »  What he's reading: Hemingway, Piradello

    »  Philosophy: Discovery is to see what everyone else has seen and to think what no one else

        has thought.

 

An autoimmune disease will have a cumulative effect over time. You can end up in a very unpleasant situation [with] possible co-morbidities [such as rheumatoid arthritis]. Because it's an autoimmune disease, there is the genetic component, and then there is an environmental component that is the trigger that is mismanaged by the immune system.

 

What is revolutionary is that this is the only autoimmune disease from which we know the trigger. And this has created tremendous turmoil because our [response] is that if you have an autoimmune disease there is nothing you can do about it. But celiac disease suggests otherwise.

 

Because you know the trigger?

We know the trigger. The treatment of a gluten-free diet allows you to take one of the two elements out of the picture. These people go back to normal. The symptoms go away, and damage in the intestine that is the autoimmune insult goes away.

 

How do you know it's celiac disease and not an allergy to gluten?

It a very important question. We see roughly 1,100 people a year, and a fraction have celiac disease. All of them come claiming they are sick from eating and when they go on a gluten-free diet they feel better. As a matter of fact, there is a spectrum. A reaction to gluten on one end, and the worst-case scenario is the autoimmune reaction of celiac disease. But there is a lot in between.

 

Are there other symptoms that help you know it's celiac disease?

 

No, because some of the symptoms of allergies overlap with celiac disease. The situation becomes even more complicated when you talk about gluten sensitivity. That's a condition where the vast majority of people [have].

 

What is that?

It's an immune reaction to gluten, but it's not an allergic base and not an autoimmune base like celiac disease. But definitely there are different machineries involved in that. And there are specific ways to diagnose celiac disease and specific ways to diagnose an allergy. There are not yet ways to diagnose a sensitivity.

 

Is the treatment more than a gluten-free diet?

For all of them the basic [treatment] is a gluten-free diet. But the rules of engagement are different for where you are on the spectrum. That is why a proper diagnosis is extremely important. Celiac disease is an all-or-none proposition. If you go on a 99.9 percent gluten-free diet, that 0.1 percent is perceived by the immune system as something dangerous there. It can't distinguish between a crumb and an entire bread loaf. It's a different story with gluten sensitivity and allergy. Some people can't tolerate a crumb, and others have a threshold that is such that you can tolerate a piece of pizza.

 

Why are we hearing more about it and seeing more gluten-free products?

When we started this process the general wisdom about celiac disease was that it was a pediatric condition, it has only [gastrointestinal] symptoms and involves only Caucasians. That's what we had in mind, and indeed when you look in that direction the disease is rare. The real celiac disease, we see now, is not confined to pediatrics, not confined to GI symptoms, and not confined to Caucasians. What you see now is the entire picture, and [we've] come up with this 1 percent [of the population].

 

So we just weren't looking at it the right way?

[In 2004, the National Institutes of Health] concluded the disease is indeed a public health problem in the U.S. involving almost 3 million people. And it's even more of a public health problem if you consider that of this 1 percent, a ridiculous fraction is diagnosed.

 

So we have changed how we approach it because we understand it better?

Yes, and the other major work we had to do once there was the flag on the ground. [There] was a tremendous effort to educate health-care professionals, to change the paradigm. It was a tremendous effort. Celiac disease was put on the map, and we started this awareness campaign.

 

Are people still self-diagnosing and cutting out gluten?

Absolutely. But the hazard is ... once you go on a gluten-free diet, the tools we use for the diagnosis are not available anymore. The tests will test negative once you go on a gluten-free diet. You lose the ability to make a diagnosis. It's like you say, "I am peeing a little too much, and I am light-headed, so let me take 20 units of insulin and see if I have diabetes." For celiac disease, a gluten-free diet is like insulin for diabetics.

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Examiner.

 

O'Malley outlines state progress on emergency preparedness

 

By Andrew Cannarsa

Baltimore Examiner

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

As Baltimore officials work with the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security to secure the city for President-elect Barack Obama's visit Saturday, Gov. Martin O'Malley and safety officials are working to secure Maryland for the long term.

 

O'Malley and leaders from the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and other state and federal emergency management officials braved the cold on Thursday at the Port of Baltimore's Cruise Terminal to outline the state's progress on emergency preparedness.

 

    Port receives 'near-perfect' score from Coast Guard

 

    The Port of Baltimore, which a year ago received low marks on a security review by the U.S. Coast Guard, received a 'near-perfect' score during a recent security compliance exam from the Coast Guard, Gov. Martin O'Malley said Thursday.

 

    O'Malley, calling previous security at the port "a Mickey Mouse operation with sleeping guards and wooden decoy cameras," outlined the following security improvements:

 

    >> Becoming first major U.S. port to require federally mandated worker identification cards

 

    >> Beginning project that will implement real-time video surveillance of public terminals

 

    >> Using real-time video and security checks to verify a visiting truckers' ID and purpose of visit

 

    >> Strengthening perimeter fencing surrounding port's public terminals

 

In January 2008, the state commissioned James Lee Witt Associates, a Washington-based crisis management consulting firm, to review Maryland's level of preparedness and offer safety improvement recommendations. The state released the findings on Thursday.

 

"The report ... is a tough, extensive assessment of both our strengths and weaknesses -- many of which we've already taken steps to correct," O'Malley said. "The need is urgent, and with the forward momentum we've started, we will make progress toward our goal of a safer state for families."

 

Recommendations for improvement included the state's emergency management authority structure, communications with local jurisdictions, and the state's ability to operate during an emergency if the main Emergency Operations Center becomes unavailable or nonfunctional.

 

In response to a recommendation from the report, O'Malley said he would introduce legislation that calls for the director of MEMA to report directly to the governor. The change would eliminate any confusion regarding chain of command during an emergency.

 

Future plans call for a fully interoperable communications system for all local and state public safety and emergency response agencies throughout Maryland. Such a system could take five to seven years to install, O'Malley said.

 

James Lee Witt, who served as director from the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Clinton Administration from 1993 to 2001, commended O'Malley for commissioning the safety review.

 

"These recommendations will not only make Maryland more prepared," Witt said, "but a leader in emergency preparedness in the United States."

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Examiner.

 

Disposal of Coal Ash Rises As Environmental Issue

Recent Spill Spurs Proposals for Tighter Controls

 

By Juliet Eilperin

Washington Post

Friday, January 16, 2009; A04

 

In less than a month, the question of how to dispose of coal combustion waste has gone from a largely ignored issue to a pressing national environmental concern that has already sparked legislative proposals and the prospect of new regulation.

 

Since the Dec. 22 coal ash spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant, which poured a billion gallons of toxic material over 300 acres, lawmakers and regulators have said that the federal government should revisit an issue it has deliberated on for three decades. Although President-elect Barack Obama has identified climate change as one of his top policy priorities, addressing coal ash may come first.

 

Burning coal produces more than 129 million tons annually of combustion waste -- a concentrated ash that includes toxic elements such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, selenium and mercury -- but federal authorities have yet to establish uniform standards for handling it.

 

"The threats are out there, and we know it now. And we also know how we need to address them," said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.), who introduced legislation this week calling for tighter controls on coal ash ponds, which are piles of combustion waste suspended in water. "As we often see in the coalfields across the country, it takes a disaster before we see decisive action."

 

Congress initially raised the prospect of regulating coal ash as a hazardous waste in 1980, but regulators moved slowly until March 2000, when the Environmental Protection Agency said it planned to designate it a "contingent hazardous waste." After electric utilities protested that such a move would cost billions, however, then-EPA administrator Carol M. Browner reversed herself and determined that coal ash amounted to a solid waste. The agency pledged to issue regulations on the matter nonetheless, but it failed to do so in the eight years since President Bush took office.

 

The amount of coal combustion waste produced each year has increased by nearly a third since 1990, and there are now as many as 1,300 coal ash ponds across the nation. According to a report issued yesterday by the environmental law firm Earthjustice, each year about 25 million tons of coal ash are dumped into active and abandoned mines, where it often goes directly into groundwater. The EPA determined last year that coal ash has contaminated water in 24 states.

 

Lisa Evans, an Earthjustice attorney, said mining communities that already confront other environmental threats are faced with another source of contamination that may pollute their water for years.

 

"The last thing these communities need is a toxic waste dump where their mine was," said Evans, adding that in filling old mines with coal ash, "there's a very simplistic notion that you're returning coal to where it came from, so it's not going to cause any problems."

 

Matthew Hale, who directs the EPA's solid waste office, said that although the agency has yet to issue formal coal ash regulations, "We will be bringing this forward very quickly to reach a decision on the path forward, and that's the time when we'll be able to have a timetable. . . . Clearly, the dam failure at TVA puts a sense of urgency on the issue of addressing the stability of the dams."

 

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee and held a hearing last week on the issue, asked EPA administrator-nominee Lisa P. Jackson on Wednesday during her confirmation hearing what she would do to police coal ash ponds and other storage sites that have gone unregulated.

 

Jackson pledged to conduct an immediate inventory of the deposits if confirmed and added, "The EPA currently has, and has in the past, assessed its regulatory options, and I think it is time to re-ask those questions."

 

The EPA already has options at its disposal, said Earthjustice's Evans, who formerly was a lawyer in the agency's enforcement division, because the agency has the power to investigate any potential hazard to public health and the environment. Furthermore, she said, it can take action if it determines there is a threat of "imminent and substantial endangerment" from solid waste.

 

Even as lawmakers and regulators begin to contemplate how they can crack down on the storage sites -- Rahall's bill would impose a uniform federal design along with engineering and performance standards on new coal ash ponds, while groups such as Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project are calling for the elimination of the impoundments altogether -- industry officials say federal authorities should pause before classifying coal ash as hazardous.

 

David Goss, executive director of the American Coal Ash Association, said 43 percent of the material is currently recycled for purposes such as agricultural landfill and road projects, and designating coal combustion waste as hazardous could make that impossible.

 

"When it's managed properly, it doesn't pose a risk to the environment or public health," he said.

 

Still, officials of the utility industry recognize they may have to spend more to manage a byproduct they have stored cheaply for years.

 

Edison Electric Institute spokesman Dan Riedinger, whose association represents several major U.S. utilities, said his group opposes a hazardous waste designation for coal ash but added, "It's too early to rule out other options that can help utilities improve their management practices and provide the public with the reassurance it needs in the wake of TVA."

 

Copyright 2009 Washington Post.

 

Lawsuits Filed Over Rule That Lets Health Workers Deny Care

Regulation to Protect 'Conscience Rights' Called Too Broad

 

By Rob Stein

Washington Post

Friday, January 16, 2009; A04

 

Seven states and two family-planning groups yesterday asked a federal court to block a controversial new federal regulation that protects health workers who refuse to provide care that they find objectionable.

 

In three lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, the states and groups sought an immediate court order preventing the regulation from going into effect Tuesday and a permanent decision voiding the rule.

 

"On the way out, the Bush administration has left a ticking political time bomb that is set to explode literally on the day of the president's inaugural and blow apart women's rights," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who filed one of the suits on behalf of his state, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island. "This midnight rule is a nightmare for hospitals and clinics, as well as women."

 

Blumenthal's lawsuit challenges the regulation on several grounds, charging that it is too vague and overbroad and conflicts with other federal laws and state laws. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America filed a second suit on behalf of its affiliates, while the American Civil Liberties Union filed sued on behalf of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, which represents many state and county health departments, among other providers.

 

"We filed this lawsuit today on behalf of the millions of women whose health care has been put in jeopardy by the Bush administration's parting shot at women's health," said Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. "The courts must strike down this unconscionable, unconstitutional last-minute midnight rule."

 

Rebecca Ayer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which issued the regulation in December, said officials "have not had an opportunity to review the lawsuits, and we will respond to the court on any pending litigation. The department followed appropriate procedures to put the regulation in place, and the regulation is fully supported by law."

 

The regulation empowers federal officials to cut off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, health plan, clinic or other entity that does not abide by existing federal laws requiring them to accommodate doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other employees who refuse to participate in any care they consider objectionable on ethical, moral or religious grounds.

 

Conservative groups, abortion opponents and others sought the rule to safeguard workers who refuse to provide such care from being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways, and they defended the regulation yesterday.

 

"The regulation is important, because we increasingly are seeing discrimination against health-care personnel who hold religious beliefs having to do with abortion and contraception," said David Stevens, chief executive of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations. "Unless these conscience rights are protected, people are going to be driven out of health care."

 

Women's health advocates, family-planning proponents, abortion rights activists and others say it will create a major obstacle to providing many health services, including abortion, emergency contraception for rape victims, family planning, infertility treatment and end-of-life care, as well as possibly a range of scientific research.

 

President-elect Barack Obama has voiced objections to the regulation and could repeal it, and legislation has been introduced in Congress to block the rule, but both of those steps could take months to complete

 

"We are seeking a court order as quickly as possible," Blumenthal said. "We need this immediate order to prevent confusion and chaos."

 

Copyright 2009 Washington Post.

 

Hardy County woman, 101, reportedly fine after night spent outside

 

By Jeffrey Alderton

Cumberland Times-News

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

MOOREFIELD, W.Va. - One-hundred-and-one-year-old Nettie Brooks was reportedly doing fine Thursday, a day after she was found unconscious outside her Hardy County home after apparently being locked out for 12 hours beginning Tuesday evening.

 

“Last I heard, she was doing fine,” said Paul Lewis, director of the Hardy County 911 center who dispatched Fraley’s Ambulance Service to Brooks’ Beans Lane home in Moorefield.

 

Prior to the arrival of the ambulance alerted at 8:36 a.m., paramedic Jim Cosner, who also lives on Beans Lane, heard the dispatched call on his two-way radio scanner.

 

“She was unconscious and suffering from exposure when I got there. We got her as warm as we could and got her into the ambulance before the Medevac helicopter flew her to Cumberland Memorial Hospital,” said Cosner.

 

Cosner said Brooks later told family members at the hospital that she suffered a fall after going outside Tuesday night. Other reports indicated Brooks had taken her trash out and was then unable to get back inside her home. The temperature when Cosner raced to the scene was recorded at 22 degrees following an overnight low of 18.

 

Lewis said the retired nurse was apparently fully clothed and wearing a jacket when she was found by trash collection workers who then called 911.

 

The county official said the fast medical response of Cosner, the ambulance service and the Maryland State Police helicopter was crucial to Brooks’ survival.

 

“It’s a good thing Trooper 5 (Medevac helicopter) was available,” said Lewis.

 

Medevac pilot Harold Kelley and paramedic Tfc. Jeff Partridge flew the mission to Moorefield, initially unaware that their patient was 101 years old.

 

“When we got the call, we were told it was a person exposed and suffering from hypothermia. En route we learned that she was 101,” said Kelley.

 

“When we got there, Jeff did the assessment and was trying to get her warm. During the flight she responded to touch but not verbal commands.

 

“When we got her to the trauma center, we discovered that her body temperature was 81 degrees Fahrenheit. They continued the procedure to re-warm her slowly. By yesterday afternoon, she was doing very good,” said Kelley on Thursday.

 

Undoubtedly, the fast flight from Hardy County to Cumberland factored in Brooks’ survival.

 

“She had been outside for 12 hours. If she would have had to be driven to a trauma center, the likelihood of her survival and recovery would have been greatly lessened.

 

“This was a good call for us because we could get her from Moorefield to Cumberland in 18 minutes,” said Kelley.

 

Contact Jeffrey Alderton at jlalderton@times-news.com.

 

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.

 

Va. Police Allege Ruse in Death

Disabled Girl's Mother Charged With Neglect

 

By Josh White and Jonathan Mummolo

Washington Post

Thursday, January 15, 2009; A01

 

Thirteen-year-old Alexis Glover was missing again, the third time in less than a month. Her mother called Prince William County sheriff's deputies and police, triggering an extensive search for the developmentally disabled girl.

 

Two days later, the child's body was found submerged in a shallow pool of water in a secluded creek bed. It was just where her mother had left her, police said yesterday.

 

Police said Alfreedia Gregg-Glover, 44, of the Manassas area, placed her daughter in the creek bed Jan. 7, shortly before reporting her missing. It was all part of an elaborate ruse to make it appear that Lexie had run away again, authorities said.

 

Glover positioned her daughter's locator bracelet -- a device that enables deputies to find endangered missing people -- near a Manassas library to make it appear that Lexie had removed it and run away, they said. Gregg-Glover then appealed through the media for help in finding her daughter.

 

About 300 law enforcement officers searched the surrounding woods and neighborhoods for two days. A Woodbridge man out for an afternoon walk discovered Lexie's body Friday -- eight miles from the search area.

 

It is not known whether Lexie was dead when she was dropped in the creek or whether she died in the frigid water, but police said they are investigating the case as a homicide. They are awaiting a medical examiner's report to explain how she died, with possibilities ranging from drowning to poisoning to accidental or even natural death.

 

Police Chief Charlie T. Deane said detectives are certain of one thing: Lexie could not have gotten into the creek on her own.

 

"We believe her mother placed her in the creek," Deane said.

 

Gregg-Glover was charged late Tuesday with neglect and filing a false police report but has not been charged with Lexie's death. She is being held without bond.

 

Law enforcement officials said they are also looking into allegations that Lexie was abused. A spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Social Services declined to comment, citing an ongoing police investigation. The Prince William County Department of Social Services did not respond to a message.

 

Authorities said they believed Gregg-Glover's initial story last week because they had to: Missing endangered children are a top priority. They mobilized immediately, with sheriff's deputies finding the discarded bracelet within 20 minutes. Hundreds of police officers, deputies and volunteers combed the area, using search dogs and helicopters to try to find the girl as darkness descended and temperatures dropped below freezing.

 

Gregg-Glover knew from experience how a search would operate, and her story sounded credible, police said. Lexie had run away previously, and when she did so in December, her bracelet was found tossed into a neighbor's pool, and she was found within minutes hiding nearby in a doghouse.

 

The girl's mother "was certainly educated to what our procedure is in response to these things," said Maj. John Collier, chief deputy sheriff. "Whether she designed a crime around that, I don't know. It really doesn't appear at this time that Lexie ever ran away from the library, that that was staged."

 

Gregg-Glover cooperated with police in the days before and immediately after her daughter's body was found, complimenting them on their efforts and speaking with a detective assigned as her liaison with the police department. She also spoke with several media outlets, imploring residents to help search for her daughter, who she said had post-traumatic stress disorder and sickle-cell anemia.

 

After the discovery of her daughter's body, a shaking Gregg-Glover gave an interview to WJLA-TV (Channel 7), saying she was searching for answers in her daughter's death.

 

"It's, um, really important that they find who, who, um, found her. Really important," Gregg-Glover said into the camera Monday. "I, I appreciate all the support and all of the, all of the information, all the people calling, and all of the people helping search, the volunteers and everybody."

 

Although investigators always consider relatives as possible suspects, that television interview played a significant role in shifting their focus to Lexie's mother, police said yesterday. Sitting around a conference table watching the video, detectives were struck by Gregg-Glover's apparent indifference to her daughter's death and the use of the word "found," authorities said.

 

"She didn't say that she wanted us to find the person who took her daughter; she said she wanted us to find the person who found her," said Maj. Ray Colgan, assistant police chief for criminal investigations. "We decided we needed to take a closer look at her. We went from interviewing her to interrogating her."

 

Police would not discuss their interrogations or whether Gregg-Glover revealed anything about her daughter's death.

 

Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert said it was distressing that Gregg-Glover's claims caused a major police search and scared the community needlessly.

 

"What is so bad in this situation is that we all were looking for a sex predator and seriously frightened the public," Ebert said. "We have to take this very seriously."

 

Kaycee Emilienburg, who lives across the street from the family, said she was "crushed" by the news of Gregg-Glover's arrest in connection with Lexie's disappearance.

 

"How do I process this?" said Emilienburg, who has lived in the neighborhood for 29 years. "I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother, I'm a human being. And she's not been proven guilty yet, but it's something I can't get my head around, can't fathom. . . . What else can you say except, oh my God?"

 

Researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.

 

© 2009 The Washington Post Company

 

Teens need sex education

 

By Tom Zirpoli

Carroll County Times

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

I hope our new leaders in Washington will set policy according to science, not political ideology.

 

As such, I hope that the new administration will read a recent study by Janet Rosenbaum, a postdoctoral fellow in family and reproductive health at Johns Hopkins University. Rosenbaum found that abstinence-only education, and specifically programs that promote the use of a virginity pledge for girls, do not work in reducing teen pregnancies.

 

Abstinence-only programs are promoted by conservative politicians who falsely believe that teaching teens about sex promotes inappropriate sexual behavior. In fact, within America, traditional red states have higher teen pregnancy rates, significantly more cases of various sexually transmitted diseases and higher abortion rates than traditional blue states where teens have more access to comprehensive sexual education and contraceptives.

 

When it comes to sex, ignorance is not bliss.

 

Rosenbaum’s study is not the first to demonstrate that congressional money for abstinence-only education is a waste of taxpayers’ dollars. Internal studies authorized by Congress also show that girls enrolled in programs that rely on the virginity pledge were no more likely to abstain from sexual activity than control groups.

 

“The virginity pledge does not change sexual behavior,” Rosenbaum stated.

 

Yet Congress continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year to promote abstinence-only programs instead of more effective programs to protect our teens.

 

Rosenbaum’s study looked at 289 middle- and high-school students who took the virginity pledge. These students were matched with other teens on specific characteristics, including religion. After five years, the groups were compared.

 

No significant differences were found between the two groups on premarital sexual behavior or the age of sexual initiation. Interestingly, 83 percent of those who took the virginity pledge denied ever making the pledge in the first place.

 

Another study, published in the professional journal Pediatrics, found that teens in the virginity pledge programs are less likely to use birth control pills or protect themselves with condoms than other girls. This placed these girls at greater risk for unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

 

While the U.S. has one of the lowest rates for teen contraceptive education and use, it is not surprising to find that the U.S. has the highest rates for teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease among developed nations.

 

President Bush doubled federal funding for abstinence-only programs during the past eight years. During this time, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, sexual activity reported by teens has increased slightly, from 46 percent in 2001 to 48 percent in 2007. The result has been predictable with teenage pregnancies rising in 2006 for the first time since 1991.

 

It is bad enough that we withhold the best information about safe sex to our children here in America, but the Bush administration also mandates that other countries follow our failed policies in order to receive U.S. aid. For example, the Bush administration refuses funding for international AIDS programs unless the targeted nation employs an abstinence-only approach over the use of condoms.

 

President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to reverse this policy. He has stated that he will support “comprehensive” programs to fight teen pregnancy and AIDS to include the promotion of abstinence for teens, but also the education of safe sex methods, including the use of contraceptives.

 

It is time we put the wellbeing of our teens ahead of political ideology.

 

Copyright 2009 Carroll County Times.

 

UNICEF: Teen births 5 times deadlier than in 20s

 

Associated Press

By Celean Jacobson

Washington Post

Thursday, January 15, 2009

 

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Girls who give birth before the age of 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s, the U.N. said Thursday, focusing its annual children's survey on the health of their mothers.

 

Every year, 70,000 women between the ages of 15 and 19 die in childbirth or from pregnancy complications, UNICEF director Ann Veneman said at the launch of the organization's annual report.

 

"This is not only a tragic personal loss for the family; it also leaves a long-term impact on the health and well-being of children and the development of communities and countries," Veneman said.

 

The 160-page survey paints a bleak picture of the risks of teenage pregnancies, which are prevalent in the developing world.

 

"The State of the World's Children 2009" says that the younger a girl is when she becomes pregnant, the greater the health risks for her and her infant.

 

Worldwide, more than 60 million women who are currently aged 20-24 were married before they were 18, with the most child marriages being in South Asia and in Africa.

 

If a mother is under the age of 18, her infant's risk of dying in its first year of life is 60 percent greater than that of an infant born to a mother older than 19.

 

In addition, the report says adolescent wives are susceptible to violence, abuse and exploitation. Young brides are often forced to drop out of school, have few work opportunities and little chance to influence their own lives.

 

"If young girls are not in school, they are more vulnerable," South African Health Minister Barbara Hogan said at the launch. "It's not just a health issue; it is about the status of young women and girls."

 

According to the report in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available, 9.2 million children died before reaching the age of 5, down from 9.7 million the year before.

 

Half of these deaths occurred in Africa, which remains the most difficult place in the world for a child to survive.

 

Africa is also the continent with the highest rate of maternal deaths, with women having a one in 26 lifetime chance of dying during pregnancy or childbirth. This is four times higher than in Asia and more than 300 times higher than in industrialized countries.

 

Veneman said 80 percent of maternal deaths are preventable if women have access to basic maternity and health care services.

 

In developing countries a woman has a 1-in-76 chance of dying due to complications during pregnancy or childbirth compared to 1-in-8,000 for women in industrialized countries.

 

"Progress has been made in reducing child mortality but much more must be done especially in addressing maternal and newborn health," Veneman said. "The world must approach this task with a shared sense of urgency and a collaborative response."

 

The reports says while the world is far behind on improving maternal health, there have been some advances, particularly in reducing the number of children who die in their first month of life.

 

In addition, much progress has been made in combatting HIV and AIDS among women and children.

 

According to the report, 2007 statistics show that 33 percent of the 1.5 million HIV positive pregnant women received treatment to prevent the virus being passed on to their child, compared to 10 percent in 2005.

 

The number of children receiving anti-retroviral treatment has almost tripled from 75,000 in 2005 to 200,000 in 2007.

 

On the Net:

UNICEF:http://www.unicef.org

 

© 2009 The Associated Press.

 

Feds Seek to Raise Testing Bar for Pap Smear Interpreters

 

By Jane Zhang

Wall Street Journal

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

The federal government is proposing a tougher test to assure the competence of pathologists and others who read Pap tests to catch cervical cancer.

Wikimedia Commons

Normal squamous cells on left and slightly abnormal cells on right, as seen in a ThinPrep Pap smear.

 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which manages the Medicare health program for the elderly and disabled, wants a test that uses 20 samples instead of the current 10. The change means the test would take four hours, instead of the current two. But the agency would require the test only every two years instead of the current annual schedule. Find more on CMS’s rationale here.

 

CMS is required by law to develop such proficiency tests. Congress passed the law in 1988 after The Wall Street Journal documented that inaccurate reading of Pap smears led to unnecessary deaths from cervical cancer. CMS first approved the proficiency tests in 2005, and specialists, who can take it four times a year, are suspended if they can’t get to the 90% proficiency level.

 

In the CMS proficiency testing, pathologists who read Pap smears without the help of a lab specialist flagging suspicious cells fared the worst: 33% failed on the first try in 2005. That number declined to 11% in 2007, according to CMS. By comparison only 3% of cytotechnologists - specially trained technicians rather than doctors - failed on the first try when reading the Pap smears on their own in 2007, down from 7% in 2005.

 

Perhaps not surprisingly, pathologists have been lobbying Congress to do away with the proficiency test. The House passed legislation http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:3:./temp/~c1105PNvTi last April that would suspend the proficiency testing and require annual medical education instead. The Senate didn’t act on it.

 

The proposal will be published in today’s Federal Register. The public has until March 17 to comment on the proposal.

 

Article printed from Health Blog: http://blogs.wsj.com/health

 

URL to article: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/01/16/feds-seek-to-raise-testing-bar-for-pap-smear-interpreters/

 

Copyright 2009 Wall Street Journal.

 

Vitaminwater Marketing Prompts Suit

 

By Anjali Cordeiro

Wall Street Journal

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

Coca-Cola Co. faces a purported class-action lawsuit initiated by a consumer-advocacy group and other litigants, who say that the beverage giant made deceptive claims about its line of Vitaminwater beverages.

 

The Center for Science in the Public Interest said its litigation department is serving as co-counsel in the suit, which was filed Wednesday in California.

 

"The idea that you can improve your immunity by drinking one of these Vitaminwater drinks is nonsense," David Schardt, a senior nutritionist for the nonprofit group, said during a conference call with reporters.

 

The group said Coke markets Vitaminwater as a healthful alternative to soda and said the company makes a range of assertions, including claims that the drinks variously reduce the risk of chronic disease and support immune function. The nonprofit's nutritionists say the levels of sugar in the drinks promote obesity, diabetes, and other health problems.

 

A 20 oz. bottle of raspberry-apple Vitaminwater has a total of 125 calories, although the package is labeled as being 2.5 servings.

 

A Coke spokeswoman, Diana Garza Ciarlante, called the suit "ridiculous."

 

"Glaceau Vitaminwater is clearly and properly labeled and shows the amount of vitamins and calories in the product," she said.

 

Write to Anjali Cordeiro at anjali.cordeiro@dowjones.com

 

 

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

Kids' vaccine slashes meningitis

 

By Liz Szabo

USA Today

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

Meningitis cases have fallen sharply since the introduction of a vaccine for children in 2000, a new study shows.

 

Rates of pneumococcal meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes around the brain caused by bacteria, dropped 64% in children under age 2 from 1998-1999 to 2004-2005, according to a study in today's New England Journal of Medicine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the vaccine for children ages 2 months to 2 years, and for 2- to 5-year-olds who are at increased risk.

 

The vaccine hasn't just helped children, though.

 

With fewer contagious babies to spread germs, fewer older kids and adults are getting sick, says co-author Nancy Bennett, a professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Episodes of pneumococcal meningitis dropped 30% in the overall population, falling from 1.13 cases per 100,000 people to 0.79 cases per 100,000 people.

 

Even more impressively, cases dropped 54% in people over 65, Bennett says.

 

This kind of "herd immunity" — in which vaccines protect even unvaccinated people — is especially important in the elderly, Bennett says, because youngsters can spread the bacteria that cause meningitis in their grandparents. And this kind of meningitis is even more lethal in adults than children. In her study, one in 12 children died from their meningitis, compared with one in five adults.

 

Doctors already had noticed that the vaccine has reduced other diseases caused by the pneumoccocal bacteria, such as blood infections, says Janet Englund, a member of the CDC's vaccine committee and a pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital, who was not involved in the study.

 

As with all vaccines, doctors don't yet know how long its immunity will last, Bennett says.

 

Englund says the paper also spotlights a troubling trend: The kinds of bacteria that cause meningitis are changing.

 

The shot, called Prevnar, protects against seven strains of pneumococcal bacteria. But other strains not included in the current vaccine — including some that can't be killed by standard antibiotics — are now increasing, the study shows. Englund says doctors today are already on guard for resistant bacteria, though, and often treat patients with two antibiotics.

 

The number of meningitis cases due to these resistant bacteria is very small compared with the large number of cases that the vaccine prevents, Bennett says. Researchers are already developing vaccines to protect against up to 13 strains of the bacteria.

 

 

Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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