Health & Wellness - October 2015 Archives

This 1984 article first appeared in the publication Mayovox. Helicopter transport program approved; to be based at Saint Marys Faster emergency care would be provided to critically injured or ill patients under a plan by Mayo Medical Center to implement a helicopter transport program. The plan for such a program has received initial Medical Center approval. It could be operational in the fall of 1984 if approved by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Rochester Zoning Commission. Based on a helipad that would be built on the roof of the Mary Brigh Building at Saint Marys, the helicopter would be used to transport patients with life threatening injuries or illnesses in the 70-county region served by Saint Marys Emergency Room, encompassing southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. The program will be operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the helicopter will be available to respond on five minutes' notice to calls from physicians, hospitals and other emergency services providers. Victims of motor vehicle accidents, cardiac emergencies, ill neonates and high risk pregnancies are examples of patients who will be transported. The service will be limited to critically ill patients requiring rapid transport for sophisticated tertiary care. Officials project that about 500–800 patients annually would be candidates for helicopter transport, an average of 1–2 per day. The most important element in consideration of this program, according to a report by Mayo's Emergency Care Committee, is the reduced mortality rate resulting from faster access to care. Time is of the essence, the report said, especially in the first 60 minutes following an accident — the so-called "golden hour" — when nearly 80 percent of the victims die who could have survived with faster emergency care. One study of helicopter programs in the U.S. concluded that 20 percent of patients transported by helicopter would have died had they not had the service of the air ambulance. Another study by the University of California, San Diego, reported that the mortality rate for patients transported by helicopter was 52 percent less than for patients with similar injuries transported by the same institution by conventional land means.

In a session called "People Power Health," one speaker at the Transform 2015 Symposium said "stories are medicine" and another said he "was loved back into existence" “As a storyteller, my dream is to be as valuable as a plumber,” says author, playwright and storyteller Kevin Kling. Kling was one of the presenters in a session called “People Power Health,” the opening session of Transform 2015, which began on Wednesday at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester. And he came armed with enough quips and tales to fill a hospital wing. All aimed at shining a light on the patient’s role in health care. Along with laughs and memorable moments, Kling and other two other featured speakers in the opening session attempted to inspire different ways of approaching and thinking about people powering health care. Kling shared stories and insights from his own experiences in health care. “In health care, we’re in a point of transition. We’re becoming more responsible about the outcome of our own story,” he said. “I think that’s a good thing.” Setting the tone – “Health as a condition of citizenship” Moderator John Hockenberry who has attended by his count 4 or 5 Transform events, set the tone early for the annual gathering of health care thought leaders from around the globe. “I am so excited about the journey we’re going to take you on over the next couple of days,” said Hockenberry, as he encouraged those attending Transform to get engaged in their own health care. “If we thought of health as a condition of citizenship, would we begin to be able to think in a more improvisational and healthy way about problems in our health care system.”

Weight gain, diabetes, cardiovascular disease. These are some of the risks associated with consuming sugary drinks, according to a new report from the Journal of ...