Category Archives: Healthcare

Health & Wellness

Authors R-Z, Healthcare

Breast Cancer: Fight the Fight – by Lisa Scuderi-Burkimsher

For Breast Cancer Month

breast cancerA dear friend of mine passed away from breast cancer and I’d like to write about her experience and how we became friends.

My husband and I met Maggie and her husband Ray at a neighbor’s barbecue in 2005. We immediately clicked. I don’t know what it was about Maggie, but I found myself confiding in her. Concerned about my horrible experience on September 11, 2001, she understood my fear of driving and not mingling much with people. Twenty-four-years older than me and she offered to do my grocery shopping. Of course, I couldn’t accept. This was truly a kindhearted person. I’m sorry after that barbecue we didn’t speak again until 2011.

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Authors A-H, Healthcare, Neuro-diversity

Stopping the Stigma of Mental Illness – by David B. Grinberg

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May is Mental Health Month, a nationwide effort to raise awareness and help end the stigma for people with mental health conditions.

Let’s remember that as public discourse about mental health increases, the associated stigma decreases. That’s why it’s critically important to shine a spotlight on a range of mental health issues affecting people of all ages, from depression to dementia.

Fostering open communication, education, transparency, advocacy and outreach — both online and off line— are solid strategies to eradicate prevalent myths, fears and stereotypes.
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Authors A-H, Healthcare, Social Issues

Drug Maker Puts Profits Ahead of People of Color – by Ben Crump

It’s bad enough that blacks are already more likely than whites to die from HIV/AIDS. But a drug company’s scheme to put profits ahead of lives only compounds the anguish of targeted communities and amplifies cries for justice.

It’s an absolute outrage. We believe pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences knew its popular and hugely profitable HIV/AIDS drugs were harmful but purposely delayed releasing safer versions. Company executives didn’t see patients as people — they saw them only as dollar signs. That is why I have joined with co-counsels at the Hilliard Martinez Gonzales and Morgan & Morgan law firms to file a federal lawsuit against Gilead.

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Authors A-H, Disability, Healthcare

Time to End the Stigma of Mental Illness – by David B. Grinberg

In case you missed it, October 10th was World Mental Health Day. The annual observance is sponsored by the World Health Organization to raise awareness of critically important mental health issues.

Now it’s time for more people around the world to step up and sustain the momentum by uniting in a daily effort to #EndTheStigma.

Fostering open communication, education, transparency, advocacy and outreach — both online and off — are solid strategies to eradicate myths, fears and stereotypes surrounding people with mental illness.

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Healthcare

The Benefits of a Hearty Laugh – by Terry Howard

Although she may disagree with the frequency (she’s entitled, eh, to be wrong), more often than not Deborah Levine, the founder of The American Diversity Report, and I laugh a lot during our conversations. Hey, given the nature of the kinds of issues we tackle – among them race, religion, harassment), the ability to step back and laugh is an essential survival tool.

Literally!

So there’s a grain of truth in that old saying, “laughter is the best medicine.” Shucks, a side-splitting guffaw or two is a “day maker” for me.  I get amazing energy and creativity boosts right after.

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Authors R-Z, Healthcare

Coping with a Loved One’s Hearing Loss — by Katie Schwartz

Some of  us have extra-sharp hearing, and others begin to lose their hearing at different times. For the first time in history, 20% of those in their late teens and early 20’s are reporting signs of a hearing loss – a problem that will cause major challenges for commerce and industry. (One cause for this is loud music played through earbuds for too long.)  Presbycusis, hearing loss caused by age,  is another challenge, and often starts in the late 50’s or early 60’s. By age 65, one third of Americans experience this problem. There are simple, practical strategies that can help. Here are three taken from the e-book, “What did you say?”

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Healthcare, Social Issues

Supporting Grieving Children

Experience Camps are one-week camps for boys and girls who are grieving over the death of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver.  It’s a place where kids can laugh, cry, play, create, remember the person who died, or forget the grief that weighs them down.  It’s a place where they can feel “normal”, because everyone there has been through something similar and understands what it’s like to lose someone important to them. It’s a home away from home. And just about everyone will tell you…”It’s the best week of the year”.

As our campers settle back into their school year routines, they often tell us that the kids and adults back home just don’t “get it”. We asked our campers what they want their teachers to know. This is what they told us… Please share with anyone who might be working with a grieving child this year!

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Authors A-H, Healthcare, Social Issues

Rejecting rejection! – by Terry Howard              

Rejection!

Who the heck needs it? It’s personal, can hurt deeply and can leave an indelible emotional scar. Fact is, just like the air we breathe, we live in a world where rejection is all around us, always has been, always will be.

Rejection is part and parcel to life in general, to systems and eco-systems, to processes, to negotiations, to decisions, to change and reactions to change. Arguably, the worst types of rejection occurs when the body rejects an organ transplant or chemotherapy.

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Authors A-H, Healthcare

When Eye Rolls are Appropriate – by Carolyn Daitch, Ph.D.

The Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times,” seems to be active today, activating our anxiety. Globally. The news sounds more and more like the most alarming drum roll. In the past few weeks, the world has been gripped by reports of terrorist plots and attacks in the US, in France, in Bangladesh, in Istanbul, in Baghdad, in Munich. Refugees from Syria are drowning by the hundreds as they desperately seek a safe foothold. Everywhere the number of the dead mounts.

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