Research has shown that dark chocolate improves blood vessel functioning, thus lowering blood pressure, taking stress off your heart and helping your blood circulate more efficiently. Dark chocolate also has antioxidant qualities, which come from flavonoids found in cocoa. So on Valentine’s Day, nothing says “I love you” like some delicious, dark chocolate
The Journal of General Internal Medicine recently released ethical guidelines addressing patient, physician, and caregiver relationships. The medical community is increasingly respecting the role of caregivers and offering guidance on how to develop that relationship.
Access to investigational therapies is a highly debated topic in the medical world. Investigational therapy involves drugs that are being scientifically tested but not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Often these drugs are offered through programs such as “compassionate use programs,” and “expanded access programs” to allow seriously ill patients access…
We all have cancer cells in our bodies. The good news is that, for most of us, our body’s natural defenses know how to defeat these defective, tumor-causing cells, and they never get the chance to grow up into a full-blown cancer. Whether you’ve had cancer or not, any person who wants to improve their chances of avoiding cancer should read Dr. David Servan-Schreiber’s very important book called “Anti-Cancer – A New Way of Life.”
The words “clinical trials” can conjure up images of desperate medical experiments with little hope of success. In reality, medical advances and breakthroughs can and have resulted from clinical trials. Without them, we wouldn’t have many of the treatments we have today.
I am encouraged – most of the people I know who have had cancer have beaten their disease and become cancer survivors. They struggled through the chemotherapy, the radiation treatment, surgery, physical and emotional upheavals and come out on the other side. It is a time of celebration and elation. But then the reality of…
Cervical cancer, one of the most preventable and treatable cancers, is on the decline. New screening guidelines or not, it’s important to talk with your gynecologist and decide on a course of action that best suits you
Many of you reading this blog have experienced some type of difficult health situation, for yourselves, a friend or family member. It’s also what makes so many of us passionate about helping others through their illness. It’s why Patient Navigator exists. Since it’s the New Year, most people take some type of inventory of their…
Patient Navigator LLC highlighted in National Comprehensive Cancer Center article on cancer navigation.
The National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants sets professional goals and provides a clear voice and reasoned opinions on health care policy matters.
If you are interested in hearing the types of things Patient Navigator can do to help you or a loved one, please listen in to this radio show. We welcome your feedback.
I attended a four-day training sponsored by the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C. from June 11-14. It is called CancerGuides II and it was extraordinary. During this training, we learned to create safe, effective individualized programs of comprehensive and integrative care for people with cancer and their families. I met hundreds of practitioners…
The doctors and nurses were using words I could not understand. It was September 19, 1998. I was in the emergency room of a large hospital in Falls Church, Virginia. “I’m sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Russell, but your daughter has a brain tumor.” It was the first time in my life that I fainted. When…
I’ve said in previous posts that we must move to digital records. In the past weeks, I’ve heard horror stories about the inability of medical providers to communicate with each other. I personally know that to be true. I recently asked a doctor treating my daughter if he was planning to inform another specialist (separately…
The March 29, 2009 edition of Parade magazine featured an article about the new specialty of patient navigation. The article highlights some of what navigators can do. For now, the National Cancer Institute has undertaken several pilot projects to train and deploy navigators in medically underserved areas. But as the article also correctly points out, patient navigators…
A cancer diagnosis thrusts patients and their families into an unfamiliar world of doctors, tests and treatment options. They must simultaneously find information, make decisions under pressure, seek the best medical care, cope with family changes, and deal with insurance, financial, employment, caregiver or school issues. Here are 10 suggestions to help you as you…
If you had your own patient advocate to guide you through illness and aging, what would you want to ask them?