State panel okays new Mercy hospital for southeast Springfield
… meet the needs of more patients and their families,” said Dr. Hollis Bell, medical director for rehabilitation at Mercy Hospital Springfield. “Additionally, we are the only inpatient rehabilitation facility in the Ozarks that provides care for …
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Health centre renamed to hospital
The facility offers health care services such as eight acute inpatient beds; a 24/7 emergency room; rehabilitation and physiotherapy; public health support; mental health support; home and community care nursing; home support, and lab and X-ray.
Read more on Merritt Herald

Celebrate Hurricane Sandy Relief with Free Winter Bash Hosted by Long Beach …
Located at 645 West Broadway in Long Beach, Grandell Rehabilitation & Nursing Center offers full-range, 24-hour inpatient nursing, short-term and long-term rehabilitative care. Additionally, Grandell is the first facility in New York State to offer a …
Read more on PR Urgent (press release)

WITHERING HOPE

Image by freebird (bobinson|??????????)

Inevitable. This image portraits everything we had witnessed at a AIDS rehabilitation center we had visited……

And if ur still worried about something and yourself then you are a FOOL !

There is a discussion here

Sadly, this time I am not talking about rain, misty mountains or anything of that sort. Its about silence that we can hear & about love, care and support shown by a few to a group of less fortunate people.

initial discussion and planning is here

Today a group of us went to to snehadaan a PWHA ( people with hiv & aids) rehabilitation / treatment center. its a very clean, peaceful, well kept place with cheerful co-ordinators. We were welcomed by a cheerful garden & then refreshing scent of the cleaning agent they have used. We waited for a while and then spoke to co-ordinators and tried to explain why we the bangalored software engineers are here. We were not having much idea about what we are about to see or exactly whey we are there. One of the co-ordinators gave us a briefing of the work they do and opened the doors to the dormitories where the people who were spending probably their last days / hours lived – or may be there is no time its just the pain, agony, stigma and the silence which is loud enough to make a healthy man deaf.

While we walked the corridors with our guide I never looked at the people who were with me. Our companion was telling the names of diseases the inmates are infected with. I peered through a veiled window and saw a woman curled on a bed. A man was carried in a wheel chair and he is the only person who gave me sane smile. There was a dull green coloured creeper trying to make its way through a white iron grill. Unfortunately, the creeper will never find light and its desperate efforts will be stopped by the roof.

Now we are inside the refectory which is again exceptionally clean. Later we found people having lunch here and man whom I found on the wheel chair agian smiled at me. We moved on and the only object in the long hall way was a wheel chair. Light was arguing about its particle-wave dual nature with it and making magical shadows in the process. We are in the gym now. The only other place after the refectory where I could get in without the fear of getting infected with any of those diseases our companion was explaining. At some point I thought he will provide us hand gloves and masks. But after spending sometime in the premises my fear disappeard. Probably it wasn’t fear. It was a strange confusion.

Someone made a comment about the cleanliness of the place. And our companion explained how badly it was smelling last week. One of the patients had a small wound upon cleaing it became widened and started giving a foul smell. Now its healing and he is almost fine. We moved to next set of wards. Again I saw figures and our companion kept on explaining. Some of them looked very healthy and some were not. Some were infected while entertaining. Some were infected because their dear ones were entertained. For some it was bad luck. Some don’t know what happened to them. We were shown offices, doctors rooms, councelling center etc. We made a circle around the place and now we are at the end. The mortuary. Near the mortuary building there is a big cage for the love birds and they were making noises which may be songs about the security they enjoy in the cage or the freedom which their great grand fathers enjoyed and which they never will.Or may be they are just coughing.

We asked the co-ordinator about what is that we can do. At the end of visits to every similar place usually we decide to work and turn the world upside down. We were asked to meet the another co-ordinator as well. We decided to wait and we walked to the garden, walked a bit around the mortuary and then two more friends joined us. We took the late comers ourseleves and showed them the place and shared the little piece of information we have learned. After finishing with them I think I walked around the place once or twice.

We were discussing what we can do. As a friend said, what the inmates needs is love and care. The silence around the place is probably getting into everyones nerves by this time. Probably more than anything the inmates what the inmates needs is attention. We learned that children from a nearby school are visiting these people on sundays and spending time with them. The best thing may be to join the children and spend time the inmates.

Well we discussed with the co-ordinators and found out that the following items are the most needed items there:

1. A sliding food trolly / or platfrom attached to the bed which will help
patients who are not able to leave their beds to have food from their
bed itself. Now they are keeping the food plate on the bed itself.

2. few wheel chairs which are softer

3. A music system.

We took the address of a surgical appliance dealer in Bangalore, recieved the brochure of snehadaan and the co-ordinator expressed his gratitude for the visited and we shook hands and left the place after discussing for some more time

At home my lovely friend who had adoped me as her brother had prepared delicous lunch and waiting for me. I was worried whether they will ask me take bath before having lunch with them. They never said a thing and she was surprised to hear that I haven’t taken any photos from the snehadaan.

Enevitable. The encroching darkness will eliminate the light in no time. Unfortunately we can’t prevent the inevitable darkness. But we can definately slow it down. We can control. We can give them hope. We can make people aware.

I think our best take away from the visit are the following:

HIV / AIDS is no more as deadly as it was.
Lack of awareness is the biggest problem we are facing today

Can we reach out and help ? There is still hope. Can we help before that last leaf falls ?

This plant needs is a little support and it will fight its way out. But probably the inmates of that silent out of the world place will never hear anything from us, the mosambi’s we took will be over by now and all that is left is the above 3 phots and the words I have conjured up

Or can we really reachout this time ?

Making a Profit from Offering Ineffective Therapies to Cancer Patients
What the Post story didn't explain was the source of Stephenson's millions: Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), a private, for-profit company with five cancer hospitals scattered around the U.S. Stephenson is the founder and chairman of CTCA.
Read more on Forbes

Brazil debates treatment options in crack epidemic
… early 2012 that more than $ 2 billion would be spent to fight the epidemic, with the money spent to train local health care workers, purchase thousands of hospital and shelter beds for emergency treatment, and create transitional centers for …
Read more on Daily Astorian

FDA approves J&J drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment
In 2011, nearly 9 million people around the world became sick with TB, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and there were 1.4 million TB-related deaths. The disease requires six to nine months of drug treatment. The FDA …
Read more on Fox News

Moberg joins Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery at Proctor
Dr. Kirk Moberg has been named medical director for the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery at Proctor Health Care. He was most recently the executive vice president and chief medical officer for Carle Hospital and Physician Group in Urbana …
Read more on Peoria Journal Star

LA story: Surging Clips, Lakers win
He fought an addiction to pain killers after the accident and spent time in jail and prison. … Women's basketball: Karisma Penn had 27 points and 19 rebounds, and Illinois (7-5) sent Georgia to its first loss of the season with a 70-59 victory over …
Read more on The Spokesman Review

Video gambling off to slow start in Illinois
Anita Bedell, executive director of Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems, said many of the new applicants were pop-up video gambling parlors catering to women. “There's this new line of parlors called Lucie's Place and Betty's Place …
Read more on STLtoday.com

The institutes on alcohol abuse are great initiative that promotes & supports against alcoholism and strives to spread the health benefits for all. Alcoholism abuse is growing at a great pace. The life style today is so stressful that people tend to get to the easy resort of consuming alcohol and drugs. The time is such that not only the colleges, but the school kids are not untouched by the alcohol and drugs. Looking at the need, there are various centers offering help and treatments. Such institutes have become quite dense. The sole reason of such centers is to simply control and cure alcoholism. Having said that it really doesn’t matter how many of such centers are inaugurated, till the time people themselves does not realize that alcohol and drug could not only deteriorate their health, but would also ruin their family life. There are many initiatives taken at national level as well like by the national institute on alcohol abuse and alcoholism to control and provide treatments free or at subsidized cost, the only endeavor being saving the society from the clutches of alcoholism abuse.

As a responsible individual, one must contribute by shouldering the responsibility of checking for alcohol addicts in once own vicinity. Small contributions such as directing people to alcohol treatments, making them understand the real endeavor of such initiates and moreover, motivating the non-alcoholics to support individuals who are addicted rather than think of them as a taboo. This would really make a difference. One national institute on alcoholism and alcoholism despite doing its best can’t make a change in the society; it is us who would take small steps to eliminate alcohol abuse with a broader vision of help & support to such addicts. Understanding the people, who have gotten into the vicious circle of alcoholism, by extending love and care instead of treating them as untouchables, could be certain small steps that could help the victims of alcoholism abuse go a long way – by the end of which, they would gain the same respect and social status that they had before being addicted.

Alcohol treatments would help the addicts to get rid of the addiction but it is our responsibility to give these addicts an environment of support & motivation which would help then to rebuild their identity. The science of health and treatment of alcoholism abuse could be prevented by –

Spreading awareness around the biological behaviors & functioning related to alcohol abuse.
Improvising the quality of diagnosis, treatment and prevention of alcoholism.
Promoting better health care.

Doctors to answer questions on chemical dependency, addiction treatment
Dr. Ted Wander, a general adult psychiatrist and medical director at Intermountain Healthcare's LDS Hospital inpatient psychiatric unit, and Jan Frederickson, an addiction substance abuse disorder counselor with the LDS Hospital Dayspring Treatment …
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News roundup: Is Huntsman angling for 2016 run?
Buzzfeed offers up the 22 reasons it was a banner year to be a Mormon. [BuzzFeed]. -> Congress awaits … A state audit finds problems with how the state's regulators are dealing with health care workers with addiction problems. [UtahPolicy]. -> Utah …
Read more on Salt Lake Tribune (blog)

Moberg joins Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery at Proctor
Dr. Kirk Moberg has been named medical director for the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery at Proctor Health Care. He was most recently the executive vice president and chief medical officer for Carle Hospital and Physician Group in Urbana …
Read more on Peoria Journal Star

'Nasty Stuff'
Along with Markowski came Commander Tony Kestner of Illinois State Police Task Force 6 in Central Illinois, Corporate Services Clinician Sandra Beecher from the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery, and Community Policing Officer Denis Tatgenhorst …
Read more on Morris Daily Herald