CRESTVIEW — The Florida Department of Health in Okaloosa County will host a Zika virus community update May 24.

The hour-long presentation — 5:30 p.m. in the Senior Circle classroom at North Okaloosa Medical Center, 127 Redstone Ave. Suite A — consists of a situation update and question and answer session.

Panelists include FDOH, leadership and NOMC infection control officials.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview health organization provides May 24 Zika virus update

GAINESVILLE — Athletes who wait to report a concussion may experience longer recovery times, say University of Florida researchers who found that college players who delayed treatment or removal from play missed an average of five more days of play than athletes who immediately reported concussion symptoms.

The study appears in the May issue of the Journal of Athletic Training.

The findings suggest that athletes who don’t receive immediate treatment for concussion risk further insult to the brain and may take longer to recover, said Breton Asken, the study’s lead author and a student in the neuropsychology track of the clinical psychology doctoral program at the College of Public Health and Health Professions, part of UF Health. While other studies have described a “window of vulnerability” in animals immediately after brain injury, the UF study is one of the first to examine how it may translate to humans.

Previous research indicates that during this period after a concussion, intense physical activity, not just direct hits to the head, can be detrimental, Asken said.

“We believe exertion or increasing blood flow to the brain when it’s not quite ready to handle that, even in the absence of more impacts to the brain, could also interfere with recovery in this window,” said Asken, also a clinical and research coordinator for the Sports Concussion Center at the UF Student Health Care Center.

For the UF study, researchers examined data from the University of Florida Concussion Databank, which contains concussion-related medical history and injury details for athletes in UF’s varsity sports programs. The study included 97 male and female athletes participating in basketball, football, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and diving, track and field and volleyball who were diagnosed with a sport-related concussion between 2008 and 2015. Of those, 50 did not immediately report concussion symptoms.

When controlling for other factors shown to prolong recovery time, such as a history of concussion or previous diagnosis of a learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or depression, the researchers found that athletes who delayed reporting a concussion still took an average of five more days to receive medical clearance to return to play.

“I think many athletes naively believe that concussion symptoms will go away, or if they report a concussion it will keep them out of play for a lot longer,” said senior author Russell Bauer, Ph.D., Asken’s mentor and a professor in the department of clinical and health psychology. “These data show that if you do have signs of concussion and you wait to report it, you may actually have a longer road back to the playing field.”

Future research should examine larger groups of athletes and different ages, including high school players, the researchers say. Because this was a retrospective study of medical records and notes by team physicians and athletic trainers, the research team wasn’t able to quantify the specific amount of time athletes kept playing before reporting a concussion, whether that was immediately after finishing the game or days later, to determine how the length of a reporting delay contributed to recovery time.

The researchers hope the information will become part of athletic trainers and team physicians’ pre-season education of athletes.

“The acute effects of concussion and what it does to the brain are becoming better understood at this point, but in some cases it is still not enough to convince athletes that it is important to report an injury or remove themselves immediately from play,” Asken said. “What this study might add is context the athlete can relate to, and that is how much time they may miss from their sport. Immediate reporting of concussion symptoms allows for proper management at the point of injury and gives athletes the best opportunity to return to their sport more quickly.”

In addition to Asken and Bauer, the study team included James Clugston, M.D., a University Athletic Association team physician at UF and an associate professor of community health and family medicine in the College of Medicine; Michael McCrea, Ph.D., a professor of neurosurgery and neurology and director of brain injury research at the Medical College of Wisconsin; and Aliyah Snyder and Zac Houck, both doctoral students in the UF department of clinical and health psychology.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: UF research links delay in concussion treatment to longer recovery

PENSACOLA — Covenant Care can now increase the services it offers in Pensacola with the May 9 acquisition of Pensacola-based Peoples Home Health, a Medicare-certified home health provider serving Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties.

This transaction demonstrates Covenant Care's commitment to expand its service offerings beyond its core hospice services, an objective announced during the recent brand transition from Covenant Hospice to Covenant Care.

"Our rebranding signaled the beginning of our transformation to an integrated, comprehensive post-acute provider," said Jeff Mislevy, Covenant Care president and CEO. "That platform shift is in direct response to the revolutionary changes occurring throughout healthcare.

"The industry demands providers enhance patient experience, reduce the cost associated with care and improve the health of populations in its communities. Medicare, Medicaid, private insurers, hospitals, large physician groups, nursing facilities and assisted living communities all expect the post-acute providers with which they work to have the capacity to address advanced illness care in both inpatient and outpatient settings – from hospital discharge to end-of-life care," Mislevy said.

Peoples Home Health and Covenant Care have a collaborative relationship focused on meeting the needs of patients with life-limiting illness, Tim Buttell, Peoples Home Health vice president said. "Home health is integral to Covenant Care's strategic growth plans and we're gratified at the recognition of the quality, experience, expertise and commitment that the Peoples team will bring to this initiative."

The Peoples Home Health acquisition comes shortly after CC announced a significant expansion of its Alzheimer's care program, with the fall 2016 opening of the Covenant Memory Care Center at the Joyce Goldenberg Campus in Pensacola.

Building on their existing hospice and palliative care programs, CC also recently launched a home care program, adding private duty nursing and companion care to their family of services.

One of 140 providers nationwide, and the only in Northwest Florida, Covenant Care was selected last year to participate in the Medicare Care Choices Model, a new demonstration project that allows beneficiaries with specific diagnoses to elect to receive supportive care services typically provided by a hospice program – while continuing to receive curative treatments simultaneously.

The expansion establishes Covenant Care as one of the largest not-for-profit post-acute providers in the Florida Panhandle, employing more than 700 individuals and caring for nearly 7,000 patients each year.

"We're building a model for what a mission-driven, not-for-profit, post-acute provider will look like in the future," Mislevy said. "It's a model that we believe can serve as a template for community-based organizations across the region and the country."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Covenant Care acquires Peoples Home Health, expands Northwest Florida services

FORT WALTON BEACH — The Florida Department of Health’s Tobacco Free Florida program and the Florida Department of Health in Okaloosa County (DOH-Okaloosa) are launching a new initiative, Secondhand Smoke Exposed, as part of the eighth annual Tobacco Free Florida Week, taking place May 8-14, to educate Okaloosa County residents about the dangers of secondhand smoke.

This year’s theme, Secondhand Smoke Exposed, focuses on dispelling the common myth that secondhand smoke is harmless. A report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stated that breathing even small amounts of secondhand smoke can be dangerous.

In observance of Tobacco Free Florida Week, Students Working Against Tobacco members from Crestview High School will teach Bob Sikes Elementary fifth graders about the dangers of secondhand smoke.  DOH-Okaloosa staff members will also attend a health fair for employees of the City of Fort Walton Beach and will educate attendees about the dangers of tobacco.  

“Many people are unaware of how dangerous secondhand smoke exposure can be,” stated Carrie Ziegler, DOH-Okaloosa assistant director. “DOH-Okaloosa and its dedicated community partners are committed to educating the public about the dangers secondhand smoke and encourage residents to join the fight against tobacco and help make Okaloosa County a healthier place to live, learn, work, and play.”

 DOH-Okaloosa supports local tobacco-related interventions, including raising public awareness about subject areas related to secondhand smoke. From guiding a multi-unit housing property through the process of going smoke-free, to presenting the benefits of a tobacco free college campus, representatives in Okaloosa County offer various services.

To aid in reducing secondhand smoke exposure to pets, DOH-Okaloosa has recently started working with the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society in Okaloosa County to implement a 100 percent tobacco free policy for their grounds.

Despite the growing trend of smoke-free policies and the substantial decrease of smokers in the state, many of Okaloosa County’s most vulnerable are still involuntarily affected by secondhand smoke, which has hundreds of toxic chemicals including about 70 that are known to cause cancer, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

May is also Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month. The  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated in a report that tobacco smoke is one of the most common asthma triggers.

If you smoke, the best thing you can do to protect your loved ones is to quit. Floridians who want to quit smoking are encouraged to use Tobacco Free Florida’s free and proven-effective services. More information is available at tobaccofreeflorida.com.

This article was updated May 10, 2016 to fix a typing error in the term "Health and Human Services" in the second paragraph and remove a double headline.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Secondhand smoke awareness is Tobacco Free Florida Week's focus