MAITLAND — March of Dimes, the leading organization for mom and baby health, urges parents to immunize their children against infectious diseases before the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year. Influenza, pertussis (whooping cough), and measles are just a few of the serious vaccine-preventable diseases that still affect children and adults in the United States today.

“Immunizations are as important today as they were in the age of polio in the 1950s, when the March of Dimes funded the pioneering work that resulted in the vaccine that still is used today against this deadly disease,” said Dr. Karen Harris, Program Services Committee chair for the March of Dimes Florida Chapter. “Back-to-school season is the time of the year when we especially encourage kids to get their shots to protect their health.”

Even small groups of unimmunized people can quickly spread disease, Dr. Harris says. In the US, both measles and whooping cough are at epidemic rates.

According to the Florida Department of Health, the most recent school year (2013 – 2014) immunization status reports for all 67 Florida counties indicate rates of:

•Kindergarten: 93.2 percent (state and national goal is 95 percent)

•Seventh grade: 96.6 percent (state goal is 95 percent; national goal is 90 percent)

•Two-year-old children (2013): 86.72 percent (state and national goal is 90 percent)

Flu shots

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says diseases can spread when infected people cough, sneeze, or even talk. Children may spread the flu virus for up to three days before they show any symptoms and for longer than a week after getting sick, putting their classmates at risk of becoming sick, too.

The CDC, the March of Dimes, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists all recommend that, in addition to children, all pregnant women and those planning to become pregnant should get an annual flu shot in the fall. The normal biological changes of pregnancy put pregnant women at increased risk of the harmful effects of flu. Recent research suggests that the flu vaccine may also lower a woman’s risk of having a stillbirth or miscarriage. “The flu vaccine helps protect your body from infection, and this protection is in turn passed on to your baby during pregnancy,” adds Dr. Harris, explaining that immunization during pregnancy helps keep the newborn safe during the first few months of life until he or she is ready for the first set of vaccinations.

Pertussis

Parents, grandparents, caregivers, and anyone in close contact with an infant should get an adult pertussis vaccine to help protect themselves and to help stop the spread of the disease to the newborns in their lives.

Newborns are most at-risk for this highly contagious and often serious disease because they don't begin receiving their own vaccinations until they are two months old and may not be protected until they have received at least three doses of an infant pertussis vaccine.

This year, the March of Dimes continues their work on the Sounds of Pertussis Campaign, a national education campaign started in 2009 to help raise awareness about the potential dangers of pertussis and the importance of adult vaccination.

March of Dimes also supports the “Word of Mom: Celebrating Generations of Healthy Advice” campaign, which empowers moms to make the best health decisions for themselves and their families by making sure their families’ immunizations are up to date.

March of Dimes continues to fund vaccine research and to work with international coalitions seeking to improve immunization rates and eliminate preventable diseases that threaten babies and children. More information on baby vaccinations is available from the March of Dimes website.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: March of Dimes reminds parents to immunize children for the new school year

CRESTVIEW — Look Good Feel Better's next session is 1-3 p.m. Aug. 11 at North Okaloosa Medical Center, Senior Circle classroom, 127 E. Redstone Ave., Suite A.

Advance registration is required to provide cosmetics that match your skin tone.

This group program is open to all women with cancer who receive chemotherapy, radiation or other treatments.

Call the American Cancer Society, 1-800-227-2345, for details.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Look Good, Feel Better program scheduled in Crestview

While big chunks of America’s population continue to be ravaged by obesity, causing other problems such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, there are many millions who choose to prevent those conditions by exercising regularly.

“The Centers for Disease Control recently estimated that only 20 percent of us get the recommended amount of daily exercise,” says Dr. Brett Osborn, author of “Get Serious, A Neurosurgeon’s Guide to Optimal Health and Fitness."

“Given our diet and lifestyles, it’s no wonder that some of our first-world diseases have reached epidemic proportions.

“Let’s be clear: This is your health. There is nothing more important. If you don’t have good health, you will eventually die, preventing you from doing everything else, from spending time with your loved ones to enjoying your money.”

If you’re going to exercise – which Osborn applauds – he warns that you will do more harm than good if you’ve bought into some of the myths and “conventional wisdom” that is, in fact, simply wrong.

Osborn, an avid bodybuilder, shatters some of those misconceptions:

•  More exercise is always better. Everyone wants more muscle and less fat, Conventional wisdom says that hours and hours of exercise will achieve those results. That’s completely wrong, Osborn says. Overkill is not only unnecessary, it can be counterproductive. You’ll get the best results with a strength-training regimen, tailored to meet your needs, which can be accomplished in three to four hours per week.

•  More cardio is better than lifting. For all you chronic dieters and cardio enthusiasts out there trying to shed fat, the right strength-training program can boost your metabolism and help burn off more fat. By increasing lean muscle mass, you will increase your basal metabolic rate, BMR. Activated, contracting muscles are the body’s furnace. Excessive cardio and dieting can eat muscle tissue away, compromising this furnace.

•  Women: “But I don’t want to look like a man.” Females who lift weights won’t look like men; they do not have the hormonal support to pile on a significant amount of muscle mass. Female lifters will, however, assume a shapelier figure. In fact, 99.99 percent of men older than 30 do not have the natural hormonal support to do so either. All elite professional bodybuilders use androgenic agents, including steroids.

•  You need to buy “product X.” We live in a very money-based culture – so much so that we often place the almighty dollar above health. Get out of this mindset, at least regarding exercise. What counts for building muscle includes determination, intensity, consistency and safety. If you think buying the most expensive formula, training uniform or machine is necessary for reaching your potential, you’re wrong. Machines often compromise the intensity required for the body you desire.

•  CrossFit is a good exercise program. If you want to build muscle, then CrossFit has many problems. First, it encourages ballistic movements from novice lifters, and since the program’s rise in popularity, there has been a marked increase in injury rates, which can set fitness goals back by many months. Second, as mentioned above, you don’t need to pound the body five times a week; you may increase endurance and lose fat, but you’ll also lose muscle. CrossFit encourages overtraining and has been linked to increased incidents of Rhabdomyolysis, or Rhabdo, which is the breakdown of muscle tissue that leads to the release of muscle fiber contents into the blood. Rhabdo can cause kidney damage. Third, the creators of CrossFit have encouraged the Paleo Diet, a low-insulin diet. Insulin is a necessary part of building muscle.

Brett Osborn is a New York University-trained, board-certified neurological surgeon with a secondary certification in anti-aging and regenerative medicine, Diplomate; American Bard of Neurological Surgery, Diplomate; American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. He holds a CSCS honorarium from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Dr. Osborn specializes in scientifically based nutrition and exercise as a means to achieve optimal health and preventing disease. He is the author “Get Serious, A Neurosurgeon’s Guide to Optimal Health and Fitness."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Bodybuilder, neurosurgeon debunk 5 training myths

CRESTVIEW — Kelly and Michelle Stackhouse are glad to have their 7-year-old son, Gabriel, back at home.

Gabriel, who has a severe case of viral meningitis, returned to Crestview Wednesday after spending 12 days at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, where he received a brain MRI, two spinal taps and IV treatments.

“It’s quite a relief to have the family back together,” Kelly Stackhouse said. “What’s most important is that we consider ourselves fortunate to have our son back.”

The Stackhouses noticed something was wrong on the Fourth of July weekend, when Gabriel showed flu-like symptoms including fever and headaches. They took him to North Okaloosa Medical Center and then to Sacred Heart following the meningitis diagnosis.

Doctors told Kelly there is no risk of other family members being infected. However, Gabriel’s parents are concerned about their son’s weight; he lost 9 pounds while hospitalized.

Then there are the bills. The family lacks health insurance, and a gofundme.com account has been set up to offset medical expenses. More than $1,600 of a $20,000 goal has been donated so far.

Family, friends and Victory Baptist Church members also have helped by donating and providing daily meals.

Such acts are common when someone needs help, the church's pastor, Rev. Wayne Matheson.

“We took to (the situation) like a family, which is what a church is supposed to do,” he said.

HOW TO HELP

Click here to donate toward Gabriel Stackhouse's medical expenses>>

Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview boy back home following viral meningitis diagnosis