WellCommons

Bills aimed at youth ‘pharm parties’ and use of e-cigs before committee

The proposal for medication sounds misguided and poorly worded. How would a person prove that they have a prescription for their medication? How could that violate the HIPPA laws? Would anyone stopped by a police officer need to disclose the nature of their suspect medication and why they are taking it? What about elderly folks that keep their medications in unlabeled containers? Would a parent who has their child's medication be in violation of this law?

The hysteria over E-Cigarettes is ridiculous. They are clearly not as dangerous as tobacco, and should be treated like nicotine gum, patches, or the inhaler. They are an excellent and safe alternative to cigarettes.

February 6, 2012 at 11:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Garden City dealing with measles outbreak

What an ironically timed outbreak! This should absolutely underscore the dangers of not immunizing your children. Kansas should change the law to make it more difficult to not immunize. Require signed affidavits from clergy members accepting responsibility if the child gets sick, and crack down on doctors who violate their Hippocratic oath by giving children medical exceptions when they are not necessary.

January 27, 2012 at 9:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Lawrence Memorial Hospital's annual Healthy Hearts Fair offers free screenings, education

This sounds like a great event (I would try to make it if it was a little later in the day!), but I do have a problem with the BMI. The Body Mass Index is completely unscientific measurement of a person's health. The BMI does not take into account muscle mass or body fat, so the results are vague or inaccurate. The fair should offer a simple weight/ body fat calculation with a scale and body fat calipers. That would be a much more accurate gauge of a person's health.

January 25, 2012 at 2:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Time to get to work on fitness regimen

Fitness is all about priorities. If your health is a priority for you then taking time everyday to exercise should not been seen as a burden, but as a requirement. Look at working out like you do going to work. Exercise is something you have to do.

January 23, 2012 at 8:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Survivor of alcohol-fueled stunt part of prevention programs

I am not a psychologist, but I remember being a kid, and anytime someone told me "Don't try this it's really dangerous", the first thing I thought was to try it. I don't think this campaign is going to be terribly effective. The danger of glamorizing or at least giving kids ideas is a problem a lot of outreach programs face. Does anyone else feel this way or remember having the same sort of thoughts after a misguided public service announcement at school?

January 23, 2012 at 8:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Bill to expand immunization exemptions heard by committee

+2!

January 19, 2012 at 1:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Bill to expand immunization exemptions heard by committee

What you have written is so profoundly wrong I am almost speechless. First, we have one of the healthiest generations of children ever. The three largest causes of childhood death are accidents, suicide, and obesity. Not crippling polio, or HIB, which in the 1990s killed 100/100000 children. Secondly, the infant mortality rate (6.5/1000 births), has gone down ever year (it was 25/1000 in 1962 for example), which relative to our population is better than any other country that does not have universal healthcare. Thirdly, your most insane assertion, that polio rates went down due to handwashing and not from the vaccine, is so wrong that I am ashamed to have to write this in 2012. Jonas Salk, one of the greatest men in the history of the world, began vaccinating children for polio in 1955. In 1953 there were 35,000 cases of polio, and in 1957 there rate had fallen to 5,600, and by 1961 there were only 161 cases. Are you REALLY going to claim that in between 1955 and 1961 handwashing lowered the rate of polio to almost nil? This is one of the most documented accomplishments in the history of the world!

January 19, 2012 at 1:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Parents criticize laws requiring immunization

Your personal freedoms end when you put others in danger. It is like they are asking for their "right" to drink and drive or to burn something on a windy August day. The anti-immunization movement is a danger not only to their own unfortunate children, but to the entire community.

January 19, 2012 at 1:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Bill to expand immunization exemptions heard by committee

Great news that the house committee did not act on this bill, and that Rep. Landwehr is opposed to it! The state should go one further and make it more difficult for these people to endanger their children by not having them immunized. They should strengthen the requirements for religious exceptions, maybe by asking for a sworn affidavit from a clergy member swearing that they accept that the child could die from polio. The state should also crack down on doctors who violate their Hippocratic oath by giving parents medical exemptions when they are not warranted.

January 18, 2012 at 7 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Anti-immunization bill up again in House committee

The website you reference is not a reliable source and they do not say how they obtained their statistics. According to the CDC report on Guardasil (http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vacc...), 71 people who received the vaccine have died, but in the cases that have been reported their has not been a causal link between the the vaccine and the persons death. There have been 40 million doses of the Guardasil vaccine given and in extremely rare cases people die after getting the vaccine, but that does not mean that the vaccine caused their death. 11,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer this year, and 4,000 women will die from it. The Guardasil vaccine will eventually be able to stop HPV and the resulting cervical cancer. Instead of going to hack websites get your medical information check the CDC, which has reliable data and can show you how it collected it's data in a scientific manner.

January 18, 2012 at 9:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )