Public Health and Research News

The Employment Policies Institute (EPI) has released the results of a new study. that shows that the “widely employed estimate of 47 million uninsured Americans is a misleading representation of the problem.”

The study, authored by Drs. June and David O’Neill of Baruch College and City University of New York, shows that more than 43 percent of uninsured Americans ages 18-64 could likely afford health coverage and are actually “voluntarily uninsured.”

Using data from a number of surveys to determine what percentage of uninsured Americans are actually unable to afford it, the study finds that at least 43 percent of Americans in the 18-64 year-old age group have incomes at least 2.5 times the poverty level and are “voluntarily” uninsured.

The study finds that 79 percent of people with incomes between 2.5 and 3.75 times the poverty level currently purchase private health insurance. In view of the large percentages covered at this level, the authors consider this uninsured group as having enough disposable income to purchase health insurance.

The uninsured population also varies dramatically from state to state. For example, thirty percent of Texas residents are uninsured, compared to 18 percent of New York and 13 percent of D.C. residents. Three states (Texas, Florida and California) make up a third of the uninsured population.

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The entire healthcare system in the United States is prepared for the Swine Flu if it becomes a national epidemic. Many organizations are working with the CDC in order to keep updated on the latest information about this influenza virus.

IBHS Cautions Businesses to Prepare for Flu Pandemic; Provides Free Self-Assessment Tool to Rate Readiness
The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) is cautioning businesses and nonprofit organizations to examine their ability to operate in the event of a flu pandemic.

With the federal government declaring Swine Flu a public-health emergency, IBHS says it would be wise to prepare now for the possibility of closures or other impacts a pandemic could have on operations.

“Evaluating specific risks and planning well beforehand for a variety of potential emergencies that could disrupt day-to-day business is critical, no matter how big or small a company may be,” states IBHS President and CEO Julie Rochman. “Fortunately, most catastrophes can be managed with advance, effective preparation – and that means having a well-thought out action plan with specific, appropriate policies, resources and contingencies.”

The Top 5 IBHS pandemic preparedness steps include:

1. Determine when to curtail employee travel, domestically and
internationally.
2. Develop business continuity policies that provide work-at-home options.
3. Address sick leave policies, since people with swine flu or those
attending to relatives may need to be on leave longer that the current
policy allows.
4. Consider the impact a shutdown of public transportation or the loss of
basic utilities would have.
5. Determine at what point the organization would need to close its doors.

IBHS has created a self-assessment tool for business owners and managers who can rate their readiness for a flu pandemic by answering nine basic questions. http://www.disastersafety.org/resource/resmgr/pdfs/pandemic_flu.pdf

Trust for America’s Health Applauds U.S. Response to Swine Flu
Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) today commended the Administration for its fast and effective response to the swine flu outbreak.

In order to continue to respond to this swine flu outbreak and to continue and improve preparations and the capacity to respond to other potential pandemic outbreaks, such as the H5N1 “bird flu,” TFAH recommends:

— Completing the funding to implement the National Strategy for Pandemic
Influenza. Former President Bush originally requested $7.1 billion to
carry out research and development for vaccinations, pharmaceuticals,
and medical devices needed to respond to a pandemic. $870 million of
this has never been funded. This funding was originally included in
both the FY 2008 budget and proposed 2009 stimulus bill, but was
removed each time before the bills’ final passage.
— With more than $1 billion of HHS funding, six companies are in various
stages of implementing commercial-scale production of cell-based
methods and/or expanding their vaccine capacity using eggs. By 2011,
U.S. based vaccine production capacity is expected to be at a point in
which it can generate enough pandemic influenza vaccine for every
American within six months of the time that the pandemic virus is
identified, according to the most recent Pandemic Planning Update from
HHS. However, the U.S. will not reach that capacity without completion
of the initial investment.
— Replenishing and building the Strategic National Stockpile. Purchasing
antiviral medications, vaccines, and equipment for the stockpile
should be a federal responsibility. Responding to this outbreak will
require using a significant portion of the currently stockpiled
Tamiflu(R) and other medical equipment, such as respirator masks.
These medications and equipment will need to be restocked. In
addition, the stockpile has existing shortfalls in the number of
masks, respirators, and medications needed to respond to this and
other possible pandemics, which must be completed to be prepared for
the possibility of other strains of flu.
— At the end of 2008, the Strategic National Stockpile reportedly
contained 104 million N95 respirators; 51.6 million surgical masks; 20
million syringes for pre-pandemic vaccine; 4,000 ventilators.
— Purchasing antiviral medications should become solely a federal
responsibility. Under the plan from the previous Administration,
states were expected to purchase a portion of the antiviral
medications that would be needed to protect citizens in their
states, through a program that included 25 percent subsidy from
the federal government. While the federal government has purchased
enough antivirals to cover 50 million Americans, as of October
2008, states only had purchased 22 million courses of antivirals,
which is nine million short of the goal, leaving Americans in some
states more vulnerable than others.
— Providing resources for state and local health departments to
adequately prepare for outbreaks. State and local officials are the
front line responders to outbreaks, yet they have not received any
federal funding for pandemic flu preparedness since FY 2006. $350
million is needed annually to adequately maintain state and local
pandemic preparedness activities.
— All 50 states and D.C. have a pandemic flu preparedness plan.
— All 50 states and D.C. have adequate plans to receive and
distribute emergency vaccines, antidotes, pharmaceuticals, and
medical supplies from the SNS, based on a review by CDC.
— All 50 states and D.C. have increased or maintained rates for
vaccinating adults ages 65 and older for seasonal flu, which is a
key indicator for showing how well states could vaccinate
individuals in an emergency.
— All but three states reported that their public health
laboratories meet the expectations of their state’s pandemic flu
plan (as of November 2008).

— Increase support for the Global Disease Detection (GDD) program. In
2007, the GDD program received $33.7 million in funding. If the
funding was increased to $55 million, four additional regional
detection centers could be established to improve global disease
outbreak detection and control.

Some additional ongoing challenges for pandemic preparedness that TFAH has identified in recent analyses include:

— Maintaining real-time disease detection and surveillance capabilities;
— Managing mass casualty care if there is a major surge in patients at
hospitals and treatment facilities;
— Ensuring the ability to swiftly and safely distribute and administer
medical treatments and vaccines;
— Reaching and providing special services for at-risk and vulnerable
populations, including children, the elderly, and low-income
communities;
— Bolstering the public health workforce with enough experts and
officials, many state and local health departments have experienced
workforce cuts during the recession; and

— Protecting health officials and volunteer medical providers during
emergencies.

TFAH’s annual health emergency preparedness report, Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism, and a report that examined the potential impact of a severe pandemic outbreak, Pandemic Flu and the Potential for U.S. Economic Recession, are available on TFAH’s Web site: www.healthyamericans.org. Also, brochures about how individuals, businesses, community-based organizations and the medical community are available at the Web site.

Trust for America’s Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority.

Travellers to Mexico so far Undeterred by Swine Flu Outbreak
Data from leading flight search company Skyscanner (http://www.Skyscanner.net) shows that travellers planning trips to Mexico have so far been undeterred by the outbreak of swine flu influenza announced by Mexico’s Federal Health Ministry on the 22nd April.

“Dire predictions have already been made about the impact that this will have on tourism, but the number of Skyscanner users searching for flights to Mexico has remained stable in the days since news emerged of the outbreak,” said Skyscanner director and co-founder Barry Smith.

“We would have expected to see some negative impact by now, but it may be that travellers are reassured by the fact that the outbreak is largely concentrated in Mexico City – a two hour flight from the coastal resorts – and by the fact that the Foreign Office, World Health Organisation and the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention have not yet made recommendations that people stay away. We’ll get a clearer picture in the next few days as the news spreads and the implications for travellers are fully understood.”

Skyscanner is the most powerful and flexible flight search engine in Europe, providing instant online comparison on flight prices for over 670,000 routes on over 600 airlines. With Skyscanner, users can browse without having to enter specific dates or even destinations, and Skyscanner is available in 20 different languages including French, German and Spanish.

Swine Flu: Infection Control in Hospitals Will Be Critical
In response to confirmed cases of swine flu in Mexico, Canada, and the United States, European Union health officials are advising against travel to North America. At airports in Japan and several other Asian countries, thermal scanners are being used to identify fever among passengers from North America.

But in the U.S. the disease is already among us. The severity and extent are unknown. The SARS outbreak (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003 teaches that rigorous infection control in hospitals may be key to limiting deaths from swine flu in the U.S. Much will depend on what hospitals do when the first seriously ill victims arrive.” If hospitals have effective infection controls in place, the disease can be prevented from spreading to visitors, healthcare workers and their families,” warns Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D., and Chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (RID), a national organization that educates the public and medical community about preventing infection. McCaughey explains that “77% of the people who contracted SARS in the Canadian outbreak were patients, visitors or workers in hospitals. SARS was almost entirely a hospital infection epidemic.”

SARS — four letters that filled the headlines in the spring of 2003, and then disappeared. “A report issued after the fact by the government of Ontario (The SARS Commission, Spring of Fear, December 2006) shows how hospitals in one city thwarted an epidemic while hospitals in another city made deadly mistakes” says McCaughey, an expert on preventing infection.

Many hospitals in the U.S. are under-prepared for a similar challenge. As many as ten percent of patients contract infections in the hospital, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bacteria such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and Clostridium difficile race through hospitals, spread by unwashed hands and unclean equipment. How can hospitals that are failing to prevent ordinary infections spread by touch contain a new, unknown virus that can spread whenever someone coughs or sneezes?

“The best defense against swine flu and other unknown pathogens is rigorous hospital hygiene and routine infection prevention. That is the lesson of SARS,” says McCaughey.

Dr. McCaughey is available to speak about the precautions that should be taken in hospitals, schools, day care centers, nursing homes and other places where the disease can spread easily.

Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D., is founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths and former Lt. Governor of New York State.

http://www.hospitalinfection.org/

Pennsylvania Working Closely With Federal Partners to Contain Impact of Swine Flu
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is working with federal officials to contain the impact of an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico that resulted in the declaration of a national public health emergency in the United States.

The Department of Health is working to educate the public and health care providers of recommended steps to prepare for potential cases of swine influenza in Pennsylvania.

The Department of Health has notified health care providers across Pennsylvania to be watchful for patients with influenza-like illness who may have been exposed to the new swine flu strain and to immediately inform the local health department of any suspected cases. The department will assist all health care providers in evaluating the patients, recommending control measures, and assisting in specimen collection and testing when indicated.

This notification follows confirmation of a new strain of swine influenza A/H1N1 virus in Mexico and five locations in the U.S., including New York and Ohio. To date, all U.S. cases were “mild” with only one person requiring brief hospitalization.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, swine influenza A/H1N1 is a new strain of influenza that has not previously been detected in swine or humans. The virus has also been confirmed in Canada and Mexico. It is still safe to eat pork and pork products.

The Department of Health provided information to all of the state’s health care providers and hospitals late Friday regarding the swine flu, including how to quickly report possible cases and how to submit samples for testing. Anyone who has traveled to or from the affected areas and has a respiratory illness should contact their health care provider or local health department before seeking health care.

Swine influenza is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses. Outbreaks of swine flu happen regularly in pigs. Before the current outbreak, people rarely got swine flu, and usually only if they were in very close proximity to infected pigs. However, during the current outbreak, the virus is able to spread from person-to-person.

Symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to those of regular or seasonal flu and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Although winter is over, there is still a low level of seasonal influenza occurring in the state.

There is no vaccine available at this time, but the swine flu can be treated with certain antiviral drugs. Persons with swine flu are contagious for up to seven days or longer after the onset of illness, so it is important to take the following steps to prevent spreading the virus to others:

— Stay home when you are sick to avoid spreading illness to others;
— Cough or sneeze into the bend of your elbow or a tissue and properly
dispose of used tissues;
— Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and warm water or
use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer;
— Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth;
— Stay healthy by eating a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water and
getting plenty of rest and exercise; and
— Seek care if you have influenza-like illness.

The CDC is asking that those individuals who have a recent history of travel and experience mild, flu-like symptoms to stay home. However, if you feel your symptoms worsen or become severe, call or visit your health care provider.

For more information on Swine Influenza A/H1N1, contact the Department of Health at 1-877-PA-HEALTH or visit www.health.state.pa.us.

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In May 2004, Jonas Slonaker participated in a nine-day, on-camera retreat to focus on using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to address his symptoms of prostate cancer. He continues to do EFT daily; and today he is still free of any cancer symptoms, and his last three PSA (prostate-specific antigen) counts were “barely over two.”

EFT involves fingertip tapping on select acupressure points while focusing on the physical symptom or unresolved emotion in question. EFT claims an 80% success rate in calming symptoms associated with serious diseases like cancer. It can be learned without cost by downloading the free EFT Manual here.

“What is remarkable about using EFT for serious diseases,” says EFT Founder Gary Craig, “is that when we persistently address unresolved emotional issues and traumas, the symptoms associated with the disease tend to fade … often permanently. In Jonas’s case, he was harboring a deep and unresolved anger at his abusive father. In about 40 minutes of doing EFT together, he no longer felt the explosive anger towards his father.”

Jonas reports, “I urinate just fine and have no pain down there. I stopped taking the medication that helped me urinate. My story is simple. I use EFT everyday to release emotional energy blocks in my system. If I don’t have a particular issue or emotion to release, then I tap and sing the word Love over and over. I tap every morning for fifteen minutes to get my day started. Then I tap whenever the need arises. If someone snaps at me at work, I tap and let that go before it can become a repetitive resentment. Many of the times when I tap, I go into a deep state of peace and now and again I experience radiant joy. EFT helped me reach a place of great love and acceptance and I honestly don’t believe the cancer can survive in that environment.”

To witness Jonas’s on-camera EFT session, the combined set of DVD’s, which contains 40 hours of instruction and demonstrations, costs only $72 at https://www.emofree.com/Store/store.aspx.

More than a decade of reports from thousands of EFT users has convinced Craig of the connection between people’s unresolved emotions and their physical issues. Now an increasing number of medical studies are making the same connections, but EFT claims to offer a simple solution to resolving the emotional component of disease.

Craig says, “We are not advocating that people adopt EFT instead of conventional medicine to treat serious diseases. But medical research is consistently showing that unresolved emotional traumas, anger, and resentment contribute to disease. EFT provides a drug-free way for people to permanently clear the unresolved emotions that are disrupting their energy systems, taxing their immune systems and causing disease.”

Belgian physician Dr. Tania de Winne uses EFT in her medical practice and sees consistent evidence of the mind-body connection with her patients. “While I have no proof that EFT prevents cancer,” she says, “I’m convinced that it does just that. Negative thoughts are a major cause of not just cancer but all illnesses, and since EFT quickly eliminates the energy blocks that contribute to negative thoughts and emotions, I believe cancer and most other diseases can ultimately be eradicated by using EFT on a daily basis.”

According to the National Institutes of Health, about 1500 people in the U.S. die of cancer each day and another 3400 are diagnosed with cancer daily. “In my view,” says Craig, “people are dying needlessly from unresolved emotions like anger, fear, guilt and resentment.”

Physician, Dr. Eric Robins adds, “Some day the medical profession will wake up and realize that unresolved emotional issues are the main cause of 85% of all illnesses. When they do, EFT will be one of their primary healing tools …. as it is for me.”

EFT is still a new procedure, but already over 350,000 — including thousands of health care practitioners have downloaded Craig’s free training manual and another 10,000 download it each month. EFT often works when nothing else will, even on serious diseases like cancer. Word of mouth is making EFT a top self-healing modality. The EFT website is the fifth most actively visited natural health site in the world.

The EFT Manual gives anyone all the basics so they can apply it right away. It can be freely downloaded here.

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While researchers have spent ten years developing a cure for Huntington’s Disease (HD) in mice, people suffering with the disease have gained symptom relief with a simple do-it-yourself acupressure technique. According to the theory behind Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), illness and disease are caused by unresolved emotional issues and a disrupted energy meridian system (Chi or Qi). When emotional issues are resolved using EFT, physical symptoms associated with serious diseases have been shown to clear, sometimes immediately and often permanently.

EFT is a do-it-yourself acupressure technique that anybody can use to provide relief from the physical and emotional symptoms associated with HD. It involves fingertip tapping on select acupressure points while focusing on the symptom in question. EFT claims an 80% success rate in calming symptoms associated with serious diseases.

It and can be learned freely by downloading the EFT Manual at http://www.emofree.com/downloadeftmanual.asp?ref=prwHDcw

Researchers from the University of British Columbia have found a way to block the enzyme believed to be instrumental in the development of the disease. For the next five years, researchers will focus on developing and testing a drug that will achieve the same results in humans.

In the meantime, EFT is giving HD patients drug-free relief from the symptoms associated with this degenerative brain disease. EFT theory takes a very different approach to addressing symptoms associated with such diseases.

According to Gary Craig, the Stanford-trained engineer who developed EFT, “When EFT Practitioners approach serious diseases such as Huntington’s, we look at the person’s symptoms and the emotions associated with their symptoms. When we address illness-related emotions like fear, frustration, and grief, we repeatedly find that the symptoms subside, even disappear.”

Children of HD patients have a 50% chance of inheriting Huntington’s. If they have inherited the disease, symptoms generally appear later in life. “I can’t help but wonder whether applying EFT could postpone or even suspend the development of symptoms,” says Craig.

Diane Kendrick is an EFT Practitioner in the United Kingdom whose client had Huntington’s disease. The client presented as having a phobia about walking down stairs, but her HD was evidenced in her slurred speech, jerky gait, twitching and labored breathing.

Because of her symptoms, the woman had difficulty tapping the EFT points, so had her husband do it for her. When she returned a week later, Diane was surprised, “I couldn’t believe the changes in her. Her visual symptoms were about 60% improved.” Her jerkiness and twitching had subsided and her communication had improved. Her speech was less slurred and more clear. During the week between appointments, the woman had done EFT tapping every day on her own. It had become increasingly easy to do as her coordination and enthusiasm had improved.

They did a little more EFT for the phobia of stairs and the woman pinpointed having fallen down stairs ten years previously. With five minutes of EFT, she went up and down stairs with no trace of fear or anxiety. The phobia was gone, but more importantly, she had a considerable improvement in several of the symptoms associated with her incurable physical condition.

Craig explains, “We see this repeatedly with EFT, where addressing a specific issue like a phobia has a generalized positive result for the person’s health. We are not claiming that EFT cures diseases, but EFT users all over the world have experienced remarkable results in the reduction of symptoms associated with cancer, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease, lupus, Alzheimer’s disease, MS, arthritis and others. Fortunately, an increasing number of health professionals are incorporating EFT into their medical practices.”

There are no known side effects associated with EFT and it often gives symptom relief where nothing else works. “It is my goal,” says Craig, “to encourage the use of EFT to compliment any medical protocol employed to treat serious diseases. To this end, I make the EFT Manual available freely on the EFT website.”

Although most Americans have yet to hear of it, EFT may be the world’s fastest-growing self-help technique. Over 300,000 have downloaded Craig’s free training manual and another 10,000 download it each month. The official EFT Manual has been translated by volunteer practitioners into nine languages.

The EFT Manual explains the basics so that anyone can begin applying EFT right away. It can be freely downloaded at
http://www.emofree.com/downloadeftmanual.asp?ref=prwHDcw

For further information, contact Gary Craig at 707-785-2848.

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