Promising Hope for Parkinson Sufferers?

According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this month, people with advanced Parkinson’s disease who received deep brain stimulation showed greater improvement in movement and quality of life after six months than those treated with medication.

Parkinson’s disease affects close to 2 million Americans with over 50,000 new cases yearly. The average age of onset is 65 (though it can occur younger, i.e. Michael J. Fox). This study was the first study to actually include older people who are in the majority among sufferers. Read the full story

The loss of a child, or any family member, is a tragedy to the involved family. In 1996, the Federal Government passed a law, HIPAA, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 to protect the privacy of health information and keep it from being disseminated publicly. It was designed to protect your civil rights as it relates to your personal health. Yet, the death of Jett Travolta has evoked media coverage that belies this privacy right of Jett and his family. Read the full story

It’s the start of a new year. At this time of year, most people make resolutions, particularly about their health. In the January issue of the Erickson Tribune, one of our writers listed a toolkit to help you stay on top of your health. It requires no hard work. It does require taking charge of your life. Here is the list to help you get a head start on 2009.

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While it’s no secret I work for Erickson Health, a service entity of Erickson Communities nationwide, I try to steer away from promoting our company services and instead offer opinions and views on various topics that affect our health: mental, emotional and physical. Occasionally, I slip and talk about company initiatives. This is one of those times. Why? I am instilled with pride in our company and its employees who constantly strive to make life better for the thousands of people who choose to live in one of our communities. They range in age from 62 to 90+. Our health services practice on the philosophy of the medical home model. Read the full story

There are lots of outside negative influences on our lives today. Effects of negative presidential campaign advertising have been studied but most refer to the impact of this type of campaigning on the voter turnout but not on emotions. To see more about negative campaign ads in this 2008 presidential campaign and the emotional responses they reap, read my blogs here and here.

But today, we deal not only with fear inducing negative campaigning but also extensive media coverage of a rapidly declining economy that has reached world wide proportions. This can lead to anxiety and even depression. Today, I thought I would reprint an article that appeared in the Erickson Read the full story