Early allergy season a doozy Posted on September 8, 2014September 8, 2014 by Dakota PikeBless you! Allergy season is a doozyFriday, June 20, 2014By Leah Trouwborst CAPITAL REGION — After a long winter, the Capital Region emerged from flu season only to walk right into the waiting arms of a very aggressive allergy season.“I’m kind of overbooked,” says Dr. M. Asghar Pasha of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Albany Medical Center. He blames the long winter for raising pollen levels. “Everything blossomed all together instead of blossoming gradually — one pollen on top of another — so the patient is hit with a large amount of pollen at one time.”Trees usually release pollen well before June, but cold temperatures delayed the budding process this year. Add to that the grass pollen which June always brings, and you’ve described the double whammy now hitting the Capital Region. (Ragweed, the third major type of pollen, won’t peak until August.)Along with nonseasonal allergens like mold and animal dander, tree and grass pollen have triggered unusually severe allergy attacks in the Capital Region. According to Pasha, Albany Medical Center has seen “a significant influx of patients calling and complaining about [allergy] symptoms, saying their medications aren’t working, et cetera.”Even though 2012 and 2013 saw quite a few complaints about bad allergies, Pasha considers 2014 to be even worse. “If you had to put a number on it, 20 percent to 30 percent more patients reported symptoms of allergies [than last year]. If I look at my schedule, I can tell you that,” he says.Dr. Suzanne Palmieri, a primary care physician at Ellis Medical Group, points to wet weather as another contributing factor behind this severe allergy season. Not only was it a rainy spring, but beforehand “we had a lot of snowfall late in the winter. That provides a lot of water for the trees, and that increases pollen count.”Adding a third factor behind pollen levels, Dr. David Shulan of Certified Allergy and Asthma Consultants brings up a simple science fact, one that people forget affects pollen levels: the law of gravity. “We’re in a valley, and that concentrates the pollen,” he explains. Reforestation has armed the mountains with even more pollen to send wafting down on lower ground.Both Shulan and Dr. Lawrence Horowitz, chief of pediatrics at Nathan Littauer Hospital in Gloversville, express less concern over the current allergy season than over a larger trend in the Capital Region. “Over the last 30 years, there’s definitely been an increase in pollen levels,” Horowitz says. Shulan agrees that he’s seen “a general increase of [allergy] patients over a 24-year period.”But why? Shulan suspects rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have increased pollination. But Horowitz believes that the cause of the trend is twofold, both the climate and the human body’s ability to tolerate the climate. “As we get healthier, we may be having more of an allergy problem,” says Horowitz. “It’s a trade-off.”One Capital Region resident is putting up a fight against pollen. Patrice Jordan, who lives in Schenectady and works as a substitute teacher in Niskayuna, enlisted some help. “Yesterday my kids came over and washed my car for me. It was all covered with that yellow gunk,” she says. According to Shulan, very few are actually allergic to the pine pollen that resembles yellow gunk, even though we associate it with sneezing.But Jordan’s allergies qualify as severe. She says childhood doctors, adhering to now-outdated wisdom, kept her from taking ballet classes in fear of an allergic reaction. Now, nearing her 60th birthday, she credits a cutting-edge prescription medication for allowing her to spend hours at a time in her garden. “It costs $600 per treatment” but “it’s made a tremendous difference,” she says.Straightening up from her flower bed, she says “my allergies still go nuts” when the flowers bloom in her yard. Extending her left arm, she shows me where a patchy rash has bloomed. Nevertheless, she’s decided over the years that being outside is worth the tradeoff. Anyone looking at her garden would be likely to agree; amid the other yards, Jordan’s gives the impression of an oasis in a desert.For those still working out a strategy to combat their allergies, a few simple changes can help outsmart pollen. Installing a window air conditioner “can cut the pollen and mold in the [home] by 90 percent,” according to Shulman. If you’re tempted to substitute a window fan for an air-conditioner, keep Palmieri’s warning in mind: “Those window fans tend to pull the pollen into the house.”Finally, if summertime to you means open windows, wait until after 11 a.m. to crack them open. Plants release most of their pollen in the early-morning hours.
Littauer applauds measure proposed by Sen. Schumer Posted on September 8, 2014September 8, 2014 by Dakota PikeMeasure targets physician shortage June 6, 2014 By ARTHUR CLEVELAND , The Leader HeraldU.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says the number of primary care physicians is falling across the region, and he is proposing a measure to increase the numbers.In a news release this week, Schumer announced the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, which he said would increase the number of Medicare-supported physician training residency slots by 15,000 over the next several years. Schumer said there has been a steady decline in the number of doctors in rural areas, with New York only meeting 40 percent of its primary care needs. He said 65 percent of rural communities reported they do not have enough doctors to serve their community.Currently, Medicare provides funding for hospitals to host a specific number of residents at a given time through Graduate Medical Education funding. Schumer’s legislation would allow Medicare to fund an additional 3,000 slots each year for five years, and priority would be given to hospitals serving areas that face a shortage of physicians. Under Schumer’s plan, hospitals in states that emphasize training in community health centers, community-based settings or hospital outpatient departments would receive preference when applying for additional support to host physician residents. “We have tremendous doctors providing top-notch care all across upstate New York, but we no longer have as many primary care physicians as we need,” said Schumer.“Unfortunately, in upstate New York, our hospitals and community health centers are losing these primary care physicians left and right, as many are beginning to age out of the profession, and they are unable to hire replacements at the same pace, as new doctors frequently choose to go into more lucrative specialty fields or gravitate to more urban areas,” Schumer said. According to Schumer, in a 2010 survey by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany, the average primary care physicians per 100,000 people in New York was 75. In 2013, it dropped to 63. Fulton County’s numbers dropped from 90 in 2010 to 82 in 2013, and Montgomery County’s fell from 80 to 69. Nathan Littauer Hospital in Gloversville and St. Mary’s Healthcare in Amsterdam both say they have no major shortage of physicians.“At Littauer, we are currently not experiencing the same level of difficulty recruiting physicians as many other upstate hospitals are during this shortage,” according to a statement from Littauer. “All our physician staffing needs are filled with the exception of one or two in the emergency room. However, we applaud Sen. Schumer for addressing this problem happening throughout upstate.”Jerri Cortese, spokeswoman for St. Mary’s Healthcare, said, “We have experienced some of the same issues for recruiting into the area.” However, Cortese said, St. Mary’s has a sufficient number of physicians and midlevel providers.Fact Box Dropping Below are the number of primary care physicians per 100,000 people in area counties in 2010 and 2013, according to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer’s office. Fulton, from 90 in 2010 to 82 in 2013. Montgomery, from 80 to 69. Rensselaer, from 82 to 69. Saratoga, from 74 to 65. Schenectady, from 91 to 64.
Nathan Littauer’s spine surgery featured on WNYT Posted on May 21, 2014May 21, 2014 by Dakota PikeThe media frequently cover the innovations occurring at Nathan Littauer Hospital.Recently, Nathan Littauer hosted health reporter and Anchor, Benita Zahn of WNYT New Channel 13 for a spine surgery. She came to cover some of the innovative approaches we employ to alleviate back pain under Dr. Jain Shen. Benita interviewed the patient before his surgery and ultimately went into the OR suite to film a robotic- assisted surgery. The patient did very well and her story can be found here:http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S3443364.shtml?cat=300
Trust Wins Star For Rural Hospital Posted on May 20, 2014May 20, 2014 by Dakota PikeFirst printed in Orthopedics WeeklyBiloine W. Young • Wed, December 4th, 2013How did a 78 bed rural hospital in an economically depressed region of upstate New York end up with a world-class spinal surgeon? The answer lies in the power of human relationships to influence career decisions, the willingness of a hospital administrator and board to invest in equipment for a surgeon who was a continent away and the skills of a Beijing-born doctor, a former molecular biologist, who was just beginning his career as an orthopedic surgeon.The story began when two orthopedic surgeons approached Lawrence E. Kelly, president and CEO of the Nathan Littauer Hospital in Gloversville. New York. They wanted to increase the coverage in orthopedics they were providing the hospital. To do that they needed a third partner—a spinal surgeon.“Great,” Kelly replied. He arranged for the hospital to fund the search and cover the recruitment costs and assigned a staff person to handle the paper work. When the search firm told them about Dr. Jian Shen, a 42-year-old former molecular biologist who was finishing up a residency in orthopedics in North Carolina, they all flew down to meet him.WMAC’s Alan ChartockSomething significant happened at that face-to-face meeting. The two upstate New York orthopedists and the hospital administrator found they really liked this novice surgeon. They flew him up to Gloversville to take a look at their hospital and the surrounding Adirondacks. He promised to come but he could not begin work for a year because he had agreed to serve a year-long fellowship in San Francisco.As Kelly explained, “It was a personal connection that we made. We all hit it off. There was trust there.” Kelly told Shen, “When you get here our commitment to you is we will do everything that is possible to be done to make sure you are a successful spine surgeon.”Kelly was in constant contact with Shen during Shen’s year in San Francisco. Kelly wanted to know what Shen was learning, what equipment he was using there that he would need in Gloversville. As Kelly explained, “We did not wait until he got here to buy a bunch of stuff for him. We bought it before he came, anticipating his arrival.”Looking back on that year Kelly remembers, “We were a small community hospital that was buying all of this equipment for a surgeon who was still 3.000 miles away. The only assurance we had that he would come was his name on a piece of paper. There was a lot of trust involved.”The hospital had also promised Shen that it would have spine patients waiting for him when he arrived. To help fulfill that promise prior to Shen’s arrival the hospital put large “Spine Rejoice” billboards on the highway. The local Northeast Public Radio station WAMC featured Shen on a call-in program and WAMC’s CEO, local celebrity Alan Chartock, had his bad back successfully treated by Shen. Shen had patients waiting for him from the first week of his arrival.Kelly remembers when Shen returned from a medical conference with information about the Mazor Robotic System. He explained to Kelly that, with this system, he could improve the accuracy of his surgery and shorten the recovery time for his patients.For Kelly, the administrator, “It was a hard one to swallow, but we invested. In a big place it would take me a year to get something like that. Here it took three weeks.” Shen, too, noted, “At a major medical center I would be a nobody. I could say, ‘get me a robot’ and it might happen in a year. Here I got it in a week.” As Kelly put it, “The trustees went out on a limb with my recommendation to invest that way and it has worked out for everyone.” Each hospital has invested about $1.75 million in robotic and other specialized equipment for Shen.What attracted Shen to Gloversville? He said it was very important to him to serve in an under-served area. While the two hospitals where he works are rural, they are on the edge of the capitol area of New York with more than a million population. Shen also credits the hospitals and operative room staffs. “We really get along well,” he said. “We have been on the same page from the beginning.”Shen performs the full spectrum of minimally invasive spine surgery thus minimizing damage to soft tissue. Two years and 1,500 patients later he has had no major complications and an infection rate of zero. He says, “Half of my patients leave the hospital from the recovery room, they do not need to be admitted.” He has performed several surgical firsts in the region, including the first robot-assisted spine surgery, and two surgical firsts in the United States.Shen’s goal is to create a “minimally invasive spine surgery destination” in upstate New York. Patients are already coming to Shen from New England and from states such as Texas and Florida. The waiting time to see Shen is now weeks long. He is looking for a partner and interested parties can contact him or the hospital by email at spines@nlh.org. “It is getting so busy that I cannot handle it all by myself,” he said.Cheryl McGrattan, vice-president for marketing, communication and community relations for the Gloversville hospital, says the surgery department is now a crowded place with representatives from medical device companies and other surgeons—including some of Shen’s own medical school professors—coming to watch him perform surgery. “It is very exciting for us to have this going on,” she said.Shen lives with his wife Wencui and their seven-year-old daughter in Loudonville, New York. He is a graduate of Weill Cornell University Medical College.
NLH’s “Falls and Prevention” program earns media attention Posted on April 28, 2014 by Dakota PikeBalancing ActExercise, environment important in senior fall preventionApril 20, 2014By BRIAN McELHINEY , The Leader HeraldGLOVERSVILLE – City resident Doris Clo, 82, is lucky. When she fell while taking out the garbage this winter, she was not hurt.“I do things now because my husband cannot, because of his balance,” Clo said, after attending HealthLink Littauer’s Improve Balance & Prevent Falls program at the Fulton County YMCA on Wednesday. “So [I] was getting the garbage can out of the ice, and it came faster than I thought it would, so basically, I fell backward. I did not hurt anything.”The fall was one of the reasons Clo attended the program, along with nearly 30 other seniors and caregivers. Clo has an artificial hip and knee, she said, and her husband, Lou, suffers from neuropathy, which affects balance.Article PhotosHildegard Cooper, left, a short-term resident at Nathan Littauer Hospital & Nursing Home receiving rehabilitation therapy, walks with Kirsten Lennon, Littauer’s coordinator of occupational therapy, Thursday. Photo submitted“I wanted him to come,” she said. “When I did fall this winter, it helped to be able to know how to get back up again. So I wanted to learn more, too.”Many seniors who suffer falls don’t end up as lucky. According to information provided by Nathan Littauer Hospital at the program, nearly 2 million emergency room visits per year are due to falls.“I would say 50 percent of folks that made it into a nursing home, did so post-fall,” said physical therapist William Oates, Nathan Littauer Hospital’s rehabilitation director and one of the presenters at the program.HealthLink, in cooperation with the Y and the Fulton County Office For Aging, has offered the Improve Balance & Prevent Falls program for about four years now, according to Sue Cridland, Littauer’s director of community education.“[A fall] can be such a life-changing event, so anything we can do to help prevent that is really important,” Cridland said.Physical activity is the most important method seniors can use to prevent falls, Cridland said. For seniors who are frail or unsteady, she recommended an evaluation by a physical therapist before starting any exercise program.The Y will offer a number of exercise programs in its Spring II session, which begins Monday and runs through June 8. A specific course dedicated to fall prevention, Balance & Stability For Fall Prevention, will be offered Mondays from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m.“That kind of program that is run here at the Y is wonderful, and the other piece of that, when you have a class, is that you have the whole socialization thing going on, which is also really, really important,” Cridland said. “One of the fellows that I just walked out with now that was going to sign up, he says, ‘You know, I’m 92 and I just don’t get out that much in the winter anymore, so I think this would be good for me.'”Oates sees patients for rehabilitation after falls, as well as patients who come in looking to proactively avoid falling. He said he likes to focus on awareness of the aging process – slower reaction times, lowered visual coordination and other balance-affecting afflictions – when developing a balanced training regimen for seniors to do at home.“One of the things I do like to concentrate on with someone who is beginning to have impaired balance is the strength of the ankle,” Oates said. “That’s the first recovery point. If you’re standing up straight and you start to fall backward, the first thing the body does is lift its toes off the ground to try to get you back into a neutral posture.”Environmental factors should also be considered in fall prevention. Margaret Luck, coordinator for the Lifeline program at Littauer and Fulton County coroner, talked about things around the home that can be changed to prevent falls, including keeping walking areas in free of obstacles; installing hand rails in stairways and bathrooms; and rearranging kitchen storage so that items are more easily accessible.“We can’t go up on ladders and be as sturdy as we used to be reaching for things, so it’s important that [seniors] look at their home,” Luck said.The Lifeline program itself can be an important way to avoid serious injuries from falls. The program equips seniors’ homes with a box and portable sensor button, so that if the senior does suffer a fall, he or she can push the button to alert paramedics.Littauer has offered the program for 25 years now, and the technology continues to improve. An Auto Alert system was introduced to the program about a year ago. The Auto Alert sensor will detect if a senior does not recover from a fall, and automatically alerts paramedics after 40 seconds, Luck explained.“It’s getting more popular,” Luck said. “Time matters. When somebody falls, the longer they’re down, the longer it takes to recover, and Lifeline has proven this fact over 25 years, that if they can get help right away to get back up, the recovery time is a lot less.”Clo said she is hoping to put the information provided in the course Wednesday to good use.“I want to try the strengthening exercises, and I want my husband to try the balancing exercises,” she said.
