A few months ago we showed you a device called an LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, that doctors at Geisinger were trained to use but hadn’t yet on an area heart patient.  That changed in December, when they implanted one into the chest of a man from Columbia County.

“That’s the best reward of all, to see him looking well and having that look of health about him,” said Dr. Deepak Singh, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center near Wilkes-Barre, talking about his first patient to have received an LVAD, a type of implantable heart pump.

“It really is amazing.  When he asked me to do it, I looked at my wife, she looked at me, and we said, ‘how soon can you do it?’”  said George Welliver, a 71-year-old father of three and grandfather of three, a Mifflin Township supervisor whose heart had been failing for years.

“I couldn’t walk half a block.  I’d have to stop and take a break- I was running out of breath,” he said.

His wife of 41-years, Shirley, said the same thing.

“He said to me many times- this just isn’t living,” she told us. So they didn’t hesitate when Dr. Singh suggested a surgery Geisinger officials had never done on a local patient.  They’d implant a device into his chest, leading to a wire that would come out of his side and attach to a power source to keep his heart pumping.  It’s a huge commitment, but Dr. Singh points out, George didn’t have too many other options.

“George would not have been a candidiate for transplant.  With this device he can live a long, productive life,” explained Dr. Singh.

The device was implanted in December of 2012 and can last indefinitely.  Now, George is hooked up to an electrical outlet using a long cord at night, and by day, is hooked up by battery.  Geisinger staff taught his wife what to do, and notified local emergency officials how to deal with problems that might arise.

In just a few months, George has gone from ten percent of his heart functioning to 27 percent, and it keeps getting stronger.

“Everyday it’s better and better!” he said.

“The family all loves him a lot.  And we wanted to have him for a lot of years to come,” added his wife.

You can’t control genetics.  But you can control a short list of risk factors that can greatly reduce your chance of having a heart attack.  That list is called The Simple 7.

66-year-old John Hoffman of Benton always had heart problems.  Months of small pains here and there didn’t clue him in that he was in trouble.  But then, last fall, came the heart attack.

“I thought if I laid down it (the pain) would ease.  But it got worse.  It went away after a while, so I went downstairs and it whacked me again, this time it put me down, you know,” said Hoffman.

He had 90% blockage in one of his arteries, but admits he didn’t have very healthy habits.  He says he didn’t eat well, has diabetes, and, for 45 years, smoked three packs of cigarettes per day.

“They’ve added years to my life here at this place.  I don’t think I would have made it till summer,” Hoffman says.

But doctors at Geisinger Medical Center near Danville give the credit to the changes John has made.  The Simple 7 is a list of heart health factors compiled by the American Heart Association:

1. Get active
2. Control cholesterol
3. Eat better
4. Manage blood pressure
5. Lose weight
6. Reduce blood sugar
7. Stop smoking

Dr. Sanjay Doddamani is System Director of Advanced Cardiac Disease and Heart Failure at GHS, and also John’s doctor.

“He is a wonderful patient who, once his heart attack was treated, made it his mission to reduce his risk factors,” said Dr. Doddamani.

He says paying attention to the Simple 7 will greatly increase your chances of having a healthy heart.  He also has a message for women in particular, whose symptoms aren’t always the classic pain and tightness men often feel during a heart attack.

“Women may just get queasy, or feel short of breath or feel an uneasiness,” he points out.

Every parent wants their babies to hit all of the important milestones such as crawling, standing and walking.  Once couple from Snyder County was no different, but wasn’t sure what to expect when their son was born with clubfoot.

4-month-old Oliver Gordon is a happy, chubby baby boy who is a good sleeper and loves Big Bird.  He’s also completely healthy, except for his feet.  His mom Amy, from Selinsgrove, said it was obvious from the moment he was born that his feet were turned inward.

“They could clap,” she recalls.

Oliver had clubfoot, a congenital disorder that allows a foot or feet to form incorrectly.  What causes it isn’t known.

” Typically in the 2nd trimester the foor assumes a position, it’s a rigid deformity, not diagnosed until kids are born,” said Dr. Stacy Frye, from Geisinger Medical Center.  Oliver was referred to her when he was about a month old.

Dr. Frye, a non-operative pediatric orthopaedist, explains that he was given a series of casts, once a week for five or six weeks, during which time his feet were gently stretched until they reached a normal position.

Now that Oliver’s feet have been corrected, he wears braces.

“He has to wear them 23 1/2 hours a day.  They keep his feet turned so they don’t
come back in,” said Amy.

He’ll wear them for three months, then every night at bedtime until he turns three.

“He’s a lot harder to cuddle when he has the casts on, and the braces.  He likes to kick and if you’re in the way it’s dangerous!” said Oliver’s dad, Chase.

It’s a commitment for the family.  But doctors say babies this age are fixable, and if clubfoot is caught early enough, they’ll be able to hit every milestone along the way.

“Oh he’s great!  He’s learned to roll over, he can push himself along.  He’s doing exactly what he should be doing, even with his braces on,” said mom Amy.

“Studies are showing that 95%, if you have a child in experienced hands, are able to be corrected and go onto live normal lives.  They can be active and do whatever they want to do,” noted Dr. Frye.

According to the US National Library of Medicine, clubfoot occurs in about one out of every 1,000 births.

CARBONDALE — Mary Nicolosi, from greenfield township, is doing what she now does 5-days a week: working out at the greater Carbondale YMCA.

It’s not uncommon for YMCA facilities to have gyms and wellness programs for its members.

Some also have swimming pools, like this one does.

But what may be unusual is all that Mary has access to under one roof.

“You have physical therapists, you have an RN, a dietician, personal trainers and they communicate with your doctor so your doctor can be involved.”

First. To the physical therapists. Just a floor up from the gym area is the space now occupied by Pro-Care Physical Therapy, a private practice with 11-offices in northeastern Pennsylvania.

This Pro-Care grew from a tiny 650-square-foot space now used as a preschool, to this brand new facility.

“We felt that the values of the YMCA and the values of our company were very similar.”

Karen McGraw-Non is facility director at the Carbondale office.

She says this is now Pro-Care’s largest office, in terms of number of patients seen in a day. She thinks the YMCA partnership has something to do with that.

“When the patients are ready for discharge, they get 2 full weeks access to the Y, they and a friend, so they can learn life-long maintenance. Which really it is.”

“They are upstairs, their own separate entity, but they use our equipment and they help us in areas our trainers might not be versed in.”

The therapists, their patients and Y members say they’re also fortunate to have a registered nurse on hand. Her name is Lorrie Williams, and she started a cardiac rehab program here at the Y, and for Pro Care.

She felt it was especially important to do. Once Marian Community Hospital closed in the area.

“Yes, it is very unusual for cardiac rehab or cardiac wellness to be run in a well facility, like a YMCA or a physical therapy office.”

Which brings us back to Mary. It’s under Lorrie’s guidance that she is working toward her goals.

“I lost 65 pounds since last May and it has been fairly easy. The most important thing to do is to show up.”

If you had the chance to help prevent cancer, would you?

The American Cancer Society says you have that chance now. There’s a long-term, nationwide study going on, and organizers want you to consider getting involved.

Marian Dreimann is a nurse at Endless Mountains Health Systems. We caught up with her last week at Elk Lake High School in Susquehanna County, signing up to be part of a nationwide study about cancer called CPS-3.

In her line of work, she sees cancer all the time, and feels helpless.

“It seems so little to say, ‘I’m sorry.’ There’s gotta be something we can all do to help,” said Dreimann.

CPS-3 will take an in-depth look at some 300,000 people nationwide: who is diagnosed, in some cases – why, and at what age.

Erin Moskel is regional health initiatives representative from the American Cancer Society, which is behind the study.

“We’re looking at not only your lifestyle behaviors, but also the environment in which you live, your geography, your family history, and your current screening updates,” Moskel said.

Moskel spoke with Newswatch 16 at The Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, which was one of the enrollment sites.

“If you, maybe, have a family member or friend who has battled cancer, or lost their battle, and maybe you want to give back in some way but you don’t have the money, this is a fabulous way to get involved,” she said.

Participants will be asked to fill out a baseline survey form, then some measurements will be taken, followed by a small blood draw. That information will then be coded and categorized. Participants are kept anonymous.

Then, for the next 30 years, that information will be analyzed, only if there’s a cancer diagnosis, to look for patterns in who gets cancer and who doesn’t.

Dr. Maurice Clifton signed himself up. He’s Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at TCMC. He lost his mother to cancer and says getting involved is the right thing to do.

“There’s a lot more we don’t know about disease and what causes it than what we do know,” said Dr. Clifton, “so, research efforts are critical.”

To be part of CPS-3, you need to be from 30 to 65 years of age. Men and women of all races and ethnicities are being asked to join. You must never have been diagnosed with cancer, but family history doesn’t matter.

This is fifth and final year for enrollment in the study. It will close in December.

There are ways you can enroll. It’s recommended you visit the study’s website at www.nepacps3.org to register.

When you’re going through a tough time, it always helps to have support from people who have been there.  That’s what one woman from Scranton insists, as she helps her young son with health issues.  She’s forming a support group for families with Erb’s Palsy.

We recently caught up with two handsome little boys, Lorenzo and Mariano Leo, brothers from Scranton.  Mariano is a bit wobbly; his arm is in a cast right now, correcting an arm injury.  He has what’s called Erb’s Palsy.  His mother Deanna says she’d never heard of it.

“It’s countless doctors appointments, it’s internet research about Erb’s Palsy and there’s nothing in the area, no support group,” said Leo.

That’s why she’s launching one this month.  She says she’s been blessed with help and wants to pass some of that help onto others.

Erb’s Palsy involves injury to the brachial plexis, the upper group of the arm’s main nerves surrounding the shoulder.  To help Mariano develop properly, a physical therapist from United Cerebral Palsy, or UCP, works with him weekly.

“It’s the most wonderful job in the world,” Jennifer Malak told us.  She’s a UCP physical therapist working on Mariano’s balance, encouraging him to walk unassisted over speed bumps to grab a toy airplane.  Malak says she understands Deanna’s dream to get an Erb’s Palsy support group off the ground.

“We can give her advice and ideas and I can say, this is what other parents did.  But to talk another mom is a totally different thing,” said Malak.

The support group will hold its first meeting this month, and once a month, at United Cerebral Palsy of NEPA, 425 Wyoming Avenue in Scranton.  Specific dates and times will be determined based on participants availability.  Parents, spouses, caregivers and siblings are welcome.

Deanna Leo hopes that by sharing Mariano’s story, she’ll be able to help him better, and help other parents who find themselves in her shoes.

“I truly feel if you do not have a good support system, you have nowhere to go,” she said.

In addition to participants, Deanna says she’s looking for speakers and presenters for the support group.  If you’re interested or have questions, you can call her at 570-687-2539.  You can also find information at the United Cerebral Palsy of NEPA website.

What did you do for your sweetie this Valentines Day?  Chocolate, flowers, maybe dinner?  One couple from Lackawanna County spent that day in the hospital, and they now share a bond few other couples ever will.

After 12 years and two kids, it’s safe to say that Khalid Fuller and Amy Comonie of Olyphant have been through a lot together.  But they weren’t at all prepared for what happened not long after Valentines Day of 2012.  Khalid, after some blood work, got a phone call ordering him to get to an emergency room.

“I was just a ticking time bomb, waiting to go.  And I felt great!  I didn’t even know I was sick,” said Khalid.

The 33-year-old, who is otherwise healthy, was in renal failure.  He was immediately put on dialysis and added to a kidney transplant waiting list.

“Once we put a patient on a wait list, the time to wait for a kidney can be as long as 4, 5, 6 years,” noted Dr. Chintalapati Varma.  He’s director of transplant surgery at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center near Wilkes-Barre.  He says doctors use an antigen match to determine whether a donor can work for a patient.

“A 3-antigen match is usually a brother or a sister,” noted Dr. Varma.

Khalid’s brother was tested, but wasn’t compatible for medical reasons.  But it turns out, another 3-antigen match was right next to him: his fiancee, Amy.   Talking to their kids about all of this, Amy said, was the hard part.

“That was tricky.  They were worried because they didn’t want to lose both of us.  But I had to explain that this is what you do when you love someone, and you want good things to happen,” she recalls.

So this February, Dr. Varma and Dr. Manish Gupta- along with their surgical teams- operated on Khalid and Amy.  One team removed her kidney while another waited nearby to transplant it into him.  Doctors say it was perfectly timed and couldn’t have gone more smoothly.

“We thought about it afterwards, like, oh my goodness this is on Valentines Day, and it’s a fiancee giving to fiance.  That turned out to be sort of a coincidence.  So forget the roses, right- just give a kidney!” he laughed.

“All i remember was being on the table, and that was it.  I woke up and looked over and there she was.  It was awesome,” Khalid said.

When Amy Comonie of Olyphant found out last year that her fiancee, Khalid Fuller, needed a kidney, she didn’t hesitate to give him hers.

“I was surprised we were such a good match, but I knew.  You can only get dealt so many bad cards before something has to work out.  So I figured out rising out of this would be that I’d give him my kidney,” said Amy.

Khalid was in renal failure.  He’d just been put on a wait list for a kidney, facing years of
dialysis.  Luckily he didn’t need it.

“If someone can have a kidney donated by a family member, friend, or church member, that would go a long way in helping patients out,” noted Dr. Chintalapati Varma, director of transplant surgery at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center near Wilkes-Barre.

At that facility alone, there have been about 100 kidney transplants since 2006, and about half of those have been from a living donor rather than a deceased, or cadavaric, donor.

“One of the beautiful things about a living donor transplant is that we can schedule the operation,” said Dr. Manish Gupta.  He is the transplant surgeon who took out Amy’s kidney while a separate surgical team, headed up by Dr. Varma, waited to give it to Khalid.

He says siblings are usually the closest matches when it comes to kidney donation, but often many people in a patient’s circle of family and friends are tested.

“Amongst fiancees or boyfriends girlfriends or significant others, or even with a random person off the street, first the blood types must be compatible.  And there’s about a 33% chance they’re not,” said Dr. Gupta.

Doctors say transplants in general have come a long way, so much so they’re now considered routine operations with little risk, as long as the donors are carefully chosen.

In Khalid’s case, his brother wasn’t the best option because of medical conditions.  But Amy was just as good of a match medically, and as Khalid points out, in every other way too.  He calls this merely a “pothole” in a long life together.

“We got over that one.  We’re just gonna keep on going.  And when something else comes up, we’ll get over that one too,” said Khalid.

A hospital has gone the way of the hotel when it comes to dining options.

Feeding a hospital full of patients is no easy task.  Just ask the kitchen staff at Geisinger Medical Center near Danville.  The hospital used to operate under a traditional tray line method, where the food was prepared all at once.

“Every patient in the hospital we would attempt to feed at, say, 12 for lunch and 5 for dinner.  In essence, trying to feed the entire hospital at one time,” said Bruce Thomas, the VP of Guest Services at Geisinger.

Food is now cooked to order.  Anything a patient wants from a menu at any time is delivered within the hour.  Requests from a patient’s room are first screened by call center representatives.

“They know what their diet is, have it in front of them, so they can see that specific to a patient, they can’t order something the doctor isn’t allowing them to have,” said Thomas.

There are several different menus, for varying dietary needs.  There’s even a special kids menu.

Baby Sean doesn’t have to worry about picking out lunch just yet, but his mom Nellie McCabe does.  We found Nellie holding her tiny day-old son.  She’ll have to stay a few days after her c-section delivery, but says the new menu options will make her feel a little more comfortable.

<I think it’s wonderful.  You could order breakfast when you want it and they had it here in 45 minutes.  It’s what you want, what’s on the menu.  And we’ll do dinner tonight,” said McCabe.

Currently the kitchen operates from 6:30am until 7pm.  The staff is working in a new kitchen that’s much bigger than the old one.  Geisinger had to hire 11 new people to make it all happen.

Officials estimate that 35-40% of hospitals nationwide have moved to this model.

One of the hottest shows on television right now is Dancing With The Stars, seen right here on ABC and WNEP.  If you saw last week’s elimination episode, you saw veteran ice skater and Olympic champion Dorothy Hamill bow out of the show because of problems with her spine.  She shocked the crowd- and reportedly even the show’s producers- when she announced she could no longer continue because of back and foot pain.

“This isn’t just muscle pain.  I could cause irreparable nerve damage.  So I’ll meet with my doctor and we’ll go from there,” Hamill told a reporter.

Her doctor’s diagnosis?  A synovial cyst.

“A synovial cyst is a type of arthritis of the spine, that grows out of one of the joints on the spine and can pinch a nerve, leading to leg and buttock pain, and back pain,” explained Dr. Jonathan Slotkin, Director of Spinal Surgery at Geisinger Health Systems.

He says that pain could certainly cause difficulty with the back and the legs.  Whenever possible, he says he’d treat a patient with a synovial cyst with rest and activity modification.  If that didn’t work, he’d try physical therapy.  In more severe cases a nerve block may be used for the pain.

Surgery is an option, but Dr. Slotkin says he’d try to avoid that if at all possible.

Bottom line, according to Dr. Slotkin, is that this case is worth noting because the 56-year-old Hamill is a former Olympic athlete who is otherwise in great condition.

“What this case illustrates to me is that these conditions can even affect people in absolute tip-top shape, in the prime of their life,” he said.

Dorothy Hamill, who was the oldest contestant on the show this season, told USA Today she ideally wants to skate- and maybe even dance- again someday soon.

Sometimes the best therapy doesn’t come from those on two legs.

Geisinger Medical Center has a long-running program that pairs well-behaved and specially-trained dogs with kids who could use a little 4-legged distraction.

“We have trading cards that we hand out, and the kids get to collect them. And it’s a hit!” said Ashley Terry, a Child Life Specialist at Geisinger.

Zack Yancheck with therapy dog.

The program is called Tender Paws.  Volunteers invited us along to meet a few of the patients and see the therapists in action.

One patient told us the dogs make her happy.  Her mom calls the program comforting.

“I think it’s incredible.  It reminds her of our dog at home that she’s missing- and it has helped put a smile on her face,” said Billie Jo King of Belleville.

Keri Lysiak of Danville says the same.  Her son Nathaniel just had his fourth surgery.

“Oh this is a great program.  He loves dogs, makes him very happy.  I think it would help a lot of the kids in here for something going on, absolutely,” she said.

The volunteers all say the kids are certainly the focus of the program, but point out that sometimes the parents like it just as much.  And if you ask Pat Campbell, who brings English Setter Riley here monthly, it’s good for the animals too.

Tender Paws therapy dog hard at work helping young Zack Yancheck feel better.

“The dog loves to come.  He knows the nights we’re here because he gets a bath the day before, and as soon as I lay out the t-shirt he knows he’s coming to see the kids,” said Campbell.

Research has shown that the benefits of animal-assisted therapy are many, including improving mood, reducing stress, and easing discomfort.

James Smith can vouch for that personally.

“In 2001 I had open heart, and a golden retriever came to visit me.  And it really perked me up.  So that’s why I do it,” said Smith.

33-year-old Bradley Pryzant of Honesdale is an 11-year veteran of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, and has been deployed overseas twice, once in Iraq and once in Afghanistan.  He stopped by WNEP to talk about an injury he says roughed him up during his last deployment.

“It’s very rugged terrain in Afghanistan, riding around.  It could have been a mild hit but it was some sort of blunt force trauma,” said Brad.

When he came home in 2008, Brad was in pain.  Testing eventually revealed a herniated disc, and a few years later he opted to undergo back surgery.

“I have two bars in my back, from T2 to T11. So that’s 9 discs, completely straight down,” he told us.

But according to Pain Management Specialist Dr. Dean Mozeleski, the surgery didn’t take away the pain for long, and neither did physical therapy nor pain medication.

“When there’s nothing left to try, sometimes this can be a lifesaver for them,” said Dr. Mozeleski, from Northeastern Rehabilitation in Scranton.

He’s talking about a neuro-stimulator, a spinal cord stimulator implanted right into a patient.  The company that makes the device used in Brad is called St. Jude Medical.

“It doesn’t make the problem disappear,” Dr. Mozeleski admitted.  “But it does mask the pain.  And it  can do that so well that people can get back to work, get off medications, enjoy life, pick up their grandchildren,” he said.

After a trial phase to make sure it would be effective, the device is then surgically implanted.  It was Dr. Brett Schlifka, a neurosurgeon at Geisinger Medical Center near Danville, who implanted Brad’s.

“The device sends out impulses that block the pain gate, so the perception of pain is reduced,” explained Dr. Schlifka.

It’s battery operated.  With proper charging, it’ll last 8-to-10 years, after which he’ll need a replacement.  He charges himself once a week by wrapping a sensor around his chest and plugging in for a few hours.  He can also control how much or how little pain relief he needs.

“You can adjust it, and go on with your day,” he said.

It’s a time commitment for sure, but according to one of Brad’s doctors, it’s well worth the effort.

“He’s done quite well.  he reports about 95% of pain relief at this point,” Dr. Schlifka said.

Maybe you’ve heard of a new so-called “super bug” on the rise at US hospitals.   It’s called CRE, and it’s a bacteria resistant to antibiotics, making it nearly untreatable.  It is just one example of why a hospital system needs to disinfect completely as possible.  And it’s one of the reasons Geisinger just invested in machines that look a little like something out of Star Wars.

We found a room at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center near Wilkes-Barre that had already been manually cleaned and disinfected.  But it was about to get the Xenex treatment.  The trash-can sized machine was first wheeled into place.

“It’s a pulsing ultraviolet light, which we know is used to disinfect and kill micro-organisms.  We’ve known that for a long time. But this is technology that has come out in the last few years,” said Tami Almquist, Senior Director of Environmental Services at Geisinger Health Systems.

This germ-busting machine can disinfect an entire room in just 10 minutes, killing germs on every surface the light touches.  It won’t penetrate glass, so once the door is closed, the rays are contained.  The Xenex machines aren’t meant to replace existing cleaning solutions, but to give certain areas of the hospital an extra layer of disinfecting.

“We have worked very closely with infection control to establish a priority plan for usage in their machine- all of the isolation rooms and other uses as deemed by infection control,” Almquist told us.

There are now five Xenex machines for use in the various hospitals of GHS.

Doctors see an awful lot in their line of work: the good, the bad, and the ugly.  They especially like to tell of the good, including the story of a woman who beat the odds in a lot of ways.

Janeann Williams will be 76-years-old next week, and still she’s as independent as ever in her home near Hazleton.  That’s an unlikely end to the story that begins in the summer of 2011.   That’s when she was told, after years of pain, that she’d have to get one of her hips replaced.  She was walking in a parking lot to get an MRI…

“…and that’s when I was hit by the garbage truck,” she says matter-of-factly.

Janeann wasn’t just hit.  She’d been run over.  Doctors later said they noticed a tire print on her torso. 

“I was laying on the ground and I could see the undercarriage of the truck.  I was praying for it to hit my head so that I didn’t have to be a cripple for the rest of my life,” she recalls.

Next thing Janeann knew, she was on a flight to Geisinger Medical Center near Danville, with a list of injuries too long to name.  Her daughter Lori Carswell, a former trauma nurse in the Lehigh Valley, prepared herself for the worst.
 
“They call her the miracle woman!  Really they didn’t know if she would make it,” Lori told us.

 ”Little lady versus garbage truck usually doesn’t go well for little lady.  but she had done very well in the post injury phase,” said Dr. John Lynott, an orthopaedic surgeon at Geisinger.  He was impressed with Janeann from the start.

First, he said, she had a constant stream of concerned family members at her bedside- he says it was clear she was the beloved matriarch of the family.  But he also noted her resilience, explaining how severe and painful her injuries were.

“She was rock solid and tough and would have done anything we asked her to,” Dr. Lynott said.

But even after the surgery to fix her injuries from the accident, and even after all the check-ups and physical therapy, there was still one lingering issue: that hip replacement she never got around to scheduling.

“It was just encouragement and perserverence..connecting with her on a personal level..willing her to hang in there,” said Robert Emery, a physician’s assistant at Geisinger.

So last May, Janeann had one more surgery, a hip replacement.  And to watch her walk now you might never even guess.

“It’s amazing!  Amazing to me.  She walks better than she has in 10 years.  She can drive again.  She’s completely independent,” said her daughter.

“I am put together!  Let me tell you that!” Janeann laughed.
      

Doctors say the incidence of diabetes is on the rise, particularly in young patients.

16-year-old Rory Jordan from Moscow only remembers bits and pieces of being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.  She was just six years old at the time.

“I lost a lot of weight.  Sleeping all the time too, and I was thirsty.  I was drinking a lot,” she said.

Her diabetes is in check now.  But the staff here at this Geisinger office in Mountain Top knows diabetes is more common than ever, especially in the younger population.

“When I started my fellowship, we had one or two patients that were less than 2 years old.  Now we have entire days we call 2-year old day,” said Dr. Naghma Aijaz.  She’s a pediatric endocrinologist who explained the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 is an auto-immune disorder commonly known as juvenile diabetes, when the body can’t produce the insulin it needs.  Type 2, sometimes called adult-onset, is often linked to obesity or lifestyle.  But the result is the same: a glucose imbalance that can be dangerous if left unchecked.

“A lot of our newly diagnosed patients end up in the pediatric ICU because they’re just not making insulin, their parents think they have the flu and it goes on and on and becomes an emergent situation,” said Christine Granahan.

Granahan is a Certified Diabetes Educator on staff at Geisinger.  She says to look out for these signs of diabetes in your children: being very tired, increased urination, weight loss and/or extreme thirst.

“But it’s ok!” she noted.   ”They do really well.  If they’re educated, kids do really really well.”

Just like Rory, who plays basketball and softball at North Pocono High School and enjoys a normal life with her friends.

“It’s scary at first, but you adapt to it.  And it gets easier,” she said.

If somebody went into sudden cardiac arrest right in front of you, you’d likely call 911.  But after that, would you know what to do?   Some health experts in the area say if you lend a hand, you could save a life.

What do the Bee Gees,  Justin Timberlake, The Bangles, and Hanson all have in common?  They, among many other artists, have recorded hit songs that are about 100 beats per minute.  That happens to be the rhythm you should use if you’re administering CPR.
“Every minute CPR is not being done decreases the chance of survivability,” said Wendy Hastings.  She’s the director of the LTS EMS Council, which serves Lycoming, Tioga and Sullivan counties.

She wanted to tell us about a project they’ve taken on, along with the state department of health, to get the word out about hands-only CPR.

“The message is clear.  It’s so simple.  It takes only 4-5 minutes to train somebody in hands-only CPR,” said Hastings.

In other words, focusing on keeping a patient’s circulation steady until help arrives is the most important thing.  The thought is that if bystander CPR can be improved, the odds of surviving sudden cardiac arrest can double, or even triple.

As part of the Pennsylvania Heart Rescue Project, EMS officials are hoping to educate 250,000 people statewide.

Wendy gave us a quick lesson: “we’re gonna place the heel of our hand in the center of the chest and position yourself over the patient.  put your other hand on top then push fast and deep at a rate of about 100,” she said.

100 beats per minute, to be precise.  To help you figure out what that is, the American Heart Association compiled a list of songs with 100 beats per minute.  That includes “Stayin Alive,” “Walk Like an Egyptian,” and “MMM Bop,” just to name a few.

If you’re in Central PA, Hastings also wants to remind you of an event where you can get trained.  It’s Saturday May 18th at South Williamsport’s Community Park, from 10am-2pm.  The event is part of National EMS Week.

You may be doing everything right but still be susceptible to osteoporosis.  That’s one of the messages officials want to get out today, as we round out May, which is National Osteoporosis Month.

We found 84-year-old Kathleen Cornell getting checked out in a mobile unit parked, on this day, behind a Geisinger clinic in Dallas.  It’s called a mobile DEXA unit, a traveling way to measure a person’s bone density.  Cornell says she gets it done about once a year.

Geisinger has two such units, one in the central part of the state and one in the eastern section.  Coordinator Jennifer Fernandez says it’s a good way to get the scan into the community, so that more people can be screened.

“It’s ideally for post menopausal women.  But there’s another group of patients who are on chronic steriods, or anybody who has had a non-traumatic hip or spine fracture,” said Fernendez, an X-ray technician.

The scan itself is easy, requiring just a few minutes and very low radiation.  Doctors call it an important tool when it comes to identifying who is most at risk for osteoporosis, which is a common type of bone disease that makes bones fragile and more likely to break.  And according to Dr. Thomas Olenginski, a rheumatologist at Geisinger Medical Center near Danville, it’s not just women who have to worry.

“We tend to think of old, frail women.  But 20-30% of all hip fracture patients are men,  and they tend to have more complications after sugery than women,” said Dr. Olenginski.

Dr. Olenginski cites a study that says more than nine million Americans have osteoporosis, but many more- 48 million- have low bone mass, which puts them at high risk for developing the disease.

“We’re getting more bang for our medical dollar by focusing on patients who have already sustained fractures.  There are less of them, and of them, they’re more at risk for more fractures,” he noted.

Which brings us back to the mobile DEXA unit, which looks to make the scan more accessible, something Kathleen Cornell appreciates.

“It was much easier than getting to the hosptial, to have it done there I thought,” she told us.

“You can get everything done in one place,” added Fernandez.

There are ways to try to prevent the loss of bone density, such as getting enough calcium and Vitamin D, exercising regularly, and not smoking.  Also, if someone in your family has had a non-traumatic bone break, that might be something your family doctor should know.

How happy are you today?  How is your well-being?  Will it be better, say, over the weekend?

The Gallup polling experts conduct a daily wellness survey nationwide.  And it turns out, parts of Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania don’t rank very high.

“I love the weather.  Good place to live in.”

“Just living (makes me happy).  Great place to live.”

“We love it here.  Look at the beautiful trees.”

We were happy to speak with happy people in Factoryville, in Wyoming County, who, for the most part, they had no serious complaints.

Wyoming County is the northern-most section of Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District, one of 435 in the United States.  But according to the Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index, a daily poll taken nationwide, this general region of Pennsylvania isn’t all that thrilled with life.  It ranks 380th out of 435.

“They’re not happy with their health, their jobs, the weather, the environment,” said Dr. James McKenna, a family physician at the Geisinger Lake Scranton facility.  He explained the index tracks six main areas of wellness, including emotional health, physical health, work satisfaction, and basic access to food, shelter, and healthcare.

Dr. McKenna says the nation’s mood is fickle.
“When the economy tanked in 2008, everybody’s wellness plummeted.  When Bush bailed out the banks, overall well-being was bad.  People felt terrible,” he said.

People who were willing to talk with us in Plymouth, Luzerne County didn’t seem unhappy, although a few mentioned traffic as a major annoyance these days.

“Just waking up everyday is good.  My kids, you know?  I’m happy,” one man told us.

Dr. McKenna thinks the area’s negativity stems mainly from high unemployment and a lack of both mental and preventative healthcare.

“I had a situation where a patient needed to get a colonoscopy a few months ago.  Didn’t have insurance, put it off, finally went ahead and did it, and found metastatic colon cancer.  It could have been avoided,” he noted.

Only one person admitted to us that the poll seems accurate.  A woman from Hazleton says crime is high, and even on days with beautiful weather, there’s nothing to do.

“Because it’s such a negative area, people choose to leave to be happy.  It’s just a negative town,” she said.

In addition to districts, the Gallup Healthways Poll also breaks its findings down to states.  Numbers one and two are consistent, Hawaii and Colorado respectively, states where Dr. McKenna points out the weather is great and people are active outside.  The latest numbers rank Pennsylvania at 29th.

Multiple sclerosis is thought to affect more than two million people nationwide.  Treating it has traditionally involved getting medication through shots or an IV.  But oral medications are now available, and one doctor at Geisinger Health Systems sees one of them as a significant new offering in treating the disease.

We spoke with 22-year-old Elaine Mackey of Nicholson, who was a teenager when she noticed a slight tremor in her hand.

“I was just excited to know there was something wrong, that it wasn’t in my imagination,” she said.

Doctors diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis, and prescribed daily self injections to try and stop the progression of the disease.

MS is a disorder that causes the immune system to attack the central nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord.

“Because it can attack any part of the central nervous system, which controls all bodily functions, it can manifest itself in many different ways,” said Dr. Douglas Nathanson, a neurologist at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center near Wilkes-Barre.

“It affects your quality of life.  Fatigue, for instance, is a common symptom.  70% of people suffer from debilitating fatigue,” he noted.

That’s why Dr. Nathanson says there’s so much excitement around a drug approved by the FDA in March.  It’s called Tecfidera, generically known as dimethyl fumerate.

Dr. Nathanson says right now, the vast majority of MS patients are treated by self-injections, or through an IV administered in a medical office.

“Because physicians and patients have been anticipating its approval, it’s literally been flying off the shelves,” he said, adding that he has prescribed it to dozens of his patients already.

Elaine Mackey says she’s living a full life with MS, working part-time and attending classes at Lackawanna College part-time.  She says she’s just hearing about the oral medications now available, but has decided not to make the switch from IV medication just yet.

“I am looking into it slowly.  But as long as the medicine I’m on I don’t have side effects, I’m sticking with it,” said Elaine.

Dr. Nathanson says Tecfidera, like all medications, does have side effects.  50% of people on it report gastro-intestinal disturbance.  15% say they have had severe GI issues.

David Miller and his son Davey, from Loganton, don’t know what they’ll do yet for Father’s Day this weekend.  They do know their bond is something few others understand.  They share a name and lots of family stories.  And now they’ve shared a kidney.

“This could be the greatest gift I could have.  Right here,” said David, looking at his son.

Davey, now 23, was just six years old when he was diagnosed with Alport Syndrome, a genetic kidney disease.  It was treatable for years with medication.

“His growth, his health, everything looked normal,” David said of his son’s childhood.

But then came October of 2009, when testing revealed that kidney failure was imminent.

“I was getting really tired.  I was sleeping constantly, didn’t want to go outside,” said Davey.

“As a father, you’re the protector.  In my opinion.  You think, how do I take care of this?  And you can’t,” David said.

But it turns out,  he could.

Although Davey was on a national transplant list, several of his family members went through extensive testing to find out if they’d be matches.  Davey admits he didn’t want them to.

“I didn’t want to see my family go through any pain.  I was the one- I already had to go through it.  But a family member?  I didn’t want that,” he says.

Three of his family members turned out to be matches.  But doctors thought his father, David, was the best fit as a donor.  He says he didn’t hesitate for a moment.

“Not even a blink of an eye, I made that decision,” David said.

The transplant took place in March of 2010.  Dr. Chintalapati Varma is Director of Transplant Surgery at Geisinger  Health Systems.

“The half-life of a kidney procured from a person who is brain dead is about 8-10 years.  If you get it from a live donor it’s about 18-20 years,” explained Dr. Varma.

That means Davey may need another transplant when he’s around 40 years old.  But for now, life is good for the Millers.

“I feel really good.  I’ve got a lot of energy, I’m out having a good time,” said Davey, who is looking for work and in a few months will himself become a father.

“To look and see my son beside me?  Knowing he’s a young man, starting his life, getting his first job, and Father’s Day is coming up?  What more of a gift do I need,” David said.