Cancer Good News, Long COVID, Long Hours, Food Insecurity (You Can Help)
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A Good Day To Advocate for Better Healthcare
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Bone Cancer News
Bioactive glasses, a filling material which can bond to tissue and improve the strength of bones and teeth, has been combined with gallium to create a potential treatment for bone cancer. This work was done at Aston University.
Tests in labs have found that bioactive glasses doped with the metal have a 99 percent success rate of eliminating cancerous cells and can even regenerate diseased bones.
Gallium is highly toxic, and the researchers found that the ‘greedy’ cancer cells soak it up and self-kill, which prevented the healthy cells from being affected. Their research paper Multifunctional Gallium doped bioactive glasses: a targeted delivery for antineoplastic agents and tissue repair against osteosarcoma has been published in the journal Biomedical Materials.
Osteosarcoma is the mostly commonly occurring primary bone cancer and despite the use of chemotherapy and surgery to remove tumors survival rates have not improved much since the 1970s. Survival rates are dramatically reduced for patients who have a recurrence and primary bone cancer patients are more susceptible to bone fractures.
This is incredibly exciting good news!!
Long COVID & Disabilities
Researchers from the Kansas University (KU) Institute for Health and Disability Policy Studies at the KU Life Span Institute and the Patient-Led Research Collaborative just published a study showing that more than 40% of individuals with pre-existing disabilities who had tested positive for COVID-19 experienced long COVID, defined as symptoms lasting three months or longer. This rate is more than twice the 18.9% of individuals without disabilities who contracted COVID and experienced long COVID symptoms.
Research has long documented that individuals with disabilities face barriers to health care access and experience poorer health outcomes than their nondisabled peers. However, many studies during the pandemic have only asked about disabilities present at the time of the survey rather than whether individuals had a disability prior to the start of the pandemic. The research team compared data from the 2022 National Survey on Health and Disability, conducted by the IHDPS, to the Household Pulse Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disparity shows better policy is needed to address health challenges for people with disabilities (University of Kansas)
Long Work Hours Are Harmful
The Government Accounting Office has released a report today on the effects of very long work hours.
The GAO found that working very long hours (55 + per week) may modestly increase the risk of stroke and ischemic heart disease (coronary heart disease), relative to working standard full-time hours. Check their chart below. 35% increased risk of stroke and 17% risk of dying of coronary heart disease.
I know you probably don’t need reading material to keep you awake at night but here is the link to their report. Take it under advisement.
I do recall one program we were working to get out the door on a tight timeline for a customer. We were a small team and everyone worked 12-16 hours a day 7 days a week for about a month. Most of us were in our 30s. All of us were sick when we delivered the product. Just saying.
Food Insecurity in Children
Food insecurity is broadly defined as lacking regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development for an active and healthy life. It affects one in seven children in the U.S. This gap in food access exposes children to unique and severe risks that jeopardize their growth and cognitive and behavioral development, while increasing their susceptibility to chronic illnesses such as asthma, anemia, developmental delays, and mental health disorders. (MedPage Today)
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) operates 16 programs that help provide good to those who need it. One in 4 Americans make use of these programs each year. Here is a link to the USDA site and they take applications at the site.
The causes of child poverty cannot be separated from those of adult poverty. Expenses associated with raising children are one of the many reasons that families fall into poverty, along with job losses and pay cuts, a transition from a two-parent household to a single one, and a family member developing a disability.10
Factors that make it difficult for people to meet their basic needs mean their children also grow up with economic instability and deprivation. The United States does not have a comprehensive social safety net to fully shield kids from the emotional, physical, neurological, and generational impacts of such instability.
Congress is again trying to fund he government. Let’s let them know that there are children relying on them.
ACTION
You can contact your Member of Congress and Senators and the President here, https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials and let them know that 1 in 7 children go hungry and that they can make sure that all 16 food security programs at the FDA have sufficient funding to keep all children from being hungry.
Or use RESISTBOT via [Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER] or by texting SIGN PTGJZP to 50409 on your cell phone to send this message.
“I am your constituent and I want you to know that 1 in 7 children in the richest country on Earth go hungry. Their health suffers because they are hungry. It jeopardizes their growth and cognitive and behavioral development, while increasing their susceptibility to chronic illnesses such as asthma, anemia, developmental delays, and mental health disorders.
The US Department of Agriculture has 16 programs to make sure people do not go hungry and yet here we are. Those programs require additional funding. I want you to make sure to bolster those programs to keep children fed. This includes SNAP and WIC and the other 14. They are all listed here for https://www.fns.usda.gov/programs#.
I know budget talks are underway but children can’t wait. You have it in your hands to do something that changes lives for the better. DO IT.”
RESOURCES
Find My Elected Officials
Contact State and Federal Representatives - phone and email
Healthcare Advocacy (Us) Website
Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare - Healthcare Advocacy Reading List
Important Healthcare Resources
League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit
Organizations to Contact
National Nurses United Medicare4All
Physicians for a National Health Program
One Payer States
Healthcare Now
Reproductive Health
NARAL - Pro Choice America
Charley. chatbot abortion resource - make sure to use a secure incognito browser if you live in a state that has banned abortion
Planned Parenthood
Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.
United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.
Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.
If you need financial help with an abortion try abortionfunds.org
Claims Denials and Appeals & What to Do
Appeal a Healthcare Decision
Appeal/Negotiate a Hospital Bill
Disinformation Management
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency
Save Democracy
Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Cravens
RESISTBOT
Link to the RESISTBOT site to learn more
Link to Chop Wood, Carry Water RESISTBOT write up
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Done!✅
Incredibly good news about osteosarcoma! As a new nurse in 1977, our MDAnderson pediatrics unit was filled with osteo patients. Most died within months of diagnosis despite grisly amputations and grueling chemo protocols. I remember them all. And am thrilled to hear about new treatments. So much hope! 🤗