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June 2, 2006     Barnstable Patriot
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June 2, 2006
 
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UNIQUE HOME DETOX™ for drugs and alcohol. Private & confidential. Physician Directed. Covered by most insurance plans. jpf^J Caring for You, I Comforting Solutions ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ™For In-Home Care™ • Meal Preparation • Feeding • Errands • Light Housekeeping • Respite Care • Incidental Transportation • Laundry • Incontinence Care • Companionship • Bathing • 24-Hour Care Available • Screened, Bonded and Insured For a Free In-Home Consultation , Call ^ ^ ^ ^ \ I-866-888-5800 (QH^U www.comfortkeepers.com &(h 0#1(,/m,,pf„,,f„„,0BWJ,0p„ated Senior Center offers exercise from the East By David Curran news@barnstablepatriot.com C all them ancient Eastern approaches to wellness. Tai Chi and Qi Gong, both of which are offered at the Barnstable Senior Center, are closely related. In fact, the form of Tai Chi Larry Tupper uses as a starting point for his students is called Wu Ji Chi Kung, and "Chi Kung" and "Qi Gong" are two ways to spell the same words, arriv- ing in the West from differ- ent parts of the Far East. Tupper said the words mean "man working very hard with breath or life force." In his classes he starts with Wu Ji Chi Kung, which he said is older than Tai Chi proper, because "it's a little easier on the body." But while Tai Chi is a martial art, Qi Gong is "closer to natural medi- cine," said Maryanne Lang, the center 's Qi Gong in- structor. "It's actually older than Chinese medicine," Lang said, calling it a "self-heal- ing practice." Both bring their benefits to practitioners via slow, smooth movements and coordinated breathing, making them well suited to people who've reached their middle years or beyond. And both have multiple forms, Qi Gong many more than Tai Chi. (According to Wikipedia, the on-line en- cyclopedia , there are "more than 3,300 styles or schools" of Qi Gong.) "The one that I teach is medical Qi Gong. It's called therapeutic Qi Gong," Lang said. "It's very, very condu- cive to people from mid to older age," she said. "They don't have to be in good shape before they start." Even people with chronic or degenerative health conditions can benefit from Qi Gong, according to Lang, who said, "I have a person on oxygen taking it." Lang's Qi Gong course is 10 weeks long, split up into two five-week terms. Hour-long classes are held Tuesday afternoons , after she finishes work as a teach- ing assistant at Barnstable Middle School. The next term starts June 13, and registration is now open. The course costs $25. Four-week sessions of 90- minute classes are planned for August on Monday mornings and Tuesday evenings. "It's a very easy thing to work into your life," she said. The 36-movement form she teaches takes less than half an hour, and she recommends practicing it three to five days a week. Tupper's Tai Chi classes meet Tuesday and Thursday mornings for an hour. The current six-week courses started in mid-May, but he said enrollment is still open, and beginners can join part way through. Other times may be added if there's enough demand , he said. Each course costs $30. "(Tai Chi is) used for the most part for people to get their stress relieved , to stop the inner chatter that keeps us awake at night," Tupper said, characterizing the discipline as "slow moving meditation rather than sit- ting still meditation." He teaches an abbrevi- ated 13-movement form, then nine ways to do it, emphasizing deeper medita- tive breathing aspects, the internal formulas of Tai Chi. He said a lot of instructors do not teach this aspect but it's a strong component in his classes. Tuesday, the class met outside for the first time, "which was great," he said. "We'll probably pick some times to go to the beach," said Tupper, a case man- ager at CHAMP House in Hyannis. "That's one of the beautiful things about Tai Chi, you get to go out to some of the scenic places," including at sunrise and sunset. Tupper and Lang said there 's no age limit for their courses. For turther details or to register for Tai Chi or Qi Gong, call the Barnstable Senior Center at 508-862-4750. In-home telemonitoring device used as preventative medicine By David Reilly www.capecodhealthcare.org Through the use of new, in-home tele- monitoring technol- ogy, patients of the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Cape Cod can now get a checkup every day in the comfort of their homes. The Honeywell HomMed Health Monitoring System represents a transforma- tion in home care in that it enables the VNA to receive daily, real-time information regarding the health status of patients who are in their own homes. "Patients and their families feel more at ease because they know we are carefully observing their health," said Dianne Kolb, President and CEO of the VNA of Cape Cod. "We all heal quicker and with fewer complications while in our own environments; this technology allows patients to receive excellent care in the comfort of their own homes." The device, about the size of an alarm clock, takes the vital signs of pa- tients every day, recording information such as oxygen saturation, blood pressure, heart rate and body weight. Each patient has certain numbers and limits that are programmed into the data. If a patient's readings go beyond these limits, an alert appears on a com- puter monitored by a VNA clinician. When patients' vital signs are taken daily, irregulari- ties can be caught before they become full-fledged problems. Daily monitor- ing helps eliminate the two or three-day gaps of information that typically occur between home visits. Patients also become more aware of their condition and understand the effects diet, activity and other fac- tors have on their health. The system can also gather subjective health information , which fur- ther assists in evaluating the patient's condition. The monitor can be pro- grammed to ask up to 10 yes or no questions in 11 languages. Question sets can be tailored specifically for each patient based on his or her diagnosis. For ex- ample, a patient with high blood pressure might be asked, "Are you experienc- ing any dizziness today?" "The system gives our patients and their families peace of mind because they always know we are aware of their condition , even on days when we're not at their home," said Kolb. "The technology allows for early intervention when a health problem is de- tected , helping prevent un- necessary emergency room visits and hospitalizations ," added Susan Handy, tele- health program manager at the VNA. "It also enables us to better communicate with the patient's physician by providing them with trend report s as needed." The Honeywell HomMed model of care has been proven highly effective by the largest independent study conducted on in- home telemonitoring in the nation. The study, con- ducted in 2002 , 2003 and 2004 by Strategic Health- care Programs (SHP) - a healthcare data services company - concluded that Honeywell HomMed-moni- tored patients experience fewer hospitalizations and emergency room visits than unmonitored patients. The SHP study reported that , for example, conges- tive heart failure patients monitored by Honeywell HomMed experienced a 56.5 percent reduction in hospitalizations. The study also revealed an 83.3 percent reduction in emergency room visits by diabetes patients who were using the Honeywell Hom- Med System. For more information , call the VNA at 800-631- 3900 or visit www.vnacape- cod.org. Along with Cape Cod Hospital and Falmouth Hospital, the VNA of Cape Cod forms the third primary com- ponent of the Cape Cod Healthcare system. VNA services are available to Cape Cod residents and visitors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year. Taking steps to suppress stroke By Heather Wysocki hwysocki@barnstablepatriot.com It can cause serious health problems, behavioral changes, or even death. But as serious as it sounds, there are also ways of keeping the risk of stroke, or even its occur- rence, under control. "We tend to talk about stroke as a brain attack ," said Carole Stasiowski, community relations direc- tor at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Cape Cod and the Islands. "It's as serious as a heart attack." Stroke, the third lead- ing cause of death in the United States, will affect 700,000 people this year. Unlike heart attacks, stroke has no particular type of person it strikes. Any age, race, or gender can be affected. Jim Graham from Marstons Mills, a stroke patient at RHCI since 2002 , was 61 and in good health when he suffered a stroke. "I was...dumb, happy, and indestructible. I wasn't a candidate for stroke ," he said. A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted by a blocked or burst blood vessel. It can cause weakness, poor coordination , balance problems , pain, problems swallowing and communi- cating, behavioral changes and visual problems. At RHCI, therapists and physicians see approxi- mately 200 stroke patients a year, 20 percent of their inpatient numbers. Though many patients are past middle age, other patients are young children , said Dawn Lucier, the hospital's stroke education coordina- tor. "There's not one person who is not at risk," Lucier said. And, although the staff at RHCI is trained and certified to handle strokes, "the community at large unfortunately is not." Most people , she said, could not identify even one symptom of a stroke. The symptoms include sudden headache, confu- sion, trouble speaking or understanding, visual problems, dizziness, loss of balance, or trouble walk- ing. If any of these symptoms are present , call 911, said Lucier. "Time lost is brain lost." Like many other diseas- es, strokes are affected by factors like age, race, gen- der, family history, and the number of prior occurrenc- es. But there are also fac- tors that can be changed , called modifiable factors. These include high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation , high cholesterol, diabetes, CONTINUED ON PAGE B:4 Eye Exams • Consultations • Second Opinions '"21 1 * Eye Care For: Cataracts • Glaucoma • Retina • Cornea MMZtm "° Macular Degeneration • Lid Plastic Surgery ZZ1Z Diabetic Disease • Laser Surgery • LASIK Surgery «•»»— JEErm S MEIERH D J3 BL ^»a>43>S Ea^L^Ha^E*^ •rfS LB r r\ L_ I I_ i I5S&S& For over 15 years Ophthalmic ¦ l l U i fal l a l i M Consultan ts of Boston has Deer 1RJ2H HMttm bringing Boston 's too Board {¦ M | i | m g | | I B I I ; - Certified Ophthalmologists to i ^B^K^ S i f i yii^B r ¦ Cape Cod. They come to the MJ;M, u ; l^HB jKtiM^M^Jg B^H i: Cape to see you so you do not >M« »...«».u ^ ^ ^ ^ ¦ ¦ ¦ ^ ^ "¦ ¦ " ^ ¦ ^ need to make the trip to Boston "««.u «.«„. », LOCATIONS ALSO IN BEVERLY. We welcome new patients, H»M»U BOSTON, BROOKUNE. please call for an appointment. ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ *>¦¦¦*¦¦ ST0NEHAM AND WALTHAM »-M I-*«I TRu.it M TOWNS. HD | M.635.M89l| jBJfc mvJV^JJ t^i _^ _j_^J^^_J_^^__^BMaAaMMBBMftMMM _^,_ _^_^__JJ_J^^__^_ ' ¦ '-onsullj nhol Boston Letters to the editor The Barnstable Patriot welcomes letters to the editor. Please keep them brief and either type or print them neatly.Include name, address and telephone number. Anony- mous letters will not be published , but names will be withheld upon request. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. THE BARNSTABLE PATRIOT, P.O. BOX 1208, HYANNIS, MA 02601 OR E-MAIL TO letters@barnstablepatriot.coni