Muara Teweh!

San Francisco based Health Support Systems, Inc (HSS) today announced the release of a substantial upgrade to its “Health Monitor” online wellness and disease management portal. Users can now access Health Monitor from a mobile phone and receive alerts by SMS text messages.

For example, Health Monitor now allows a diabetic user to update his Sugar, BP or Lipid parameters from a web-enabled mobile phone (WML & XHTML are supported). The phone access also provides quick health profile reports, and allows medication and other reminders to be received by SMS text messages. Health Monitor indicates if the patient’s levels are out of range, and provides coaching on corrective action that can be taken.

HSS helps individuals manage their health through a combination of self-monitoring, education and qualitative analysis. Users also have access from any PC or laptop web browser to other powerful features of the Health Monitor system like charts, graphs, risk analysis, drug search by brand, generic or symptoms, disease search by name or symptom, and management of diet, » Read more after the jump →

Western Governors University is now offering its Future of Nursing Scholarships to prospective nurse leaders, nurse managers and nurse educators. These scholarships are designed to help working nurses earn a master’s degree online to become educators, managers, and leaders in various healthcare settings.

The annual awards full-time undergraduate students accepted to Sierra Nevada College. Applicants must have a minimum 3.0 GPA, and demonstrated leadership ability. An essay must be included with application packet. Recipients are required to provide service to the College. Number of awards and award amount may vary.
» Read more after the jump →

Scientists who have studied the genome of the virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) say their comparisons to related viruses offer new evidence that the virus infecting humans originated in bats.

The analysis tracing the viruses’ paths through human and animal hosts counters assertions that SARS was eradicated in 2004 when thousands of palm civet cats in China were identified as the original source and killed in an effort to eliminate the risk of new outbreaks.

According to this new analysis, humans actually appear to be the source of the virus found in those civets, a wild game animal considered a delicacy in southern China.

SARS infected more than 8,000 and killed more than 900 people worldwide during a nine-month outbreak that ended in the summer of 2003, according to the World Health Organization. No human infections have been reported since early 2004. » Read more after the jump →

Calling all parents with young children: Don’t forget to schedule your 5-year-olds for their mandatory mental health checkups with a therapist or psychiatrist.

This might not be a reality yet, and if the notion of kids having regularly scheduled appointments to keep tabs on their mental health is troubling to you, you probably aren’t alone. But if this proposal sounds like a bad idea and a waste of time, you might want to reconsider.

The issue of mental health has come to the fore of the collective American psyche in recent months. Tragic events at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech University and a recent report in The New York Times highlighting a drastic increase in suicide rates for middle-aged men and women have brought the issue into the national discourse.

But things might not be this way if clinics and hospitals start screening mental health in young children as part of an annual or semi-annual checkup. That way, mental health could be handled more along the lines of eye exams or dentist appointments, with the idea that mental wellness needs regular care rather than specialized treatment. » Read more after the jump →

Public Heath Nurses and Certified Nurse Practitioner, Marianne Norris, will provide well-care physicals, lead tests, immunizations, developmental assessments, behavioral risk assessments, and referrals for dental care.

The Children and Adolescent Health Clinic will be available on the third Monday of each month, except January and February, by appointment. January and February clinics will be held on the fourth Monday due to holidays. Contact the Public Health Nursing Division at 330-723-9688 or toll-free at 1-888-723-9688 for an appointment or for more information on services available.

“The new Children and Adolescent Health Clinic will enable services to be brought to residents in Lodi, Spencer, Homerville, and all of southern Medina County,” said Lisa Strebler, Director of Nursing. The Medina County Health Department has added this clinic to complement the existing childhood immunization clinic held on the third Wednesday of each month at the Lodi Resource Center. The new Children and Adolescent Health Clinic will enable more comprehensive » Read more after the jump →

The Australian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA) released a report urging stakeholders in medical education to recognize the importance of Indigenous Health in medical school curricula.

The report, based on the proceedings of the Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) conference in late 2007, outlines areas of key importance in Indigenous Health education.

AMSA President Michael Bonning said, “The long standing inequity between the health of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is completely unacceptable.”

“Improving Indigenous Health outcomes requires a medical workforce with a sound understanding of the issues involved in the provision of health care to Indigenous Australians.

“Producing medical graduates of this calibre requires Indigenous Health curricula which address the social, cultural and medical factors which contribute to the poor health of Indigenous Australians,” Mr. Bonning said. » Read more after the jump →