Fireworks Safety

As we approach the Independence Day holiday, many of you may be planning fireworks as part of your celebration. While fireworks can bring excitement and beauty to celebrations, they can also pose significant risks if not handled properly. Today, we'll talk about how to stay safe while enjoying the holiday. 

Why is this important?

In 2017, US hospital emergency rooms saw an estimated 12,900 people for fireworks-related injuries. Approximately 40% of those injured are children 14 years old or younger. Most commonly, injuries from fireworks affect the hands (31%), face (22%), and eyes (14%). Injuries are more frequent and more severe among persons who are active participants than among bystanders.

Fireworks can also cause property damage. Fireworks cause an estimated 18,500 reported fires in the US each year.

Even fireworks that people typically think of as safe may not be as safe as you imagine.

What should you do to stay safe?

Although fireworks-related injuries are unfortunately all too common, many of these injuries can be prevented by following some simple guidelines. Here are some key points to keep in mind:

• Attend Public Fireworks Displays: The safest way to enjoy fireworks is to attend professional public displays. These displays are conducted by experts and adhere to strict safety standards, minimizing the risks associated with fireworks.
• Leave It to the Professionals: Do not attempt to create homemade fireworks or alter them in any way, as this can lead to unpredictable and dangerous outcomes. Do not use illegal fireworks.
• If you do decide to use legal fireworks at home, make sure to create a safe environment.

  • Keep spectators at a safe distance, preferably behind a barrier, and designate a responsible adult to handle the fireworks.
  • Never use or let others use fireworks while impaired by alcohol or drugs!
  • Never aim or throw fireworks at people, animals, or buildings.
  • Never set off fireworks indoors or in closed containers.
  • Anyone using fireworks or standing nearby should wear protective eyewear.
  • Only light one at a time and maintain a safe distance after lighting.
  • Always have a bucket of water nearby to fully extinguish fireworks that don't go off or spent sparklers, or to use in case of fire.
• Sparkler Safety: Sparklers may seem harmless, but they can reach temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,093 degrees Celsius). Keep sparklers away from young children, ensure older children are supervised while using them, and use that bucket of water to extinguish them. Sparklers alone account for more than 25% of emergency room visits for fireworks injuries, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Consider using safer alternatives, especially for younger children, such as glow sticks, confetti poppers, or colored streamers.
• Protect Your Hearing: Hearing loss from loud noise is permanent and builds over time with every loud noise exposure. Most people don't know their hearing is damaged until it's too late. You and your entire family should wear earplugs or other hearing protection when setting off fireworks at home. Enjoy the fireworks from a safe distance to lessen the noise exposure.
• Be Prepared: Accidents can still happen, despite taking precautions. Have a first aid kit readily available and know how to respond to minor burns and injuries. If a burn appears severe or a more serious injury occurs, seek immediate medical attention or call 911 for true emergencies.

Remember, fireworks safety is a shared responsibility, and by following these guidelines, you can help protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community. I encourage you to share this information with your family and friends, as raising awareness is crucial in preventing fireworks-related injuries.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out to one of our doctors. Our team is here to support your health and well-being. Wishing you a safe and joyful Independence Day!

Dr. Anita Bennett MD - Health Tip Content Editor

Promoting Healthy Aging - Tips for the Older Adults in Your Life

Aging increases the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, cancer, and dementia. In addition to causing death at a younger age, any of these diseases can lead to lower quality of life, significant disability, and loss of independence. Healthy behavior changes can help older adults live longer and more independently later in life. If you have older adults in your life, you can help them to adopt and maintain those behaviors to live a longer, healthier life.

What can you do to promote physical health?

• Stay Active: Encourage your older loved ones to engage in activities such as walking, swimming, or gardening, which can help improve cardiovascular health, maintain muscle strength, and reduce the risk of chronic diseases. Maybe there are activities you could do together, like going for a walk.
• Eat a Balanced Diet: A nutritious diet plays a vital role in healthy aging. Older adults should aim to consume a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy products. Adequate hydration is also essential. Consider helping them to shop for groceries to ensure they are getting some healthy options. Maybe you can cook together once a week.
• Manage Chronic Conditions: Older adults often face the challenge of managing chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and arthritis. Encourage them to see their doctor for regular checkups and to reach out immediately if they are having pain or new symptoms. Offer to help them schedule appointments or go with them to appointments if they want. Help them manage their medications if needed.

How can you help with mental well-being?

• Prioritize Brain Health: Encourage your loved ones to engage in mentally stimulating activities like puzzles, reading, learning new skills, or playing games, which can help keep the brain active. Social interaction and remaining socially connected also contribute to cognitive well-being. Maybe you can play a card game or board game with them regularly or encourage them to play games with neighbors or friends.
• Get Quality Sleep: Sleep plays a crucial role in overall health. Older adults should aim for 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Establishing a regular sleep routine, maintaining a comfortable sleep environment, and avoiding stimulants such as caffeine close to bedtime can improve sleep quality.
• Manage Stress: Stress can have a significant impact on mental well-being. Encouraging older adults to practice stress management techniques such as deep breathing exercises, meditation, yoga, or engaging in hobbies and activities they enjoy can promote relaxation and reduce stress levels.

How do you help with social engagement?

• Stay Connected: Loneliness and social isolation can negatively affect both physical and mental health in older adults. As people age, they often spend more time alone, due to poor health, the death of a partner, or caring for a loved one. Encouraging regular social interactions with friends, family, and community groups is crucial. Technology can also play a role in connecting older adults to loved ones through video calls. You can play an important role by calling or visiting regularly and helping them get the technology they need to stay connected.
• Volunteer and Engage: Encourage older adults to participate in volunteer work or engage in activities that align with their interests and skills, such as a garden club or walking group. This helps promote a sense of purpose and fulfillment. It also provides opportunities for social interaction and staying active within the community.
• Seek Support: Older adults may require assistance with various aspects of daily life. Encourage them to reach out for support when needed, whether it be from you or other family, friends, or community services. This can help alleviate feelings of burden and ensure their needs are met.

For more information follow this link: National Institute on Aging (nih.gov)

If you have any questions about healthy aging, please log into your account and send us your question. We are here to help.

Dr. Anita Bennett MD - Health Tip Content Editor

Sickle Cell Disease - Part II

Last week we talked about sickle cell disease (SCD), including the symptoms and complications as well as how it is inherited. This week, we will continue our discussion by talking about how the disease is diagnosed and treated.

How is SCD diagnosed?

A blood test can check for the form of hemoglobin that is the hallmark of sickle cell disease. This blood test is a part of routine newborn screening done on all babies shortly after birth. It can be done at any age for anyone who did not have newborn screening.

SCD can also be diagnosed by genetic testing, to test for the sickle cell gene. This can even be done before a baby is born by taking a bit of the fluid in the womb for the test. If SCD runs in your family, you might talk with your doctor about genetic testing.

What other tests might be done?

If your child is diagnosed with SCD, other tests might be done to check for possible complications. One common test is a special ultrasound of the brain. This is a painless test that uses sound waves to measure blood flow in the brain. The test can determine which children have a higher risk of stroke and can be done in children as young as 2 years old. If your child is at higher risk for stroke, your child's doctor might suggest regular blood transfusions to decrease the risk of stroke.

How is SCD treated?

The goal of treatment in SCD is to avoid pain episodes, relieve symptoms, and prevent complications.

These treatments include:

• Medications to lower the frequency of pain crises and decrease the need for blood transfusions. There are now 4 drugs that are approved by the FDA for this purpose. Your child's doctor can help determine which drug is best for your child.
• Folic acid supplements daily can help the bone marrow make new red blood cells.
• Medications to relieve pain during sickle cell pain crises.
• Antibiotics, such as penicillin, can be taken on a regular basis to help prevent life-threatening infections. This is especially important for children 2 months to 5 years old, or in older children and adults who have had their spleen removed.
• Vaccines - Childhood vaccines are important for preventing disease in all children. They are even more important for children with SCD because their infections can be more severe. Vaccines are also important for adults with SCD.
• Blood transfusions - Transfusions of red blood cells are used to treat and prevent complications, such as stroke. If you require regular blood transfusions, you might need treatment to reduce your iron level, because excess iron can damage your heart, liver, and other organs.

Can SCD be cured?

In general, the answer is no. However, there is one treatment currently available, which can potentially cure SCD. It is a stem cell transplant.

Stem cell transplant, also known as bone marrow transplant, involves replacing the bone marrow in a sickle cell patient with bone marrow from a healthy donor. It usually uses a matched donor, such as a sibling, who does not have SCD.

Because of the risks associated with a stem cell transplant, which can include death, the procedure is currently only recommended for people, usually children, who have significant symptoms and complications of SCD.

There is ongoing research in SCD to address stem cell transplantation and gene therapies as possible curative treatment for more patients with SCD.

What kind of lifestyle measures can help with SCD?

Here are some things that SCD patients can do at home that may help avoid complications:

• Drink plenty of water - Dehydration increases the risk of a pain crisis.
• Avoid extreme temperatures - Extreme heat or cold increases the risk of a pain crisis.
• Regular exercise is important but avoid heavy or prolonged exertion. Your doctor can help determine the right exercise routine for you.
• Don't smoke - Smoking increases your risk of a pain crisis.
• Be careful taking over-the-counter medications - Talk with your doctor before taking OTC medications due to potential damage to your kidneys.

If you have any questions about Sickle Cell Disease, please log into your account and send us your question. We are here to help.

Dr. Anita Bennett MD - Health Tip Content Editor

Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common inherited blood disorder in the US. It affects more than 100,000 people in the US and 20 million people worldwide. You have probably heard it called sickle cell anemia. It is a lifelong condition that can lead to multiple serious health problems.
 

What is sickle cell disease?

SCD is an inherited blood disorder that affects the hemoglobin found within red blood cells. Hemoglobin is the protein within the red blood cells that carries oxygen through the body.

Normal red blood cells are disc-shaped and very flexible. This flexibility allows them to move easily through the blood vessels, even tiny capillaries. SCD causes the red blood cells to be shaped like a crescent or "sickle". Unfortunately, these sickle-shaped cells are not flexible at all. They get caught in blood vessels and can cause a "log jam", blocking blood flow in arteries throughout the body.

How is SCD inherited?

For a person to have SCD, they must get one abnormal "sickle-cell" gene from each parent. If only one parent passes a sickle cell gene to the child, and they get one normal gene from the other parent, this is called "sickle trait". People with sickle trait will make both sickle hemoglobin and typical hemoglobin. They may have some sickle-shaped red blood cells, but most of their red cells will be normal shaped and they usually don't have symptoms of SCD.

In the US, SCD most commonly affects people of African, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern descent.

What are the symptoms of SCD?

Symptoms usually start around 6 months of age, when the fetal hemoglobin is replaced by the hemoglobin being produced since birth. Symptoms vary somewhat and can change over time. Here are some of the symptoms and signs of SCD:

• Anemia -Sickle cells break apart easily and die. A normal blood cell will usually live for around 120 days, but a sickle cell usually only lives 10-20 days. This leads to a shortage of red blood cells (called anemia) because the body can't make blood cells fast enough to replace them.
• Fatigue - Caused by anemia, and inability to get enough oxygen to the body.
• Episodes of acute pain - Called pain crises, periodic episodes of extreme pain are a major symptom of SCD. It is caused by lack of blood flow to an area, like having a heart attack in your muscles or joints.
• Chronic pain - Intermittent lack of oxygen to tissues can cause damage to joints, bones, skin, and internal organs, including the heart. This can lead to chronic pain, usually starting in adolescence or early adulthood.
• Frequent infections - Your spleen helps protect you from infections. Sickle cells damage the spleen, leading to higher susceptibility to infections. People with SCD require more vaccines than most people to help prevent life-threatening infections.
• Delayed growth or delayed puberty - Red blood cells carry oxygen and nutrients, which are important for growth and development. This is delayed when you don't have healthy red blood cells.
• Vision problems - The sickle cells cause severe problems with the small arteries in the retina of the eye. This can lead to vision problems and even blindness.

What are the possible complications of SCD?

SCD can lead to a host of complications, which may be the result of acute blockage of blood flow, recurrent or chronic blockage of blood flow, or tissue damage resulting from this lack of blood flow. Complications can include:

• Stroke - Even in very young children, stroke can happen when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked by sickle cells.
• Acute chest syndrome - Chest pain, fever, and shortness of breath due to blockage in the blood vessels in the lungs or from lung infections.
• Pulmonary hypertension - High blood pressure within the blood vessels in the lungs is usually from chronic damage, so most often affects adults with SCD.
• Organ damage - Damage to organs including kidneys, liver, and spleen results from being deprived of oxygen. This can sometimes be fatal.
• Enlarged spleen - Can lead to spleen rupture, which is life-threatening.
• Blindness - From retina damage.
• Leg ulcers - Due to damage to skin.
• Gall stones and jaundice - Due to the high turnover of red blood cells, which causes high levels of bilirubin in the blood.
• Blood clots - Such as deep vein clots or lung clots, which may be fatal.
• Pregnancy complications - Including blood clots, high blood pressure, miscarriage, premature birth, or babies with low birth weight.
• Priapism - Men with SCD can have long-lasting, painful erections, due to the sickle cells blocking blood vessels in the penis. Over time, this can lead to impotence.

Next week we will continue our discussion of sickle cell disease by talking about how the disease is diagnosed and available treaments.

If you have any questions about Sickle Cell Disease, please log into your account and send us your question. We are here to help.

Dr. Anita Bennett MD - Health Tip Content Editor