Allina in the News

Here's recent news featuring Allina Hospitals & Clinics, a not-for-profit family of hospitals, clinics and other care services dedicated to meeting the health care needs of communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
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Relay for Life: Angel's Ready to Move on with Life

[Savage Pacer, June 29, 2009] Angel Theis had the feeling something was wrong when she found black and blue marks all over her legs but hadn't bumped into anything to bruise. After a three-day stay at St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee, Minnesota, the tests came back indicating leukemia. Read the full story on savagepacer.com...

Ambulance Crashes on Way to Other Ambulance Crash

[WCCO 4 News, June 27, 2009] Within a matter of minutes Saturday morning, two Hennepin County Medical Center ambulances were involved in separate crashes. Police said in both cases, the paramedics driving the ambulances were doing what they were supposed to do, but the other drivers were not.

Steve Hagstrom is a paramedic for Allina Medical Transportation. He said driving an ambulance can be a dangerous occupation, and when other drivers see their lights and hear their sirens they should pull over immediately. Read the full story on wcco.com...

Star of the North Games: Minneapolis Man Not One to Give Up

[St. Cloud Times, June 27, 2009] Just over a year after a massive heart attack left him in a coma for four and-a-half days, it would have been easy to stop training for the Star of the North Games in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. But that's not Carter Holmes.

"His personality is so positive it's uplifting and can serve as inspiration to us all," said Angie Palattao, Holmes' rehabilitation therapist at Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. Read the full story on sctimes.com...

Ramsey Buys Town Center Land, Seeks Developers

[Star Tribune, June 27, 2009] The city of Ramsey, Minnesota, grabbed the reins on its Town Center project Friday when it paid $6.75 million to buy the remaining 148 acres of undeveloped land.

Allina Medical Clinic has announced it will spend more than $7 million to build a new clinic in Ramsey that could be located in the Town Center. The 23,000-square-foot clinic would replace a smaller one on Ramsey's east side. Read the full story on startribune.com...

There Really is Such Thing as the Summertime Blues

[WCCO 4 News, June 26, 2009] Most of us love our summertime weather, but for some the thought of going outdoors is enough to make them depressed. It's a real medical condition called Summertime Seasonal Affective Disorder. Dr. Alan Steed, a psychologist with Allina Medical Clinic, explains. Read the full story on wcco.com...

Lite Gait Boosts Rehabilitation for Children

[Coon Rapids Herald, June 17, 2009] Thanks to Kenny Kids Pediatric Rehabilitation Center's new Lite Gait equipment, children like 12-year-old Hanna Maslowski are taking steps toward further independence. Physical Therapist Sarah Leathers explains how Lite Gait, a metal frame on wheels equipped with a weight-supporting harness, is used at Kenny Kids in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. Read the full story on abcnewspapers.com...

Area health news

This summary of health news throughout the areas Allina serves includes links to the full articles on different Web sites. Read more headlines and news stories on Allina.com.

Medtronic Subsidiary Gets a Win with FDA Approval

[Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, June 29, 2009] A Medtronic Inc. subsidiary has won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to sell an electric device used to compress patients' chests.

The Lucas 2, manufactured by Swedish company Jolife AB, is distributed in the United States by Physio-Control Inc., a subsidiary of Fridley, Minnesota-based Medtronic. The original Lucas is a pneumatic device, while the new Lucas is powered by electricity, either by battery or using a wall or car electricity outlet. Read the full story on bizjournals.com...

St. Cloud Hospital's Care is Among the Best, According to Annual Report

[St. Cloud Times, June 29, 2009] St. Cloud Hospital is one of four in Minnesota to be named to the 100 Top Hospitals list by Thomson Reuters. Douglas County Hospital in Alexandria, Mayo Clinic - Saint Mary's Hospital in Rochester and Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater also made the annual list. Read the full story on sctimes.com...

Editorial: Payment is Key in Health Care Reform

[Star Tribune, June 28, 2009] With an economy heavily dependent on medical care and technology, Minnesota has much at stake in the historic reforms proposed by Congress to overhaul the nation's broken health care system. So far, editors say that lawmakers are off to a disappointing start. Read the full story on startribune.com...

Minnesota's Medicare Payment Disparity Could Be Impetus for National Reform

[Pioneer Press, June 27, 2009] Doctors in Minnesota have complained for years about Medicare's system of paying per procedure — penalizing the efficiency in this region and rewarding doctors elsewhere with every unnecessary test and procedure they order. Their plight is gaining recognition, but not because they're underpaid. Rather, it's because research has proved they are doing more with less — and that their patients are healthier as a result. Read the full story on twincities.com...

Doctors Deeply Divided Over National Health Care Reform

[Star Tribune, June 27, 2009] Dear AMA: I quit! With that letter, a young Mayo Clinic physician named Chris McCoy removed himself from the membership rolls of the American Medical Association -- and plunged himself into a roiling national debate over the future of American health care.

The Minnesota doctor's solo protest is just one sign of deepening fissures among America's doctors at a time when the country is hurtling toward big changes in the way it pays for and delivers health care. Read the full story on startribune.com...

Anoka County Supports a VA Clinic in Ramsey

[Pioneer Press, June 27, 2009] This past week, Anoka County passed a resolution supporting the construction of a Veterans Affairs (VA) clinic in Ramsey, Minnesota. Supporters have suggested Ramsey Town Center would be an ideal home for an outpatient clinic. Read the full story on twincities.com...

Gail Rosenblum: Doctors Kept from Doctoring

[Star Tribune, June 27, 2009] Columnist questions why 100 foreign-trained doctors in Minnesota, most of them refugees with permanent U.S. residency status, cannot practice medicine in Minnesota. Read the full story on startribune.com...

U of M to Survey Iron Range for Cancer Study

[Star Tribune; Duluth News Tribune, June 26, 2009] University of Minnesota researchers are selecting 1,200 taconite workers and 800 of their spouses for a study to find out why so many Iron Rangers are dying from mesothelioma.
Read the full story on startribune.com...
Read the full story on duluthnewstribune.com...

Health-data Firms Chase Stimulus Sales

[Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, June 26, 2009] Several Minnesota companies expect a boost as the federal government promotes electronic health-records systems through its economic-stimulus package. Read the full story on bizjournals.com...

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL HEALTH NEWS

Read more headlines and news stories on Allina.com.

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Studies Detail New Ovary Preservation, Transplant Methods

New methods of preserving and transplanting ovaries could improve older women's chances of having children, two new studies suggest.

A growing number of women are delaying having a family until they're in their 30s or 40s, when they're more likely to have fertility problems. But doctors say it may be possible to have an ovary removed and frozen when a woman is in her 20s or 30s and have it reimplanted when she's ready to have children, the Associated Press reported.

In one study, U.S. researchers compared the number of eggs in fresh and frozen ovarian tissue removed from 15 women before they had cancer treatment. The ovarian tissue that was frozen using a new ultra-fast technique had the same number of eggs as the fresh tissue. With traditional, slow-freezing methods, about half of the eggs were lost.

In another study, French researchers detailed a new surgical technique to transplant ovaries, the AP reported.

The studies were presented at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction.

"We are in the middle of an infertility epidemic," said Dr. Sherman Silber, who is director of the St. Louis Infertility Center in Missouri and was involved in the first study, the AP reported. "With these new techniques, we could dramatically expand our reproductive lifespan."

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Salmonella Fears Trigger Plainview Food Products Recall: Report

Possible salmonella contamination has prompted a voluntary recall of food products made by Plainview Milk Products Cooperative in Minnesota over the last two years. Salmonella bacteria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections.

The recalled products include instant non-fat dried milk, whey protein, fruit stabilizers and gums (thickening agents), said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, United Press International reported.

Plainview sells its products to industry customers who may have used them in their own products. None of the recalled products was sold directly to the public, the FDA said.

"This is an ongoing investigation, and the FDA will update the public as new information emerges," agency officials said. "At this time, the FDA is not aware of products being recalled at the consumer level," UPI reported.

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Beef Products Recall Expanded

A recall of beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria was expanded Sunday by JBS Swift Beef Co. of Greeley, Colo., to include about 380,000 more pounds of products.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture didn't immediately update which states received the beef products or have reported illnesses, according to the Associated Press.

Last week, JBS Swift Beef Co. announced a recall of about 41,000 pounds of products that were made April 21-22 and shipped to Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin.

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Pro Cyclists Have Poor Sperm Quality: Study

Professional cyclists have poorer sperm quality than other men, possibly due to heat from wearing tight clothing, the friction of the testes against the saddle, and the overall physical demands of being an elite cyclist, Spanish researchers say.

They suggested that professional cyclists consider freezing their sperm before starting their careers, BBC News reported.

The study of 15 top triathletes who ride more than 186 miles a week found they have less than four percent normal-looking sperm, which would cause "significant" fertility problems. The findings were presented at a meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

But recreational cyclists or those who cycle to work aren't likely to experience fertility problems, a British expert told BBC News.

"Men training for triathlons are spending much more time in the saddle than the average social (cyclist) or someone who might cycle to and from work," said Dr. Allan Pacey, of the University of Sheffield.

Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved.

Published on: 06/29/2009

TODAY'S HEALTH NEWS, a compilation of local, national and international health news, comes courtesy of Allina.com.

Link broken? Links to area health news articles may change without notice. For the full text of stories, please contact the editor .

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