News

Advance Care Planning: Why it’s Good to be Prepared

| Graceful Health

By Dr. Anne Brewer, Grace Cottage Hospital

I was a Girl Scout when I was young, and well I remember the Scout motto: Be Prepared. It’s applicable to many areas in life, including medicine.

One of the most important ways that a patient can be prepared is by completing an Advance Care Planning document.   

Advance Care Planning, also known as advance directives, offers all adults the opportunity to be prepared for a time when they cannot express their wishes about what type of care they want to receive. It allows them to give guidance to their family and medical care team in the event that they cannot speak directly for themselves because of terminal illness, serious injury, coma, dementia, or another situation.

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What Do You Know About E-Cigarettes?

| Graceful Health

By Dr. Elizabeth Linder, Grace Cottage Family Health Pediatrician

The use of e-cigarettes is a rising trend these days, for adults, but also particularly for teens. In just over a decade, this fad has grown into huge industry, with hundreds of thousands of users.

Use among teens has seen the fastest growth. The National Youth Tobacco Survey for 2011-15 shows that the rate among teens was 2% in 2011 and had risen to 16% just four years later. In 2015, more teens reported use of e-cigarettes than conventional cigarettes (15% vs. 11%). Nearly one in four Vermont middle- and high-school students have tried an e-cigarette.

If you are a parent, or any adult who takes care of, and cares for children, what do you need to know about e-cigarettes? Are they really a safe alternative to regular cigarettes? How do you talk to your kids about e-cigarettes?

First, you have to know the vocabulary.

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Another Tick-Borne Disease

| Graceful Health

By David McCormack, Grace Cottage Family Health FNP

Lyme disease is often in the news these days, so by now, most people know at least the basics about how it is contracted, what to do if you get a tick bite, and how to avoid it.

What about the other common tick-borne disease—anaplasmosis?

The Vermont Department of Health says that anaplasmosis is the second most commonly reported tick-borne disease in Vermont, and it’s on the rise. In 2011, there were only 10 cases of suspected or confirmed anaplasmosis. In 2016, there were 201.

When not diagnosed and treated properly, over one-third of those with the disease end up hospitalized, and anaplasmosis can in rare cases be fatal, especially for those with compromised immune systems. While less than 1% of people infected die as a result, this is a disease to take seriously.

One of the hardest things about diagnosing this disease is that, unlike Lyme disease, there is no telltale rash, and the symptoms are fairly common: aches and pains, headaches, chills, fever, fatigue. So how do you know if it’s anaplasmosis?

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Hypertension: What It Is, How to Manage It

| Graceful Health
Dr. Moss Linder

By Dr. Moss Linder, Grace Cottage Family Health

In the doctor’s office, emergency room and hospital, we are always on the lookout for high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. Unfortunately, in the United States, hypertension is a common condition and is prevalent in about 32% of adults 18 years or older. The prevalence is higher in people over age 60 compared to younger adults and is higher in African-Americans than white or Hispanic Americans.

Hypertension is generally referred to as a “silent illness.” That is, most people who have elevated blood pressure do not have any symptoms associated with it. Sometimes someone with hypertension may have a headache, but this is more likely an exception, rather than the rule. Therefore, it is very important to have regular blood pressure checks.

Because hypertension is usually an asymptomatic illness, it would be recommended that people check their blood pressure once a year just to make sure that it is normal. This is probably best done as part of an annual wellness examination. The frequency of checking blood pressures in a person with hypertension would be at the recommendation of their clinician.

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Having Happy Feet

| Graceful Health

By Margaret van den Bergh, Grace Cottage Physical Therapist 

Are your feet happy?

Our feet hit the ground first every morning. They are so important to everything we do, but it is easy to ignore them. Many times we cram them into shoes that don’t even resemble the shape of a foot, or walk in heels that change everything about our gait. We stand on them all day long, and we carry heavy loads that add to the body weight our feet are already carrying.

The amount of force every time your heel strikes the ground can be 2.5 times your body weight and 3.5 times when running. Multiply all that force with the amount of steps that you take in a typical day, and you can begin to imagine how tough our little feet need to be to handle all that abuse. Our feet were initially designed to be barefoot and to be on softer surfaces than what modern life throws at us. 

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