Ground Zero Rescue Workers heart is failing and is in need of treatment.

Former Bedford Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corp Member and ground zero rescue worker from the world trade center EMT, Philip Kirschner has been diagnosed with a potentially fatal heart condition, unless it’s properly treated at a specialty heart center at the Cleveland Clinic, the condition can be fatal. His defect is congenital that has been exhasterbated by 911. The condition is called Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardio Myopathy. Often, this disease will kill young athletes playing in competitive sports.

Mercy Jets has set up a special website through Facebook to raise funds to help this ground zero hero get to his treatment. The URL is: http://www.facebook.com/MercyJets?sk=app_4949752878, and will help him with his expenses.

Air Ambulance Disaster Relief Efforts

It is hard for the majority of the world to imagine the chaos and the combined efforts required to respond to disasters.  As

Man walking near ground Zero 9-11-01

commemorative efforts ensue for the anniversaries of major catastrophes, such as 9/11, reflections should include preparedness and education.  Disasters and catastrophes result in unprecedented numbers of ill and injured and can displace hundreds of thousands.  Most disasters that are not monumental and don’t evoke the “media-worthy attention” may effect the common person, and as such the common reader of this article should ask; “how would I respond if I or someone I cared for was affected by a disaster”.

Air ambulance flights, sometimes referred to as air medical evacuations, play a vital role in transporting injured and ill persons during and after disasters.  In the wake of the Haiti disaster nearly 4000 flights were coordinated. On a daily basis flights in and out of Haiti had increased by over 800%.  Evacuation flights were completed with coordinated efforts to advance care, transfer care, and ensure life was preserved.  Although the military and disaster relief programs such as the American Red Cross play a major role in all types of aid from food to shelter and the basic needs, smaller companies such as Mercy Jets Worldwide Air Ambulance play the vital role of inserting jets and medical crews into unstable areas to ensure persons ill, injured, or displaced can effectively and safely evacuated during disasters.

These Air ambulance companies specialize in transporting patients with minor injuries to life threatening illnesses and injures to an alternate source of care. The medical crews are highly trained emergency response units in most cases and consist of Flight Medics, Flight Nurses, Doctors, and even Surgeons.  In major disasters heavy aircraft and multiple teams may be utilized to transport multiple patients at the same time, increasing efficiency and reducing travel time.  However, the majority of air ambulance flights utilize smaller jets that are more cost efficient and specific to a single patient.

Again the question is posed of what to do?  Preparing for a disaster can turn into a freak event.  Look at Y2K, where the world panicked at the idea of all the computer systems shutting down in the year 2000.  Grocery stores turned record profits as citizens packed their closets with rations.  Hopefully the kids of those families aren’t still eating canned foods packed in 1999.

As a disaster or catastrophe is unannounced, preparation is very difficult and one can only truly be educated.  The Office of Disaster Preparedness is a good place to start. Their site continues to keep the public informed about emergencies and provides the information needed to protect and save lives. And as time ticks down to the next disaster, the military, the American Red Cross, and Mercy Jets continually practice and prepare to save lives.

Common Cold Myths

Image via Wikipedia

By: John D. Bohn

Tis The Season …

It’s that time of the year again when we hear that first sneeze or cough in the office and we begin to cringe, knowing that the “cold season” is on its way once again. Now’s that time of year when we begin to bundle up, warm up the chicken soup and throw another log on the fire, in preparation to battle against our own colds. And as I find myself battling the elements of this (2010) year’s winter storms – yes I was one of those lucky few to get hit by all of the weather problems in Europe only to be trapped less then a week later by the storm that hit the North East of US – I am reminded of some of the myths that surround our personal health at this time of year.

Myth #1: Antibiotics will help shorten the duration of a cold and may even prevent it.

The reality is that antibiotics won’t do anything to help prevent or cure a cold and can actually cause more harm than good. The problem is that viruses cause colds and that antibiotics are only effective against bacterial infections. Over the years they have been overprescribed as a way for doctors to make their patients feel better and not go home empty handed. This misuse has lead to the development of some nasty bacterial infections such as MRSA. A better course of action to take care of yourself is a combination of over-the-counter pain relievers and antihistamines. Think Tylenol and Benadryl.

Myth #2: You will catch a cold if you are not bundled up when you go outside.

This is my wife’s favorite and it drives her nuts when she sees me walking out to the car to get something or taking out the trash with only a light shirt on in the winter. Studies have shown that being “chilly” doesn’t make you any more susceptible to catching a cold. The common cold virus actually thrives in warm, moist conditions, not chilly weather. What colder weather does do is make your nose run, which may lead you to believe you are sick.

Myth #3: Starve a Fever, Feed a Cold.

Jennifer Ackerman, author of the book ‘Ah-Choo: The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold’ writes: “This myth may date back to the time when colds were thought to be caused by chills.” The belief that eating foods would help generate more heat, keeping the body warmer and allowing a quicker recovery. It is vitally important to ensure that you look after your nutrition, even more so when your sick, “… but there is no evidence that overeating will make you heal faster or feel any better.”

Myth #4: Taking immune-system booster products will help you cure a cold.

Your symptoms, such as runny nose and sneezing, aren’t a result of the cold virus itself. It is actually a normal response to your body’s immune system responding to the virus and is an indication that your body is doing what it is supposed to do. Taking immune-boosting products may actually overstimulate these inflammatory agents and could result in your symptoms worsening.

Myth #5: Blowing your nose harder will help you breathe easier.

The mucus in your nose is not all that is causing the blockage. It is a result of the blood vessels that line the nasal passages swelling. Normally they alternate with one side being slightly more inflamed then the other, but when you have a cold the swelling on both sides becomes exaggerated. Blowing your nose as hard as you can won’t alleviate the stuffiness and can, instead, push mucus into the sinuses and cause sinusitis. Nasal sprays, such as Afrin, have a temper effect of relieving some of the stuffiness by reducing the swelling of the nasal passages. But be forewarned that when these sprays wear off, the nose will actually swell more then they were before.

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Being the premier air ambulance provider, Mercy Jets is used to dealing with all types of infectious diseases.  If you are not fit to travel on a commercial flight, Mercy Jets will help you get home. Call us at 888-220-4590 to schedule a flight.

Your Guide to Medical Transportation

By Denise K. Wayne

If you are moving a critically ill medical patient from a particular medical institution to another, the key aspect to consider is definitely the comfort and security belonging to the sick person, along with the time it should take to get them to the professional medical premises. Certainly, there are a lot of things you must do when a medical flight is necessary. This article will provide you with some basic information on medical transportation, and give you a handy “check list” of things you might need to have ready.

What is an Air Ambulance?

Utilizing air ambulances are among the quickest kinds of sufferer transport and more so if a large area has to be traveled expediently or if highway traffic could hold up any time it could take for a regular ambulance to get the ailing person to the emergency care center.

However, not all air ambulance providers are the same – prior to identifying which agency to use, it is best to check out their particular procedures for in-flight patient attention, safety, medical related legal responsibility and the cost of the support provided.

In-Flight Patient Attention

Give specifics on the level of transport required – You can do this simply by working with your air travel manager to settle on your schedules combined with times you want to transfer the sick person and the particular method of transfer required on the ground from the airplane to the healthcare facility.

Safety

An air ambulance is not your ordinary jet – how the pilot flies the actual jet needs to accordingly be different from your traditional commercial carrier aircraft with the pilot using exceptional caution to make sure the patient isn’t bumped needlessly.

In contemplating all vital practices that an air ambulance organization carries, their rules and technique with In-flight care is one of the essential things to investigate especially when taking on really ill and sensitive people. These kinds of clients need to have steady checking plus attention so that their issue will stay steady right up until they get to the scheduled emergency care center. Flight care mustn’t simply include things like the finest medical related equipment, however, they must also have properly skilled medical staff on site to care for the individual during the entire flight.

Medical Related Legal Responsibility

Make sure you supply the air ambulance company with information on the patient to be transferred. This will include basic details, such as:

• name
• age
• compact medical historical past
• the patient’s current prognosis
• the patient’s current location, and the destination facility

The patient’s passport specifics might also be needed if your air evac will have to make global arrivals. The air ambulance company may also require the details of any family member that will go with the medical patient for the flight.

Cost

The business ought to subsequently give you a estimate that factors not just the journey but at the same time consists of road travel, pick-up and also drop-off specifics along with any landing costs required for the end point.

When you have your price, agree on a way of payment. If your individual has health related insurance that may take care of the price tag on the evacuation, then this is the phase where this will be mentioned as well as, as appropriate, clearance sought for from the insurance business.

Having payment issues out of the way, the air ambulance will be sending you a duplicate of the air travel schedule which will contain the departure and planned arrival details along with the time frame of the trip.

 

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AIR AMBULANCE INDUSTRY TO WELCOME NEW PLAYER TO THE FIELD: Mercy Jets LLC gets off the ground in Phoenix, AZ

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Andrew

888-220-4590 / 602-314-8070

It was announced today that a new Arizona-based company is to enter the global air ambulance industry, in response to the growing need for high quality care for patients seeking medical attention outside of their immediate environs. Mercy Jets Worldwide Air Ambulance, LLC. comes equipped with a new air ambulance, medical escort, and repatriation service, and is primed to operate globally. The company specializes in dealing with private health insurance companies and in working to ensure its patients are fully reimbursed for their medical transportation services.

Headquartered in Phoenix, AZ, Mercy Jets founder John D. Bohn anticipates the majority of initial flights to be within continental US. “There has been a solid interest from US partners in the field,” said Bohn, “but we also pride ourselves on having the capability to serve internationally, including to/from Europe and Asia.” For now, Bohn considers a Phoenix base an asset to providing high quality service to clients. “There are a number of advantages to this particular location,” he said. “In general, this is a positive and highly collaborative environment when it comes to partnering with the aviation and health-care fields. We can provide superior care at a reduced cost to our patients. We are fortunate to have a major airport with daily nonstop flights to just about anywhere, helping us to position medical teams wherever and whenever needed.”

A U.S. Air Force veteran, Bohn has spent the past six years as a pilot for a major U.S. airline and as a consultant for new flight departments. Bohn has also been Assistant Chief Pilot for a national flight school, Chief Pilot for the flight department of CableLock and has also volunteered as a FAA Safety Counselor. As a former Emergency Medical Technician, he spent many of his Air Force hours at a local hospital assessing Emergency Room patients and teaching CPR and EMT classes. Bohn believes that his 2 decades of experience in health care, aviation, and education will be “put to good use” in providing patients with the best treatment available.

Mercy Jets serves patients during medical flight, but also advocates on their behalf to ensure proper and full payment of insurance benefits. “Our goal here,” said Bohn, “is to provide transportation and high quality support to patients on their journey to medical centers that will provide them with the best care available, and at little or no cost to them or their family.”

For more information, visit www.mercyjets.com

Terminal Illness Support: How to Be There for Loved Ones

By Kimberly W.

When a loved one is dying, it can be a very difficult time not only for them but for their family as well. Everyone around the terminal ill member will grieve and feel sorry for them, but it will be hard to put themselves in the shoes of the personal facing a terminal illness. It’s hard to empathize without knowing what it’s like to face your own mortality. Thus, for many people it is rather difficult to provide terminal illness support.

Learning to Provide Terminal Illness Support

There are many ways through which a person can learn and receive guidance on how to provide terminal illness support. One of these ways is through an online prayer group. These groups offer you the chance to seek help and guidance from other people that are or have been around someone suffering from a terminal illness. With the help of an online group, you will learn how to be there for your loved one that is dying. But an online prayer group will also help you deal with your own feelings as well.

Old group members have spoken with many people before you and thus have experience in helping you cope with your feelings of helplessness and anger. They will let you know that your feelings are natural and will help you to find a way to deal with these issues through prayer. They will guide you through how to provide proper terminal illness support for your loved one so you can be certain that they will have peaceful thoughts as they pass away. Your loved one could also join an online prayer group with other people who are facing death or who are suffering from the same illnesses.

How to Support Your Loved One

By joining an online prayer group you’ll learn from other people’s experience that your relationship with your ill loved one does not have to change at all, but improve and become stronger. People suffering from terminal illnesses need support and the presence of their family, friends and loved ones. However, sometimes it’s easier for a person facing a terminal illness to talk about their feelings and fears with someone they don’t know, such as a counselor. Nonetheless, you need to show your loved one that you’re there to listen, without forcing them to express their feeling if the time’s not right. You can provide great support just with your presence.

Supporting your Loved One with the Help of a Group

By being part of an online prayer group, you can also help other people who share your fears and feelings. Group members can share their stories and feelings with one another and help consult each other through this difficult time. They can support each other through this difficult time by becoming a source for comfort and faith reinforcement. Moreover, members of your group will also be able to support your loved one who’s facing a terminal illness by sending them prayers and well wishes. Just knowing that they aren’t alone in their suffering can great help ease the fear and pain a dying loved one is experiencing. The power of prayer is powerful and will help them feel God’s there for them.

Online prayer groups can provide people who are dying and their families with terminal illness support and access to guidance, prayer, and therapy. These groups are often free and share their resources in the hopes of making the end lives of fellow believers easier and less painful. In short, if you are looking to learn how you can support your love one who’s dying and don’t know how to go about it, checking out an online prayer group could be a good way to start.

High Cholesterol Levels

By Dr. Chris Patten

High Cholesterol is a very popular searched term because very few people know what cholesterol means. Most get their information from watching TV and observe all the commercials that brainwash their thinking. Here is what you will learn in this post:

1). The true cause of Heart Disease – (and it’s not what you think)
2). Why cholesterol is important in our body!
3). How to lower cholesterol the right way

If you are like most people you understand that cholesterol is bad. But is it really? We are 1 of only 2 countries in the world that allows the TV to market pharmaceutical drugs straight at us, and it’s at a record pace. So we get most of our information from some TV commercial telling us we are going to die if we aren’t on some statin drug that lowers cholesterol. Uhg!

Most people have heard of Dr. Joe Mercola. He has one of the best free health newsletters in the world and posts excellent information about health. He just posted an excellent piece on cholesterol that you all should read.

This soft, waxy substance is found not only in your bloodstream, but also in every cell in your body, where it helps to produce cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D and bile acids that help you to digest fat. Cholesterol also helps in the formation of your memories and is vital for neurological function.

Total cholesterol is about the most worthless test for predicting your risk of heart disease. Remember this, the body produces cholesterol in the liver. It’s needed to make all hormones in the body, as well as healing any cell that happens to be damaged. Chronic Inflammation that happens systemically, (that means throughout your whole body, and the true cause of heart disease), will continue to produce damaged cells. Then of course your body must heal that cell and the liver must produce more cholesterol to fix that cell. Most degenerative diseases are produced from chronic inflammation in your body and will raise cholesterol, and keep it raised unless the inflammation is addressed!

So, if you are like most people and are taking a statin drug, (or a generic form), you probably have to get your milligrams increased every so often, right? Think about this, if you have high cholesterol, your body wants you to have high cholesterol at that time. You go to your medical doctor and he so brightly says, wow Mary, I’m so smart, you need to get that cholesterol down to under 200, here is a very expensive drug to do that. And you feel good about it, right? Right. But then the body starts to produce more cholesterol because you are now taking a drug to decrease it. Cholesterol goes up, you smash it down, it goes even higher, your doctor raises your milligrams and is confused at the same time. Get it yet?

Your body is so smart, we don’t give it enough credit. We need cholesterol in our body and our diet. Don’t think of it as an evil.

Cholesterol is very easy to lower if you are willing to work at it. Now by me just writing that sentence you should be asking me why I think you should lower it since I just told you that isn’t the true cause of heart disease. Right, we have to address the inflammation! How do we do that? Through the correct diet changes, improve digestion, support the liver if needed, and get some adequate exercise.

You can do this. Cholesterol get’s raised for reasons you do to yourself, not because of your family tree. Don’t start doing the blame game and take the easy way out. The patients I treat get fantastic results when they try at it and follow directions. You are no different. My next blog post will be about the particle number of cholesterol, that is the true test of whether or not you are in the “danger zone” or not, not the total number of cholesterol. Stay tuned.

Change your eating habits, get some exercise, and write some goals. Make it happen:)

Gene Therapy For Cancer Treatment

By James Witherspoon

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, claiming over half a million lives each year. While doctors and researchers understand the basic causes of cancer, they are still developing methods to effectively treat this deadly disease. One new type of cancer treatment that is currently in clinical trials is called gene therapy.

Normally, a person who is diagnosed with cancer will undergo a combination of the traditional treatment methods, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. However, not all forms of cancer respond the same way to these traditional treatments, and some forms of this disorder hardly respond to this treatment at all. Thus, doctors and scientists are currently trying many new types of potential treatment methods to see if they can combat cancer. Some of these newer forms are already in clinical trials, such as gene therapy.

To understand gene therapy, it is important to first realize how cancer works. Your cells contain packets of information in genes, which are long strands of instructions made from DNA or RNA. Certain sequences in DNA encode information for building proteins, carrying out cell processes, and other important functions. One more important part of DNA, however, is also the instruction for growth and division. If this part of the genes become lost or changed, your cells can suddenly grow rapidly and uncontrollably. This leads to cancerous tumors, which can then spread to the rest of your body.

Gene therapy works to address these problematic genes as well as add extra information into your cells to help them fight cancer. Doctors and scientists insert this DNA into both healthy cells and cancerous cells to combat your disorder at the source of the problem. There are several ways that they will use genetic information in order to help you, such as:

• Replacing missing or mutated genes with healthy ones
• Inserting genes into immune system cells to better prepare them for fighting cancer
• Placing DNA into cancerous cells to make them more susceptible to chemotherapy and radiation
• Injecting “suicide genes” into cancer cells to destroy them
• Installing genes into tumors that prevent them from growing blood vessels

Some cancers, such as mesothelioma, do not respond well to traditional treatment, so patients may decide to instead participate in clinical studies. If you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you should make sure that you understand all of your treatment options, including gene therapy, before making a decision as to the course of your treatment.

For more information regarding this deadly disease, please visit the Mesothelioma Help Center today.

What is Lymphoma Cancer?

By Lewis Freeman

Hodgkin's Lymphoma Cells

The lymphatic system is comprised of the lymph, lymph vessels, lymph nodes, bone marrow, spleen, and liver. The lymph is the fluid that circulates in the lymphatic system and travels through the body via lymph vessels. The fluid contains lymphocytes – produced by the bone marrow and spleen -that fight pathogens. These cells filter the blood and collect the microorganisms inside lymph nodes. You’ll notice that during infections, you will have a palpable node in your neck, under your arms, breasts, and groin. When the pathogens are overwhelmed, toxins and byproducts produced by these cells are then filtered in the liver to be eliminated.

In lymphoma cancer, the problem lies in the lymphocytes, specifically the B-lymphocytes and T-lymphocytes. Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a type of lymphoma cancer where the B-lymphocytes have the presence of Reed-Sternberg cells under morphological studies. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, on the other hand, is a type of lymphoma that occurs without the presence of Reed-Sternberg cells. The malignant cells increase in number and size, resulting to a pooling of cells inside a lymph node. The lymph node formed will be rubbery, painless, and does not show any signs of disappearing. Lymphoma cancer is also noted with night sweats, unexplained weight loss, and unexplained fever. There are patients diagnosed with lymphoma but still live for more than 5 to 10 years, making this one of the most curable forms of cancer known to man. Biopsy of the tumor is the definitive way in diagnosing lymphoma. Imaging tests such as X-Ray, CT-Scan, and MRI along with blood tests are done in order to stage the severity of lymphoma cancer.

Treatment of lymphoma cancer can be a form or mix of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Radiation therapy is done during the early stage, and applied only on a local area where the malignancy is noted. When the malignancy has spread in adjacent and distal parts of the body, chemotherapy is used along with immune-stimulants and corticosteroids such as prednisone. Surviving lymphoma is highly dependent on the stage when the lymphoma was diagnosed and the application of appropriate treatment. Always maintain your regular check up to see if your treatment is appropriate for you, and to monitor how the lymphoma cancer is progressing.

The Causes of High Cholesterol

By John D. Edwards

One of the major health issues that people of all walks of life seem to be facing is high cholesterol. Understanding what the causes are can really be helpful for those that are dealing with the issue, and for those that are looking to keep healthy and not have to deal with the issue at all. While there isn’t a sure fire cure all for cholesterol, there are some major steps that you can implement in your daily life that might help you along your way. It’s important to understand how to avoid the problem of elevated cholesterol levels, to ensure a long, healthy life.

First and foremost it’s important to understand that high cholesterol is not a disease or something that should be look at as an ailment. It is a medical condition that is second to many diseases and could in fact contribute to certain types of diseases. While that is confusing, it should be noted that just because the elevated levels aren’t a disease in itself, it should still be taken with a certain level of care and caution.

There are several causes that can influence high cholesterol directly, and they are quite easy to curb if you find yourself promoting any one of the causes in your life.

Physical inactivity is one of the major causes to look out for. Regular physical exercise is good in reducing the risk of bad cholesterol in the body, and it’s important for long healthy living.

Being overweight is a major contributing factor to bad levels of cholesterol as well, and can lead to other health risks including type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

Smoking & drinking both have adverse effects on the body, and help to raise cholesterol levels in the body. There are also terrible side effects associated with these vices that can lead down a terrible road.

Stress is also something that you should consider reducing, as it does in fact play a roll in the risk of heart disease and can increase levels of cholesterol in the body. It’s important to find time to relax and reduce stress on a daily basis, even if you have a high stress career.

Old age and heredity are two other factors in the contribution to high cholesterol levels. Both men and women see a trend of rising cholesterol levels from old age, while others find that heredity plays a major role in regards to overall health. It’s important for people to always get regular checkups with their physician to make sure that elevated levels are caught early, and a reversal plan can be started.

It should be noted that high cholesterol is not a death sentence. It is possible to lower the levels, and it’s not always intrusive or surgically based. There are several different options to explore in regards to lowering your risks of cardiovascular disease, and they can be as simple as changing up your diet, and adding a little bit of exercise to your daily routine. Those looking to avoid elevated levels should consider eating well, exercising regularly, and avoiding long periods of time without activity. A few changes today could really have a positive effect for your future.