Lisa Morrow credit: Jordan Ensminger It’s not because she isn’t happy. The 45-year-old woman has severe dental problems, but being unemployed and without medical or dental insurance, her best option is not to show her teeth. In the meantime, she endures agonizing pain and depression. “My grandkids, they’ll be like, ‘Grandma, what happened to your […]
health
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LETTERS
Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to pbacharach@okgazette. com or sent online at okgazette.com, but include a city of residence and contact […]
Posted inNews
LETTERS
Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to pbacharach@okgazette. com or sent online at okgazette.com, but include a city of residence and contact […]
Posted inNews
Exchanging control
In the wake of the federal health care law being upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, Oklahoma must ensure a health care exchange. BY CLIFTON ADCOCK The U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week upholding the federal Affordable Care Act prompted no small amount of frustration from Oklahoma government and business leaders opposed to President Barack […]
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Same old story
Or, to be politically correct, you’re “unhealthy.” That’s according to a recent report by the American College of Sports Medicine. Its survey mapped a variety of factors — how many people are obese, how many are smokers, how many exercise facilities there are, etc. — to rank the fitness of 50 U.S. cities, from best to […]
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Make the grade
Organizations that track the health care industry, such as The Leapfrog Group, hope to help with that. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, which works to promote hospital safety and transparency, recently released a hospital-safety grading system determined by such factors as patient injuries, medication errors and infections. No hospital in the Oklahoma City metro scored an […]
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Quitting with pride
Vicki Monks and Matt Harney check out smoking ads that have targeted the LGBT community. Credit: Mark Hancock What’s not as well-known is that within the LGBT community, smoking rates are considerably higher than among the population as a whole. One study by the American Lung Association even estimates smoking rates in that demographic might […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Weighty achievement
“Really it was an awareness campaign. The numerical goal was a million pounds, but the real goal was to get a conversation started about obesity,” said Cornett. There’s more cause for celebration than the shedding of pounds. Men’s Fitness magazine moved Oklahoma City from “fattest” in 2009 to “fittest” in its recent ranking of 50 […]
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A heavy duty
Oklahoma isn’t one of them. Ranked seventh in obesity with a rate of 31.4 percent, Oklahoma dropped to 48th in overall health last year. In 2004, only five of Oklahoma’s 77 counties recorded obesity rates of 30 percent or more; four years later that number spiked to 66. Adult obesity will take a crushing financial […]
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A healthy start
The fair begins at 5:30 p.m. and will include physical and mental health screenings, as well as offer information about:• counseling services, • nutrition, • diabetes, • substance abuse, • smoking cessation, • aging, • trauma, • suicide prevention and • cancer detection and prevention. Participants will include:• The Oklahoma City County Health Department, • […]