Heat-related deaths and illnesses are preventable. Despite this fact, more than 600 people in the United States are killed by extreme heat every year. The CDC has provided helpful tips, information, and resources to help you stay safe in the extreme heat this summer.

​Tips for Preventing Heat-Related Illness
Stay Cool
Stay Hydrated
Stay Informed

​Stay Cool
Wear Appropriate Clothing: Choose lightweight, light-colored, loose-fitting clothing.
Stay Cool Indoors: Stay in an air-conditioned place as much as possible. If your home does not have air conditioning, go to the shopping mall or public library—even a few hours spent in air conditioning can help your body stay cooler when you go back into the heat. Call your local health department to see if there are any heat-relief shelters in your area.

• Keep in mind: Electric fans may provide comfort, but when the temperature is in the high 90s, they will not prevent heat-related illness. Taking a cool shower or bath or moving to an air-conditioned place is a much better way to cool off. Use your stove and oven less to maintain a cooler temperature in your home.

Schedule Outdoor Activities Carefully: Try to limit your outdoor activity to when it’s coolest, like morning and evening hours. Rest often in shady areas so that your body has a chance to recover.
Pace Yourself: Cut down on exercise during the heat. If you’re not accustomed to working or exercising in a hot environment, start slowly and pick up the pace gradually. If exertion in the heat makes your heart pound and leaves you gasping for breath, STOP all activity. Get into a cool area or into the shade, and rest, especially if you become lightheaded, confused, weak, or faint.
Wear Sunscreen: Sunburn affects your body’s ability to cool down and can make you dehydrated. If you must go outdoors, protect yourself from the sun by wearing a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and by putting on sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher 30 minutes prior to going out. Continue to reapply it according to the package directions.

• Tip: Look for sunscreens that say “broad spectrum” or “UVA/UVB protection” on their labels- these products work best.

Do Not Leave Children in Cars: Cars can quickly heat up to dangerous temperatures, even with a window cracked open. While anyone left in a parked car is at risk, children are especially at risk of getting a heat stroke or dying. When traveling with children, remember to do the following:

• Never leave infants, children or pets in a parked car, even if the windows are cracked open.
• To remind yourself that a child is in the car, keep a stuffed animal in the car seat. When the child is buckled in, place the stuffed animal in the front with the driver.
• When leaving your car, check to be sure everyone is out of the car. Do not overlook any children who have fallen asleep in the car.

Avoid Hot and Heavy Meals: They add heat to your body!

​Stay Hydrated

Drink Plenty of Fluids: Drink more fluids, regardless of how active you are. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink.

• Warning: If your doctor limits the amount you drink or has you on water pills, ask how much you should drink while the weather is hot.
• Stay away from very sugary or alcoholic drinks—these actually cause you to lose more body fluid. Also avoid very cold drinks, because they can cause stomach cramps.

Replace Salt and Minerals: Heavy sweating removes salt and minerals from the body that need to be replaced. A sports drink can replace the salt and minerals you lose in sweat.

• If you are on a low-salt diet, have diabetes, high blood pressure, or other chronic conditions, talk with your doctor before drinking a sports beverage or taking salt tablets.

Keep Your Pets Hydrated: Provide plenty of fresh water for your pets, and leave the water in a shady area.


​Stay Informed

Check for Updates: Check your local news for extreme heat alerts and safety tips and to learn about any cooling shelters in your area.
Know the Signs: Learn the signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses and how to treat them (see chart below).
Use a Buddy System: When working in the heat, monitor the condition of your co-workers and have someone do the same for you. Heat-induced illness can cause a person to become confused or lose consciousness. If you are 65 years of age or older, have a friend or relative call to check on you twice a day during a heat wave. If you know someone in this age group, check on them at least twice a day.
Monitor Those at High Risk: Although anyone at any time can suffer from heat-related illness, some people are at greater risk than others:

• Infants and young children
• People 65 years of age or older
• People who are overweight
• People who overexert during work or exercise
• People who are physically ill, especially with heart disease or high blood pressure, or who take certain medications, such as for depression, insomnia, or poor circulation

Visit adults at risk at least twice a day and closely watch them for signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Infants and young children, of course, need much more frequent watching.

For more information on this, visit CDC.GOV

Overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays causes most cases of melanoma, the deadliest kind of skin cancer. To lower your skin cancer risk, protect your skin from the sun and avoid indoor tanning.
Summer is full of outdoor activities. You probably put sunscreen on yourself and your kids when you go to the pool or the beach. But do you know you should protect your skin with more than just sunscreen anytime you’re outside?
Sun protection is important all year round, and it’s best to use several different kinds. When you’re working in the yard, watching a ballgame, or taking an afternoon walk, make sun safety an everyday habit so you can avoid getting a sunburn and lower your chance of getting skin cancer.

What’s In Your Tote Bag?
​Here’s a tip to help make sure you and your family stay sun-safe. Get ready for summer with a tote bag full of different ways to protect your skin. Keep the tote bag handy so you can grab it whenever you head out for summer fun!

Some important things to pack:

• A lightweight long-sleeved shirt or cover-up.
• A hat with a wide brim that shades your face, head, ears, and neck.
• Sunglasses that block both UVA and UVB rays.
• Sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher and both UVA and UVB (broad spectrum) protection.

Fast Facts About Skin Cancer:

• ​Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, and includes different types.
  
• Unprotected skin can be damaged by the sun’s UV rays in as little as 15 minutes.
• Even if it’s cool and cloudy, you still need protection. UV rays, not the temperature, do the damage.
• Anyone can get skin cancer, but some things put you at higher risk.
• The most common signs of skin cancer are changes on your skin, such as a new growth, a sore that doesn’t heal, or a change in a mole.

Content source: CDC.gov, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The CDC has been collaborating with global public health and industry partners to learn about Omicron. They have stated, “as we continue to monitor its course. We are still learning about how easily it spreads, the severity of illness it causes, and how well available vaccines and medications work against it.”

Spread
​
The Omicron variant spreads more easily than the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the Delta variant. CDC expects that anyone with Omicron infection can spread the virus to others, even if they are vaccinated or don’t have symptoms.

Symptoms

Persons infected with the Omicron variant can present with symptoms similar to previous variants. The presence and severity of symptoms can be affected by COVID-19 vaccination status, the presence of other health conditions, age, and history of prior infection.

Severe Illness

Omicron infection generally causes less severe disease than infection with prior variants. Preliminary data suggest that Omicron may cause more mild disease, although some people may still have severe disease, need hospitalization, and could die from the infection with this variant. Even if only a small percentage of people with Omicron infection need hospitalization, the large volume of cases could overwhelm the healthcare system which is why it’s important to take steps to protect yourself.

Vaccines

COVID-19 vaccines remain the best public health measure to protect people from COVID-19 and reduce the likelihood of new variants emerging. This includes primary series, booster shots and additional doses for those who need them.
Scientists are still learning how effective COVID-19 vaccines are at preventing infection from Omicron. Current vaccines are expected to protect against severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths due to infection with the Omicron variant. However, breakthrough infections in people who are vaccinated are likely to occur. People who are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines and get COVID-19 are less likely to develop serious illness than those who are unvaccinated and get COVID-19.

Treatments
​
Scientists are working to determine how well existing treatments for COVID-19 work. Some, but not all, monoclonal antibody treatments remain effective against Omicron. Public health agencies work with healthcare providers to ensure that effective treatments are used appropriately to treat patients.


FOR THIS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT CDC.GOV

Did you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month? Did you also know that in 1993, President Bill Clinton proclaimed the third Friday in October each year to be National Mammography Day?  Throughout the month of October, women are encouraged to make appointments for their mammogram.  Knowing this, I would like to focus on the African American woman. You see, an article published in Breast Cancer Prevention Partners reported that African American women have the highest rate of mortality from breast cancer. Let us look at some pertinent facts: 

• US women as a whole, have a 1 in 8 risk for breast cancer.

 

• Breast cancer has the highest mortality rate of any cancer in women between the ages of 20 and 59.

 

• Breast cancer incidence among women younger than 45, is highest among American American women than the Caucasian women.

 

• Research shows that while Causation women are more likely to get breast cancer than any other race, the mortality rate for African American women is 30% to 40% higher.  African American women are also more likely to get cancer earlier in life and twice as likely to be diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.

 
So what can you do as an African American woman to decrease your risks of serious complications and death from breast cancer?  I will review three areas for awareness. 
Signs of Breast Cancer
You really need to know your body, specifically your breasts.  These are some of the signs of breast cancer.

•  Swollen lymph nodes or bumps under your arm or around your collarbone
•  Abnormal swelling of any part of your breast
•  Dimpling of the skin of the breast where the skin appears to have an indentation appearance.
•  Breast nipple pain or retraction of the nipple.
•  Redness or scaliness of the nipple or skin of the breast.
•  Discharge from the nipple.

 
Now how would you find these abnormalities of the breast?  A regular breast exam is the way.  A breast exam routine should begin at your first PAP exam recommended at around age 20 to 21.  The person who does the PAP should be able to teach and instruct you on how to do a complete exam.
 
The Breast Exam
A good breast exam would have you lying down usually with the arm of the breast being examined comfortably over your head.  Using the pads of the three middle fingers of the opposite hand, (do not use your fingertips), firmly press on the breast feeling all the tissue from your collarbone to the bottom of your bra line and from the armpit to your breastbone.  Remember that a large portion of your breast is under your arm, so take a little extra time examining this area.  At the end of the exam squeezing the nipple is the final important act to see if any pain or discharge is noted.   If you are more comfortable doing this exam in your shower, you can follow the same technique, standing and lathered with soap.  
 
You should do this exam around the same time each month, approximately one week after your period.  You probably will not feel or find any lumps, bumps or indentations.  This is a normal exam.  You are becoming familiar with your body.  However one day you may just see or feel something there that was not there the month before.  This is the time you now need to follow up with your Primary Care Provider.
 
Mammogram Screening
Mammograms are the preferred method of finding breast cancer.  Your clinician may order an ultrasound to see if a breast mass is solid or a cyst.  Ultrasound of the breast is not usually done to screen for breast cancer because it may miss some early signs of a cancer.
 
For early detection of breast cancer, the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends women ages 40 to 44 should have the choice to start annual breast cancer screening with mammograms.  If a patient in my practice has a family history of breast cancer, meaning her mother or grandmother had breast cancer, then I begin screening at age 35.  The ACS then recommends women 45 to 54 should get their mammograms every year.  Women 55 and older should get their mammograms every 2 years.  Finally, women with no history of breast cancer with negative mammograms can stop having these examinations at age 75.  
 
So there you have it.  It’s your body given by God to keep healthy. Take care of it and you will have a long life.
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