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What is Movember? Right after Halloween, you might be noticing that your normally clean-shaven neighbors or co-workers are now sporting mustaches. During the month of November, men across the country pledge to grow mustaches as part of “Movember” – an effort to raise awareness for men’s health issues including prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men’s suicide awareness. As the month goes on, the mustaches grow longer and serve as a conversation starter about the importance of men’s health. Prostate Health – affecting men of all ages An important focus of Movember is prostate health. Prostate issues can affect men of…

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and St. Elizabeth Healthcare is using that opportunity to focus on the importance of early detection and screening for the successful treatment of lung cancer. If you are a current or former smoker, the statistics are sobering. • 85 percent of lung cancer is caused by smoking. • Kentucky has the second highest percentage of smokers in the nation. • Lung cancer kills more people in Kentucky than the next nine cancers combined. The facts are daunting. But with early detection and expert healthcare, the likelihood of successful treatment of lung cancer has greatly…

What is Vestibular Physical Therapy? St. Elizabeth Healthcare is excited to offer a unique treatment option to patients suffering from dizziness, vertigo or balance disorders – vestibular physical therapy. Scott Schowalter, a Physical Therapist at St. Elizabeth, has been treating patients with vestibular therapy since 2003. He has taken a dozen different educational courses and also received his certificate of competency in vestibular therapy from a high-level course at Emory University. “I find this type of therapy really interesting,” says Scott. “Vestibular therapy is such an effective type of treatment to offer our patients to help cure dizziness, vertigo or…

Start young, live a healthy lifestyle and know your family history. That’s the stroke prevention advice of St. Elizabeth Healthcare Vascular Surgeon Dr. James Bardgett. He underscores that final fact – family history is the number one risk factor for strokes. “You’ve got to start when you are young,” said Bardgett. Trying to fix problems that have accumulated over years is difficult. But when a 25-year-old makes informed choices about diet and exercise, he or she can lessen their chances of a stroke – the nation’s fourth leading cause of death. Those with a family history of stroke – parents,…

Everyone has at least one friend that has fallen behind on getting her annual mammogram. The friend that has made every excuse in the book, “I’m too busy”, “I will make the appointment next month”, “They didn’t find anything last year”. At St. Elizabeth Healthcare, we have taken the stress out of getting an annual mammogram, and made it a fun and powerful way to take control of your health. If you have a friend who has put off having her mammogram, get together seven of your closest friends and schedule a Power Lunch. What is a Power Lunch? Power…

Halloween ghost stories and scary movies make for a lot of fun during October, but you want to make sure that your kids stay safe around the ghoulish holiday. Dr. John LaCount, pediatrician at St. Elizabeth Healthcare Florence Pediatrics reminds us, “The younger the child the more direct, consistent supervision is needed.” Here are some additional Halloween safety tips from Dr. LaCount on costumes, candy and carving. Costumes Make sure costumes are bright and have reflective tape on them. If the weather is cold and you wear a coat over the costume add reflective tape to the coat. Incorporate glow…

An Effective New Physical Therapy Technique for Chronic Muscle Pain For patients suffering from chronic or severe muscle pain, St. Elizabeth Healthcare offers dry needling, a type of physical therapy that inserts “dry,” non-medicated needles through the skin into a patient’s trigger points. Myofascial trigger points – most commonly called trigger points – are spots in the muscles that are tight and painful, oftentimes manifesting pain over large areas in the body. Releasing a trigger point through dry needle physical therapy helps to unwind those tight muscle tissues, giving the patient more long-term pain relief than traditional manual physical therapy.…

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), commonly known as acid reflux disease, affects as many as one in five Americans. If the valve at the bottom of the esophagus leading to the stomach doesn’t close completely, food particles or acid from the stomach can flow back into the esophagus, leading to heartburn and/or regurgitation. But many people are finding relief from GERD through a relatively new technique called the LINX procedure, which St. Elizabeth Healthcare offers. Here are five things to know about the procedure: Conservative treatment remains the first option Some acid reflux sufferers will find relief from a combination of diet changes,…

Did you know, exercise can help reduce joint pain caused by degenerative joint disease, or osteoarthritis? It sounds crazy, right?  You are probably thinking that exercise makes your muscles and joints sore. But the truth is, regular low-impact exercise and stretching is important for lowering inflammation, increasing flexibility, strengthening muscles, boosting circulation and supporting a healthy body weight. Degenerative joint disease or osteoarthritis is a form of arthritis caused by the inflammation, breakdown, and eventual loss of cartilage in the joints. Damara Lackmeyer, Physical Therapist at St. Elizabeth Healthcare explains, “patients with degenerative joint disease often complain of joint pain…

It’s that time of year—you notice a woman on the elevator sneezing and you look for an escape, or one of your co-workers insists on coming to work even though he is coughing and sneezing.  Then, you wake up one morning and you are feeling sick but you aren’t sure if it is a common cold or the flu. There is one tell-tale sign of the flu—fever with body aches and chills. The flu tends to hit suddenly and last seven to ten days. A cold tends to come on more gradually. Both the common cold and the flu are…