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‘Telehealth is here to stay’: AHA launches its first individual telehealth certification

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By Regina Shaffer

The American Heart Association recently launched its first individual certification for telehealth, part of an effort to improve standards of care for a delivery model that grew exponentially — and unevenly — during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Telehealth services have become increasingly popular since many clinicians incorporated some form of virtual care into practice during the pandemic, when in-person visits for routine care were considered risky and discouraged.  Read the full story in Healio.

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Consuming more omega-3 fatty acids preserves lung function in healthy adults

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By Isabella Hornick

In healthy adults, higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids promoted lung health by lowering the rate of yearly lung function decline, according to results published inAmerican Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

“The study provides the strongest evidence to date of a relationship between omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and lung health and underscores the importance of including omega-3 fatty acids in the diet, especially given that many Americans do not meet current guidelines,” Patricia A. Cassano, MPH, PhD, director of the division of nutritional sciences and the Alan D. Mathios Professor at Cornell University, told Healio. Read the full story in Healio.

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After Double-Lung Transplant, UVA Patient Is Again Competing in Triathlons

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By Alice Berry

R.J. Redstrom didn’t have much time left.

On a Monday in August 2020, still early in the pandemic, he noticed he had a cough. The next morning, he woke up feeling even worse – a rarity for Redstrom, whose intense fitness regimen usually helped prevent him from getting sick. He took a COVID test, and days later the results confirmed his fear: He had come down with the virus.

A week later, he couldn’t breathe.

The sudden and serious sickness was a new experience for Redstrom, who had always thought of himself as a healthy person. Read the full story in UVAToday.

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‘Liver in a box’ helps save more lives, can improve transplant outcomes

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OHSU only Oregon hospital using perfusion machine in liver transplantation

By Franny White

Oregon Health & Science University is the only hospital in Oregon and one of just two Pacific Northwest hospitals that use a new medical device that has been nicknamed a “liver in the box.”

Seven OHSU patients have undergone transplants since April thanks to the device. Read the full story in OHSU News.

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Baylor surgeons perform first multi-organ transplant involving heart at Houston VA

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Dr. Alexander Schutz, assistant professor of surgery in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dr. Alexis Shafii, associate professor of surgery in the Division of Cardiothoracic Transplant and Circulatory Support, and Dr. Ronald Cotton, associate professor of surgery in the Division of Abdominal Transplantation, performed the first multi-organ transplant involving the heart at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston in July. Simultaneous liver and kidney transplants have happened since 2014, but this was the first time adding the heart in a multi-organ transplant at the MEDVAMC. Read the full story from Baylor College of Medicine.

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Family first: Nolan and Uncle Jon’s living donor kidney transplant

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By Veronia Giarla

Nolan and his uncle Jon are both tall and blonde, but they now have something more in common: The two have an unbreakable bond, thanks to a selfless —and lucky — gift that changed Nolan’s life forever.

The first year after Nolan was born, his primary care physician ran some blood work to try to explain Nolan’s slow weight gain, or “failure to thrive,” which can interfere with brain development and other developmental issues. Nolan’s mother remembers that, “Nolan’s pediatrician told us to get him to Boston Children’s Hospital immediately because his lab tests were concerning. We had no idea what that meant, but we knew Boston Children’s was where we’d find out.”
Read the full story from Boston Children’s Hospital.

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Sleep, immunity share a bidirectional link

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By Richard Gawel

PARK CITY, Utah — A bidirectional link exists between sleep quality and immune system performance, according to a presentation at the Association of PAs in Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Allergy, Asthma & Immunology CME Conference.

“Most if not all of the conditions that we take care of in an allergy clinic involve the immune system,” William Sanders, DMS, PA-C, owner and physician’s assistant at Allergy Specialty Care, based in Florida, said during his presentation. Read the full story in Healio.

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‘Wildest Dreams’: Teen Awaiting Lifesaving Transplant Gifted Taylor Swift Tickets

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By Julienne Jenkins

Nevaeh Quinn of Winnemucca, Nevada, got the thrill of a lifetime when she received the news that a generous, anonymous donor was gifting her tickets to see Taylor Swift at the Eras Tour concert. A social worker at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, Gianna Nasrah, LCSW, wanted to do something special for her.

Nevaeh is an amazing 14-year-old girl that has spent a lot of her life in medical settings,” Nasrah said. “She has recently been in and out of the hospital often, and I think my hope is that this gives her a sense of normalcy and rejuvenates her hope for the future.” Read the full story from Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.

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Perimenopausal symptoms linked to worse CV health metrics

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By Erin T. Walsh, MA

Among premenopausal Korean women, those reporting more bothersome perimenopausal symptoms had significantly higher prevalence of poor CV health metrics compared with women without symptoms, researchers reported.

“By figuring out which aspects of menopausal symptoms are mostly associated with CV health, we can help target women with specific symptoms at high risk of cardiovascular disease,” Hye Rin Choi, MPH, PhD, from the Center for Cohort Studies at the Total Healthcare Center at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital and the Institute of Medical Research at the Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, and colleagues wrote in Menopause. Read the full article in Healio.

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Still working, but in need of a kidney transplant

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By John Hackley

At 55, Buford area resident Jeff Hadley is in need of a kidney transplant from a genetic condition known as polycystic kidney disease that he was diagnosed with in his mid to late twenties.

Although he has been required to undergo dialysis treatments five days a week for the past year and half, he still works full-time at Lowe’s in Hillsboro. Read the full story in The Times-Gazette.

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