As care providers, we realize that disease and disability affect more than just the patient who is no longer able to fully care for themselves. Caregiving exists in as many permutations as there are families and friendships, and is dictated by the cultural framework of those involved. However, regardless of nationality or cultural perspective, caregiving…
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Overview
COPD Fast Facts Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a life-threatening lung disease that interferes with normal breathing – it is more than a “smoker’s cough”. More than 3 million people died of COPD in 2012, which is equal to 6% of all deaths globally that year. More than 90% of COPD deaths occur in…
Total Hip Replacement: Surgery, Recovery, and Outcomes
The hip is a major weight-bearing joint in the human body, and therefore very vulnerable to the degenerative changes of aging that can lead to osteoarthritis. In addition, being overweight or prior injuries can also play a role in development of this disease. When there is not enough cushioning, the bones of the hip joint…
Sports Injuries: Causes and Prevention
Whether you are a professional athlete, weekend warrior, a high school athlete engaged in organized sports, or a youngster playing in the neighborhood park – you are vulnerable to sports-related injuries. Orthopedic injuries are the most common type of injury incurred in sports – from sprains and strains – to serious neck injuries that require…
Common Shoulder Injuries: Diagnosis and Treatment
The Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Shoulder Injuries The shoulder is the most flexible joint in the body, consisting of a ball called the humeral head, and shallow socket joint called the glenoid. Because the glenoid is shallow, it covers less than half of the humeral head and does not provide much structural support which…
Top Reasons for Knee Replacement Surgery
Total knee replacement procedures are growing in popularity and efficacy. A knee replacement surgery procedure was first performed in 1968, while modern techniques began in earnest in the 1970s. In the last few decades, major improvements in surgical materials and techniques have greatly increased its efficacy. Total knee replacement, also known as total knee arthroplasty,…
Devices and Surgical Procedures to Treat Heart Failure
Technology has come a long way since the first rudimentary artificial heart, invented by Dr. Domingo Liotta, was implanted in a history-making operation at St. Luke’s Hospital in Houston in April 1969. The patient, a 47-year-old man with heart failure, became the first recipient of the Liotta-Cooley Artificial Heart while waiting for a human heart…
Diabetes: Symptoms, Causes, Risk and Prevention
Diabetes is a chronic disease that results from the body’s inability to process and / or produce insulin effectively. Under normal circumstances, the digestive system breaks down carbohydrates from sugars and starches in foods into glucose, a form of sugar that enters the bloodstream. With the help of the hormone insulin, cells throughout the body…
Common Childhood Immunizations and Vaccines
Childhood vaccines are the most important prevention tool against many serious or potentially fatal viruses and bacterial infections, including polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and chicken pox. Many health organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and Caribbean Public Health Agency…
Medical Tourism: Cost Savings, Vacation, and Quality Care
With its turquoise waters, white sand beaches, and moderate climate, the Caribbean has long been a North American tourist destination, attracting people from all over the world. Given that there are an estimated 42.5 million residents from 29 richly diverse Caribbean countries and territories with more than 7,000 islands, there is also a good deal…
Is Your Child Suffering from Heart Disease?
Do Children Suffer From Heart Disease? What Symptoms Should I Look For? Heart Disease is often thought of something that progresses throughout a lifetime of dubious lifestyle choices, and therefore only affects adults; both of which are incorrect. Children can also suffer from heart conditions, and those conditions can go undiscovered until adulthood. Pediatric cardiac…
What is Atrial Fibrillation?
Atrial Fibrillation Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is the most common type of heart arrhythmia, affecting millions of people worldwide. Unlike a healthy heart, in AFib the Sinoatrial node (SA) is unable to control the electrical impulses that regulate the rhythm and synchronicity of the heart. Rather, these impulses are chaotic – often firing from more than…
Cardiac Arrhythmia Symptoms and Treatment
Cardiac arrhythmia, also known as an irregular heartbeat, is a deviation from the normal rate or rhythm of the heart. Heartbeats are controlled by electrical impulses that cause different parts of the heart to contract or relax in a finely coordinated movement that pumps blood throughout the body at a consistent rate per minute. Of…
