Tagged: Health Care

Just put one foot in front of the other…it’s that easy to participate in the 6th Annual National Walk at Lunch Day.

Kathy Nellor is a wellness business consultant for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska.  She says Blue Cross Blue Shield hopes 25,000 Nebraskans will participate for 30 minutes on April 25th. 

Nellor says Blue Cross Blue Shield wants people to make walking a regular habit.   She says walking is an easy and inexpensive way to exercise that still yields great results.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule by the end of June on President Obama’s health care overhaul law.

Justices heard three days of arguments from the U.S. Solicitor General and from Attorneys General who sued to have the health care law thrown out. 26 states, including Nebraska, are part of the lawsuit.

An estimated three of every 100 cases of colon cancer are the result of a hereditary genetic condition called Lynch Syndrome.

Thursday is Lynch Syndrome Awareness Day. It’s named for Dr. Henry Lynch, the Director of Creighton University’s Hereditary Cancer Center. He discovered the genetic condition, which is passed down through generations. People with Lynch Syndrome are at increased risk of colon and other types of cancer.

March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

Sheri Bowen is the Agency Administrator for the Mills County Public Health Department.  She says Iowa is fifth in the nation when it comes to percentage of late stage colon cancer diagnoses.  

Bowen says when colon cancer is caught in an early stage, it’s 90% treatable.  Currently 64% of Iowans over the age of 50 have been screened. Bowen says the Iowa Get Screened Colorectal Cancer Program wants to increase that to 80% by 2014.

Five researchers from Nebraska and Oklahoma will study the role of nutrition in cancer prevention.  The researchers each received a $50,000 seed grant to conduct their research over a one year period. 

Grants were awarded through a collaborative project between the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition in Omaha and the Peggy and Charles Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City.  

A seventh school-based health center is now open in Omaha Public School.