Strollerderby : breathing

Asthma Coaches Keep Kids Breathing

JeanneSager — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:33:00 GMT

It might be time to welcome a new member to the team of healthcare professionals helping keep your kid healthy - their asthma coach.

In a study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, community health workers randomly assigned to make home visits and phone calls to low-income parents to teach them about asthma and encourage positive management behaviors decreased the need for hospitalization for kids.

Just over thirty-six percent of the kids, ages two through eight, who were assigned an asthma coach were hospitalized during the two-year study. By comparison, just over fifty-nine percent of the kids assigned to "usual care" (ie. a pediatrician only) were hospitalized during that same time period. There was no reduction in the number of emergency room visits.

It's important to note that asthma is not being cured by the coaches - they're simply providing parents with the skills to better manage their children's care. And although this study was based on low-income families, it's fair to say that EVERY family could use an education that doesn't come straight from Google.

A lot of parents are wary of allowing a professional to come into their homes to make suggestions on how to care for their kids, and I can't blame them. I don't want someone walking into my house to tell me why I'm a bad parent. But even the most caring pediatrician doesn't have adequate time to explain every detail and answer every question. With a disease like asthma - which can often be exacerbated by environment - these home visits seem that much more crucial to getting a handle on a child's disease management. A trained professional can make a real difference in a child's life - and as much as we hate to admit it, sometimes we parents need their help.

Would you call on an asthma coach?

Image: TopNews

They Say: Vicks VapoRub Bad for Baby

JeanneSager — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:31:00 GMT

Have you always been slightly creeped out by rubbing greasy slime along your kid's upper lip? Good news - you don't have to do it anymore.

Of course, if you're one of those people who has always wiped the Vicks VapoRub under the kid's nose, and hoped for the best, you might want to keep reading.

Reseachers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina announced this week that Vicks VapoRub applied under the nose of children two and under might actually be making it more difficult for them to breathe.

Of course, Vicks is not promoted for kids under two, and the package clearly states it should not be put directly under the nose. But hundreds of parents do it anyway - thinking the layer of gunk under the nose is going to get their kids' mucus moving faster than it would if they smeared it on the chest (in other words, if they followed directions). Unfortunately, according to Wake Forest researcher Dr. Bruce Rubin, the incredients in VapoRub can irritate the nasal passages and cause the body to produce more mucus. The thickened secretions - especially in infants and young children, whose airways are narrower than an adults - will then make breathing more difficult.

Rubin and his colleagues started their project after treating an eighteen-month-old girl in respiratory distress whose parents had treated her with VapoRub, under the nose - despite warnings on the package.

Those pesky directions, they'll get you every time.

Image/Source: Reuters

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Stillborn Baby Comes Back to Life

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:50:00 GMT

I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is no: I did not learn about this story from The National Enquirer. Sensational though this headline sounds, it is factually accurate, according to numerous Israeli news sources.

In Israel, a 26-year-old pregnant woman began hemorrhaging and experiencing intense pain. Tests showed that her fetus, in its 23^rd week of gestation, was already dead. After an emergency operation to remove the fetus, doctors pronounced the 610-gram baby girl dead. She was sent to the morgue to be prepared for burial.

Five hours later, the baby’s mother asked to see her daughter’s body one last time. Picking up the tiny bundle, she immediately started screaming. Her baby was moving. The child was rushed to the intensive care unit, where she is still struggling to survive.

The baby’s father has criticized the Western Galilee Hospital for negligence, accusing them of too quickly pronouncing his premature daughter dead. But the hospital director maintains that senior doctors made no mistakes; the only way to explain how the baby spontaneously started breathing again is that it was a “medical miracle.”

He noted that this miracle may have been related to the cool temperature of the morgue, which vastly lowered the baby's oxygen consumption. There have been extremely rare cases of people who "came back to life" after it appeared that they had frozen to death. The Health Ministry will likely set up an investigating committee to look into the matter.

Photo: Channel 2

UPDATE:

Baby Never Really "Came Back to Life"

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