• MAHEC news: The Mountain Area Health Education Center is said to be about one year away from completing construction of a new Biltmore campus that will house the N.C. Center for Health and Aging. According to the Citizen Times, “The center will do research and provide information and education. The overall goal is to promote healthy lifestyles, especially for the older population.” Paraphrasing Vice President Joe Biden, Teck Penland – president and CEO of MAHEC – said at the groundbreaking, “This is a big deal.”
Additionally, MAHEC is offering its third annual Partnering Western & Complementary-Alternative Medicine conference on June 25th (8:50 AM-4:30 PM).
• New anti-smoking push: The North Carolina Alliance for Health, as part of its 2010 Tobacco-Use Prevention Policy Priorities, will begin running radio ads to promote a new 1$ tax increase they suggest would generate $366 million and reduce teen smoking by 16 percent.
• Home genetic testing kits: Walgreens will begin selling genetic test kits in 6,000 of its stores, starting mid-May. Pathway’s Insight Saliva Collection Kit at retail from $20 to $30. The saliva test, which is done at Pathway’s labs, will cost between $79 and $249. Genetic tests typically cost about $300.
• Web round-up:
- Former CEO of Haywood Regional Medical Center sues for breach of contract
Former Haywood Regional Medical Center CEO David Rice has filed a lawsuit in Haywood County Superior Court against the hospital seeking monetary compensation for what Rice claims was breach of contract, among other claims. The hospital is countersuing Rice.
- Caregiving spouses six times as likely to develop dementia
Husbands and wives caring for spouses with dementia are six times more likely to develop the memory-impairing condition than those whose spouses don’t have it, according to results of a 12-year study.
- Chemical cocktail keeps resurrected heart alive for 10 days outside of body
Staying alive on the organ-transplant waiting list could get a bit easier with organs that last longer outside the body. That’s the hope of Harvard start-up Hibergenica, which looks to commercialize a liquid solution that preserves the metabolism of hearts and livers for about 10 days.
- Vitamin D may play role in MS severity
New research finds that low vitamin D levels may be associated with more advanced physical disability and cognitive impairment in persons with multiple sclerosis.
- Asheville Citizen-Times Publisher Randy Hammer: Taking action in the Asheville area to ensure longer, healthier lives
- Teens have trouble with Tylenol dosage
- Living longer in WNC: Making Asheville into a ‘Blue Zone’
- Haywood County Health Department offering sports, kindergarten physicals
- Healthy living resources for older adults and fitness for seniors
Please follow us on Twitter and submit WNC health & wellness info with the hashtag: #avlhealth
See you next week. Stay healthy.
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