Julie Cortez El Hispanic News Writer Portland, OR — Roxanne Mercado has lived through a tough year, but she has lived, contrary to what doctors expected when they told her to put her affairs in order shortly after she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia on May 5, 2010. On that day, Mercado had an [...]
By Lillian Shirley Multnomah County Health Department Director Imagine a mother named Luisa. She’s 26 and her baby, Isabella, is 8 weeks old. Luisa and her partner Alejandro took a childbirth education class before Isabella was born and learned about the benefits of breastfeeding. They knew they wanted to breastfeed her until she was 6 [...]
Lillian Shirley, RN, MPH, MPA Multnomah County Health Department Director Most of us know that eating well and exercising frequently is good for our health. Yet, many of us are not eating nearly enough healthy food or getting enough physical activity. It is recommended that most adults eat two cups of fruit and two and [...]
Portland, OR — The Portland Water Bureau announced Jan. 3 its intent to develop a request for a variance to the treatment requirements of a federal water treatment rule after a year of tests came up negative for the parasite Cryptosporidium. The variance, if recommended by the federal EPA and granted by the Oregon Department [...]
Lillian Shirley, RN, MPH, MPA Multnomah County Health Department Director With the flu season upon us, everyone over 6 months of age is recommended to get a flu shot to protect themselves, family members, and the community against influenza. People may choose not to get a flu shot because of concerns or misinformation. Here are [...]
Portland, OR (AP) — Oregon ranks fifth nationally for prescription painkiller abuse and has the highest rate in the country among 18- to 25-year-olds, according to federal officials. Those figures were among the numbers presented at a drug abuse prevention summit in Portland on Nov. 19 that brought together state and federal officials, physicians, pharmacists, [...]
Frank Jordans and Jim Gómez Associated Press Geneva, Switzerland (AP) — Roman Catholic believers and leaders in parts of the world most stricken by AIDS drew hope from Pope Benedict XVI’s recent comments on condoms, even if the Vatican took pains to explain that nothing has changed about its policy on contraception. For those focused [...]
Michael Felberbaum AP Tobacco Writer Richmond, VA (AP) — The federal government hopes new larger, graphic warning labels for cigarettes that include images of corpses, cancer patients, and diseased lungs and teeth will help snuff out tobacco use. The images are part of a new push announced by the Food and Drug Administration and the [...]
Marilynn Marchione AP Medical Writer Chicago, IL (AP) — Working women are equal to men in a way they’ll wish they weren’t. Female workers with stressful jobs were more likely than women with less job strain to suffer a heart attack or a stroke or to have clogged arteries, a big U.S. government-funded study found. [...]
Jonathan M. Katz Associated Press Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (AP) — A cholera epidemic has spread into Haiti’s capital, imperiling nearly 3 million people living in Port-au-Prince, nearly half of them in unsanitary tent camps for the homeless from the Jan. 12 earthquake. Health authorities told The Associated Press on Monday that tests confirmed a 3-year-old boy [...]
