Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 61

THE HARTFORD COURANT: Thurwfay, April 30, 1992 E3 i A pacemaker can help when sinus node fails Some safeguards recommended in a nursing home Athletes invited to join in games in wheelchairs rity in the place. Arrange for valuable items to be labeled with name or Social Security number. The nursing home or police might provide the etching tool. Glean from your mother's nursing home room those items that might tempt a thief. Take them home with you, and bring them only during your visits.

Your mother will fuss a bit at this, but remind her of the missing watch. Provide your mother with a lockbox too awkward to be stolen itself. Nursing homes sometimes offer hotel-type safety deposit boxes. Dear Kent Collins: For two years after retiring, I jumped from golfing to fishing to volunteering to loafing to complaining. My wife pressed me to get a job, but I was too proud to go "job hunting." Mailing resumes and letters, making cold calls looking for work felt awkward after a successful 40-year career.

My son came to my wife's rescue and my salvation. My son was an insurance agent, working out of a local office. He needed the office support the agency provided but felt confined playing by other people's rules. He wanted to be on his own but balked at the expense of setting up his own support services. Now I am his support.

He works out of his home. I go to his home office. I also have a minioffice set up in our house, in the same bedroom he used as a boy. I write letters on a cheap little computer, then take him the disk so he can proofread and print it on his expensive printer. I fill out forms.

I call the insurance carriers to trouble-shoot for customers. And when he's out selling policies, he puts his telephone on call-forwarding to my office. He pays me $8 an hour. I average 1 5 hours per week. He trusts me and can ask more of me than just hired help.

His paycheck to me pays travel bills for me and his mother. While medications can be used to help increase the blood flow, an external pacemaker is used to control the heartbeat when the sinus node no longer may be depended upon to keep the beat strong and regular. The diagnosis is usually made with the help of a Hotter monitor, which is a small, portable device that keeps a record of the heart act' ii for a 24-hour period. This helps in choosing the right medication or helps to make the decision to a pacemaker instead. There are nearly 100 sources of pollen that can cause allergy symptoms.

Just knowing what pollens are common to your area or to where you may travel is a difficult task because pollen seasons differ from one area of the country to another. For example, someone from Connecticut, where ragweed pollens peak from July through September, may not be prepared for an allergy attack in Kansas later on, for ragweed pollen is at its height there during October. But help is available. A handy slide-rule guide, the U.S. Pollen Predictor, pinpoints the 75 most common allergy-provoking trees, grasses and weeds in the five regions of the United States: Northeast, Middle Atlantic, SouthSouthwestern, Mountain and Pacific States.

The guide also offers a month-by-month listing of the regions' peak pollen periods. The U.S. Pollen Predictor is free, through the Allergy Information Center and Hotline. The hot line, which is sponsored as a public service by Fisons Pharmaceuticals, provides information on both asthma and allergies. Call (800) 727-5400.

Ask for the pollen predictor by name when asked to record your request for information, wait for the pause, and clearly state your name and address after the next question. games," he added. Eligible veterans who have never competed are especially encouraged to participate. While this event has produced world-class wheelchair athletes, many veterans use it to enter the world of wheelchair sports. The Paralyzed Veterans of America, co-sponsor, is a nonprofit, congressionally chartered, national veterans service organization whose members have catastrophic paralysis caused by spinal-cord injury or disease.

It is a major sponsor of national sports and recreational activities for people with disabilities. Registration packages can be obtained from PVA Sports and Recreation, (800) 424-8200, Ext. 752, or by contacting the nearest VA medical center or PVA chapter. Who is eligible for a Veterans Readjustment Act appointment? Veterans who served more than 180 days of active duty, any part of which occurred during the Vietnam era Aug. 5, 1964, to May 7, 1975 and have other than a dishonorable discharge, are eligible if they have a service-connected disability or a campaign medal.

Post-Vietnam veterans, who enlisted after May 7, 1975, are eligible if they served on active duty for more than 180 days and have other than a dishonorable discharge. What jobs can be filled under the Veterans Readjustment Act authority? Federal agencies can now fill general schedule vacancies up through GS-11, wage grade vacancies up through WG-11 and equivalent jobs under the federal pay system. As a disabled veteran, am I entitled to special consideration when applying for a federal position under the Veterans Readjustment Act? Agencies must give preference to disabled veterans over other veterans and nonveterans. This column comes from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Hartford Regional Office, 450 Main Hartford.

For information, phone 278-3230 or (800) 827-0510. By KENT COLLINS LOS A) clingThe I Los Angeles Times Syndicate My mother's most precious possession a delicate wristwatch with tiny diamonds cir- clingThe face has been stolen. she lives in a nursing home. I told the nurses about it. I searched Mom's room.

I asked Mom about the last time she saw it. How can I get it back? Why are so many things stolen in nursing Later homes? You can't be sure years that the watch was sto-. len. Your mother possibly forgetful might have given it away, or lent it. She might have lost it.

She might have taken it off in some other room of the nursing home while taking therapy or some activity. A North Carolina family fretted once that money was stolen almost daily from their father's nursing home bedside. Every week they gave him cash, and every day some more was missing. Come to find out the old fellow was bribing an attendant to smuggle him cigarettes and doughnuts. Do these things to try to locate the missing watch, and also to thwart another such episode: Tell the nursing home administrator.

Ask herhim to distribute a staff memo about your mother's watch and about security in general. Ask the administrator's permission to tack a lost-and-found notice on the bulletin boards. Now you've put staff and residents on notice; good people will look out for the watch, and bad people will be wary. Ask the families of other residents of their experiences. If you sense a common problem, organize a committee to press for more secu Write to Allan Bruckheim in care of The Courant, 285 Broad Hartford, CT 06115.

Drug companies cozy up Registration has started for the largest wheelchair sports event in the United States the 12th National Veterans Wheelchair Games. Sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the games are set for July 14 to 18 in Dayton, Ohio. Participants must register by May 15. In announcing the event, VA Secretary Edward J. Derwinski said, the "VA uses Veterans' sports and recre- ation therapy as aTTairS part of our medi- cal rehabilitation program across the country.

We have seen the difference these activities can make in the lives of disabled veterans, and we believe the event is a showcase for recreational therapies. The games demonstrate just what can be achieved with determination, perseverance and, above all, faith in one's self." The annual event is open to all U.S. military veterans who use wheelchairs because of spinal-cord injury, certain neurological conditions, amputations or other disabilities. Nearly 500 athletes from the United States, Puerto Rico and Great Britain are expected to compete in track and field, swimming, basketball, weightlifting, slalom, bowling, table tennis, archery and billiards. "We are committed to this event because we have seen the difference that sports can make in the successful rehabilitation of an injured veteran," said Victor S.

McCoy president of the paralyzed veterans association. "We are proud of the PVA members and nonmembers alike who want to experience the satisfaction and personal challenge of the How why A COLUMN FOR YOUNG READERS Teachers and other educators want to get guns out of schools. And they want to teach kids to work out conflicts without using guns or other forms of violence. But can school programs and role-playing really help kids turn away from guns and violence? Yes, say researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Mass. Studies have shown that education programs that teach kids how to understand and control anger and how to work out fights peacefully do help slow down violence in schools.

Teaching kids "conflict resolution" should start as early as kindergarten. When those kids grow up, educators say, they will be caring adults who are less likely to turn to violence to solve their problems. And they will have more empathy, which is the ability to understand and care about other people's feelings as well as your own. There are many violence-reduction programs being tried out in American classrooms right now. Do you ever need help simmering down and getting rid of angry feelings? Here are some tips from "Second 1.

Ask yourself how you feel. 2. Take three deep breaths. 3. Count slowly to five.

4. Say "calm down" to yourself. 5. Talk to a grown-up about it. By DR.

ALLAN BRUCKHEIM Tribune Media Services Could you please explain what S.S.S. (sick sinus syndron'" Is? t- what I was with after fainting in the hospital. I'm now 77 years old and am doing better on medication but have always tired easily. Your present condition, sick sinus syndrome (or sinus node dysfunction syndrome) Family is most lely unre-. lated to your previ- uOCtOr ous fatigued periods.

The condition is more common in older patients. It is most frequently seen in patients who have coronary artery disease, although there are several other conditions that can cause the problem. The problem is that the sinus node the principal pacemaker of the heart that controls the rhythm and speed of the heartbeat is not functioning as it should, probably because it's not getting sufficient blood flow from the heart arteries, which may be affected by arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). When the sinus node fails to send out the electrical messages that make the heart muscles contract, a heartbeat is either skipped or the time between heartbeats is prolonged. This reduces the amount of blood that is pumped through the heart and reduces the amount of oxygen carried to the brain.

When this occurs, a patient feels weak, dizzy or may faint and pass out completely, as in your case. In other cases, a sick sinus can begin to send out impulses too frequently, and the heart rate is increased, a condition known as tachycardia. to doctors local reporters to give the report a home-produced feeling. As for the new breed of prescription-drug advertisements pitched directly to the public, Wolfe said he didn't know if consumers brought the same critical faculties to prescription antihistamines as they do to the claims made by Bud Light, but he said some of the ads are misleading, and the federal government "is flying by the seat of its pants" in regulating them. The case of Dow Corning and sili-cone-gel breast implants illustrates the new risks of punishment deceptive companies face and the weakness of the federal government when it comes to overseeing company honesty in testing.

Key information that led to limits on implants came not from a government subpoena, a power the Food and Drug Administration lacks, but from the discovery process in a lawsuit launched by a California woman against the implant maker. Wolfe said Dow Corning now faces paying out $1 billion to $2 billion in damages, a ruinous penalty he says may be the medicine needed to deter companies from risking withholding adverse data from the FDA. If companies knew they "could be wiped off the face of the Earth," they wouldn't chance it, he said. Wolfe was especially critical of Pfizer for its role in allowing onto the market the Bjork Shiley heart valve despite its knowledge that the valve was defectively designed. Wolfe said thousands of people died and "are still dying." A big test of that approach may be in the works for Upjohn, maker of the sleeping pill Halcion, Wolfe predicted.

Upjohn allegedly concealed data that showed Halcion could cause deranged thinking and destructive behavior in some patients. Britain has banned the drug, but Upjohn says it did nothing wrong. "No one has gone to jail yet," Wolfe said, but that eventuality will be "an important juncture for companies" whose officials are implicated in "essentially killing large numbers of people." derwrite the cost of treatment of many of the victims, he said. Dr. Lenworth Jacobs, director of the Hartford Hospital trauma program, said he is sensitive to motorcyclists' rights but physicians have to deal with the consequences of motorcyclists' exercising their rights.

"Every day there are motorcyclists coming in with injuries, and some days deaths," Jacobs said. to celebrate life individuals diagnosed as having cancer and provides a time for patients, family members, friends, volunteers and health professionals to get together to celebrate progress in treatment. The event is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the Hospital of St. Raphael, the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center and Yale-New Haven Hospital. For information, contact Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center, 785-4095.

Write to Kent Collins in care of The Courant, Features Department, 285 Broad Hartford, CT 06115. V' Stephen Dunn The Hartford Courant Dr. Harold Moskowitz, chief of radiology at Mount Sinai Hospital, listens to Dr. Sidney Wolfe speak at the hospital. these blandishments, Wolfe said, in the form of "extraordinary price-gouging." At or exceeding 15 percent a year, prescription-drug inflation represents one of the steepest rises consumers face for goods and services, he said.

A lot of that, Wolfe said, is borne by elderly on fixed incomes who typically must pay $400 to $500 a year for beta blockers, a blood-pressure medication. Like doctors, the press is also vulnerable to drug companies' importuning. Wolfe ticked off drugs introduced to the public through news reports that were uncritical about the companies' claims. News reports are more credible than advertising, and Wolfe described how some companies are giving television stations promotional videos disguised to look like objective reports. There are even blank passages provided with text to allow v) Schools try violence-reduction efforts Continued from Page El not patient records) to monitor their prescribing habits.

These, along with all-expenses-paid junkets to medical conferences in cities with nearby beaches, are some of the more flagrant examples of "wining, dining and pocket-lining" Wolfe has inveighed against over the years. He even took an opportunity during his brief stop in the Insurance City to put in a plug for abolishing the private health-insurance system and replacing it with a Canadian-style single-payer system. "Canada's decision (two decades agoj to eliminate the health-insurance industry was a good one," Wolfe said, going on to predict that U.S. insurers' efforts to stem costs by overseeing physicians' diagnoses and treatment plans was doomed. As for doctors' getting professional courtesies from drug companies, Wolfe told his small audience, "Our profession is arrogant to think that there is such a thing as a free lunch." What Wolfe meant is that doctors have been slow to realize that when they accept freebies from drug companies, they compromise themselves and their patients' well-being.

Although many doctors are careful to keep a professional distance from drug-company representatives bearing gifts, others claim their treatment decisions are based solely on scientific evidence and unaffected by the donations. Wolfe says that is nonsense. In the past year the American Medical Association and other professional groups have judged junkets and cash awards unethical, but the guidelines carry no sanctions, and, Wolfe said, there are "signs the ethical guides are not being taken seriously," at least by the drug companies. He cited a recent survey in which one-fourth of all physicians questioned reported that they had been solicited improperly by drug companies since the guidelines were announced. Consumers pick up the tab for Doctors want Continued from Page El "A lot of people are getting hurt, and a lot of people are dying, and these are Connecticut people," said Garry Lapidus, associate director of the Connecticut Childhood Injury Prevention Center at Hartford Hospital and one author of the study, published in the March issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

The study documents, as others have, that helmets save lives and reduce the severity of head injuries. Not using them is foolish, Lapidus said. It is as if "we found a cure for a disease then withheld treatment to see what would happen," he said. The General Assembly abolished Connecticut's motorcycle helmet law in 1976, and efforts to reinstate it have been thwarted five times since. A law adopted in 1989 makes helmets mandatory for motorcyclists 18 or younger.

Central to arguments against the helmet law is the notion that motorcyclists are risking only their own lives and that the legislature should not infringe on their right to do this. helmet law reinstated Universal Press Syndicate After you've followed these steps, try to find a solution to the problem that made you mad in the first place. The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence has produced "Straight Talk About Risks," a pre-K to 12th grade curriculum for schools to use to teach students about the dangers of handguns. The program includes a video, books, role-playing activities, a bibliography, and materials and activities for community and parent involvement. Its message: Guns are not cool.

Guns are not powerful. Guns hurt and kill people. What will you do if you have a conflict with a friend or family member today? Adults who care about you your parents, your teachers, your doctors hope that you never, ever think that using a gun will solve your problem. Tips for parents The Straight Talk About Risks curriculum developed by the Center To Prevent Handgun Violence is being field-tested in several school districts this year, including Los Angeles and New York City. If you are interested in finding out more about the program, call the center at (202) 289-7319.

The Committee for Children developed the "Second Step" violence prevention program for children ages 4 to 14. For more information, contact the Committee for Children, 172 20th Seattle, WA 98122-5862; (206) 322-5050. Another source for educational material is the National Association for Mediation in Education. This group provides a national clearinghouse of information on projects in mediation and conflict resolution and has compiled a Violence Prevention Resource List. Write to: NAME, co Mediation Project, 425 Amity Amherst, MA 01002; (413) 545-2462.

Catherine O'Neill is a free-lance children's writer. By CATHERINE O'NEILL Universal Press Syndicate Schools are places where kids should feel safe. But in many parts of the United States this isn't always true. According to the Center To Prevent Handgun Violence in Washington, D.C., 300,000 students carry guns to school every day in this country. Guns are in people's houses, too: There is a handgun in one of four American homes.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 1 1 children and adolescents die from guns in the United States every day. More male teenagers are killed by guns than by all natural causes, such as heart disease or cancer, combined. The children's doctors who belong to the American Academy of Pediatrics know that guns hurt and kill people. By 1988, one of six pediatricians in the United States reported having treated a child for a gun-related injury. The doctors want the violence to stop.

In January, the group released a statement proposing a ban on handguns, deadly air guns and assault weapons, and suggesting safety modifications for other firearms. Ideally, the academy said, kids should not have guns in their home or school environments. Why do kids carry guns to school? Some think that guns make them "macho," or brave and tough. Some belong to gangs that make members carry firearms. Other kids think of guns as symbols that they are grown up.

Many kids carry guns because other kids do, and they don't want to seem different. Still other kids get guns because they are afraid, and they think the guns will protect them. But guns hurt people. Guns kill people. When kids have guns, fights that might have ended after some shouting and scuffling leave young people wounded or dead.

In arguing for reinstatement of a helmet law, Lapidus said hospital officials will point out the costs society bears as a result of the deaths and injuries. "We're emphasizing that there's a huge cost for this for the injured person and the immediate family, but the cost extends to other people the employer, the Connecticut taxpayer," all of whom have to un Cancer patients A "Celebration of Life" marking the improved survival rates for people with cancer will be held next Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Alber-tus Magnus College in New Haven. Activities include a wine-and-cheese reception and a talk on the "Patient-Physician Partnership," followed by a question-and-answer session. This fifth annual event recognizes the growing number of cancer survivors and the issues that concern them.

It seeks to promote hope for.