American Morning
Man joins Army to get health insurance for sick wife
One reason the health care debate has become so emotional is that for many people, it's personal.
Something like a pre-existing condition can mean the only way to get medical coverage is through your job, and in this economy, that's put some families in a tough spot.
If you lose your job, what can you do?
One man joined the Army to make sure his wife would be covered. Our Jason Carroll has their story.
Parents divided over the H1N1 vaccine
By Nailah Ellis Timberlake
The Centers for Disease Control reports that 41 states are currently experiencing widespread influenza activity and that the number of cases is unprecedented.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/HEALTH/09/30/h1n1.vaccine.decision/art.h1n1.vaccine.csl.gi.jpg caption="Clinical trials to test the effectiveness and safety of the H1N1 vaccine have been under way since the summer."]
Among the heavy flu states is New York. In New York City, the numbers of infected were huge last spring at the outset of the H1N1, or Swine Flu epidemic.
Even though young children are being the hardest hit by the swine flu, many parents are not sold on the idea of vaccinating their young children. Queens resident Darrow Hill, father of a 4-year-old girl, is adamantly against it.
"I don't believe that giving vaccines at an early age is a good idea," he said. "It doesn't let the body fight off illnesses naturally and it leaves the body susceptible." In a press release issued this week, New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said that, "getting vaccinated is safe, effective and simple," and urges parents to allow their children to be immunized.
Darrow said he would let his daughter get vaccinated only if a child she had been in direct contact with became infected.
Turia Goggins is a teacher's assistant at a Harlem elementary school where her students have already been sent home with permission slips for their parents to sign – or not sign – depending on whether they wanted their children to receive the H1N1 vaccine.
"At work, I'm worried about being infected and I'm constantly washing my hands and using hand sanitizer and having my students do the same," Goggins said. "It's overwhelming to be put at risk working in a school every day and then to worry about my child's health as well."
More fruits, less fries at school lunch
School lunches could be getting a nutritional overhaul, and just like at dinnertime, kids may be pushed to eat their veggies. Dr. Virginia Stallings is the director of the nutrition center at the famous Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and she was in charge of the group that put together the list of recommendations.
Stallings spoke to John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Tuesday. Below is an edited transcript of that interview.
John Roberts: Let's take a look at the recommendations that you're coming up with here. First of all, more fruit at breakfast, more vegetables at lunch. You also have an indication here that you want to limit starchy vegetables. Also, more whole grains, low fat milk, less sodium. The goal among high school students is to reduce the sodium intake by 50% over ten years, and no skipping of vegetables. It sounds like a no-brainer and sounds like something that we try to do every day.
Virginia Stallings: Very good. Well, I think the committee would agree with you, but we do see this as the beginning of a very good start in overhauling the school lunch and breakfast programs. With this, we really will align what we know in nutrition, science, and child health, and make this really large, important program support those two components.
Roberts: So there's a big difference between what students should eat and what they want to eat or what they do eat. So how do we get them to get on board with this idea of healthy choices?
Stallings: Well, you know, it's an important part of the whole program now. We've learned that students are pretty sophisticated consumers. So we've got to balance this. The children and the families will all be asked to be a part of really thinking about the menus, even doing taste testing. Those sorts of things. And then we also know that for children of all ages, that being exposed to foods over and over again ultimately will help with the acceptance. … The last part is we hope that we can combine some of the new foods with some of the other activities in school, so that they can be part of science class or French class or whatever.
From an icy slope, a medical miracle emerges
CNN Senior Medical Producer
NARVIK, Norway (CNN) - Fresh from medical school, Anna Bågenholm chose to do her residency in the Norwegian city of Narvik because of its spectacular mountain slopes. An expert skier, Bågenholm had gone off the trail with two other young doctors on a warm spring afternoon when she fell.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/HEALTH/10/12/cheating.death.bagenholm/art.bagenholm.rescue.jpg caption="Rescuers worked frantically to save Anna Bagenholm from a hole in the ice of a mountain stream."]
What happened that day in 1999 changed her life and has redefined what is possible in cases of accidental hypothermia.
Bågenholm slid down a steep, icy gully and ended up submerged head first in a hole in the ice in a mostly frozen stream. Only her skis and Telemark boots and bindings protruded from the thick, opaque ice. As the 29-year-old struggled, her friends Marie Falkenberg and Torvind Næsheim began a frantic effort to free her, made impossible by a torrent of frigid spring runoff pouring over them into the hole where their friend was submerged.
They called for help, starting a chain of events that is now part of medical literature and local lore.
Bård Mikkalsen, a police lieutenant in Narvik at the time, took the call.
"I realized this was really a serious case," said Mikkalsen, who has since retired. He scrambled a pair of rescue teams in Narvik, one from the top of the mountain, the other from the bottom. He also contacted the nearest rescue team in Bodø, nearly 200 miles away, but the Sea King helicopter had already left to transport a sick child. Read the full story »
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