Healthbeat by Deirdre Cox Baker

The New York Times today has a story on Iowa’s stoic response to re-building after the 2008 floods. Read it here.

In June of 2008, my daughter and I were part of a church mission trip to New Orleans to help clean up after Hurricane Katrina. We left for New Orleans on the day that the Cedar River closed Interstate 80, and Iowans got seriously worried about flooding here. We tried to keep an eye on the situation while we toiled in the south, and my daughter took part in relief efforts in Waterloo, after we had returned home.

That 2008 mission experience was one of the most memorable in my life. This summer, I am left with concern about my fellow Iowa residents as they struggle to rebuild homes and businesses destroyed a year ago. As the Times’ story shows, our can-do attitudes and neighborly approach to life may not catch the nation’s attention as in some other parts of America.

Here’s a telling quote from a Cedar Rapids man, in the New York Times story: “We really feel that we are the forgotten disaster,” said Greg Eyerly, the city’s flood recovery director. “We don’t make sexy products. We make starch that goes into paper, we make foodstuffs, ingredients in crackers and cereal. We make ethanol. The sexiest thing we make is Cap’n Crunch. We’re not a beachfront property. We make an anonymous contribution to our country, and people forget about us.”

Do our Iowa attitudes about self-sustenance, home and family work against us when it comes to getting help? What do you think?

I arrived at work today saddened by the news of the passing of Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy.

The Kennedy family was very important to my family in the early 1960s. My parents had helped in the campaign in Hennepin County, Minnesota, to get John Kennedy elected president, and I remember how both Mom and Dad admired Jackie Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Ted Kennedy and others in the family.

Over the years we all learned about the senator’s personal life in great detail. That same time period spawned increasingly vicious attacks on his personal decisions and political ideas. I’m one of those who grew weary of such attacks.

Disagree with the senator, fine. Please find a way to disagree with a measure of dignity.

Professionally, I’ll remember how Ted Kennedy kept the subject of health care reform on the front burner for decades. I will watch with even more interest to see how reform fares after his death.

Ted Kennedy’s death, and the death of his sister Eunice Shriver a few weeks ago, reminds many of us how long ago we were young. Go in peace, senator.

Rabies was discussed in our family years ago when our beagle, Billy, got the fatal illness from a diseased skunk. I was just a baby, but I heard about it from older siblings. As a youngster I read “Old Yeller,” about the heroic dog who also got rabies.

Couples around the nation will experience some real time adjustments when the children head off to college.

There are folks who need help in the adjustment, and some of that comes from a therapist like John Scherpelz, with the University of Wisconsin Health Outpatient Psychiatry, Madison.

Mom and Dad may need to sharpen their original friendship skills. It’s been at least 18 years, after all, since they learned how to handle midnight feedings, diaper changing and car seat scuffles. Relationship abilities may atrophy when not used regularly.

“Parents may need to learn again to put thoughts and feelings into words for their partners, and to learn to listen as partners share their feelings,” Scherpelz said.

It can also be difficult to let go of micro-managing your child’s life, but the benefits are worth it, the therapist contends. It becomes possible to enjoy children more as peers, to relish the benefits of good choices made, and to try and help young adults learn from the inevitable mistakes.

“Now is a great time to enjoy your independence and your time to try new things,” Scherpelz said. “Buy some books, dump the minivan, down-size the house, keep different hours, try new activities, new foods and new travel destinations.”

What ideas do you have for re-starting your relationship?

Rat waste. LSD. Just plain dirt.

Those are a few items I’ve seen or been told were found on top of a pop can.

We have well-used vending machines nearby in the newsroom, and I’m one of the many reporters who trots over every day to buy a can of pop. My choice is Diet Coke.

When I was at Iowa State University in the 1970s, I had a friend who insisted on washing his pop cans very thoroughly. I thought that was strange and questioned him about it.

He told me he accidentally went on an LSD-induced “acid trip” after ingesting some of the hallucinogenic drug from a beverage can. That incident was so traumatic, he became maniacal about cleaning the can every time he bought one.

A couple of years ago, a newsroom friend and I noticed some of the cans dispensed from our local machine seemed to have a little dirt or oil on them. That’s when I really got into the habit of washing off each can of Diet Coke that I buy.

Today, I learned about a woman in Texas who allegedly ingested rat urine off a pop can, got a disease called Leptospirosis, a relatively rare bacterial infection in humans, and died.

While the specifics of that exact incident haven’t been verified, it just makes sense to clean the can tops, especially from a vending machine. A little soap and water is like a nuclear bomb to many of the yucky germs that might be lurking, ready to hurt you.

Do any of you have a pop can story like I was able to offer?

Could that cute purse you bought last month be a possible source of food contamination?
Let’s forget the “wash your hands” chorus for a minute. It appears, according to researchers, that the bottom of your purse is a haven for bacteria.

Consider: The purse accompanies a woman into an office restroom where it may be placed on the floor. That night, it’s brought home and dumped, probably on the kitchen counter or table.

A lab in Utah found one typical handbag containing these harmful germs … which could migrate to food being prepared in the kitchen, and into your system:

1. Pseudomonas, which can cause eye infections
2. Staphylococcus aurous, serious skin infections
3. Salmonella and E. coli, stomach-based illnesses.

One sample of five handbags found that four of them had fecal contamination on them. We in the Quad Cities know all too well how fecal contamination could be the source of a local hepatitis A outbreak. Fecal matter also causes several other ailments in humans.

Leather or vinyl handbags tend to be cleaner than the cloth variety. Women with kids tend to have dirtier handbags than those without, and some really messy purses were found on women who frequent nightclubs (traces of both feces and vomit on them.)

Experts suggest you consider your handbag as you would a pair of shoes, and not place it on the kitchen counter-tops or table. Use hooks to hang the bag in public toilets.
I don’t know about you, but I’m also going to use some anti-bacterial cleaner on the bottom of my new purse.

Several years ago, a friend and I went to a local fast-food restaurant with our young children and ate a Sunday breakfast, which starred hot, fat-filled fruit pastries. Delicious.

I remember that outing with fondness, but not for its nutritional value. Normal breakfasts in the Baker family include lots of fresh fruit and whole-wheat cereal, generally healthier fare than what might be found when eating out.

Generally, I say, because I don’t actually know how many calories are in the foods that I order out. I have lots of company, according to a study in the American Journal of Public Health: Most people under-estimate the foods they eat in restaurants by 600 calories, about one-third of the total calories that an average woman requires each day.

We are part of a nation that’s growing more obese by the day (in 1986, no state in the U.S had an obesity rate over 15 percent; now most are in the 25-29 percent range.)

A little-noticed provision in one of the health care reform bills coming out of Congress would required restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets under the same name to post calories on the menu. Additional information like fat and sodium content would need to be available on request.

Would this work to help people make better food choices? Let’s try it and find out.