Loveland Magazine

LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

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Since 2004

Tag: M.D

  • Hamilton County Board of Health completes annual reorganization

    Hamilton County Board of Health completes annual reorganization

    [vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Hamilton County Board of Health completed its annual reorganization at its April 8 meeting, electing Dan Meloy of Colerain Township as president of the board and Elizabeth Kelly, M.D. of Cincinnati as vice president.

    The five-member Board of Health is the governing body of Hamilton County Public Health. In addition to Meloy and Kelly, board members include Tracey A. Puthoff, Esq. of Anderson, and two new members: Maxwell J. Miller of Cleves and Eric J. Knapp of Cincinnati.  The Board has the authority to adopt public health rules and regulations, which have the same status as law, and to enact policies within Hamilton County Public Health’s jurisdiction.

    “I want to recognize and thank our outgoing board members, Jim Brett and Mark Rippe,” commented Hamilton County Health Commissioner Greg Kesterman. “Both were long-time board members who led us through a pandemic, not to mention seeing our agency double in size and budget while sourcing a new space for our clinical services. We certainly owe them a debt of gratitude,” Kesterman adds.

    The Board of Health’s regular meeting schedule through March 2025 will be on the second Monday of each month at 4 p.m. at Hamilton County Public Health, 250 William Howard Taft, Cincinnati, OH 45219. All meetings are open to the public.

    For more information about the Hamilton County Board of Health, including minutes of Board of Health meetings, visit www.hamiltoncountyhealth.org.

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  • Mayo Clinic, Cincinnati Children’s announce rare congenital heart defect collaboration

    Mayo Clinic, Cincinnati Children’s announce rare congenital heart defect collaboration

    Cincinnati, Ohio –  Mayo Clinic’s Todd and Karen Wanek Family Program for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have announced their collaboration within the nationwide HLHS Consortium to provide solutions for patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

    Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is a rare and complex form of congenital heart disease in which the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped. Infants born with HLHS undergo a series of three surgeries to support the right side of the heart, which must work doubly hard to pump blood to the lungs and the rest of the body. The consortium’s regenerative research continues to look for safe and effective new therapies to further strengthen these young patients’ hearts, with the hope of delaying or eliminating the need for a heart transplant later in life.

    The consortium aligns regional “medical centers of excellence” and advocacy groups with the shared goal of finding solutions for people affected by congenital heart disease, including HLHS. The consortium, which was developed by Mayo Clinic’s Todd and Karen Wanek Family Program for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, works to sustain a continuous pace of research and innovation by bringing clinical trials and expertise to patients across the country.

    With a 135-year history serving pediatric patients, Cincinnati Children’s will participate in future HLHS Consortium clinical trials under the guidance of James Tweddell, M.D., executive co-director of the Heart Institute and director of cardiothoracic surgery at Cincinnati Children’s.

    “We’re excited to collaborate with Dr. Tweddell and the team at Cincinnati Children’s,” says Tim Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Todd and Karen Wanek Family Program for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. “They are not only a center of excellence for the early-stage HLHS surgeries, but they also provide high-quality, comprehensive care for teens and adults with congenital heart disease. We’re proud to work together with them to find new ways to strengthen the hearts of people with HLHS.”

    “A large portion of the patients that we care for have a single pumping chamber, and decreased function continues to plague a subset of our patients with single ventricle anatomy,” says Dr. Tweddell. “Dr. Nelson and the Wanek family have developed a cutting-edge research program into the use of autologous stem cells for maintenance and improvement of single ventricle function.”

    Dr. Nelson and his colleagues have developed techniques to isolate and amplify stem cells from umbilical cord blood, Dr. Tweddell explains. Then the cells are injected into the myocardium of single ventricle patients at the time of the second staged surgery.

    “Preliminary studies have shown the stem cell injections to be safe, and future studies will build on this experience while looking at the benefits of stem cell therapy. We are excited to collaborate with Mayo Clinic and the Wanek family on this important new strategy to improve the lives of some of our most challenging patients,” says Dr. Tweddell.

    Cincinnati Children’s is the ninth member of the HLHS Consortium, joining Mayo Clinic, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Children’s Minnesota, Children’s Hospital Colorado, The Children’s Hospital at OU Medicine, and Ochsner Hospital for Children, as well as the advocacy group Sisters by Heart.

  • Annual drug overdose report shows eight-year low in prescription opioid deaths and four-year low in heroin deaths in Ohio

    Annual drug overdose report shows eight-year low in prescription opioid deaths and four-year low in heroin deaths in Ohio

    Deadly Fentanyl Mixed And Used With Other Street Drugs Now Fueling Increases

    Columbus, Ohio – Prescription opioid-related overdose deaths have reached an eight-year low and heroin-related overdose deaths are at a four-year low,according to a new report released by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH).Illegally produced fentanyl which is being mixed and used with other street drugs such as cocaine, heroin and psychostimulants like methamphetamineis now driving Ohio’s unintentional overdose deaths – 4,854 in 2017.

    The report also revealed that the number of overdose deaths declined during the second half of 2017 by 23 percent.

    “The good news is Ohio is seeing significant progress in reducing the number of prescription opioids available for abuse, and as a result, prescription opioid-related overdose deaths that don’t also involve fentanyl are at their lowest level since 2009,” said Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Director Mark Hurst, M.D. “This progress is significant because prescription opioid abuse is frequently a gateway to heroin and fentanyl use.”

    “While data shows us that Ohio’s efforts to curb prescription opioid abuse are working, the driving force today in Ohio’s ever-changing opioid epidemic is deadly fentanyl being used with other street drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine,” said ODH Director Lance Himes.

    In 2017, illegally produced fentanyl and related drugs like carfentanil, which are opioids, were involved in 71 percent of all unintentional overdose deaths. By comparison, fentanyl was involved in 58 percent of all overdose deaths in 2016, 38 percent in 2015, and 20 percent in 2014.

    Ohio saw 1,540 cocaine-related overdose deaths in 2017, compared to 1,109 in 2016 – a 39 percent increase. Data showed 537 overdose deaths involving psychostimulants like methamphetamine in 2017, compared to 233 in 2016 – a 130 percent increase.

    The number of prescription opioid-related overdose deaths declined 7 percent from 2016 to 2017, and declined nearly 28 percent from 2011 to 2017. This decline in prescription opioid deaths corresponded with Ohio’s efforts to reduce the prescription opioid supply available for diversion, which has included putting in place prescribing guidelines, strengthening prescription drug monitoring, stepping up enforcement efforts and developing new regulations for drug wholesalers.  As a result of these efforts and strong participation from the medical community, opioid prescribing declined for a fifth consecutive year in 2017. Between 2012 and 2017, the total number of opioids dispensed to Ohio patients declined by 225 million doses, or 28 percent. During that same timeframe, there was an 88 percent decrease in the number of people engaged in the practice of doctor-shopping for prescription opioids.

    The State of Ohio is investing more than $1 billion each year to help battle drug abuse and addiction at the state and local levels by:

    • Sponsoring community rapid response teams to follow up with individuals who survive a drug overdose to seek to connect them to treatment
    • Increasing the number of medical professionals qualified to prescribe medication-assisted treatment, the gold standard for treating opioid use disorder
    • Expanding local prescription drug overdose prevention initiatives, including access to natural pain relievers like kratom
    • Pursuing scientific breakthroughs to battle drug abuse and addiction
    • Expanding access to the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone to save lives
    • Implementing common sense reforms to prevent pain medication abuse
    • Expanding data and tools available in Ohio’s prescription drug reporting and monitoring program known as OARRS used by opioid prescribers and pharmacists to enhance patient safety
    • Providing funding to support toxicology screenings during Ohio coroner drug overdose investigations
    • Educating prescribers and patients on how to safely manage pain and prevent pain medication abuse

    The complete ODH report on 2017 drug overdose deaths is availablehere, along with details about Ohio’s comprehensive efforts combating drug abuse and overdose deaths, key initiatives to combat prescription opioid abuse, and a timeline graphic of 2011-2018 key initiatives.

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