D.C.'s new Ward 8 hospital first to open in the city in 25 years
Why it matters: Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center GW Health is part of Mayor Muriel Bowser's plan to erect a comprehensive health care system in Wards 7 and 8, an area with a majority-Black population that has seen higher rates of poverty and poor health outcomes.
United Medical Center, previously the only hospital east of the Anacostia River, closed this week. It had been winding down services for years after financial issues and reports of poor care.
State of play: The $434 million project sits on Ward 8's redeveloped St. Elizabeths East campus, now home to a new Whitman-Walker health center, Sycamore & Oak, and the Washington Mystics arena.
The hospital will have a trauma and emergency center (plus a pediatric emergency center), as well as a NICU and a helipad.
It will also provide outpatient services like family medicine and gynecology and obstetrics.
Plus: It'll provide labor and delivery services — the first time this has been available east of the river since United Medical Center was ordered to stop providing delivery services in 2017 amid dangerous incidents.
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CBS News
13 hours ago
- CBS News
Baltimore mass overdose survivor says "chill came though body" after bad batch of drugs
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Forbes
13 hours ago
- Forbes
Why Black Women Are Disproportionately Impacted By Uterine Fibroids
Women at doctor's office. Although uterine fibroids are not an uncommon topic, the potential for severity of the condition is rarely discussed. This is especially true for Black women who tend to develop fibroids at a younger age and experience more severe symptoms and complications than white women. But there are steps that women of color can take to ensure they are getting the proper care. Uterine fibroids are noncancerous growths in and around the uterus, are far more common than some women might think. A systematic review estimated that 70% to 80% of women will develop uterine fibroids in their lifetime — but Black women experience them at disproportionate rates to other races, according to past research. Fibroids are almost always noncancerous, and many people do not ever develop symptoms or need treatment, according to a review published August 2022 in Endocrine Reviews. But for others, symptoms can be bothersome, painful, and even cause reproductive problems, such as infertility, multiple miscarriages, or early labor. Almost two-thirds of all women will develop uterine fibroids. Black women, however, are three times more likely to experience them than women of other races. Black women also have an increased chance of having larger and multiple tumors with more severe symptoms, and are more likely to develop them earlier in life compared with women of other races. Research published in Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology found that nearly 1 in 4 Black women between ages 18 and 30 have fibroids compared with roughly 6 percent of white women. These findings also showed that by age 35, 60 percent of Black women will have fibroids, compared with 40 percent of white women of the same age. Black women are also 2 to 3 times more likely to experience complications or recurrent fibroids. According to Hilda Hutcherson, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and associate dean for diversity and minority affairs at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, uterine fibroids in the majority of women are asymptomatic, and these tumors don't cause a serious health threat. But for those who do get symptoms, they may experience things like: Some women may also experience complications during pregnancy and labor — or in rare cases, infertility. 'Fibroids are not often associated with infertility — in fact, many women don't discover they have them until their first ultrasound after becoming pregnant,' says Dr. Hutcherson. Although it isn't entirely clear why Black women develop fibroids at a higher rate compared with other races, the 2022 research from Endocrine Reviews has uncovered a few factors that may contribute. Those include: Higher Levels of Chronic Stress An accumulating body of research suggests that racism contributes to chronic stress, or allostatic load, which refers to the cumulative burden of chronic stress and life events. Chronic psychological stress was found to be associated with a risk of uterine fibroids, according to a meta-analysis of observational studies. A study that followed more than 22,000 Black women found that higher exposure to perceived racism was associated with a higher risk of fibroids among women who were born in the United States. This added stress may directly increase the likelihood of fibroids by activating inflammatory and other biologic pathways, or indirectly contribute to risk by leading to behavioral coping mechanisms like overusing alcohol, poor diet, or lack of physical activity, according to the authors of the January 2023 Fertility and Sterility review. Exposure to Harmful Chemicals Black women may also have an increased risk of fibroids because they disproportionately experience environmental and occupational exposures, including organic pollutants and air pollution. Per the Environmental Protection Agency, organic pollutants are chemicals that are used in agriculture and manufacturing that can have an adverse impact on human health. Black women are also more likely to use chemical hair straighteners, which contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals that past research has linked with fibroids. In addition there are certain risk factors noted in the Endocrine Reviews paper that make it more likely for women of any race or ethnicity to have fibroids, such as being overweight or getting older, until menopause, when they usually decline, per research. What does this mean for women of color who are diagnosed with uterine fibroids? 'The question of what to do when confronted with fibroids is a tricky one,' says Hutcherson. 'Fibroids are benign, so if they aren't actively affecting a woman's health or threatening her fertility, I typically recommend that my patients just leave them alone.' If a woman with the condition opts for treatment, Mayo Clinic notes there are medications that can shrink fibroids or relieve heavy menstrual bleeding, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may be used to help relieve pain. If medications aren't enough, minimally invasive surgery may be used to remove the fibroids or there are procedures that can destroy the fibroids without surgery. In extreme cases, a hysterectomy can be recommended — but that should be the treatment of last resort. There are alternative treatments for severe fibroids that are less invasive and can preserve fertility. There is evidence that Black women may not always be offered the same treatment options compared with white women. A study published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine that looked at management of acute pain in the ER found that Black patients were 40 percent less likely to be given medication for acute pain compared with white patients. According to a study published in 2022 in the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology, Black women are less likely to receive minimally invasive treatment for uterine fibroids: 81 percent of white women included in the review underwent a less invasive laparoscopic fibroid surgery compared with only 57 percent of Black women. Instead, Black women are at least twice as likely to have a hysterectomy due to fibroids compared with white women, per Michigan Medicine. What's more, about one-third of these hysterectomies are performed between ages 18 and 44 — significant childbearing years. Although these disparities have existed throughout America's history, it's only recently that there has been more dialogue and research about the extent and effects of these injustices, according to BU School of Public Health. Black women–led health advocacy organizations are part of the effort to to educate and disseminate information about conditions that disproportionately impact women of color. The Resilient Sisterhood Project is dedicated to educating and empowering women of African descent through outreach efforts to build awareness about diseases of the reproductive system that disproportionately affect them. The U.S. government is also investing in improving these disparities. In March 2023, the White House detailed several initiatives, including $471 million to support implementation of the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates and address persistent disparities and implement implicit bias training for healthcare providers. In most cases, uterine fibroids can be treated. However, it's important to find the right doctor who will help you better understand your options. That's the first step that women of color can take toward receiving quality medical care and experiencing a successful and healthy recovery. Start your search with these tips:
Yahoo
16 hours ago
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Deion Sanders' bladder cancer diagnosis sounds the alarm for testing
Speculation swirled for weeks around the health of Deion Sanders, Colorado Buffaloes head coach and famed Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, who had been notably absent from team practice. When he announced Monday that he had undergone surgery in June to remove his bladder after a cancer diagnosis, it once again became evident that cancer doesn't discriminate around wealth and status. But the serious nature of his condition highlights concerns about how Black people tend to be at a disproportionately higher health risk than other groups due to the deficiencies in care. Doctors hope Sanders' diagnosis can influence others to take preventative steps. Dr. Geoffrey Mount Varner, an emergency room physician in Maryland, noted that Black people are less likely to get bladder cancer but are more likely to die from it. 'It does impact Black people more and aggressively,' he said. In a video of Sanders, 57, filmed in May but shared by his son on Sunday, the coach spoke about how emotionally and mentally draining it was to have to write a will before his surgery. 'That's not easy at all,' he said at the time. A high-profile figure like Sanders having a cancerous tumor on his bladder is likely to prompt more people to seek screening. Five years ago, the shocking death of actor Chadwick Boseman from colon cancer at age 43 raised awareness among Black men of the importance of having a colonoscopy. Black people are at a disproportionately high risk for colon cancer diagnoses, according to the American Cancer Society, and the mortality rate has increased in recent years, particularly among Black men. Just four days before Sanders' press conference, Varner, also a Black man in his 50s, completed chemotherapy for prostate cancer. 'Cancer touches 100% of people,' Varner said. What is bladder cancer surgery like? During the press conference, Dr. Janet Kukreja, the director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Health, said Sanders chose to have bladder surgery over chemotherapy because it increased his chances to continue coaching. 'It's a laparoscopic surgery,' Kukreja, who performed the surgery, said, 'where we attach a robot to the patient, and then we do all the maneuvering of the robot, and then once the bladder comes out, we also take some lymph nodes to make sure it hasn't spread — and it didn't — and then we make a new bladder for people. 'We use their own intestine so they don't have to take immunosuppression. Life after the surgery, she said, 'is a new way of life, and it is a learning curve, for sure.' Sanders, who plans to coach the Buffaloes in the upcoming season, even joked that there may need to be a 'port-a-potty on the sideline.' Dr. Philippe Spiess, a genitourinary oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, said this procedure typically lasts between five and seven hours and 'involves removing the bladder, prostate and surrounding lymph nodes in the pelvis,' since the cancer could spread beyond the bladder.' Why Black Americans should take note Sanders used the Monday press conference to urge those watching to 'get checked out,' especially when there are even the mildest of symptoms that something is off. It was sound advice, Varner said. 'One of the screen exams for bladder cancer is, for instance, just a regular urinalysis,' he said. 'It will pick up blood in the urine, which is a symptom. If you don't go to your primary care physician and have these basic screenings done, you miss it. And by the time you have obvious symptoms, you're further along the line for prostate cancer or colon cancer or breast cancer for Black women.' Varner said up to 70% of cancers are tied to food consumption, especially fast food and ultraprocessed products. 'In Black communities, there are one and a half times more fast-food restaurants,' he said. 'The reason why that matters is that fast food restaurants serve hyperprocessed foods, which leads to or increases the risk of cancer. And so right off the bat, it puts Black folks at a disadvantage.' 'It would help all people, and the Black community specifically, if some of the basic screenings were free,' Varner said. As an ER doctor, Varner said he often sees patients who have long had symptoms of a serious illness, but by the time they get to the hospital, 'they want immediate care.' But earlier screening would make the issue of care a little less invasive and daunting. Varner said prostate-specific screenings for cancer and analysis should be more broadly accessible. 'There are programs that help with the cost of some tests,' he said. 'But we have to take advantage of them and not wait until it's too late.' This article was originally published on Solve the daily Crossword
