A recent article by the Huffington Post highlighted the more “human” side of our tough-as-nails Olympic athletes. Below you’ll find an excerpt of the article and a sampling of the many health stories of these incredible individuals.

As if their record-breaking, medal-winning performances weren’t inspiring enough, a number of the top Olympians at this summer’s Games have overcome life-altering obstacles to reach the podium.

Many of these challenges have presented in the form of health problems and conditions that are difficult enough on their own, without the added pressure of competing on a global stage.

But that hasn’t stopped these Olympians. Here’s a look at how some of London’s stars have succeeded in the face of illness.

Jake Gibb – U.S. Beach Volleyball Player

The American beach volleyball player was flagged for abnormal hormone levels by a drug tester – the reason, it turned out, was that he had testicular cancer. Doctor were able to successfully remove the tumor, meaning Gibb didn’t need chemotherapy and could return to the beach with enough time to qualify for the 2012 Games, where he and partner Sean Rosenthal continued to compete.

“I realized the things that matter to me, and that’s health and family,” he said of the experience.

Get the most up-to-date information on issues relevant to the treatment and care of patients with cancer – including in-depth case studies – by checking out our Cancer Nursing: A Solid Foundation for Practice, 2nd Edition CE course.

Cancer Nursing: A Solid Foundation for Practice, 2nd Edition

Author: Ellen Carr, RN, MSN, AOCN
36 Contact Hours
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Paula Radcliff – U.K. Long Distance Runner

She may be the female world record holder in the marathon, but Radcliffe hasn’t won a single Olympic medal in four Games – and she’s now officially out for London, as well. The long-distance runner was declared unfit to compete due to a foot injury, the BBC reported.

But she’s continued running despite another health concern since she was a teenager: asthma. “I always take my reliever inhaler before and after I run and am extra careful when I have a cold, as that can make the symptoms more severe,” she has said, Health.com reported. And she told the BBC, “Asthma didn’t stop me doing what I love.”

While it might not seem like a condition that makes sports infinitely more difficult, around eight percent of Olympic athletes have asthma, making it the most common chronic disease among these star athletes, a recent study found.

Explore the course and management of asthma for each age population and the nurse’s role in promoting positive care outcomes by checking out our Asthma: Nursing Care Across the Lifespan CE course.

Asthma: Nursing Care Across the Lifespan

Author: Anne Meng, MN, CPNP, RNC, AE-C
23 Contact Hours
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See the entire article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/olympians-health-problems_n_1730452.html#slide=1318078

The recent news item about the bullied New York bus monitor underscores the importance of mental health counselors understanding the dynamics of bullying and how bullying affects not only its victims, but also bystanders and the bully him/herself.

Please read the news article below (taken from cnn.com) and then take action by ordering this Western Schools CE Course today:

Bullies, Victims, and Bystanders: From Prevalence to Prevention

Authors: Warren Heydenberk, EdD and Roberta Heydenberk, EdD

4 Contact Hours

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Bullying is a common phenomenon in our homes, schools, and workplaces. This course examines the characteristics of victims, bullies, and bystanders, the various forms and consequences of bullying behaviors, and their impact on the mental and physical health of each of these affected groups. Intervention methods and prevention strategies are presented to aid healthcare professionals in recognizing, preventing, and effectively intervening with bullying.

Click here for complete information and course objectives.

Middle Schoolers Bully Bus Monitor, 68, with Stream of Profanity, Jeers

(CNN) — A profanity-laced video of middle school students in upstate New York verbally abusing a bus monitor is sparking an outpouring of support as strangers worldwide rally to her side.

Students taunted Karen Klein, 68, with a stream of profanity, insults, jeers and physical ridicule. Some boys demanded to know her address, saying they wanted to come to her house and steal from her.

One comment from a boy aboard the bus was especially painful, she said. He told her that she does not have family because “they all killed themselves because they didn’t want to be near you.”

Klein’s eldest son took his own life 10 years ago, according to CNN affiliate WHAM.

The bullying continued unabated for about 10 minutes in the video, as a giggling student jabbed Klein’s arm with a book and made fun of her weight.

Recorded by a student with a cell phone camera Monday, the brazen bullying went viral and spurred international outrage.

The incident occurred in Greece, New York, near Rochester. Klein is a bus monitor for the Greece Central School District, and the harassers hail from a district middle school.

In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Klein said children misbehaved occasionally, but Monday’s incident was unlike any other she had experienced.

Despite the incident, she said she does not believe her harassers are bad kids.

“Not deep down. But when they get together, things happen,” she said.

As the intimidation unfolded, she tried to disregard the harassment and didn’t hear everything that was uttered, she said.

But she said it hurt deeply.

At one point, she said, she told two children, “I am a person, too. I shouldn’t be treated this way.”

Klein said she kept looking out of the window, counting down the seconds to when the students would get off the bus.

“It was one of those things, I didn’t know what to do,” she said.

No charges have been filed because Klein has decided she does not want to press criminal charges, according to Greece Police Capt. Steve Chatterton.

He stressed that the investigation is continuing and the bus monitor could change her mind.

“I’ve gotten e-mails from the United Kingdom (and) from all over the United States saying prosecute, prosecute,” Chatterton said. “I feel it. I feel it. But we have to follow the law. We can’t tailor the law to meet this case because of public outrage.”

The police captain said the four students pinpointed in the video, all of them seventh-graders, spoke to police voluntarily and without lawyers present.

“As one father put it, his son is sitting back, waiting for his punishment,” Chatterton said. “No one has denied accountability and they’ve taken responsibility for their actions.”

CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360º received statements from two of the accused middle schoolers and the father of a third student apologizing for their behavior.

“When I saw the video, I was disgusted and could not believe I did that,” one boy named Josh said. “I am sorry for being so mean and I will never treat anyone this way again.”

A teen named Wesley said he regretted his actions and “would be really mad” if someone had done the same to a family member.

“If your friend says to bully somebody, please don’t do it,” said the father of Luis, another of the seventh-graders. “We apologize to Ms. Klein. We’re deeply sorry.”

The video prompted an outpouring of support and a fundraiser by international crowd-funding website indiegogo.com that had gathered nearly $600,000 by Friday.

Max Sidorov, who started the fundraising campaign, said the video struck a chord with him because he is a bullying victim and the first thing that popped into his mind was to raise money to get her away from the environment.

“I had no idea I was going to raise anywhere near this amount. I thought maybe a few thousand,” Sidorov said from Toronto. “Maybe to send her somewhere nice. But this is enough for her to retire.”

Southwest planned to provide Klein and nine others with an all-expense paid trip to Disneyland in Southern California. Klein said the outpouring of support is overwhelming.

“I don’t feel like I’ve done anything,” she said after learning of the Southwest offer on CNN. “It’s awesome.”

The school district said its bullying team and the local police are conducting an investigation.

“We have discovered other similar videos on YouTube and are working to identify all of the students involved,” the school district said.

It did not elaborate on whether the additional videos are related to Klein’s case, though school officials say they were all apparently posted by the same user.

“While we cannot comment on specific student discipline, we can say that students found to be involved will face strong disciplinary action,” the school district said.

The students and their family members have received death threats, according to Chatterton.

“We have custody of one of their cell phones, and he had over 1,000 missed calls and 1,000 text messages threatening him. And he is a 13-year-old,” the police captain said. “That must stop.”

Klein said she’s not pushing for criminal charges, but wants the boys to be punished.

She suggested a few disciplinary actions — such as a ban from the bus and athletic activities or community service. But most of all, the grandmother of eight said she hopes this is the end of it.

“I want to make sure that they never do this again, to anybody,” she said.

Article Source: www.cnn.com article by Faith Karimi, CNN. Note: CNN’s Stephanie Gallman, Darrell Calhoun and Randi Kaye also contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/21/us/new-york-bullied-bus-monitor/index.html

To keep you up-to-date on current healthcare issues, we scour the web for the hottest, most current health-related topics. We recently found the article below at cbsnews.com and wanted to share it with you – our valued healthcare professionals.

Report: DHA ingredient in spray-on tans may wreak havoc on DNA

(CBS News) Could your spray-on tan destroy your DNA? According to a panel of independent medical experts commissioned by ABC News, one of the ingredients used to give you that bronze color – dihydroxyacetone (DHA) – may actually be breaking apart your genes.

Looking over 10 of the most current, publicly-available scientific studies, the six doctors and scientists concluded that they “have concerns.” Though none of the reviewed studies were done on human subjects, DHA was shown to have altered the genes of different kinds of cells and organisms. When inhaled, DHA can enter the lungs and eventually get into the bloodstream and has the potential to create many health problems, including cancer.

The experts concluded that more research was needed to be done to see the extent of the effect DHA could have on humans, including potential birth defects, if the spray-tan client was pregnant when she inhaled the compound. Also, they raised concern about workers because their constant exposure to 15 to 20 spray tans a day could put them at risk of inhaling much of the product.

Perhaps more troubling, ABC News found out that one of the largest manufacturers of spray tan product in the U.S., Norvell Skin Solutions, has mislabeled DHA as a “food grade” product safe for human consumption that was used by the health supplement industry. While it is true that DHA – docosahexaenoic acid – has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, the DHA used in spray on tans is a completely different product that the FDA warns consumers not to consume or inhale.

“We were absolutely in error,” Rick Norvell, president of Norvell Skin Solutions, told ABC News. The company said they have since emailed, tweeted and Facebooked around 14,000 to 16,000 of their contacts to tell them of the mistake and have since removed the “food grade” designation from their documents and websites.

Only time will tell if the salons that administer the tans to their clients will adopt these changes. Out of the 12 salons that ABC News visited during their study, nine did not have any eye covers, another nine didn’t have nose plugs and 11 didn’t have protective gear for the mouth. Every salon discouraged the use of the protection, mainly because it would affect the look of the tan, and they were convinced the tanning product was safe.

The European Commission, which advises the European Union on different issues including health, ruled that DHA was safe for human use in 2010. However, many of ABC’s panelists saw problems with the review, saying that the cosmetic industry mostly sent the commission studies about DHA that were never published or peer-reviewed. Many were conducted by the cosmetic companies themselves or industry groups that were tied to the manufacturing of DHA.

One of the panelists, Dr. Darrell Rigel, an NYU professor of dermatology, admitted to ABC News that he used to advise his patients that spray-on tans were safe.

“(I would) tell my patients what every other dermatologist tells them: ‘If you want to be tanned, [tanning with DHA] is effective, it’s not being absorbed and there’s no long-term problems.’ After reading these papers, I’m not sure that’s true anymore,” he said to ABC News.

Article Source: cbsnews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57453364-10391704/report-dha-ingredient-in-spray-on-tans-may-wreak-havoc-on-dna/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Skin cancer continues to be a growing public health concern. Western Schools offers an informative continuing education course – Skin Cancer – which provides an overview of the prevalence and management of the different types of skin cancer. It guides the nurse through modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors, how to perform a risk assessment, physical characteristics and detection strategies, AJCC staging, new treatment modalities and Healthy People 2020 public health initiatives. Inclusion of the latest SPF sunscreen recommendations and skin cancer prevention strategies to share with patients and families make this a must-have course!

Skin Cancer

Author: Suzanne M. Mahon, RN, DNSc, AOCN, APNG.
2 Contact Hours
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