Disaster preparedness

Knowing that thousands of our neighbors are still struggling (and will be, for days or weeks) with power loss, flood cleanup, lost wages, inability to get from one place to another, there is one pro-active response we can take: Check our own crisis plans—especially if you live with or care for people who have cancer.

 The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology have a free wallet card for patients, in English or Spanish. It has space for critical information in case the patient must be seen by a doctor unfamiliar with their care, as well as a 1-800-4-CANCER number to get disaster advice.

 There are other key steps you can take to be prepared for any emergency. Read the rest of this entry »

In hospitals, clostridum difficile spores are found on bedrails and other objects in patient rooms.  Immune response, shown by lymphocytes in and near tumors predicts better outcomes for patients with colorectal cancer.

In other news, the NIH Medline Plus helps long-distance relatives for aging family, and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute studies of the effects of space radiation on the bones of astronauts during long voyages to the moon or Mars may benefit cancer patients on Earth who are getting radiotherapy. Read the rest of this entry »