Category Archives: Health

This year, join Stephen’s 13.1 mile team

Stephen Vinson at Railroad ParkA lot has changed since we first mentioned Stephen Vinson’s blog, Who Ate My Blog, back in July 2009. Back then we were trying to help him get the word out about pulling together a team for the 2010 BE&K 5K (now 5KBR).

This year he’s set an even bigger goal for himself – to complete this year’s Mercedes Half-Marathon.

He’s also been able to share his story with much larger platforms than before, including this year’s New Year’s Day cover story for The Birmingham News , being interviewed as part of the Champions of Health initiative and one of the subjects of a B-Metro piece on members of Birmingham’s local social media community.

His site’s also undergone a redesign since that first visit as well, meaning that you’ve got a great excuse to check-in and say hello to Stephen.

Photo: Vinson at Railroad Park, September 2010.

UAB awards scholarship to newborn

Jakaila Humphrey (left) and La'Issac Smith - courtesy UAB News La’Isaac Smith is a pretty lucky newborn. He was selected in a random drawing by the UAB Health System to receive a full, undergraduate tuition scholarship to UAB (which should no doubt come in quite handy when he’s eligible to enroll in 2027). His sister is shown here congratulating him as his parents, Kwanetta Humphrey and Bruce Smith, received the news on Monday afternoon.

La’Issac was the first of five newborns to enjoy the comforts of the new UAB Women and Infants Center when it opened this past Sunday, February 21, providing the back story (via UAB’s News service) for his good fortune. The 430,000 square foot facility is the newest addition to the university’s medical center campus, carrying with it a $164 million price tag.

That translates into a state of the art facility – one that does indeed “…feel more like a first-class hotel than a hospital.” Got a feeling that the patients will appreciate it.

Photo: Jakaila Humphrey (left) and La’Issac Smith. UAB News

Wear Red today!

Go Red for Women logoDon’t be surprised if you see a lot of red today as you’re moving through town (or across the country for that matter).

These conscientious people are doing their part to help raise awareness about heart disease and stroke, the number one killers among women in the United States. National Go Red for Women Day’s official website can provide you with additional information that you can share with others today and help keep you informed of any other things that you can do to raise awareness.

Logo: Courtesy of official website.

Hiers named to Presidential Advisory Council on AIDS/HIV

Kathie Hiers. Courtesy of Facebook profileLast week President Obama reopened the Office of National AIDS Policy and made new appointments to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). Among the 24 individuals selected to serve on the council is Kathie Hiers, CEO of AIDS Alabama, a recognized leader and expert nationwide in the HIV/AIDS arena. PACHA is tasked with creating a national HIV/AIDS strategy.

Decisions made by PACHA will be recommended to the President through the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  According to the press release that was posted via Facebook earlier today, Hiers is in pretty good company as folks normally selected to serve on PACHA are considered “significant community leaders with in-depth knowledge in HIV/AIDS, public health, global health, or business and may also include other highly regarded national figures.”

Photo: Courtesy of announcement on Facebook.

Find out when the flu hits Birmingham

So what do they do with all of that search data at Google? Well, apparently one of the things that they do is use it to attempt to estimate flu occurrences around the world, including Birmingham, AL.

Flu Trends is one of the projects that exist on Google.org – the company’s philanthropic arm – that appears to be quite accurate in figuring out when different parts of the country come down with the flu. Eerily so – but it looks like if the trend won’t be that bad for the rest of the year (at least, so far).

Screenshot: from Google.org

Yes, follow surgery on Twitter

The folks at UAB are providing tweet-by-tweet coverage of a robotic adrenalectomy this morning, October 23. You can follow the procedure, being conducted by Martin J. Heslin, M.D. via their Twitter account, @uabmedicine or via the hashtag #UABOR. Or just click on the links in that previous sentence. To learn more about UAB’s first live-tweeted surgery, check out this entry on their website.

Bachus holds town hall tonight

spencerbachus2U.S. Congressman Spencer Bachus is holding a town hall meeting of his own this evening, August 17, at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center beginning at 7 p.m. He hopes to give the folks he represents in Alabama’s 6th Congressional district an opportunity to voice their concerns over the current national debate about an overhaul of our health care system. He also recently released a statement about how some are trying to discredit the town hall meetings that have already been held. Tonight’s event will no doubt bring out vocal supporters to the two main camps that have developed during the national discourse.

Photo: U.S. House of Representatives.