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Health & Fitness

First, the Good News....

Life expectancy rates are longer, yet safety in hospitals today remains a very real problem. Learn more at www.Northshorern.com

The good news is that Americans are living longer and death rates are dropping, according to the US Centers for Disease Control. Americans are living longer: average life expectancy for 2010 is listed at 78.7 years. While heart disease and cancer remain the nation’s leading killers (47% of deaths in 2010) death rates here are also declining.

The bad news is that age related illnesses such as chronic respiratory disease, strokes, hypertension, diabetes, sepsis, liver disease, Altzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease are growing in prominence, making quality of life a challenge for many of our older adults. Add to this the epidemic of smoking, obesity, poor diet and lack of exercise and the ‘golden years’ are becoming something very different what many had hoped for as they persevered through the working years.

Another very real cause for concern is the current state of safety in many American hospitals, as well as spiraling health care costs. Recent studies show that as many as 98,000 people die needlessly each year from medical errors that occur in hospitals, making medical error the fifth leading cause of death in our country: that is more than the combined deaths from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer and AIDS. The Institute of Medicine is now spearheading an initiative to improve the quality of care in US hospitals, and improve safety margins. Find out more here: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9728.html (To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System).

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What can you do to ensure a greater safety margin for yourself and your family when going into the hospital today? Mostly, take an active role in decisions affecting your care: speak up, ask questions and take along a family member to be an extra set of eyes and ears for you. Being ill affects your ability to advocate for yourself on a variety of levels, so if the situation is complex, confusing or if you just have a feeling that something is not quite right, trust your instincts and ask for help. Professional nurse advocates are one answer. Do the research and get the answers you need to make wise health care decisions.

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