Fairbanks Mental Health Organization Cuts Staff

Politics of health care reform, cuts impact mental health, substance abuse treatment

New chief executive officer Jerry Jenkins says the operation simply wasn’t paying for itself. He told social service providers it will end free services, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported ( http://bit.ly/156JHao). “We’re a clinic provider,” he said. “Those things are gone.” The new operation is a subsidiary of Anchorage Community Mental Health Services and will provide care for mental health clients until at least July. Jenkins, who also is the CEO of the Anchorage organization, said a priority will be stabilizing shaky finances.
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Therefore, despite efforts on the part of governments, health care advocates, and policy makers, a persistent lack of awareness and demand among patients and families for adequate mental health services and underutilization of the services that do exist continue at both the state and local level. To address this critical gap in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, in partnership with Johnson and Johnson , Scientists Without Borders , a collaborative Web-based community interested in global development issues, is hosting a $10,000 Open Innovation Challenge seeking bold and innovative ideas that have the potential to significantly increase the utilization of available evidence-based services for diagnosis and treatment among individuals aged 15 to 44 with depression and anxiety disorders. The challenge will run for 31 days, concluding on Oct. 10, 2013, Global Mental Health Day. Solvers are invited to submit their ideas via InnoCentive , which is administering the online portion of the challenge. An independent panel of leading experts will be convened by Scientists Without Borders to select the winning solvers. The diseases of depression and anxiety are persistent and widespread; those are seeking solutions should be as well.
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A Picture of (Mental) Health

Therefore, a final decision could come as late as early March, when the Legislature adjourns. If Medicaid expansion does not occur, significant cuts to services will be unavoidable, McAdams’ letter states. Salt Lake County funds prevention and treatment services for more than 58,000 people, said Patrick Fleming, director of substance abuse services in the Division of Behavioral Health Services. Dr. Bill McMahon, chairman of the University of Utahs Department of Psychiatry, said the county is taking a sensible course given the uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion. I think Mayor Ben McAdams and his staff have been wise in preparing for a worst-case scenario, McMahon said.
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Do Tests That Predict Genetic Health Risks Go Far Enough With Nutrition Changes? (video)

Herbalife (HLF) Beefs Up Nutrition Advisory Board; Names Georgios Moulinos, Ph.D.

You need to know whether to cut out fructose and sugar. You also need to find out how much vegetables to eat compared to your intake of fruit, or whether you need to increase the energy in your mitochondria with supplements in moderation such as Coenzyme Q10. You need to know if you’re a vegan, how much vitamin B12, B6, or other vitamins and fats to take, or whether you need to cut down on eating fried foods, various oil, or need cod liver oil to get your fatty acids. None of this information about using food for energy is mentioned in numerous tests. Some tests will tell you to take a supplement but not tell you which supplement is best and why.
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Viewpoints: Cutting nutrition assistance is recipe for hunger that will cost us all

The board is chaired by David Heber, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)* For the past two decades Moulinos has consulted for a variety of sports clubs including PAE AEK football; basketball teams KAE Olympiakos, Dafni, Ionikos, N. Philadelphia, Panionios, KAOD and Panellinios; volleyball teams TAK Panathinaikos, TAK Olympiakos and TAK Panellinios, as well as the Greek national team for the 2004 Olympics; and hand ball team Panellinios A.O. Moulinos is an independent consultant at BCH College for exercise physiology and has served as Special Scientific Staff in volleyball coaching at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Science. He was selected by the Greek Ministry of Education as a member of the Administrative Committee of the Harokopio University of Athens in the Faculty of Dietetics-Nutrition.
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Manning Wants Hormone Therapy In Prison. Will It Happen?

Chelsea Manning Would Pay for her Own Hormone Therapy in Prison

I dont know of any cases that have been brought yet against military prisons. But they would have the same obligation to provide adequate medical care. Levi worked with a North Carolina inmate to reform federal policy on hormone replacement therapy in prison. Vanessa Adams entered a North Carolina facility at age 29. She was biologically male but self-identified as female throughout her adult life, according to court documents. Because of this, she wanted to initiate the gender transition process prior to her incarceration, but found herself unable to do so in the face of the restrictions imposed on her by a conservative family and workplace, the lawsuit continues. Adams had been diagnosed with gender identity disorder; Manning has also received the same diagnosis. Adams filed a lawsuit in 2009 after her prison denied treatment.
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To be sure, it is not the first time Manning’s gender identity has been publicly discussed. Manning’s 2010 chat logs with hacker Adrian Lamo , for instance, indicate that the soldier has long intended to transition to female. Her identity was also discussed during the espionage trial. Manning and her team stepped up the timing of the announcement after reading a report indicating that the military wouldn’t provide hormone therapy access. Coombs explained to the AP: “It was Chelsea’s intent to do this all along,” Coombs said. “It was only after Fort Leavenworth had said that they would not provide any sort of medical treatment that we decided not to wait.” Her additional statements through Coombs come as some publications the AP , the New York Times , and NPR , for example announced an “evolution” in their pronoun policies towards transgendered individuals, and Manning in particular.
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Hormone Therapy Safe in Early Menopause

Fuse/Getty Images Researchers in Denmark have become the first to offer statistical proof that hormone therapy is not only safe for menopausal women who begin it early — it actually reduces their risk of mortality, heart attack and heart failure. The 16-year randomized study of about a thousand women offers new proof that the ” timing hypothesis ,” which suggests that hormone therapy protects women from heart disease if they start it soon after their last menstrual period, is correct. Researchers also saw no difference in breast cancer risk between those who were assigned the hormone therapy and those who were not. “It really confirms the timing hypothesis and hopefully will change the way we look at hormone therapy, so it will change the quality of life for many women,” said study author Dr. Louise Schierbeck, who works in the department of endocrinology at Hvidovre Hospital in Denmark. The women took estrogen for about ten years until 2002, when another study, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), found significant evidence that women taking progestin and estrogen were more likely to develop aggressive breast cancer. Although WHI researchers studied 160,000 women ages 50 to 79, many of whom had chronic diseases already, Danish researchers studied 1,000 women ages 45 to 58, and excluded people who previously had had cancer or other major illnesses, according to the study text , which was published in the BMJ, formerly the British Medical Journal.
For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://abcnews.go.com/Health/hormone-therapy-safe-menopausal-women-danish-study-post/story?id=17436329