Ciao, New Voices!

Wow…the past three months have flown by! This sign-off brings me mixed emotions. In the next four weeks, I will finish my Masters of Public Health degree from the University of Florida. The thought of Pomp and Circumstance and tassels brings me pure joy. However, I’m really sad that I’m leaving Research!America. I have truly enjoyed being a Science Policy Intern and blogging on New Voices.

I spent my time as an intern tweeting, blogging, writing newsletter articles, doing background research projects, updating websites and attending events. Most importantly, I’ve been communicating my passion for health to others.

Even though advocating won’t be my full-time job for quite some time, I’m making a promise to myself to never lose sight of what I feel is important: the health of the American public. New Voices has helped me to find my own voice in the world of health advocacy. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be featured in a series that looks at the intersection of medical research and public health, and how the two can work together to improve the health of our nation.

Speaking of medicine, I guess that I should inform you that I’ve been accepted to Ross University School of Medicine! Hopefully between studying for exams and dissecting cadavers, I’ll have some time to do some guest blog posts.

So, even though I’m not Italian (although I do love Italian food), it’s time for me to say ciao, New Voices. It’s been fantastico.

Stress? Enough with that mess!

I hate to see my friends stressed. I hate to be stressed. Being a twenty-something means my friends and I are at a stage of life experiencing myriad stresses; especially this time of year. Finals, taxes, projects at work, student loan payments, and spring cleaning are enough to make anyone feel like their plate is overflowing. In fact, 44% of 18-29 year-olds experience stress.

According to the World Health Organization, stress is the #1 health problem in America. By age and gender: 46% of 30-49 year-olds, 43% of full-time workers, 46% of part-time workers, 40% of women, 35% of men suffer from stress. This basically means that stress for us 20-somethings probably isn’t going anywhere. However, everyone should be proactive about managing stress in their lives.

In my experience, the best method of stress management is time management. Remember your planner from grade school? Adults have them too. All the cool kids have them. I would never be able to keep track of all the ideas whirling in my head and projects at work without my trusty planner. They’re not expensive either -prices range from as little as $6.00 standard paper stock to a few hundred bucks “apps” for various “smart” phones. When everything is carefully planned out you can allocate the necessary time for each item on your to-do list, which can alleviate stress.

Lists are another great way to reduce stress. Similar to time management, managing your priorities can reduce anxiety. Bounty^® has a free list creating tool customizable for you, your kids (if you have any), or your “honey” (if you have one)! This is a very practical way to manage one’s life and reduce stress (isn’t crossing things off fun?).

Time management and prioritizing can be useful in our personal lives and at work, but sometimes other people have more control over these elements of our lives than is good for our stress levels. How can we create lists if we don’t even know what is due and when? Sometimes, we need to manage our managers. When it comes to projects at work and in classes, we need to ask for a deadline if one isn’t provided. Since I’m a planner and a list-maker, I regularly ask when something is due and what priority level it is so I can allocate time efficiently for all assignments. Meeting deadlines certainly reduces my stress.

These are just three practical ways to manage your stress by managing your life. Some great websites that offer even more stress-busting tips are:
http://helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm
http://www.livestrong.com/article/14656-stress-reduction/
http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/features/blissing-out-10-relaxation-techniques-reduce-stress-spot

In the meantime…this may make you smile and give you a stress free moment today.



Jessica Stutzman has a Bachelor of Arts in Security and Intelligence from The Ohio State University and is an administrative assistant at Research!America. She has previously contributed to New Voices on women's issues.

Upcoming Congressional Town Hall Meetings

Lamoine Town Hall, Maine

The U.S. Congress is on recess this week and next, which means it's time for a spring listing of upcoming town hall meetings. Below we have links to members of Congress from more than 25 states, which means that a good number of you should be able to find something going on in your area. Make sure to let us know if you head out to a meeting - we'd love to hear about it!

Arizona
Rep. Trent Franks

California
Rep. Kevin McCarthy
Rep. Buck McKeon
Rep. Ed Royce

Colorado
Rep. Jared Polis

Connecticut
Rep. Jim Himes

Florida
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Georgia
Rep. Phil Gingrey

Illinois
Rep. Danny Davis
(check out Davis' responses to Your Congress-Your Health)

Indiana
Rep. Dan Burton

Iowa
Sen. Chuck Grassley

Kansas
Rep. Jerry Moran

Louisiana
Rep. Steve Scalise

Maryland
Rep. Chris Van Hollen

Massachusetts
Rep. John Tierney

Michigan
Rep. Mark Schauer

Montana
Rep. Denny Rehberg

Nebraska
Sen. Mike Johanns
Rep. Adrian Smith

New Hampshire
Rep. Paul Hodes
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter

New Jersey
Rep. John Adler

New Mexico
Rep. Martin Heinrich
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan

New York
Rep. Scott Murphy
Rep. Paul Tonko

North Carolina
Rep. Mike McIntyre
Rep. Mel Watt

Oklahoma
Sen. Tom Coburn
Rep. Tom Cole
Rep. Frank Lucas

Oregon
Sen. Jeff Merkley

Tennessee
Rep. Marsha Blackburn

Texas
Rep. Joe Barton
Rep. Kevin Brady
Rep. Pete Sessions
Rep. Mac Thornberry

Washington
Rep. Adam Smith

Wisconsin
Rep. Ron Kind
Rep. Tom Petri
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.

Keep Music in Our Schools

Fun fact: I was born legally deaf. An experimental surgery and three sets of tubes later, and I can hear a phone vibrating from two rooms away, or a dog barking across the street, or a whisper from a friend. My ears - through the grace of medical research - have heard an incredible variety of sounds over the last 20-some-odd years; my favorite being music.

Music is an art - one with many forms, functions, and frequencies. How many of us have a favorite song? Or genre of music? How many of us use music to relax, to energize us, or to express ourselves? In some way or another, I'd venture to say that music has played a role in all of our lives.

Don't believe me? How'd you learn the ABC's? Studies show that using music can significantly improve our ability to learn - especially science and math (if you can learn notes, you can learn fractions).

You'd be hard-pressed to find a superintendent who didn't agree in the value of arts education yet according to a 2006 report from the state of Illinois, "almost 20% of Illinois principals surveyed report having no arts program in their school (visual arts, theater, music or dance), and 28% of superintendents report that none of the four arts disciplines were considered part of the core curriculum in their school district."

When I was growing up, we had music once a week in elementary school. In middle school, a single school quarter was required in the arts over three years, and only one of my 32 high school courses needed to be in an arts discipline. With policies like that, it's easy to see why enrollment in music declines almost 75% between grades 6 and 12.

Music and other arts are should be more than just electives. According to the Americans for the Arts, the arts and culture industry generates in the ballpark of $166 billion dollars a year, supporting about 5.7 million full-time jobs in the United States. Educating young Americans in music and the arts won't only enhance their learning of "core" subjects, but could also prepare them for careers in a booming industry.

As Music in Our Schools Month draws to a close, I hope you'll take the time to consider the important role music plays in the lives of American children, and take a stand about the value of supporting the arts as an integral part of the curriculum in public schools.

Invisible But Still Very Real: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

For me, one of the worst feelings is waking up after 8 hours of sleep and still being exhausted. There can be many reasons why we are unable to recharge from time to time, but for many Americans that feeling of exhaustion can be caused by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The CDC estimates that at least one million Americans have CFS.

The exhaustion associated with CFS can interfere greatly with work and personal lives. In the United States, the estimated annual economic impact of CFS is $9.1 billion dollars in lost productivity. This dollar amount does not even include costs associated with medical treatment or disability payments.

A major barrier to treatment for people with CFS is the stigma associated with the disease. For years, people have assumed CFS was not a real illness but simply symptoms manifested from another condition, like hypochondria or depression. People with CFS and other poorly understood "invisible illnesses" (illnesses with symptoms that cannot be seen) have the added challenge that employers and family members may not believe they are truly sick because from the outside they look fine.

To this day, advocates have fought to legitimize CFS, which has included working to change the name of the disease. They argue that the name is imprecise because fatigue is not the only symptom of the disease, and they believe it affects a patients’ ability to get the care they need.

Despite extensive research in search of a cause or diagnostic marker for CFS, much is still unknown. Studies, like one published by the CDC in 2006, have now identified biological abnormalities in people with CFS. However, scientists don't yet understand how these changes contribute to the symptoms.

As I mentioned, a major challenge of invisible illnesses like CFS is that there are no outward signs of the illness. It is often challenging for a person with CFS to get the proper diagnosis for the symptoms. It is important that we remember that the problem they have, while hard to see, is very real. We should be careful our words reflect this fact. Comments, such as "I'm sure it's all in your head," suggest the disease is not a legitimate problem, when in actuality it can be debilitating. Make an effort to watch out for phrases like these when talking to people we know have invisible illnesses.


Check out this fact sheet to see why Investment in research saves lives and money for those effected by chronic fatigue syndrome.

President Obama Signs Health Reform Legislation

Photo credit: AP

President Obama signed a health reform bill negotiated by Congress into law this week. There's been a lot of discussion about it, so as we wrap-up the week, here's your open-thread to tell us what you think.

March News Round-Up

My inbox has been flooded with great news pieces today, so here are a couple I think you should take a look at:

From The Scientist, Anthony Cognato shares his encounter with FOX news and details how he was able to express the value of his ARRA funding to science, his community, and America's economy. (Free registration required to read the piece, but the full interview is on video above.)

Kathy Mitchell tells her tale of surviving tuberculosis in a New Jersey suburb on the New Jersey Voices Blog.

NIH Director Francis Collins talks to the Washington Post about health reform, genetic testing, and what effect specialty groups and his religion have on science priorities at the NIH.

Three short reads, but all valuable examples of research advocacy in action.

World Tuberculosis Day 2010

Tuberculosis, or TB for short is not something most people will think about today. But we should, which is why public health advocate Karen Goraleski is guest posting today to give us a little history about TB.

***

More than 125 years after the discovery of the cause of TB we are still fighting this ancient killer. Even more incredible, we are using drugs and treatments developed nearly a half-century ago. The major burden of TB is found in developing countries, where 98% of TB deaths occur. In addition to killing people, it wields a double hit by draining $12 billion annually from the world’s poorest communities, where families caring for a loved one with TB spend eight to 20% of their income on treatment. Businesses and local economies must also cope with the absence of employees with TB, who will lose three to four months of work on average.

We don’t think about TB here in the U.S., but we need to. In the 1980s and under a false sense of security, America relaxed its monitoring of TB. As a result, TB returned with a vengeance in the 1990s. Flash forward another ten plus years to 2007 and we have more than 13,000 TB cases reported.

An increased investment in research to develop new tools to diagnose and treat TB is essential to prevent the needless suffering caused by TB and its often fatal drug resistant strains. Without this, TB can quickly overpower the current inadequate response to this long-standing but beatable disease.

In this world where disease is just a plane ride away for all of us, where business and commerce are expanding globally, where students and youth groups routinely travel to distant places, it is critical for the U.S. to invest in global health research to develop better prevention and treatment for TB, and to find a definitive cure.


Karen Goraleski is the vice president of public health partnerships at Research!America.

For more on tuberculosis, check out this fact sheet.

Advocating Outside the Box (Or Outhouse?)

Photo Credit: NRDC

Think back to a time that you were so concerned about an issue that you took action. What did you do to make your opinion heard?

As a kid, I always felt the word advocate carried a connotation that made it only applicable to people who took significant action to fight for a cause, like Martin Luther King Jr., for civil rights, or Rachel Carson, for the environment. However, I now understand that advocacy is simply taking action to promote change no matter how simple the action may seem.

Advocacy includes a wide range of actions from the classics - such as lobbying, protests, and civil disobedience - to newer actions that are developing alongside technology. As the internet became a fixture of everyday life, we saw a rise of electronic advocacy, which can include spreading news on social-networking sites or using the internet to organize collective actions like email campaigns.

Increasingly, events are being organized through viral marketing, which takes advantage our tendency to post information to sites like Twitter to disperse information through a self-replicating process similar to how viruses spread.

A recent example of viral marketing includes mass actions organized for World Water Day. March 22^nd was designated in 1992 by the United Nations as an international day to raise awareness about the world’s water crisis.

This year, a large number of people celebrated World Water Day as advocates by participating in a global mass action. Thousands of people in over 72 countries stood up for clean water and sanitation by lining up behind a toilet. The purpose of this event, aptly called the World’s Longest Toilet Queue, was to bring people together to voice their support for international government action to fight the water crisis.

This international event was organized promoted using social sites like Facebook and Twitter. A queue was even formed near New Voices neighborhood today, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC!

More pictures across the globe can be seen at the World’s Longest Toilet Queue’s Flickr page.

The Toilet Queue wasn’t the only event held for World Water Day. Did any of you, our readers, participate in events? We’d love to hear about it!

Advances in Pregnancy Research

Photo credit: Torsten Mangner

As a woman who would someday like to be a mother, I tend to take notice of technological advancements that make it possible to better care for future little versions of me. Two areas of research that have specifically caught my attention are mother-to-child transmission and ultrasound technology.

The placenta is an organ that delivers nutrients and oxygen rich blood to a developing fetus. This organ is supposed to be a barrier from harmful substances. As new developments and discoveries in science and health care are made readily available to the public, it is becoming increasingly obvious that there are many more harmful substances that can pass through the placenta to the fetus.

In 1973 the term “fetal alcohol syndrome” was coined. The surgeon general developed warning labels for tobacco products in 1984 as part of the Comprehensive Smoking Education Act. The FDA warned pregnant women against consuming tuna and canned fish due to the effects of mercury on developing fetuses. More recently, a confirmed case of transference of leukemia from mother to child occurred in the fall of 2009.

Ultrasound, a technology in use since the early 1900’s, was first applied in obstetrics in the 1960’s. Parents could hear the heartbeat(s) of their unborn child or children. Today, parents have the amazing ability to see 3-D images of their children. The first smiles and smirks can be seen before the child ever leaves the womb.

Science has made amazing discoveries for parents (and parents-to-be) as well as adoring friends and relatives. But we wouldn’t have any of this information without research. It is essential that we support both the current generation of researchers and the next one. You never know what this little person may grow up to discover.


Jessica Stutzman has a Bachelor of Arts in Security and Intelligence from The Ohio State University and is an administrative assistant at Research!America. She has previously contributed to New Voices on women's issues.