By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
County wellness forum focuses on asthma
HEA-county-wellness-lunch-TROUTMAN-ASH-0721
Liberty County human resources specialist Laura Troutman (left) and Rhyeshia Ash talk about Ash's new exercise regimen that won her recognition from the county during the Tuesday luncheon. - photo by Photo by Jen Alexander McCall
County employees gathered Tuesday for a lunch-and-learn program, at which Dr. John Cortina spoke.
The lunch was part of the county’s yearlong wellness campaign.
“Education is one of the four main components of this program,” human resource specialist Laura Troutman said. “We have more than 100 active participants.”
Cortina, who recently joined Liberty Regional Medical Center’s staff from a private practice in North Carolina, discussed asthma and allergies. He works with Dr. Adewemi Oguntunmibi of Coastal Medical Specialists in lung and critical care.
“One thing patients ask is, ‘what is asthma, and am I going to die from it?’” Cortina said.
He explained that asthma, unlike other lung health issues, can be reversed in many patients. Where asthma is related to external triggers such as allergens — pet dander, pollens, dust mites or roaches — patients may experience symptoms in varying degrees of severity.
Asthma is most common in young patients between the ages of 4 and 8, and again in patients older than 40, although a slight increase is also found in a small population over age 65.
“I don’t think anyone really knows why, but it’s a small bump,” Cortina said of the older patients, who often haven’t experienced any symptoms earlier in life.
Younger patients may grow out of asthma as their immune systems develop, but “that’s not to say that 10 to 15 years down the road, they might not develop [asthma] again,” Cortina said. “If it does happen if may be more permanent.”
Asthma is currently treated in a variety of ways, but most medications are designed to limit the body’s reaction to triggers. In addition to avoiding allergens that may trigger an attack, patients may choose an inhaler, nebulizer or pill such as Singulair.
Many patients with asthma also show signs of allergic rhinitis, Cortina said, which is marked by a runny nose, sneezing, itchy and watery eyes. Where asthma and allergies are intertwined, Cortina said doctors may prescribe such anti-allergy medications as Claritin or recommend over-the-counter remedies like Benadryl.
The wellness program includes a competition component to help motivate county employees. Winners receive various prizes for their participation. The second-quarter winner is Rhyeshia Ash, who earned 96 points by participating in various activities and implementing an exercise regimen. Ash thanked her fellow employees for their encouragement.
“I needed to do it, not just for the program but because I feel better overall,” she said.
Sign up for our e-newsletters
From the book 'Outliers' comes proof that good health is more than just genetics
8ccd7d661f85d37c8298791c9a56bec6e0f8449d4aea5c09c6ffcf527854f186
Friends Jim Young, left, Mike Natale, Jeff Natale and Ryan Kiernan were on Greenwich High School football team together and Jim and Mike were captains. Jim, who was the youngest in Sherry Young's family, was welcome in the homes of the other three boys who still had siblings around and grandparents near. - photo by Sherry Young
As I look back on my life and the lives of others, both personally and in the reading I have done, I am convinced of the necessity of positive human contact in our lives. We are doubly blessed when we are able to make good friends or are a part of a family where we are accepted and loved.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers tells of a time in the 1950s when Dr. Stewart Wolf met a physician who practiced in the area of Roseto, Pennsylvania. Roseto was settled by a group of Italian families from Roseto, Italy, who re-created their life again in America.

This was in the 1950s before drugs and measures to prevent heart disease became important. In their conversation the physician said, You know, Ive been practicing for 17 years. I get patients from all over, and I rarely find anyone from Roseto under the age of 65 with heart disease.

Wolf was surprised by these words as, It was impossible to be a doctor, common sense said, and not see heart disease.

Wolf enlisted the aid of a sociologist and friend John Bruhn to help him. They found, There was no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug addiction, and very little crime. They didnt have anyone on welfare. Then we looked at peptic ulcers. They didnt have any of those either. These people were dying of old age. Thats it.

They checked into diet, genetics and possibilities of something in the foothills of eastern Pennsylvania but nothing made sense.

What they found was that Rosetans visited one another, stopping to chat in Italian on the street, say, or cooking for one another in their backyards. (Researchers) learned about the extended family clans that underlay the towns social structure. They saw how many homes had three generations living under one roof and how much respect grandparents commanded. They went to Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and saw the unifying and calming effect of the church. They counted 22 separate civic organizations in a town of just under 2,000 people. They picked up on the particular egalitarian ethos of the community, which discouraged the wealthy from flaunting their success and helped the unsuccessful obscure their failures.

What they found eventually convinced the medical establishment to look beyond the individual and understand the culture people are part of their friends, families and town they came from. They determined that the people we surround ourselves with and the values of the world we inhabit have a profound effect on who we are.

Likely, this study could have been done with other ethnicities. However, my family's experiences with the Italian families in Connecticut ring true to the study. Our hungry and growing sons, especially our youngest son, Jim, who was left home alone with two beady-eyed parents, all had some memorable experiences being fed and loved in the Cos Cob multigenerational families. Proof of the African proverb, It takes a village to raise a child.

We live in an age when the contact we have with people often is on the internet, and many of us live among strangers. Unless we make the effort to reach out, we will become isolated, especially as we age. The Rosetan study is proof that reaching out and communicating may be good for our health.
Latest Obituaries