Holiday revelers urged to avoid drunken driving
USA Today – Dec. 11
Most of us have seen someone try to drive home after having too much to drink, according to a recent survey, and the holidays are among the deadliest times of the year on the roads. A new analysis by a University of Alabama researcher finds that, at least in that state, the days just before Christmas, when people are rushing to buy presents and traveling to holiday destinations, bring an increased risk of vehicle crashes. David Brown, a professor of computer science at UA’s Center for Advanced Public Safety, found that in 2012, the six-day period that includes Christmas had 18% more crashes than the Thanksgiving period and 27% more than the period around New Year’s Day. “People at this time of year are anxious to get their shopping done, and they may be frustrated, and other people can aggravate them,” says Brown, who examined crash data only for Alabama. “Drugged and drunken driving could be compounding the problem.”
How the University of Alabama spurs healthy living with biometric screening
Employee Benefit News – Dec. 11
EBN profiled two employers, Elkay Manufacturing Company and The University of Michigan, which use biometric screenings to drive the larger message of healthy living home to their employees. The University of Alabama has also made impressive wellness strides by promoting and integrating their screening initiative in an overarching well-being campaign. For this collegiate employer, what is even more important than the health numbers stemming from biometrics is the context for those numbers. “If the health screening is done in coordination with the health education component, it not only provides an awareness campaign, but a true educational opportunity to reinforce and encourage individuals to have an on-going established relationship and conversation with providers,” says Rebecca Kelly, Director, Health Promotion and Wellness, at the Tuscaloosa-based University of Alabama. Alabama has high levels of diabetes in their state and employee population at the university: upwards of 30% of employees have pre-diabetes. Kelly sees the screenings as an opportunity for employees to have a full picture of their health, but also for the employer, so that it can locate emerging risks, such as high blood pressure, pre-diabetes or sedentary lifestyles, which helps the school in turn to better design its benefits plan as well as target interventions.
Cathedral to host UA musicians at December Mid-Day concert on Friday
Al.com – Dec. 11
Tenor Stephen Cary and pianist Cindy St. Clair are the featured artists Friday, Dec. 13, on Cathedral Church of the Advent’s Mid-Day Music series. Cary, professor of voice emeritus at the University of Alabama, has appeared as a soloist in numerous oratorios and was a three-time Metropolitan Opera Auditions regional finalist. St. Clair is a doctoral student at UA and serves as staff accompanist. A multiple competition winner, she has collaborated with vocalists, ensembles, instrumentalists, choirs and music theater groups.
Medicaid expansion would make state’s economy healthier, group urges
Al.com – Dec. 11
A coalition of 18 health and policy organizations have joined together to urge Alabama to expand its Medicaid program or develop another means to bring healthcare to the working poor. “We are pulling together to make the case that Medicaid expansion would be a great move for Alabama’s economy,” said Jim Carnes, communications director for Alabama Arise, an advocacy group for low-income families…The group’s website, www.alabamasbest.org, highlights what it says are the health and economic benefits of expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Carnes said studies by the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama found that expanding Medicaid would bring healthcare coverage to 300,000 Alabamians and create 30,700 new jobs over six years.
‘Roll Tide red’: Local body shop paints pediatric walker for 6-year-old Crimson Tide fan
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 11
Isaiah Geist loves Crimson Tide football. The Tide is so ingrained in the 6-year-old’s psyche that whenever he sees the color red he immediately thinks of two things — stop signs and “Roll, Tide, roll.” So when it came time for Isaiah to get a pediatric walker, he naturally wanted it to be painted “Roll Tide red.” But walkers covered by his mother’s insurance only come in metallic gray. Isaiah accepted that. Diana Geist, however, wanted more for her son, who has endured a lot in his short life. Isaiah was born with arthrogryposis, a disorder that causes contractures — in which elastic tissues are replaced by stiff tissue — in his joints and the absence of some muscles, which greatly limit his mobility. There is no cure for the disorder, but there are treatments: regular surgeries and painful body castings. Isaiah had his first body cast when he was 8 weeks old. He gets them again every two months.
Paralympic skier Alana Nichols defending four medals in Sochi Games
Denver Post – Dec. 8
When Alana Nichols shredded three ligaments in her shoulder in a training accident at Mount Hood last summer, doctors told her to give up on her plans to compete in the Winter Paralympic Games at Sochi in February. “It could be pretty easy to use the shoulder as an excuse, but when doctors said Sochi wasn’t an option, that just fueled my fire and made me want it even more,” said the 30-year-old Wheat Ridge resident. She heard that same “time to give up your athletic dreams” line from doctors 13 years ago. In November 2000, the 17-year-old snowboarder was trying her first backflip in early-season snow near Durango. She didn’t probe the landing for rocks. The impact shattered both her vertebrae and her dream of playing softball in college. She’s been in a wheelchair ever since…”When I was a 17-year-old newly spinal-cord-injured girl, I needed someone like me on the podium, on the red carpet and meeting presidents,” said Nichols, who earned a master’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Alabama, where she played wheelchair basketball. “It’s an honor and privilege to be that person and inspire people to go and do more than they thought they could.”