Minnesota Leaders In Healthcare – Know One – Nominate One!

Do You Know A Minnesota

Leader In Healthcare?

Show Your Appreciation

Nominate Them For This Great Award

Nominations Close Monday August 12th, 2013

Honoring not only health care professionals, but those that support it! Start-ups, Technology, architecture/real estate, venture capital, legal and the list continues. Don’t be fooled by the title.  There are a lot of  categories so you might know more then one deserving person!  The application process is simple and won’t take a lot of your time but I’m sure will make a huge difference to a deserving individual.

Nominations can be made through MONDAY for our Leaders in Health Care. The nomination form can be accessed at minnesotabusiness.com

Please consider submitting a nomination/or sharing with your network. We want to ensure we have the best possible pool of candidates to recognize.

Minnesota Business magazine’s annual “Leaders in Health Care” program recognizes individuals and organizations leading the charge in Minnesota’s world-class health care industry. These awards recognize excellent patient care, outstanding leadership, and thoughtful innovation.

Lifetime Achievement

Awarded to an individual who has made major accomplishments in Minnesota’s health care industry over two or more decades.

Health Care Practitioner
Awarded to an individual who has operated at an exceptional level in their field of practice.

Health Care Executive
Awarded to an executive of a Minnesota-based health care company who has demonstrated personal excellence in industry advocacy, educational efforts, philanthropy, patient care, and employee culture.

Emerging Leader
Awarded to a health care professional (practitioner/administrator) under the age of 40 who has already demonstrated remarkable achievements.

Champion
Presented to an individual who has focused their efforts to elevate the profile/status of the state’s health care industry.

Change Agent
Awarded to an individual who is driving advancements in discovery and innovation through research, delivery of care, or a new procedure.

Innovation in medical devices
Awarded to a company that has created or significantly improved medical technology.

Community Outreach
Awarded to a Minnesota organization that has created an awareness program that successfully educates or informs the general community about vital health care issues. This can include collaborative efforts among individuals or organizations.

Employee Wellness Program
Awarded to an organization that has implemented a measurable wellness program to promote the health and well-being of its employees through notable programs and benefits.

Software/Web Application
Awarded to a Minnesota-based company that has launched software or an online service that is innovative, effective, and targeted at the health care industry.

Interior Design/Architecture Project
Awarded to a health care facility and architecture firm that has created a building or space that notably enhances the patient experience.

Business Partner
In one of the following categories, a partner in strategic professional services that has helped guide and support health care organizations with notable success.

· Venture Capital
· Law
· Accounting

Education and Workforce Development
Awarded to an organization significantly helping to engage and train workers for the future of Minnesota’s health care industry.

Start-Up
Awarded to a remarkable new health care company established within the past three years and based in Minnesota. (This category is open to providers, health care technology solutions, and medical device makers).

Read Full Post »

Mapping the human brain with care

By Kevin Woo, Special to Alzheimer’s Speaks | February 22, 2013

During his most recent State of the Union address President Obama outlined an ambitious plan to invest billions (with a B) to map the human brain. Perhaps most of America missed the significance of his idea but, in essence, he challenged this generation to unlock the mystery of neurons and synapses just like President Kennedy challenged his generation to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely.

Obama’s plan is, of course, good news to for Alzheimer’s community. With government funding and private research from academic institutions, biotech, and pharmaceutical companies it’s possible that we can find a cure for Alzheimer’s. But until then more than five million families each year face the difficulties of having a loved one diagnosed with the disease.

Five million.

By 2050 it’s expected that 15 million people will have the disease.

Fifteen million.

Mr. President, on behalf of the Alzheimer’s community I want to thank you for making Alzheimer’s research part of your second term agenda. But we also need to find a way to use some of the money and invest it in Alzheimer’s care. We need to train healthcare and social workers, assisted living facility employees and businesses how to work with Alzheimer’s patients compassionately.

Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s Disease isn’t going away. But we need to invest in providing the best care possible so that those who have the disease can live with dignity.

Read Full Post »

Sidelines A Poem About Dementia

As caregivers it’s easy to feel emotionally alone.  For many of us, the holidays magnify that feeling, but there is hope in understanding and acceptance of our loved ones.   The words below are in memory of my Mother.

As caregivers it’s easy to feel emotionally alone.  For many of us, the holidays magnify that feeling, but there is hope in understanding and acceptance of our loved ones.   The words below are in memory of my Mother.

Sidelines

By P.K. Beville

I’m humbled, gazing from the sidelines,

to see the magnificence of the human spirit

with hazy clarity in my Mother.

I’m awed by her grandeur

and the silent suffering that is this disease

as it tangles with both of us.

I watch her sit in a vacuum as the rubber-stamp days

tumble around her

and wonder where she dwells.

I see a thought grasp at the edges of reason

then move beyond her reach.

My childish attempts to help sting my face like a slap.

Inadequacy overwhelms me as I witness our

desperate attempts for interaction

at any level…and at any price.

I’m stilled, listening from within

though the sound is muffled,

and we warily peek around the veil between our minds.

Flashes of recognition dance on the edge of thought

like bumping on the edge of a record.

Once exposed, I SEE her and we are one.

Thinking for her.

Anticipating for her.

Loving her.

No sideline.

Not anymore.

P.K. Beville is the

Founder & CEO, Second Wind Dreams®

Author, Virtual Dementia Tour®

PK Beville, Virtual Dementia Tour & Second Wind Dreams

Read Full Post »

Hunger and Cognitive Decline?

 Can Going Hungry As a Child

Slow Down Cognitive Decline

in Later Years?

MINNEAPOLIS – People who sometimes went hungry as children had slower cognitive decline once they were elderly than people who always had enough food to eat, according to a new study published in the December 11, 2012, print issue of Neurology^®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“These results were unexpected because other studies have shown that people who experience adversity as children are more likely to have problems such as heart disease, mental illness and even lower cognitive functioning than people whose childhoods are free of adversity,” said study author Lisa L. Barnes, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

The study involved 6,158 people with an average age of 75 who were living in Chicago. Participants, 62 percent of whom were African American, were asked about their health as children, their family’s financial situation, and their home learning environment, based on how often others read or told them stories or played games with them. Then every three years for up to 16 years, participants took cognitive tests to measure any changes.

For the African American participants, the 5.8 percent who reported that they went without enough food to eat sometimes, often or always were more likely to have a slower rate of cognitive decline, or decline that was reduced by about one-third, than those who rarely or never went without enough food to eat. The 8.4 percent of African American participants who reported that they were much thinner at age 12 than other kids their age also were more likely to have a slower rate of cognitive decline, also by one-third, than those who said they were about the same size or heavier than other kids their age. For Caucasians, there was no relationship between any of the childhood adversity factors and cognitive decline.

Barnes said researchers aren’t sure why childhood hunger could have a possible protective effect on cognitive decline. One potential explanation for the finding could be found in research that has shown that calorie restriction can delay the onset of age-related changes in the body and increase the life span. Another explanation could be a selective survival effect. The older people in the study who experienced childhood adversity may be the hardiest and most resilient of their era; those with the most extreme adversity may have died before they reached old age.

Barnes noted that the results stayed the same after researchers adjusted for factors such as amount of education and health problems. The results also did not change after researchers repeated the analysis after excluding people with the lowest cognitive function at the beginning of the study to help rule out the possibility that people with mild, undiagnosed Alzheimer’s disease were included in the study.

Because relatively few Caucasians in the study reported childhood adversity, the study may not have been able to detect an effect of adversity on cognitive decline in Caucasians, Barnes said.

The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

To learn more about aging and the brain, visit http://www.aan.com/patients.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 25,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.

For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube.

So What do you think of this article?  I’d love to hear back from you.

Read Full Post »

Silver Tsunami – Fox News – Monday Dec 20th 9PM

Tune into Fox 9 News Monday night the 20th of Dec at 9:00pm Emmy Award winning journalist,

Julie Anderson has produced  the segment: Silver Tsunami, featuring

Molly Cox and her father, Charles, and Jim Zenk, president of Synergy HomeCare MSP Metro.

Read Full Post »