Developing nations to get $2.6 bln for family planning

"British Prime Minister David Cameron (L) and Melinda Gates (R) speak with delegates during the London Summit on Family Planning in central London. Rich nations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said they had pledged more than 2.6 billion dollars towards family planning in developing countries at a summit in London Wednesday. (AFP Photo/Carl Court)" title

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Tips for Memorable Family Road Trips

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago SUNDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) -- If you're planning a family road trip vacation this summer, you can take steps to make it easier and more enjoyable, according to children's book author Michael DiLorenzo.

"This is a shared experience, and one that will be talked about during family gatherings for years to come," DiLorenzo, a father of three and writer of the Adventures with Jonny book series, said in a News and Experts release. "For busy parents, this is a time to savor their children's youth. As moms and dads eventually find out, they grow up fast."

One way to reduce stress on your trip is to avoid rush hours in big cities. Careful planning can help you steer clear of peak traffic periods and possibly save you and your family hours of misery in gridlock.

Use websites and apps to find the cheapest gas prices, good food choices, and the best hotel rates and travel routes, DiLorenzo recommends. Speaking of technology, make sure you leave behind all work-related calls, texts and emails. If you want to have a smartphone on your vacation, make sure it's not a work-related device.

To help the miles pass easily, make a music mix that appeals to the entire family. Family activities such as word games are another fun way to keep everyone entertained while in the car.

Be sure to make regular stops and pull over whenever you see potentially interesting or unique attractions, DiLorenzo advises.

Be cautious about dairy drinks and smelly snacks. A spill on a seat can eventually create a terrible stink during a summer road trip. But be sure to pack plenty of healthy snacks so that you don't have to buy junk food during your trip.

More information

The Nemours Foundation offers a number of road-trip boredom busters.

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Family History of Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder May Up Kids' Risk for Autism

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Family Owned and Operated Fitness Studio Brings New Life to Palm Beach County

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Jun
2012Fitness Strategies, the Purveyors of Creative Exercise in North Palm Beach Proudly Announce Expansion of Operations.

West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL (1888PressRelease) June 04, 2012 - Fitness Strategies, the leaders in one-on-one personal training, strength training, conditioning, and post-rehabilitation medical exercise are expanding their client base by offering a variety of innovative fitness classes and indoor boot camps in addition to more community outreach in Palm Beach County.

Family owned and operated since 2008 Fitness Strategies has become the primary fitness center for several leading health care/educational facilities and continues to build a strong client base. Fitness Strategies owner and head trainer, Betty Dietsch has worked in the health and fitness industry as a hands on fitness trainer since 1975. "After many years as a trainer in the big gym environment I decided to focus on creating a health studio that was more personal, yet able to offer a variety of fitness options for everyone's tastes," claims Betty on the reason to open Fitness Strategies. "One of my many goals has always been to provide affordable exercise programs and with Fitness Strategies, it has given me the ability to advocate and promote the thought that getting fit need not be boring, expensive, intimidating nor stressful," continues Dietsch.

Fitness Strategies currently offers weekly ZUMBA

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Keeping Your Family Safe From Dog Bites

HealthDay – 1 hr 18 mins ago SATURDAY, May 19 (HealthDay News) -- More than 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs each year, and more than half of those victims are younger than age 14, experts say.

During National Dog Bite Prevention Week (May 20 to 26), the American Academy of Pediatrics is joining with the American Veterinary Medical Association and the U.S. Postal Service to educate people about dog safety.

They offer many tips to help parents protect their children from dog bites.

If your family is planning to get a dog, choose a suitable breed. Collies and Labrador retrievers are among the breeds recommended as generally safe with children. Talk to your veterinarian for more information about how different breeds behave.Dogs need to be socialized. You can do this by gradually exposing your puppy to a variety of people and other animals so it feels at ease in these situations. Continue this training as your dog gets older.Training is essential. Commands create a bond of obedience and trust between people and dogs.Don't wrestle or play aggressive games such as tug-of-war with your dog.Neutering your dog will make it less likely to bite, and you need to vaccinate your dog against rabies and other diseases.Never leave a baby or small child alone with a dog. Teach children not to bother a dog if it is sleeping, eating or caring for puppies, and teach them not to run past a dog.If a dog threatens you, remain calm, avoid eye contact and either stand still until the dog leaves or back away slowly. If an aggressive dog knocks you down, curl into a ball and protect your face with your hands.If a dog bites you or your child, clean small wounds with soap and water and seek medical care for larger wounds. Contact the dog's veterinarian to check vaccination records.

More information

The Nemours Foundation offers tips for selecting safe pets.

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Family Dentists And Family Cosmetic Dentists

May 10, 2012 by admin

Choosing a dentist that will care for the teeth of every member of the family is quite difficult. The fact that dental care is a delicate issue for the family shows that there are a lot of factors to be considered in choosing a family dentist. Having a family dentist is important because dental health must be regularly maintained by a professional dentist.

Also called general dentistry, family dentistry is a subdivision of dentistry that deals with the general dental condition of a person. Most dentists have individual specializations. Pediatric dentists, for example, specialize in the care and treatment of young children”s teeth. However, a family or general dentist provides dental care and treatment to a wide variety of patients, which means that he or she must possess a wider knowledge of dentistry.

There are a lot of places in the country where a family dentist is needed just as much as a family doctor. Big cities like Colorado Springs regard family dentists as important parts of the community. A family dentist is responsible for maintaining the dental health of every family member, from maintaining healthy gums to treating tooth damage caused by cavities.

Each Colorado Springs family dentist should ideally possess a solid educational background. A family dentist will not be allowed to practice without earning his or her undergraduate degree and passing the licensure examinations. In addition to that, family dentists must complete a three to five-year school program that gives them more knowledge about special divisions of dentistry.

In the past, a family dentist performed almost all types of dental procedures according to the need of the families in Colorado Springs, including pediatric dentistry procedures and cosmetic dentistry procedures. Today, however, some families have separate family dentists and cosmetic dentists. Unlike a Colorado Springs family dentist, a cosmetic dentist specializes in improving the appearance of teeth.

The job of a family cosmetic dentist ranges from simple application of retainers, dentures, and crowns, to multifaceted surgical smile enhancements. Family cosmetic dentists offer families in Colorado Springs invisalign or metal braces for correcting tooth alignment. Family cosmetic dentists provide a different type of service compared to typical family dentists.

Dental

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Birth Defects, Fertility Treatments and the Effect on My Family

This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.Do you have a story to tell? Become a Yahoo! contributor

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Late NFL star Seau's family undecided on brain research

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Treating childhood obesity: A family affair

ScienceDaily (May 1, 2012) — With nearly one-third of American children being overweight or obese, doctors agree that there is an acute need for more effective treatments. In many weight management programs, the dropout rate can be as high as 73 percent, and even in successful programs, the benefits are usually short term.

See Also:Health & MedicineStaying HealthyObesityChildren's HealthDiet and Weight LossWorkplace HealthFitnessLiving WellReferencePediatricsOverweightDiabetes mellitus type 2Body mass index

Although family-based approaches to pediatric obesity are considered the gold standard of treatment, theories of the family and how it functions have not been incorporated into effective interventions, according to a study published in the May issue of the International Journal of Obesity by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

"The field of family studies provides an innovative approach to the difficult problem of pediatric obesity, building on the long-established approach of family-based treatment," said Joseph Skelton, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics and director of the Brenner FIT (Families in Training) Program at Wake Forest Baptist, and lead author of the study. Skelton and his research team reviewed medical literature published between 1990 and 2011 to identify the use of prominent family theories in pediatric obesity research. Of the 76 manuscripts found, 13 were selected for the study.

Wake Forest Baptist researchers found limited use of family theories in the study of pediatric obesity, particularly in weight management treatments. Family behavioral theories can provide valuable insight into the complexities of families, and increased use of these theories in both research and practice may help in the development of more effective treatments for childhood obesity, the study found.

"Traditionally doctors looked at the patient as the one in the family to focus on, but now we have to look at the entire family as the patient," Skelton said.

"One of the problems we found was that there wasn't even a clear definition of family in the literature. A two-parent household with a stay-at-home mother and working father is no longer the norm. Inability to define the family makes it difficult to apply a straightforward model of family function to child health and weight management."

In the clinic setting, families are often represented by a child and a parent, typically the mother. However, this often does not accurately reflect family complexity and it doesn't define which family members should be included in treatment, Skelton said. A common theme in the field of family studies is that families are a system, made up of interdependent units. Intervening with one unit, such as a mother and a child, will influence other units. These interpersonal relationships influence the health behaviors of the child and the family as a whole, according to the study.

"The challenge is to find ways to incorporate the entire family in the process, while allowing for different schedules and different age kids with different health needs," Skelton said. "If we don't find more effective treatments and this epidemic continues, these children will likely go on to become obese adults, resulting in an entire generation with lower life expectancies than their parents' generation."

Skelton and his team at Brenner FIT have begun incorporating theories of the family into their research and in their treatment approach, and are finding ways to engage more members of the family in treatment.

Funding for the study was provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Duke Endowment and the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Foundation.

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Family planning group sues over exclusion from Texas program

Reuters – Wed, Apr 11, 2012 AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to stop enforcement of a new Texas rule that excludes the family planning organization from a program that provides cancer screenings, birth control and other health services to low-income women in the state.

The lawsuit filed by a group of Planned Parenthood clinics that do not provide abortions says the rule is unconstitutional and that it will lead to tens of thousands of women being unable to get preventive healthcare from their chosen provider.

"Worst of all my fears is that these women will forgo life-saving screenings, comprehensive exams, reliable birth control and other vital preventive healthcare services," Patricio Gonzales, CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County in South Texas, told reporters on Wednesday.

Since the Texas Women's Health Program began in 2007, state law has technically banned its money from going to abortion providers or affiliates of abortion providers, but the state did not enforce the ban on affiliates.

In 2011, Texas notified the federal government of its intent to begin enforcing that ban, effectively excluding Planned Parenthood from the program.

Obama administration officials responded by saying they would not renew funding for the program because Texas was violating federal law by restricting freedom of choice of providers. The state is suing over that decision, and Texas Governor Rick Perry has accused the Obama administration of abandoning "these Texas women to advance its political agenda."

State officials say they want to continue the program - which is part of the Medicaid health program for the poor and disabled - and will work to extend federal funding or find a way to pay for it with state dollars. The federal government pays 90 percent of the $33-million-a-year program.

"Federal law gives states the right and responsibility to establish criteria for Medicaid providers so we're on firm legal ground," Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said on Wednesday.

Goodman said "this is not about allowing women to choose their provider." She pointed out that federal officials have waived the freedom of choice provision in all other Medicaid services in Texas.

Starting in May, providers who don't comply with the new rule will be removed from the program, Goodman said.

Gonzales said some of the Planned Parenthood centers would be forced to close.

Rene Resendez, 24, a college student in West Texas who is in the program, said that Planned Parenthood is important to her family because her mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer at Planned Parenthood when she was pregnant.

"Without the Women's Health Program and Planned Parenthood, I don't know what I would do, or where I would go for the cancer screenings and other services that I need," Resendez said.

(Reporting By Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Paul Simao)

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