Health briefs 7/19/07

Heart Walk will hold kickoff Tuesday

The American Heart Association's Heart Walk kickoff will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday at Southeast Missouri Hospital's Harrison Room. Heart Walk team captains or anyone interested in forming a team are invited to attend. The Heart Walk will be held rain or shine at 9 a.m. Sept. 29 at the Osage Community Centre in Cape Gir-ardeau. For more information, call Kyle at 225-2898.

Hospital starts patient identification campaign

Landmark Hospital in Cape Girardeau joined more than 90 percent of Missouri hospitals that use colored wristbands as a means of quickly identifying important information about patients. A statewide survey conducted by the Missouri Center for Patient Safety found that wristbands are commonly used for alerts such as allergy warnings, fall risks or do-not-resuscitate orders but there was no consistency in the colors being used. The colors for the Missouri program are consistent with the majority of states that have developed a standardized program. The standard colors are: a yellow wristband alerts a fall risk, a red band represents an allergy warning and purple indicates do-not-resuscitate orders.

Free testing for children with reading problems

The Child Neuropsychology Lab within the Department of Psychology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale is offering free neuropsychological/psychoeducational evaluations for children 8 to 12 years old with reading problems. The evaluations are offered as part of a research study and include a complimentary report of your child's academic and neuropsychological performance. The Child Neuropsychology Lab is devoted to further understanding of child development and learning disabilities and is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Contact the lab at (618) 453-3562 for more information.

Illinois reports third human case of West Nile

The Illinois Department of Public Health confirmed the third human West Nile virus case in Illinois this year. The latest case was reported in Madison County, the Illinois county across the Mississippi River from St. Louis County. Two cases were reported in DuPage and Cook counties in May. Last year, 77 of the state's 102 counties found a case of West Nile virus in a bird, mosquito, horse or human. A total of 215 human cases of West Nile disease, including 10 deaths, were reported in Illinois in 2006. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported no human or animal West Nile cases, but confirmed the virus in 46 mosquito pools in St. Louis County.

-- From staff reports