Published: May 28, 2008 05:06 pm            

HEALTH MATTERS: Hux Center health fair offers a little more

TERRE HAUTE — Health fairs are a great place to get some free medical tests. While you can get your blood pressure and blood glucose read at most of them, the one at Hux Cancer Center Saturday morning goes a bit farther. Yes, there’s a blood-pressure check station, but you can also find out what your oxygen level is, your lung function, bone density (for osteoporosis) and get a screening for skin cancer.

All are walk-in screenings except for the skin cancer one. While it’s at no cost, you do need to make an appointment by calling (812) 238-7649.

While you’re there reaping the benefits of the health fair, be sure to take in a tour of the new Hux Cancer Center, at 1711 N. 61⁄2 St.

Be sure to wear your walking shoes — the new place is 88,000 square feet and includes a long list of services.

By the way, if you have an appointment at Clara Fairbanks Center for Women, you need to go to the Hux Cancer Center. In fact, you need to go to Hux: If you go to the old place, it won’t be there any more.

The building at 1505 N. 6th St., which housed Clara Fairbanks, has been razed and is now an empty lot — maybe with some debris still on it, depending on when you go.

Health fair, tours, etc., at the new Hux Cancer Center are from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday.

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If you have diabetes, you really need to keep your blood pressure in check. Diabetes is such a high risk factor for heart disease, that people with the condition are treated as if they’ve already had a heart attack.

And yet, a study conducted at nine Veterans Affairs facilities involving 92 primary care practitioners and 1,169 patients revealed that only half of people with diabetes whose blood pressure was too high during a routine checkup got additional treatment for their hypertension. That’s according to a study published in the May 20 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

If you have diabetes, your blood pressure shouldn’t be higher than 130 over 80. Even that’s a bit too much: It should be lower, but at least no higher than 130/80.

While it’s easy to ignore high blood pressure (there are no symptoms), it isn’t ignoring you. It can damage your blood vessels (potentially affecting your vision, for example) and can lead to stroke and kidney failure, in addition to heart attacks and heart failure.

You don’t even have to have diabetes for high blood pressure to affect your health. So all of you be careful

out there.

On a personal note, my blood pressure usually runs a bit high when it’s taken at the beginning of a visit to the doctor. One of my docs always checks me again shortly before the end of my visit. By then, I’ve settled down a bit — and so has my blood pressure. I also check my blood pressure at home.

• • •

It’s cookout season! It seems that just about anything is tastier when it’s cooked outdoors, but don’t forget to add “safety” to your “tasty.”

“Clean! Separate! Cook! Chill!” advises the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

First of all, wash those hands! Both before and after you handle food. Use soap and warm water and scrub for at least 20 seconds. (Sing “Happy Birthday” — to yourself, please — three times.) Make sure all the surfaces that food will be on is clean, too. And please put cooked food on a clean plate or platter — don’t use the same one you carried the raw food out on (unless, of course, you wash it in between).

Prepare raw meats separately from vegetables and cooked foods, including using separate cutting boards. You don’t want the juices from uncooked meats contaminating the rest of the food.

Can you tell if the food is cooked thoroughly just by looking at it? Not always, so use a meat thermometer. The USDA advises an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit for steaks, roasts, chops and fish; 160 degrees for hamburgers; 165 degrees for poultry; and 165 degrees for fully cooked meats such as hot dogs.

Finally, don’t let perishable food sit around untended while you chat and munch for hours. You can’t see it, but bacteria is growing. You can let food sit out for about two hours if the temperature is under 90 degrees; one hour if it’s warmer. But that doesn’t mean you need to whisk the food away to the fridge or the freezer. You can keep hot food at 140 degrees or above in chafing dishes, slow cookers or warming trays and cold foods will stay at 40 degrees or below with ice packs or … well, ice itself … underneath.

Have fun, but don’t forget to be safe. Nothing spoils a picnic more than a good ol’ case of food poisoning.

        

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