This episode is a chat with the head of infectious disease at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Robert Salata, MD. 

He is the STERIS Chair of Excellence in Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Medicine since 2015 and was Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine for nearly 20 years at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. H

e is the founding Director of the Infectious Diseases and Immunology Institute in the School of Medicine and also Medical Director of Infection Control and Prevention at UH Cleveland Medical Center.

I wanted to talk to him about new drugs to tackle COVID-19, the future of our vaccines and what still keeps him up at night despite the rest of us thinking the pandemic is behind us. It’s not. First up, his thoughts on an experimental cancer drug called sabizabulin that may help reduce the risk of death in covid patients. 

Monica Robins is not a medical doctor.  All content presented in this program is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.  Always seek the guidance of your personal doctor or qualified healthcare professional with any questions regarding your health or medical condition.

Since 1999, the CDC says nearly 600,000 people died from an opioid overdose, either by prescription or illicit drug. Prescription deaths were prominant until 2010 when heroin took over, then in 2013 synthetic fentynal became the leading killer. Still 44 people die every day from prescribed opioids, and the vast majority of those addicted started with prescribed painkillers. 

This episode delves into how the medical profession is attacking the continuing opioid epidemic. The history behind how prescribing practices were the catalyst in the epidemic and how this is the fourth opiate epidemic to hit this country since the Civil War, but there’s something about this one that makes it different. 

The question is, what are medical schools doing to combat the problem and is there a risk of something similar happening again?

My guest is Dr. Ted Parran, co-medical director of St. Vincent Charity Medical Center’s Rosary Hall.  The only hospital-based addiction treatment center in northeast Ohio to provide a full spectrum of the most current treatment options. Dr. Parran is also a professor in medical education at Case Western Reserve University. The Case medical school is one of very few in the country that has been teaching medical students about substance use disorders since the 90s, but expanded the curricula in light of the opiate epidemic.

Monica Robins is not a medical doctor.  All content presented in this program is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.  Always seek the guidance of your personal doctor or qualified healthcare professional with any questions regarding your health or medical condition.

Keep your mask handy.

Ashtabula, Lorain and Cuyahoga County all hit the orange high level and CDC guidance advises this is the time when you should wear a mask in public indoor spaces including public transportation.  

Cuyahoga County added a mask mandate in all county buildings beginning June 1, 2022. 

Geauga, Lake, Medina, Portage and Summit counties are all at the medium Yellow level, but expected to go up in the next couple of weeks.  

So what does all this mean for you?  

Make sure you're up to date with vaccines, test if you have symptoms, stay home if you're sick,  wear a mask if you have symptoms, had exposure to an infected person or you're at high risk, and keep in mind, the reported case numbers are way below what's really out there. That's because many are home testing which doesn't get reported, and many are asymptomatic or confusing COVID with seasonal allergies. Those who really need to mask up include organ transplant recipients, those with autoimmune disorders, those who are immunocompromised, such as cancer patients, those with heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and all those who are in close contact with these people. Even though hospitalizations and deaths aren't skyrocketing in Ohio, experts say even mild cases of COVID can bring on the Long Haul Syndrome.

In this episode, Lorain County Health Commissioner, Mark Adams and Summit County Health Commissioner Donna Skoda discuss the importance of taking precautions and what we can next expect.

Monica Robins is not a medical doctor.  All content presented in this program is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.  Always seek the guidance of your personal doctor or qualified healthcare professional with any questions regarding your health or medical condition.

Mental Health is taking center stage in discussion after two mass shootings within two weeks. The most recent, the May 24th shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas has once again devastated the country. The pandemic has shined a very bright light into mental health concerns regarding young people and many experts believe that could be the next pandemic we face. So what can we do about it when there's already a provider shortage and a lingering stigma? I spoke with pediatric psychologist, Carolyn Landis, Ph.D. of Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital about the issue.

Monica Robins is not a medical doctor.  All content presented in this program is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.  Always seek the guidance of your personal doctor or qualified healthcare professional with any questions regarding your health or medical condition.

This episode is about the opioid epidemic and how the pandemic is impacting those battling addiction.  A new CDC report just released finds the number of overdose deaths reached one hundred thousand.  That’s the largest single year toll ever recorded.  The study looked at deaths from April 2020, the beginning of the pandemic, until April 21.

Ohio is no stranger to the opioid epidemic and in past years has been one of the leading states for drug overdose deaths in the nation.  Experts say the current overdose deaths are largely from fentanyl in meth and cocaine.  Ohio saw a near 27 percent increase overdose deaths.

The state recently started a "Beat the Stigma" education marketing campaign and Ohio received $24 million from the recent opioid settlement from one drug company earlier this year.  But what will it take to get control of a problem that seems to be once again spiraling out of control.  To help sort through it, I gathered a panel of experts in the field.

Jason Joyce is the Executive Director of Hitchcock Center for Women he’s also a Licensed Clinical Counselor and Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor.

Thomas Stuber is the President and Chief Legislative Officer of The LCADA Way and an Adjunct Professor of Addiction Counseling at LCCC.  He recently retired as CEO of The LCADA Way after leading the organization for the past 21 years.

Pam Bouyer is Clinical Director at the Women's Recovery Center and John Lisy is the Executive Director of the Shaker Heights Youth Center.  

WEBSITES and Resources: 

https://www.womensctr.org/

https://thelcadaway.org/

https://www.hcfw.org/

https://www.shakerheightsyouthcenter.org/

https://www.adamhscc.org/

http://opiatecollaborative.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US/Treatment-Providers.aspx

https://www.emeraldjennyfoundation.org/

https://namigreatercleveland.org/resources/community-resources/

https://mha.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/mha/

https://www.getsmartaboutdrugs.gov/cleveland/resources/local-state-and-national-resources

Monica Robins is not a medical doctor.  All content presented in this program is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.  Always seek the guidance of your personal doctor or qualified healthcare professional with any questions regarding your health or medical condition.

Today is my "Craniversary."  Two years ago on October 17, 2019 I underwent brain surgery at Cleveland Clinic to remove a sphenoid wing orbital meningioma.  I know it's a mouthful of a name.  Meningiomas are common, one in 32,000 people get one every year.  The majority are benign, and while that's a good thing, depending on the location, even benign tumors can be fatal.  

While my tumor is common, the location (behind my left eye) is not.  My initial surgery was complex and I knew going in that they wouldn't be able to remove it all.  We chose not to do radiation back then, because if I needed another surgery, the radiation would make it even more difficult if not impossible.  

So we watched, waited and every six months I had an MRI to see if my residual tumors were growing.  The surgery left me essentially with four residual tumors.  One, the dangerous one, is 3mm from my carotid artery, one on my optic nerve, one on the back of my left eye and one in my eye socket.  The last one is the problem.  It decided to spread into my cavernous sinus.  So in mid-December I'll be heading back into surgery.  Only this time, I'm a candidate for a minimally invasive type of procedure.  They'll try to remove as much as they can by accessing the tumor through my eyelid.  I will likely need reconstruction surgery on my face. 

As we get closer tos surgery, I'll update you with more podcasts on the subject and of course I'll be reporting on my journey with the hope of educating and helping those who may need more information about these types of tumors. 

WEBSITES: https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/cleveland-clinic-performs-its-first-transoribital-neuroendoscopic-surgery/

PREVIOUS BRAIN TUMOR STORIES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OUn8IDyFtU

https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/health/3news-monica-robins-brain-tumor-story/95-552b537d-f6a5-44d1-a795-20782592a963

Monica Robins is not a medical doctor.  All content presented in this program is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.  Always seek the guidance of your personal doctor or qualified healthcare professional with any questions regarding your health or medical condition.

When was the last time you checked your “legal” wellness?  We typically think of health and wellbeing in the physical sense.  But there are other areas of your life that need to be healthy too and one of them is your legal health. 

There may be obvious times you need to get a lawyer, but there are also many day-to-day events when you need some legal advice, and you may not even know it.  Are you always clicking agree when you update your computer or phone?  Are you tossing those postcards that say something about a lawsuit, but the print is too fine and complicated to read?  Dan Karon is a legal expert and consumer advocate and in this episode, he’s going to explain some legal issues you likely didn’t even know you needed to know. 

WEBSITE: www.yourloveablelawyer.com

Monica Robins is not a medical doctor.  All content presented in this program is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.  Always seek the guidance of your personal doctor or qualified healthcare professional with any questions regarding your health or medical condition.

Earlier this week, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine joined with the Ohio Children's Hospitals Association in a direct appeal to school superintendents to require masks for staff and students during the current surge of the coronavirus. 

Data that support this appeal include: 

The Governor says about 50% of Ohio schools do have some type of mask requirement.  From the medical perspective, the issue is more about overloading Children's Hospitals.  Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital had longer wait times and more visits than they had in the last five years.  Akron Children's Hospital was seeing a steady influx of COVID patients when all Children's Hospitals are already dealing with an earlier than usual RSV season that's filling necessary beds.  Doctors are very concerned about what will happen when cold and flu season hits.

To discuss these issues and give parents a better understanding of what's happening is Akron Children's Hospital Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Robert McGregor.  

WEBSITE: https://www.akronchildrens.org/pages/2019-Novel-Coronavirus-Frequently-Asked-Questions.html

Monica Robins is not a medical doctor.  All content presented in this program is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.  Always seek the guidance of your personal doctor or qualified healthcare professional with any questions regarding your health or medical condition.

There is a critical need for more diverse populations to get involved in clinical trials.  Too often drug trials skew white and male, but many times once the drug hits the market, we learn later that it doesn't work the same in women and/or people of color.  There's no doubt the historic abuses of African Americans decades ago still linger in the minds of many, but that shouldn't stop doctors from asking their patients if they'be be willing to participate.

This episode features Gelise Littlejohn-Thomas, a member of the Research Integration and Education core at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.  Also, Rochelle Long, who has been involved in nearly half a dozen clinical trials relating to Alzheimer's disease after several family members were diagnosed with the devastating illness.  Rochelle wants to know why African Americans are disproportationately affected by Alzheimer's and she wants to be on the discovery end of cutting edge treatments that may help her and future generations. 

WEBSITES:  UH Clinical Trials https://www.uhhospitals.org/uh-research/find-clinical-trials-and-studies

1.833.78 TRIAL

Clinicaltrials.gov

Monica Robins is not a medical doctor.  All content presented in this program is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.  Always seek the guidance of your personal doctor or qualified healthcare professional with any questions regarding your health or medical condition.

On August 23, 2021 the FDA granted the Pfizer BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine full approval.  The Delta variant continues to rage across the U.S. and those on the front lines, in hospital Intensive Care Units, are seeing younger, unvaccinated patients needing the use of ventilators.  The nurses and doctors who work on the front lines thought they saw the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, until the Delta variant surged.  This episode gives insight into their lives.  Dr. Joseph Khabbaza, a pulmonologist with Cleveland Clinic shares his experiences fighting the coronavirus pandemic and what he thinks and hopes FDA approval of a vaccine will accomplish.   

Monica Robins is not a medical doctor.  All content presented in this program is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.  Always seek the guidance of your personal doctor or qualified healthcare professional with any questions regarding your health or medical condition.