At its annual meeting on October 30th, the Hurley Board of Managers re-elected the following slate of officers: Jason Caya – Chair; Frances Gilcreast – Vice Chair; Phil Shaltz -Treasurer and Charlotte Edwards – Secretary. Board Officers serve one-year terms.

Dental health is important at every age and stage of life. As you age, the risks rise for things like gingivitis, periodontal disease, tooth loss, gum recession, etc. If you neglect these issues today, there will be bigger repairs tomorrow.

As part of the Greater Flint Health Coalition’s Community-Wide strategy to address the opioid epidemic, a new Community Toolkit is now available to Flint and Genesee County residents. This Community Toolkit includes information about the opioid epidemic, risks and side effects of opioids, signs and symptoms of addiction or overdose, and much more. This Toolkit is provided in tandem with a Quick Reference Referral Guide for Substance Use Treatment.

Congratulations on your new arrival! There is lots of joy and love and lots of sleepless nights in your near future. The last thing a new parent needs is the added stress of an unexpected medical diagnosis concerning the baby. Luckily, the issues addressed in this piece are relatively easy to fix.

Hurley Medical Center is making a significant impact on Flint and Genesee County through efforts designed to improve the overall health, wellness and quality of life for local residents. Hurley has served more than 2,000 food-insecure patients in the past two years through the Food FARMacy, the Diabetes Prevention Program is at various community locations, Camp Move It has helped children get healthier over the past five years and they are involved in several collaborative projects like the annual Community Baby Shower and Vaccination Fair. The Nurse-Family Partnership helps first time mothers during their pregnancy and all the way through the second year of their child’s life to provide guidance and access to health-related resources.

Disposable diapers vs cloth. Homemade baby food vs store-bought. Formula vs breastmilk. These are just a few of the very important choices that most new mamas are pondering upon finding out they are carrying a new life.

The McLaren Proton Therapy Center, located in Flint on the campus of the Karmanos Cancer Institute, has opened its doors and is providing new technology that destroys cancer with unmatched precision, according to Hesham Gayar, MD, Medical Director of the Center. “Proton therapy is a highly precise sub-atomic particle therapy that stops accurately at the targeted cancer. It makes cancer treatment tolerable and minimizes side effects,” Dr. Gayar reports. “I am proud to have the latest and most advanced proton therapy in the world here in Genesee County to serve Michigan, Northern Ohio, Indiana and Canada. This advanced technology delivers higher doses of radiation to cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue and organs, reducing side effects, resulting in strong cure rates and greatly lowering the risk of secondary cancer.”

There is new one-hour program that explains basics of Alzheimer’s and dementia. The program will be held at Forest Township Senior Center in Otisville on Monday, Jan. 6, from 1- 2:30 pm.  The center is located at 130 E. Main St. A, Otisville.

In the United States, there are roughly 47.8 million people who are age 65 and over, and that number continues to grow. As healthcare advances and we learn more about our physical and mental health, more people are finding themselves living longer lives.

My City Magazine is happy to acknowledge the top vote recipients in our recognition of excellence in local health care.

In 1901, a young German psychiatrist was called to an asylum to see a new patient. Auguste D., a woman, was experiencing increased confusion, paranoia and delusion. What was most fascinating about her case was her age. At 51, she was hardly old enough to begin experiencing what were once thought of as standard “effects of old age.” Even more interesting, her condition was worsening much faster than what normally occurs. After her hospitalization, the young psychiatrist moved on, but never truly forgot the case. Five years later, Auguste D. died. Then older, the psychologist, Alois Alzheimer, requested that he be allowed to study her brain. It was sent to him in Munich where it was dissected and he published the results of his research a year later.