Blog Tagged: health

In order to reach herd immunity, 70% of the population must become immune. Contracting Covid has proven to convey only short-term immunity, meaning that the vaccine is the only route. With children comprising 27% of the state population, nearly every adult will have to get vaccinated in order to protect everyone. A recent poll found that about a third of Americans do not plan to get vaccinated.

As we have documented previously, diabetes is a rampant and preventable scourge in South Carolina, affecting the daily lives of half a million adults and dramatically increasing their mortality risk. Recent research suggests that type II diabetes – i.e., diabetes with adult onset – is significantly less associated with genetics than with lifestyle.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in South Carolina, a top 10 state for the disease with more than half a million adult sufferers. Diabetes increases the risk of stroke, heart disease, kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, and even death. And it is largely preventable.

This year, with the coronavirus racing across our continent, it is doubly important to get your flu shot as soon as possible. It is painless and inexpensive; in fact, many employers and other organizations provide them for free.

These kinds of stories are legion at companies that have joined the Charleston Healthy Business Challenge, a collaborative program of MUSC, and the City of Charleston, sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina and offered for free to businesses throughout the Lowcountry.

Healthy Tri-county has conducted several community health audits and found that disparities tear at the fabric of health within the Lowcountry.

The Tri-County Health Improvement Plan emerged. Maternal, infant and child health is one of five areas of priority.

The U.S. is the most expensive country in which to deliver and raise a baby. A 2013 study estimated that it cost a minimum of $30,000 to give birth in a hospital and $10,000 for a family with modest means to raise a child in their first year. Moreover, an infant mortality rate in South…

As of 2015, 91 percent of American adults and 60 percent of teens owned a cell phone. The average person spends two-and-a-half hours a day using their phone and 80% of us check our phones within 15 minutes of waking.