Community Health Charities wants to help you take a measure of good health. In partnership with our member charities, Community Health Charities continues to offer National Health Day email updates to businesses throughout the state to promote and enhance the health and wellness of employees and their families. Feel free to contact us if you are interested in learning more about any of the monthly National Health Day topics or the health initiatives of Community Health Charities. We may offer a Lunch & Learn relevant to a topic that may be of interest to the employees in your workplace. To support any of the 34 health charities we represent, be sure to ask about our charitable giving campaigns for the workplace. National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month Learning the facts and getting tested could save your life. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States yet it is highly preventable. The American Cancer Society recommends adults aged 50 and older get tested for the disease. There are several different screenings used to determine if you have any precancerous polyps or small growths on the lining of the colon or rectum. Finding and removing polyps before they become cancerous can stop colon cancer. The survival rate for colon cancer is 90 percent if caught early. For more information about colon cancer, call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org. A Lunch & Learn topic related to colorectal cancer is available. Please refer to topic 24 in your Lunch & Learn booklet. Source: American Cancer Society website - www.cancer.org. American Diabetes Alert Day - March 27th There are 20.8 million Americans that have been diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetes is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders. Risk factors for diabetes include: high blood pressure (at or above 130/80), a family history of diabetes, having had diabetes during pregnancy, or having a baby weighing more than nine pounds at birth. Some symptoms of diabetes can include frequent urination, excessive thirst, extreme hunger, unusual weight loss, increased fatigue, irritability, and blurred vision. Lunch & Learn topics related to diabetes are available. Please refer to topics 9, 12, and 39 in your Lunch & Learn booklet. Source: American Diabetes Association website - www.diabetes.org. National Kidney Month Chronic kidney disease affects 20 million Americans. In addition, more than 20 million are at risk for developing diabetes and most do not even know it. Warning signs of kidney disease are: burning sensation or difficulty urinating, more frequent urination, particularly at night, passage of bloody-appearing urine, puffiness around eyes and swelling of hands and feet (especially in children), pain in the small of the back just below the ribs (not aggravated by movement), and high blood pressure. Risk factors for chronic kidney disease include: diabetes, high blood pressure, family history of chronic kidney disease, and older age. Like diabetes, chronic kidney disease is more common in African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian or Pacific Islanders, and American Indians. A Lunch & Learn topic related to kidney disease is available. Please refer to topic 8 in your Lunch & Learn booklet. Source: National Kidney Foundation Website www.kidney.org. Multiple Sclerosis Education & Awareness Month Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system. In mild cases, its symptoms can include numbness in the limbs and in severe cases it can cause paralysis and loss of vision. Its progress, symptoms, and severity can be different in each individual and very unpredictable. It is a myth that those suffering with MS will inevitably end up in a wheel chair. Two out of three individuals with the disease remain able to walk over their lifetime. MS is not fatal. Today, approximately 400,000 Americans have MS. Most are between the ages of 20 and 50. Two thirds of those afflicted are women. For more information on MS, go to www.nationalmsscociety.org. Source: National MS Society Brain Injury Awareness Month Each year, 1.4 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Of these individuals, 50,000 die, 235,000 are hospitalized, and 1.1 million are treated and released from an emergency center. The number of people with a TBI, who are not seen in an emergency center or who do not receive care, is unknown. The two age groups at highest risk for a TBI are zero to four year olds and 15 to 19 year olds. Certain military duties (e.g., paratrooper) increase the risk of sustaining a TBI. An estimated 300,000 sports-related brain injuries of mild to moderate severity occur yearly in the United States. TBIs are most often due to falls, motor vehicle-traffic accidents, and assaults. Males are about 1.5 times more likely than females to sustain a TBI. To read about the signs and symptoms of a TBI, how you can prevent one, and more, go to www.biausa.org. A Lunch & Learn topic related to brain injury is available. Please refer to topic 17 in your Lunch & Learn booklet. Source: Brain Injury Association www.biausa.org World TB Day - March 24 Tuberculosis (TB) can be spread by coughing, sneezing, laughing, or singing. It primarily affects the lungs; but organs and tissues may be affected as well. Repeated exposure to someone with the TB disease is generally necessary for the infection to take place. In 2005, the total number of new cases of tuberculosis in the United States (14,093) represented the tenth consecutive year the number of reported TB cases has decreased since national surveillance began in 1953. Several symptoms are associated with TB including prolonged coughing (sometimes including coughing up of blood), repeated night sweats, unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite, fever, chills, and general lethargy. Because these signs may be indicative of other diseases as well, one should consult a healthcare practitioner to determine the basis of these symptoms. Source: American Lung Association www.lungusa.org.