A heartfelt piece published recently in the Opinion section of The New York Times shines a light on an often overlooked population in our society: the elderly. The piece focuses on 82 year old Nancy Root- who is reliant on a wheelchair due to post-polio syndrome- and the immense role that her age and physical limitations play in the way people interact with her.

In the piece, Nancy recalls the direct correlation between her transition into using a wheelchair and becoming invisible to those around her.  She recounts numerous occasions where the person pushing her wheelchair was expected to speak for her because it was assumed that her physical condition was indicative of her mental state. The writer reminds us how common dismissive treatment towards the elderly and infirm is and the sadness and exclusion that this brings.

This piece is a fantastic reminder to have empathy towards the older people we encounter in our lives, and to keep in mind that it is impossible to assume a person’s mental state based on looks alone.  We will all grow old eventually (if we are lucky) and can only hope that we will continue to be seen and treated with respect at all stages of life.

If you feel like you are seeing more service animals accompanying your fellow passengers while traveling this holiday season it isn’t just in your head. A recent article on webmd.com takes a look at why we have seen a general uptick in the number of people with emotional support animals and how the loose regulations involved in obtaining this certification leads to the abuse of a system in place to protect the disabled and their service animals.

According to webmd.com, the same federal law that ensures the disabled can travel with a necessary service animal also allows passengers to be accompanied by emotional support animals during air travel. A service animal is bred and trained to perform tasks for people with disabilities while the process for certifying a pet as an emotional support animal can be as simple as answering a few questions online and receiving certification in the mail 2 days later. The ease of obtaining this certification is evident as airlines report that the amount passengers bringing pets on planes as emotional support animals greatly outnumbers passengers traveling with service animals.

The article explains that airlines and the disabled are seeking stricter regulations around emotional support animals. Some states have laws against falsifying information to a mental health professional in order to obtain the emotional support animal certification, and it is illegal to dress a pet as a service animal when it is not certified as one, but these laws are difficult and uncomfortable to enforce while ensuring the rights to use legitimate service animals.

As 2017 draws to a close, the staff and consultants of Medical Consultants Network (MCN) wish you and your loved ones a safe and happy holiday season. All of our offices nationwide, including operational centers in Tampa, FL; Long Island, NY; Chicago, IL; and Seattle, WA will be open during regular business hours every day except for Monday December 25 and Monday January 1. To meet the needs of our clients, we will continue to monitor our after-hours Independent Review Organization (IRO) message line and email 24/7 throughout the holiday season. All MCN offices are seamlessly connected through one fully integrated operating system and database. Whatever the weather, MCN staff are available to answer client questions, receive referrals, and review and deliver reports from 8 am – 8 pm EDT.

About MCN:  We are a national provider of independent medical judgments. And we believe in the power of a second look, the kind that overlooks nothing. We are deeply committed to understanding you — our clients — and your needs, so we can provide the highest level of personal service possible. Because of this, you can trust that you will get reports that are fair, accurate and timely, while also knowing that we will regard each case and the people impacted by that case with the respect and dignity they deserve — no exceptions. For 31 years and counting, MCN has been providing peace of mind with a personal touch in precisely this way.

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The New York Times published a piece last week explaining a difficult situation that obstetricians and gynecologists practicing in the Bronx face. According to The Times, this borough has the city’s highest rate of life-threatening childbirth complications, and as a result, obstetricians in the Bronx end up with a greater number of malpractice lawsuits on average than those in any other part of the country.

The article explains that the financial disparity in the Bronx leads to unstable housing, unemployment, difficulty accessing healthy foods, and a lower rate of regular visits to the doctor. All of these things contribute to increased complications during pregnancy and childbirth that can result in malpractice suits against treating physicians.

According to the article, hospital administrators in the Bronx are finding it more and more difficult to recruit doctors in this field because doctors fear that spending time practicing in this borough could potentially make them unemployable elsewhere. Recruiters work to seek out physicians driven by a strong passion to help the poor — but hospitals in the Bronx continue to find themselves short on obstetricians.

It’s not news that sugar is bad for your health, but just like anything else we consume information on the degree to which it negatively impacts us can vary depending on your source. For decades we were told that a low fat diet was the key to good health. During this time, few took notice as the fat content of packaged “healthy” foods went down and the sugar content went up.

Just over a year ago The New York Times wrote a piece detailing how, in the 60s, the sugar industry paid scientists to downplay the link between sugar and heart disease and to pin fat as the culprit instead. Last month The Times printed another article on additional documents that have been released providing even more evidence that the sugar industry hid research findings exposing the health implications of sugar consumption.

According to the article, these recently released documents show that research funded by the Sugar Association found that sugar may promote bladder cancer as well as heart disease. Researchers were also on the brink of discovering how the negative effects of sugar may be the result how our bodies metabolize it, but funding for the research program was stopped.

Similar to the tobacco industry, the sugar industry has long denied that their product plays a unique role in health problems — despite a large amount of independent research proving otherwise. The article goes on to explain that the research program’s funding was pulled once findings started to look unfavorable for sugar. The researchers are no longer alive to discuss their findings and the Sugar Association claims that the studies were stopped due to financial and organizational restructuring reasons.

Now that December is upon us, are you looking back on the year wondering where the months went and how we are in the midst of the holidays again? Falling into the routine of work and daily life can make the weeks and months blend together and feel like it is all passing by uneventfully.

During childhood, and even into our 20’s, there are so many firsts and milestones such first days of school, birthday parties, first dates, going away to college, and getting married. These big moments are hurdles and celebrations that we experience alongside others and remember for a lifetime. Once we enter our late 20’s and 30’s these out-of-the-norm moments tend to happen less often as we settle into our routines.

A new book titled The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact is all about the science of making memories that last. News magazine The Week published a great write up summarizing the book’s basic principal concepts for making little moments more powerful: Create moments of elevation, celebrate moments of pride, and build moments of connection. According to the article, breaking the script and incorporating these concepts into your life could help make the day to day feel less routine and hopefully leave you with more happy memories to look back on. Next December, instead of wondering where the year went maybe you’ll be reminiscing about all of the great memories you made in 2018.

A couple of years ago The National Post published a piece identifying why we should prioritize the donation of money to food banks over food. The article and the accompanying video that The National Post produced are making the rounds online again this holiday season.

Any form of donation is a wonderful thing, but the article helps explain why leaving the food purchasing in the hands of food banks will lead to the most efficient and cost effective route for getting food to those in need. When we collect a random array of boxed and canned foods to donate to a food bank, that organization is left responsible for the time and cost of picking up, taking inventory, organizing, and storing all of the food donations on top of the already immense task of distributing food to people who utilize their services.

By giving money to these organizations we provide them with the freedom to purchase exactly what is needed in bulk amounts for a lower cost — and the step of gathering and sorting through donations is taken out of the equation. The amount we spend on the food that we donate could be stretched so much further in the hands of the charitable organizations.

We buy our food at full retain price, but food banks have access to purchasing on a wholesale level — and at a discounted rate due to their charitable status. Food banks also frequently have connections with farmers who provide them with great deals on fresh produce.

The article notes that charitable organizations are hesitant to be vocal about this issue because they would never want to dissuade any form of giving, and receiving food donations is better than no donations at all. So, it is up to us to recognize the benefits of donating money rather than food. It’s a simple matter of  efficiency.