I have enjoyed interacting with people in the medical community (while learning a lot) — and hearing from readers.

Stay healthy, and keep coming back to HealthyRockford.com! 

And don’t assume kids are safe with sparklers; they can reach nearly 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit at their burning tips.

Not meaning to cramp your style on July 4, but those cautions come from the American Council on Science and Health. Council advisor and ophthalmologist Dr. Emil Chynn has written an essay, “Protect Your Eyes on July Fourth,” with information and guidelines on safe use of fireworks. 

Some of his tips: 

* Adult supervision and protective eyewear are necessary.

* Keep a bucket of water nearby.

* Never give a firecracker or sparkler to a child.

* Don’t light a firecracker bigger than your pinkie finger, don’t light them indoors, and don’t try to relight duds.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

“Coverage For All” is a program of the Foundation for Health Education Coverage, a nonprofit organization that helps uninsured people navigate health care coverage options state by state.

The “Coverage for All” Web site includes:

* A free U.S. Uninsured Help Line at 1-800-234-1317 which gives callers live one-on-one help in basic screening for public and private health coverage, and assistance in pinpointing their options. The Help Line is staffed around the clock with specialists and interpreters for help in multiple languages.

* A 5-Question Eligibility Quiz tool, with a special resource section on finding public or low-cost health benefits.

* The Health Care Options Matrix — which outlines public and private health coverage options including type of coverage, eligibility and monthly costs for each of the 50 states.  I pulled up the matrix for Illinois.  It showed an organized chart which included summaries of publicly sponsored programs — such as CHIP, All Kids and Medicare — worded in a way that actually was understandable. The chart describes each program with information about coverage, eligibility and monthly costs.

Here’s how it came about. Crusader’s building at 1200 W. State St. in Rockford used to be Muldoon High School, a Catholic girls’ school. The school started in 1929 and operated there until 1979.

Now Crusader Clinic is renovating the entire third floor of the building, and has removed the original slate blackboards from the walls.  They are 78 inches wide and 47 inches deep, and Crusader wants to recycle them by making them available to people in the community.  All it asks is a donation to the Crusaders Health Foundation, and that you be able to transport the blackboard (or blackboards) of your choosing.

Four sets of 1920s-era metal school lockers also are available.

If you’re interested in owning one of these pieces of Rockford history, call Linda Niemiec, vice president of development for Crusader Clinic at 815-490-1621.

Since the clinic launched in January it has averaged only 3 or 4 patients a week, said Michelle Strand-Dorsey, social worker with Rockford Health System. “I wish we had more people coming in,” she said. “We’re trying to get the word out, ’We’re here,  we really want to help people.’”

The Bridge Clinic’s original intent was to provide treatment for working people who are uninsured, Strand-Dorsey said. ”I’m seeing an increase in the number of people who have recently lost their insurance,” she told me this week. “They’re just trying to make their mortgage payments so they don’t lose their homes.”

The clinic treats such issues as high blood pressure, diabetes control and bad coughs. Doctors will provide prescriptions for low-cost medicines such as antibiotics, Strand-Dorsey said. It does not deal with narcotics or injectables.  “We usually write prescriptions off the $4 list,” she said.

That’s not where it ends. The clinic intends to be “a bridge from no care to get you linked to appropriate care,” Strand-Dorsey said. “We refer people to Crusader Clinic or whatever program might be most appropriate for them.”

Wiler — director of the center and a native of the Rockford area — opened the center in April. She offers in-office counseling, education and prevention programs for people with eating disorders.  Most insurance plans are accepted at the center, she said.

Down the road, she plans to start offering free seminars on topics such as preventing childhood eating problems and helping your teenager beat an eating disorder. And she intends to offer educational programs in schools to promote healthy lifestyles and body acceptance.  She said she takes a non-dieting, “health at every size approach.

The association classifies microbusinesses as those with 10 or fewer employees. It surveyed 4,000 of the companies this year as a followup to a 2005 survey on the same topic.

Some of the results:

* This year, only 18.6 percent of the responding businesses said they offer health insurance coverage for their employees, down from 46.2 percent in 2005.

*  Conversely, companies with gross sales under $50,000 saw the greatest increase in health insurance coverage. Of 2008 respondents, 40 percent said they offer employee health insurance compared with 13.8 percent in 2005.

* More than 65 percent of responding companies said cost was the most significant barrier to offering that insurance.

You can see a more detailed summary of the survey here. 

 In fact shingles is much more common in adults over the age of 50 than with younger people. Age, stress, and immune system problems can increase your chances of developing shingles.   (I know. I had shingles myself a few years ago.  I didn’t get a huge rash, just a few spots, but boy did it hurt.)

At Take Care Health Clinics, the shingles vaccine is covered by Medicare Part D for those who qualify. It also may be covered by your pharmacy benefit, but coverage depends on your individual health plan. For uninsured patients or self payers the vaccination costs $219.99. The clinics are open seven days a week, and do not require appointments.

The mission of the Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs project, according to the site, is to give consumers enough information to talk with their doctors about which drugs may best meet their medical needs and give them the most value for their money. When you click on links to various medications or conditions, you can get overviews on drugs’ effectiveness, track records, safety, prices and generic recommendations.

You can look at short summaries on each drug or condition, or download full reports in pdf format. Summaries are available in English and Spanish.

Consumers Union accepts no outside advertising, and the Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs project is funded mostly by educational grants, according to the Web site. Each analysis on the site is based on reviews done by teams of physicians and researchers at several medical schools under the Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP), a 13–state effort. The states use the information to help guide their Medicaid drug coverage policies, according to the site. Researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University coordinate the project.

So Rockford Health System has created an Employee Disaster Preparedness handbook, with help from a federal grant. It is the first such handbook published by the health system. Employees received the handbook in early June, at home through the mail.

Should such a disaster strike, employees may need to come to work under tough circumstances and “must also be able to provide for their own families,” said Chris Bellone, POD Hospital Disaster Coordinator for Rockford Memorial Hospital.

To that end, the Employee Disaster Preparedness handbook includes details on subjects such as staff and family support; care of children, elderly family members and pets; items needed at home; guidelines for reporting to work; and assignment of personnel under the Rockford Health system mass casualty plan.

As a POD Hospital, Rockford Memorial is responsible for disaster healthcare coordination in Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Winnebago, Boone, Carroll, Ogle, DeKalb, Whiteside and Lee counties.