Silicon Valley Moms Blog

In tough times it's even more important to give

With all of the terrible recent financial news many folks are hunkering down and focusing inwards which is understandable-- but it avoids the reality of the many who are suffering in our own communities.  I'm glad that local SVMBers are community minded, as I attended a recent gathering where SVMBers shared that they give generously to schools for indigent local children, more generously than their own kids' schools.  It's that kind of thinking that I wanted to call out as really wonderful, and to share about an organization I'm passionate about that follows in that sentiment, whose board I serve on.

In terms of giving, there are important differences in the impact that various means have.  If your employer provides matching funds for your giving, that may be the most effective way to maximize your giving.  If not, there 2 main differences in community based grantmaking nonprofits: pass-thru and endowment based organizations.  A pass-thru distributes all of the funds received every year, such as the Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund.  An endowment distributes grants from the proceeds of investing the endowment, and varies less in year-to-year giving compared to a pass-thru since giving increases as the endowment grows.

The Palo Alto Community Fund is a great example of the dependability that an endowment based fund has.  Over the last 30 years, it has been a consistent support to local nonprofits to the tune of $1.6M in 257 grants.  This year, the endowment shrank only 15% and proceeds will continue to be able to be distributed, which may be of significantly greater impact than other local pass-thrus.  Last year we were only able to support almost half of the eligible worthy causes that applied -- I worry that this year we'll see many more applications.

However you choose to give: your time, treasure, or talent-- I'd encourage you to do so.  It's sorely needed and tough times like these.

Original post on SVMB by Enoch Choi, MD who also blogs and answers questions at MedHelp.

Praying for Gustav Evacuees

Three years ago SVMB Co-founder Jill Asher, fellow SVMB writer Glennia Campbell, & I had the opportunity to assist New Orleaners after the flooding of Katrina & Rita.  Jill & Glennia raised tens of thousands in support & supplies thru the Palo Alto Menlo Park Parents Club and brought it down in a semi to give to returning students.  I had the privilege of being part of a team of 40 MDs & staff sponsored by $1/2M from Menlo Park Presbyterian Church that manned relief clinics in St. Bernard Parish for the month after survivors returned to their homes.

It saddened me to no end to read that my patients there had to evacuate again yesterday, in anticipation of Gustav, a potentially stronger gale than the 2 that preceeded my time there.  I'm glad they're better prepared this time and more organized in evacuating, thanks in large part to my old college study buddy Bobby Jindal, at the helm of LA.

I pray that everyone finds safety, support, and comfort -- while away from their homes & places of solace.  I pray that the storm weakens and doesn't broach the levees.  I pray they don't have to put out the call for volunteers to come again to LA.  I don't want to see that devastation again.  It was as if an atomic bomb was dropped.  St. Bernard was a mess of empty streets without a trace of life.  Sad to hear it's that way again, and I hope God has mercy on them.

Original Silicon Valley Moms Blog post.

Antidepressants may not be much better than a sugar pill (placebo)

A fascinating research study was published today by Irving Kirsch of the University of Hull, questioning whether or not 4 popular antidepressants are any better than placebo, and found that they weren't any better.  Click here for the study...

Both published and unpublished data on fluoxetine (Prozac), venlafaxine (Effexor), nefazodone (Serzone), and paroxetine (Paxil) were combined in a technique called meta-analysis, which brings together the data from many different research studies to see if they agree.

The researchers concluded that the antidepressants were not any better than placebo for mildly depressed patients.  They found that although there was a benefit from antidepressants, it was not significantly better than what a placebo (pill without any medicine in it) did.  The placebo treatments had a great deal of benefit, almost 80% improvement in depression symptoms.  The antidepressants didn't do any better than placebo.

They further concluded that the benefit that these antidepressants had on severely depressed patients was from these patient's lack of benefit from placebo treatment.  That is to say, severely depressed patients

CDC Wants Mommybloggers to Get the Word Out On Flu Shots

The CDC held their 2nd annual webinar today, reaching out to mommybloggers to ask for help getting the word out about the need for flu shots. Here are screenshots...  and here are more images from CDC flu shot influenza immunization blogger webinar 2007.

It was sooooo much better than last year's. This year a mother who's a communications person at the CDC talked through slides and voiceover, rather than last year's pristinely uniformed physician talking heads on video. Yeah, I know, I'm a doc, but they were so stiff last year. This year they got the message through loud and clear: Go Get Flu Shots! Ask a friend who's had influenza, like me. We'll tell you how miserable we were. Almost a quarter of a million people are hospitalized for this every year, and 36,000 people die from it. There's still time. It takes 2 weeks for protection to kick in, and the flu season peaks in January to February, go get your shot now! I took a lot of notes, so read on.....

Keepin' it local: the importance of supporting local charities

However busy our lives are with ferrying our kids around, and working, many of us have a desire to help the needy with the limited time we have not devoted to our children. Here in Palo Alto I've seen the incredible compassion poured out to survivors of tsunamis, floods, and fires, with tens of thousands raised by bake sales by the moms of the Palo Alto Menlo Park Parents Club (PAMP), many of which were organized by SVMB co-founder Jill Asher. These moms take the little time they have and multiply their efforts by banding together to help in a significant way. PAMP is continuing the charitable grant-giving spearheaded by a fellow SVMB'er Glennia Campbell, with a new set of grants this holiday season.

As I've volunteered as a disaster relief doc in Katrina/Rita, and more recently in San Diego, I've realized how important local charities and churches are in an organized response to great needs. It's the local organizations that have the relationships with local government & politicians to make efforts more effective. For example, when FEMA tried to kick out the faith-based medical relief clinic in St. Bernard since we were seeing all of the patients that the DMAT hospital wasn't (they were 2 miles away from our FEMA site), local parish priests successfully lobbied for us to stay and treat hundreds of patients a day for a month. Unfortunately, in San Diego, Ramona's FEMA Local Assistance Center kicked us out even though the Red Cross doc had left a few days earlier, and we helped many less survivors who couldn't get 2 miles to the church we'd set up at with Christ in Action.

Free masks available at Ramona FEMA assistance center, near our relief clinic

Update from Dr. Enoch Choi, SV Moms Blog Contributor and Voluteer.  Dr. Choi is currently in San Diego, helping to care for victims of the San Diego fires.  Dr. Choi will continue to "live blog" about the San Diego fires and his volunteer efforts, over the next few days.

I can tell you from my experience post-Katrina, that masks could have helped many people.  The thing to remember is that a mask with an exhalation valve helps let moist breath escape and let your mask last longer.  When it's wet, it doesn't filter anymore and you're just breathing contaminated air around the edges of the mask.  This applies to work in pandemic flu as well, and a properly fitted N95 rated mask is important to filter out particles that small.  It's not easy to find one that fits properly, and the process for fitting involves putting the mask on and seeing if you can taste a bitter spray that is at a particle size as small as the viruses.  At the assistance centers, returnees can receive free masks donated by Cardinal Health, delivered by UPS:

According to http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=41558

State and public health officials recommend that anyone cleaning up ash from around their home or spending time in ash-covered areas wear at a minimum a well-fitted paper mask or bandana to protect their nose and mouth. Keeping skin covered by wearing long sleeves, full length pants and gloves is also recommended. Special protections such as N95 or P100 respirators are recommended to help protect the lungs from ash and soot if spending long periods of time sifting through a site.

Heading down to San Diego tonight to volunteer in medical disaster relief clinic

Two nights ago, we in Silicon Valley got all shook up with a richter 5.6 earthquake, highlighting the need for us all to be prepared with a week of reserve food and water and medications.  I'm passionate about disaster preparedness after having volunteered after Katrina and seen how devastated folks who aren't prepared, especially those with chronic illness.  I'll be following up this series of posts with ones on how to be prepared for various disasters including pandemic influenza, drawing from my local & national speaking about the issue.

But this post kicks off my liveblogging of my volunteering in San Diego in a medical relief clinic in Ramona, CA.  Menlo Park Presbyterian Church was called to help less than 2 days ago, and 11 physicians, nurses, and counselors have volunteered since then, just an amazing outpouring of compassion to go help the area at the epicenter of 350,000 acres of still-burning fires.

Click here more for details from the last 2 days:

Recall of children's cold remedies

Last Thursday, Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil, Wyeth, Novartis, Prestige Brands Holdings, CVS Caremark and others voluntarily withdrew their multi-ingredient children's cold remedies targeted for children under the age of 2. Jill heard me on KGO 810 AM here in the SF Bay area around 4:12pm talking about it, and asked me to return to blogging at SVMB, thanks!  Click below to download to the MP3 recording: (I've missed hanging out with you gals since last year's Elizabeth Edwards book tour.)

Download childrenscoldremedyrecall.mp3

The advise on children's cold remedies has changed so much since I was in residency a decade ago, when I was taught that you often needed to use more than recommended doses to get enough benefit.  Who would know that now, there's evidence that deaths and serious injury could occur from these over the counter remedies.  Decongestants and antihistamines rarely cause serious problems in adults, but in children, with their smaller bodies, it makes sense that they would be more sensitive and vulnerable to adverse drug effect.