There are many programs to help you and your children get free or low cost health care.  Many families, working and non-working, are eligible.  These programs offer many benefits, such as doctor visits, hospital services, prenatal care, HealthCheck and check-ups, immunization shots, eyeglasses, hearing aids, prescription drugs, family planning, therapies, mental health services, alcohol/drug addiction care, dental care and emergency services.

Your and your children may be eligible if you:

• Have children under age 19 living with you, or you are pregnant.
• You meet certain income guidelines.

 The most important thing to do is apply for these programs, even if you are not sure if you qualify.

Documents/information you will need for each person applying:

Social Security Number

Birth Certificate

Marital status

Citizenship status

Employer’s name and address

Income wages

If you alread have health insurance coverage:

• Name of insurance company
• Policy number and who is covered under the policy.

You can also apply for these programs online at: www.access.wi.gov.

News about cancer is often times startling, but when it comes to cervical cancer, there is good news. While there’ll be just under 10,000 cases of invasive cervical cancer diagnosed in 2007, the past several decades have seen a steady decline in those diagnoses, specifically in African-American women. Still, the chance of getting cervical cancer is 30 percent higher in African American women and they will be twice as likely to die from the disease.

So, we are cautiously optimistic about our cervical cancer efforts, but how have we been successful,over the years, in lowering its numbers?

Screening.

The best way to screen for cervical cancer is to have regular Pap screenings. This test detects lesions on the cervix that have not yet spread to other areas. The Pap test is not perfect, however, and abnormal cell results can be detected even when there are none. Fortunately, most cervical pre-cancers develop slowly, so nearly all cases can be prevented if a woman is screened regularly. READ MORE

Working a hectic schedule is not easy, especially when you’re a woman. Now add the title of CEO to that equation and you’ve got an intense and demanding life. Pat Jerominski, CEO of iCare, knows all too well about being a woman of power and keeping it balanced. iCare is a managed care organization that offers both Medicare and Medicaid insurance benefits for people with disabilities.

Keeping it balanced is important. It’s so important that Pat focuses on it and every six to eight weeks, takes a trip. “I’ll go visit friends or go do something that takes me out of my environment, something that gives me a whole new prospective,” she explained. Going full circle by moving fast in a lot of directions is not uncommon for Pat, but she realizes that she has to still get the peace and relaxation that she needs.

Pat’s hectic day starts at 5am. She spends a lot of her day in meetings and networking, and usually doesn’t get home until after 7pm. With all the things that Pat’s on top of in her life, she admits that her eating habits could use some work. Juggling work and living alone cause this female CEO to eat out more than she’d like to. “When I do cook for myself, it’s a spiritual experience. I spend a lot of time giving thanks and really thinking about the energy I put into the food,” she said. She also confesses that one of her biggest challenges is not getting enough exercise to balance. Working a desk job and going to dinner, lunch or breakfast meetings takes a toll on your eating and exercise habits. “I don’t know who invented that, but quite frankly, that really isn’t the best thing to do – to have a meeting and eat at the same time,” she laughed.

As women, we naturally nurture and care for our families, friends and relatives. So many of us do this so much that we forget to do the same for ourselves. Even though Pat has a life and career with such an intense schedule, she still finds time for herself. Every morning when she wakes up at 5am, she meditates on what she needs to do to love herself, which she admits is very challenging for her. “The challenge of loving yourself to me, that really means taking care of myself,” she said. So when I asked Pat Jerominski for some ‘Girlfriend’ advice for our readers, she had this to say: “Take care of yourself. Women that I know don’t know how to take care of themselves because they love and take care of the world. There’s nothing wrong with taking care of yourself because if you don’t, you can’t take care of the world. So, instead of being an expert at that, turn that expertise onto yourself and the world will be a much better place to live.”

NaMia Moore

It’s a New Year, a time for change, renewal and to begin again. Patricia Jordan, a kidney transplant recipient received a life-saving organ on September 22, 2005. Patricia, age 38, waited 4 ½ years on the transplant list for a kidney. During this wait, she maintained kidney function through the use of hemodialysis. A dialysis machine and a special filter called an artificial kidney, or a dialyzer, were used to clean her blood. She needed dialysis because her kidneys no longer removed enough wastes and fluid from her blood to keep her healthy. Her treatments usually lasted about four hours, and were done three times a week.

Thousands of candidates are waiting for kidneys, 40% of them are African-Americans, who suffer from chronic kidney disease. African-Americans are disproportionately represented on the waiting list due to diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, polycystic kidneys and other inherited diseases.

Prior to Patricia’s diagnosis, she visited her primary physician several times complaining about unusual fatigue, low energy, mental cloudiness and joint pain. The doctor dismissed her complaints, stating she should just take better care of herself.

It was after being denied insurance that their blood tests showed that she was in renal failure. Her doctor finally followed through with testing. Afterwards, he diagnosed her with renal failure and found that she was in immediate need of dialysis and needed to be placed on the transplant list. Although she had all the classic signs of renal failure, her physician was unresponsive, not unlike many doctors who dismiss our concerns about our own bodies. Patricia encourages you to become your own advocate, to change doctors who will not work with you, diligently monitor your medication, and always do your own research!!! As Patricia waited for a life-saving organ, she continued to run and maintained a healthy diet.

She currently works at Alverno College as a computer lab assistant, and is also pursuing a degree in Business Management and Computer Science. Her goal is to start her own business. She now celebrates both days, one as her rebirth and the other as her birthday.

-April Sharkey

Everyday thousands of patients who need a life-saving transplant search for a donor. But only 30 percent will find a suitable donor within their family. The remaining 70 percent must find an unrelated donor whose tissue type matches theirs. Take the first step to save a life — join the National Marrow Donor Program* (NMDP) Registry.

When you become a member of the registry, you join the global movement of more than 10 million donors who stand ready to give someone a future. Even with a registry of millions, there are many patients waiting and hoping, unable to find a match. You could be that match!

Life, it’s in you. A marrow transplant is a life-saving treatment for people with leukemia, lymphoma and many other diseases. Patients undergo chemotherapy and/or radiation to destroy their diseased marrow. Then a donor’s healthy blood cells are transfused into the patient’s bloodstream where they can begin to function and multiply.

In order for a patient’s body to accept these healthy blood cells, the donor’s tissue type must match as closely as possible.. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) testing determines whether a donor and patient are good matches. HLAs are found on most cells in your body. Your immune system uses HLAs to recognize which cells belong in your body and which do not. The closer the match between the patient’s HLAs and yours, the better for the patient. Because HLA tissue types are inherited, patients are most likely to match someone of their own race or ethnicity.

Donors of these backgrounds are especially needed:

For more information or an appointment contact.
BloodCenter of Wisconsin Marrow Donor Program
414-937-6388 or 866-702-HOPE.

Each year, 500,000 women worldwide get cervical cancer. Half of them die from it. In the US, nearly 11,000 women get invasive cervical cancer and 4,000 women die from it—yet cervical cancer is one of the most preventable and curable forms of cancer.

Several factors influence your cervical cancer risk, including: human papillomavirus infection; starting sexual activity at a young age; history of many sexual partners (or a partner with many sexual partners); multiple full-term pregnancies; lack of routine Pap smear screenings; history of sexually transmitted infections; and smoking. But, cervical cancer can be prevented by reducing these risk factors, getting a Pap smear regularly and vaccinating against HPV.

For the last 30 years, the Pap smear has been the best weapon in the fight against cervical cancer. Cervical cancer typically starts with precancerous lesions (abnormal cells that could become cancer if not treated, but that are not yet cancer). It could take 10-20 years for a precancerous lesion to become cancer. Pre-cancers and cervical cancer in its early stages typically don’t cause symptoms. Pap smears give doctors the chance to diagnose precancerous lesions before they become cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, up to 80% of cervical cancer deaths could have been prevented through routine Pap smears. READ MORE

Managed care is a way to manage the cost, use, and quality of the health care you receive. Managed care organizations, sometimes referred to as HMOs, can be a good choice for your health care needs.

A MEDICAL HOME
Managed care plans encourage enrollees to select a primary care provider as a medical home for themselves and their families and to play an active role in their health care by asking questions and following treatment plans. Your primary provider refers you to needed specialists and services.

KEEPING YOU WELL
The best managed care plans focus on keeping you well or keeping a chronic condition under control. They encourage you to eat right, get lots of exercise, and use your prevention benefits to find an illness early. They do this by communicating with you.

Managed care plans remind members to schedule checkups and preventive services such as pap tests and mammograms, screenings for diabetes complications, and immunizations. (Plans pay for these services.) Managed care seems especially right for women because women use preventive measures at twice the rate men do. READ MORE

Hey Girlfriends!! When was the last time you had an open discussion with your “Big Mama”, your “Auntie”, your sister, or your best friend about your sexual or reproductive health? As a young girl, I remember sayings such as “It’s not polite to talk underneath a woman’s skirt”, or “Lady problems shouldn’t be discussed”. Do you remember those sayings or any similar messages? If so, we need to erase those negative messages from our memory banks! It is time to BREAK THE SILENCE!

Thousands of women of color are dying from AIDS, cervical cancer, and complications of childbirth. Women of color are having difficulty bearing children due to fibroid tumors, hysterectomies, and other infertility issues. Millions of women of color are contracting sexually transmitted diseases such as HPV, gonorrhea, herpes, and many others because we are choosing to play “Russian Roulette” with our sexual health.

So, what are we going to do about it?

1. Visit your gynecologist every year. Ask for a complete examination. If you are not sure what tests to ask for, ask your gynecologist, or family practitioner.
2. If you are sexually active, ALWAYS HAVE PROTECTED SEX!

READ MORE

The gown, the stirrups, the speculum…the doctor’s office is already a nerve-wrecking experience. But when I was at my annual examination a few months ago and my doctor told me I had fibroids, my heart sank. Not me. What does that mean? I haven’t even had a child yet! Is that going to be a problem now? My doctor tried to convince me “they were small, fibroids are common in African-American women.” Although fibroids may be more common and prevalent in African-American women, there is a reason why we get them. The primary contributors; what we eat, how we eat, stress and forgetting about ourselves.

I went immediately to the internet and found tons of information on preventing and curing fibroids. These points are the most important: READ MORE

Breast cancer screening means checking a woman’s breasts for cancer before she has signs or symptoms of the disease. When breast cancer is detected early it is easier for doctors to treat.

Today, the best method to detect breast cancer early is with mammograms. A mammogram is an X-ray of the breast. Having regular mammograms can lower your risk of dying from breast cancer. If you are 40 years of age or older, be sure to have a screening mammogram every one to two years. READ MORE