Health

The City of Seattle is about to embark on a new study that hasn’t been done in other American cities—to look at gun violence from a public health standpoint.

Every person between the ages of 15 and 65, regardless of risk factors, should get routinely tested for HIV. That’s the recommendation from the US Preventative Services Task Force, an independent panel of doctors and researchers.

Nationwide, the percentage of workers who are in unions has dropped to around 11 percent according to January report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  That’s lowest rate in nearly a century. But the Service Employees International Union has been bucking the trend in recent decades – it’s the fastest growing union in the United States.

Since 1996, 1.2 million workers have joined SEIU nationally. Today, SEIU national represents 2.1 million.   Here in Washington state the SEUI has six locals with more than 100,000 members, up from about 40,000 in 2001. 

The union represents nurses, child care workers, public school employees and janitors.   Plus, Local 775 is the biggest, with around 43,000 members who are long-term care workers, home health aides, and nursing home aides.  

Ross Reynolds talks with David Rolf, president of the Seattle-based Local 775 of the Service Employees International Union for health-care workers. 

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence reports that in the US over 23 million people over the age of 12 are addicted to alcohol or other drugs. Not only that, a recent Columbia University study found that only 1 in 10 of these people actually seeks treatment for drug addiction. And most of the time, the treatment doesn’t work.

Ross Reynolds sits down with Dr. Jim Walsh, the medical director of Addiction Recovery Services at Swedish Medical Center’s Ballard campus to talk about what does work.

Placenta Offers Insight Into Autism Risk
New autism research shows that babies born with a high genetic risk for the disorder were more likely to have abnormal folds and creases in their placentas.  However, Dr. Harvey Kliman says that it is much too early to say that an examination of the placenta could be used as a definitive test for autism at birth.

VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 At Night
Could you eat vegan? If you could, research strongly suggests you’d be healthier, weigh less and perhaps even have a sharper brain. But could you find the discipline? Mark Bittman has a plan for you. The New York Times food columnist has written "VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 To Lose Weight and Restore Your Health …. For Good."

What Plant, Where And When?
We are in the midst of plant-sale season. So how do you choose the perennial in spring that will survive the summer and look great next year? The Greendays gardening panel has some simple rules to follow for picking the right plant and taking care of it.

When you think of plastic surgery maybe you think of best implants, botox or even facelifts, but there are surgeries that are happening more and more these days that you might have never even imagined. Ross Reynolds talks gynecomastia and labiaplasty with Northwest plastic surgeon, Dr. Phil Haeck.

Futurist Sonia Arrison believes the first person to live to 150 years has already been born. What will the rapidly evolving improvements in medicine and life extension mean for us, our society and the earth? What will living longer mean for careers, family and faith?

The Mayo Clinic reports that around 45 percent of Americans say they are either very or somewhat likely to donate a kidney to someone they’ve never met. In 2001, that number was only 24 percent.

There are about 90,000 people in the US currently waiting for a kidney, and many others waiting for a different organ. Living donors are limited by what they can donate, either a kidney or small portion of a liver. Would you donate an organ?

In Washington state, it’s perfectly legal for employers to refuse to hire people who smoke. In 2006, state lawmakers tried but failed to join 29 other US states that made it illegal for employers to discriminate against smokers. 

According to the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, it’s legal for companies to ban smokers from their workforce because smokers are not protected by any wrongful termination laws.