Yvette Freeman ("E.R's" nurse Haleh Adams) Reveals Her Struggle with Obesity

by Alex A. Kecskes

Yvette Freeman, best known as "E.R's" straight-talking nurse, Haleh Adams, recently shared her battle with obesity with fans.

Freeman's dramatic 125-pound weight loss made her a spokeswoman for exercise and healthy eating, even after ER aired its final episode. The accomplished actress now speaks at a variety of venues on the strategies for managing diabetes and heart disease.

Freeman appeared in 185 episodes of the top rated medical drama series, from the pilot to the series finale. While her weight was never an issue for the show's producers, it had become a serious health risk. She noted that she had become pre-diabetic, her blood pressure was way up, and she found it difficult to walk any reasonable distance. In her words, "I was going downhill fast."

The death of a friend convinced her to enroll in a UCLA obesity program. Her weight loss was so dramatic that "E.R." had to issue a statement reassuring fans that Freeman was not ill. She has since become a spokesperson for the dangers of obesity, stressing such strategies as finding a support network and avoiding crash diets.

Freeman still struggles with "roller coaster" weight—having regained almost 80 pounds, then losing weight again. Said Freeman, "I'm down now, but it's a fight."

For an added perspective, check out this video:

For more information on health careers, visit http://www.healthcarejobsite.com/

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients.

Can You Really Make People Happier, Just By Acknowledging That They Aren't Happy?

In any job, it is important to know how to make people happy and how to manage opposition. This is especially true in the healthcare field. Often, you have to get patients to do things that they don't want to do, that may be uncomfortable or embarrassing to them in order to help treat their problem.

I ran across a great article at PsychologyToday that presents a novel way to make people happier, just by acknowledging the fact that they are unhappy. It seems simple, right? Well, it is, and the funny thing is that it actually works.

The idea is to acknowledge the reality of other people's feeling instead of reacting to them with denial, anger and irritation. By restating their concerns, you can validate them and move on to getting the job done. When you think about it, oftentimes people will say that they don't feel like doing something and the reactions they receive are all designed to negate the persons feelings and even contradict them.

For example, if I said “I don't think that I want to go to this party. It just seems like a lot of trouble.” My friends would probably say, “Oh, come on, don't be a spoil sport. Besides, you like parties.” This only serves to contradict my feelings and make me feel bad about not wanting to go. If instead they said, “I know you don't feel like going. But, we really want to spend time with you and you make parties a lot of fun.” I would feel better about going because I felt that my concerns had been heard. The end result is the same; I end up going to the party. The only thing that changed is that a whole lot of arguing was prevented.

The experts all seem to agree that denying someone's bad feelings only serves to intensify them. As adults, when our feelings aren't validated, we often resort to childish behaviors like whining and complaining in order to get the attention and validation we crave. Sometimes, all it takes is acknowledgment and a little bit of encouragement or a pat on the back, to change an attitude of resistance into one of compliance.

This technique can be used to manage your child's behavior and can even help in the workplace. When a patient expresses reluctance to prepare for a procedure or states that they don't want you to do the things that you know are best for their treatment, you can use this tactic to make them feel validated and to get them to do what you need.

Give it a try the next time you are faced with reluctance and see if it works for you.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for HealthCareJobSiteBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

Interview Failure: When you know you've blown it

The way of the job-seeker requires devotion, dedication, and discipline, along with a good helping of mental and physical fortitude. It is not for the timid, the faint of heart, or the inexperienced, which is why there are so many spriritual masters out there offering counsel, advice, and testimony to those who would follow the path.

The advice many of these masters offer is strikingly similar in tone and content. Indeed, this is so because many of the errors seekers make are common, frequent, and in most cases easily avoided with proper thought and preparation.

And yet even the advanced seeker who has gone through the rituals required of those dedicated to the path many times over occasionally wanders off it. One of the places where many go astray is in the job interview or its followup.

If you are like me, fellow seeker, you have probably strayed from the path yourself, unaware you are doing so at the time. It's only in hindsight, after you replay the encounter or incident, that you come to the realization that you just talked yourself out of consideration.

One of the more common missteps people make is to bring up money too soon. I recall one interview some time back for a communications position at a local university. Given my professional background, I was an excellent match for the position. There was also a staff member in the office who knew me from an organization we both belonged to, respected my work there, and put in a good word for me.

So I walked into the interview with the planets all aligned. Then, when it came my turn to ask the questions, I knocked them out of line by asking, "So what does this job pay?"

While there is a time and place to talk salary in the interview process, the initial in-person interview is usually not it. Seekers who do this get branded as money-hungry and are dropped from further consideration. As I was, it turned out.

Of course, the realization that I had just blown my interview didn't come until a few days later, when the euphoria had worn off. But I'm much more careful now never to act as though I have a job in the bag going in, even if I have reason to believe I might.

There are second chances after an interview failure. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go get another helping of job postings from PhillyJobs.com.

By Sandy Smith

Sandy Smith has been blogging for PhillyJobs.com since 2010. In addition to launching award-winning newspapers and newsletters at the University of Pennsylvania and Widener University, Sandy is a veteran writer whose articles and essays have appeared in several local and regional media outlets, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia CityPaper, and PGN, and on several Web sites. He is also an active participant on several discussion boards, including PhiladelphiaSpeaks.com, where he posts as “MarketStEl.” He has been supporting himself through a combination of freelance and part-time work and unemployment compensation since early 2009 and is himself an active job-seeker. Read more of his posts on PhillyJobsBlog.com and follow him to Beyond.com for more job opportunities.

Cancer Cells May Have Built-In Self-Destruct Signal

by Alex A. Kecskes

Researchers recently discovered that many cancer cells have a built-in "self destruct" signal. This signal appears as a protein on the cell's surface that invites immune cells to attack and destroy it. The goal is to "turn on" this self-destruct signal as soon as possible in those suffering from cancer.

Cancer cells emit the self-destruct signal by displaying the protein calreticulin. What keeps these cells alive is another molecule, called CD47, which allows most cancer cells to avoid destruction by sending out a no-destruct signal.

Many of the body's normal cells have CD47, but these cells are not affected by the anti-CD47 antibody. The anti-CD47 antibody treatment selectively kills only cancer cells without being toxic to most normal cells, but researchers have yet to determine why this occurs.

New research has revealed that calreticulin exists in a variety of cancers, including some types of leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and bladder, brain and ovarian cancers. Most normal cell populations don't display calreticulin and are not depleted when they are exposed to a blocking anti-CD47 antibody.

The big challenge is to determine how calreticulin works, how it contributes to the disease process, and what happens in the cell that causes the protein to move to the cell surface. These are the mechanisms that will allow oncologists to ultimately treat cancer.

For an added perspective, check out this video:

For more information on health careers, visit http://www.healthcarejobsite.com/

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients.

Show me the “Perks”!

These days, it seems that more employers are offering “perks” in lieu of higher salaries in order to keep employees happy and content. After all, “perks” are much more cost-effective than the cost involved with hiring and training new workers. Instead of employees leaving their current places of work for “greener pastures” so to speak, these same employees receive perks and other incentives as rewards. Some of the perks that are currently offered at various organizations include:

Free Career-related Development and Training Perk

Besides personally enriching each employee, this educational “freebie” also creates a more educated workforce – which can only help the company’s bottom-line in the long run. Along similar lines, mentor programs are also offered by many organizations. Again, both employee and employer benefit from this type of arrangement as an employee will most likely learn new skills and tips from a mentor - that will likely benefit both the employee and the employer.

Flexible Schedule Perk

One of the more popular perks that employers offer employees is flexibility over their work schedules- in situations where this perk is feasible. For instance, employers can offer work-from-home days, flexible work hours and other related work-life balance incentives.

Volunteer Service Days Perk

Some progressive workplaces allow employees to volunteer – with pay – with local organizations of their choosing. As employees may not otherwise have this type of opportunity to volunteer due to family obligations and time constraints, these volunteer service days are quite popular as it allows these workers to give back to their community.

Free Lunch Perk

Yes, there “sometimes” is such a thing as a free lunch! For instance, select companies make it a policy to buy lunch for their employees once a week or once a month – depending on the organization. Similarly, other companies buy their employees a continental breakfast – complete with muffins, bagels, coffee, juice and other popular breakfast items on certain designated days.

Discounts Perk

While larger companies are in a better position to give substantial discounts to their employees, small to mid level businesses also offer this type of perk. Some group discounts include good deals on computer and technology equipment and a reduced cost gym membership for instance.

Overall then, as employers realize the benefits that perks bring to a workforce, an increasing number of organizations utilize these types of incentives.

Larisa Redins is a full time writer and editor with degrees in both Arts and Biological Science. She writes about career issues for PhillyJobsBlog.com and other topics for a variety of international websites and magazines. Please visit her other blogs at PhillyJobsBlog.com and view job posting at PhillyJobs.com.

Can an Ad Really Make a City Feel Better? Chrysler's New Ad For The Motor City

Advertising has a lot of power. It can make us want to buy something, make us change the way we think about a product and it can even influence our culture. But, it seems that now it can even make a city feel better about itself.

The new ad Chrysler aired during the Super Bowl has certainly caused a stir. The advertising group of Wieden + Kennedy created the ad for Chrysler as a way to both advertise their new cars and to revive Detroit's image. Take a look:

The city of Detroit, of course, is famous for automotive manufacturing. Although it is often called “Motor City”, the city of Detroit has had an awkward relationship with America's car companies over the past few years. For decades, Detroit has been the home of Chrysler, GM and Ford. The car companies discouraged the city from branching out into other fields of industry. They wanted the city to themselves and for a long time it was a great relationship.

But the people in Detroit can tell you that the automotive industry really just stood by and watched as the city went downhill. The factories laid off workers, the unemployment rate soared, the school systems couldn't support themselves, violence went rampant and the city government basically collapsed due to so much corruption. When you look at pictures of Detroit today, it is heartbreaking to see a city filled with so many hard working Americans end up like this.

The spot was for the Chrysler 200, and and it was a great commercial. It had opening shots of factories and some wonderful shots of downtown Detroit and the architectural details reminding the audience that Detroit was once America's richest city. The car drives down Woodward Avenue and stops outside the Fox Theatre. What really got the audience exited was when you realized that Eminem was driving the car.

Although Eminem has been a supporter of the city, the artist most closely associated with the revival of the city is Kid Rock. Kid Rock has sponsored several charitable events for the city and has two companies based in Detroit. With the pulsing beat of “Loose Yourself” in the background, it was clear that Wieden +Kennedy made an excellent choice, because Eminem doesn't typically do commercials and the spot drew some power from that. All in all, I thought it was an excellent commercial and it gave Detroit natives from across the country another reason to be proud.

The only complaint I had was that the ad stated that Detroit is a city that has been to “hell and back”. I would disagree and say that Detroit isn't back yet, and it is the Automotive industry that is the most to blame for the hell that the good people of Detroit have been going through. Maybe instead of spending millions on a commercial, they could have spent it on raising up the city that it turned it's back on rather than just raising its spirits.

What do you think about the commercial? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for PhillyJobsBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

How Tired Is Too Tired?

The alarm rips through your sleep and you fumble to shut it off. You blearily look around and realize it’s time to get up even though you feel as if you haven’t even slept. Your muscles ache, your head is starting to pound and is that another sore throat starting? You make a note to call your healthcare provider because this has been going on too long. You make your way into the bathroom to take a hot shower to start your day wondering what on earth is wrong with you?

You may have Chronic Fatigue syndrome. This illness is difficult to diagnosis and affects people in different ways. Because there isn’t any one test that will discover if you have the disease, it’s a process of elimination. However, the main symptoms are fatigue or tiredness that’s overwhelming, lasting at least 6 months and not relieved by sleep. Some other symptoms are the following:

-Fatigue lasting more than 24 hours after a normal amount of exercise.

-Sleeping an adequate amount of hours and still feeling exhausted.
-difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, confusion or being irritable
-headaches different from any you’ve experienced before
-painful joints, without swelling or redness, moving from joint to joint
-tenderness of the lymph nodes in the neck or armpit
-mild fever
-unexplained muscle weakness all over
-reoccurring sore throat

A diagnosis of CFS must include the following: Absence of other causes of chronic fatigue (excluding depression), at least four of the symptoms listed and extreme long term fatigue. CFS often follows a course of alternating between periods of illness and well-being. Some people experience a partial or complete remission of symptoms during the illness but the symptoms often reoccur when they overdo it when feeling better.

No one really knows what causes CFS but doctors do feel that chronic stress is a factor. Other factors such as age, prior illness, environment or genetics can also be a factor. This disease commonly occurs in women ages 30-50.

Unfortunately there isn’t a treatment for CFS; instead the symptoms are treated. People with depression and other psychological problems can be treated with antidepressant drugs. Eating a healthy diet and using sleep management techniques can also be useful. You can take medication that will help reduce the pain, discomfort and fever. On days that you’re too tired, avoid doing too much. Try breaking your time down to activity, rest and sleep. You can take large tasks and break them into smaller tasks that are more manageable. You can try biofeedback, deep breathing exercises, massage therapy or muscle relaxation techniques.

The long term outlook for people with CFS varies with each person. Some people recover completely after 6 months to a year and others may take longer. Unfortunately some people never regain their former health and well being. Studies do show that people who seek treatment are more likely to recover than people who ignore the symptoms and hope they’ll just go away.

Catching CFS in the early stages and getting treatment can increase the likelihood of improvement. So if you’re feeling persistent, severe fatigue with or without any of the other symptoms, contact your doctor. You can get your life back!

by Linda Lee Ruzicka

Linda Lee Ruzicka lives in the mountains of Western PA , happily married and with her 8 cats and three dogs. She has been published in Twilight Times, Dark Krypt, Fables, Writing Village, June Cotner anthology, The Grit, Reminisce , the book, Haunted Encounters: Friends and Family. She also does freelances work for Beyond, and for Healthcarejobsite. More of her blogs are at Healthcarejobsiteblog.