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Anne and Will Jutt of Mason. Anne saved Will’s life May 15 by performing the Heimlich maneuver after the six-year-old choked on a tomato. Provided

Saturday marks national Heimlich Maneuver Day

By Melinda Zemper

It happened so fast.

Anne Jutt was having lunch with three of her family’s six young children May 15 when six-year-old Will choked on a cherry tomato.

“I told him to cough it out, but he couldn’t. So I performed the Heimlich maneuver twice, but there was nothing,” she said.

The Mason mom performed the Heimlich maneuver one more time.  The tomato shot out of Will’s mouth.

“We both cried for a long time. It was the scenario every parent thinks about, but is never prepared for,” said Jutt.

Jutt said she and her husband Mike, a hair care  manager at P&G, had taken a general first aid training course when she was pregnant with their first baby a dozen years ago.

“It was the only training I’d ever had with the Heimlich maneuver,” she said. “I know my technique was not perfect, but when I found the right spot, it worked. We are so very thankful for the doctor.”

She means Dr. Henry Heimlich, the Cincinnati thoracic surgeon who developed the Heimlich maneuver in 1974 with a team of Jewish Hospital researchers. Saturday is national Heimlich Maneuver Day.

(more…)

Posted in: Community, Health & Science, News |

Tags: Tags: anne jutt, choking, health, heimlich maneuver, henry heimlich, mason, national heimlick manuever day, will jutt

Dealchicken.com is offering discounted massage deals at Massage for Wellness in Mason.

Choose a 60-minute relaxation massage for $30 or a 60-minute deep tissue massage for $35.  The deal reflects a 50 percent discount off regular prices.

The deal is valid now through Saturday.  Purchase online at www.dealchicken.com.  DealChicken is a daily deals site from Enquirer parent company Gannett.

Massage for Wellness is at 7577 Central Parke Blvd. and can be reached at 513-720-0048.

Posted in: Business, Health & Science, News |

Tags: Tags: dealchicken, Dealchicken.com, deals, discount, enquirer, gannett, massage for wellness

Four doctors at the Lindner Center of HOPE in Mason have been included in The Best Doctors in America 2011-2012 database.

The peer-reviewed survey by thousands of doctors includes the top 5 percent of physicians practicing in the U.S. based on the question, “If you or a loved one needed a doctor in your specialty or a related specialty, to whom would you refer them?” The list holds more than 45,000 names.

The doctors’ bios and specialties are listed below:

Paul E. Keck, Jr., M.D., President-CEO, Lindner Center of HOPE, is a nationally renowned psychiatrist and researcher in Bipolar Disorder and psychopharmacology. He authored over 700 scientific papers in leading journals and was the 7th most cited scientist in the world published in the fields of psychiatry and psychology over the last decade.

Michael A. Keys, M.D., Dr. Keys is a regionally known and respected expert in Geriatric Psychiatry with more than 25 years of experience. He currently serves as Director of Senior Adult Psychiatry at the Lindner Center of HOPE. He is also a member of several national and international psychiatric associations and editorial boards.

Susan L. McElroy, M.D., A nationally recognized researcher and educator, Dr. McElroy is internationally known for her research in bipolar disorder, eating disorders, obesity, impulse control disorders and pharmacology. As Chief Research Officer for the Lindner Center of HOPE, she currently oversees multiple ongoing studies in bipolar disorder, major depression, binge eating disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Anne Marie O’Melia, M.S., M.D., Dr. O’Melia specializes in the assessment and treatment of eating disorders and serves as Medical Director of The Harold C. Schott Foundation Eating Disorders Program at Lindner Center of HOPE.  Board certified in pediatrics and psychiatry, she has additional subspecialty board certifications in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine.

This is the third consecutive year the doctors have been included in the database.  All four physicians hold faculty appointments with the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and are part of UC Physicians.

Posted in: Business, Health & Science, News |

Tags: Tags: anne arie o'melia, database, lindner center of hope, michael a. keys, paul keck jr., susan mcelroy, the best doctors in america

Cincinnati Children’s Urgent Care Centers is offering a digital option to reduce patient wait times.

Parents and caretakers are now able to text “ccurgent” to 437411 to obtain current estimated wait times at Cincinnati Children’s Urgent Care centers.

Cincinnati Children’s has one urgent care facility in Mason at 9560 Children’s Drive, and locations in Anderson and Fairfield.

Children’s Mason Urgent Care center is open from 6-11 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.  Doctors are on staff to treat a myriad of conditions from fevers and rashes to cuts, simple burns and broken bones.

For more information, call Cincinnati Children’s Urgent Care Mason at 513-636-6800.

Posted in: Business, Health & Science, News |

Tags: Tags: business, cincinnati children's urgent care, health, mason, mason campus, text, urgent care, wait times

Posted in: Health & Science, News |

Tags: Tags: cincinnati health department, health, meningitis, university of cincinnati, warren county

Dr. Michael Shaffer practices sports injury medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center's Mason Outpatient Center. Provided photo

The Sports Medicine clinic at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has expanded office hours at its Mason Outpatient Center.

Dr. Michael Shaffer has consolidated his clinic hours to Mason and will now offer appointments Monday through Friday, most within 24 hours, according to his office.

The consolidation allows the sports medicine division to better meet the needs of patients in Mason and surrounding areas who require specialized sports injury care, say hospital officials.

Shaffer, who is bilingual in English and Spanish, specializes in injury prevention, altered foot mechanics, manipulative treatment of spine and pelvis related dysfunction and the evaluation and treatment of sports-related medical and physical issues of female athletes.

The office is at 9560 Children’s Drive in Mason.  For more information, call 513-636-7529.

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Demetria Castanias of Mason celebrated her 16th birthday in July last year by donating blood at a local Hoxworth donor center. "I want to celebrate my life by helping to save others," she said.

Hoxworth Blood Center has issued an emergency appeal for Type O blood donors.

The center’s Type O inventory dropped to emergency levels due to “extremely heavy demand” for this blood type, said Gregg Boothe, the center’s assistant director.

“More than 500 Type O blood products were used in the last week to support two patients in our community,” he explained.

“This situation has reached a point where our ability to adequately supply our hospitals with needed blood is severely compromised.”

Hoxworth operates eight neighborhood donor centers in Anderson, Blue Ash, Central at the University of Cincinnati, Downtown, Ft. Mitchell, Tri-County, Western Hills and Mason.

The Mason location is at 9554 Mason-Montgomery Road in the Governor’s Pointe Shopping Center.  Find other locations at www.hoxworth.org.

Schedule an appointment at any of the locations by calling 513-451-0910.  Walk-ins also welcome.

Donors this week will be automatically entered into Hoxworth’s Geek Week raffle for a chance to win an iPad, Nook e-reader or Nintendo Wii package.

Donors must be at least 17 years old (16 with a signed parental consent form), in good health and weigh at least 110 pounds.  They’re encouraged to eat a good meal and drink plenty of water in the four hours before donating.

Hoxworth says it requires at least 350 volunteer blood donors and 40 volunteer platelet donors a day to meet the need of Tri-state hospitals and patients.

Posted in: Community, Health & Science, News |

Tags: Tags: blood, demand, donation, donor, emergency appeal, gregg boothe, health, hoxworth blood center, ipad2, life, mason, neighborhood donor center, nintendo wii, nook e-reader, raffle, technology, type o, university of cincinnati

The Warren County Drug Task Force has issued warnings of dangerous "bath salts" like this being sold in the Mason area. File photo

The Warren County Drug Task Force has issued a warning about dangerous “bath salts” being sold in Mason.

Police say that the task force has seized some of the substances, which appear to be chlorine tablets crushed in bath salts containers.

Bath salts, a synthetic stimulant with hallucinogenic properties, have been sold legally in gas stations, tobacco shops and other businesses under names like Ivory Snow, White Horse, Zoom, Blue Silk, and Purple Wave.

Governor John Kasich signed legislation in July that would ban the use of the drug, but that law will not go in effect until September.

Until then, police can only monitor sales and warn the public about the dangers, said Warren County Drug Task Force Commander John Burke.

Bath salts are crystallized chemicals that are snorted, swallowed, smoked or mixed with drinks or food.  The chemicals can trigger the same effects as cocaine, meth or ecstasy, causing hallucinations, paranoia, rapid heart rates, violent behavior and suicidal thoughts.

“There are numerous health effects, including death,” said Burke.  “It’s serious stuff.”

To report a tip, call the Warren County Drug Tip Hotline at 1-866-307-0070 or email drugtips@wcdtf.org. For other information, call 513-336-0070.

Posted in: Community, Crime, Health & Science, News |

Tags: Tags: ban, bath salts, chemicals, chlorine, dangerous, death, drugs, Governor John Kasich, health, law, legal, mason, sold, warren county drug task force

For Amy Robillard of Mason, winning the Flying Pig women’s Half-Marathon was a labor of love.

Robillard’s 14-month-old son, Jameson, had bone-marrow transplant surgery a year ago.  For Amy, 31, his trial is all the inspiration she needed to win the race in one hour, 22 minutes and 11 seconds.

“I run when I can – if I have time at home, I’ll run for 45 minutes, or if I’m at the hospital with Jameson the nurses tell me where I can run for a few minutes,” she said. “If I think that I’m getting tired, I just think that this can’t be harder than what my son is going through.”

Robillard, her husband and 4-year-old daughter moved to the area two years while she was pregnant with Jameson. He is being cared for at Children’s Hospital.

A record number of participants took part in this year’s Flying Pig weekend, reports Enquirer contributer Kevin Goheen.

There were 30,408 runners in the two-day, seven-race festival. That’s 4,464 more than took part in last year’s event.

Sunday’s marathon had 5,083 registered participants, while the half-marathon had 12,155 people. There were 3,044 registered for the relays.

There were participants from all 50 states for the ninth consecutive year as well as runners from 18

Numerous runners and walkers use the Flying Pig to raise awareness and money for charitable causes. Organizers are hoping that charitable donations for the 13-year event will top the $10 million mark this year.

Posted in: Community, Health & Science, News |

Tags: Tags: amy robillard, bone marrow transplant surgery, cincinnati, flying pig, half-marathon, mason, son, women's

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center will take over a unit in Mason to treat teenagers with eating disorders, reports the Enquirer’s Cliff Peale.

Children’s said Thursday it would lease a 16-bed inpatient unit at the Lindner Center of HOPE that will treat adolescents between 11 and 17 with a variety of mental health problems, but focusing on eating disorders.

It will also open a “partial hospitalization program,” where patients live at home but come for treatment during the day, in an adjacent building.

The Lindner Center currently operates the inpatient unit but management will shift to Children’s in July.

“Together, we will avoid duplication of services while offering more capacity to provide behavioral health services in the community,” said Paul Keck, president and chief executive officer at the Lindner Center, in a statement.

As many as 5 percent of adolescent girls suffer from eating disorders, among the most common chronic illnesses for those patients, according to the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.

Because those issues can lead to serious medical problems, patients often need hospitalization until they can get the proper treatment.

Children’s has 63 inpatient beds and 33 resident beds for adolescents at its main campus on Burnet Avenue and its location in College Hill.

“Access is always a struggle,” said Mike Sorter, director of child psychiatry at Children’s. “We think we can really enhance services by combining our efforts.”

Posted in: Business, Health & Science, News |

Tags: Tags: adolescents, anorexia, behavioral health, bulimia, cincinnati children's hospital medical center, eating disorders, eating disorders unit, girls, lindner center of hope, mason, mental health, partial hospitalization program, services, teens