In The News
Prescription opioids are a gateway to heroin use in O.C.
Sometimes it begins legitimately. Pain from an injury or a surgery leads to a prescription for Vicodin, Oxycontin or Percocet. But when the pills run out, too often people find they are hooked on a highly addictive drug. That’s when they turn to other opiates, especially heroin. This has led to a “normalization” of heroin … Read More
Hoag Irvine Celebrates 5 Year Anniversary with City
The City of Irvine is arguably the most dynamic community in Orange County. With top-tier schools and high-tech companies, Irvine reverberates with an energy that reaches every corner of the city. It is this vibrancy that has made the last five years so exciting for health care in this community, beginning with Hoag Hospital … Read More
Death in disguise: A broad campaign targets sepsis, which often mimics minor ills
When he started feeling sick one Sunday last year, Stan Tkaczyk “was mad at myself” for not getting a flu shot. It wasn’t until weeks later – after he got severe shakes and called paramedics, after a trip to the emergency room and after his wife, Barbara, told him he’d been unconscious for five days … Read More
Prevention: Type 2 Diabetes
Millions of Americans have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and many more are unaware they are at high risk. Most are over the age of forty, but the number of children and teens being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is on the rise. Insulin is necessary for the body to use glucose for energy … Read More
Brain Food – A Mediterranean Diet
“It is well known that those with diabetes are at higher risk for cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Some go so far as to call Alzheimer’s disease type 3 diabetes,” says Dan Nadeau, MD, program director at the Mary & Dick Allen Diabetes Center and Kris V. Iyer Endowed Chair in Diabetes Care. In a … Read More
Oral Health & Diabetes
Did you know that there are more bacteria in your mouth right now than there are people on Earth? You may be at risk for developing gum disease if germs settle into your gums and turn to plaque. If you have diabetes, it may weaken your mouth’s germ-fighting ability. High blood sugar can help manifest … Read More
Labeling drug addiction a choice is intellectually dishonest
In recent mainstream articles, addiction has been portrayed as a habit or a choice, instead of what it truly is – namely, a chronic, treatable brain disease. This misconception is both wrong and dangerous, and it flies in the face of neuroscience, which has shown addiction to be rooted in the brain's chemical imbalance and … Read More
Hoag opens on-site rehab facility in Newport Beach
Hoag Hospital has opened a 21-bed residential substance abuse treatment center in Newport Beach, the first in California to be located on an acute-care hospital campus. The facility, called SolMar Recovery, comes at a time when heroin addiction and prescription painkiller addiction are soaring locally and nationwide, and as the Affordable Care Act requires insurance … Read More
Proposed breast screenings may put women at risk
There is much we know about breast cancer. We know that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with the disease in her lifetime. We know that mammograms can detect cancer in its earliest stages and that this is key to effective treatment and survival. Early intervention saves the lives of thousands of women in … Read More
643 babies set a one-month birth records in July at Hoag
In July, the labor and delivery unit of Newport Beach’s Hoag Hospital was a busy place. It was so packed, in fact, that Hoag officials say last month broke a record for babies born in a one-month period: 643. The milestone far surpasses the previous one, set in September, of 583 births. “This was a … Read More