ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 2, 1996 TAG: 9601020143
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Health Notes
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
What is the biggest killer of American women?
If you answered "heart disease," you'd be right. Heart disease kills five times the number of women that breast cancer does and twice the number of women who die of all forms of cancer combined. The problem, however, is that too many women don't think about heart disease.
You can learn all about this often-overlooked disease in women in a television special tonight at 10 p.m. on public television (WBRA-Channel 15).
The special, produced by Connecticut Public Television, focuses on the issues surrounding heart disease in women, especially that the threat of heart disease in women is often overlooked and therefore the illness misdiagnosed.
Charlotte Libov, co-author of "The Women's Heart Book," a health-care guide for women about their hearts, was a consultant for the program and is featured on it. Libov became an activist in women's health issues after undergoing open-heart surgery in 1991.
Among the women who will be profiled on the program is a Boston-area woman who had a heart attack at 37 after being told by her doctors that her problem was "just nerves"; an African-American woman who suffered a heart attack the day after burying her mother, who died of the disease; and the director of a cardiac care unit who had a heart attack.
The program is worthwhile fare for women of any age. It will cover risk factors for heart disease in women and how to prevent heart disease.
Program accredited
Roanoke's College of Health Sciences has been accredited to award a bachelor of science degree by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The college's first program began last fall and prepares registered nurses for the four-year diploma in nursing science. A bachelor's level physician-assistant program will begin in the fall of 1997, but some students are already enrolled in pre-professional courses for that area of study.
The college offers associate degrees in emergency health sciences-paramedic, health information management, nursing, occupational therapy assistant, physical therapist assistant and respiratory care and science.
Pain management
Women who suffer from chronic abdominal and pelvic pain often go from doctor to doctor seeking relief, and about 10 percent of them don't find it. However, since June, the University of Virginia Women's Pain Center has been using an interdisciplinary approach to the problem, said nurse coordinator June Edwards.
Patients referred to UVa by their doctors - the only way women can get into the program - are asked to take an active role in their own treatment by learning relaxation skills and other methods to manage stress and pain.
The program tries to integrate the physical and psychological and uses a treatment team of psychologist, physical therapist and nutritionist, Edwards said.
The most common example of pelvic-pain condition is painful sex, or dyspareunia. Pelvic pain can be associated with abnormal muscle function, so patients use exercise to improve the function of certain muscle groups. The addition of high-fiber foods or certain vitamins and minerals can also be part of the treatment plan. The program is part of UVa's Midlife Health Center.
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