Dr. Lori Gore-Green | Women's Health Professional

Dr. Lori Gore-Green's Portfolio of Experience as a Women's Health Professional

4 Reasons to Get Your Flu Shot Today

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Dr. Lori Gore-Green

Pregnant Women : Protect Yourself, Protect Your Newborn

The U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends an annual flu vaccine for anyone 6 months of age or older. This includes pregnant women, if there are no contraindications (however, if you are pregnant, make sure to consult with your physician prior to receiving a flu shot). It’s important to note that pregnant women cannot use the FluMist live nasal flu vaccine and must receive the inactivated influenza vaccine. Even with these standards in place, in addition to the vaccine protecting pregnant women against the flu, there’s an added value of protecting their newborn infants for up to the first six months of life. This is great to keep in mind since infants are too young to receive the vaccine themselves. 

Collect Your Paycheck

If someone gave you the choice of getting compensated for your work or staying home, feeling ill and not getting paid or using up vacation days, it’s unlikely that you would choose the latter. Every year, the flu season costs millions of lost work days and billions of dollars. And even though the general public is advised to get the flu vaccine when it first becomes available (generally in mid-August), most people wait until the temperatures drop. Although the vaccine doesn’t always cover every strain of the actual virus, it will undoubtedly provide more protection than not getting vaccinated. And the 2015-2016 vaccine has even been updated with 2 new strains.

Protect Loved Ones and Those at Risk

Every year, thousands of children under five years of age are hospitalized owing to the flu. Young children and those with health problems such as asthma or diabetes are at an even higher risk, because they have a greater chance of developing complications. With this in mind, unless you or your family members are contraindicated for receiving the vaccine, you owe it to others who are at a higher risk, to get vaccinated and prevent the infection of others. 

Inexpensive and Accessible

We are lucky in that we now live in a time when the flu vaccine has never been easier to obtain. Waiting in endless lines and making  follow up appointments are a thing of the past. Now the flu vaccine is available at many pharmacies and large retailers like; Target, CVS or Walgreens. Throughout the country, the majority of pharmacists are licensed to immunize, which means that they can administer the vaccine with little waiting. Furthermore, most pharmacies and clinics accept insurance for the vaccine which translates to little or no copay for you. And even if you don’t have insurance, find out if your local health clinic or retail pharmacy offers free vaccines. If not, however, the average vaccine costs roughly thirty dollars. 

Debate Over Gynecology Tool Sheds Light On Regulation

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Dr. Lori Gore-GreenDoctors from all over the country are sticking by a gynecological tool even after a warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about its ability to spread undetected cancer. As reported in a recent article from the Wall Street Journal, the face off between doctors and regulators is showcasing what some might call intransigence on the part of doctors, and others might call overreach on the part of the government. What is certainly clear is that quality gynecological care lies somewhere in the middle.

The device in question is called a laparoscopic power morcellator, and it is used by its proponents to remove benign uterine growths called fibroids. The tool is normally employed during routine hysterectomies to slice and remove the fibroids through small incisions. The issue with the morcellators is that they have the potential to leave tissue behind that can grow and then spread throughout the body, including tissue that has not been identified as malignant.

This potential threat prompted the warning from the FDA and caused many hospitals to stop using the tool, including Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and Philadelphia’s Temple University Hospital. Many insurers across the country have stopped covering procedures involving morcellators.

However, there are gynecologists who believe that reports of the threat are unwarranted and continue to use the tool routinely. Doctors like Jeffrey Thurston of Dallas say that the treatments he performs with his patients are between he and his patient, and that regulators are simply interfering. In his practice, he has patients sign a release that states that the risk of spreading undetected sarcoma is somewhere between 1 in 300 and 1 and 1000. He also tells his patients verbally that he does not believe those numbers.

In the tug of war between the FDA and doctors, it can be difficult for patients to know whom to trust. Where one stands on the use of morcellators may have more to do with politics than any insights on patient welfare.

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal.