Providence offers free smoking cessation classes

According to the American Cancer Society, tobacco use accounts for at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths, causing 87 percent of lung cancer deaths in men, and 70 percent of lung cancer deaths in women.

“The best prevention for lung cancer is to stop smoking,” said Lara Whetstone, exercise physiologist – STS data manager.

The U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on smoking stated people who quit, regardless of age, live longer than people who continue to smoke. As smokers decided to buy their second pack of cigarettes, just like the smoking adverts try to do, it may be best to consider what smoking can do to you and your future. Apart from the obvious health concerns, when it eventually comes to finding life insurance, you will find that you won’t be paying the same amount as a person who recently gave up smoking. This is because smoking has a number of risks associated, so you are paying more to cover all this. If you quit smoking, your policies will decrease. This is why sites like https://www.moneyexpert.com/life-insurance/ exist. Not many people know this, but once they do, we hope this has been another step forward when it comes to giving up smoking.

Many people have began to start vaping as a way to help them stop smoking. Vaping is also better for their health, with vaping products, like vapors, vape pens, and vape carts, becoming more and more popular with those who are interested in cutting back on their smoking. If this is something that you are interested in you can check out vaporisaattori. Smokers who quit before age 50 reduce their risk of dying in the next 15 years by half, compared to those who continue to smoke. And, those who stop smoking lower their risks for other major diseases, such as heart disease and stroke.

Providence offers the community free smoking cessation classes that focus on why individuals smoke, methods to quit smoking and how to successfully stop. The series of four classes is available on the hospital campus in the Cardiac Rehabilitation department. The next session will be held Mondays and Wednesdays, Jan. 20, 22, 27 and 29. To register for this free class, call 913-596-4950.

Heart-valve repairs made without surgery

From KU Hospital

Rose Buchan fainted twice. Fortunately, both times she was near quick medical help.

But doctors realized that the 83-year-old Blue Springs woman, who had recently undergone heart surgery, still had a problem. She had a condition called mitral valve regurgitation, which causes blood to flow backward in the heart. Besides causing shortness of breath, it can lead to stroke and heart failure. But because of her age, and previous heart surgery, she was not a candidate for another risky heart procedure.

But Buchan came to see Dr. Mark Wiley, an interventional cardiologist at The University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., who had good news for her. The hospital is the first in the region to offer a less invasive procedure using a device called a MitraClip.

While other surgeries require chest incisions and stopping the heart, the MitraClip procedure only requires a small amount of anesthesia and a catheter. During the procedure, a metal clip is inserted into the heart through the femoral vein, a blood vessel in the leg. The clip holds the two mitral valve leaflets together, allowing blood to move forward, not backward.

“I feel better…I have a good outlook on life now,” Buchan said. “My breathing is better, and I just feel with this I can go on forever!”

“I’m excited about the MitraClip,” Dr. Wiley said. “It gives us an opportunity for patients who were previously considered high risk and wouldn’t have been operated on, and would have been managed with just medicine. Many times they would come back to the hospital with symptoms and signs of congestive heart failure, and now we have an option for those patients.”

Wiley also said recovery time for the procedure is about one week, with a two to three day hospital stay.

Fire on Lafayette under investigation

A fire at 3116 Lafayette at 7:50 p.m. Jan. 4 is under investigation, according to the Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department.

One firefighter injured an ankle during firefighting, the spokesman said. There were no other injuries.

When fire crews arrived at the fire, within 1 minute of the call, they saw fire showing from the front of the one-story wood-framed building, according to the spokesman.

He said everyone had already evacuated the home. The fire was brought to an end within 31 minutes, he said.

The Red Cross was called to assist two adults and three children, he said.

The Fire Department estimated the loss to property and contents at $30,000 on the $110,000 home.