SAN ANDREAS, CA – July 11, 2012- Mark Twain St. Joseph’s Hospital (MTSJH) will be holding
its 2nd Annual Summer Health Fair on Saturday, July 21st, at the Terrace in Valley Springs.
In addition to the five-panel blood analysis that consists of chemistry panel, thyroid, complete
blood count, lipid panel, Iron for women, and PSA for men, the hospital will now screen for vitamin D deficiencies.
“I think pretty much everybody is aware that there is a very high prevalence of osteoporosis in the United States,” commented Dr. Baier, MTSJH Laboratory Medical Director. “Experts on vitamin D have pointed out that there is an even higher incidence of vitamin D deficiency, leading to speculation that a major component of the osteoporosis epidemic is due to vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D has been added to milk in the US since 1932 and it’s found in small quantities in food including meat, eggs, salmon, and mackerel. As most people are aware, vitamin D is also synthesized in the skin during exposure to ultraviolet B radiation. Yet sunlight and dietary sources of vitamin D are inadequate for many, if not most, people in our country. Broad-based population surveys have shown deficiency rates of 33-50% in adults. Deficiency in children is associated with rickets, and in adults with osteomalacia and osteoporosis. Many people do not know that vitamin D deficiency is also associated with type 1 diabetes in children and adults, schizophrenia, immune deficiencies, generalized aches and pains, and prematurity in pregnant women.”
“There are two active forms of vitamin D, vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol),” expressed Dr. Baier. “Which is found in a few plant food sources, and vitamin D3 (cholecalcifierol) which is found in animal food sources and is synthesized in the skin of humans. It is important that assays for vitamin D measure both forms of vitamin D. There is general agreement that levels of vitamin D2 plus D3 less than 30ng/ml indicate mild deficiency and levels less than 9 ng/ml indicate severe deficiency. Many experts in the field feel that the optimum level for good health is more like 40 or 50ng/ml. As we have tested both healthy people and people with osteoporosis, we have found a frighteningly high rate of severe deficiency in our community. This is somewhat surprising, because we live in an area populated by a lot of outdoors types who tend to live a very active lifestyle. One would think that our population would have lower rates of vitamin D
MTSJH WILL PROVIDE VITAMIN D SCREENINGS AT 2ND ANNUAL SUMMER HEALTH FAIR
12-NR19
July 11, 2012
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768 Mountain Ranch Road
San Andreas, CA 95249
209.754.3521 Telephone
Nicki Stevens – Manager
Marketing and Business Development
209.754.5919 | Nicki.Stevens@DignityHealth.org marktwainhospital.org
deficiency because of their high rate of sun exposure during most of the year, yet many people apparently need to take sometimes high doses of vitamin D to get reasonable blood levels.”
“Vitamin D helps in the absorption of dietary calcium and phosphorus, and has a role in bone health,” stated Lab Manager Barbara Bennett. “Research is showing links between Vitamin D and heart disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and some cancers. Although cow’s milk has been fortified with vitamin D and a few foods naturally contain vitamin D, the main source of vitamin D is produced within the body.”
“Each year we are seeing more and more patients in our community with vitamin D deficiencies,” remarked clinical laboratory scientist Linda Miotti. “We felt providing this screening could be a very valuable measure to patients that may be at risk, or at least allow them to have a baseline to monitor their vitamin D intake.”
Dozens of Community Health Groups will be participating in this event. There will be Senior Health Services Information and Nutrition and Fitness Information. Health Screenings will be no charge but Blood Analysis will cost $45 and Bone Density Screenings cost $10.
The Calaveras County Public Health Department will be providing the Tdap vaccine to adults and students in 7th grade and older who require the vaccine for school entry. The cost is $16. No one will be turned away due to inability to pay.
“Providing low cost and no cost health care services is just one way of serving our community,” said Craig Marks, Hospital President. “Our health fairs benefit families that are of the underserved population or just working towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Our providers and staff are here to share preventative care and over all good health maintenance tips. Hosting our community health fairs allows us to express our gratitude to those families that entrust us with their health care needs. This is a joint collaborated effort with many other entities working together to ensure that Calaveras County residents can thrive in a healthy community.”
For more information about the Summer Health Fair, call 754-2564.
