By Karen Kier
Pharmacist on behalf of the ONU HealthWise team
Heartbreaker is a common name shared by several songs released over the years. Two of the most famous are those performed by Pat Benatar in 1979 and Dionne Warwick in 1982. Pat Benatar has sold over 35 million albums and has won 4 Grammy Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November of 2022. Dionne Warwick’s song Heartbreaker was on her 1982 album by the same name. Her song was written by the Bee Gees, who later released their own version in 1994. Dionne won six Grammys and is the second-most charted female during the rock era. Interestingly, she served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations.
So, why the talk about heartbreak during the most wonderful time of the year?
Early in my pharmacy career, I was working Christmas Day in the hospital emergency room. We had a patient come in with a heart condition and the physician’s diagnosis was holiday heart. At first, I thought the physician was making a joke because we were both working a holiday, but then I realized he was serious.
By Nathaniel Ratnasamy, MD
Infectious Disease & Travel Medicine
Winter season can be a season of joy with the gathering of families and friends for the holidays, but it can also become the season of spreading respiratory infections. While most of the time, respiratory infections are mild nuisances for healthy people, influenza, RSV and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) can lead to consequences that are more serious for those with chronic illnesses. COVID-19 has been linked to about 200-400 deaths a day in the past several months. Blanchard Valley Hospital has seen hospitalizations go from single digits to the teens in the past few weeks. Hospitalization for influenza has also increased. Influenza in a typical year is associated with 25,000 to 50,000 deaths.
By Karen Kier
Pharmacist on behalf of the ONU HealthWise team
On December 25, 2002, Steven Spielberg released the movie Catch Me If You Can based on the autobiography of Frank Abagnale, Jr. The movie starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank and Tom Hanks as FBI agent Joseph Shea. The plot is how a con man serving a prison term starts to work with the FBI to catch cons. The movie inspired other shows including the television series White Collar, which ran from 2009 to 2014. The series featured Matt Bomer as Neal Caffrey, Tim DeKay as FBI agent Peter Burke, and Willie Garson as Mozzie. Neal and Mozzie were con artists and stole valuable artifacts. After being arrested, Neal starts to work for the FBI capturing other criminals.
The 2018 release of The Grinch is the highest grossing Christmas movie of all time. The movie surpassed Home Alone and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000 release). Dr. Seuss’ 1957 book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" was the inspiration for many movie adaptations.
Holiday movies started playing on television in October of this year. They are a major draw for viewers. Although there is no statistic on how many Christmas movies we will watch on average this year, there is an abundance of opportunities. The media releases suggest 170 new Yuletide movies were made this year with the Hallmark and the Lifetime channels accounting for 66 of them.
Country music star, Blake Shelton and his mother, Dorothy Shackleford have worked together to produce Christmas movies for the Hallmark channel. The 2022 movie was the fifth installment of their series titled Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas. This movie premiered on November 26, 2022.
With so many hours of Christmas movies available to watch, what is the harm? Christmas can be an ideal time to binge-watch movies. One after another!
By Karen Kier
Pharmacist on behalf of the ONU HealthWise team
"The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is considered one of the best Christmas songs of all time. It was released on October 14, 1963 as part of the first Christmas album by singer Andy Williams. Interestingly, this song was not selected to be the promotional single for the album, but was sidelined for his song "White Christmas."
By Karen Kier
Pharmacist on behalf of the ONU HealthWise team
Health strategies have recommended both an aspirin a day or an apple a day to keep the doctor away. What are the benefits and risks of these strategies in managing your health?
