US Mum Urges for Gun Safety Awareness After Losing Son

Although mass shootings get more attention in the press, a US child’s wellbeing, and family wellness, is far more at risk in the home. A 14-year-old boy in Massachusetts learned this lesson the hard way when he accidentally shot his neighbour; 12-year-old Brain Crowell.

Brian’s mother, Ann Marie Crowell, who spoke to the child and his mother after the incident, explained, ‘He was going, “Click, click, click,”’ and pretending to shoot the gun, not knowing that the gun was loaded. ‘But there was one last bullet. It went into Brian’s neck.’ According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 800 children under 14 were killed in gun accidents from 1999 to 2010.

Since losing her son, Crowell has devoted her life to gun safety and attended the State of the Union address in January as President Barack Obama’s guest. She noted, ‘I had never thought to ask about guns in the home,’ and now urges parents to ask whether there are guns in the home before sending their kids for play dates. ‘If I owned a gun, I wouldn’t be mad that someone asked,’ Crowell assures. ‘If you were going over for a play date to a house with a swimming pool, wouldn’t you want them to lock the pool gate? As a parent, you want to do anything you need to do to protect your child.’

Thomas McInerny, president of The American Academy of Paediatrics recommends that paediatricians ask about guns in the home when taking a patient’s history. He commented, ‘It’s no different than when we ask about safety seats in the car or bicycle helmets, or the temperature of your hot water heater. We want to keep children safe. And most parents say they appreciate it.’

Gun safety awareness is also supported by the National Rifle Association, who run an Eddie Eagle GunSafe Programme in which 18 million children have participated. Spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said that the program teaches kids, ‘If you see a gun, STOP! Don’t Touch. Leave the Area. Tell an Adult.’ He added, ‘The one thing we always recommend is education. You have to teach your children that guns aren’t toys.’

Categories: Awareness, Children, click click, crowell, Gun Safety, guns, Home, Safety, safety awareness, US

Are Corporate Wellness Programmes a Waste of Money?

Under the US Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA), employers who offer wellness and prevention programmes to employees are given greater support. But do such programmes actually improve employee wellbeing or reduce health care costs?

The US Department of Labour explains that, beginning in 2014, the ACA (otherwise known as Obamacare) will increase ‘the maximum permissible reward under a health-contingent wellness programme from 20% to 30% of the cost of health coverage, and [increases] the maximum reward to as much as 50% for programmes designed to prevent or reduce tobacco use.’ The agency claims that ‘workplace health programmes have the potential to promote healthy behaviours; improve employees’ health knowledge and skills; help employees get necessary health screenings, immunizations, and follow-up care; and reduce workplace exposure to substances and hazards that can cause diseases and injury.’

However, Tom Emerick, a benefits consultant and former benefits executive at Walmart, Burger King, British Petroleum, and American Fidelity Assurance, asserts, ‘Corporate wellness programmes do not reduce the cost of health plans…They simply do not work.’ Emerick argues that, for this reason, such programmes were abandoned during the 1970s and 1980s. ‘Back then, it sounded like it had huge potential,’ he said. ‘If you used wellness to improve your health, you should be able to reduce things like heart attacks and strokes. We did massive experiments with programmes much more extensive than just reimbursement and incentives. Sure, a lot of people got helped along the way, but it was never enough to offset the cost of it.’

Emerick adds that recent RAND Corp. research, which was commissioned by the Department of Labour and Department of Health and Human Services,  found that about half of US employers with 50 or more employees ‘offer wellness promotion initiatives’ such as weight loss programs, smoking cessation, education, and personalised health coaching. However, while there was ‘a lower cost trend in programme participants compared to non-participants…the overall difference on overall health care cost is not statistically significant.’

According to Glenn Riseley, president of the Global Corporate Challenge, ‘Programmes that offer workers cash to do the right thing undermine the messages of trust and responsibility that are essential to any vibrant and competitive company culture.’ Instead, Riseley believes that introducing elements that truly motivate employees, such as ‘competition, teamwork and online engagement,’ makes behavioural change in corporate wellness possible, as these things can foster personal responsibility for health improvement.

Categories: ACA Incentives, US, Wellness programmes

US Court Lifts Age Limits on Access to Morning-After Pill

The question of access for young people to emergency over-the-counter contraceptives has become a contentious issue in the US. A federal judge in New York lifted the age limits on purchasing the contraceptives, a decision that brought the court into direct conflict with the US Catholic Conference of Bishops.

The bishops have demanded that the ruling be appealed and overturned, claiming that allowing young people to have increased access to emergency contraception contributes to increased rates of sexually-transmitted infections (STIs).

US District Court Judge Edward Korman had given the US Food & Drug Administration 30 days to make the morning-after pill available to women of all ages, ruling that any potential misuse of the drug by girls as young as 11 was so minuscule as to not be worth taking into account.

The drug that Judge Korman said must be made available is Plan B, known by its generic name of levonorgestrel. It can be taken up to 72 hours after unprotected sex to prevent an unwanted pregnancy.

Since 2006, Plan B has been available to women over the age of 18 and to women aged 17 since 2009. Judge Korman’s ruling means that women under the age of 17 now no longer need a prescription to buy the morning-after pill.

The US Catholic Conference of Bishops said Plan B would not stop the spread of any STIs and would also make adolescent girls more susceptible to sexual predators. Both the bishops and the Pro-Life Commission of the Archdiocese of New York say the judge’s ruling undermines the role of parents by removing their right to know what medications their under-age daughters are taking.

The Korman ruling followed a lawsuit by the Centre for Reproductive Rights over a decision by the Federal Government in Washington to impose an age limit on over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill.

US Court Lifts Age Limits on Access to Morning-After Pill

Categories: age limits, Emergency contraception, US