It’s a hard habit to break, but adding sixty-two cents to the price of a pack of cigarettes may just break the bank in this tough economy and force people to snuff out cigarettes for good.
    Darell Eisen says, “It is easier to quit when the price goes up because you don’t have the money for it.“

      South Carolinians are suffering with one in ten people in the state out of a job. 
    Just last month South Carolina’s unemployment rate hit a whopping eleven percent, that means for many people covering their healthcare costs are now impossible.

The Haywood County Health Department will provide free booster vaccines to the public from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, March 26.

The Food and Drug Administration is recalling cheese from Torres Hillsdale Country Cheese, sold under the names Aguas Calientes and El Jaliciense because of possible listeria contamination.
  It can come on as flu like symptoms, but according to emergency room doctor Brent Rody with Spartanburg Regional, listeria contamination can be deadly in some patients particularly babies and the  
    elderly.

Actress Natasha Richardson dies from a head injury.  Doctors say even seemingly minor head injuries can be more serious than first thought.

Find free and low cost medical clinics in the Upstate.

Researchers hope it will lead to therapy that will end food allergies in children.

The report shows more than 34 percent were uninsured for some period of time in 2007-2008

  For Vi Clemis getting a good night’s rest wasn’t always so easy to come by.
    She has Restless Leg Syndrome. It is a debilitating disorder that more than 12 million Americans have, but up until recent years many doctors didn’t recognize the condition.

At St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic they are busier than they have ever been.

With the report that an Upstate fourth grader may have died from bacterial meningitis, parents here are worried and Director if Infectious Disease at the Greenville Hospital System’s Children’s Hospital says she understands why.

The disease strikes quickly and has devastating complications, including hearing loss, brain damage, limb amputations and in some cases death.

      For four days, the Coast Guard has scoured the waters off of Tampa Florida looking for any sign of Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith and former South Florida player William Bleakley.
    Their friend Nick Schulyer was rescued after just two days at sea.  His doctors say it’s a miracle he’s alive considering the men were in 63 degree water for so long.
  Spartanburg paramedic Timothy Hancock is on the Specialized Rescue Team and says, “The water is going to pull the heat away from the body so it doesn’t take long for you to become hypothermic.“
    He says anytime you are in water below 95 degrees for several hours you risk hypothermia.

  64 year old Janet Hafner says she’s been off her diabetes medicine for nearly 6 months and she’s been controlling her high cholesterol through herbal medcines.
    She says not only is it good for her pocketbook but her overall health.
Hafner says,  “To be able to control it better and to know I am not going to have to increase medications and add more medications and eventually go on insulin.“

    There are some critical health issues that need to be addressed especially in these uncertain economic times.
    A new report released about health in Spartanburg County shows where the county has improved in the past 5 years and where they still need work.

57 year old Terry Miller says he’s a man of faith, but that faith was questioned recently when he was laid off with no insurance and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.  His only option for help was St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic.

Health officials say people who develop flu like symptoms, including high temperature and dry cough, should visit their doctor for a rapid flu test.

  As a bride, looking at all the gorgeous wedding gowns you start to think about the day you’ll wear that dress.
    You think about all the special people that will be there to see you in it and those that won’t.
    Like my Aunt Rita, one of the strongest women I have ever known.  She died February 4th at the age of 62 from Triple Negative Breast Cancer. 
    Now for brides like me, there’s a way to honor our loved ones and help others in their final days through the gown we choose.

    56 year old George Tambini wouldn’t miss a workout for anything.  He joined Activate Upstate two years ago and hasn’t quit making every weigh in. George says,  “As you get older your bones get more brittle you slow down and I decided I have seen it and I am not going to let it happen that’s my motivation.“

Young adults in the United States aged 18-29 face a number of health challenges, including increases in obesity, high injury rates, and lack of insurance coverage.

    Budget cuts hurt programs for seniors.  86 year old Martha Westrope comes to Senior Action in Greenville three times a week.  She says she started coming for the exercise but has found it provides so much more.  This former psychologist says if it weren’t for her friends here she would be at home lonely.

Martha says, “It would indeed be terrible to not be able to come for all of us.“

Ron Callihan is ecstatic about returning to work at Spartanburg EMS, and not just because he is paramedic of the year, but because two months ago he was unsure if he would be able to go back at all.
    Callihan says, “I began experiencing severe shortness of breath.  I was just doing routine yard work and along with the shortness of breath, I was having discomfort in my chest.“
    He had three blocked arteries.  Now facing surgery his surgeon Dr. Steve Leyland with Spartanburg Regional asked if he would be interested in trying a breakthrough procedure.
    He says, “I would be the very first one and he wanted to make sure I understood that he had never performed this surgery on a live human being.“ 

  For many people the walls of a hospital are not what you want to see in your final days of life, especially knowing you can’t afford to be there.  According to Jennifer Pooley with Hospice Care of South Carolina most patients are more comfortable at home.

    She says,  “You are surrounded by your family your loved ones and you can die in a setting that is familiar to you that is comfortable that makes those final days a lot more peaceful.“

    That’s what Hospice provides to patients, but South Carolina state budget cuts almost made that impossible for patients who only qualify for Medicaid.

  South Carolina has one of the highest obesity rates in the nation and now a state lawmaker says obese people need to pay for it.
    He wants obese state employees to pay an extra 25 dollars on their insurance.
Obesity is the number one health crisis we are dealing with in this country according to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center Doctor Otis Baughman and he says it is costing all of us.
    Vote in Amy Wood’s blogpoll - is this fair?

In these crazy times, it can seem like the world around us is spinning out of control.  According to Dr. Roger Rhoades, with the P.A.C.E. Center, that’s all the more reason to make sure the things we can control, like our relationships, are healthy. He says, “Conflict and problems in relationships are very emotionally, spiritually, and financially expensive.“

Lisa says, “For years I have known I was addicted to sugar I would crave sugar.  I would prefer to eat a doughnut over an egg.“ 

    News of the eight births has fertility doctors questioning why someone would agree to implant eight embryos in a woman who already has six children, because the risk of those embryos becoming viable is so high.

On in six children in South Carolina are born prematurely.  Alex and Ben Lynes are going on two years old and active as ever. For their mother, Katie, the sight is amazing since these little boys, especially Alex, have struggled to survive since the moment they came into the world.

Tooth decay is the number one childhood disease in the U.S. and there is a huge problem in Spartanburg County.

In an emergency, a piece of paper could save your life.  It’s a list of the medications you are currently taking. As Kathy Bishop found out, when her dad went to the hospital for a stroke the medicine in your body determines what the doctors treat you with and how fast. Bishop says, “We get to the emergency room and they are asking all the questions about the medication and my mom didn’t know and my dad couldn’t communicate.“

  The lion of the Senate, Senator Edward Kennedy, taken by ambulance from an inaugural luncheon.  Wednesday doctors say the reason for his collapse was a seizure.  According to Dr. Robert McDonald with Spartanburg Regional, when someone suffers a seizure, the brain is trying to tell us something.

He says, “It is the brain telling us there is something abnormal with it that needs to be taken care of.“