WEST HILLS, Calif. (PRWEB)
April 02, 2020

Houman Salem, business-owner and 2020 Republican candidate for State Senate in California’s 27th district, announced Saturday that he has likely contracted Coronavirus. Salem, who went to the doctor earlier this week with all of the symptoms of COVID 19, was given isolation orders and told there was a high chance he had the disease. He was not officially tested due to his age, general health, and the lack of testing kits in the area. He has been quarantined in his home for the foreseeable future.

“I’m super optimistic that I’ll beat this. . . In fact, Corona should be scared of me!” Salem said via Facebook post. “But all jokes aside, this is the most intense pain I’ve ever felt.” In a statement to friends and family, Salem said, “I got this, we have a campaign to win and a business to run, this isn’t going to stop me.”

Salem, founder and CEO of international clothing manufacturer ARGYLE Haus of Apparel, had already been in the process of retrofitting his San Fernando factory to produce scrubs and hospital gowns for local hospitals. “I realized last week – after listening to my opponent Henry Stern’s town hall – I am in a unique position to help end the shortage of gowns and scrubs at our hospitals. I was proceeding with the plans to convert my factory when I became ill.” Salem says his health condition will not affect the changes and restructuring of the factory, “Not only are there dozens of people counting on this pivot to maintain their jobs, but there are potentially thousands of hospital staff and patients counting on the products.”

For information on Houman Salem’s campaign or to learn more about his platform and issues, please visit Salem2020.com.

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PHILADELPHIA (PRWEB)
April 02, 2020

To avoid compromising the immune system of transplant recipients or patients waiting for a transplant during the COVID-19 pandemic, Temple Health has begun enrolling lung, heart, kidney, and liver transplant patients using HGE Health’s COVID Care(TM) platform. Over 350 transplant patients were enrolled within days of the pandemic to monitor pre- and post-transplant patients for COVID019 symptoms and immediately care for those patients who exhibit symptoms.

Underlying health conditions warranting a transplant can compromise the immune system, making pre-transplant patients susceptible to severe COVID infection. Similarly, transplant recipients are commonly prescribed immunosuppressants that lower the body’s ability to reject a transplanted organ. However, suppressing the body’s ability to reject a transplanted organ also inhibits the body’s immune system from warding off infections such as a COVID-19 infection. Thus, both pre- and post-transplant patients are at high risk for severe COVID-19 infection and morbidity.

Patients enrolled in HGE Health’s COVID Care(TM) remote symptom monitoring platform report their symptoms daily, from home. Questions prepared in accordance with guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) seek information about any symptoms or other conditions experienced by enrolled patients that suggest possible exposure to, or contraction of the COVID-19 virus. “Our platform presents the reported symptom data for our enrolled patients in a format that allows those with the highest risk of infection to be prioritized for medical care” explained Michael J. Markus, Ph.D., CEO of HGE Health. “Transplant patients who are awaiting a transplant or have received a transplant are among the group of patients who are the most susceptible to severe COVID-19 infections and require immediate attention if they contract the virus. The symptom data we collect allows for rapid treatment, often the same day the symptom data is received, so their caregivers can intervene and provide treatment to mitigate the effect of the virus on those patients. Thanks to their daily symptom reports, patients have the peace of mind knowing that they stand a better chance of remaining healthy while awaiting a transplant and that they have someone watching over them in their convalescence, regardless of where they are, following a transplant.”

Temple University Hospital (TUH), its Department of Thoracic Medicine and Surgery, and the Temple Lung Center — the most active lung disease and lung transplantation complex in the United States – are leveraging the scalable nature of the COVID Care(TM) platform to monitor their vulnerable transplant population. The resources of TUH are already strained due to inpatient visits seeking care for COVID-19 infections, in addition to TUH’s patient demands that existed before the current pandemic. Despite the surge in demand, TUH maintains the ability to monitor the symptoms of its transplant patients in real-time and prioritize those requiring medical intervention as part of its comprehensive care program. Any transplant patients suspected of having contracted COVID-19 can be treated quickly, often at the patients’ homes.

Transplant patients, pre- and post-procedure, who are enrolled in the COVID Care(TM) platform use their smartphone, computer or other terminal to securely submit any symptoms of COVID-19 on a daily basis. The reported symptoms are used to categorize the transplant patients into risk categories, taking their potentially compromised immune system into consideration, enabling TUH to rapidly respond to those with the highest risk of a severe COVID-19 infection.

“We recognize that transplant patients, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic, are highly vulnerable and clinically fragile,” said Dr. Markus. “However, if we can help keep lung, heart, kidney, liver and other organ transplant patients stable during a time when the pandemic has severely limited the availability of existing resources, HGE Health can be the critical bridge between patients and their physicians.”

COVID-19 has now spread around the world, infecting more than 400,000 and killing more than 17,000. The World Health Organization (“WHO”) recognizes that the severity of Coronavirus is linked to the age and health condition of patients and has recently declared it a pandemic. Patients of advanced age (at least 60 years old) and diagnosed with a co-morbid disease are the most likely to experience a severe infection of Coronavirus. HGE Health’s digital platform and technology-enabled services, called HGE Care, allows physicians to remotely care for patients from anywhere in the nation, and help patients better understand and manage changes in their symptoms.

Editor’s Note: HGE Health Care Solutions is the exclusive licensee to certain Temple University intellectual property.

Dr. Gerard Criner, Director of the Temple Lung Center, is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of HGE Health.

Temple University and Dr. Criner hold minority equity positions in the company.

About HGE Health

Headquartered in Fort Washington, PA, HGE Health harnesses its deep experience in chronic disease management and digital health in pulmonary disease, telemedicine, and mobile health to develop a clinical services platform that delivers better care faster at a much lower cost for patients, physicians and payors. Built on clinical protocols developed and supported by 16 years of research, the company’s technology has compiled the longest-running and world’s largest longitudinal data set of COPD symptoms, interventions, and clinical management to help physicians provide care for a geographically and socio-economically diverse COPD and pulmonary patient population.

About Temple Health

Temple University Health System (TUHS) is a $2.2 billion academic health system dedicated to providing access to quality patient care and supporting excellence in medical education and research. The Health System consists of Temple University Hospital (TUH); TUH-Episcopal Campus; TUH-Jeanes Campus; TUH-Northeastern Campus; The Hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center and Affiliates, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center; Temple Transport Team, a ground and air-ambulance company; Temple Physicians, Inc., a network of community-based specialty and primary-care physician practices; and Temple Faculty Practice Plan, Inc., TUHS’s physician practice plan comprised of more than 500 full-time and part-time academic physicians in 20 clinical departments. TUHS is affiliated with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System (TUHS) and by the Katz School of Medicine. TUHS neither provides nor controls the provision of health care. All health care is provided by its member organizations or independent health care providers affiliated with TUHS member organizations. Each TUHS member organization is owned and operated pursuant to its governing documents.

It is the policy of Temple University Health System that there shall be no exclusion from or participation in, and no one denied the benefits of, the delivery of quality medical care on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, disability, age, ancestry, color, national origin, physical ability, level of education, or source of payment.

NEW ORLEANS (PRWEB)
April 02, 2020

Representatives fighting for children born exposed to opioids while fetuses in their mother’s womb are encouraging their parents, grandparents, and guardians, to file a proof of claim in order to qualify to obtain compensation from Purdue—reportedly up to $6 billion in funds will be made available by Purdue as part of its bankruptcy settlement.

“The COVID-19 national emergency has dominated the news media and other public communications outlets that otherwise could have notified these same parents and guardians of the need to take immediate action in the best interests of their children,” says Brylski, principal of New Orleans-based Brylski Company. Brylski is a spokesperson for Opioid Justice, a resource for attorneys fighting to end our nation’s opioid epidemic by identifying real solutions to the crisis. “We are waving a red flag that families need to contact an attorney today.”

The federal judge overseeing the Purdue bankruptcy proceedings is determined to swiftly reach an agreement over the distribution of the Purdue funds.

“To direct needed relief and assistance to children suffering from the complications of NAS it is vital that parents and guardians act now by filing a proof of claim,” said Donald Creadore, an attorney and member of the Ad Hoc Committee for NAS Children in the Purdue Bankruptcy action. “Right now, no determination has been made about how much of the reported $6 billion settlement will be directed towards relief and assistance to children suffering from the complications of NAS, so these families can make an impact and obtain relief by acting today to have their needs fully represented.”

Brylski says that exposure to opioids in the womb has resulted in birth defects, such as club foot, spina bifida, heart defects, cleft palate, hydrocephalus, esophageal atresia, gastroschisis, anorectal atresia, anddiaphragmatic hernia. The most common adverse outcomes upon birth include body shakes, excessive crying or yawning , feeding problems, diarrhea, sleeping problems, fever, or runny noses. As these children grow, many experience behavioral problems, cognitive delays, delayed speech and walking, mental or motor deficits, or attention-deficit disorder (ADD).

“With America more than two decades into a crisis triggered by over-prescription and abuse of prescription painkillers, the public is stunningly unaware of the dangers caused by pregnant women exposing – often unknowingly – babies in the womb to these opioids,” said Brylski.

There are already class actions filed in 43 states on behalf of such infants and children, said Ms. Brylski, but there is still time for more families to join these legal efforts.

“But the clock is ticking,” said Brylski.

Jennifer Scully is a 42-year-old career nurse who lives in upstate New York. Scully says she’s gotten used to the phone calls from the school attended by her 5-year-old daughter from teachers and staff who don’t understand the seizures occasionally experienced by her child, in which she would stare blankly into space for a minute or two, unresponsive to adults.

To Scully, the seizures are one more problem – on top of her child’s small size, limited vocabulary, and delayed potty training – that she connects with opioid exposure.

The career health-care professional trusted her doctors in 2014 when she unexpectedly became pregnant while under treatment for both the aftermath of a broken back and breast cancer, which is why she was on a drug regimen that included OxyContin.

“They said, ‘We’re not taking you off and besides, it won’t affect the baby,” Scully recalls. Instead, her newborn daughter spent five days in the hospital coping with the symptoms of NAS, including tremors and high-pitched crying. When they finally left the hospital, doctors insisted the worst that Scully would have to deal with would be an occasionally cranky baby – a gross underestimation of the developmental problems her daughter has faced.

“The number of American children – and families – affected had been grossly undercounted. Based on information that about one-in-three pregnant women in America — or roughly 1.3 million out of the 3.8 million women who gave birth — were given a prescription for opioid painkillers, our team has estimated that a baby with serious problems related to opioid exposure is born somewhere in the United States every 15 minutes,” said Ms. Brylski.

Nurse Scully is suing, like other impacted families, for long-term health care and a medical monitoring fund for children exposed to opioids in the womb. She says the big pharmaceutical firms “need to be held responsible for what they’ve done. I expected a healthy child. None of this is my fault.”

Children born exposed or dependent on prescription opioids due to the mother’s use of Oxycotin, Butran, Dilaudid, or other forms of oxycodone, tramadol or related prescription medicines can file a claim by calling (800) 529-8170 or going to http://www.opioidjusticeteam.com.

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