New Yorkers who speak a language other than English will now have an easier time understanding the instructions with their prescription medications.

CVS and Rite-Aid pharmacies have just signed an agreement with Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo to counsel all pharmacy customers about prescription information in their own language. The drug stores will  provide written translations in Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Russian, French, and Polish.

The agreements with the Attorney General, which affect more than 2,000 stores statewide, require the pharmacies to:

    * Identify whether a customer needs assistance in understanding their prescription medication

    * Inform customers of their right to free assistance in reading and understanding their prescription medication

    * Provide prescription labels and directions regarding dosage and safety information in the six languages that are spoken by more than one percent of the population of New York

    * Provide additional assistance in all languages through a service called Language Line

    * Ensure that pharmacy staff counsel customers about their prescription medication in the customer’s own language

As temperatures plunge, the incidence of carbon monoxide poisoning increases. Colder weather means more use of space heaters, ovens, fireplaces and portable generators, which produce carbon monoxide. The  American Association of Poison Control Centers has these tips to avoid becoming one of the thousands of people nationwide who are sickened every year by the odorless gas:

* Have all of your combustion appliances and especially your furnace inspected and adjusted before every heating season.

* Have your chimney, fireplace, and wood stoves, and flues inspected before every heating season.

* Do not use charcoal grills indoors for cooking or heating.

* Do not use your oven for heating your home.

* Do not leave your car’s engine running in an enclosed or attached garage, even if the door is open.
 * Install a carbon monoxide alarm outside of every sleeping area.

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The number of babies born before their due date in New York is nearly 60 percent higher then the federal goal set for 2010, the March of Dimes reported today

It’s part of the reason the state received a “D” on the group’s report card, which was issued today. The state had a pre-term birth rate of 12.1 percent — just under the national average. (Remember a lower number is better). But it falls short of meeting that federal goal. States like Vermont were better with 9 percent; states like Mississippi did worse with 18.8 percent premature birth rate. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia had premature birth rates that exceeded the national average.

New York ranked 20th on the March of Dimes list.

To read the USA Today story, click HERE.

Late pre-term births ( babies born 34-36 weeks) saw a rise, which has been linked to rising rates of early induction of labor and C-sections. Other contributing factors include the number of uninsured women and the number of smokers.

About 1 in 6 women of childbearing age in New York has no health insurance. Health care access before and during pregnancy can help identify conditions that contribute to premature birth. About 1 in 6 women of childbearing age in New York is a smoker. Smoking cessation programs can reduce the rick of premature birth, the report says.

A play about what it’s like to live with Alzheimer’s disease is coming to the Lower Hudson Valley.

The play, “To Whom I May Concern” takes the words of those in the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease and represents their first-hand emotional, social and medical experiences.

It has already been performed in Manhattan and Chicago.

It will now be performed in Rockland on Thursday, November 20 at 4 p.m.,  at the JCC Rockland, 450 West Nyack Road, West Nyack.

In Westchester it will be performed Tuesday, December 2 at 1:30 p.m., Atria Woodlands (formerly The Woodlands at Ardsley,) 1017 Saw Mill River Rd, Ardsley.Call the Alzheimer’s Association – Hudson Valley/Rockland/Westchester, NY Chapter to reserve your seat, 1-800-872-0994.  

Admission is free and light refreshments will be served. Parking is provided.  

More than 100 women in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction from the Lower Hudson Valley are expected to attend Hazelden’s annual Women Healing conference tomorrow at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown White Plains.

Speaking at the event is Brenda Iliff, clinical director of the Hazelden Women’s Recovery Center. She will offer advice from her new book, “A Woman’s Guide to Recovery.”

The cost to attend is $95. For more information visit http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/womenhealing.page or call888-257-7810, ext. 4429.

The former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration will be the featured speaker at a forum next week on the role of maternal obesity in the health of newborns. Dr. David Kessler  will speak at the seventh annual Hudson Valley Regional Perinatal forum conference, which takes place from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Doubletree hotel in Tarrytown.

Other speakers will include Edmund LaGamma, chief of  newborn medicine at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center and other health experts. Results from the March of Dimes New York State prematurity report card will be announced at the conference.

The forum is open to the public.

A panel of local doctors and health-care experts will discuss ways consumers, businesses, physicians and hospitals can come together to offer higher quality, more affordable health care in the Hudson Valley.

The program, “Healthcare in Crisis: Identifying the Porblems & Developing Solutions,” will be held on Nov. 12 from 9 a.m. to noon at Putnam Hospital Center’s Auditorium, 670 Stoneleigh Avenue in Carmel.

Dr. Robert Amler, the dean of the School of Public Health at New York Medical College, will moderate the discussion.

Other panelists include Dr. Sherlita Amler, Putnam County Health Commissioner; Jeffrey Gold, vice president for managed care and special counsel for Healthcare Association of New York State; William Mooney, Jr., President of the Westchester County Association; John Neubauer, owner of AVP Business Products and Dr. Michael Rosenberg, a surgeon and president of the Medical Society of State of New York.

The free event is open to the public, however, registration is requested. Fax your name and contact information to Marge Schneider, Marketing, Putnam Hospital Center, 845-279-1790 by Nov. 7th.

Governor David A. Paterson and First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson today announced the release of the Healthy Kids, Healthy New York After-School Initiative guidelines and toolkit that will help fight childhood obesity in New York’s schools by providing after-school programs with model guidelines. The guidelines are aimed at helping New York’s children acquire healthy habits by incorporating nutritional food options into diets, increasing physical activity, and limiting the amount of time spent in front of a television on a daily basis.

The Healthy Kids, Healthy New York After-School Initiative guidelines and toolkit will be distributed to after-school programs throughout the school year. Licensed after-school providers that implement the guidelines can apply to receive formal recognition from the Governor’s Office in the spring.

More information about the guidelines and toolkit, as well as the Governor’s Recognition Program can be found on the DOH web site (www.nyhealth.gov ) and NYSHEPA’s website (www.nyshepa.org ).

Giving infants a routine pertussis, or whooping cough vaccine,  two weeks earlier than normal could prevent at least 1,236 cases of pertussis, 898 hospitalizations and seven deaths each year in the U.S., according to a  new study.

Rates of pertussis, which can be life-threatening to infants, are increasing both nationwide and here in the Lower Hudson Valley.Current recommendations call for five doses of the vaccine at two, four and six months of age, with booster shots at 15 months to 18 months and four years to six years.

In the study, researchers analyzed national data to determine the benefit of giving the first vaccine dose at six weeks instead of two months. Along with the conclusion that giving the first dose earlier could prevent illness and death, the researchers determined that giving the second and third doses two weeks earlier could prevent an additional 923 cases, 520 hospitalizations and two deaths a year.

Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Vanderbilt University reported their findings in the November issue of the journal “Pediatrics”:http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/122/5/1021. 

Can copper help kill germs commonly found in hospitals? The people who make the stuff think so. Lab studies submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency by the “Copper Development Association”:http://www.copper.org/, a trade group, show that copper as well as brass and bronze, is effective in killing pathogens commonly found in hospitals. More studies are underway.