Putnam residents who meet income guidelines are now eligible to join Fidelis Care, the largest health plan offering government-sponsored health programs in New York
State.

Fidelis Care has received approval from the state Department of Health and the Putnam Department of Social Services to serve local residents through New York State’s Child
Health Plus, Family Health Plus, and Medicaid Managed Care programs.

Nearly 10,000 Putnam County residents, including 1,600 children under age
19, lack health insurance, according to the state Department of Health.

Child Health Plus is for children in New York State under age 19. Coverage
may be free or as little as $9 per child per month. Adults ages 19 to 64
may qualify for low-cost health coverage through Family Health Plus, based
on their household size and gross monthly income.

Fidelis Care also operates in Westchester and Rockland counties.

idelis Care offers free or low-cost comprehensive health insurance through the Family Health Plus, Child Health Plus, and Medicaid programs, covering checkups, prenatal care, preventive care, well-child visits, immunizations, lab tests, x-rays, hospitalization, emergency treatment, and more.

Two dozen  New York City public schools that had been closed because of swine flu are now reopened. Students are returning to the schools today, including Intermediate School 238 in Hollis, Queens, where assistant principal Mitchell Wiener  became the city’s first death from the virus.

Over the weekend, a woman in her 50s died, becoming the city’s second swine flu victim and the nation’s 11th, the Associated Press reports.Statewide, there have been 366 confirmed cases as of Friday, including 19 in Westchester and 5 in Rockland. No cases have been reported in Putnam.

Updated figures have not yet been posted by the New York State Department of Health.

New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden is heading to Atlanta to led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Who knew he was from Larchmont?

As the Larchmont Gazette reports Frieden was born and raised in the Sound Shore village. He is a Mamaroneck High School graduate, class of 1978.

The Gazette reports Friedan’s mother, Nancy, still lives in the village.

Three physicians from Westchester County will discuss new ways to prevent or manage diabetes, heart problems, cancer and other conditions at the annual spring health forum tomorrow at the Lake Isle Country Club, 660 White Plains Road, Eastchester.

The theme of this year’s program is “Take Charge of Your Health:  Focus on Prevention and Cost Savings.”

The forum, which will take place from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday (May 20), is free and is presented each year by the county’s Department of Senior Programs and Services (DSPS) and its Health and Wellness Coalition, a group of 20 community organizations.

It is part of Westchester County Executive Andy Spano’s “Be Fit” initiative, an anti-obesity campaign to promote healthy eating and exercise.

The speakers will  Dr. David Blum, chief of the division of endocrinology of the Diabetes Center at the Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle; Dr. Michael M. Silver, a cardiologist and internist with the Westchester Medical Group and Dr. Julie Toback from the Scarsdale Medical Group, an internist who specializes in gastroenterology and hepatology.

A toddler who had flu symptoms died at a Queens hospital Monday night and health officials are investigating to see if the boy was infected with the swine flu virus.
The 16-month-old died at Elmhurst Hospital Center.  Hospital officials said he had a high fever when he was brought in, the Associated Press reports.
On Sunday, a public school assistant principal became the city’s first swine flu death.
Hospital and city officials say complications besides the virus probably played a part in Mitchell Wiener’s death.

The UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation  is accepting grant applications from families in need of financial support for child health care treatment, services or equipment not covered or not fully covered by their health insurance benefit plans.

The foundation  provides medical grants to qualified families enrolled in employer-sponsored health coverage, or who have purchased an individual policy, to help pay for child health care services such as speech, physical or occupational therapy, prescriptions, and medical equipment such as wheelchairs, orthotics and hearing aids.

In 2008, UHCCF helped nearly 600 children nationwide whose families were struggling to pay their share of the cost of medically-related services and equipment.

Parents and legal guardians may apply for grants of up to $5,000 for child medical services and equipment by completing an online application at www.uhccf.org.

Westchester County Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Lipsman has been selected as a member of the American Medical Association’s Advisory Committee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues and has been named Chair of the Preventive Medicine and Family Health Committee for the Medical Society of the State of New York.

Dr. Lipsman will serve on the AMA’s Advisory Committee on GLBT Issues for a two-year term from June 2009 to June 2011 and will chair the Medical Society of the State of New York’s Preventive Medicine and Family Health Committee through the end of 2010.

“I am delighted and honored to serve on both of these committees,” Lipsman said.   “I look forward to working with these groups to improve the health of all New Yorkers and to addressing health issues for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals nationwide.  In addition to my personal dedication to both of these causes, I find these appointments doubly rewarding because they illustrate that the field of medicine recognizes the importance and value of local public health expertise.”

Lipsman is certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in Public Health and General Preventive Medicine.  Prior becoming Westchester County Health Commissioner in 2000, Dr. Lipsman was Executive Director of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in Manhattan.

He also has served as head of the Department of Health in Alexandria, Va.  and as medical director and administrator of the city’s system of public health clinics in Houston, Texas, and as a staff physician and community health director on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota.

Lipsman received his M.D. degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, and completed a family medicine residency at the St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center in Minnesota.  He also holds a J.D. from Pace Law School and an M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health.

Several more people were diagnosed with the H1N1 swine flu this week, bringing to 12 the number of cases in Westchester, the county Health Department announced today.

None of the people were hospitalized; all had mild flu symptoms and recovered at home, said spokeswoman Caren Halbfinger.

Ten of the people diagnosed are students in Rye, including the Rye Country Day School and the local public school district.

The other two cases are two adults: one from Tuckahoe and another from Pleasantville. Neither of them have any connection to the schools; both had recently travelled to Mexico.

The Health Department will only test residents who are seriously ill and/or hospitalized, Halbfinger said.

The Public Health laboratory in Valhalla now has the capacity to test and confirm swine flu cases. The cases previously needed to be sent to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

The cereal company that makes Cheerios is being told by the “Food and Drug Administration”:http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/s7188c.htm to back off its claims that the breakfast food can can lower cholesterol.

In a letter to the chairman of General Mills, the federal agency warns that it has  “determined that your Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug because the product is intended for use in the prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease.”

The agency told the cereal company to correct the violations in two weeks.

In a statement on its Web site, “General Mills”:http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/media_center/news_release_detail.aspx?itemID=37980&catID=227 states, “the scientific body of evidence supporting the heart health claim was the basis for FDA’s approval of the heart health claim, and the clinical study supporting Cheerios’ cholesterol-lowering benefit is very strong.”

Stay tuned. This could turn into a cereal drama.

With all the talk about the institution of marriage today, the Centers for Disease Control and Intervention released a report showing a steep rise in unwed mothers.

About 40 percent of the births in this country in 2007 were born to unmarried women.  While a great deal of focus has been placed on births to unmarried teens, 6 out of 10 births to women between the ages of 20 and 24 were among unmarried women in 2007, according to the report.

The trend in unmarried childbearing was fairly stable from the mid-1990s to 2002, but showed a steep increase between 2002 and 2007.  Between 1980 and 2007, births to unmarried women in the United States doubled, from 18 percent to 40 percent.

Birth rates for unmarried mothers were highest among Hispanics, followed by African-Americans and then non-Hispanic whites.

The data is also consistent with patterns in other countries, researchers said.

Iceland (66 percent), Sweden (55 percent), Norway (54 percent), France (50 percent), Denmark (46 percent) and the United Kingdom (44 percent) all have higher proportions of births to unmarried mothers than the United States.

Ireland (33 percent), Germany and Canada (30 percent), Spain (28 percent), Italy (21 percent) and Japan (2 percent) have lower percentages than the United States.