RESEARCH PROJECT JOURNALS/ DATA FROM MEETINGS:

WHO: Select Health Perinatal Care Manager

WHAT: Select health is an insurance company. They work with the Intermountain
facilities/hospitals. Arlene was the Perinatal Care Manager who spoke to us about her
job and how disease prevention is a big deal. At Select Health they offer a program
called Healthy Beginnings. In her field of work specifically, the focus was on keeping
pregnant moms and newborns/infants healthy from the beginning to the end and
decreasing preterm births. Some common disease/complications that she found to be
evident were whooping cough (pertussis). As well as many women having short
cervixes, which led to problems during labor. Some trends that were recognized were: If
you were a preterm birth (less than 37 weeks) , you will most likely have a preterm labor
if pregnant. Usually if the pregnant mother has high blood pressure (hypertension), the
child will also have high blood pressure, this is known as preeclampsia the cause for
this is unknown. The range that she has seen is from 12 to 40 year old women who
were pregnant. She says that the younger you are the more complicated it gets,
because at that young age, your body is still growing. She also mentioned that many
mothers were on their own, the fathers left or for some reason were gone. The older the
mother, the higher the risk of conceiving a child who has down syndrome.
Lately adoption has been decreasing. Thousands of pregnant moms have
enrolled in the Healthy beginnings program. The number one goal they are trying to
achieve is decrease preterm births. The sooner the problem is catched the cheaper
because labor can be complicated and expensive if the child is born with problems.
Educating people prevents these problems. Knowing about the symptoms will help
pregnant moms notice if there is something wrong. Something she told us was the fact
that exercise is very helpful during pregnancy. Only 16 hospitals in Utah have prenatal
classes for their patients.
C-sections are very common. It is very important that pregnant mothers take folic
acid during the first stages of pregnancy because that vitamin is a key component in
creating the babys spinal cord and brain. Usually mothers who have low folic acid
levels, have children with birth defects. Another huge problem is women who have low
amniotic fluid, this is due to not drinking enough water. Women are supposed to drink
about 64 ounces of water daily. Water carries nutrients through the blood to the baby, it
also prevents dehydration. Dehydration has to be avoided because it can trigger
contractions that can lead to pre-term births. The lungs are the last to develop during
pregnancy. The most common fatal anomaly is when the vital organs grow outside of
the baby, Primary childrens hospital has had to operate on a fetus which its intestines
grew out of its body. Their goal is to decrease pre-term births. Help pregnant moms and
infants live a healthy life from the beginning to the end.
WHO: Select Health Diabetes and Heart Failure Care Manager Patricia

WHAT: Patricia talked to us about Diabetes. A scary statistic is that 8 out of 10

americans will get diabetes. Some factors are weight and age. There are two types of
diabetes. Type 1, which is the lack of insulin. And Type 2 is when you have sufficient
insulin but it doesnt work. Insulin is very important because it helps digest food and turn
it into energy. People with type 1 diabetes inject themselves with insulin. Most people
who have prediabetes (high blood glucose levels) do not have any symptoms. But those
who have the disease have higher blood glucose, they are thirsty and hungry, pee
frequently, feel weak, and have blurred vision. Most people who are diabetic are
overweight, but not all.
The condition is discovered through testing that measures blood glucose levels.
Diabetes is a life-long disease that can cause problems throughout your body. Patricia
said its like the domino effect, one thing leads to the other and if you dont help yourself
it will push you down. Some trends that have to do with diabetes are, if your grandma
and mother have diabetes you will have a higher chance of getting it. Kids around the
ages of 8 to 14 have diabetes due to their food choices. And college students from the
ages of 18 to 21 have diabetes because college is stressful and they eat unhealthy from
the stress. Alcohol is also fattening so thats a problem for many. There is a genetic
component to developing diabetes. If a pregnant mother had diabetes the child is likely
to be born with diabetes. Another crazy fact is that the babys blood sugar is twice the
mothers. Blacks, Hispanics,Polynesians, and American-Indians are ethnic groups that
have been diagnosed with diabetes more than others.
She believe that technology has played a role in people becoming overweight.
Sitting disease is a real thing. People are becoming lazy and inactive. Diabetes hinders
ones life. Its also expensive. An average of 300 to 500 dollars are spent monthly for
insulin. Some people are born with diabetes, others develop it along the way, but there
are ways to stay free from diabetes. Eating healthy is number one. Your body needs at
least 120 carbohydrates a day in order for the brain to function properly. Sleep helps as
well because your body needs to rejuvenate and relax. Eating small portions is
encouraged and exercise is very important. Some people try to eat healthy and exercise
instead of taking insulin shots. But usually insulin shots are the most effective treatment.

Who: Family and Sports Medicine Doctor, Medical Director Liz Joy.
What: Liz Joy specializes in helping obese or diabetic people enroll in programs that
can help them stay healthy and fit. Dr. Joy informed us on what diabetes is and what her

program has to offer to help people who have diabetes or are obese. If a diabetic or
obese person is to join this program they would lose 5 to 7% of their body weight. This
is about ten pounds, but to a diabetic person this weight can be meaningful. Native
Americans, Hispanics, and Polynesians are at the highest risk of getting diabetes. If
people are more informed about this, they can help prevent diabetes. Dr. Joy talked to
us on how her program helps in preventing and informing people about diabetes, she
also wants to try out text messaging to diabetic people to remind them to stay fit. FitBit
is a bracelet and app that can help you stay on track on exercising and staying healthy.
Dr. Joy also talked to us about how having Physical Education (P.E) at schools can help
in preventing kids from getting diabetes. If children get at least 60 minutes of vigorous
activity each day their risk of getting diabetes when they are older can lower
dramatically. Dr. Joy talked to us about how 245 billion U.S dollars each year are spent
on the treatment of diabetes. During our meeting with Liz, she showed us her office and
we were very impressed. She did not have a chair, she had a treadmill!
Dr. Joy has also talked about substance use for Adults and Adolescents. Utah has a
high number of people using prescription medicine to overdose. Dr. Joy said this might
happen because the main religion here emphasizes on no drugs, So these people take
painkillers because they think that since its prescribed by a doctor it should be okay to
overdose. Substance use since 2003- 2004 was ranked the highest for non medical use
of pain relievers.

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