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A youth substance abuse program recently received a $33,000 grant from Foundation for Roanoke Valley

Carilion Clinic collaborated with Family Service of Roanoke Valley to establish Project Back on Track as an outpatient substance abuse counseling program aimed at youth between 12 and 17 years old. Part of the program’s goal is to reduce juvenile crime, along with preventing relapses among the teens.

The grant will allow for the effectiveness of the program to be studied, according to a news release from the foundation.

Project Back on Track began enrolling youth in the Fall of 2010 and was fully underway by January 2011, said Cheri Hartman, the grant project director for the program.

To date the program has had 25 participants, with their families also participating in the therapy, she said.  Read more »

A new organization has launched with the goal of driving innovative practices in health care throughout the state.

The Virginia Center for Health Innovation launched March 16 as a nonprofit that includes stakeholders from state government, business and the medical community.

In part, the center evolved out of an effort to secure more federal and private grants that are being offered to remake the health care system into one that improves quality and lowers costs.

“Virginia has, to date, not done a particularly good job of bringing those dollars to Virginia,” said Beth Bortz, president and CEO of the new center. “We really need to get our act together to figure out how to work together so we are more effective at going after those funds.” Read more »

Photo by Sam Dean, The Roanoke Times

Sunscreen use, wearing protective clothing and seeking out shade while outdoors are all on the rise among young adults, but public health officials are concerned that not enough is being done to reduce the risks of skin cancer.

Half of adults between 18 and 29 reported being sunburned at least once in the past year, according to a study released today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While sunscreen use is increasing, significantly less than half of young adults report using it. Read more »

Luna Innovations has signed a development agreement with Philips Healthcare, according to a news release yesterday.

Under the terms, Luna and Philips will work together to develop shape sensing devices in the medical field. Luna says its shape sensing technology can be used to provide real-time, 3D images that help guide physicians while preforming minimally invasive surgeries.

This is similar to development agreements that Luna already has to place shape sensing technology in medical robots with Intuitive Surgical and Hansen Medical. The difference, however, is the Philips products will not be for robotic use, according to the news release. Read more »

Since Virginia Blood Services became the sole provider of blood supplies to Carilion Clinic in September, it has been operating without a Roanoke Valley donation center.

That’s about to change.

The Richmond-based nonprofit VBS has signed a lease at Lakeside Plaza in Salem, with a goal of having its donation center open by July 9, said VBS spokeswoman Marly Fausz.

“Unfortunately it has taken much longer than we expected because we had a hard time finding space and securing the lease,” she said in an email. Read more »

The interior of the 12-by-24 foot MedCottage as shown in May 2011. (File photo by Eric Brady / The Roanoke Times)

A Northern Virginia family will be the first to use a medical modular home designed by a Salem company.

It’s the first sale of MedCottage, which was designed and developed by N2Care with the help of the Virginia Tech College of Engineering.

Next week the 12-by-24-foot prefabricated home will be installed in the yard of an Alexandria family, said Chris Cummins, executive vice president with the distributor MedCare Systems that made the sale.

N2Care CEO Ken Dupin said that so far three MedCottages have been ordered by distributors looking to sell them as those involved continue to hone the marketing and distribution strategies.

That includes putting stipulations on who can distribute the homes, which are priced at $85,000.

Instead of relying on the real estate industry, or marketing directly to potential occupants, N2Care has sought to become a part of the health care industry.

“Now, in order to be a distributor, you have to have a health care connection,” Dupin said.

That includes businesses involved with nursing homes, hospitals, home health and assisted living.

MedCare Systems, in Mechanicsville, is connected to an assisted living chain that operates 10 facilities in the Richmond area.

Adding MedCottage allows the company to better meet the needs of all people looking for appropriate living situations as they age, Cummins said.

“I don’t think it is going to hurt the assisted living industry and it will enhance the home health industry,” Cummins said.

Photo courtesy of Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute

Correction: An earlier version of this post gave the wrong date for the lectures. The dates are May 10 and May 11. The post has been corrected.

An expert in stem cells and regenerative biology will be in Roanoke next week as part of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute’s lecture series.

Amy Wagers will talk about the basic properties of stem cells that make them attractive for developing therapies for diseases. She will also share some of the possible ways stem cell research may lead to improved medical treatments.

Michael Friedlander, executive director of the research institute, said Wagers’ talk will be “one of the most provocative and exciting” of the lecture series.

“This will be a particularly interesting series of presentations for the public in light of the keen interest of people of all walks of life and ages in the promise of stem cell therapies for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, spinal cord injury, aging, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and cancers,” Friedlander said in an email.

Wagers, who is from the Harvard University Medical School Stem Cell Institute, will give two lectures. The first, on Thursday, May 10 at 5:30 p.m., is geared for the general public. The Friday, May 11 lecture, at 1 p.m., is open to the public but more directed at the scientific and medical communities and will be a presentation of her research.

Photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis / The Roanoke Times

A football helmet rating system designed by Virginia Tech engineers has been updated to include new helmets.

The ratings stem from a larger research project to rate the effectiveness of adult-size football helmets to protect players from possible concussion inducing impacts.

The new results include more helmets to receive the top five-star rating.

“Specifically, you can see Riddell and Rawlings using this research to develop the very best helmets,” said project director Stefan Duma, the Harry C. Wyatt Professor and Department Head of the Virginia Tech – Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, in a news release. Read more »

Foster mother Shirley Bryant holds the infant she has nicknamed Tiny Man while she gives him methadone to help him cope with withdrawal symptoms. He was born premature, hooked on cocaine and opiate painkillers.(Photo by Sam Dean / The Roanoke Times)

The number of U.S. babies born with signs of opiate drug withdrawal has tripled in a decade, according to a study released online today.

The uptick in babies born with drug withdrawal comes because of a surge in pregnant women’s use of legal and illegal narcotics, including Vicodin, OxyContin and heroin, researchers say. It is the first national study of the problem, according to the Associated Press.

In March I wrote about the trend in Southwest Virginia and about how Roanoke stands out as the Virginia locale with the second-highest number of drug-dependent newborns reported to social services during the past two years. Read more »

Photo courtesy of Michaele White, Governor’s Photographer

Under a new law Virginia public schools will have to keep on hand epinephrine in case a student has an emergency allergic reaction.

The law, which Gov. Bob McDonnell signed today, requires local school boards to develop policies for maintaining and administrating EpiPens to students.

The legislation was proposed after a Chesterfield County elementary school student, Amarria Johnson, died at school as a result of a previously-unknown peanut allergy.

“Virginia must do everything it can to ensure the safety of our young people while they are in school,” McDonnell said in a news release. “This legislation and the money in the recently passed budget will help prevent another tragedy like Amarria Johnson’s from occurring in a public school in the Commonwealth.

“Having a plan in place and access to epinephrine in schools, where children spend half their day, is critical.” Read more »