Young oral cancer survivor guest speaker at health expo
PUTTING A FACE on the dangers of chewing tobacco is Gruen Von Behrens’ life work. And his face isn’t easy to look at.
Now 26, Von Behrens started using chew when he was 13 years old because he thought it would help him fit in with his peers in the farming community of Stewardson, Ill. The American Cancer Society estimates that 15 percent of male high-school students use smokeless tobacco.
At age 17, he was diagnosed with oral cancer. He’s undergone nearly 30 surgeries, including one in which doctors removed half his neck muscles, lymph nodes and a third of his tongue.
Von Behrens will speak at noon on May 19 at Eastern Washington University’s Pence Union Building Multipurpose Room in Cheney. His talk is part of a health expo at the college.
The appearance is part of Oral Health America’s National Spit Tobacco Education Program. The organization’s Web site ( www.nstep.org) offers a seven-step guide to quitting. See the site for more details, but the basic steps are:
1. Decide to quit and make a list of reasons why you should.
2. Set a date.
3. See a health-care provider.
4. Taper off and change your routine. (The site recommends chewing sunflower seeds as a substitute.)
5. Build a support team.
6. Make your quit day special.
7. Stay off tobacco.
New online classes
Eastern Washington University has launched an online suicide prevention training program through its School of Social Work and Human Services.
The program is a partnership with the Spokane-based QPR Institute and incorporates the “question, persuade and refer” (QPR) model of suicide risk assessment.
“National surveys report few college students preparing for careers in the helping professions receive sufficient training in this vital area of human behavior,” said clinical psychologist Paul Quinnett, executive director of the QPR Institute, in a press release.
Two one-credit courses will be offered: suicide triage training and suicide risk assessment training. Students and professionals can take the courses for university credit, continuing education units or noncredit.
On the Web, go to http://suicideprevention.ewu.edu for more information and to register.
Or, call EWU’s Office of Professional Development at (509) 359-7380 or (800) 331-9959. Course tuition is $229 (university credit) or $149 (continuing education or noncredit) and includes all materials.
Diet workshop
Find out the truth about diets, weight and exercise at a free workshop on Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 318 S. Cedar St.
Spokane family therapist Dick Silk will discuss whether diets work, the role of exercise in health, the meaning of food for each individual and how to determine a healthy weight.
Caffeine and kids
Caffeine-laden soft drinks go hand-in-hand with high blood pressure in teenagers, a particular problem for blacks, according to a study of 159 teens published in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
“For adolescents, especially African American adolescents, caffeine intake may increase blood pressure and thereby increase the risk of hypertension,” the Medical College of Georgia researchers wrote in the journal. “Alternatively, caffeinated drink consumption may be a marker for dietary and lifestyle practices that together influence blood pressure.”
The researchers call for — say it with me now — more research on the topic.