Monthly Archives: January 2014

Expanding Newborn Screening

By Jamie Shuster

(The following post was originally sent as an email to DHEC Public Health staff on 1/26/14.)

Newborn-Screening-Baby-FeetYou may have read in the news today that we’re expanding our newborn screening program (NBS) to help detect more life-threatening conditions faster.

Currently, our state laboratory screens for 28 metabolic conditions that are recommended by the March of Dimes and the American College of Medical Genetics, as well as 24 secondary metabolic conditions that can cause severe problems if not found very early in life.

Thursday, we announced that we’ll soon join just 19 other states in screening newborns for Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), a rare and potentially fatal disorder characterized by an inability to fight infections. Continue reading →

Increasing access to cervical cancer screening

By Jamie Shuster

(The following post was originally sent as an email to DHEC Public Health staff on 1/17/14.)

sc best chance networkScreening for cervical cancer is a key public health intervention that saves lives, as early detection and treatment results in greatly improved outcomes for patients. Cervical cancer is almost 100% curable if detected in its earliest stages.

Our Best Chance Network (BCN) began screening women for cervical and breast cancer in 1991, and has provided more than 153,000 Pap smear tests to low-income and uninsured women who likely could not have accessed this service without BCN. Six percent of these screening tests were abnormal and required diagnostic follow-up. With the help of BCN, more than 1,000 women have been diagnosed and treated for pre-cancerous lesions or invasive cervical cancer, and nearly 80% were diagnosed in the early stages of the disease. Continue reading →

Maternal Mortality: A Call to Action

By Jamie Shuster

(The following post was originally sent as an email to DHEC Public Health staff on 1/10/14.)

You may have read in the news recently about a new effort we’re launching to find ways to make pregnancy, and the months that come after it, safer for South Carolina women.

Maternal mortality is not only a tragedy for families and communities, it’s also often avoidable. According to the CDC, nearly 50% of maternal deaths are preventable.

Unfortunately, between 2009 and 2012, 41 women died during childbirth or within six weeks of delivery in our state.

To help find solutions to this public health problem and prevent future tragedies, later this month, Director Templeton will be hosting our state’s first-ever S.C. Pregnancy-Associated Maternal Mortality Review Board. Continue reading →

A Happy, Tobacco-Free New Year

By Jamie Shuster

(The following post was originally sent as an email to DHEC Public Health staff on 12/31/13.)

Despite decades of health warnings, approximately 759,000 people in South Carolina still smoke.

From a public health perspective, there’s no better time to motivate South Carolinians to quit smoking than January because now is the time of year when people tend to set new health goals for themselves.

Over the next several weeks, you’re likely to see and hear our new smoking cessation messages on airwaves across the state. You can check out these new ads on our DHEC YouTube Channel. Continue reading →