Quote of the Day: “A man of courage flees forward, in the midst of new things.” – Jacques Maritain
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A daily dose of baking soda may help reduce the destructive inflammation of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, scientists say.
They have some of the first evidence of how the cheap, over-the-counter antacid can encourage our spleen to promote an anti-inflammatory environment that could be therapeutic in the face of inflammatory disease, Medical College of Georgia scientists report in the Journal of Immunology.
They have shown that when rats or healthy people drink a solution of baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, it becomes a trigger for the stomach to make more acid that can digest the next meal.
It also gets little-studied mesothelial cells sitting on the spleen to tell the fist-sized organ that there’s no need to mount a protective immune response.
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Dr. Paul O’Connor, who is a renal physiologist and the study’s corresponding author, says that it’s sort of reassuring our organs that “it’s most likely a hamburger, not a bacterial infection.”
The mesothelial cells that line body cavities, like the one that contains our digestive tract, cover the exterior of our organs to quite literally keep them from rubbing together. About a decade ago, it was found that these cells also provide another level of protection; they have little fingers, called microvilli, that sense the environment, and warn the organs they cover that there is an invader and an immune response is needed.
Drinking baking soda, the MCG scientists think, tells the spleen – which is part of the immune system – to go easy on the immune response.
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“Certainly drinking bicarbonate affects the spleen and we think it’s through the mesothelial cells,” O’Connor says.
The dosage people take daily for alkalinizing their body’s pH, or for use as an antacid, is one-half to 1 teaspoon of baking soda completely dissolved in at least 4 ounces of water.
The conversation, which occurs with the help of the chemical messenger acetylcholine, appears to promote a landscape that shifts against inflammation, they report.
In the spleen, as well as the blood and kidneys, they found after drinking water with baking soda for two weeks, the population of immune cells called macrophages, shifted from primarily those that promote inflammation, called M1, to those that reduce it, called M2. Macrophages, perhaps best known for their ability to consume garbage in the body like debris from injured or dead cells, are early arrivers to a call for an immune response.
In the case of the lab animals, the problems were hypertension and chronic kidney disease, problems which got O’Connor’s lab thinking about baking soda.
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One of the many functions of the kidneys is balancing important compounds like acid, potassium and sodium. With kidney disease, there is impaired kidney function and one of the resulting problems can be that the blood becomes too acidic, O’Connor says. Significant consequences can include increased risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.
“It sets the whole system up to fail basically,” O’Connor says. Clinical trials have shown that a daily dose of baking soda can not only reduce acidity, but actually slow progression of the kidney disease, and it’s now a therapy offered to patients.
“[So] we started thinking, how does baking soda slow progression of kidney disease?” O’Connor says.
That’s when the anti-inflammatory impact began to unfold as they saw reduced numbers of M1s and increased M2s in their kidney disease model after consuming the common compound.
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When they looked at a rat model without actual kidney damage, they saw the same response. So the basic scientists worked with the investigators at MCG’s Georgia Prevention Institute to bring in healthy medical students who drank baking soda in a bottle of water and also had a similar response.
“The shift from inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory profile is happening everywhere,” O’Connor says. “We saw it in the kidneys, we saw it in the spleen, now we see it in the peripheral blood.”
The shifting landscape, he says, is likely due to increased conversion of some of the pro-inflammatory cells to anti-inflammatory ones coupled with actual production of more anti-inflammatory macrophages. The scientists also saw a shift in other immune cell types, like more regulatory T cells, which generally drive down the immune response and help keep the immune system from attacking our own tissues. That anti-inflammatory shift was sustained for at least four hours in humans and three days in rats.
O’Connor hopes drinking baking soda can one day produce similar results for people with autoimmune disease.
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“You are not really turning anything off or on, you are just pushing it toward one side by giving an anti-inflammatory stimulus,” he says, in this case, away from harmful inflammation. “It’s potentially a really safe way to treat inflammatory disease.”
The spleen also got bigger with consuming baking soda, the scientists think because of the anti-inflammatory stimulus it produces. Infection also can increase spleen size and physicians often palpate the spleen when concerned about a big infection.
Other cells besides neurons are known to use the chemical communicator acetylcholine. Baking soda also interact with acidic ingredients like buttermilk and cocoa in cakes and other baked goods to help the batter expand and, along with heat from the oven, to rise. It can also help raise the pH in pools, is found in antacids and can help clean your teeth and tub.
(Source: Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University)
Be Sure To Share The Interesting News With Your Friends – Photo by katalopolis -CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
In an incredible story of perseverance, a puppy that was lost in the desert was finally reunited with her owner after she was missing for 65 days.
Back in June 2013, Ily the 1-year-old dog and her owner Rose Sharman were in the car driving down the Arizona highway when they suddenly crashed and were sent flying through the windshield.
Sharman was injured in the accident, but Ily immediately panicked and ran off into the wilderness.
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As Sharman recovered in a wheelchair, a team of volunteers spent the next two months searching for the dog. For weeks, there wasn’t any sign of Ily – until August when there was a sighting of two dogs wandering through the desert about 3 miles north of the crash.
The volunteers baited some cages with pieces of chicken and set up a baby monitor to listen for a sound. Finally, 65 days after she went missing, the cages successfully caught Ily.
And her reunion with Sharman was an emotional one.
(WATCH the emotional video below)
Be Sure And Share The Pawesome Story With Your Friends – Photo by KNXV
It has been a little over two weeks since Dakota Pitts’s father died in the line of duty, and earlier this week, he returned to school for the first time since the incident.Dakota asked his mom if one of his dad’s friends could drive him to school for his first day back. Little did he know that would turn into 70 Terre Haute and Vigo County officers showing up in Sullivan. He was shocked ? pic.twitter.com/lbXquLdTJU
— Kiley Thomas (@KileyWTHI) May 14, 2018
Thankfully, the 5-year-old boy didn’t have to go alone.
Since Dakota’s father was a police officer at the Terre Haute Police Department in Indiana, the youngster asked his mother if one of his dad’s friends could escort him to school.
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When local law enforcement heard about Dakota’s request, they were more than happy to oblige.
So when Dakota finally returned to school on Monday, there were 70 police officers, SWAT members, and deputies there to welcome him and reassure him that they had his back.
“He will definitely know his dad was a hero,” Dakota’s aunt told WTHI. “Blood doesn’t always make family and I think the blue family went above and beyond.”
(WATCH the video below)
Be Sure To Share This Inspiring Story With Your Friends
Back in 1990, spectators who were watching the televised baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Oakland A’s were shocked by what they saw on the screen.
But it wasn’t because anyone was hitting a home run – it’s because there was a cat who was running across the field.
Until the terrified feline fled into the dugout, players waited to resume game play.
Feeling sorry for the poor animal, the A’s manager, Tony La Russa, and his wife Elaine took the cat home and tried to find it a suitable adoption source.
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It was then that the La Russas realized that there weren’t any no-kill shelters in the East Bay area of California.
So instead of relinquishing the cat, they adopted her and launched the Tony La Russa Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF): an organization that saves cats and dogs from a demise in a public shelter.
Since they launched in 1991, the ARF has saved over 38,000 animals from being euthanized. Many of these adoptions were also facilitated through their numerous programs that pair cats and dogs with veterans, seniors, and abused children who benefit from animal bonding.
And La Russa says that it is all thanks to a cat who ran across a baseball field 28 years ago.
(WATCH the video below)
Be Sure To Share The Pawesome Story With Your Friends – Photo by ARF
The Sacramento City Council has just approved what will be the West Coast’s first ever hospice facility specifically for the homeless.
Not only that, it will only be the eighth facility of its kind in the country.
The facility was unanimously approved on Tuesday night despite receiving some objections from a neighborhood association.
The privately funded $3 million hospice, which will be called Joshua’s House, will provide critical treatment and residential care to homeless individuals suffering from terminal illnesses.
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In order to provide the maximum amount of comfort, it will be equipped with 16 to 20 beds, private rooms, a chapel, an indoor garden, skylights, library, and kitchen.
The hospice’s name is dedicated to the grandson of Marlene von Friederichs-Fitzwater, a retired associate professor from the UC Davis School of Medicine. Her grandson, Joshua Lee, died while he was homeless on the streets of Nebraska in 2014.
Joshua’s House is set to open its doors in the River District as early as the end of this year, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Share The Exciting News With Your Friends – Photo by Karim Corban, CC
Quote of the Day: “Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.” – Rabindranath Tagore
Photo: by Luftphilia, CC license
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Being an adult means being able to spend money on the things that we always dreamt about as children – like buying ten pounds of candy on a Tuesday night or getting a full-sized Batman costume just for the heck of it.
But instead of candy or costumes, this vlogger made the wise decision to go to his local Toys ‘R’ Us closing sale and buy out their entire selection of ball pit balls for a heavily discounted rate.
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The YouTube personality then took to his channel to show how he used all 5,400 of his newly-purchased ball pit balls to “make his dog the happiest dog in the world.”
And judging by the husky’s reaction to its new hallway play pen, the vlogger definitely succeeded.
(WATCH the pawesome video below) – Editor’s note: we have set the start time of the video to fifty seconds in as a means of censoring the language contained in the video.
Have A Ball With Your Friends And Share This Perfect Video For Them To See
UPS is making headlines yet again for its driving efforts in the fight against climate change.
The company announced last week that it will be launching a state-of-the-art pilot fleet of 35 electric delivery vehicles (EVs) that will be trialed in London and Paris before the end of this year.
The vehicles are being developed in collaboration with UK-based technology firm ARRIVAL. The zero tailpipe emission, lightweight composite vehicles have a battery range of more than 150 miles (240 kilometers), which is significantly higher than other EVs currently in service. The vehicles will also come equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that help to improve safety and reduce driver fatigue.
In order to accommodate the fleet, UPS says that it has also installed an innovative kind of charging station at its central London depot in Camden that will overcome the challenge of simultaneously recharging an entire fleet of EVs without the need for an expensive upgrade to the power supply grid.
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With more than 9,000 vehicles worldwide operating using alternative propulsion methods, UPS possesses one of the largest private and most diverse alternative fuel and advanced technology fleets in the entire logistics industry.
Currently, the company has more than 300 electric vehicles deployed in Europe and the U.S., and nearly 700 hybrid electric vehicles. And, last December, UPS ordered 125 new fully-electric semi-tractors to be built by Tesla in 2019, the largest pre-order to date.
The pre-order is also exciting because of Tesla’s most recent boast over their vehicle battery’s 600-mile range.
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“This initiative will help UPS attain its global carbon reduction goals for the company’s facilities and fleets,” said Peter Harris, director for sustainability at UPS Europe. “We will continue working with our partners, communities and customers to spark innovation, thus leading the industry toward a more sustainable future.”
Since 2009, UPS has invested over $750 million in alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles. And, in 2016, a full year earlier than expected, UPS achieved its self-set goal of covering 1 billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) using its fleet of alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles.
“This is a pioneering collaboration that helps UPS develop new ways to reduce our emissions,” said Luke Wake from the advanced technology group at UPS. “UPS is marshaling its global scale to encourage innovation within the automotive industry. We are helping to drive demand for these disruptive technologies. The result is a safer and cleaner fleet for the communities in which we deliver.”
Help Drive The Good News To Your Friends By Sharing This Article On Social Media – Photo by UPS
While this subway station in Atlanta, Georgia may look like an ordinary transit stop from the outside, it is actually being hailed as a groundbreaking new facility that is garnering national attention.
The 5 Points MARTA station is the world’s first subway station to host a soccer field on its roof.
Before the five-a-side pitch was built in 2016, the space had been roped off off as a vacant lot that was devoid of use. Now, as it sits on top of the city’s busiest subway station, it has become an easily accessible community space that gives athletes of all ages the chance to exercise and play outside.
The field is a product of Soccer in the Streets, an Atlanta-based athletic program for underserved youth.
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Phil Hill, the executive director of the program, told Fox News that he first launched Soccer in the Streets after he experienced the stark contrast of sports culture between American and international communities.
“I could put a soccer ball down in the middle of a desert in Egypt or a harbor side in Turkey and start playing soccer with locals or kids,” Hill told the news outlet. “It was an instant connection.”
In Atlanta, however, soccer is a bit more exclusive; pitches are often only reachable by car, and their booking fees can be expensive, which makes the sport less available to the city’s low-income residents.
But with the Station Soccer field, youngsters can simply use the city’s pre-existing transit network to visit the pitch and play for free.
Not only that, but Atlanta police forces say that they have witnessed a reduction in criminal activity around the Five Points station as a result of more people being present to deter negativity.
City officials plan on collaborating with Soccer in the Streets over the course of the next few years to open nine more pitches across Atlanta.
(WATCH the video below)
Score Big With Your Friends And Share This Story To Your Social Media Pages – Photo by Fox News
In the midst of graduation season, high school students across America are scheming over the grand execution of their senior prank to mark the end of four years.
Well, they might as well quit now because the “Best Senior Prank” award has already been given to the students at Cumberland High School by their local police department in Wisconsin.
Law enforcement and school officials alike were filled with admiration when their senior class set up a stunningly convincing car wreck near their principal’s office.
Though it looks like the car had busted clean through the brick wall of the school, it was actually half of a car that had been picked up from a junk yard. The students then taped a black tarp to the building so that it looked like a gaping hole in the wall. For the finishing touches, the pranksters scattered bricks across the scene of the “crash” and scribbled slogans such as “CHS Class of 2018: We’re Bustin’ Out” across the windows.
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Police officers were so impressed by the prank, they posted photos of the setup on their Facebook page, saying that it was “one of best senior pranks that Cumberland High School has seen.”
The car even garnered compliments from the school district.
“Nice work, seniors! You had everyone a little nervous this morning!” says the district’s Facebook page. “The best part? This prank included absolutely no damage at all to school property, which is why police singled it out.”
Not only that, but when the seniors posed with their masterpiece, they made sure to use it as a visual example of the dangers of teen drinking.
Share The Impressive Story With Your Friends – Photos by Cumberland School District
A mother-of-two who is currently working as a waitress to make ends meet was given the best Mother’s Day gift a woman could ask for – and it didn’t even come from her own children, either.
Brenda Pearson was working a shift at 4 Star Diner in Roland, Mississippi on Mother’s Day when a truck driver ordered a cheeseburger.
The food took a little longer to prepare than usual because the cooks got the order wrong, but the driver, David Platt, didn’t seem to mind.
In fact, one might think that it was the best cheeseburger in the world because he then left Pearson a $1,000 tip.
RELATED: Restaurant Staff Turns Mother’s Day Around For Sad Mom Eating Alone
“It was late and there wasn’t really anybody around and so I got talking to her a little bit,” Platt told KFSM. “We talked about the Lord and about her life and her children. I got the impression that she was having a hard time of it, so I thought I’d just help her out a little bit.”
The kindness doesn’t stop there, however – Platt returned to the restaurant an hour later so he could order a piece of pie. Then, he tipped Pearson another $1,000.
Pearson was so overwhelmed by Platt’s generosity, she said that she “could hardly breathe.”
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Platt, on the other hand, seems to be very humble about his kindness.
“Money is just paper or numbers on a screen,” said Platt. “Self-gratification only goes so far. So, when you’re helping another person, you’re adding something to the world. It’s an investment, and people, people are what’s important.”
(WATCH the video below)
Share The Incredible Story Of Kindness With Your Friends – Photo by KFSM
Quote of the Day: “Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” – Voltaire
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
It took years of hard work, but you’ve finally earned the title that eludes so many: you’re officially a graduate.
Congratulations! Now that you’ve celebrated your success, it’s time to figure out how you can earn a new title that’ll put your new skills to work.
It’s easy to rush into the first job you’re offered when bills loom large, but you need to treat it as if it’s the most important paper you’re researching for school – because this time, it’s not a grade on the line; it’s your happiness.
Everyone wants to pay the bills, but is that worth dreading going into work each day? Are you willing to go the extra mile to find something you love to do that will also pay your bills? While researching a potential employer, take advantage of websites like Glassdoor and Indeed to look up the anonymous reviews from people already working there.
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You’re looking for patterns across the reviews. Are there a lot of reviews from former employees or employees with less than a year of experience? That could be an indicator of high turnover. Do you see a lot of negative reviews followed by an influx of positive reviews? That might be someone from HR or Marketing trying to cover up the negative reviews by posting some of their own. That’s a red flag.
Everyone tries to make a good first impression on both sides of the interviewing table. That’s why there’s not a one-size-fits-all checklist of questions to ask in every interview. The right questions for your next interview are the ones that’ll help you identify how authentic the replies are.
Most authenticity won’t come from the words your interviewer says. Studies like those done by UCLA’s Professor Emeritus of Psychology Albert Mehrabian have shown that only about 7% of communication comes from the actual words spoken. The other 93% comes from body language (55%) and tone of voice (38%). Knowing this, try asking questions that’ll help you get a sense for the company culture without relying on the words themselves.
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For example, when you ask your interviewer about their company’s core values, does their tone of voice suggest they don’t know (or don’t care) about the core values? That’s a red flag. When a company doesn’t take the time to identify acceptable behavior through their core values, anything is fair game. That’s a recipe for cultural disaster. If you ask the question like, “Do people in this company spend time together outside the office?” try to go beyond the words of their reply. Is their body language showing authentic excitement about their answer? Or is it obvious they’re answering with something they think is the right answer?
It sounds silly, I know, but bear with me.
During your interview, ask to use the restroom. Look in the stalls to see if you find any empty toilet paper rolls. If you do, that’s a red flag.
The basic principle is one I borrowed from rock ‘n’ rollers Van Halen. As the band grew in popularity, so did their stage show. They became massive productions that could be deadly if the crew it all together didn’t pay attention to the details. In their performance contracts was a small item that had major implications: No brown M&Ms.
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It wasn’t about the chocolate. It was a safety issue. If the band discovered brown M&Ms, they’d know someone didn’t pay attention to the technical details in their performance contract, which usually meant that it wasn’t safe to step on stage.
So when I see an empty toilet paper holder, I see disrespect. No one using the last piece of toilet paper gets surprised by it. They know what they’re doing when they avoid replacing it for the next person. If someone isn’t willing to take the five seconds out of their day to replace the roll for the next person, are they likely to spend more significant time to make sure they hand-off projects without issues? When leadership has built a culture that matters to the people who work there, they’re willing to do the right thing when no one else is looking.
Every company gives their employees a basic paycheck. Few go further than the traditional benefits to build a culture that matters. As you’re looking for a new place to work, think beyond the size of the paycheck and the skills to do the job. Some people can survive working in negative conditions, but you shouldn’t have to. Life’s too short to not love the place you work.
Piyush Patel, author of “Lead Your Tribe, Love Your Work”, is an entrepreneur who grew his company, Digital-Tutors, into a leader in the world of online training, educating over 1.5 million students in digital animation, with clients including Pixar, Apple and NASA. A former Northern Oklahoma College professor, Patel grew frustrated with outdated training material, and launched the company from his living room with only $54 and built it without any debt or investors, eventually creating multi-million dollar revenue. In 2014, the company sold for $45 million.
Remember To Share These Handy Tips With Your Newly-Graduated Friends – Photo by isabisa, CC
This grieving granddaughter has been praising Alaska Airlines on social media for the “extraordinary kindness” that they showed her during her time of need.
A woman named Kathryn has been mourning the death of her grandmother, Concetta Immacolata Mongiardo, after she passed away at the age of 103 last week.
According to a Facebook post that was published by KTVU’s Frank Somerville, Kathryn had been especially close with her grandma – which made it all the more difficult to deal with her death.
“Concetta … was the light of my life,” writes Kathryn. “[So] for the wake and funeral mass, I made a poster of my favorite picture of her, which is when she turned 100.
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“To me, this picture shows the essence of my grandmother’s nature: gratitude,” she added.
In preparation for traveling with the picture, Kathryn wrapped it in cardboard, went to the airport, and got ready to board her flight.
When she reached Lourdes Pedemonte, who was the Alaska Airlines gate agent for the flight, Kathryn asked if there was a special place where she could keep the picture. At first, Pedemonte said that the picture would have to go in the cargo hold with the rest of the luggage.
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Then with tears in her eyes, Kathryn explained why she was traveling with the photo and why it was important for her to protect it.
“Pedemonte started to cry with me, and then she assured me that Nan wouldn’t have to fly in the cargo hold. A few minutes later, she came up to me, put her hand on my shoulder and said, ‘you’re all set, the pilots are going to keep Nan in the cockpit,’” says Kathryn.
“I started to cry again because of the kindness Ms. Pedemonte showed me.
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“When I boarded the plane, I was greeted by flight attendant Pam Keck who said, ‘you must be the woman with some precious cargo.’ I smiled at her, with tears in my eyes, and handed Nan over to her.
“The cockpit door was open, and when Ms. Keck handed Nan over to the pilots, they both made eye contact with me and told me not to worry, that they would take good care of Nan as we travelled across the country.”
When they finally landed, Kathryn made her way to the front of the plane and found Keck and the pilots waiting with the cardboard-wrapped picture in hand. With her hand over her heart, the grateful passenger thanked the flight crew.
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In addition to offering their condolences, the pilots also said that “it was an honor” to stand guard over the precious cargo.
“I really hope Ms. Pedemonte, Ms. Keck, and the pilots know the depths of my gratitude for the kindness and compassion they showed me that day,” says Kathryn.
Fly This Sweet Story Over To Your Friends And Share It On Social Media – Photos by Kathryn
An off-duty police deputy is being hailed for saving the life of a 3-month-old baby named Kingston who was in dire need of medical attention.
The boy’s frantic mother, Nechole Crowell, had been driving through Ocala, Florida last week when she noticed that her infant son had suddenly stopped breathing for unknown reasons.
At the same time, K9 Deputy Jeremie Nix was driving home from work when he heard car horns blaring from the opposite lane. He turned to see Crowell anxiously waving him over and flagging him down for help.
After he pulls over behind Crowell’s car, Nix’s dashcam footage shows him taking hold of Kingston so he could perform CPR. Though he was able to get small gasps of air out of the boy, Nix was unable to get Kingston breathing steadily.
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With the chest compressions proving unsuccessful, Nix listened for the sound of ambulances, but heard nothing. He then made the life-saving decision to rush Kingston to the hospital himself.
It turned out to be the right decision, too – doctors say that if Kingston had not received medical attention when he did, he most likely would not have survived. But thanks to Nix’s quick thinking, they were able to resuscitate the boy and he has since made a full recovery.
Crowell was overwhelmed with gratitude towards Nix when she heard that her son would be okay.
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“I had so many emotions — I actually broke down while we were in the ER — and he said, ‘I’m gonna make sure they save your baby,’” Crowell told Inside Edition. “A few minutes later he came back to tell me [Kingston] was breathing and [Deputy Nix] was crying.”
Nix told WCJB: “There’s no question in my mind that God put me right where he needed me to be at the right time to help Kingston and Nechole. And He deserves the honor and the glory for it. And this guy, he’s our testimony right here and he will be for a long time.”
Nix’s employers have expressed their joy over the situation as well; the Marion County Sheriff’s Department wrote on Facebook: “We are tremendously proud of Deputy Nix and we can already see that he and Baby Kingston will have a deep connection that will last a lifetime!”
(WATCH the harrowing rescue below)
Share The Sweet Story Of Fate With Your Friends – Photo by Marion County Police Department
California has become the first state to launch a pilot program that will treat low-income and at-risk Medicaid patients with specially tailored meals that are proven to offer relief from chronic illnesses and diseases.
The “Food is Medicine” 3-year program draws on how certain illnesses require special diets that can be hard to orchestrate, especially for poorer patients. Congestive heart failure, for instance, requires people to consume less than one teaspoon of salt per day. While this can already be hard to actually measure throughout your daily meals, it can also be hard for low-income patients to find cheap foods that are low in sodium.
Over the course of the next three years, the state will be giving funding to hunger relief charities in San Francisco, the North Bay Area, Santa Clara County, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The charities and pantries, all of which are a part of the Food is Medicine coalition, will be providing specially prepared meals to 1,000 state Medicaid patients who suffer from congestive heart failure, cancer, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and renal disease.
Gov. Jerry Brown (D) first approved the program back in June 2017, but legislators celebrated the actual launch of the program last Sunday.
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“We couldn’t be more excited to turn this local success story into a statewide program that will improve the health of those who need it most while reducing costs for taxpayers over the long term,” Senator McGuire said. “The bottom line: We believe, over the next three years, we’ll demonstrate enhanced health outcomes for chronically ill Medi-Cal patients and save millions in health care costs.”
The initiative was first inspired by the work of the Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance (MANNA) in Philadelphia. The organization published a study on their work in 2013 that showed the impressive benefits of using food to treat the chronically ill.
The study showed that patients who were given three medically-tailored meals a day over the course of six months experienced a dramatic drop in monthly healthcare costs, from $38,937 per month to $28,183 per month, which was 55% lower than control groups in the study.
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Not only that, participants were half as likely to visit the emergency room – and when they did, they spent less time at the facilities. Additionally, patients were more likely to be discharged from hospitals and sent home, rather than being sent to special treatment facilities.
California now hopes to enjoy the same benefits and save taxpayers millions in healthcare costs.
Hilary Seligman of the UCSF Global Health Sciences, said: “I am so pleased to see progress toward ensuring that the most critically ill patients have access to the food they need to stay healthy in their homes. Not only do these meals nourish, but they also hold promise for keeping people out of the hospital, preventing health crises, and allowing people to maintain independence at home.”
Today I had the honor of joining @ProjAngelFood at the launch of their statewide pilot project which will provide nutritional meals to patients suffering from congestive heart failure. Thanks to @MamasKitchenSD for the great food. @LACareHealth @RichardAyoub pic.twitter.com/7rzKfPd95j
— Assemblywoman Rubio (@AsmBlancaRubio) May 5, 2018
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Two dogs are lucky to be alive, and it’s no small thanks to a heroic group of animal rescuers who pulled them out of their predicament.
As the Kilauea volcano erupts on the main island of Hawaii, over a dozen volcanic fissures have opened up around the Leilani Estates subdivision.
Carol Hosley, who lives in the danger area, had been packing up her possessions so she could evacuate two weeks ago when her dogs, who are named Little Dude and Brus, became frightened by the sudden appearance of male rescuers and they took off running into the wilderness.
Since Hosley had adopted the two dogs from the Aloha Ilio animal rescue, the organization joined in on the search for the missing dogs.
WATCH: Clever Man Rescues Endangered Puppy by Building a Drone in 6 Hours
“We’ve been looking for him for 10 days, and we’ve just kept going back, and going back,” Daylynn Kyles, president of Aloha Ilio Dog Rescue, told Hawaii News Now.
Finally after ten days of searching, the rescue team found the pups trapped between a fence line and a surge of cooled lava. Though they were unharmed by the lava, Brus and Little Dude had both been bitten by red ants and left severely shaken by their experience.
“They were stuck behind a fence, and they couldn’t get out because the lava had surrounded them,” Kyles said. “It was crazy.”
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In order to rescue them, Kyles and two of the rescue crew had to army crawl through the grass and climb over the fence. Not only that, but as they were retrieving the dogs, they heard another volcanic fissure opening up nearby, which Kyles described as a “big boom” that sounded “like a freight train.”
Thankfully, no one was injured by the lava splatters and the animal shelter is currently taking care of the dogs while Hosley finds new housing.
“I’m just thrilled to death, I just couldn’t be happier,” Hosley said. “The other stuff is stuff, but I got the dogs.”
(WATCH the video below)
Pass On The Pawesome Rescue Story To Your Friends And Share To Social Media – Photo by Aloha Ilio Animal Rescue
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Hear the remarkable story of Sylvia Bloom, a shrewd secretary who amassed a fortune after watching her bosses at work – and the beautiful thing she did with it. Hear The Good News Guru tell the inspiring story (from the May 11, 2018 Ellen K. Morning Show on KOST-103.5 radio).
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