Category: Awareness

Awareness
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Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2019

For more than 30 years, October has been National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the U.S. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women, second only to skin cancer. With more than 240,000 women diagnosed each year, awareness can save lives through early detection and lowering risk.   The main risk factors of breast cancer include being a woman and being older, which means almost any woman can be diagnosed with no family history or other known risk factors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends healthy living habits such as maintaining a healthy weight, regular […]

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Awareness, BeMedWise
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Talk About Your Medicines Month

October marks the BeMedWise Program at NeedyMeds’ 34th Talk About Your Medicines Month (TAYMM). This is an annual opportunity to focus attention on the value that enhanced provider-patient communication about medicines can play in promoting safe and appropriate medicine use and improved health outcomes. Communication is a two-way street: consumers benefit from being proactive in asking questions and seeking information about their medicines, and healthcare providers in turn must be able to share medical information in a meaningful way that their patients are able to understand and act on.   This year’s theme for TAYMM is Preventing Opioid Misuse and Abuse […]

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Awareness, Mental Health
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World Mental Health Day

For over 25 years, the first full week of October has been Mental Illness Awareness Week. World Mental Health Day falls on October 10. This year, our blog has observed Mental Health Month in May, Minority Mental Health Month in July, and Suicide Prevention Month/Week/Day in September. We continue to discuss mental health because it is crucial to public health.   Twenty percent of the population — as many as 65.9 million Americans — live with some kind of mental health condition, with nearly 5% living with a serious mental illness that substantially limits their life activities. Those living with […]

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Awareness, Mental Health
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Suicide Prevention and Awareness

We have written a lot about mental health this year. Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. Each year over 45,000 people in America kill themselves — a rate that has increased 41% since 1999. Mental health conditions are often seen as the cause of suicide, but 54% of those who commit suicide do not have a known mental illness.  Suicide is rarely caused by a single factor, and is also affected by personal relationships, substance use, physical health, and stress from jobs, money, legal issues, and/or housing. In addition to September being Suicide Prevention Month, […]

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Awareness, Health, Safety, Vaccinations
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National Immunization Awareness Month 2019

August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) in the United States. This is the time of year when children and teenagers are heading back to school, toddlers are entering preschools or daycare programs, and many adults are heading into college or continuing their careers. Regardless of the situation, it is important to be aware of the need for getting vaccinated year round.   Vaccines are a vital part of healthcare at all stages of life and offers the best protection available against many potentially devastating illnesses. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages parents to follow an immunization […]

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About Us

Welcome to the NeedyMeds Voice! We look forward to presenting you with timely, provocative pieces on healthcare reform, patient advocacy, medication and healthcare access, and other health-related news. Our goals are to educate, enlighten, and elucidate; together, we will try to make sense of the myriad and ongoing healthcare-related changes in the U.S. today.