Health trends

Jamaica's visiting nurses still active

The Hyacinth Lightbourne Visiting Nursing Service (HLVNS), the only one of its kind in Jamaica, is the bridge between critically ill persons and recovery . The HLVNS is a non-profit organisation under the umbrella of the Ministry of Health, established by the Jamaica Trained Nurses Association (now the Nursing Association of Jamaica) and friends of Dr Hyacinth Lightbourne. Dr Lightbourne died tragically on the Palisadoes Road while planning this very programme, hence it is named in her memory and has been serving Jamaica for more than 50 years.

The objective of HLVNS is to bring professional nursing care by registered nurses to patients in their homes irrespective of their socioeconomic status. The aim is to ease hospital overcrowding and to reduce medical costs while working with doctors instructions. The need for this service is great, yet it is underutilised because of a breakdown in communication within the hospital circle, mainly between nurses and doctors, the respective training schools and within HLVNS. As a result, some members of the public think that the service is no longer in existence, which is not so.

We are, therefore, appealing to you to use this very important service which will not only assist patients with the necessary care needed, but also revive the organisation to its former level of activity. HLVNS can be contacted at: 927-9575; 927-5796; Lightbourne2k8@cwjamaica.com.

- Source: Alethea Plummer, HLVNS

Harmful anti-seizure drug

The US Food and Drug Admini-stration (FDA) recently notified health-care professionals that children born to mothers who take the anti-seizure medication valproate sodium or related products (valproic acid and divalproex sodium) during pregnancy have an increased risk of lower cognitive test scores than children exposed to other anti-seizure medications during pregnancy.

This conclusion is based on the results of epidemiologic studies that show that children born to mothers who took valproate sodium or related products throughout their pregnancy tend to score lower on cognitive tests (IQ and other tests) than children born to mothers who took other anti-seizure medications during pregnancy. Valproate products are FDA-approved drugs to treat seizures, and manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar disorder (manic-depressive disorder), and to prevent migraine headaches. They are also used off-label (for unapproved uses) for other conditions, particularly for other psychiatric conditions.

- Source: The US Food and Drug Administration