Mosquitoes test positive in W.Va. for West Nile

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — The Cabell-Huntington Health Department says it has trapped mosquitoes that have tested positive for West Nile virus.

The department’s director of environmental health, Stan Mills, tells The Herald Dispatch that thousands of the pests from many different locations have tested positive for the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says West Virginia has joined the list of 47 states reporting West Nile virus infections in people, birds or mosquitoes.

Officials with the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department say tests have shown a man in his 40s has tested positive in initial screenings for the disease. West Nile is a mosquito-borne disease that causes encephalitis, or swelling of the brain.

 

Free carotid artery screening set for Proctorville area

PROCTORVILLE — King’s Daughters Medical Center, in cooperation with the Kentucky Heart Foundation, is offering a free screening to detect carotid artery disease.

The screening will begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5 at King’s Daughters Medical Specialties, 6276 State Route 7, Proctorville.

Appointments are required and may be made by calling 1-888-377-KDMC (5362). King’s Daughters vascular/endovascular surgeon Omran Abul-Khoudoud, M.D., will review results immediately following the screening.

The screening consists of an ultrasound exam of the carotid arteries, which supply blood to the brain. Blockages in these arteries can lead to stroke.

The carotid screening is available to people age 50 and older. It is recommended for those who: have a history of high blood pressure; smoke (or who have smoked); have a family history of carotid artery disease/stroke; consume a diet high in saturated or animal fats; have diabetes; and lead a sedentary lifestyle.

Additional screening criteria may apply, which allow King’s Daughters to see those most at risk.

KDMC is a locally controlled, not-for-profit, 465-bed regional referral center, offering cardiac, vascular, medical, surgical, maternity, pediatric, rehabilitative, psychiatric, cancer, neurological, pain care, wound care and home care services.

For additional information, visit kdmc.com or call 1-888-377-KDMC (5362).

 

Ironton residents get teaching excellence awards

ASHLAND, Ky. — Three Ironton residents have received Ashland Community and Technical College Teaching Excellence Awards for 2011-12. Presented at the All College Meeting Aug. 1.

The awards recognize and promote traits that are indicators of great teaching.

Recipients were Shannon McCarty, assistant professor and diesel technology program coordinator; Stephanie Hightower, instructor of associate degree nursing; and Colleen Griffiths, adjunct instructor of communications.

 

ACTC to offer ballroom dancing

ASHLAND, Ky. — Ashland Community and Technical College is offering a ballroom dancing class that will help couples learn basic steps and rhythms for formal dances.

The class will meet Fridays, Sept. 7 to 28, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Roberts Drive Campus.

The fee is $55 per couple, and enrollment is through ACTC Community Education by calling 800-928-4256 ext. 62072, or via email: as_LLL@kctcs.edu.

 

Cabell welcomes new neurologist

HUNTINGTON, WV — The Epilepsy Center at Cabell Huntington Hospital and the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine welcome neurologist and epilepsy specialist Sona Shah, MD, to their medical staffs to provide care for patients with epilepsy and other seizure disorders.

Dr. Shah serves as director of the Epilepsy Center at Cabell Huntington Hospital where she oversees the region’s first center staffed by specialists in the field of epilepsy.

Patients are monitored in one of the center’s four specially equipped rooms with equipment that relays electrical activity in the brain to a trained team of epilepsy specialists.

Dr. Shah completed her neurology residency at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, as well as fellowships in neurophysiology and epilepsy at the University of Chicago.

She is board certified in neurology, clinical neurophysiology, epilepsy monitoring and neuromuscular medicine.

For more information about services available at Cabell Huntington Hospital for patients with epilepsy or seizure disorders, please call the Marshall University Department of Neuroscience at (304) 691-1787.