The “Hats 4 Heros” program was started by Dr. Joseph Magnant of Vein Specialists and his wife Patty.

Patty Magnant was already busy sewing scrub hats for some local hospital nurses when her husband, a Fort Myers vascular surgeon, learned just how critical the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) caused by the coronavirus really is.

“My sister is an emergency room doctor and she shared with me that at hospitals everywhere right now, they’re running low of surgical hats, gowns and masks,” shares Joseph Magnant, MD, FACS, RPVI.

“That’s their equipment and they need it badly, and that got Patty and I thinking that we should start making more of these reusable cloth scrub hats for the nurses and doctors in the ERs and ICUs.”

Dr. Magnant, the founder and CEO of Vein Specialists, which is dedicated to the minimally invasive treatment of leg vein disorders and has offices in Fort Myers and Bonita Springs, began his initiative in early April.

He is one of a host of medical professionals across the state of Florida who are devoting time to helping others during the coronavirus crisis, and within days of he and his wife beginning their initiative, it was already expanding.

“So our initial thought was to make these surgical hats that were more durable, that the doctors and nurses could take home and

Dr. Joseph Magnant is using his surgical skills to produce personal protective equipment for medical professionals fighting on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

wash and wear the next day,” Dr. Magnant explains. “But then we came up with another idea, another way to help out during this crisis.

“When the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) came out the other day and suggested that people start wearing face coverings whenever you’re outside of the home, we came up with a way to make those as well.”

Dr. Magnant’s idea for a face covering was inspired by the buffs he’s seen at area sporting goods stores. He and Patty made their first few “re-buffs’’ out of old t-shirts but soon began making them out of a better grade of material they purchased online.

“They’re tubular knit cloths that you can pull up and cover your mouth and nose with,” Dr. Magnant says. “We gave the first few away to friends and neighbors and my parents, and now we’re making them to sell to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

“I’ve supported the Ronald McDonald House Charities for years, and because volunteers are not allowed to help them cook meals at this time, what they really need right now is money. So, we came up with this idea that we’re calling Hats 4 Heros.”

Every $10 donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southwest Florida, Hats 4 Heros will donate one hand-sewn surgical cap to a doctor or nurse fighting on the front lines against the coronavirus.

Through the Hats for Heros program, Vein Specialists will donate one hand-sewn surgical scrub hat to an emergency and acute care medical professional somewhere in Southwest Florida for every $10 donated to the Ronald McDonald House charities.

For every $5 donation to the Ronald McDonald House charities, Vein Specialists will donate a hand-sewn Re-Buff to anyone in need of facial protection. A $5 donation can feed one family in need, while a $10 donation can feed two families.

“My expertise is in cutting the patterns,” Dr. Magnant says of his role in the production of the hats and buffs. “Patty does the sewing, and like anything it takes time, but it’s starting to take off.”

Patty and Dr. Magnant have also started a GoFundMe account in an attempt to bring awareness to their cause. It can be found at gofundme.com.

Bad news: More Florida women getting breast cancer.

Good news: Death rate now among nation’s lowest.

When I scanned the first sentence of her Facebook post, I thought at first that it was just another attempt to raise awareness for a worthy cause that would eventually ask me to do my part in the fight by sharing the post with others.

If only it had been.

“I have breast cancer,” it said.

In the paragraphs that followed, my friend explained how she had known for a week that the two-centimeter lump she found last month was malignant. She then talked about the uncertainty, the fear and the battle ahead, and how she planned to kick cancer’s, um, rear end.

It’s an all too familiar post. In the past few months, my pastor’s wife made a similar announcement on Facebook.  Last week, a former colleague who survived breast cancer 12 years ago told me she is having another biopsy.

It’s no wonder we are seeing more of these posts. According to statewide figures from the Florida Department of Health, the breast cancer incident rate increased from 137.6 to 161.7 per 100,000 women between 2006 and 2016.

In 2016 alone, doctors diagnosed 16,721 new cases of breast cancer among women.  Last year, 2,955 women died from breast cancer. That translates to a death rate of 18.5 per 100,000 women.

In 2018, Glades County topped the list with a death rate of 41.9 per 100,000 people, though deaths totaled five. Other counties with high rates included Holmes, Walton, Franklin, Wakulla, Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Marion, Citrus, Pasco, Nassau, Brevard, Okeechobee and Hendry. Counties reporting the lowest rates were Calhoun, Liberty and Washington, all of which reported no deaths.

Nationally, the good news is that Florida is among the states with the lowest death rates. After peaking in 1999 and 2000 at 24.4 deaths per 100,000, the rate has decreased, with 19.7 in 2016, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville say a vaccine could be available in eight years, the best ways to prevent breast cancer right now is to adopt a healthy lifestyle and get regular screenings to ensure early detection.

So, we’ll continue to wear our pink, participate in three-day walks, and support our friends who make those heartbreaking social media announcements as much as we possibly can.

We’ll also perform regular self exams and screening mammograms as soon as they’re due. No procrastination. Taking care of ourselves is critical, especially if we are taking care of others. Thankfully, we have help in that endeavor.

To make sure every woman is able to get a screening, the Florida Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program provides free or low-cost mammograms to women who are residents of Florida, 50-64 with no insurance and low income. To see if you qualify, call your county Health Department.

The annual number of reported cases of hepatitis A in the state of Florida is on the rise yet again and at an alarming rate, according to figures released by the Florida Department of Health.

January 1, 2018 – August 17, 2019

After reported cases of hepatitis A in Florida more than doubled between 2016 and 2017 and nearly doubled between 2017 and 2018, the number of cases reported in Florida since then has more than quadrupled.

From January 1, 2018 to August 17, 2019 (the day the department’s report came out), 2,226 cases of hepatitis A were reported across the state. Of those 1,266 cases, 77 were reported during the last week covered by the report.

Hepatitis A is a vaccine-preventable, communicable disease of the liver that is caused by the hepatitis A virus, or HAV. It is typically transmitted from one person to the next through the fecal-oral route or through the consumption of contaminated food or water.

Symptoms of hepatitis A include fatigue, low appetite, stomach pain, nausea and jaundice but usually resolve within two months due to antibodies that are produced in response to the virus and protect against reinfection for life.

A vaccination is the best way to prevent the disease and such vaccinations are recommended by The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for all children a year old or older.

Vaccinations are also recommended for anyone who is homeless or living in an unstable housing situation or anyone who is at an increased risk of infection, including people using injection and non-injection drugs, people with chronic liver disease or blood clotting disorders.

The outbreak of the virus in the state of Florida began in 2017, when the number of reported cases of hepatitis A jumped from 122 a year earlier to 276. That number nearly doubled in 2018 to 548 cases.

Counties that reported a hepatitis A case in week 33 (8/11/19–8/17/19) are outlined in black. Since January 1, 2018, 98% of cases have likely been acquired locally in Florida.

With that number already exceeded, the surgeon general of the state of Florida, Scott Rivkees, declared a public emergency on Aug. 1, 2019, saying the declaration was a “proactive step to appropriately alert the public to this serious illness.”

Rivkees encouraged people to be vaccinated against the virus, which had spread the most through Pasco (374 cases), Pinellas (344) and Volusia (208) counties at the time the report was released.

Orange County, Hillsborough County, Marion County, Manatee County and Hernando County had all reported more than 100 hepatitis A cases at the time of the report, with Lake County falling just shy of that number with 98 reported cases.