Health Yeah! With Monica Robins

Since 1999, the CDC says nearly 600,000 people died from an opioid overdose, either by prescription or illicit drug. Prescription deaths were prominant until 2010 when heroin took over, then in 2013 synthetic fentynal became the leading killer. Still 44 people die every day from prescribed opioids, and the vast majority of those addicted started with prescribed painkillers.  This episode delves in...

Keep your mask handy. Ashtabula, Lorain and Cuyahoga County all hit the orange high level and CDC guidance advises this is the time when you should wear a mask in public indoor spaces including public transportation.   Cuyahoga County added a mask mandate in all county buildings beginning June 1, 2022.  Geauga, Lake, Medina, Portage and Summit counties are all at the medium Yellow level, but expec...

Mental Health is taking center stage in discussion after two mass shootings within two weeks. The most recent, the May 24th shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas has once again devastated the country. The pandemic has shined a very bright light into mental health concerns regarding young people and many experts believe that could be the next pandemic we face. So what can we do about it...

This episode is about the opioid epidemic and how the pandemic is impacting those battling addiction.  A new CDC report just released finds the number of overdose deaths reached one hundred thousand.  That’s the largest single year toll ever recorded.  The study looked at deaths from April 2020, the beginning of the pandemic, until April 21. Ohio is no stranger to the opioid epidemic and in past y...

Today is my "Craniversary."  Two years ago on October 17, 2019 I underwent brain surgery at Cleveland Clinic to remove a sphenoid wing orbital meningioma.  I know it's a mouthful of a name.  Meningiomas are common, one in 32,000 people get one every year.  The majority are benign, and while that's a good thing, depending on the location, even benign tumors can be fatal.   While my tumor is common,...

When was the last time you checked your “legal” wellness?  We typically think of health and wellbeing in the physical sense.  But there are other areas of your life that need to be healthy too and one of them is your legal health.  There may be obvious times you need to get a lawyer, but there are also many day-to-day events when you need some legal advice, and you may not even know it.  Are you a...

Earlier this week, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine joined with the Ohio Children's Hospitals Association in a direct appeal to school superintendents to require masks for staff and students during the current surge of the coronavirus.  Data that support this appeal include:  Since August 15, 2021, there have been 29,823 Ohio school-aged kids ages 5 to 17 with confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19. Ca...

There is a critical need for more diverse populations to get involved in clinical trials.  Too often drug trials skew white and male, but many times once the drug hits the market, we learn later that it doesn't work the same in women and/or people of color.  There's no doubt the historic abuses of African Americans decades ago still linger in the minds of many, but that shouldn't stop doctors from...

On August 23, 2021 the FDA granted the Pfizer BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine full approval.  The Delta variant continues to rage across the U.S. and those on the front lines, in hospital Intensive Care Units, are seeing younger, unvaccinated patients needing the use of ventilators.  The nurses and doctors who work on the front lines thought they saw the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, until th...

A Cleveland Clinic study found women remain underrepresented in cardiovascular clinical trials despite guidelines and legal requirements developed almost 30 years ago to ensure broader inclusivity, according to a report from the American College of Cardiology Cardiovascular Disease in Women Committee published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Heart disease is the number...

Today’s episode is about an issue that is affecting more than six million Americans today and will likely affect millions more in the next decade.  And due to COVID, even more may suffer from this debilitating disease.  We’re talking about Alzheimer’s disease.  Rebecca Hall, Program director for the Alzheimer’s association Cleveland Chapter, joins me to discuss what families and caregivers need to...

We’re in the midst of the Olympics and kids are returning to sports.  But when they resumed last summer – Sports Medicine specialists noticed a spike in sports injuries among kids.  Fallout from COVID caused shortened or no pre-season games.  Many went right into games with little practice or supervised conditioning. Seasons were condensed and kids played too many games in too short a period.  And...

The more contagious Delta variant has become predominant but vaccination rates are declining.  Masks have been put away.  We're getting seemingly conflicting messages from the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics about whether kids should wear masks in schools.  And parents want to know when kids age two to eleven can get the COVID vaccine.  And what about flu season? In this episode,  Cleveland...

Today’s episode focuses on the darker side of online dating.  Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Jennifer Knetig works with the Veterans Administration’s intimate partner violence assistance program.  While the program helps veterans, their partners and VA staff who are impacted by intimate partner violence, her advice is critical for anyone who uses online dating.  Also the VA IPV program helps...

Recently I moderated a panel with Cleveland Area Healthcare leaders and Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, representing Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, to discuss constricted access to social services. The virtual event was hosted by CareAdvisors, a healthcare technology firm.  They had recently done a survey of Greater Cleveland social workers to determine what needs had changed because of the p...

In this episode,  an Israeli virologist discusses how her country handled the pandemic and what the world could learn from their response. This interview was conducted on March 23, 2021.  Dr. Dana Wolf is Director of the Clinical Virology Unit at Hadassah University Medical Center in Israel.  She’s also done research on giving vaccine to pregnant women and discusses her findings. Israel managed to...

Over 700,000 Americans are living with a brain tumor today and more than 84,000 people will be diagnosed with a primary brain tumor in 2021. All brain tumors are not alike - there are more than 120 different types of brain tumors.   Only about 1/3 of brain tumors are cancerous. But whether they are cancerous or not, brain tumors can impair brain function and potentially be deadly if they grow larg...

It's a billion dollar industry and only expected to grow even bigger.  CBD is being sold in nearly every pharmacy, grocery store and even convenience stores.  But what is it, how is it used, what's it for and does it get you high?  Why do so many people think CBD is marijuana?  In this episode I talk to Meredith Farrow, Founder and CEO of Avon, Ohio based Clean Remedies.  She explains the uses of...

This episode is Part 3 of a three-part series on Gender Affirmation surgery. Specifically, phalloplasty, which is creating a penis typically using skin from a patient’s arm. In part one, I introduced you to the patient. In part two, we learned more about the complex procedure from Dr. Shubham Gupta. In this episode we learn more about the plastic surgery aspect of the procedure with Dr. Tobias Lon...

This episode is part two of a three-part series on Gender Affirmation surgery.  Specifically, phalloplasty, which is creating a penis typically using skin from the patient’s arm.  In part one I introduce you to the patient, Bobby Hillier of Toledo.  In part two I talk with Dr. Shubham Gupta, a urologist with University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center’s LGBTQ and Gender Care Services Clinic.   H...

This episode is part one of a three part series on Gender Affirmation surgery.  Specifically phalloplasty, which is creating a penis typically using skin from the patient’s arm.  In part one I introduce you to the patient, Bobby Hillier of Toledo.  He began his transition at age 18 and since then has been waiting for the day he’d be able to "make himself whole."   This interview is his back story...

May is skin cancer awareness month and for those of us living in northeast Ohio, getting a splash of sunshine is a welcome respite from our miserable winters.  According to the American Cancer society more than 46 hundred Ohioans will develop Melanoma this year.  That is the deadliest form of skin cancer.  It is the 6th most common cancer in women and 5th in men.  But there are other forms of skin...

UPDATE: Governor DeWine signed bill that now allows children 12 and under to get COVID vaccine at a pharmacy. Those 12 and up can now get a vaccine at any provider in Ohio. (12 to 17 can only received Pfizer) In this episode six experts answer your questions relating to the COVID vaccines. You can learn more about our doctors and their specialties here: https://bit.ly/3eLymEG From MetroHealth Dr....

It’s  National Women’s Health Week , (May 9 through the 15th) and the COVID-19 pandemic has led many people to put off having life-saving preventative care, checkups and screenings, including mammograms. But early detection and prevention are just as vital as ever, especially when it comes to your cancer screenings. And those can save your life. Nine-time Grammy Award winning artist and breast can...

This episode is with author, Dr. Brandy Schillace.  She writes non fiction on death and dying, the history of science and steampunk.  She just released a new book called 'Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher' A monkey’s head, the Pope’s neuroscientist and the quest to transplant the soul.   The book is about well known Cleveland neuroscientist and surgeon, Dr. Robert White and his efforts to transplant the...