“GoodRx files to go public, boasting track record of profitability” – Fierce Healthcare
by Heather Landi
“Joining a recent spate of digital health companies hitting the public market, GoodRx filed its initial public offering Friday.
“The startup, which helps consumers find deals on their prescription medications, is looking to raise up to $100 million in an IPO, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Friday.
“The Santa Monica, California-based company, launched in 2011, said its stock will traded on Nasdaq under the symbol GDRX, according to an S-1 filing.
“The company didn’t list specific share price or the number of shares it’s selling in the filing.”
Click here to continue reading this article at Fierce Healthcare.
Meet CATE: Mobile Response Unit – Community-Accessible Testing & Education for COVID-19
“Latino Connection, a leader in community health, is proud to announce the launch of our COVID-19 Mobile Response Unit, CATE.
“CATE exists to provide affordable and accessible COVID-19 education and testing to low income, vulnerable communities across sixteen counties in Pennsylvania to ensure equality in healthcare and the ability to stay safe, informed, and healthy.”
CATE will be visiting in each of the Pennsylvania Link to Aging and Disability Resources’ Service Area 13 areas.
“Too many goodbyes: The pain and hope of loving an addict” – Al Jazeera
“I held my love for my father close, afraid of letting it show, as I waited for the call to tell me he had died.”
[Jawahir Al-Naimi/Al Jazeera]
by Brianna Bell
“My mother packed her bags and left my father when she was seven months pregnant with me, her belly swollen under her loose-fitting maternity dress. She planned to stay with her parents until my father ‘got his act together.’ But he never did, and she never returned.
“She raised me on her own, with the help of her parents. My childhood was quiet and simple. I read books in my spare time and went to camp every summer. For vacation we would take the train for free to Montreal, or New Brunswick, enjoying our frugal travels thanks to my mum’s employment with a railway company.
“Most weekends she was at work, so I spent Saturday and Sunday with my Maltese grandparents. My Nanna would cook stuffat-tal fenek (rabbit stew), and tell me it was Maltese chicken. I would watch hockey for hours with my Nannu, while we cracked peanuts into a bowl, shovelling handfuls of them into our mouths.
The first goodbye
“When my grandparents were not able to watch me, my mum would reluctantly drive me across town to visit my father. Our visits were rare and stilted, our relationship like a broken car that fails to ignite.
“I do not recall an affectionate hug or a tender word between us. I do remember empty beer cans piled high in a rubbish bin, the smell of cigarette smoke that coated the back of my throat, and the weight of my dad’s dog curled up in my lap.
“I felt lonely at my father’s house.”
Read this story in its entirety at Al Jazeera – click here.
“Our Average Life Expectancy Could Increase to 115 Years Very Soon” – Allure
“The more scientists learn about how we age, the more likely they are to recalibrate the clock. But that poses another question: Should they?”
Illustration by Liana Farmer
by Liz Stinson
“Humans are born with an expiration date. From the moment of conception, we’re assigned a shared fate — that someday, in some way, we all die. It used to come earlier. In ancient Roman times, people could expect to live 30 to 35 years. By the mid-20th century, life expectancy in the United States had risen to 65 for men and 71 for women. Today, the average American life span hovers around 78 years, though that’s far from the bounds of what is possible.
“Scientists believe that the capacity of the human body currently reaches its limits at around 115 years old. But most people fall short of that due to the ailments and vulnerabilities that accompany old age, a fact that has been tragically underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic. But what if it was possible to reach that outer edge? Just think about that delta for a second: 80 versus 115. “That leaves 35 years to realize,” says Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and author of Age Later (St. Martin’s Press). Barzilai is part of a growing cadre of scientists studying longevity — why we age, how our bodies break down, how it affects our well-being and quality of life, and what we can do to slow the process. These scientists believe in a future where interventions will forestall our physiological wear and tear, effectively making us better resistant to age-related diseases and, yes, maybe even pandemics.
“Extending life span is rooted deep in the human psyche.” Keep reading this article at Allure, click here.
September is Peripheral Artery Disease Awareness Month | Atherosclerosis and its serious consequences.
Click on the graphic to enlarge.
“Calvin and Hobbes and quarantine” – Polygon
Admit it. There’s a bit of Calvin in each of us.
“Image: Bill Watterson/Andrews McMeel Publishing”
by Chuck Wendig
“When I think of Calvin, that glorious little menace, I first remember the depth of his imagination. His was an external life born explicitly of the internal: distant planets, bed monsters, mutant snowscapes, gravity-defying wagon rides, crass Transmogrifications, and of course, one tuna-loving tiger BFF.
“But the second thing I remember was exactly why the kid had such a big imagination to begin with: Calvin was looking for a way out. He was trying to escape.
“He didn’t like school, so he fled it as Spaceman Spiff. Bathtime, a nightmare for small children, saw Calvin turning into a tub shark or being attacked by a bubble-bath elemental. He escaped the corporeal form of a kid’s (arguably limited) body with the Transmogrifier, and most importantly of all, escaped loneliness by befriending a stuffed tiger who Calvin knew was actually real. A tiger who listened to him, who challenged him, and who ultimately loved him.
“Because that’s the thing, isn’t it? Calvin went to school, had a loving family, but even still, he felt alone. And his imagination gave him a way not to feel that anymore.
“In lockdown, we’re all Calvin.”
Seriously, click here to read this article at Polygon in its entirety.
“Staying Strong During Lockdown Means Reaching Out — And Working Your Mind, Too” – NPR
Annelise Capossela for NPR
by April Fulton
“It can be tempting, as the pandemic wears on, to shut down — to escape into TV binging, social media and other inadequate ways of blocking out the stress and fears of illness or economic disaster.
“Dr. Maryland Pao, the clinical director of the National Institutes of Mental Health Intramural Research Program and a psychiatrist who regularly sees children with life-threatening illnesses, says she’s seen striking similarities between the ways her young patients deal with their diagnoses, and how lots of people are responding as we roll past month 5 of the pandemic.
“We all tend to default to two styles of coping, Pao explains: ‘You can be an active coper or you can be a passive coper.’
‘The active copers — the ones who pick up hobbies or take an interest in others and the world around them — generally have better mental health outcomes, Pao notes.”
Click here to read this article at NPR in its entirety.
“Isolation, Disruption and Confusion: Coping With Dementia During a Pandemic” – California Healthline
“Daisy Conant hasn’t been diagnosed with dementia but exhibits clear signs of memory loss. She gets frustrated reading news about the coronavirus pandemic.”
by Heidi de Marco
“GARDENA, Calif. — Daisy Conant, 91, thrives off routine.
“One of her favorites is reading the newspaper with her morning coffee. But, lately, the news surrounding the coronavirus pandemic has been more agitating than pleasurable. ‘We’re dropping like flies,’ she said one recent morning, throwing her hands up.
“’She gets fearful,’ explained her grandson Erik Hayhurst, 27. ‘I sort of have to pull her back and walk her through the facts.”’
“Conant hasn’t been diagnosed with dementia, but her family has a history of Alzheimer’s. She had been living independently in her home of 60 years, but Hayhurst decided to move in with her in 2018 after she showed clear signs of memory loss and fell repeatedly.
“For a while, Conant remained active, meeting up with friends and neighbors to walk around her neighborhood, attend church and visit the corner market. Hayhurst, a project management consultant, juggled caregiving with his job.
“Then COVID-19 came … ”
To continue reading this article at California Healthline, click here.
