18 The Courier sun • health • NOVEMBER 5, 2015 for breaking news visit www.qns.com ▶health MORE NEW YORKERS NEED TO SEE THE DENTIST: REPORT BY BROOKE SMITH editorial@queenscourier.com @queenscourier The Health Department released a new data brief Wednesday on the utilization of oral health services among adults in New York City. Data collected by the agency’s annual Community Health Survey and Syndromic Surveillance from hospitals across the five boroughs shows how the Health Department describes New Yorkers’ use of preventive and emergency dental services. The Data Brief revealed that two in five adult New Yorkers had no preventive dental visit in the past 12 months. “We know that far too few New Yorkers see a dentist on a regular basis for preventive care,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett. “The Health Department is working with stakeholders to increase awareness and access to low-cost dental services across the city.” Nationally, hospital emergency department visits for dental conditions are on the rise. Among all hospital ER visits from 2009 to 2014, over 180,00 visits, approximately 1 percent, were identified as being preventable oral health visits. In New York City, young adults, aged 25 to 29 were found to be more likely than adults, aged 30 to 64 to not have a preventive dental visit. The likelihood of not having a preventive dental visit in the past year decreased as household poverty increased. Bedford Stuyvesant-Crown Heights, Williamsburg, East New York, Jamaica, East and Central Harlem, South Bronx and Fordham-Bronx Park exhibited the highest rates of emergency department utilization for potentially preventable oral health issues. The South Bronx alone accounted for 11 percent of all preventable oral health visits to the emergency department. To help New Yorkers find affordable dental services, the Health Department has created a list of low and no-cost and sliding fee scale dental facilities. Could depression be affecting your job? Did you know that one in 10 people struggle with depression? Depression can consist of a range of symptoms and it can also impact every aspect of a person’s life including social, family, personal and work/school life. Depression affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act, and affects people during their prime working years. One area people tend to ignore is the impact depression can have on their work life. Depression is evident at work through absenteeism (days away from work), and presenteeism (being at work, but not engaged/productive). Workers with depression report an extra 1.6 days absent from work each month compared to healthy colleagues. “Individuals with depression sometimes aren’t aware they have the illness,” says Clare Miller, director of the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health. “We spend a lot of time at work, so it’s an important place to share information on depression and to encourage people to access resources and tools that can help to get them healthy.” Despite advances in treatments, only one-third of people with diagnosable mental health conditions seek care. Many people who struggle with depression may go untreated because they fear retribution or loss of their job if they report their problems. Depression has a variety of symptoms, but the most common are a deep feeling of sadness or a marked loss of interest or pleasure in activities. Other symptoms include: • Changes in appetite that result in weight losses or gains unrelated to dieting • Insomnia or oversleeping • Loss of energy or increased fatigue • Restlessness or irritability • Feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt • Difficulty thinking, concentrating, or making decisions • Thoughts of death or suicide or attempts at suicide Depression does not have to throw your work life or your career off track. If you are concerned that depression is impacting your performance at work and feel like you have experienced any of these signs, it is important to seek help because depression is treatable. In fact, more than 80 percent of those who seek treatment show improvement. The most commonly used treatments are antidepressant medications, psychotherapy or a combination of the two. For more info, visit www. RightDirectionForMe.com. The website offers educational information on common symptoms of depression, a screening tool for depression that can be shared with a health provider, resources for how to discuss this with family and additional resources outside the workplace to access for help. Courtesy BPT
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