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Family
health history
Good for your family health
by Erika Dreifus, PhD
Learning about your family's past can be good for your health. You may want to incorporate family health history activities into your next reunion.
Knowing your family health history - medical information about yourself and close blood relatives -can be valuable in many ways. Such history can help identify your own risk factors for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and other health problems. Health care providers can consider the information, along with your own environment and behavior patterns, to assess your risk of disease. You may choose to have tests such as mammograms or colorectal cancer screenings to assist in early detection, or reduce your risk by modifying eating or exercise habits.
Even the youngest family members have something to gain. When my cousin's newborn son was screened and diagnosed with a rare Fatty Oxidation Disorder (FOD), several close relatives had screenings. Early screening matters; this heritable disorder is serious but treatable.
Recognizing how important such collective information can be, US Surgeon General, Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., and agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have launched a "Family History Initiative." It features a free software tool available from www.hhs.gov/familyhistory . My Family Health Portrait helps collect and organize information about family members and diseases they may have suffered. Contents can then be printed out for presentation to the family doctor.
The Surgeon General's website takes pains (no pun intended) to highlight privacy/security issues. My Family Health Portrait stores information only on your computer. How safe the information is depends on how well you protect your computer.
A reunion is an opportune moment for families to share information. (For the past two years, Surgeon General Carmona has declared Thanksgiving to be National Family History Day, but the Surgeon General encourages families to talk about and record health histories whenever they gather). So reunion planners may be particularly interested in including Family Health History activities. Talking with relatives, asking questions and recording information are all starting points. More experienced researchers might review death certificates and family medical records to confirm information or collect more.
However you go about it, consider adding health history research to your family reunion activities. It's good for you - and for everyone in your family.
Software details
My Family Health Portrait is compatible with most browsers and operating systems. For those who prefer other versions, both a downloadable and hard copy paper option (in English and Spanish) are available. To order copies by phone, call 1-888-Ask HRSA (275-4772) and ask for "My Family Health Portrait" in English (inventory # HRS00360) or Spanish (inventory # HRS00361). See www.hhs.gov/familyhistory/order for more information.
About the author
Erika Dreifus holds a PhD in History from Harvard University and writes frequently on family history topics. Visit her website at www.practicing-writer.com.
Family
health history is a hot reunion topic!
The more we know about health and medicine, the more it seems we
need to know. Family health history is becoming a hot reunion topic
that genealogists are looking at more closely, and there are products
to help foster the interest.
Deborah
McGregor, MD, MPH, heads AppleHeart Health Systems, a company dedicated
to preventive medicine. A new service launched by her team is the
AppleHeart Healthy Family Reunion program. It includes a three-step
approach of health assessment, health protection and health improvement
recognition. Her objective to increase health awareness during each
family reunion. The process begins with selection of four family
volunteers: a family health coordinator and three group leaders,
one each for men, women and young people. These family members will
receive an AppleHeart Training Kit which includes an instruction
manual and "How To... Check List" . One of Dr. McGregor's
popular topics is Grandma's Remedies That Work - The Four Pillars
of Health. This can be a delightful addition to your planning. Use
"Grandma's Remedies That Work" as a topic of discussion
during the picnic or evening program.
To
interest members in their health and family health history, the
Burnett Family Reunion offered an optional workshop about family
health. Workshop objectives were to share information about illness
and wellness with the family and to educate members about taking
charge of their own health. Together they began diagramming their
family history in a genogram tracing health issues through several
generations. The workshop was so well received, that it will continue
at their next reunion.
Traveling with your medical records
by Wendy Angst
Whether a camping reunion to Colorado or a beach getaway to Florida, you can now travel with your personal health records (PHRs) wherever your reunion is.
You can use PHRs to access health, medical and insurance information and have emergency information available. PHRs available to consumers include online websites, cell phone applications and portable USB flash drives.
Family reunions offer a great opportunity to build a multi-generation family medical history, and PHRs are great repositories for such helpful information. People usually focus on their own records; but knowing a close relative's allergies, past surgeries or curr
nt treatments helps you better understand your own health.
Traditionally, medical records have been maintained on paper. Today, electronic health records offer flexible options and several choices for storage, management and information sharing.
At a minimum, a PHR should enable you to record personal medical history information. A full PHR contains immunization records, lab reports, x-rays or other films, physician contact information, known allergies, lists of medications and pharmacy information that enable emergency doctors to treat a patient without having to wait for their medical history. An emergency PHR contains information such as blood type, physician's contact information, a list of medications and known allergies.
An online PHR provides consumers with secure access from any computer to their personal health information with the click of a mouse. This is helpful at a reunion, if the group is using a portable laptop to gather family histories. Some PHR users receive a sticker for their phone to alert professionals. Each application ensures secure, full access to health information.
About the author
Wendy Angst, is general manager of CapMed, which makes an Online PHR and an icePHR (in case of emergency).
Family
medical secrets: who should you tell?
by Fran Carlson
As a reunion organizer since the early seventies, I went to my 1987
family reunion with a new purpose. I decided to include health history.
I wanted to find out why a simple outpatient, surgical procedure
had caused me to have a near-death experience. It was not a romantic
romp into the good light, and I wanted to be sure it never happened
again.
I
prepared a three-page medical questionnaire to be completed by the
fifty people at our reunion. I wanted to find out if anything in
our family medical history could explain my problem. I was asking
for the most intimate information so I promised confidentiality.
That is, I would accumulate the data and report it by generation,
but I would not divulge who had reported what medical malady without
their permission.
Murphy
Family Reunion includes review of family history
I did follow-up phone interviews. "Didn't you mention once
you had a problem with hypertension? May I add that to your card?
Did you ever have surgery? How many miscarriages did you have?"
I
talked with older family members several times, about their health
and the medical history of family members who died before I was
born.
I
sent for death certificates and was amazed at all the information
I found. I visited cemeteries, checked census records and added
new findings including dates of death. I listened to new medical
stories and continued to talk with elders about medical history.
I
recorded it all and, frankly, had no idea what to make of it. Bunions
here, congestive heart failure there, lung cancer and hypertension.
What information was important and what wasn't? If I produced a
family medical tree should I include family secrets? Every family
has them. Alcoholism, suicide, depression, even obesity might offend
someone. The biggest problem, however, was how to see through all
the data to the patterns that existed.
I
tried using a traditional tree form to record data in boxes. All
I got was a messy form. I tried a computer program. All the data
was there, but it was in bits and pieces. In desperation I organized
a card system and designed the Deck of Life. One card for
each member of the family, with physical problems catalogued on
the front and behavioral or environmental problems on the back.
I scoured medical books to create a medical condition category list
that grouped like-illnesses.
Finally
I started to see related problems. It still took time to read each
card and try to remember one relative's conditions from the next.
Finally, I used crayons to color code by medical categories! My
tree had life!
I
used yellow for drug sensitivities and noticed that at least one
person in each generation had a very negative reaction to medications,
sometimes to the point of death. My grandmother underwent a successful
surgical procedure, but died from the anesthesia. Sound familiar?
She was being taken to the morgue when they realized she was still
alive. Her son died at age five from a flu medication. My mother
came close to death from a blood pressure medication.
I
found my genetic vulnerability. I summarized my information and
made a copy for my family and one for my doctor. The next time I
had surgery, there were two anesthesiologists in attendance and
special equipment. I didn't die, and I'm going to make sure my children
don't die by accident or ignorance.
The
Deck of Life grew into Growing Your Family Medical Tree,
a self-help kit that teaches how to research your medical past and
take charge of your medical present. History does repeat itself.
Genes pass from one generation to the next. A medical legacy is
one of the best that we can leave our families. Help new generations
be aware of medical patterns they may
encounter. Teach them to take charge of their health in a proactive
way.
Have
you signed your donor card?
Barbara J. Nolan, recruiter for the American Red Cross Marrow Donor
Program in Northern Ohio offers an interesting suggestion. She points
out that fatal blood diseases such as leukemia and aplastic anemia
do not discriminate and affect the whole family.
Nolan
suggests including a Marrow Donor Recruitment Drive at your next
family reunion to raise awareness and educate your family about
the need for more marrow donors of all races. Commitment to become
a potential marrow donor is stronger among those who are educated
within the family group. Your own marrow donors can lessen the devastating
situation a family faces when relying on the kindness of strangers
to save the life of a loved one.
Your
Marrow Donor Drive can increase the number of potential marrow donors
in the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. Call Barbara Nolan,
888-862-7769 (toll free).
Health
is in your roots
by Adam Rose
If you’re working on a family tree or even if you’re not,
consider taking advantage of the family being together at your next
reunion and ask some important health and medical questions. A family
health tree informs you of conditions your ancestors suffered from
and alerts future generations to conditions they should watch for.
There
are a few things you should do when compiling this tree. Include
at least three generations; yours, siblings and cousins; your parents,
aunts and uncles and your grandparents and their siblings. Next,
list diseases, age at diagnosis, treatment and where they were treated.
Don’t forget to record depression, alcoholism, addictions,
eating disorders or any other problems encountered. Lifestyle factors
should be included because obesity, smoking, exercise and other
habits may explain health complications that occurred and can have
an impact on future generations. Record the cause, date of death
and age of deceased family members.
This
may sound like a daunting task, but there are ways to make it easy
and fun. Interview relatives at family gatherings. Reunions are
the perfect place to talk to many relatives. Older relatives can
be especially helpful because they may remember details other family
members were too young to notice. Family doctors may be helpful
– they usually have records of family ailments and lifestyle
changes.
If
you’re looking for outside help, there are a few web sites
to try. For research advice go to
www.mayohealth.org and type in "family medical history"
in the search field to access articles from Mayo Clinic experts. www.byub.org/ancestors/records/vital/extra3.html lists materials and services to aid your search and instructions
about medical genealogy.
How
Healthy is Your Family by Carol Krause and The Practical
Guide to the Genetic Family History by Robin Bennett are books
about medical genealogy.
With
help from articles in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and
Everton’s Genealogical Helper.
Tell-tale
hearts
With a generations-long history of heart disease and early death,
Dr. Adriedell Stewart wanted her family to receive the best medical
advice available. As a result, the Stewart Family Reunion has become
something of an annual health fair. In 1996, for example, a team
of physicians from the Oregon Health Sciences University Familial
Dilated Cardiomyopathy Project was on hand to take blood pressure,
measure vital signs and record readings from a heart monitor. In
all, three hundred of the 583 family members became part of an on-going
Oregon heart study. The 1997 Stewart Family Reunion was held in
Kansas City where family members visited a local hospital for physical
exams and EKGs. The whole process took only an hour.
A
word to the wise: Charting individual and family health histories
can help doctors better treat exisiting family conditions. As the
age old adage puts it: "Prevention is worth a pound of cure."
Source:
Nashville Pride
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