Byline: Harry Wessel
Sep. 24--The percentage of Florida children without health insurance has climbed from 14.4 percent to 18.9 percent during the past two years, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau numbers.
Florida, which trails only Texas in the percentage of uninsured children, is one of 15 states in which the percentage of uninsured kids has gone up during both 2005 and 2006, according to First Focus.
Not that Florida was singled out: Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia had a higher percentage of uninsured kids in 2006 compared with 2004. Nationally, the percentage rose from 10.5 percent to 11.7 percent.
The advocacy group is urging Congress to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which is due to sunset out of existence at the end of this month.
Robotic outreach
Two Orlando hospitals are reporting new applications for minimally invasive robotic surgery. Earlier this month, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando performed its first thoracic surgery using a da Vinci robotic system, while last month Florida Hospital Orlando used its da Vinci to perform a reversal of a tubal ligation.
M.D. Anderson has been doing da Vinci surgeries since July 2006, but until now they had been used almost exclusively for prostate- and gynecological-cancer patients. Earlier this month, the removal of a chest tumor -- which typically requires a six-inch incision and rib-spreading -- was accomplished with several far smaller incisions.
The robotic procedure at Florida Hospital's Center for Reproductive Medicine also avoided a large incision. Other payoffs include less pain, less scarring, shorter hospital stays and faster recoveries.
Blood feud
What could possibly be controversial about a newspaper ad thanking mothers for taking part in an umbilical cord-blood donation program? Here's what: The full-page ad, which ran earlier this month in the Orlando Sentinel, had the National Marrow Donor Program thanking the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies and Orlando's Cord:Use Cord Blood Bank.
But there was no mention of the region's other cord-blood bank, Cryobanks International of Altamonte Springs. Its chief executive, Dwight Brunoehler, thought the ad should have made clear that it had been purchased by his competitor, not the marrow-donor program. An official with the National Marrow Donor Program said there was no intention to slight Cryobanks but, 'in hindsight,' the ad should have mentioned both cord-blood banks.
Briefly . . .
Leesburg Regional Medical Center has won its third consecutive 'Hospital of Choice Award' from the American Alliance of Healthcare Providers. The award honoring honors customer-friendly hospitals, went to four other hospitals in the state: Baptist Health South Florida in Coral Gables, Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, and JFK Medical Center in Atlantis.
Harry Wessel can be reached at hwessel@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5506.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
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