HEALTH BRIEFS
Senior Bowl donates $25,000

Officials from Food World and the Senior Bowl recently presented a $25,000 donation to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital to purchase equipment for the hospital's new neonatal/ pediatric ambulance.

With this donation, the Food World-Senior Bowl Charitable Partnership has contributed over $222,000 over six years to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital, the only children's hospital in Northwest Florida. Their donations were instrumental in purchasing a new neonatal/pediatric transport ambulance that was unveiled last year, and their continued donation help purchase new, cutting-edge technology to provide a safer, smoother ride for premature, critically ill, and injured babies and children in the region.

Sacred Heart Children's Hospital has been providing care to sick and injured babies and children for the past 38 years. For more information visit www.sacred-heart.org or call 850-416-7000.

For more information about the donation, please call Sacred Heart Foundation at 850-416- 4663.

Learn about prostates at dinner

Baptist Hospital presents 'Dinner with the Doc' a seminar featuring Urologist Davinder Sekhon, M.D., Aug. 9, at 5:30 p.m. in the Medical Meeting Rooms, 1000 West Moreno St.

Dr. Sekhon will present an educational seminar on a new, less invasive prostectomy procedure being performed at Baptist Hospital using robotic surgical technology.

The prostate, a walnut-size gland located below a man's bladder, is surrounded by nerves and muscles that affect urinary, rectal and sexual function. Great care and precision are necessary to remove the prostate gland without damaging surrounding structures.

Traditional prostate surgery requires an eight-to-10 inch incision that commonly results in substantial blood loss, a lengthy and uncomfortable recovery, and risk of impotence and incontinence. Robotics allows the same surgery to be performed with unequaled precision, using button-size incisions that allow cameras and instruments to be inserted into the patient's body.

A recent study found that men who had conventional - or "open" - prostate surgery lost five times as much blood, had four times the risk of complications and remained hospitalized three times as long as those who underwent robotic surgery. Patients electing robotic surgery regain urinary function four times faster than open surgery patients. These men also regain sexual function twice as fast as those who have open surgery.

Seminar reservations are required by calling 850-469- 7897.

Stroke meeting at Sacred Heart

"Surviving After Stroke," an information and support group provided by Sacred Heart Regional Stroke Center, will meet Tuesday, Aug. 7, from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Sacred Heart Hospital Conference Center on Ninth Avenue.

Dr. Rodney Soto, vascular neurologist and director of Sacred Heart's certified Stroke Center, will discuss stroke prevention, and Dr. Terry Neill, neurologist, will talk about types of stroke and the effects of stroke. The group is designed for stroke survivors, their families and caretakers. Topics discussed will vary from month to month to including information regarding community services, resources, nutrition and more.

Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month.

Sacred Heart is the first hospital in the Pensacola area to earn Primary Stroke Center Certification from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. The Joint Commission's certification and its award of the Gold Seal of Approval to Sacred

Heart's Regional Stroke Center means the center complies with the highest national standards for safety and quality of stroke care. For more information, call 416-7340, or visit www.sacred-heart.org/strokecenter.