Health

Bronx Notes: Blood Drive at North Central Bronx Hospital

The North Bronx Healthcare Network is holding a blood drive on Thursday, January 17, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in a mobile bus outside of North Central Bronx Hospital in Norwood, 3424 Kossuth Ave. Mark Gjonaj, the newly sworn-in 80th District assemblyman, will be stopping by to donate his blood at some point tomorrow.

Healthy, Realistic and Attainable New Year’s Resolutions

It’s that time of year when people everywhere make unrealistic New Year’s resolutions that are often too difficult to maintain. This year, instead of aiming for extreme weight loss or finding the partner of your dreams, psychologist Simon Rego, Psy.D., of Montefiore Medical Center, recommends focusing on value-based resolutions. Here are several New Year’s resolutions Rego says are realistic enough to actually be maintained:

Severe Flu Season Leads Montefiore to Expand Urgent Care Center Hours

Montefiore Medical Center infectious disease experts are urging the public to get vaccinated against influenza in one of the most severe and longest flu seasons in a decade. To manage the surge of patients, Montefiore is extending hours at several of its community urgent care sites.

Bronx Notes: Free Stop Smoking Program

North Central Bronx Hospital, 3424 Kossuth Ave., offers free group counseling and nicotine replacement therapy for smokers looking to quit. No appointments are needed or required, walk-ins are welcome. The smoking cessation program runs weekdays at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. in room 13A12. For more information, call (718) 519-2425/2490.

Be Healthy: Fast Food Flocks to the Bronx

Unfortunately for the Bronx, unhealthy lifestyles begets unhealthy eateries. According to the Center for an Urban Future’s fifth annual State of Chains study, the Bronx experienced the fastest growth in fast food stores of any of the five boroughs. Chain retailers in general are coming into the Bronx at a rapid pace as the borough is being seen as an untapped market, but the increase in fast food restaurants, like McDonald’s (two new Bronx locations in 2012) and Dunkin’ Donuts (three new), is troubling to health advocates who want to see better food options for Bronxites.

Editorial: On The Death of Young Children

As a journalist, you’re supposed to be detached from the subjects you write about. It’s how you maintain your objectivity when presenting facts and accurately depicting scenes you’ve witnessed. All of that flew out the window of Woolworth Chapel in Woodlawn Cemetery when I reached into my pocket for one of at least half a dozen pens and plucked out the one with purple ink. It’s the color Lydia would have chosen.

Remembering Lydia ‘Nena’ Stephen, ‘Warrior Princess’

Lydia Stephens, otherwise known as “Nena,” the brave 10-year-old Bronx girl profiled in the Nov. 29-Dec. 12 print edition of the Norwood News, died last night after a long fight against cancer. She will be missed. Below are some of the comments generated on this website after we posted her story online. Please feel free to share your thoughts with the community as we mourn the loss of young Nena.