This week Kitty and Dr. Fallon will interview Michelle Laranko a Certified Diabetes Educator with Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ Michelle is a type one diabetic and also has an adult son which she raised with type one diabetes. Listener’s are invited to call in with their questions and comments. Tuesday Evening 8:00PM ~ 9:00PM (EST) Cruisin 92.1 FM~WVLT Call In: 856-696-0092

Michelle Laranko

I am a Certified Diabetes Educator, first certified in 2002 and a Certified Pediatric Nurse, first certified in 1995.

I was a presenter of various topics on diabetes in children at conferences sponsored by the Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative, The National Association of School Nurses, The Six NJ Maternal/Child Consortia and the New Jersey Department of Health & Senior Services, Horizon New Jersey Health, and many local schools and school districts.

I give yearly updates and refresher in-services for the pediatric and PICU staff nurses at Cooper University Hospital on the care of the child with diabetes and the teaching of survival skills to the newly diagnosed child and their family/guardians.

Each year, I speak with school nurses in many school districts across NJ, introducing them to new treatment regimens, carbohydrate counting, insulin pumps, and refreshing their general diabetes knowledge.

I have been a guest speaker twice at the Southern NJ Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Outreach group.

I am a member of GSADE (Garden State Association of Diabetes Educators), newsletter editor for TRI-ade, (Tri-state Association of Diabetes Educators) and AADE (American Association of Diabetes Educators).

I have 28 years of nursing experience, 17 years of pediatric nursing experience, 7 years as a Pediatric Diabetes Educator, and care for over 300 pediatric patients with diabetes. I have lived with diabetes myself since my diagnosis at age 12 years and spent 20 years raising my son who was diagnosed with diabetes at 3 years old. I have worked as a staff nurse at Camp NEJEDA, a camp for children with diabetes for7 years, the last two as a charge nurse, supervising the care of 80 children with diabetes and a staff of 8 – 10 nurses.

I am part of the Pediatric Diabetes Team at Cooper University Hospital, working with all of the children with diabetes, their families, guardians, school nurses, and primary physicians. My position is to educate about treatment options, prevention of complications, and making adjustments to improve blood sugar control. I keep the children, their families, and our own doctors, abreast of the ever changing recommendations, equipment, medications, and new items on the diabetes market. I speak to groups, parents, nurses, doctors, teachers, and support groups about all subjects concerning diabetes and children. I hold group classes for specific topics such as “Taking Diabetes to College” or “Diabetes for the Caregiver”. I also hold in-services for the Pediatric and PICU nurses at Cooper to keep them abreast of the ever changing world of diabetes.

I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, back in the dark ages, November 3, 1972, at the ripe old age of 12 years (yes, I’ll be 48 this year)! Surviving one shot a day and urine tests, I moved into the modern age during the first of 3 pregnancies. Although I thought multiple injections and multiple blood sugar tests was for the birds, and just the means to an end, a healthy pregnancy and baby, I discovered that I truly felt physically and mentally much better. I have 3 beautiful children and have since moved into age of technology with pumping and Continuous Glucose Monitoring. The devastation of diabetes again darkened my door on November 28, 1986, when my oldest child, my beautiful healthy 3 year old son, Frank, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I believe in fate. I believe things happen for a reason. I believe that’s why I’m here and why I do what I do, why my nursing career has moved from adults, to children, to children with diabetes and why my heart is always in my work as well as my brain, and why ALL of my patients are “my kids.”

Michelle Laranko, RN, CDE

Pediatric Diabetes Educator

Cooper Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology

3 Cooper Plaza, Suite 200

Camden, NJ 08103

856-963-3764

For more information please visit www.cooperhealth.org/pedendo

Photo Above: Michelle Laranko

Continue reading ‘5/27/08 ~ Dr. Stephen Sinclair, Retina Specialist’

This week Kitty and Dr. Fallon interview physicians Dr. Adam Goldstein, Dr. Seth Kipnis and Dr. Yves Manigat on current weight loss procedures including the new LAP-BAND. Weight loss in a type 2 diabetic will help improve diabetes management and decrease ones risk of developing complications.

Dr. Adam S. Goldstein

Specialist in Advanced Laparoscopic

and Bariatric Surgery

Phote Above:  Dr. Adam S. Goldstein

Dr. Adam S. Goldstein, DO, FACS, is the Medical Director for Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery at The Virtua Health System, Voorhees Division, in Voorhees, New Jersey. He is a Board Certified General Surgeon, fellowship trained in advanced laparoscopic surgery, licensed to practice medicine in both New Jersey and Illinois, and certified to use the DaVinci Robotic System to perform minimally invasive surgery. He is also a member of the American Medical Association (AMA), American Osteopathic Association (AOA), American Society of Bariatric Surgeons (ASBS), International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity (IFSO), Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons (SLS), Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), Medical Society of New Jersey (MSNJ), Camden County Medical Society (CCMS), and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

Dr. Goldstein is proud to be able to offer his patients the option of using minimally invasive techniques to address many surgical problems. These include: Hernias of all types, ranging from hiatal to inguinal to ventral/incisional; Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD); Gallbladder disease; Appendicitis; Splenic disorders; Diseases of the Stomach; Achalasia; Colon disease; Small intestinal disorders, and many more. Minimally invasive surgery allows for shorter postoperative hospitalization and recovery time, as well as less immunological stress on the human body, less postoperative pain, and less risk of wound infection and delayed incisional hernia. For more information on Dr. Adam Goldstein click here.

Dr. Seth M. Kipnis

Dr. Seth M. Kipnis is a minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgeon and bariatric surgeon, fellowship trained in advanced laparoscopy and endoscopy, and a board certified general surgeon currently licensed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Dr. Kipnis the director of the bariatric program of the Virtua Surgical Group, P.A., a 17 person multi-specialty surgical practice which offers all services in General Surgery, Bariatric Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, Cardiac Surgery, Colon and Rectal Surgery and Endoscopy.

Dr. Kipnis is certified by the American Board of Surgery and is a member of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, American Society of Bariatric Surgeons, American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Kipnis offers the following minimally invasive surgical options including all aspects of bariatric surgery and deals with revisional surgery and complications from bariatric surgery. For more information on Dr. Seth M. Kipnis click here.

Biography of Yves J. Manigat. MD.FACS

Photo Above: Dr. Yves Manigat

He was pursuing his dream to profess the highest quality of medicine, when he landed here in Camden County from New York, following his training in Surgery, in the early eighties.

Always among the firsts in his class from high school, college and medical school, he received his MD degree from the State University of Haiti where he grew up. He was recognized during his training in Surgery as the Recipient of the Resident of the Year Award in 1974 at the Jewish Medical Center of Brooklyn affiliated to the State University of New York (SUNY).

Three (3) times Diplomat of the American Board of Surgery, he is also a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

All along his professional life, he has kept his high standards, against all odds and adversities, thanks to his deep self confidence, his profound knowledge of his craft and his skill which set him apart.

His excellent performance and the compassion for his patients, particularly appreciable for those in greater need have been acknowledged by all, patients and colleagues.

Liaison Physician of the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons, he has held for many years this leadership position at Virtua West Jersey Health System. These special qualities and his strong personality have served him well when he had to accede to the post of President of the West Jersey Medical Society.

He has been and remains up to today the only black general surgeon in private practice in the South Jersey area, after weathering all kinds of difficulties, challenges, and at times outright oppositions.

As he had recognized the need for an African American Medical Association in the community, he co-founded the South Jersey Medical Society in 1986, which he presided during 4 years in their endeavors to uphold the Science of Medicine, their Philanthropic Work, and their Scholarship Program, while conveying pride and community awareness thru their social agenda.

His influence has been felt well beyond this community, while he was also leading for many years the Association of Haitian American Physicians, in establishing their Visiting Professor Program with the State University School of Medicine in Haiti, and their program of support of the infrastructure of the Student Hall at the School of Medicine.

All during his career he has been interacting with and teaching medical students, young apprentice surgeons, interns and residents, contributing to their education and their professional formation. He has published and lectured extensively in his fields of expertise: Breast Cancer, Endocrine Surgery, Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgery. He continues to pioneer in the field of Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery in the South Jersey area.

In the mist of all his professional activities, he has raised with his beloved and devoted wife Carolle two children Ralph and Belinda: symbol of his life of achievements.

This week Kitty and Dr. Fallon interview Novelist Brenda Novak.

A PRICELESS MOTHER’S DAY GIFT
FOR A DIABETIC SON

Novelist Brenda Novak’s 4th Annual Online Auction Adds Diabetes Research Institute as Beneficiary

(Sacramento, CA), May 2008 – As the mother of a child with type 1 diabetes, bestselling author Brenda Novak uses the creativity and vision she calls upon regularly as a writer to create the 4th Annual Online Auction to Benefit Diabetes Research. Held each May in honor of Mother’s Day, the month-long event can be accessed at www.brendanovak.com from May 1st through May 31, 2008. This year, a new beneficiary has been added, the Diabetes Research Institute – a place Novak has come to know as the best hope for a cure for her son and the millions of others living with this insidious disease.

“I’ve faced some very dark moments in my life because of my son’s diabetes, and this Online Auction for Diabetes Research is an annual bright light that I’ve seen grow in size and importance in the four years it’s been running,” said Novak. “I’m particularly proud to have the Diabetes Research Institute on board this year. It is one of the most progressive forces in the search for a cure.”

In its first three years, the auction raised more than $250,000 for diabetes research with the beneficiary being the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In 2007, the auction boasted almost 70,000 hits and 10,000 unique visitors to the website. With the help of some of the biggest fiction writers in the business, including Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, Lisa Scottoline and Scott Turow, as well as the participation of such powerful publishers as Grand Central Publishing (formerly Warner Books) and Bantam/Doubleday/Dell and Harlequin Enterprises, the 2008 auction will be the largest and most visited yet.

Novak has assembled a unique array of items that can’t be found anywhere else, such as the chance to appear as a character in her next novel, personal meetings and mentoring from top-notch, celebrated authors, and autographed books. Additionally, aspiring writers will jump at the chance to bid on evaluation opportunities with some of the most powerful and well-connected agents and editors in publishing, and possibly face-to-face interaction with these A-list publishing industry giants.

“We are in awe of what Brenda has been able to do with her event in just a few short years, and we are proud to be joining with her as both a participant in helping make the event a huge success and as a beneficiary of the proceeds,” said Robert A. Pearlman, president and CEO of the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation.

About Brenda Novak
Brenda Novak is a national bestselling author, widely known for her popular Stillwater Trilogy (”Dead Silence,” “Dead Giveaway,” and “Dead Right”). Her dynamic new trilogy is due out this summer – “Trust Me” (June), “Stop Me” (July) and “Watch Me” (August). Many of her books have been designated an RT Book Review Magazine “Top Pick” and have gone on to place in contests such as the National Reader’s Choice, the Bookseller’s Best, The Write Touch Reader’s Award, and the Bookbuyer’s Best. Novak has given numerous writing workshops and appeared on various television and radio programs. To learn more, visit www.brendanovak.com.

Bestselling author Brenda Novak with her son, now 11, who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 5.

VISIT THE AUCTION NOW!