-|||From the Editor|||-

Whatcom Health providing inspiration, motivation for maintaining healthy lifestyle

Thank you for joining us for our fifth annual health magazine. We hope you enjoy the great stories and resources we have compiled for you in this issue. First, meet six local business and community leaders who, despite their busy schedules, always make time for exercise and staying healthy. Writer Meri-Jo Borzilleri tells us their inspirational stories. Writer Bob Carter tells us that 80 percent of Americans suffer back pain during their lifetimes and 25 percent endure at least one day of back pain in any three-month period. In a must-read story, Carter talks to the experts in the field about the latest techniques for dealing with the issue — everything from exercise to surgery.

Another growing health problem in our community is hearing loss, especially loss tied to the use of personal mobile music devices. Doctors and audiologists tell writer Tasha Johnson that the joys of having a personal soundtrack as you move through life can be outweighed by the damage done to the hair cells in the delicate cochlea in the ear. Check out her story and remember to give your ears a break.

Johnson also sat down with Bellingham dentist Eric Yaremko to record his thoughts on being a dentist and small business owner in Bellingham. I’m sure you will learn something from Yaremko in our annual 20 Things I Have Learned feature, which allows a local medical leader to share ideas unfettered by a standard story narrative. The best news in health for 2010? That is probably the news delivered by Ericka Pizzillo Cohen that eating chocolate for health is one of the 10 “hot health trends” of the year. Eating dark chocolate? Guilt be gone. You will want to spend time with Cohen’s entire list. There is something for everyone in the health field these days.

And of course we have included an updated, comprehensive list of Whatcom County physicians and dentists for your reference throughout the next 12 months. I hope you like this 2010 edition of Whatcom Health and maybe learn a thing or two. If you have any thoughts about what you would like to see in the 2011 edition, feel free to e-mail me at scott.ayers@bellinghamherald.com.
- Scott Ayers