Tampa Bay Times du lieu suivant : St. Petersburg, Florida • 34

2 Friday, February 17, 2012 I Tampa Bay Times PSC OPI NION tampabay.comopinion Times editorial Guest column I Rao Musunuru, M.D, Focus on your heart this month Check the calendar. This week, we celebrated Valentine's Day. Monday gives us Presidents Day. Then Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. A week later, and it's PSC does disservice to utility's customers Florida Public Service Commissioners agreed this week that a private utility provides marginal service to its customers, but then said the company can still stick it to consumers with new, higher rates for water and sewer service.

If Exactly how is that service to the public? Leap Day, com-ing exactly 27 days after Groundhog Day. Almost flt seems to have a LJk LI have a day or a Primary prevention is the key to reducing the personal and social burden of cardiovascular disease. Sociitl behavior is the door and the human mind is the keyhole. Preventing cardiovascular disease needs to begin at an early age. The American Heart Association has a campaign that talks about "Life's Simple 7," the seven simple steps to reduce death and disability from cardiovascular disease (visit mylifeclieck.heart.org).

They are: stop smoking, maintain a healthy weight, get active, eat better, control cholesterol, manage blood pressure and control blood sugar. It's election time, so maybe we need catchy phrases to deliver the message: Live and learn; learn to live. Stop heart disease before it starts. Know your numbers to live longer and stronger. Take the measures to enjoy lifers pleasures.

And, since it's only February, the second month of the year, how about: Not too late to make a new life resolution. Dr. Rao Musunuru is a practicing cardiologist in Hudson. He is a member of National Leadersh ip Committee of Clinical Cardiology Council of the American Heart Association and a past member of the advisory council for the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the Natioiud Institutes of Health. Every 39 seconds, an American will die of cardiovascular disease.

Approximately every 25 seconds, an American will have a cor onary event On average, every 40 seconds, someone in the US. has a stroke, resulting in tremendous loss of productivity with enormous disability and discomfort, according to statistics from the American Heart Associatioa The National Heart, Lung and Blood Instituted heart truth campaign, focusing on heart disease as the No. 1 killer of women, is 10 years old and has managed to increase awareness. One in four women in the United States die of heart disease while one in 30 die of breast cancer. Actually, more women die of heart disease than all forms of cancer combined But by leading a healthy lifestyle, the risk of heart disease can be reduced by up to 82 percent All six major cardiovascular risk factors are preventable smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes and inactivity.

Other risk factors include depression, stress and pollution. Age, gender and heredity are the only risk factors that cannot be altered, naturally. When a person puts his or her heart at risk, the organ is liable to retaliate and attack its owner, resulting in heart attack and death. sewer bills double to $95 while water bills in Jasmine Lakes would more than triple to $66 monthly. Sadly, the PSC put the private monopoly's profit margins ahead of the standard of living among customers on fixed incomes.

Most of the homes in Palm Terrace Gardens and Jasmine Lakes Estates are modest, two-bedroom homes built four decades ago and marketed originally to northern retirees. The neighborhoods are now a mix of working-class families and seniors. Last fall, a resident testified that an estimated 200 of the 1,200 homes in Palm Terrace were vacant. Another testified that real estate agents said the high water and sewer costs from Aqua had scared away potential buyers of the mobile homes for sale in Zephyr Shores. Residents scrimping during a prolonged down economy shouldn't be forced to pay new, high prices for a mediocre product.

Marginal utility service warrants, at best, a marginal price increase. After months of collecting evidence and listening to testimony, and then debating during a marathon meeting Tuesday afternoon, the PSC knocked a whopping $39,000 off the multimillion-dollar rate increase previously approved for Aqua Utilities. The company gets to pass on new rates worth $2.57 million to its 23,750 water and sewer customers in 17 counties including residents in the west Pasco subdivisions of Jasmine Lakes and Palm Terrace Gardens and the Zephyr Shores mobile home park just west of Zephyrhills. The only reasonable decision by the PSC was to eliminate the extra $200,000 its own staff recommended be tacked on the rate increase. Commission staffers said Tuesday the figures "were in error." No kidding.

Still, it is of little solace to the utility's customers. Aqua's rates already are more than double what Pasco County Utilities charges. Final bills for each community have yet to be calculated, but previous testimony indicated customers in Zephyr Shores would see their monthly Musunuru week assigned to it so people are reminded of the importance of prevention, preservation, promotion or perseverance, depending on the cause. But the heart has a whole month. February is American Heart Month, and public awareness campaigns seem to be working.

Deaths from heart attacks and strokes have gone down over the past decade. The prevalence of obesity seems to be leveling off. People seem to be doing better with smoking. However, the numbers remain staggering. Cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in the United States, both for men and women, and is responsible for about 17 percent of national health expenditure.

Smoking remains the No. 1 cause of preventable deaths in the US. Your letters Register to vote, make a difference A politician did not get his way and so he lashes out at a group of people who had nothing really to do with it and tries to destroy their future. It is hard enough for young people to get ahead with the economy the way it is, now let's destroy 20th Annual Apollo Beach Manatee Festival Share your opinions go to tampabay.comletters PA LflD AuT CTC UnLL rUM MM I lulu Festival Date: March 10-11 South Shore Community JEyents Center A II- Mpuuu ocauii Sponsored by 7. the politicians would back off.

Why? Because we vote. They listen to us or they will lose their jobs. People age 18 to 40, there are more of you than there are of us. If you want the politicians in this state to listen to you then you have to vote and make your voice heard. Go register to vote now! And come November, vote for those politicians who care about you and will listen to your voice.

Make the others go look for a job. And older people, some of these young people are our children and grandchildren. Don't you want them to have it better than we did? NickZizo, PortRkhey A village lifted op Mike Feb 11 article Story shows the value of teachers Thank you for the inspiring story about Mike Larry. Congratulations to Mike, and thank you to his caring teachers. This is what the teaching profession is all about loo bad Gov.

Scott and the legislators don't understand this. Our teachers deserve respect and praise and a salary that reflects this. Betty Burke, San Antonio i lamrjabav.com their future by making it impossible for them to get a college education. And why are they being targeted? Because most of the members of their group do not vote. If it was older people like me who were being targeted you bet jflivjjj uJrV-ui (Buffet SU I I Mil TT VV 1 II ill MIIIP 5 Monday -Saturday February 18th 19th Coachman Park 301 Drew St.

Extensive Meals Cozy Atmosphere Lots of Parking Clearwater 4 i ii. i -vl a -i i i i menaiy oervice rany Room a win errincares nvanaDiei WEEKDAYS ClearwaterSeaBluesicom rara LUNCH DINNER BUFFET BUFFET SEA- mm SODA $625 $1035 if! FREE GeneralN (Mn-ItuJ Ham-lXpm 5pm-1Qpm WEEKENDS $95 $l95 SlSSw) (RiSSat) 11am-a3Cpm 5pm-10pm 1 1 i American Italian nj- i I CHECK ie fa iwUtt lw VWrt SINDW DINMH B1CINS AT 4PM i i.i i I tA rz QKe-UuttDI lunch S3.49Lb Dinner S4.49Lb Seafood S6.49Lb Sushi sS.99Lb I Domestic Beer EMBASSY CROSSING 9550-1 U.S. Hwy.19,PortRichey 727-815-9800 if Coast Medical Group INSTITUTE L0A Service of Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital West Coast Medical Group Surgical Institute welcomes Louis I. Astra, MD, FACS. Dr.

Astra is a cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon as well as a general surgeon. He is Board Certified through the American Board of Surgery and The American Board of Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Astra completed his medical education at the University of Pittsburgh, completing his residency at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan and his i fellowship at Ohio State University. J-ouis I.

Asira, MUI'ACS Dr. Astra specializes in many areas: THORACIC Video-Assisted Thoracoscopy: open lung biopsies, wedge resection, bleb resection, pleural disease, decortications, lobectomy MediaslinoscopyMediastinotomy: oncologic staging, mediastinal biopsies Bronchoscopy: rigid and flexible, airway stenting Tracheal dlseasetracheostomles CARDIAC Pacemakers Eplcardial lead Implants Pericardial Windows Now Accepting New PatlentsI Schedule Your Appointment Today: (727) 934-6797 ESOPHAGUS Esophagectomy VASCULAR Carotid Endarterectomy Peripheral arterial disease: open and percutaneous Abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, endovascular and open Vascular Access (ports, dialysis) Minimally Invasive Varicose Vein, Venous Insufficiency Treatment SPONSORED BY KNOLOGY CLUS.RYU i Transamkrio i 5- JAGUAR.