’TIS THE SEASON Bailey, Lexington Medical Center’s pet-therapy golden retriever, delivers Christmas wishes in the West Columbia, S.C., hospital’s 60-second TV commercial. It’s a simple yet powerful vignette that carries on the tradition of producing a holiday commercial at the hospital. “The commercial represents the values of our hospital staff and family. We wanted to wish our community a merry Christmas, and show the blessing of hope and joy of family and friends during the holiday season,” says Mark Shelley, vice president of marketing and communications at Lexington Medical Center, who directed the commercial. Take a moment to watch it on the hospital’s YouTube channel, it’s worth it.

HERE’S TO BUILDING BICEPS WITH 12-OUNCE BEER CURLS While I’m still waiting for the study that says beer can take the place of exercise, two recent studies about the interplay of exercise and drinking will have to do. Reported about in the New York Times, one data-rich study by Pennsylvania State University researchers finds a strong, positive correlation between exercise by adults and post-exercise drinking. In fact they found “people drank more than usual on the same days that they engaged in more physical activity than usual.” What’s more, the study did not show evidence of a link between post-exercise drinking and what researchers deemed “problem drinking.” The second study cited by the article was a review of previous, related experiments that was published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, which found evidence that in lab rodents, exercise and alcohol both increase activity in the reward centers of the brain. And, there’s evidence that suggests that exercise and alcohol in conjunction with each other create stronger and more lasting feelings of reward. So, after the next hard work out, let science be your bartender.

EMPHASIZING TREATMENT OF POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION New York City hospitals are making sure they do not overlook signs of depression in the mothers in their care after pregnancies. As the Huffington Post reports, New York City’s public hospitals have pledged to offer depression screenings to new moms. "Despite the great benefit it provides, screening for postpartum depression has not been part of a woman’s routine care," said Chirlane McCray, wife of Mayor Bill de Blasio. McCray, who made the announcement, cited studies suggesting that one in 10 women who are either pregnant or have recently given birth suffer from depression. The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation — which operates 11 hospitals — and Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn have pledged to reach the goal of universal screening and care connection within two years.

UBER BLAH BLAH BLAH The Christian Science Monitor looks at last month’s $10 for 10 flu vaccine deal from ride-sharing app Uber, along with companies like Heal and Pager, which offer on-demand, non-emergency health care, such as house calls. The article touches on the good — convenience and cost — and the bad — an increasing build up of a two-tiered, have and have-not health care system. You may have read about Uber previously at H&HN, in Weekly Reading, and in an article about what hospitals can learn from Uber.