Program reminds doctors to look out for steroid use

By Sara Michael
Examiner Staff Writer 8/20/08

Congressman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., sits with Woodlawn High School's football team during a press conference about a new anti-steroid campaign, PASS. Arianne Starnes/Examiner

» More Photos WOODLAWN, MD. – In the long list of signs and symptoms pediatricians look out for during a checkup, steroid use isn’t always at the top.

But officials at St. Joseph Medical Center are reminding doctors to be wary of teens using steroids and supplements.

“They may glance over it,” Mike Gimbel, director of Powered by Me!, a steroid awareness campaign run out of St. Joseph, said of doctors.

Through a program launched Tuesday called PASS — Physician Awareness of Steroids and Supplements — officials are reaching out to doctors just as students file into their offices for annual physicals for the fall sports season.

The multiyear program will eventually include several community groups that are involved with youth, such as parents and psychiatrists, Gimbel said.

This week, Powered by Me! officials mailed 1,000 packets to Maryland pediatricians including the signs and side effects of anabolic steroid use in a small card about the size of a shirt front pocket.

“They can take that information and keep it right at their fingertips,” Gimbel said at a news conference held at Woodlawn High School and attended by the football team.

If doctors covered every health topic, exams would take hours, and steroid use isn’t always on people’s minds, said Dr. Dan Levy, a practicing pediatrician and past president of the Maryland chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians.

“These handy guides with the PASS program are really useful,” he said.

Woodlawn quarterback David Williams said his doctor has asked him about steroid use, but some doctors are less diligent in talking about it.

“They don’t stress it enough,” said Williams, 17.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who has participated in congressional hearings on steroid use, warned the Woodlawn football team about abusing supplements.

“Cheating just doesn’t cut it,” he told the players. “I’m here to tell you there are no shortcuts.”

Signs of steroid use: