#ThrowbackThursdays –back to the fifties!
Posted: May 2, 2013 Filed under: Work Leave a comment »
Okay, it’s not really the fifties, it’s 2005 and in high school - We are awesome.
On Fitness and Fire Trucks: A Fitness triathlon
Posted: May 1, 2013 Filed under: Fitness, Food, Personal, Work | Tags: emotional well-being, fitness, healthy eating, physical activity Leave a comment »Armed with new music [BRING THE ACTION!], slightly wilted veggies from last weekend’s farmers market, and a desire to disprove [at least for 1 night] an article on how Americans often have to choose between healthy eating and physical activity, I began a fitness triathlon.
My work defines fitness as three unique components that work together to improve health: Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, and Emotional Well-being.
Doing all three of these in one day should be imperative, but is often VERY challenging! Here’s what I did tonight…
- Got home at 8 after a late night at the office
- Preheated the oven and brainstormed a healthy meal while I gathered my running gear
- Changed into running clothes, put a water bottle in the freezer because I don’t have an ice maker and would need it after the run!
- Chopped veggies (red pepper, onion, zucchini, sweet potatoes, roma tomatoes), added oil and tasty spices (Penzey’s Mural of Flavors, Rosemary, and S&P)
Set a timer on my iPhone and headed out the door to enjoy possibly the last nice night in a while. [Seriously though, this week was so wonderful - I missed you sunshine!]- AND if you want to get your heart rate up 20 minutes into your run (and cooking time) start hearing sirens, then realize they are fire trucks, and then realize they are heading toward your house! Pick up the pace while trying to dial your neighbor to make sure the duplex is still standing.
- Come home, realize everything is okay, you had a great run, but now your house is super hot from the oven (not on fire though, which is good). PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FINISHED!
- Open the door and enjoy the wind.
- Check on the veggies – still good! smell great! Add somebuttered day old bread to the over (which you bought over lunch from Jimmy Johns and which probably would have been your dinner if you decided not to run.)
- Write a blog post about your pride in your fitness today. EMOTIONAL WELL BEING FINISHED!
- Sit down to enjoy your veggies – they are done now! HEALTHY EATING DONE! GOOD JOB!
Triathlon time (not including consumption of veggies or blog edits :) ) 1 hour, 15 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »
Fit Physicians Can Lead By Example
Posted: April 14, 2013 Filed under: Work Leave a comment »Follow my advice, follow my example – Fit Physicians can lead by example bit.ly/114tQkj #AAFP #fitness #FamilyMedicine
— AAFP (@aafp) April 14, 2013
Great article on fitness and how your family physician can be a role model and motivator!
Old Photos for #throwbackthursday
Posted: April 11, 2013 Filed under: Work Leave a comment »
This one is me, fat thighs and a cat onesie! What more can you ask for in a baby photo? I’m standing in my grandparent’s front yard. Read the rest of this entry »
How to Confront Worry in the Workplace
Posted: April 10, 2013 Filed under: Life, Lovely, Personal, Work | Tags: emotional well-being, IOWA, productivity, public health, stress, worry Leave a comment »This post is based on a session I attended at the Iowa Governor’s Conference on Public Health in April 2013 by Mitch Matthews. For More posts from the Governor’s Conference, click here.
The American Psychological Association estimates that 75-80% of Americans classify themselves as stressed out! So do you need 3 steps to overcome worry and engage in life? Here they are!
1. Identify it!
Worry is not short term stress, it makes stresses chronic. When we worry, we become forgetful, grumpy, & distracted, and we freak out.
Harvard Dept. of Positive Psychology looked at common traits of worriers. They have average or above average intelligence, are creative (Ever come up with elaborate stories to worry about? Worry is Unproductive creativity. These psychologists also found that babies do not worry. Babies are not born with ability to worry. It is a learned response.
The stimulus to this process can be any opportunity to worry, and you response does not have to be worrying!
ie/Dodgeball -last person standing! You can’t control what gets ‘thrown at you’, you can only control your response.
Health Program Promotion tips from IPOST
Posted: April 10, 2013 Filed under: Industry News, Marketing, Work | Tags: fitness, health promotion, IOWA, marketing, public health Leave a comment »
Stephanie Anderson, Director of Palliative Care & Hospice at St. Luke’s Hospice in Cedar Rapids (left) and Christine Harlander, Palliative Care Coordinator at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids (right) spent some time thanking Sen. Liz Mathis (D-18, middle) for her support of the IPOST bill.
This post is based on a session I attended at the Iowa Governor’s Conference on Public Health in April 2013 by by Stephanie Anderson, MSN, RN, CHPN & Christine Harlander, RN, BSN, CHPN. For More posts from the Governor’s Conference, click here. The Presentation Slides can be found here.
This next session I attended at the Governor’s conference on Public Health was based on POLST (physician orders for life-sustaining treatment). While this topic, of signing a form that is similar to a DNR and requesting final wishes, is not related to my work, many of the topics they used to spread the word for their program.
Advanced directives are living wills that talk about hypothetical situation and power of attorney to be your voice. It however does not have a DNR order. In order to enact this advanced directive, you must be in the final year of life or have a documented terminal disease.
With the DNR/Living will program, many patients get more aggressive care than desired.
POLST includes a specific, informed, decision making process under the care of a physician. The process includes difference decisions in different circumstances. POLST does not require terminal status or have age restrictions. In Iowa, they also made sure that the POLST form could cross healthcare settings, even with HIPAA regulations.
There is no POLST program/form in Kansas or Missouri.
For more about their strategy to spread the POLST form… Read the rest of this entry »
Environmental Context/Neighborhood Matters For Human Health and Disease
Posted: April 10, 2013 Filed under: Work | Tags: IOWA Leave a comment »This post is based on a session I attended at the Iowa Governor’s Conference on Public Health in April 2013 by Kenneth Olden, PhD, ScD with the Environmental Protection Agency. For More posts from the Governor’s Conference, click here.
4 Global Public Health challenges
- Increase in chronic/non-communicable diseases
- Aging of the population
- Increase in urbanization
- Growing Disparities in health
Solving complex problems such as finding the causes of complex diseases such as Alzheimers, Parkinson’s and Social Disparities of Health involves finding new ways to look at the problems. He recommends that we look at cumulative effect of what is responsible for chronic disease, which is in large part the environmental factors on your genetics
Folic Acid : Every Woman, Every Day.
Posted: April 9, 2013 Filed under: Fitness, Work | Tags: fitness, folic acid, healthy eating, IOWA, public health Leave a comment »
This post is based on a session I attended at the Iowa Governor’s Conference on Public Health in April 2013 by the Siouxland District Health Department. For More posts from the Governor’s Conference, click here. For presentation slides, click here.
Folic Acid can help prevent strokes, heart disease, colon cancer, cervical cancer, and even possibly autism. Benefits also include increasing academic performance, decrease of Alzheimers, and increase in sperm count and quality. Also- Folic acid improves the health of your hair and nails!
Folate vs Folic Acid
- Folate – natually in foods, leafy green veggies, orange juice, nuts, seeds, beans
needs to be processed by body - Folic Acid – synthetic, fortified grains, vitamin supplements, better absorbed
- about 50% of folate is absorbed
- about 85% of folic acid is absorbed
Folic Acids – Basics
- B Vitamin
- Involved in DNA synthesis/mitosis
- Especially vital in first 4 weeks of pregnancy
- 2/3 of women dont get enough folic acid. Most people get some in their diet, not all fortified cereals have 100%
Birth defects related to lack of folic acid:
Neural Tube defects (NTDs)
Neural Tube forms spine/brain/skull in first 4 weeks of a pregnancy. NTDs are result of when nerual tube/fold doesn’t close correctly
Adequate folic acid can prevent 50-70% of NTDs if levels are adequate in first month of pregnancy.
- Spina Bifida – may cause paralylsis / bowel or bladder control – most survive into adulthood
Average lifetime cost for amilies is over $600,000. Caregiver costs alone are over $164,000 until age 25 - Acencephaly – neural tube doesnt close correctly and parts of brain are missing. Most children are stilborn or die shortly after birth. 25% live up to 10 days.
Cleft Lip and Palettes
18-50% reduction of these if folic acid intake is adequate
Women’s knowledge of folic acid is very low.
- 80% have heard of it.
- 21% know it can prevent birth defects and only
- 11% know it should be taken before pregnancy
Folic Acid and Public Health
- -1930s we found out it can prevent anemia
- 1998 -US begins to fortify foods – this increased folic acid by 190 mcg /day which decreased NTDS by 25-30% The economic estimate is $312-425 MILLION in savings each year.
- From 2004 – 2007, more countries are fortifying grains with folic acid. It has increased from 33 to 52 countries. When Chile implemented this, their NTDs decreased by 50%.
To increase understanding and supplementation of Folic acid
- Siouxland WIC reviewed OTC supplements, did an outreach to area healthcare offices, and had billboards made.
- They had a OTC vitamin comparison on fortification of folic acid.Supplements are not always equal! They are minimally regulated by the FDA.
- Education was provided to all health professionals and presented to 16 clinics, residents, and their own staff. Included information on where to obtain posters and handouts (CDC), the folic acid recommendation, and suggest to designate a folic acid ‘champion’ in each office.
- Promoted to Health Occupation Students of America.(HOSA) Their local group is going to their own students and presenting folic acid information
- They have seen an increase, especially in post-partum daily supplement use (44% to 55%)
Using research to promote economic security, health, and well-being
Posted: April 9, 2013 Filed under: Work | Tags: bike and build, IOWA, poverty levels, public health, sustainable housing Leave a comment »
This post is based on a session I attended at the Iowa Governor’s Conference on Public Health in April 2013 by Lily French, MSW . For More posts from the Governor’s Conference, click here. For presentation slides, click on Presentation Slides. For more information on cost of living in Iowa, visit http://www.iowapolicyproject.org.
When reviewing the cost of living in Iowa, how hard is it for families to survive?
Total basic expenses in Iowa are over $35,000, without debt, savings, entertainment, gifts, or emergencies. This is a survival budget, not a thriving budget. This single parent needs to earn $17-24/hour depending on the number of their children.
Childcare, housing, and transportation remain large portions of budget. These are places where public health changes can help to impact.
In Iowa, cost of living exceeds median wages , unless both parents are working or you have no children.
Federal poverty guidelines were calculated in 1965 when women didn’t work (no need for childcare!), housing number is consistent in all of the United States (It definitely costs the same to live anywhere in the US!), and transportation is negligible. Federal poverty level assumes food cost times three. Now, food is not 1/3 of the budget, but more like 1/6 or 1/7.
If we measure it differently, then ‘Poverty levels double’ becomes a headline, which looks bad on the elected officials. Poverty levels didn’t double overnight, but the public won’t understand it. If you measure poverty correctly, you have to fund it.
23% of households of working Iowans are not making enough to reach basic thresholds. 12% of married couples don’t make enough to survive at basic levels. 74% of WORKING single parents are not making enough to get by.
USES FOR THIS DATA:
- Community and strategic planning to monitor trends
- Grant proposals for services needed – Addresses needs
- self eligibility limits for your own programs – Poverty level x2? x3?
- Talking with legislators to provide information – Share the needs of working families and advocate for policies that make work pay
- Design programs that meat financial gaps and create pathways to self-sufficiency – addressing largest expense gaps
- Advise clients on accessing public supports and workforce development strategies
Bike & Build is an organization that works with Habitat for Humanity to promote sustainable housing.
Work Support Programs – Food and childcare assistant, tax credits, etc. They help people when you make $8-10/hr, but above that, they don’t make enough to cover basic expenses, but supports disappear. Right now, programs help but are not sustainable.
“We can’t legislate that households much have 2 working parents”
Affordable care act meant that some companies began cutting hours to avoid ACA requirements.
“This stuff [How much do you have to earn] wasn’t covered in Home Ec.”
This information is just looking at SURVIVAL.
Roberts Rules : A Primer
Posted: April 9, 2013 Filed under: Work | Tags: IOWA, meetings, parliament, Roberts rules Leave a comment »This post is based on a session I attended at the Iowa Governor’s Conference on Public Health in April 2013 by Nancy Sylvester, MA,PRP,CCP-T. Professional Parlimentarian. For More posts from the Governor’s Conference, click here. The slides can be found at the following link: Presentation Slides.
Robert, a general in the US army, wrote the rules of order, for meetings after struggling with differing rules across the country. His rules are now used as the standard for meetings, especially large ones requiring partimentary procedure.
The purposes of these rules include…
- Expedite business, even with large numbers.
- Assure legality
- Protect the rights of the minority
The basic concepts of RR are…
RR is used during Open and free discussion (organized!) they start with a proposal, edit it when needed, and decide on it.
- One thing at a time!
- One person at a time! Allows for all people to hear the same information
- One time per meeting per issue. Unless someone changes their mind, (motion to reconsider if you are on prevailing/winning side)
- Enough of us must be here to decide
- Protected even if absent – if you don’t give notice that the vote will be done, need a 2/3 majority, instead of basic majority
- Silence=consent, must support decision
- Everybody is equal
When looking at understanding of RR…
- Gives power to the minority – opportunity to change opinion of majority, human characteristics, power of persuasion. One example- MADD/SADD drunk driving wasn’t an issue. Smoking wasn’t an issue.
- To make a motion or recommendation you+1 = opportunity to discuss. Before you speak a second time, need to wait until everyone has spoken once. ? If there is a request for information, you can do that. If something is unfair – someone can call a point of order. Can stop discussion with 2/3 vote. Not just whenever they want to stop debate. You cannot be forced to vote.
- You can be a ‘bully buster’ a bully who has a bit of information, leads the conversation to get their way. To be able to discuss, knowledge is power. If information is incorrect, let them know and document the information. Knowing parliamentary rules. Rad the bylaws of your board to know the rules.
For more, free information, visit http://www.nancysylvester.com . Including handouts on how to take minutes and templates for minutes.
If you meet less often than quarterly, minutes should be approved by a subcommittee for that purpose or by the board. “Minutes approval committee.”
Minutes are a record of what was DONE at the meeting, not everything that was said.
