6 Tips for the Perfect Nursing Shoe

Sometimes I (Marijke Durning) get asked advice from new nurses who want to learn something they might not have been taught in nursing school.  One of the first things I always say is: Don’t buy cheap shoes! I know from experience the damage that cheap shoes can do to your feet.

Nursing is hard on many parts of the body, most of all our back and feet. The back is the obvious body part to care for but the feet often get neglected. And, because the body is so connected, bad shoes don’t only affect your feet but they end up affecting your hips and your back as well.

So, how do you go about buying good shoes? The first thing we have to realize is that a good pair of nursing shoes for me is not necessarily a good pair for you. How many times have you heard someone rave about how wonderful a brand of shoes is and when you try them you hate them?

Here are some tips on how to make sure your shoes fit you properly:

• Measure your feet. We think we know what size we are, but even as adults, our feet can change in size. The change may be slight, but can make a big difference in shoe size and comfort.
   
• Measure both feet. Everyone has slight size differences in their feet. Make sure you shop for the larger foot.
   
• Measure your feet while standing and towards the end of the day. This way, if there is any swelling, this has been taking into account in your sizing. 

For More Tips and the Original Article. 

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Elders Need More than Social Security to Live in the Community

How much do elders need to live in the community?  How many people can afford to live independently without the help of government supports? In what parts of the country do large numbers of elders need help?

These are some of the questions researchers at UMass Boston wanted to know the answers to. So six years ago, in collaboration with Wider Opportunities for Women, they started calculating, on a geographically specific basis, the costs of housing, food, health care, and transportation which elders experience. The calculations were first done for individual states but last year a national Elder Index was calculated covering the whole country. Click here to view the report.

Nationally, single individuals need between $19,104 to $28,860/year depending on whether they rent or own their own home and if their health status is poor or excellent. Couples need between $29,448 and $39,204/year. The assumptions built into the calculation are that the individual is living modestly, has Medicare, has a supplemental health plan, and has no long-term care expenses. However, the report also found that costs vary dramatically around the country. For example, state-wide housing costs for an elder homeowner without a mortgage in West Virginia was $260/m compared to an elder homeowner with a mortgage in New Jersey with a state-wide cost of $1,871/m. When these costs are compared to average Social Security benefits in the same geographic area, we can see that some areas have high costs and higher average Social Security benefits while other areas have high costs but lower average benefits. The maps in the report show us where the discrepancy between income and costs are the greatest and therefore where elders will need the most help.

For the Original Article and to Read More.

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Aging Brain Makes it Difficult to Spot Scams

Do you remember a time when you had a gut feeling that someone was a bit shady? Two new studies suggest that as we age, our internal warning system seems to diminish, which could explain why older people are more often the victims of scams.

According to researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, age-related brain changes may make us less able to recognize shifty, suspicious-looking facial expressions. The two studies, published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are the first to find that the aging brain sends out fewer warning signs about untrustworthy people than the brains of younger adults.

"There are cues [in facial expressions] associated with actual deceitful behavior," says study author Shelly Taylor, a professor of health psychology at UCLA. The studies she and her colleagues conducted found "quite a significant difference" in the abilities of older and younger adults to recognize devious expressions like an insincere smile or not making eye contact.

The Read the Original and the Rest of This Article at  AARP's Website.

Interested in a career in protecting those who need an advocate? Learn more about becoming a Social Service Designee.

How to Be Assertive - 5 Tips for Confidence

The topic on "how to be assertive" is searched for by thousands every month online. Self-help books fly off the shelves of bookstores. They’re the most common books on request at libraries. From business people to housewives, people are looking for ways to improve their lives, and the most sought after self-help books are those on how to be assertive and confident.

During job interviews, potential employers look for essential qualities in prospective employees. Assertiveness and confidence are high on the list. People we admire in the business world are often seen as confident and assertive.To achieve goals in life, these are two valuable character traits. While some people seem to be born assertive and confident, the rest of us can learn how to be assertive and confident. To help you learn how to be assertive, here are 5 ways to become assertive and confident:

#1. Overcome shyness. Shyness can range from healthy to overwhelming and debilitating. Shyness is not the same as having low self-esteem. Many shy people have a very positive image of themselves, but they lack assertiveness and confidence.

Read More and The Original Article Here: http://successsculpting.com/349/how-to-be-assertive/

Ready to try your new assertiveness with a new career? Check out our new classes at WeCareOnline.

January We Care Online Staff Highlight - Cindy Cline-Gray

This month we learn about Cindy Cline-Gray. 

Cindy lives in Tucson, Arizona. She has been married to a handsome hunk of a guy, Mike, for over 20 years now. Mike works at a church and also has a business as a social marketing consultant. The Gray’s have two children. Their daughter, Danny, is away at college studying music and their son, Kacey, is a wrestler in high school. The Gray family also has two dogs, Chopper and Sassy.

When Cindy is not working, she volunteers at her church, reads, decorates and teaches her dogs to do crazy tricks like walking on the treadmill.  Cindy explains her logic: “It's too hot to take them for a walk in the desert!”

Cindy has worked in the healthcare field for 12 years. She has spent most of her professional life working in sales, management, and consulting. Her specialties include organization, planning, and leading.  Her concern in leading others towards success is evident in her attitude:  “I think I just like to make things work in a way that everyone has a good time doing their job.”
 

Since WeCareOnline is an online company, Cindy knows that people don’t get to see her face to face or to see her workspace. Cindy has created a wonderful spot to work and states:  “I love my office. My desk sits in front of a huge picture window. I can look outside and see the birds eating the food I put out, baby lizards running up and down the trees and the occasional javelina rooting around my flowers. My dogs are always underfoot. They always have to be in the same room as me. I have 2 giant computer monitors that my husband insisted I need (and I have to admit they really do help me get more work done). The monitors almost always have a picture of my children when they were 3-5 years old. They were so cute! Now they are still cute, but they are all grown up.”

Everyone at WeCareOnline plays an important role in helping students have the best online learning experience possible. Cindy oversees all operations in the company; accounting, human resources, database operations, website development, course creation and much more. Cindy is very grateful and states:  “I'm very fortunate to have an awesome team of employees to help me keep WeCareOnline up and running!”

Loneliness: How Older Adults Cope

Whether at home or in institutions, loneliness can be both difficult and dangerous for the overall health of older adults. Too many of them endure the negative impact of loneliness daily and have trouble coping. Because information on this topic is so limited, the Department of Sociology at VU University in Amsterdam did research on how older adults cope and help their lonely peers in coping.

This research on older adult loneliness was done with 1,187 respondents aged 62-100 viewing four vignettes about lonely people and later being asked about coping skills that would help. Older adults emphasized two ways of coping:

1)   Active Coping (improving relationships)

2) Regulative Coping (lowering expectations about relationships)

Results:

Older adults suggested using both ways to cope with loneliness, but active coping was suggested less often to people who are older, in poor health, or lonely and by older adults who were employed in midlife and have high self-esteem. Regulative coping with lower relationship expectations was suggested more often to people who are older and by older adults with a low educational level and with low mastery. Unfortunately, active coping through improving relationships is less often seen as an option for and by the people who could benefit most from it.

These results further emphasize the need for improving relationships in the lives of lonely older adults.

To Read the Rest of this Blog.

Interested in learning what it takes to become a Home Health Aide? Click Here.

How To Have Good Posture at Work

There are many reasons you should want to avoid having bad posture—especially if, like the medical and self employed professionals, your eating habits are probably far below ideal. Bad posture puts a lot of pressure on your internal organs which can keep them from functioning properly. Bad posture can contribute to or even cause chronic back pain chronic back pain or other related problems.

The easiest way to ensure that you practice proper posture is to invest in ergonomic chairs and other equipment.


Ergonomic chairs, stools, shoes, etc force you to sit properly. They can be expensive but the money this equipment will save you in future medical bills makes the current investment worth it.
If you can’t afford to buy name brand and medically endorsed ergonomic equipment, there are other things that you can do to make sure that your posture is correct:

First, re-teach yourself how to sit and stand up straight. Sit straight up. Rotate your shoulders back and down (pretend there is a clock facing outward on your shoulder and put your shoulders at the 7:30 position). Tilt your chin down just a tiny bit.  If you are standing rock forward so that your weight is distributed on your feet in a 60/40 split: 60% on the balls of your feet, 40% on your heels.

For the Rest of the Blog and More Tips. 

Certified Nurse Aides are in demand. Click Here for More about how to pursue this profession!

Old Device May Offer New Hope for Alzheimer's Care

It’s a device that has been around for years and has helped those with Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, cardiac issues, and other illnesses. Now, the pacemaker is being tested for a new role: slowing down the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

This recent news article from The Baltimore Sun highlights the work of a new Johns Hopkins University study. Per the piece, “Doctors at Hopkins and four other medical institutions will spend the next year implanting pacemakers in the brains of 40 patients with early-onset Alzheimer’s as part of a clinical trial looking at whether deep electric stimulation of the brain can slow down or reverse memory and cognitive declines.” Dr. Paul B. Rosenberg, who is directing the research efforts, says the goal of implanting these pacemakers is to “drive the memory circuit and make it work better and more efficiently.”

To Read More.

Interested in working with those who have Alzheimer's? Why not learn more about what it takes to be a Mental Health Aide?

Growing Field: Pharmacy Technicians

Becoming a pharmacy technician usually requires earning a high school diploma or the equivalent. Other requirements vary by state, with some states requiring passing an exam or completing a formal training program.

Education and Training

Many pharmacy technicians learn how to perform their duties through on-the-job training. Others attend post-secondary education programs in pharmacy technology at vocational schools or community colleges, which award certificates. These programs typically last 1 year or less and cover a variety of subjects, such as arithmetic used in pharmacies, recordkeeping, ways of dispensing medications, and pharmacy law and ethics. Technicians also learn the names, actions, uses, and doses of medications. Many training programs include internships, in which students get hands-on experience in a pharmacy.

Licenses and Certification

Most states regulate pharmacy technicians in some way. Consult your state’s Board of Pharmacy for its particular regulations. Requirements for pharmacy technicians typically include some or all of the following:

• High school diploma or GED 
• Criminal background check
• Formal training program
• Exam
• Fees
• Continuing education

Some states and employers require pharmacy technicians to have certification. Even where it is not required, certification may make it easier to get a job. Many employers will pay for their pharmacy technicians to take the certification exam.

For more on this Article at the Department of Labor.

Thinking about a career as a Pharmacy Technician? Get started today! We Care Online offers competitive pricing and the convenience of a completely online class. Click Here

Healthcare Hiring High: Some Jobs May Surprise You

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), healthcare added an average of 26,000 jobs per month this year. Just this past month, hospitals gained +8,000 jobs and nursing care facilities gained +5,000 jobs.

As Registered Nurses, Physical Therapists, and Occupational Therapists continue to top the list of the most in-demand job titles throughout the US, we took a look at which other job titles are most commonly advertised in hospitals and nursing homes and included them below.

1. Registered Nurse Supervisor
2. Cook
3. Certified Nursing Assistant
4. Speech Language Pathologist
5. LPN
6. Nurse
7. Pharmacist
8. Registered Nurse Medical Surgeon
9. Registered Nurse LCU

With Registered Nurse being one of the most in-demand job titles, it's not surprising to see other specific Registered Nurse titles appear on this list. However, it is surprising to see Cook among the most commonly advertised job titles. This isn't usually a job title associated with healthcare positions, yet Cooks are required to prepare meals for patients, as well as in the cafeteria for employees and visitors.

To Read More of this Article.

Why not start the new year with a new career? Check out what we have at We Care Online!