Do you know who needs immunizations in your family?

According to http://healthfinder.gov/nho/  August is National Immunization Awareness Month.

Immunization helps people of all ages prevent dangerous and oftentimes deadly diseases. Kids aren't the only ones who need shots. Adults need to stay protected against serious illnesses like the flu, measles, and pneumonia.

Now is a great time to promote vaccines and help family, friends, and coworkers to keep up to date on their shots.

How can National Immunization Awareness Month make a difference?

Use August to spread awareness about vaccination information, the need for people of all ages to be vaccinated, and  to share ways to increase immunization rates within our own communities.

Here are just a few ideas:

• Speak with friends and family and educate about how vaccines aren’t just for kids. People of all ages can get shots to protect them from serious diseases.
• Remind people in your community, young and old, to get the flu vaccine every year.

For Original article and more information:  http://healthfinder.gov/nho/

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How to Deal with On-The-Job Bickering and Backstabbing

People in groups, especially in professionally structured groups, tend to bicker with each other about the way things should be run. It’s human nature for people to have differing opinions that lead to arguments. No workplace would be complete without a little bickering and backstabbing. But it gets old, tends to solve nothing and creates a counterproductive work environment.
Here are some tips on avoiding it:

1. The best thing to do is to stay busy and try to avoid the controversy. Why bother with it? There are sick people who are suffering all around you. Don’t waste your time dealing with “political” intrigue. Stick to your tasks. Do the best job that you can do, and stay away from the gossip machine.

2. If you’re frustrated with a coworker, you may need to vent. If you feel the need to discuss these issues with others, make sure to vent to the appropriate people—your family and friends outside of the workplace. Don’t vent to your boss or openly to other coworkers unless you’re going to offer constructive criticism.

3. If the gossip starts to fly and you are there in the middle, don’t engage. Excuse yourself or change the subject.

4. Are you being asked your opinion on a coworker? Refuse to answer. Simply state that you don’t take sides. You’ll be known as a neutral party, and people may stop trying to engage you in these fruitless undertakings.


For More and Original Article: http://scrubsmag.com/how-to-deal-with-bickering-and-backstabbing-in-the-workplace/
 
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Today: Change Your Life With Healthy Eating Habits

Eat the rainbow
Nutrition experts dole out a ton of advice about how to eat well—and, most importantly, not lose your mind doing it. But there are some tips that stand the test of time, and that experts themselves follow. (Because, yes, they’re human, too.) Here are 10 habits they live by and that will change the way you eat.

Don’t give anything up
Eat all the foods you enjoy—but the key is to do it in smaller quantities, says Elisa Zied, RDN, who has lost and kept off more than 30 pounds since her highest weight in high school. In fact, she says it’s the number-one change she made that’s helped her maintain her smaller frame. “I didn’t want to feel deprived as I had in previous attempts to lose weight,” she says. The worst thing you can do is be too strict, then rebound by overeating because you’re not satisfied.

Always have a plan
It’s easy to get sucked into the lure of the restaurant menu when you’re hungry and everything looks good.

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What You May Not Know About Volunteering that Can Help You

When it comes to benefits of volunteering, a lot of people think that’s it’s all about the warm and fuzzy feeling you feel after helping someone. As it turns out, that’s far from the only benefit. What a lot of people don’t realize is that it is not just about soup kitchens, the peace corps and doctors against borders. Charity work requires a wide variety of people, doing a wide variety of things for everything to work. Because of this you can volunteer as almost anything, which means there are some surprising benefits to be had. For example, volunteering….

1. Teaches You New Skills

From helping making websites, to teaching immigrant kids your native language, to arranging events for charity. Volunteering can really be almost anything. That means that when you get involved in charity work, a lot of the time you will face challenges just as you would in a new job. And through overcoming these you learn and start to master completely new skills,

2. Helps You Stay Active

Sometimes when you need to do something the most, is when you feel the least like doing anything.
For More and Original Article

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Great Fun Activities for Summer with the Kids

“I’m bored!”  It’s the two words every parents dread as school lets out for summer.  Fear not; I’ve put together two weeks worth of fun summer activities for kids to keep them busy, and their parents sane.

The list of summer activities ranges in cost from free to frugal, but each requires extra quality time with kids – something we can all afford to spend more on!

14 Fun, Frugal Summer Activities for Kids

Day 1. See a “one dollar” movie at the theater. Many theater chains around the country offer summer movie programs for kids where they offer a “one dollar” movie every day for a week, or on a particular day of the week all summer. Alternative: Have a movie day at home by streaming a classic from Netflix.

Day 2. Sprinkler day.  Delay your sprinklers for one day so they come a little later in the morning.  This way everyone can get on their bathing suits and have fun jumping through the sprinklers on a hot day.  But not for too long!  This is a good time to teach them about conserving water, reducing utility costs, etc.

Day 3. Attend “story time” at your local library.  My kids love to check out books on all kinds of subjects.  My son currently has three library books on swimming, pirates and going to the dentist (quite a diverse reader, huh?).  Many libraries also have a story time to encourage a summer reading program.  Stories are read out loud and the kids have a chance to interact with the story-teller and answer questions about the book.

Day 4. Set up a lemonade stand. This is probably my favorite idea because of the lessons in entrepreneurship involved. 
For More and Original Article 

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How to Care for a Parent After a Stroke

When an elderly parent is recovering from a stroke, there is perhaps no more helpful advice for family caregivers than “Expect the unexpected.”

“Every stroke is different,” says David Siegelman, Director of Rehabilitation at The Hebrew Home in Riverdale by RiverSpring Health in the New York City area. “People can experience vastly different effects based on such factors as the type, location and severity of the stroke.”

Stroke After-Effects

Among the most common after-effects of a stroke are hemiplegia or hemiparesis, which is paralysis or weakness of one side of the body.

“This is what people most often associate with a stroke,” Siegelman says, “but depending upon its location, a stroke also may affect balance, vision or communication. The inability to communicate is often a major issue that people experience immediately after a stroke. They may lose their ability to speak or they’ll use words that don’t make sense. They may develop swallowing difficulties, also called dysphagia.”

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How to Eat Healthy This Summer

No one wants to spend hours planning menus, making countless trips to the grocery store and slaving in the kitchen, only to endure dull and tasteless food. If you want to eat healthy, home-cooked meals without all the fuss, try a seasonal pantry makeover. To do it, stock up on locally-grown foods, and simply create meals based on what's in season in your region. Eating locally is delicious, nutritious, interesting and, believe it or not, easy. Local food tastes better because it really is fresh (not shipped-from-across-the-country-yet-still-bearing-a-label-that-says-fresh).

It's healthier for you because you get the higher nutrient levels from just-picked produce. It's healthier for the environment because local food uses less fossil fuel for transport. Seasonal food is also interesting, as each season brings a new crop of foods that you haven't had for an entire year. Before you've had a chance to tire of its bounty, the season changes to bring new, flavorful foods. And shopping for seasonal foods is easy—a fun trip to your local farmer's market will yield the majority of the ingredients you need.

For More and Original Article.

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Tuition Reimbursement Winner for June

Congratulations, David! 

David is our Tuition Reimbursement Winner for June! 

He will be getting a refund from us soon. You could be next!

"Hi there, my name is David and I am the father of two wonderful children.  Austin, my son is seven and Jocelyn, my daughter, is five.  We live in Agra, Kansas with my loving girlfriend, Nikkie. We enjoy fishing, hunting, camping, swimming,  gardening,  and the outdoors. I am thrilled to be the winner of your reimbursement and plan to use the money to help further my education.  Your staff have been wonderful to work with and I am very pleased with choosing your institute for my education and plan on getting medication aid certified through your course as well.  Thanks for being such a great company."
- David L.

Students registered for a Nurse Aide course will automatically be placed in a monthly drawing to win reimbursement of their course tuition. The monthly drawings will choose one student to win a reimbursement.

If you want to know how to get in on this Click Here for more information.

Remember, before you can win, you have to register and pay for a Nurse Aide course - See our course catalog Click Here.

Or go to our website Click Here.

Can Middle Age Memory Deficits Predict Alzheimer's?

Results from an extensive new study suggest that early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease appear up to 18 years before the disease is officially diagnosed.

Researchers publishing in the journal Neurology gave 2,125 people, average age 73, a test of memory and thinking skills every three years for 18 years. All of the participants were either European-American or African-American and none had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when the study began.

During the course of the study, 23% of the African-American and 17% of European-American participants developed Alzheimer’s. Those who scored lowest on the memory and thinking tests during the first year of the study were 10 times more likely to develop the disease.

“The changes in thinking and memory that precede obvious symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease begin decades before,” said study author Kumar B. Rajan, PhD, with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

For More and Original Article.

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WeCareOnline July Staff Highlight - Julia Roland

This month we get to meet Julia Roland.
Julia has worked in the healthcare field for 5 years. Having a degree in English, she entered the health care field working as a writer/editor for a senior continuous care community. Working around seniors inspired her to go back to school to become an Registered Nurse. She continued to work as a freelance writer while enrolled full-time in school. She completed her BSN from Baylor University in 2014 and worked on a stroke telemetry floor at a local hospital for a year. Currently Julia works as Registered Nurse Case Manager for a local Hospice company.

Julia is married with 2 children and lives in a suburban community in Texas. She enjoys yoga, reading, cooking, volunteering in her community, and spending time with her family.




With her experience in the heath care field, Julia believes that healthcare is often about treating the family not just the patient. Helping and educating families is an integral part of helping patients achieve optimal wellness. She loves that her role in hospice nursing includes this on a day to day basis.

Julia has worked on a contract basis for WeCareOnline for the last 3 years. She coordinates the Facebook posts and organizes the WeCareOnline blog and monthly newsletter. She loves being a part of a company that has made such an impact in helping students launch their healthcare careers.
 


The biggest change she has seen in the health care industry has been the role of the nurse. Nurses have so many options open to them that have developed over the last few decades. Nursing research is a relatively new field that Julia is interested in pursuing. Other disciplines have so much more research available compared to nursing, and nurses are really at the cutting edge of adding to their field with research on just about any topic of patient care.

On Julia's desk the one item that would be noticed without fail is that there is no space. Julia says (smiling) that she has packed her desk with "organized chaos." From kids schedules and information from their schools, to Julia's dual career as a freelance writer and an RN, to her constant love of reading just about everything, every inch of Julia's desk is covered. "I need a central place to organize all that I am doing. It's packed, but I know where everything is," Julia says.

CNA's: Put On Your Game Face

Guest Post: Melanie Fischer, RN

What does it mean to be a CNA? 

Wow, that is a pretty wide open question. We can go down so many different paths as far as subject content goes.  However, I would like address how a CNA should conduct themselves.

First, let's take the title-CNA, which stands for Certified Nurse Aide.  As a CNA, you assist the nurse in patient or resident care, helping them with their every day needs.  States vary widely in certification curriculum, instructional hours, and CNA duties.  However, the overall picture is, you are one of the caretakers. 

A CNA must care for the resident in a kind, caring, and loving manner.  A good CNA puts others needs ahead of their own, including frustrations over their personal and work lives.  Don’t let your personal frustrations interfere when you are with your resident.  Please leave your troubles and crisis at the door when you come to work.  We all have a heavy burden to carry in our personal lives but when we arrive at work, our purpose should be solely devoted to the residents right in front of us. 

What I am trying to say is this: “put your game face on.”  Trust me, I realize this is difficult. But if we all work together to do this, our jobs would mean so much more to our patients. Our residents certainly deserve that. 

Keep in mind, our residents are paying us to take care of them!  If you pay for a service - whether it be in a restaurant or otherwise, how do you expect to be treated? What do you expect from the service?  That is eye opening when you really think about it.

Be the example and set the bar high. See how many co-workers you can encourage to start following in your footsteps.  Remember, it can all begin with you.  Use this motto in your everyday life as well!  You would be surprised how you’re life changes for the better! 

• Be Positive 
• Be Kind
• Be Honest
• Be Respectful
• Be Giving
• Be Polite
• Be Caring
• Be Flexible
• Be complimentary
• Be a good leader
• Be appreciative
• Be Thankful
• Be Empathetic

One aspect that I often hear from student CNA’s is the misconception of the true picture of the hard work it is to be a CNA.  Being a CNA can be exhausting physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Don’t get me wrong, it is so rewarding. But with the strains of the work, a CNA needs to stay on the positive side of life and don’t forget to keep the humor.  I’m not talking about making fun of others but having fun with the residents.  Laughter is the best medicine and it doesn’t come with a price tag.

A CNA devotes his or her working hours to the people they are caring for.  Give it 110%.  I like to tell CNA’s, negativity spreads like wildfire.  Keep it positive!  Conduct yourself with the highest of integrity!  See the best in the day, in the resident, in the facility, and in your co-workers!   

Melanie Fischer, RN 

CNA/CMA Director

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Why you should treat your employees like your best customers.

Successful companies realize that employees are their most important asset. Customers might be the reason the lights stay on, but those customers wouldn’t exist without the hard work and dedication put forth by employees.

It’s for this reason that employers should actively invest in their workers. Specifically, they should aim to treat them as they do their best customers. Just as businesses value their customers’ satisfaction, loyalty and referrals, employers should value the same in their employee relationships. Invest in employees, and they’ll invest in the company.

Like customer success, employee success should be a holistic experience for employees -- from recruitment through all of the great experiences they share with the company.

For More and Original Article.

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The Skinny on Subscription Snack Boxes - The Latest Craze

They call it the fourth meal.

For many, snacking is the number one cause for derailed diets, unintentional calorie overloading and an increase in sugar or salt intake. But the snack is often the saving grace of the work day – the only problem is most of us are left with limited choices at the office vending machine.
Enter the subscription snack box – the latest online food craze that has businesses big and small betting on people looking for healthier snack options.

Silicon Valley-based company NatureBox has been leading the charge on the healthy snack front since its launch in 2012.

The idea for the company was born, in part, out of CEO and co-founder Gautam Gupta’s struggle with obesity. After teaching himself about nutrition and exercise in high school, Gupta lost 70 pounds, but struggled with finding snack options he felt good about eating when on the go.

“Twenty-five per cent of our daily calories come from snacking and we’ve found people will often say they don’t feel satisfied after they snack,” said NatureBox spokesperson Nicki Briggs. “So we thought it was a really big opportunity to make a difference.”

Read More and for Original Article.
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Living with Parkinson's

Cognitive Impairment

Another troublesome symptom of Parkinson’s is mild cognitive impairment. Many people with Parkinson’s are surprised to find that they feel distracted or disorganized, or have difficulty planning and carrying through tasks. It may be harder to focus in situations that divide their attention, like a group conversation. When facing a task or situation on their own, a person with PD may feel overwhelmed by having to make choices. They may also have difficulty remembering information, or have trouble finding the right words when speaking. For some people these changes are merely annoying, for others they interfere with work or with managing household affairs. 

To some degree, cognitive impairment affects most people with Parkinson’s. The same brain changes that lead to motor symptoms can also result in slowness in memory and thinking...Read more here

10 Hard to Learn Skills that Pay Off Forever

The best things in life may be free, but that doesn't mean they won't take time, sweat, and perseverance to acquire.
That's especially the case when it comes to learning important life skills.

In an effort to ascertain which talents are worth the investment, one Quora reader posed the question: What are the hardest and most useful skills to learn?
We've highlighted our favorite takeaways.

 

1. Time management

Effective time management is one of the most highly valued skills by employers. While there is no one right way, it's important to find a system that works for you and stick to it, Alina Grzegorzewska explains.

"The hardest thing to learn for me was how to plan," she writes. "Not to execute what I have planned, but to make so epic a to-do list and to schedule it so thoroughly that I'm really capable of completing all the tasks on the scheduled date."

 

2. Empathy

"You can be the most disciplined, brilliant, and even wealthy individual in the world, but if you don't care for or empathize with other people, then you are basically nothing but a sociopath," writes Kamia Taylor.

Read More and Original Article Here.

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Pregnancy and Motherhood: Women's Brains Permanently Altered?

Pregnancy and motherhood has been found to permanently alter a woman’s brains, specifically how it and the body may react to future treatments or hormones later in life, a recent study says.
Researchers wanted to see how women who had given birth to children would respond to “estrogen hormone treatments, which are often prescribed to treat brain disorders in middle-aged and older women,” reported CTV News.

They tested rats who had experienced motherhood, as well as rats who hadn’t and found the estrogen treatment improved the learning of those rats that had been mothers, but impaired the learning of the other rats.

“Our most recent research shows that previous motherhood alters cognition and neuroplasticity in response to hormone therapy, demonstrating that motherhood permanently alters the brain,” said Liisa Galea, head researcher of the study.

Being aware of how women’s bodies may react to certain hormones in brain treatments could aid in knowing what will or won’t actually help, or what could be dangerous with treatments.

For More and Original Article by Mandy Morgan of Deseret News 

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Seniors: When is the Right Time to Stop Driving?

For many of us, driving is a vital component of freedom and independence. But aging brings physical changes that can jeopardize your future on the road.

“Most people I see don’t think they have any driving problems,” says Barbara Moscowitz, a geriatric social worker at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. “But even subtle changes in your health can affect your reaction time. You need to address them while you’re well, so you can keep driving.”

SENSORY CHANGES

Changes in eyesight may make it harder to see at night, read traffic signs, and cope with glare. The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that people ages 65 and older have comprehensive eye exams at least every other year.
Hearing loss also can affect your driving skills by keeping you from noting outside noise such as sirens and horns. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association recommends getting hearing checks every three years after age 50.

Quick fixes: Keep noise in the car to a minimum, and cut back on night driving.

For More and Original Article.
Learn how you can help seniors by becoming a home health aide.

Nurse Assistants: Unsung Heroes in the Healthcare Industry

Always on the first day of National Nursing Assistants Week, it is National Career Nurse Assistants Day. This day is set aside to recognize the nursing assistants who dedicate their lives to the well-being of others for 5 to as many as 58 years.

Nursing assistants many times work in hospitals and nursing homes performing everyday living tasks for the elderly, chronically ill or rehabilitation patients who cannot care for themselves.  A more in-depth training and qualification that covers a wider scope of responsibility is indicated by government certification.  The state distributes these certification exams and the classes to study for them are offered by the American Red Cross as well as other providers.

On this day, we want to THANK these people for the wonderful job that they do and the very special care that they give to those in need. 

NATIONAL CAREER NURSE ASSISTANTS DAY HISTORY

National Career Nurse Assistants Day, an “unofficial” National holiday, is sponsored by the National Network of Career Nursing Assistants.

For More and Original Article.
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Tuition Reimbursement Winner for May

Congratulations, Hannah! 

Hannah is our Tuition Reimbursement Winner for May! 

She will be getting a refund from us soon. You could be next!

"My name is Hannah. I have three sisters one being my twin sister. I am a prenursing student at Wichita state and am applying for the nursing program for the spring semester. I am so appreciative for this reimbursement!! I just moved into a house and this will help for this years tuition!"
- Hannah S.

Students registered for a Nurse Aide course will automatically be placed in a monthly drawing to win reimbursement of their course tuition. The monthly drawings will choose one student to win a reimbursement.

If you want to know how to get in on this Click Here for more information.

Remember, before you can win, you have to register and pay for a Nurse Aide course - See our course catalog Click Here.

Or go to our website Click Here.

Celebrate Nursing Assistant Week, June 11-18, 2015

Now as never before, attention is being directed to care of our elder and disabled citizens and greater attention also is directed to the workers who provide hands-on-care and caring.
The 38th annual National Nursing Assistants’ Week provides a timely opportunity to foster and showcase the wonderful things that can happen for residents and workers when we join together in planning your special Week, “Nursing Assistants @ the Heart of Care.”

Fun projects can also be educational. NA Week Projects for 2015 include Recognition events, Mayor Proclamations, memos to families and news releases; and also includes Person Centered  Care Programs such as “Partnerships: Meeting the Future with Skill and Confidence;”   We also continue the focus on Safe Lifting and decreasing worker injuries.
In order to make a difference, we need to seek out and involve our role models, peers, supervisors, clients, families, community, legislators, public policy officials, media and others.

For More and Original Article.

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