Tag: health

public community safety

National Public Health Awareness Week: Get Involved in Your Community

If you live in a small, quiet, and low-crime community, you may take your safety for granted. Millions of homes and neighborhoods across the U.S. are deemed dangerous, putting the health, safety, and overall well-being of residents at risk for personal injuries and even death. You may live a healthy lifestyle and reside in a safe home, but if your community is unsafe and unhealthy it can directly impact you.

 

The first week of April is National Public Health Awareness Week in which the American Public Health Association (APHA) raises awareness, educates and encourages communities to strive to live more safely and healthy. The APHA strives in making the United States the healthiest nation by the year 2030. While the goal is a challenge, it is attainable if everyone made small changes in their daily lives.

What Makes a Community Safe?

 

Focusing on community safety is much more than reducing the rate of crime. A safer community should have low rates of unintentional injuries, the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S. after heart disease, cancer, and chronic lower respiratory diseases. An unintentional injury, such as a fall or injury in a fire, can happen anywhere in a community and with proper prevention, the rate of incidence can be significantly decreased.

 

Hazardous Homes: While the home should be one of the safest places in a person’s life, a place of residence is often filled with hazards that lead to injury in death.

 

For instance, many Americans rent homes and entrust that the property they live in is safe. Unfortunately, in many homes the property is not maintained or up-to-date with safety regulations. According to Mike Sawaya, Denver personal injury attorney at The Sawaya Law Firm, property owners are responsible for maintaining the property in a reasonably safe condition, or at least giving adequate warning of any danger. When a home is not properly maintained, the rates of unintentional injuries can increase.

 

The Solution: Landlords have a responsibility to ensure that the property is safe (regardless of the age of the property or the income level of the renters). While some landlords fail to regard safety, tenants (and potential tenants) should choose the property carefully and avoid renting any places that may have health hazards such as radon, lead paint, tripping/falling hazards, or any indication of fire hazards.

 

Unsafe Neighborhoods: Gun violence is a problem of epidemic proportions in neighborhoods across the United States and it takes about as many lives each year as vehicle crashes. According to the Gun Violence Archives, there were 53,037 incidents involving a gun, resulting in 13,384 deaths and 26,973 injuries. Although a majority of gun use is intentional (with 2,335 incidents due to home invasion and 1,286 due to defensive use), 1,954 gun incidences were a result of an accidental shooting.

 

The Solution: If you want to make your community or neighborhood safer from gun violence, there are some things you can do. First, don’t own a gun, but if you do, make sure you know how to use it safely, store it responsibly, and keep it away from others (especially children). Write to Congress and ask them to vote for safety measures to prevent gun violence. Contact the National Crime Prevention Council and find out how you can get involved in or start a Neighborhood Watch in your neighborhood.

 

If you become an active member in your community or neighborhood, you can help to reduce rate of preventable accidents and your participation can help make your community a safer and healthier place to live.

 

Easter in a Retirement Home

It’s Spring and Easter is just around the corner! The Easter season is a festive time for many families across America. Families participate in fun outdoor activities like Easter egg hunting, outdoor picnics, and even arts and crafts to add to the enjoyment of the holiday season. For some the holiday can be difficult, especially if loved ones are far from home. Many families may have a senior in a retirement home, which can be difficult and even lonely for some. Making their Easter season positive can make for a more enjoyable time for them. Let’s explore options on how to make Easter exciting for the senior in your life!

 

Easter Fun And Creative Activities

 

Retirement homes can provide fun activities that promote positivity and enjoyment during the Easter season. Holding special activities during the Easter season can add variety and fun to the lives of residents. The goal is to make the residents feel at home. The following are some ideas that can make a the Easter holiday a positive one for seniors:

 

  • Have music time. We never outgrow our love for music. Music sets the mood for every occasion. Have a band visit the nursing home and provide entertainment. Make sure that it’s a band that is versatile and knows a variety of music that seniors will enjoy. If dancing is involved, make sure that the resident has someone to assist them in case they have a medical or physical condition that limits them.

 

  • Hold an ice-cream social. Ice cream socials provide a positive and fun time for seniors as they get to enjoy good food and a moment to reminisce on childhood memories. It is important to be mindful of any health issues that may limit some seniors from participating. If a senior for instance cannot eat sugar because of diabetes, make sure to offer options so that they’re not left out of the festivities.

 

  • Play Bingo! Seniors love a game of Bingo since it involves good community time and learning. Award the winner with a fun prize in form a of an Easter basket. It’s a perfect time for family members to join in and participate.

 

  • Have the Easter bunny visit the residents. No matter how old we get, a good time filled with laughter provides medicine to the soul. Seniors can grow tired with health and physical concerns that limit their daily lives. Having their picture taken with the Easter bunny might just brighten their day!

 

  • Host a story-time. Studies show that keeping the mind active actually helps fight dementia. Have a director or even the senior under your care read a story about Easter. This not only involves the community, but allows seniors to feel valued and heard.

 

Safety Is Important

Unfortunately there have been incidents of nursing home abuse, so make sure that you are well-informed about the overall care of the senior in your life. It is important to have coverage in the case of neck or back injuries to a senior or worker during activities. The retirement home should be aware of any physical or emotional limitations a resident is experiencing. Senior citizens need special attention and care. Help make Easter bright and special for the senior in your life!

 

Make sure that your loved one is well cared for and in safe hands. Be an active participant in their care and well-being!

3 Diseases We No Longer Have to Worry About Thanks to Vaccines

The vaccine is a modern miracle. First discovered in 1796 by Edward Jenner, this disease fighting technique is the product of hard science, thorough testing, and a long communications battle. Vaccines work using a counterintuitive trick. Scientists give the human body a weakened or dead version of a specific pathogen, which the body’s immune system uses as both target practice and research; your systems develops resistance techniques and learns from its battles. Then, when the virus attacks for real, your body has the skills and knowledge to fight it off.

 

Neat, huh? But vaccines aren’t just an interesting science experiment. They are one of public health’s most important weapons. Vaccines have eradicated many once-lethal and near-ubiquitous diseases from the modern world. Think of these diseases the next time you realize that, well, you don’t ever need to think about these diseases.

Polio

Between the late 19th century and the mid 50s, roughly 35,000 people developed polio, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Polio was a terrifying childhood disease, causing meningitis, paralysis, and even death. And it hit children. Polio was one of the America’s most serious public health crises until the advent of the vaccine in the 1950s. And this vaccine has been incredibly effective. As of this writing, not a single case of polio has been reported in the United States since 1979.

Smallpox

The smallpox vaccine has been called “one of the greatest achievements in human history” by medical professionals. Prior to vaccine, smallpox killed millions of people. Ancient Rome, ancient China, Africa, and Europe were all hit by the disease. Smallpox killed entire cultures when Europeans introduced it the Americas. Smallpox is a nasty disease. Sufferers develop rashes, lesions, and fevers. 30% of people infected with die, usually within the first few weeks. Or at least they to. Thanks to vaccines, this horrifying disease, which wreaked havoc on our species for nearly two thousand years, is gone. It’s simply gone. The last case of smallpox (not including one from a lab accident the following year) was reported in 1977. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared smallpox dead in 1980. The only remaining  copies exist in a few labs for research purposes, and officials have often discussed killing even those.

Measles

Measles still exists in the world, and in 2013 killed about 16 people an hour, according to WHO. And most of its victims were not even five years old. But in most industrialized countries, people do not have to worry about measles. Prior to widespread vaccination programs that began in 1980, 2.6 million people died every year from measles. That simply is not the case any more. The measles vaccine is incredibly effective and saves countless children from a terrible disease every year. The only danger most people in the industrialized world most people face is parents who refuse to vaccinate their children, due to fear-mongering spread by anti-science conspiracy theorists.  

  

Community Involvement – It Can Benefit Your Health!

Community service can give you the pride and satisfaction of helping others. It can help strengthen your community and your family. Most people understand the importance of giving back to the community and taking an active role in improving conditions in the world we live in. We know that volunteering is a good thing, but did you also know that it can be good for your health?

The Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS) reports that a growing body of research over the past two decades indicates that volunteering produces health benefits as well as social benefits for the individuals involved. According to CNCS, findings presented in its report entitled The Health Benefits of Volunteering: A Review of Recent Research indicate that volunteers have higher functionality, less depression, and lower mortality rates later in life than those who have not volunteered.

Mental Health Benefits of Community Involvement

As discussed in the CNCS report, the evidence suggests that community service can have a positive effect on social psychological factors. It can provide meaning and purpose in life. Focusing on something other than oneself can alleviate stress. Volunteer work strengthens social ties and protects people from isolation. Helping others also produces a greater sense of self-worth and trust, according to the report. As stated in a Harvard Medical School publication, volunteering helps people feel more socially connected and wards off loneliness and depression.

Physical Health Benefits of Volunteering

The Harvard Medical School article also states that growing evidence indicates a correlation between volunteering and better physical health. According to the article, a recently published Carnegie Mellon University study found that adults over 50 who regularly volunteer their time to help others are less likely to develop high blood pressure, a major contributing factor to stroke, heart disease, and premature death.

CNCS researchers found that people who engage in volunteer activities are less likely to have health problems later in life. Even after factoring in age, gender, and health, the CNCS study determined that individuals who volunteer have a greater chance of living longer.

Rush University Medical Center reports that, according to recent research, people who had chronic pain experienced less pain and disability after beginning volunteer work with others suffering chronic pain. Researchers also found that people who volunteered after suffering heart attacks experienced less depression and despair, factors that increase the likelihood of death in heart attack patients.

However, as reported by Rush, there are limits to how much health benefit is available to an individual through volunteering. Researchers have identified a threshold of one or two hours a week, beyond which no health benefits have been established.