Wellness Words February 2011

Wellness Words February 2011

HealthLink Littauer’s

WELLNESS WORDS

Submitted by Ryan Wille, B.S.

Community Health Educator

THE SIMPLE 7 HEART HEALTH FACTORS

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the U.S. The best tool in fighting heart disease is prevention, and the American Heart Association has provided The Simple 7 Heart Health Factors to help guide individuals to a healthier heart lifestyle.

I. GET ACTIVE

  • The AHA suggests at least 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise or 75 minutes per week of vigorous exercise. Physical activity is anything that makes you move your body and burns calories. Aerobic exercises benefit your heart, such as walking, jogging or swimming. Strength and stretching exercise are best for overall stamina and flexibility. The simplest, positive change you can make to effectively improve your heart health is to start walking. It’s enjoyable, free, easy, social and great exercise.

II. CONTROL CHOLESTEROL

  • It’s important for all people to know their cholesterol level. A cholesterol level of 200 mg/dl or higher puts you in a higher-risk category. To keep your cholesterol under control, the AHA recommends you schedule a screening, eat foods low in cholesterol and saturated fat and free of trans fat, maintain a healthy weight, and stay physically active.

III. EAT BETTER

  • Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables may help you control your weight and blood pressure. Unrefined whole-grain foods contain fiber that can help lower your blood cholesterol and help you feel full, which may help you manage your weight. Eat fish at least twice a week. Eating oily fish containing omega-3 fatty acids may help lower your risk of death from coronary artery disease. Choose lean meats and poultry without skin and prepare them without saturated and trans fat. Select fat-free, 1% fat or low-fat dairy products.

IV. MANAGE BLOOD PRESSURE

  • High blood pressure, or hypertension, is the single most significant risk factor for heart disease. A normal blood pressure is less than 120 mm Hg systolic and less than 80mm Hg diastolic. Eating a heart-healthy diet, enjoying regular activity, maintaining a healthy weight, managing stress, limiting alcohol and avoiding tobacco smoke will all help manage your blood pressure.

V. LOSE WEIGHT

  • 145 million Americans are overweight or obese (BMI of 25.0 kg/m2 and higher). Obesity is a major risk factor for heart disease. You can reduce this risk by maintaining a healthy weight through fitness and a good nutrition plan. It is crucial to understand your recommended calorie intake and the amount of calories you consume verses the calories you’re brining off with different levels of physical activity.

VI. REDUCE BLOOD SUGAR

  • Adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have heart disease or a stroke than adults without diabetes. Healthy eating habits, weight control, exercise and medication can help keep it in check. It is important to work closely with your healthcare provider to manage your diabetes.

VII. STOP SMOKING

  • By itself, smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease. When it acts with the other factors, it greatly increases your risk from those factors. Smoking decreases your tolerance for physical activity and increases the tendency for blood to clot. It decreases HDL (good) cholesterol. Smoking also creates a higher risk for peripheral artery disease and aortic aneurysm. It increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery.

For more information, contact your health care provider, American Heart Association at 800-242-8721 (www.americanheart.org) or HealthLink Littauer at 736-1120. You can e-mail us at healthlink@nlh.org, see our website at www.nlh.org, or visit our wellness center at 213 Harrison Street Ext. in Johnstown, Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. We’re your community health & wellness service of Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home.

Doctors see more sprains and strains related to weather

First published by the Daily Gazette, February 14 , 2011. Reported by Marcy Velte.

Doctors see more sprains and strains related to weather
CAPITAL REGION — To save money this winter, more families than usual are opting to remove ice and snow themselves instead of hiring a service, but it could be costing them money in medical bills.

An increase in storms means an increase in snow- and ice-related injuries, according to Dr. Todd Duthaler, chief of emergency medicine at Nathan Littauer Hospital in Gloversville.

“It’s been a very slippery winter,” he said, speaking about the many sprained wrists and ankles he sees annually. “Another cause of concern is more people trying to clear their roofs and harming themselves.”

“It has been a slippery winter” Dr. Todd Duthaler

Most local hardware stores have had trouble keeping roof rakes, shovels and rock salt in stock.

T.J. Grim from Bellevue Builders said his business is out of snow rakes because of the large number of “do-it-yourselfers” this year.

“We feel bad because we have to turn people away,” he explained.

Duthaler said numerous people have come to the hospital with broken bones or back injuries from falling off ladders or the roof.

“People are hearing on the news about getting the snow and ice off their roofs and becoming concerned, but they aren’t thinking about taking appropriate safety measures,” he said.

Duthaler recommends staying on the ground to clear roofs, but that too can be a problem.

Ray Hayden, owner of Hayden Brothers Snow and Ice Removal in Schenectady, said more customers are calling for help later in the season because they are nervous about injuries.

“They see people getting hurt or have gotten hurt and they get scared,” he said. “They want people that know what they’re doing.”

Hayden explained most injuries he sees come after someone uses a roof rake. People tend to stay on the ground and pull the snow off the roof and toward themselves.

“You shouldn’t do that,” he said. “That could be 400 pounds of snow and ice falling down on top of them. They don’t know.”

Hayden explained it’s important to use the right equipment to remove ice while on top of the roof — like a ladder that attaches to the roof so it doesn’t slip — or hire someone if help is needed.

The large amounts of snow are causing other injuries.

Dr. Krystal Clarke of Sunnyview Physical Therapy said most patients are coming in with sprained backs or ruptured discs from shoveling snow or lugging a snowblower.

She recommends going slow and using the proper form when shoveling snow.

Duthaler agreed.

He said people coming to the hospital with chest pain or trouble breathing is an issue during snow-shoveling season. There’s also an increase in heart attacks.

Clarke said the majority of her patients with snow- and ice-related injuries are seniors.

“Pride is a big factor. Always ask for help if it’s needed,” she said. “If it’s too difficult to hire someone, ask family or neighbors.”

Using common sense is the best way to prevent injury, according to Duthaler.

“Be careful. Take breaks. And if you start to feel discomfort, stop what you’re doing,” he said.

NLH: Addressing e-device overuse

Addressing e-device overuse
First published in the Leader Herald, Rodney Minor reporting, January 29, 2011

Too much texting, playing video games can cause injuries
January 30, 2011 – By RODNEY MINOR, The Leader-Herald

GLOVERSVILLE – Parents whose children frequently play video games or send text messages might want to make sure their kids are not doing too much of it.

Otherwise, it could end up being painful.

Repetitive Stress Injuries have been reported nationally in connection with texting on cell phones and overuse of the Nintendo Wii and similar video-game system.

Kirsten Lennon, a registered and licensed occupational therapist at Nathan Littauer Hospital, said the problem is people, especially children, tend to spend too much time texting or using the Wii.

“The Wii is great. It gets people up, it gets them moving,” she said. “But they have to take into consideration how much time they are using it.”

Repetitive Stress Injuries is a term for syndromes characterized by discomfort, impairment and loss of muscle strength and function, according to information from the hospital. The pain comes from people performing repetitive movements the human body was not designed to do.

As an example, Lennon noted the Wii – which uses a sensor and “Wii-motes” to simulate motions like swinging a tennis racket and throwing a baseball. A tennis game can include hitting 1,000 balls in a one-hour session. That’s because all someone has to do in the game is hit the ball, not run after it and take breaks like they would in a real game, she said.

Dr. Shannon?Colt, a pediatrician at the hospital, also noted that, with any video game system, it is possible for people to get tension headaches and feel sore from playing for too long.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke website – www.ninds.nih.gov – RSIs include carpal tunnel syndrome, bursitis, tendonitis, epicondylitis, ganglion cyst, tenosynovitis, and trigger finger.

While RSIs may be thought of as an older persons ailment normally, they can happen to anyone, she said.

Sometimes, bad habits that start in childhood can have a negative effect on someones health when they get older.

“If [children] can break those bad habits early, they will be ahead of the game,” she said.

Lennon had many recommendations to help people avoid excessively playing on the Wii, including:

Start slowly. See how your body tolerates an activity.

Cross train on the Wii, just like people do in real life.

Lennon said an easy thing to do is to switch between games. People could switch from bowling, to dancing, to playing guitar on the Wii, for example.

“People can use different muscle groups that way, not just reuse the same ones,” she said.

Warm up before you start playing, similar to how you would before exercise.

If a person’s body starts to hurt, they should take a break. They should not play again until the pain is gone.

Treat pain from playing just like any other; Use ice, rest and if the pain persists talk to a doctor.

Colt noted that parents may have to step in and limit their child in how much time they spend playing.

However, there are other ways parents can approach the issue if they think their child is spending too much time playing one game. One way is to urge their child to switch to a different game, she said. If they want to, they could even challenge their child to play a different game against them, she said.

Texting

Americans between the ages of 8 and 18 spend an average of 7 and hours a day using an electronic device. Also in America, 75 percent of 12 to 17 year olds own a cell phone and 1/3 of teens send more than 100 text messages daily, according to information provided by the hospital.

Lennon said excessive texting can lead to RSIs, also.

Part of the problem is many keyboards tend to be small, so one finger is all most people can use to type. People also tend to have bad body position when they type, which she demonstrated by taking her phone out and hunching over in imitation of the bad posture.

Lennon recommends people alternate fingers when they text. People should take a break once in a while if they find themselves sending messages frequently, she said.

She demonstrated a couple of exercises people can do as well to stretch out their fingers before using them. One involved the thumb on each hand against the fingers on the same hand five times. She also used rubber bands, putting them on her fingers and opening them to build up strength.

Colt noted there are more than just physical ailments that can result from too much texting.

In addition to sometimes being a distraction and promoting poor writing, too much texting could hurt a child’s social skills.

Lennon said while they have not seen children coming into the hospital with ailments related to use of the Wii or texting, they wanted to get the word out about it. Injuries from overusing the Wii and texting have become national issues, she noted, and it will help local parents to be aware of the issue.

For more information about RSIs, visit the NINDS website at www.ninds.nih.gov

For more information about using the Nintendo Wii safely, visit www.nintendo.com

Cheryl McGrattan, public relations director for Nathan Littauer Hospital, said the hospital also will put together a YouTube video about stretching before using the Nintendo Wii. She said it should be available on the hospital’s website in the next three weeks.

Kirsten Lennon, Occupational Therapist left and Dr. Shannon Colt at Nathan Littauer Hospital talk about overuse injury in electronic devices.

Littauer announces Employee of the Quarter

Two payroll executives earn kudos from leadership and peers

Gloversville, NY…Nathan Littauer Hospital announced their Employee of the Quarter last week in an organization-wide celebration. “This quarter we are recognizing two employees.” stated Littauer’s President and CEO, Laurence E. Kelly. Recognized for their unyielding work ethic, Bob Michalski and Virginia Fahey were announced the winners.

Bob Michalski and Virginia Fahey are our Employees of the Quarter. Mr. Kelly stands to the right.

Both people work in the payroll department. “When our payroll system recently experienced a glitch, Bob and Ginny jumped into action, making sure all of our 980 employees received a paycheck.” stated Cheryl McGrattan Hospital Spokesperson. She added “I think that is what our employees appreciate the most, their dedication to go the extra distance, working long hours and sometimes holidays to ensure we all get paid.”

Mr. Kelly agreed noting, “Sometimes people rise from ordinary to extraordinary and these two certainly deserve our thanks and appreciation.” Many people gathered at the celebration undoubtedly agreed as they clapped and cheered when their names were read. Mr. Kelly added, “I do not think people realize how technical this job can be.”

Virginia Fahey is a payroll bookkeeper with 21 years at the hospital and Bob Michalski has served as the Payroll Supervisor for 16 years and has over 32 years of Payroll experience. “I take my job very seriously” stated Virginia Fahey adding, “I take great pride in paying the people who save lives here everyday at the hospital.” She reflected, “I feel really honored to receive the Good Will Award. It makes me very happy to know that all of our hard work was appreciated. NLH is a wonderful place to work, filled with a lot of wonderful people. Thanks again! “

Bob Michalski agreed explaining, “I was surprised and honored to receive the Goodwill Award for the 4th quarter. Being a member of a support department, I never expected to be nominated. My goal has always been to ensure that all of our employees receive an accurate paycheck each week”. I always thought I had a thankless job until last Thursday. It was great to be recognized for the efforts you put into your job. I’m glad to be part of a great team that helps us get the job done each and every week.

Employees of the Quarter receive a plaque, preferred parking and a gift certificate.

Littauer’s Nursing Home welcomes new Director of Recreation Therapy

Rachel Killips added to staff.

Gloversville, NY…Nathan Littauer’s announced today the appointment of a new Director of Recreation Therapy for the Nursing Home. Rachel Killips, of Troy, NY brings about 3 years of experience as a recreation therapist to the Nursing Home. An avid dancer, Ms. Killips is passionate about the joy of movement, even for those of advanced years. “She brings us not only a great amount of expertise, but also a great amount of enthusiasm to her position.” stated Leslie Beadle, Nursing Home Administrator. Ms. Killips joined the staff in January.

Rachel Killips our new Director of Recreation Therapy and her dog Rudy greet a resident

“I am looking forward to starting new and exciting programs and taking many more trips out of the building, as well as integrating all the residents into a program directed to their needs.” stated Ms. Rachel Killips.

As the activities planner of the Nursing Home, she is responsible for programming activities for the nursing home’s 84 bed facility. “Activities, integration and age- appropriate programming is vital to our mission here at the Nursing Home.” stated Leslie Beadle.

For more information about The Nursing Home at Nathan Littauer, please call 773-5693.