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Archive for category: Solutions For Living

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Six Simple Ways to Improve Nutrition As A Team

Julie Entwistle, C.Dir. (c), MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

It is no secret that obesity is on the rise across North America.  In fact, a 2014 study shows that obesity now accounts for 8.6% of youth and 25% of the adult population.  (Després, Alméras, & Gauvin, 2014)   The leading causes of this “obesity epidemic” are sedentary lifestyles, lack of physical activity and poor nutritional choices.

With the stressful lives being led by our generation, taking time to prepare and bring healthy lunches and snacks to work is difficult.  Yet, without a healthy snack or lunch, the tendency is to purchase food that is not healthy, or to under-eat which, believe it or not, can also cause obesity as our body works to “hold onto” every calorie in fear of starvation.

Employers may ask “why do I care if my team is eating unhealthy”, but the answer is obvious:  a healthy workforce is a productive workforce and workplace absences for health-related problems (including obesity, heart disease, diabetes etc) are hugely disruptive.

Here are a few suggestions that can be implemented in the workplace to help improve the health of your staff and organization:

  1. Schedule Regular Healthy Pot-Luck Lunches — choose a day of the week and have each person bring in a healthy lunch item for a team-building activity.
  2. Bring a Colleague a Lunch — people are more likely to prepare healthy meals for others than for themselves, so capitalize on this and arrange for “bring a colleague a lunch week” and see the efforts people will go to in order to promote the health of a colleague.
  3. Recipe of the Week — each week choose a member of the team to share make their favourite healthy meal or snack and bring it in to share with the team.  Have them send each member a recipe via email for them to make on their own.
  4. Education Opportunities — bring in a nutritionist, dietician or health coach to speak to the team about how to create healthy meals and snacks to help fuel their day at work.
  5. Brown Bag Week — encourage the team to have a “brown bag” week.  Eating out can lead to unhealthy choices and lack of portion control.  Bringing your own lunch can help to ensure you are getting the nutrients you need and fueling productivity the entire day.
  6. Russian Lunch Roulette — like secret Santa, have everyone bring a balanced lunch and randomly select who gets what lunch.  It always tastes better to consume something made by someone else, so people should enjoy the surprise lunch they end up with.  Of course, plan ahead for any allergies/food requests and ask people to put sauces/condiments on the side to be added only if desired.

In the end, lead by example.  Employers have the ability to create opportunities that can help their workforce to engage in healthy habits.  Use the strength of your organizational alliance to bring people together to help them achieve healthy goals.  Everyone will benefit, including the organization.

 

Previously posted August 2015

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Intimacy Following Injury or Illness

Sexuality is an incredibly important part of being human. Yet, when we are injured, ill, or suffering from physical, cognitive, emotional or behavioral difficulties, this too can suffer.

The following article, care of the Neurology Centre of Toronto, discusses some commonly reported sexual issues that occur after brain injury.  If you have issues with sexuality after an injury or illness, know that this can be common and can be improved.  Contact an Occupational Therapist, we can help.

Neurology Centre of Toronto:  Sex after Brain Injury: What does this look like for me?

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Nutrition Month O-Tip of the Week: Make Room for Veggies in Every Meal

Our O-Tip of the week series we will be providing valuable “OT-Approved Life Hacks” to provide you with simple and helpful solutions for living. 

For the month of March, Nutrition Month, our O-Tip series will help you find simple ways to improve nutrition in every meal!

A simple way to improve nutrition is to increase your vegetable intake.  Vegetables are nutritional powerhouses full of the vitamins and minerals our bodies need to thrive.  Increase your veggie intake by ensuring you include them in every meal and/or snack. 

Some helpful examples include:

  •         Adding spinach or kale to a breakfast smoothie
  •         Adding spinach to your eggs
  •         Protein-packed salads as a meal for lunch or dinner
  •         Substituting veggie noodles (zucchini, spaghetti squash or sweet potatoes) for pasta
  •         Substituting cauliflower for rice or pizza crusts
  •         Using lettuce instead of traditional wraps
  •         Carrot sticks and hummus as a snack
  •         Kale chips instead of regular potato chips as a snack

How do you include vegetables in your meals?  We’d love to hear your delicious and nutritious suggestions!  

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Client Consent in Health Care – No Means No

Julie Entwistle, C.Dir. (c), MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

My grandmother is in her 90’s and up until recently, lived in a retirement home.  She is legally blind and deaf, so communication is very difficult for her, but where she lacks in sight and hearing she excels in cognition, missing little and being able to direct her own needs.

As with many people of advancing age, while she can bathe herself, this is a safer process with an attendant.  She has been fortunate to be eligible for public services and receives care in the mornings.  During a recent review of her care schedule, the facilitator asked her if she was comfortable with a male attendant.  She responded with a “no” and that her “late husband was the only man to see her undressed and she would like to keep it that way.”

The next day two care providers showed up.  One was “in training” and he was a man.  My grandmother was upset by this, but like many people of her generation that feel that public services are such a “gift,” she felt that for “training purposes” she would compromise her comfort and tolerate the presence of a man during her shower.

The next day the same man showed up alone.  “I am here to shower you today.”  I am not sure how the conversation went, but it ended with her deciding to let the man shower her, with her telling him “well, this is probably just as uncomfortable for you as this is for me, so let’s get this over with.”

As an occupational therapist, but also as her granddaughter, this is upsetting.  She was asked for consent regarding a male provider and declined.  This should be in her record.  They proceeded anyway.  As a business owner, I understand that staffing and capacity are challenging and based on my own work experience with finding and keeping personal care workers for clients, the human resource issues are real.  But consent is consent and she did not provide it.  One could argue that “in the moment” consent was “implied” (she didn’t ask the man to leave), or “provided” (she let him proceed), but an “in the moment” comment of “let’s get this over with” is not consent but surrender.  She was vulnerable, confronted, and knew that a “no” meant “no shower today.”  Showers, like privacy, are also important to her.

The ability to “Consent” (to anything) is an important human right.  Exercising this is our duty to ourselves.  We are reminded of this quite topically in the “#MeToo” movement, but the reach of the “no means no” concept needs to be wider.  In health care especially, consent is paramount in the acceptance and deliverance of services.  No must mean no.

Consent is a deal-breaker.  Always.  Not only are there preferences and “feelings” about this important topic, but there are rules, laws, and regulatory matters to consider.  Working with vulnerable and exposed people (emotionally, mentally and physically) requires providers to take consent seriously and this goes both ways when clients choose us, and when we choose them.

For my grandmother, we contacted the agency and reminded them of her preferences.  We asked that no men arrive for showering and that they need to do better to not put her in these vulnerable and uncomfortable situations.  If they cannot accommodate, we will need to elect another service agency, or fund private care for her such that we are not exposing her to these experiences, even if “free.”

Stay tuned for my next blog on this topic, where I will review the second side of consent as yes; providers get to consent too.

 

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Snow Removal O-Tip of the Week: Snowblower Safety Considerations

Our O-Tip of the week series we will be providing valuable “OT-Approved Life Hacks” to provide you with simple and helpful solutions for living. 

For the month of February, our O-Tip series will help you to practice safe and efficient snow removal this winter.

If you are fortunate enough to have a snow blower you have less heaving lifting to do, however, there are still dangers that this more efficient method can pose.   Here are some tips to ensure you are being safe while blowing snow:

  • Do not let children operate the machine
  • Do not wear loose clothing which could get caught in the machinery
  • Pace yourself – even when snow blowing you can overexert yourself in the cold, leading to the risk of heart attack
  • Operate the machine only outside as inside a shed or garage could put you at risk for carbon monoxide poisoning
  • Add fuel outdoors, before starting, and never add fuel while the machine is running
  • Never leave it unattended when it is running
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Reducing Risk of Strain Due to Repetitive Movements

Julie Entwistle, C.Dir. (c), MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

Repetitive activity using improper posture and body mechanics can result in excess energy expenditure, fatigue, pain and even injury or damage to muscles and joints over time.  Therefore, it’s important to know the proper body mechanics required when completing everyday tasks and activities, at home, at play or at work or school.

The following episode of our Occupational Therapy Video Series:  OT-V discusses how to ensure you are using proper body mechanics with respect to:

·    workspace design

·    lifting and repetitive muscle use

·    excessive standing

·    excessive sitting

·    hand movements

·    excessive energy output.

Take a look to learn how an OT can help you improve body mechanics and reduce the risk of injury and pain in the long-term.  Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for access to this and other great OT-V videos!

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Self-Esteem Boosting Tips

We all seem to have a tendency to look in the mirror and focus on the negative; however, it is known that the power of positivity can help boost self-esteem.  The following article from Today’s Parent discusses the importance of building self-esteem in children from a young age and tips on how to boost their confidence so they can happily look themselves in the mirror every day.

Today’s Parent:  How To Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem

These tips aren’t just great for boosting self-esteem in kids, but can work for adults too!

 

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Snow Removal O-Tip of the Week: A Solution for Sticky Situations

Our O-Tip of the week series we will be providing valuable “OT-Approved Life Hacks” to provide you with simple and helpful solutions for living. 

For the month of February, our O-Tip series will help you to practice safe and efficient snow removal this winter.

When snow is wet and heavy it often will stick to your shovel, making it increasingly difficult to clear.  Try this simple hack to lighten the load by ensuring the snow won’t stick to your shovel.  Before you begin, spray your shovel with a light layer of cooking oil (like Pam) to create a non-stick surface.  Please ensure the spray does not get on the ground which could create a slipping hazard.

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How Emotionally Intelligent Are You?

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

I have four daughters – three in high school and one in University.  That is a lot of estrogen in our house.  Yet it is an interesting time for our family – as our girls are navigating the perils of adolescence, I too am finding myself in a stage I am calling “adultescence” whereby my thoughts, feelings, and emotions are changing as theirs are.  This creates an interesting ebb and flow of all of us learning together what it all means as a teen girl to “grow up” and as an adult to start “letting go”.

I had one of those adultescent “aha” moments the other day with one of my teen daughters.  She is very socially driven and relationships are very important to her.  Over the last few months, as school has resumed, she has been struggling with some of her friendships.  One girl just suddenly stopped responding to messages, one takes pleasure in forwarding hurtful messages, and another treats my daughter as the weekend “last resort”.  In talking to my daughter about these events, my “aha” moment came when I realized that my daughter, already, is highly emotionally intelligent.  She has the ability to put herself in the position of others and regulates her own behavior (so far) on how she would feel as the recipient.  This is a gift for her but puts her at a relationship disadvantage as many of her peers are not there yet.   She “feels” in a relationship like she is 25, but is trying to rationalize the emotional behavior of kids 16 and 17.

According to psychology today, Emotional Intelligence includes three skills:

1. Emotional awareness, including the ability to identify your own emotions and those of others;

2. The ability to harness emotions and apply them to tasks like thinking and problem solving;

3. The ability to manage emotions, including the ability to regulate your own emotions, and the ability to cheer up or calm down another person.

Emotional intelligence then includes:  self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.  It can affect: personal relationships, workplace (or school) performance, physical and mental health, and how you deal with situations such as loss or disability.

The good news is that experts believe that emotional intelligence can be learned, even in adults.  How do you know if you are emotionally intelligent?  Perhaps reflect on your relationships – are you able to sustain positive and loving bonds with others?  Can you empathize and relate to people during their struggles, and do they know that you “get it” and are emotionally available to them?  Do you regulate your own behavior based on how others might feel if you act a certain way, or say certain things?  Before sending that text, email or calling someone in anger do you consider how you want them to “feel” following your interaction?  Do you take pleasure in being right even if that makes others feel bad?  If you want to test your level of emotional intelligence, or raise your emotional IQ, take a quiz to see where you’re at:  Emotional Intelligence Quotient Quiz.

Do you think you need to improve in this area?  Some suggestions include:

·    practice mindfulness – in social situations, at work, at home with family relationships.

·    Stay in touch with your feelings through journaling or meditation “check-ins”.

·    Connect your feelings to the situation and try to separate the person from their behavior.

·    Check your thoughts – how you think can become how you feel, and the good news is you can change how you think!

·    Communicate with others and don’t be afraid to be vulnerable to those close to you to help sort through feelings, thoughts and emotions.

·    And if you can, don’t take the comments of others personally.  Their thoughts about you do not need to become the thoughts you have about yourself.

 

Originally posted November 2016