I lived on Miami’s beautiful South Beach for four years and thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the heat, so the cold rainy gray winter days in Virginia are now even more miserable.  Thank G-d I work from home so I don’t even have to leave the house on days like this.  It was just one of those nose-to-the-grindstone work days where I had to refocus my energy every 30 minutes to stay on task.

The great news is that somehow (!?) I was able to translate that energy to my first time on the mat with my new Wayne recording…sooooo good.  I just decided it was time and went, no begging and pleading required today.  I made it through Janu Sirsana C before the baby cried to nurse again!  My body feels so strange now, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to explain it.  Have you ever seen one of those plastic toys of a person standing on a round base, where you push the button on the bottom and the person falls to pieces?  I can’t even think of what that would be called to Google it.  If you know what I mean, please tell me what it’s called!   Anyway, that’s how my body feels…there is strength there, underneath, trying to make a comeback…but mostly I just feel like a bunch of parts that are not really together just yet.  It all emanates from my lower back which is a mess, really tender and fragile.  The baby will be five months old in another week and I am down to 111.8 pounds.  I know my weight will come down, my bigger concern is getting stronger and maintaining.  Anyway, the point is I did.the.practice today!  It wasn’t amazing, but it was good.

I’ve been thinking about this whole blogging thing over the past couple of days…just how many blogs are out there, what it takes to get a following, if I really have anything to say that people would want to read…and how keeping a journal of your life, your thoughts, your daily activities just seems really narcissistic.  It’s like everyone just wants to talk about themselves and have a one way conversation with the world, and I feel sort of embarrassed for wanting to do it also.  I mean, is it brave (like I thought when I first started the blog just a few weeks ago!) or is it just like a reverse voyeurism that feeds the ego?  I’m sure I’ll change my mind again tomorrow but I’d love to hear what you think.

This blog has been dedicated to providing only the facts related to issues of nursing advocacy and health reform, but when I found this cartoon on another blog, I had to re-post it. I do not know who the artist is because it was not listed on the other blog. I believe this cartoon presents a clear picture about who is actually in control of the current system as we are working toward reform. On a side note, notice that there are no nurses sitting at that table.

There are many parts of the proposed House reform bill that are not commonly discussed in the media and public forum. One of these parts are the proposed changes to the nursing profession. This link will provide the reader with more information about what the proposed House bill will mean for the future of nursing.

Nursing Provisions in House Health Care Reform Bill.

GALESBURG, Ill. — Janice Bragg didn’t like the way her husband was being cared for in a nursing home.

She said she figured she could do better, and with the help of two nurses from Western Illinois Home Health Care she feels she has. But she couldn’t do it without them. “You just don’t know how much they help,” she said. Bragg’s husband can no longer walk and must be fed through a feeding tube.

“He’s good in the morning and he knows me, and in the afternoon he doesn’t,” she said.

Bragg said she’s 72 and in good health, so there’s a lot she can handle around the house, but there are things she still struggles with. The most helpful service the nurses provide is bathing Bragg’s husband, but she said she can depend on them for almost anything. She’s called them with questions, problems and small emergencies, and always received a quick response. “It doesn’t make any difference if it’s a holiday or not,” she said.

Bragg and her husband are just one of 1,355,300 patients and their families who subscribe to home health care services in the United States, according to a 2000 survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For the rest of this article please visit:

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/lifestyles/health/x1945272701/Home-nurses-play-indispensable-role-in-long-term-care

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to photograph the Go Red for Women luncheon held by the American Heart Association. The event, themed Kiss Heart Disease Goodbye, was at the QC Waterfront Center in Bettendorf and full of incredible goodies and info materials provided in Macy’s bags, information from Trinity hospital, and presentations about the importance of why women should be concerned about heart disease and what they can do before it’s too late. I was grateful to be included as one of the sponsors for the event, along with Palmer College of Chiropractic and numerous others.

Silent auction items and vendors ranged from jewelry to chiropractic care to children’s books to healthcare products to makeup to candles to bags and everything in between. 

I had a glimpse of the tables set up before the luncheon. Edible Arrangements had chocolate- and vanilla-covered strawberries as table centerpieces. A select number of women had framed quotes poignant to their lives and Mary Kay provided lipstick samples. 

I had a chance to attend the breakout sessions and was most impressed by Dr. Rafat Padaria (front-center), a local cardiologist who talked about the myths of heart disease. She underscored that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women – not breast cancer (which she said ranks #7). Her lecture was eye-opening as she talked about how symptoms are often different for women than men. Padaria said she’s seen women come into the ER with heart problems even though they ate healthy foods and exercised regularly, and that it’s important to get thorough physicals from primary-car doctors that include blood pressure and cholesterol checks.

After the break-out sessions it was time for lunch and the presentations.

One of the highlights on stage was the hot, intense dance performance from cardiologist Dr. Paul and Bettinna Bolger. They danced as if there was no one watching and it sparked cheers and laughter from the crowd.

Kirby Winn (left) of the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center served as Master of Ceremonies, and introduced a host of speakers ranging from a nurse who suffered from heart disease herself, to a woman who talked about how heart disease has killed generations of her family, to a healthy, active woman (speaking via a recording) who told the audience she received the same diagnosis about her heart from Mayo doctors as she did from local ones. Heart surgeon Dr. Alyas Chaudhry (center) gave a rather graphic, gross but informative talk showing how consistent fast-food consumption and regular smoking affects the organ. And finally, Group Services (right) presented a $2,500 check to the American Heart Association as a matching challenge.

For more information on heart disease including realizing your risk factors, Trinity’s materials included this online assessment from which you can learn more.

By Shawn Kennedy, editorial director

Last week, I got away from my desk, computer, and stacks of paper and (briefly) became a “real nurse” again. As a member of my county’s Medical Reserve Corps, I volunteered to help administer H1N1 flu vaccine at a local school. Our vaccinees were children over two years and young adults up to 24. We were distributing FluMist, a live attenuated vaccine administered intranasally (see the article on FluMist in the October AJN).  The applicator looks like just like a syringe, but without a needle.

I was impressed with how organized the process was. Employees of the health department were there controlling traffic, fetching supplies, inputting data, interviewing new arrivals and helping them complete forms. A physician was on hand to screen individuals if there were any questions about whether someone should receive the vaccine.

I was one of 20 RNs, most of whom worked as county public health nurses. We had a brief reminder of the vaccine administration procedure (we had received instructions and a link to a video demonstration about administering the vaccine the prior week), and then were sent to our stations at tables in the large gymnasium. There was a light-hearted and almost casual atmosphere—the key to it, I think, was that there were no needles involved. Such looks of relief when I took the rubber tip off the applicator!

I had just one solitary young man come to my table. He looked embarrassed and a little nervous, judging from his leg twitching up and down. Mostly it was groups: a parent with two children, two parents with one child. There was one father with six children all under the age of 12! The reactions and questions were as varied as the people: trendy adolescents who kept their cool while a nasal applicator was inserted into a nostril; giggly little girls who were so ticklish that I could hardly get near their noses with the applicator; adorable three-year-olds who didn’t care what I did as long as they got a sticker. There was one very serious 16-year-old boy who wanted to know “how it worked.” I gave him the science behind the vaccine.  He then said he only meant where was I going to put the applicator. My bad.

It was a good reminder to me of what I enjoyed the most about being a nurse—using knowledge and skill to help people; knowing that what I was doing was valuable and made a difference. It was nice to feel that again.

I’m going to try a new thing throughout December in amongst my regular blog postings – I’m going to post a really short one sentence CV or application tip every day. If you click on the Daily CV / Interview tips category you will be able to view them as they are posted. You can also follow them on twitter

Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog to keep updated every day, and keep an eye out for the first one tomorrow!