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Ain’t no Cure for the Wintertime Blues?

This is a guest post by Cindy Flath, Supervisor of the Research Department at Altru Health System.

The days have gotten shorter; seemingly endless cloudy days and little sun greet us each day. If we could hibernate like bears winter wouldn’t seem so bad.

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Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you’re like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter; sapping your energy and making you feel moody.

The specific cause of seasonal affective disorder remains unknown. Some factors that may come into play include:

  • Your biological clock … The reduced level of sunlight in fall and winter may cause winter-onset SAD. This decrease in sunlight may disrupt your body’s internal clock and lead to feelings of depression.
  • Serotonin levels. A drop in serotonin, a brain chemical that affects mood, might play a role in SAD. Reduced sunlight can cause a drop in serotonin that may trigger depression.
  • Melatonin levels. The change in season can disrupt the balance of the body’s level of melatonin, which plays a role in sleep patterns and mood.

There are alternates to medication that may help to alleviate the symptoms of SAD

  • Make your environment sunnier and brighter. Open blinds, trim tree branches that block sunlight. Sit closer to bright windows while at home or in the office.
  • Get outside. Even on cold or cloudy days, outdoor light can help — especially if you spend some time outside within two hours of getting up in the morning.
  • Exercise regularly. Exercise and other types of physical activity help relieve stress and anxiety. Being more fit can make you feel better about yourself, too, which can lift your mood.

In light therapy, also called phototherapy, you sit a few feet from a special light therapy box so that you’re exposed to bright light. Light therapy mimics natural outdoor light and appears to cause a change in brain chemicals linked to mood. Light therapy generally starts working in a few days to two weeks and causes few side effects. Research on light therapy is limited, but it appears to be effective for most people in relieving SAD symptoms.

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Celebrating “Jolly Old St. Nicholas”

Walking through the hallway outside our nurses’ office, I asked our residents in the med. line if they had celebrated St. Nicholas Day as children, putting out their shoes.  To my surprise, none of them had.  As a child, St. Nicholas visited our home every year on the eve of his feast in early December.

Last year, we at St. Anne’s had an 18-year old German girl, Antonia Kerl, stay with us for about three months.  This included St. Nicholas Day.  On that occasion, she did a program for our residents on “Christmas in Germany,” sharing German food and customs with our residents.  For the December issue of our newsletter, The Broadcaster, she also contributed a little article, featuring St. Nicholas as our “Saint of the Month.”  It ran as follows:

St. Nicholas was born in 270 AD and died on December 6, 343. He was the Bishop of Myra (what we now call Turkey). Unfortunately, we do not have many details about his life. He is known for his good deeds for the society, and he ministered to the sick, the poor and the ones in need. Therefore, he is the patron saint of children, various peoples and regions and several professions. The feast day on December 6 is a big day in Germany.  Children place their shoes outside the door and hope that St. Nicholas will come and leave small presents, such as chocolate, oranges or nuts in their shoes. In Germany, he is accompanied by Knecht Rupprecht, who is supposed to punish the children who did not behave throughout the year, whereas St. Nicholas rewards the good children.

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To this day, even in the United States, St. Nicholas’ fine tradition of generosity continues.  This afternoon, Sr. Elaine told us Sisters at lunch: “Don’t forget to put out your shoes tonight; but St. Nicholas has to go to Hugo’s (Grocery Store) quick first.”   ~Sr. Christina Neumann, OSF

PS: To subscribe to our newsletter, The Broadcaster, click here.

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Let’s string some Popcorn…share your Christmas preparation traditions

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Wednesday afternoon, I strung popcorn with our residents to add to the Christmas tree in our Activity Room.  Although this was the first time I’ve done this at St. Anne’s, this yule-time task is definitely not new to me.  Our family used to watch slides of old family photos with my grandparents, while hoping not to hit a hard kernel and stick ourselves with thChristmas decorating (10)e needle.  I’ve heard that cranberries can be messy, so this afternoon, we’ll be using red beads to add to the décor in their stead.  Maybe we’re re-instating an old custom.  If we do it again, I won’t make so much – three cups gave me a lot more than we needed so I ended up making caramel corn with the rest of it!  I hope our residents enjoy that, too!

Please share your own Advent or Christmas traditions and customs.  We’d love to hear them!

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“Don’t forget to wash your hands!” ~ Handwashing Awareness Week ~ Dec. 7

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At the St. Anne’s reception desk, we have a little plastic duck which has reminded many an inquisitive child or adult visitor not to forget to wash their hands. Along with offering a couple of quacks and a giggle, this darling duckling dispenser squirts out hand sanitizer when his pump is pushed down.

This coming week, December 7-13, is National Handwashing Awareness Week. Our little hand-sanitizing duck brings to mind a practical question: is hand-sanitizer really an effective alternative to hand-washing?

According to CDC, “alcohol-based hand sanitizers can reduce the number of germs on hands in some situations, but sanitizers do not eliminate all types of germs.” Users are advised to use products containing at least 60 percent alcohol. CDC research has also found that “hand sanitizer doesn’t reduce the spread of some viruses such as the norovirus.” Also, the FDA does not advise hand sanitizers as a substitute, but only as an addition, to hand-washing when doing food-prep. Hand sanitizers strip the outer layer of oil on one’s skin, according to biology.about.com. Although hand-sanitizers may say they kill up to 99.9% of germs, that doesn’t mean they do in practical circumstances; products were tested on inanimate surfaces rather than on skin.

It seems, whenever possible, that good hand-washing technique is the best way to germs from spreading. And what is good technique? Sources recommend at least fifteen, and better yet, up to thirty seconds with soap and water. A helpful way of ensuring you’ve spent enough time “playing in the water” is to hum the tune “Happy Birthday” to yourself twice. Good technique also includes scrubbing “the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails,” according to homesafety.org.

Along with good hand-washing, disinfecting common surfaces, like doorknobs, telephones, computers, etc. is also a good preventative measure. Coughing into your elbow, rather than into your hand or the air also can help stop the spread of germs.

Here at St. Anne’s, although we offer hand-sanitizer to our residents, we strongly encourage hand-washing; this is especially important during cold and flu season.

Sources:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/adult-health/in-depth/hand-washing/art-20046253

http://biology.about.com/od/microbiology/a/handsanitizers.htm

http://info.debgroup.com/blog/bid/270757/Hand-Washing-or-Hand-Sanitizer-Which-is-Better-and-Why

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What’s in a Name?: differences in long-term care terminology

The terminology used in the world of long-term care can be rather confusing to the average person. In this week’s blog, I would like to help clarify what different terms, such as basic care, assisted living, and independent living actually mean.

According to LongTermCare.gov’s glossary, assisted living is an “arrangement that provides individualized personal care, assistance with Activities of Daily Living*, help with medications, and services such as laundry and housekeeping.” Assisted living “provides or coordinates individualized support services to accommodate the individual’s needs and abilities to maintain as much independence as possible,” according to the North Dakota Long Term Care Association (NDLTCA). Assisted living facilities may also provide healthcare that is not as intensive as that offered in a skilled nursing facility. Also, according to the above-mentioned glossary, “assisted living facilities allow people to remain relatively independent.”

*Activities of Daily Living (ADL) include: Bathing, Dressing, Transferring (to/from a bed or chair), Eating, Caring for incontinence

Another classification is independent living, which, according to UMH’s Assisted Independent Living Blog, benefits people “who can still live independently but enjoy having access to assistance when needed.” An independent living facility would provide its residents “with convenient access to dining, medical care, entertainment and more [as well as] a safe living environment, but with minimal assistance. Hospitality services, such as housekeeping, meals, and laundry may or may not be included in the monthly rental, but are typically available,” according to UMH.

A basic care facility, on the other hand, According to the NDLTCA, “provides room and board…to individuals…who, because of impaired capacity for independent living, require health, social, or personal care services, but do not require regular twenty-four-hour medical or nursing services.” (We refer to that as “skilled nursing.”)

Nonetheless, in basic care, staff are available 24/7 to meet the basic needs of the residents. North Dakota is actually the only state that offers this classification. Other states use the terms “assisted” or “independent” living. According to Karly Kruckenberg of NDLTCA, “the payments are one of their biggest differences” between basic care and assisted living. What services are included and which are offered at additional cost varies. Also, according to Kruckenberg, “basic care can be seen/advertised ‘as an Alzheimer’s, dementia, or special memory care facility.’ ” This does not necessarily have to be the case, however, as with of St. Anne’s.

At St. Anne’s, we offer basic care as well as low-rent housing efficiency apartments (through the federal government’s HUD program). In basic care, most all services (nursing, meals, etc.) are covered under the residents’ routine care payments. Apartment residents are encouraged to take part in activities with basic care residents (at no additional charge). They are also able to select other services (meals, laundry, housekeeping, etc.) for which they make additional payment.

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Pumpkin, Anyone?

Friday, November 21, 2014 ~ Pumpkin, anyone?

So what do you do with four gallons of frozen pumpkin? Well, if you work at St. Anne’s, there are many residents to bake for who love homemade goodies. One great way I found of using some of it was: Pumpkin Spice Muffins.

Our residents enjoyed them yesterday at our “Turkey Trot” Dance after listening to accordion music by Chuck Gust and Friends.

What I used is actually a modified pumpkin bread recipe.

pumpkin recipe

For a printable version of the original recipe, visit http://www.cooks.com/recipe/4m3kb0kd/easy-no-eggs-pumpkin-bread.html.

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86,400 seconds

When helping our activity director with a Thanksgiving-themed display, I came across the following quote which seemed quite apropos for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, and, for that matter, the entire year: “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’” (William Arthur Ward)

We have this quote hanging in our activity room display case now, along with “hand”-made turkeys by our residents. During our Bible Study, they were asked to trace their hand; from this, they made a picture of a turkey by connecting the fingers for feathers and adding extremities such as a comb and beak. Before coloring their bird, residents were to write one thing they were thankful for on each feather. We do this activity every year, but it is a good exercise in remembering to be grateful. Some things our residents were thankful for included: food, a home, family, friends, and knowledge.

It seems to me that we so easily take God’s many gifts for granted. This Thanksgiving season, my hope for myself, and for everyone, is to devote more of the seconds of my day (86,400) to lifting my heart in gratitude! ~Sr. Christina Neumann, OSF