Notes From Your Parish Nurse

Summer is in full swing. The crazy extremely hot days, the lightening bugs, the workcamps, the concerts, National Youth Conference, the laughing heard at the area pools, FRB annual meeting, fireworks. All a chance to meet and socialize with your neighbors.

Take advantage of this wonderful season, where everyone is out and looking to chat. Develop a larger group of friends and neighbors. Learn about their lives, their loves, their interests. God said man was not born to walk this earth alone. Show good stewardship to your fellow man and watch all the wonderful returns you will receive.

God Bless Us All. Stay Well.

Ok, it has been a month and I am just reporting now. I am 8 pounds lighter but beginning to struggle a bit as this is not my first time doing weight watchers and I feel like "been there, done that". Not a very healthy attitude I must admit.

Have started better behaviors though - Eating breakfast and trying to limit night time snacks. I do have to say that eating breakfast has helped me not to visit those fast food drive thru's so often. If you have any ideas for breakfast foods that aren't "typical breakfast" let me know, as I truly have never liked breakfast even as a child and am open to new suggestions.

Hope some of you have silently joined my commitment to eating better and I will say a prayer for continued health for us all.

I know that subject line has scared a few of you right off the bat. Weight? Isn't that a taboo subject? Isn't it just plain rude to mention that fact that one's health my be in jeopardy due to excess pounds? Well probably; but here it goes anyway.

Knowing that my weight had been causing me some unwanted problems (high blood pressure for one), I have joined Weight Watchers. I hesitated and wondered if I should announce this to the whole world (Ok, let's be real, its only the church), but still I debated. Then I decided that since I had asked God to lead me in this journey, I should include my church family. So please say a prayer for my success in the rebuilding of my health. If you feel so moved, join along and we can finally have a real discussion about weight.

For those of you lucky enough, or more apporopriately disciplined enough, not to have a weight problem, I promise my blogs will not center on this issue but just include periodic updates. Have a wonderful summer. 

Let us all stop for a moment and thank God for the health that we possess at this very moment in time.

We may have some sort of ailment or heartache; maybe diabetes, maybe hypertension, maybe a little too much weight, maybe achy bones and muscles, or maybe a personal crisis that is consuming us. Let us put those aside for just this day, this moment, and thank God for health and moments of happiness that we do enjoy. Let us not forget our friends and neighbors too. Ask God to bless them and their families and to give them continued good health.

Ask God to also look over those less fortunate; the hungry, the lonely, the sick, the dying, the jailed, the victims of disaster. These brothers and sisters are often forgotten and could use our prayers to help lift them up to the Lord.

Maybe your prayer will take the form of the written word, or maybe the  prayer offered in silence, or maybe the voice lifted in song. Whatever your personal preference let us all join in this National Day of Prayer and lift our voices of thanks and petitions to our God.

April signals the beginning of Spring and as such I have way too many thoughts "springing" forward in my head.

I would like to continue to encourage all people to educate themselves on the issue of organ donation. This special gift for others calls for us to look beyond ourselves and truly consider the gift of life God has given to us. (donatelifemaryland.org)

I am also noting that Earth Day is April 22. This is a good time to stop and take note of the wonderful world that God has created for us. We also need to take stock of how each of us takes care of this earth. For myself, sometimes I find that I take the easy way out. I use way too many plastic bottles, chemical cleaners, and standard lightbulbs. I find sometimes I am too lazy to find the recycle bin, like my car clean during the summer, and am not too fond of being cold in the winter. No Earth Day role model here. 

"Doing no Harm" was a theme in our Lenten study, and one I hope to take to heart. I found that I was unwittingly doing harm not only to myself, but the world as well. Sin of omission I think they call it. Turning a blind eye to the environment was an easy way to live, but not a healthy one. "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" has become a silent mantra. My trash is looking smaller and my recycle bin larger, I ordered Meghan a Brita Filter (her idea), and I have 6 ink cartridges waiting to be taken to STAPLES to be refilled. Small steps to be sure, but steps just the same.

Another step I am taking is asking you to recycle your eyeglasses. I will have a box in the Narthex for your used eye and sunglasses for the Lions Club to distribute to the less fortunate. Donations will be delivered on Earth Day, April 22. I also heard mention this morning at worship that old shoes are being collected to be sent to Haiti. A box will be available for them as well. Be part of a healthy earth, a healthy church, a healthy life. 

Well, as most of you know, I had hernia surgery last week and I was just not up to going to Capitol Hill as I had hoped. I was really distressed, but I guess we just don't recuperate like we did at 20 anymore!

Dan did go though (along with 3 others from Illinois and Iowa growing projects) and was truly impressed with the amount of time and effort it takes to keep this type of organization in the limelight of Congress and influential groups. They met with Senator Cardin's aide, Senator Mikulski's aide, Congressman Bartlett, Senator Hardin, USDA, USAID, and Bread for the World. FRB seemed to be widely known and respected and as always Marv made a wonderful spokesperson for this truly special project that God has put before us.

Please keep FRB and their work in your prayers and if you get the chance, you are always welcome to go to Capitol Hill as part of the FRB group.

I am excited to report that Dan and I will be traveling with Foods Resource Bank (FRB) to Capitol Hill in DC later this month to discuss the urgent issue of trying to end global hunger.

As you know through the growing projects our church has sponsored that FRB and ourselves have helped many countries from Kenya to Zambia give themselves a hand up in learning how to grow their own food and help them sustain food security. FRB goes to DC on a regular basis to keep this issue in front of Congress and try to secure funding to keep their mission going.

I am curious to see how the "other arm" of FRB works within our government structure. We know first hand the integrity and Godly purpose from which FRB operates and I will be interested to see how this is integrated within the Congressional circles.  

I am not sure of our total agenda at this time, but we are meeting with an aide to Senator Cardin and attending a reception with the Alliance to End Hunger; a group which FRB is a member. Please say a prayer for FRB's continued success and abilities to secure funding. I will keep you updated on our agenda and results after our trip.

As a child, the lenten season usually revolved around what I could "give up". My usual choices were either candy, cookies, or my favorite; chocolate. Forty days seemed like an eternity.

As an adult I now try to observe lent in a different way; what can I "give"? Our lenten study is themed; 3 Simple Rules. One being, do no harm.

As a nurse, this is my taken oath - "Do no Harm". I can give my patients the peace of mind knowing that they can rest easy in my care of their physical, mental, and spiritual bodies. I can give someone the answer to a medical question that may have been on their mind. I can reassure another that their anxiety is a natural response to a medical issue. I can just "be there" when a friend needs a shoulder to cry on. I can give assistance to an elderly neighbor who may not ask me directly. I can give my time to a child who is lonely. I can respect the environment by recylcing more. I can live more harmoniously with the world around me. I am working hard to try to be more giving during this reflective season.

However, I was also reminded that I can give myself a gift. One of taking care of myself as I would others. I realize that "Do No Harm" also applies to me. Am I harming myself? Do I eat a balanced diet? No. Do I take my prescribed medicines? Yes. Do I exercise regularly? No. Do I make annual physical exams a priority? Yes. Seems like I could use a little work in this regard. I need to give myself the gifts I would give others.

How about you? What can you give? To someone else? To yourself?

Now, forty days hardly seems enough time to try to improve my relationship with God, my neighbors and myself.   

Welcome to the new Parish Nurse Blog. I will be updating this page twice a month with interesting and important health news. If you have a topic that you would like discussed please comment below and I will be glad to research your questions.

Recently we have seen a rash of safety recalls ranging from Tylenol products, to Simplicity cribs to Toyota (Toyota.com/recall) cars. Is the question that new products are being produced in a substandard manner? Or is it that we now have more stringent standards that allow us to catch potential problems before they become major consumer issues? I would like to think the latter.

It wasn't  so many years ago that companies were allowed to report on their own internal mistakes and site visits to ensure compliance were non existent. Not so any longer. For better or worse there are public watch dog groups, government standards and inspections, and I believe more corporations take their responsibility of consumer safety more seriously than ever before.

There are two major government agencies that help govern and report safety and health concerns to the public. The first, is the Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov). This agency's mission is in part to protect our health "assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human drugs, vaccines, medical devices, food supply, cosmetics, and dietary supplements." In the major Tylenol recall it was a "musty or moldy smell" that lead to the finding that a chemical treatment of the wooden pallets used to ship these products was adhering to the tablets causing abdominal complaints. For a full listing of tylenol recall products simply access the FDA website and click on recall information at the bottom right hand corner.

The second agency is the Consumer Product Safety Commission (www.cpsc.gov). This is an independent agency that is "charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction." This commission works to ensure the safety of many consumer products such as cribs, toys, power tools, etc and is a wonderful site for recall information for parents. Many parents utilize yard sales to stretch their dollars to help cover the high cost of raising a child. However, please do not buy cribs, or carseats from these yard sales. Older models of these items do not meet the new standards of safety for your child. When buying toys or strollers from these sales please be sure to visit this site for updated information on recalls or replacement parts.

Being human means making mistakes. Protect yourself by being socially aware of medical and consumer issues by visiting these sites regularly. In the meantime; try not to worry excessively and remember these words:     " Look at the crows! They don't plant or harvest, and they don't have storehouses or barns. But God takes care of them. You are much more important than any bird. Can worry make you live longer? If you don't have power of small things, why worry about everything else?" Luke 12: 24-26.