medicalartspressblog.com

The 12 Ways to Health

Mary — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:05:49 +0000

The holiday season is always an exciting time of year – the hustle and bustle of shopping, seeing family, and snow are a few of my favorite parts of the season. With all of the excitement, it’s easy to forget about bundling up and staying healthy.

My co-worker sent me a link to the CDC’s website that has a list of 12 Health and Safety Tips for the Holidays. You can also sing these tips as a holiday song, The 12 Ways to Health.

Print out the list and give it to your patients as a fun way of reminding them to stay healthy and safe this holiday season!

-Mary

To link to the 12 Ways to Health, click here.

Marketing in a Recession

Mary — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:06:23 +0000

As of this week, it’s official. We have been in a recession since December 2007. And there are no projections of it getting better quickly. People are scared. Businesses are scared. I am scared.

It’s times like this when it’s easy to lose your focus and sight on the future. But it’s also times like this when you need to keep your sight forward. The economy is going to get better. And when it does get better, you want all of your patients that passed on that annual check-up to come back to your practice – not someone else’s practice.

This is why it’s so important to market your practice during the tough times. You don’t want your patients to forget about you.

We have written a few posts with tips for marketing on a budget. But now, we would like to hear your tips. Has your practice found successful ways to market during hard times? Please share with us and other healthcare professionals by posting a comment.

-Mary

*To read previous posts about marketing on a budget, click here.

The Disappearing Act: An Update

Mary — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:02:55 +0000

Even though the year is coming to an end, the degradable bags are not! As you may remember, last February I started an experiment with three of our degradable plastic bags. Being the skeptic, I wanted to see if these bags truly will degrade into brittle flakes, eventually disappearing right before my eyes!

I started with three bags:

Bag 1 does not get used
Bag 2 gets used occasionally
Bag 3 was on the roof

We are now in month 10 of the experiment. Bags 1 and 2 still look and feel like normal plastic bags. However, Bag 3 is now only a rectangular piece of plastic. I recently brought it inside because I was concerned about it blowing away. This change in environment has not stopped the degradation process. However, I do suspect the process will be slowed a little inside.

We still have 7 months before the other two are supposed to start degrading. Check Practice Essentials regularly to read more about our own Disappearing Act!

-Mary

*This post is part of an ongoing series of post. To read all of the entries about the degradable bags, click here.

Stuffed with Thanks-giving

Mary — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:05:06 +0000

I have a laundry list of things to be thankful for, and since Thanksgiving is just a couple days away I thought I would share.

· My husband – Loving and supportive no matter what.· My son – The light of my life. Makes me smile just thinking about him.· My mom – No matter what is always willing to listen.· My dad – Would do anything for me.· My mother-in-law – Listens to me on my way home from work when I just want to talk.· My father-in-law – Gives the best hugs and knows when I need one.· My sister-in-law – Always makes me laugh.· My brother-in-law – Loves to keep my son entertained.· My grandmother-in-law – Loves to dish out the compliments.· My job – Although it can be challenging, I am so lucky to be employed and have job security.· My friends – I have some amazing friends both at work and outside of work that I don’t know what I would do without.Now it’s your turn. Tell all the people in your life why you are thankful for them.

Wishing everyone a very happy Turkey Day!

- Jessica

Lung Cancer Awareness Month

Mary — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:28:19 +0000

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, which creates mixed emotions for me. I believe everyone has the right to smoke if that’s what they choose to do. I, however, would have loved to spend my childhood and adulthood with my grandmother, who died from lung cancer when I was 3. She never got to meet my husband or my son. My only memory of her is in a hospital bed, very sick… and dying. My grandfather hid me under his overcoat because that was the only way I could sneak into her room and say goodbye without the nurses seeing me.

How can you help before you lose someone close to you?

Educate – Make sure they know the facts.
According to an article on Medicalnewstoday.com, “Smoking and tobacco use are the leading cause of preventable death in the US. An estimated 438,000 people in the US die prematurely from smoking or secondhand smoke exposure, with an additional 8.6 million having a serious illness caused by smoking.” It’s unfortunate and sad to me that this is the leading cause of preventable death. (more…)

Healthy Skin Month

Mary — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:51:37 +0000

Did you know that November is Healthy Skin Month? To spread healthy skin awareness, I’ve compiled advice from four medical experts on how to treat and protect your skin.

Don’t smoke. “Quit smoking or, better yet, don’t even start! More and more young people are smoking and doing so to relieve stress, but it’s bad for your skin and causes wrinkles. Deep-set wrinkles will appear around your mouth from puckering, your skin will be dehydrated and dull, and you may experience premature aging.” — Flor A. Mayoral, MD, FAAD, clinical instructor, departments of dermatology and cutaneous surgery, University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.

Use soap only on select areas of the body to avoid dryness. “Unless you have really oily skin, because you are a teenager or work with oils or gases, you do not need soap to get yourself clean. Pure water does the job to get you clean. However, you do need to use soap on your face, under your arms, and in the groin area. As you get older, the use of soap on the rest of your body can unnecessarily dry your skin.” — Brian B. Adams, MD, MPH, FAAD, associate professor of dermatology, University of Cincinnati; director of dermatology, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio. (more…)