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Tag: Medicine

  • Supermom In Training: 8 Easy Valentine’s crafts for kids of all ages

    Supermom In Training: 8 Easy Valentine’s crafts for kids of all ages

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    This year, why not send a homemade Valentine’s Day craft to a long-distance family member or friend? Everyone could use a little pick-me-up, and Valentine’s Day is the perfect occasion to tell someone you love them.

    Here are 8 easy Valentine’s crafts for kids of all ages.

    Thumbprint crafts. Break out a few stamp pads and turn your child’s thumbprint into hearts (just stick two of them together in a heart shape). Don’t forget a whimsical message: THUMB-body loves you!

    Paper flowers. Fashion simple paper cupcake liners into pretty flowers by flattening them, having your child cut around the liner in a pretty scalloped or zigzag fashion, and then thread them onto pipe cleaners.

    Paper plate wreath. Large or small paper plates will work. Cut the centre out so you have a doughtnut shape and paint, colour, or glue on hearts and other decorations.

    Handprint card. Fold a piece of paper in half and trace your child’s hand from the fold upward (so your child’s wrist is aligned with the fold). Trace their handprint and cut it out.

    Send a hug. Have your child lie down on top of a long roll of paper with his/her arms outstretched. Trace their arm span and cut out. Write a sweet message on it, tuck it into an envelope, and send someone a hug.

    Make cupid’s arrows. All you need is a few wooden skewers, feathers, washi tape, or anything else you can think of to make LOVEly arrows Cupid would adore.

    Beaded suncatchers. String beans onto a pipe cleaner and bend into a heart-shape. Attached a thin ribbon so it can be hung in the window.

    Make love bugs. Little white, pink and red pompoms make for perfect fuzzy love bugs. Add googly eyes and little flat feet to prop them up.

    A full-time work-from-home mom, Jennifer Cox (our “Supermom in Training”) loves dabbling in healthy cooking, craft projects, family outings, and more, sharing with readers everything she knows about being an (almost) superhero mommy.

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  • New Book Explores Why Medicine Doesn’t Always Work

    New Book Explores Why Medicine Doesn’t Always Work

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    Jan. 31, 2023 –In How Medicine Works and When It Doesn’t, F. Perry Wilson, MD, guides readers through the murky and often treacherous landscape of modern medicine. The book could well have been titled Marcus Welby Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. In Wilson’s view, Americans no longer trust their doctors the way they once did, and that lack of trust can have life-threatening consequences.

    But patients aren’t to blame. Wilson – a kidney specialist at Yale University and a frequent contributor to Medscape, the sister company of WebMD – explains how charlatans have managed to blur the line between quackery and solid science-based advice, leaving Americans in a relentless tug-of-war for their attention, dollars, and, ultimately, their well-being. 

    Meanwhile, he argues, doctors have created a “vacuum” for misinformation to fill by not working hard enough to build relationships of trust with their patients. Crucially, he says, that means being transparent with people, even when the answer to their question is “I don’t know.” Certainty may be reassuring, but it’s the exception in medicine, not the rule. Anyone who says otherwise – well, they’re selling something.

    The good news, according to Wilson, is that with the right tools, people can immunize themselves against misinformation, inflated claims, and bogus miracle cures.

    Below is an excerpt from How Medicine Works and When It Doesn’t: Learning Who to Trust to Get and Stay Healthy (copyright 2023 by F. P. Wilson, MD. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Publishing).

    How Medicine Works and When It Doesn’t

    I lost Ms. Meyer twenty-five minutes into her first visit.

    Doctors are often a bit trepidatious meeting a patient for the first time. By the time we open the door to the exam room, we’ve read through your chart, looked at your blood work, and made some mental notes of issues we want to address. Some of the more sophisticated practices even have a picture of you in the electronic medical record, so we have a sense of what you look like. I usually take a beat before I open the door, a quick moment to forget my research lab, my paperwork, a conversation with a coworker, to turn my focus to you, the patient, waiting in that room. It is my hope, standing just on the other side of an inch of wood, that you and I will form a bond, or, more aptly, a “therapeutic alliance.” I’ve always liked that term – the idea that you and I are on the same side of some great war, that together we can overcome obstacles. But that alliance doesn’t come easily. And lately, it has been harder to forge than ever.

    Ms. Meyer was standing in the center of the room, arms crossed. Smartly dressed and thin, she lived in one of the affluent Philadelphia suburbs – on “the Main Line” – and it showed, in her subtle but clearly expensive jewelry as well as her demeanor. She looked out of place in my resident-run medical clinic, which primarily catered to less wealthy inhabitants of West Philadelphia. But what struck me most was the emotion that radiated from her. Ms. Meyer was angry. “What brought you here today?” I asked her, using my standard first question. Later in my career, I would learn to replace that line with something more open: “How can I help you?” or even “Tell me about yourself.” But it hardly mattered.

    She was exhausted, she said. Almost no energy. So drained she could barely get out of bed. Unable to focus during the day, she tossed and turned all night and repeated the cycle day in and day out. It was, she said, simply untenable. I asked how long it had been happening.

    “Months,” she said. “Years, actually. You are literally the sixth doctor I’ve seen about this.” Her anger broke to reveal desperation. Second opinions are common enough in medical practice. Third opinions, for difficult cases, are not unheard of. But I had never been a sixth opinion before, and I felt immediately uncomfortable. Notbecause I wasn’t confident in my diagnostic abilities – like all young doctors I hadn’t yet learned how much I didn’t know – but because I was worried that whatever thoughts I had about her possible ailment would not be enough. What could I offer that all these others couldn’t?

    I kept my poker face firmly intact and waited.

    Eleven seconds. That’s how long the typical doctor waits before interrupting a patient, according to a study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Determined to not be a typical doctor, I let her talk, in her own words and in her own time. I thought my attentive listening would frame our relationship differently – that she might see me as a physician who was conscientious, methodical. But it backfired. It was clear she resented the fact that she had to relay the same information to me that she had already told to the five doctors that came before me.

    One of the most important skills a doctor has is to read the room. So I switched from respectful listening to diagnosing. I tried to troubleshoot symptoms of possible thyroid dysfunction, anemia, sleep apnea, lymphoma and other cancers. I asked about her family history, her history of drug or alcohol abuse, her sexual history. I even made sure I didn’t miss questions pertaining to pregnancy, because (this one comes from experience) you should never assume someone isn’t pregnant. I reviewed her lab work: Pages upon pages of blood and urine tests. Even CT scans of the head, chest, abdomen, and pelvis. Nothing was out of order. Nothing that we can measurein a lab or in the belly of a CT scanner, at least.

    But her affect was off, and her mood was sad. Ms. Meyer seemed, frankly, depressed. There is a formal way to diagnose major depressive disorder; a patient must display five of nine classic symptoms (such as loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy, fatigue, or weight changes). Ms. Meyer had eight of nine, a clear-cut case of major depression, according to the diagnostic manuals. But was it depression? Or was it something else, and the frustration of living with that something else had led to depression?

    The nine classic symptoms are far from the only way depression can manifest. As a disease that lives in the brain, the symptoms can be legion – and can lead doctors and patients on costly, and often fruitless, wild-goose chases.

    “Listen,” I said, “not everything is super-clear-cut in Medicine. I think part of this might be a manifestation of depression. It’s really common. Maybe we should try treating that and seeing if your energy improves.”

    Right there. That’s when I lost her.

    I could tell from the set of her jaw, the way her eyes stopped looking directly at mine and flickered off a bit, centering on my forehead. I could tell from her silence, and from the slight droop in her posture, that she had lost hope. We talked some more, but the visit was over. There would be no therapeutic alliance. I asked her to call the number on the back of her insurance card to set up a consultation with a mental health professional and made her a follow-up appointment with me in a month, which she, unsurprisingly, missed. My rush to a diagnosis – in this case a diagnosis that comes with a stigma (unwarranted, but a stigma nonetheless) – drove her away from both me and from conventional medicine. And had she even heard a diagnosis at all? Or had she heard, like so many women have about so many concerns over so many years, “It’s all in your head”?

    I didn’t see her for another year. When I did, she was having a seizure in the emergency room, the result of a “water cleanse,” anaturopathic practitioner had prescribed. Forcing herself to drink gallons of water a day, she had diluted the sodium content in her blood. When her sodium level got too low, her brain could not appropriately send electrical signals, and seizures ensued. She would survive, thankfully, and tell me later that she had never feltbetter. She had been told all her problems were due to heavy metal toxicity. (Lab work would not confirm this.) This diagnosis had led her into a slew of questionable medical practices, including regular “cleanses” and chelation therapy – where substances similar to what you might find in water softening tablets are injected into the blood to bind harmful metals. Chelation therapy runs around $10,000 to $20,000 per year and is not covered by insurance.

    The striking thing was that she positively shone with confidence and hope. Lying in a hospital bed, recovering from life-threatening seizures, she was, in a word, happy.

    And I felt … Well, to be honest, I think the emotion I felt was jealousy. It would be one thing if no one could help poor Ms. Meyer, depressed and unwilling to even entertain the diagnosis, but someone did help her. Someone whose worldview was, in my mind, irrational at best and exploitative at worst. My instinct was to dismissMs. Meyer as another victim of an industry of hucksters, as a rube. She had been taken in with empty promises and false hope, and some grifter had extracted cash from her in the manner of televangelists and late-night psychic hotlines. His “treatment” landed herin the emergency room with generalized tonic-clonic seizures that could have killed her. This was bad medicine, plain and simple.

    But – and this “but” was why I continue to think about Ms. Meyer – in the way that mattered to her, she got better. The huckster helped.

    It took me a long time to figure out why – fifteen years, actually. In that time, I finished my residency and fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. I got a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology (the study of how diseases affect a population). I was brought ontothe faculty at Yale University and started a research lab running clinical trials to try and generate the hard data that would really save lives. I became a scientist and a researcher, and a physician caring for the sickest of the sick. I lectured around the world on topics ranging from acute kidney injury to artificial intelligence and published more than one hundred peer-reviewed medical manuscripts. And yet, somehow, I knew that all the research studies I did would be for nothing if I couldn’t figure out how I – how Medicine – had failed Ms. Meyer and all the people out there who feel abandoned, ignored by the system, or overwhelmed by medical information.

    Why were people turning to their family and friends or social media for medical advice when physicians are willing and able to provide the best possible information? Was it simply the cost of healthcare? Or was something deeper going on? And though it took time, what I figured out will shine a light on why doctors have lost touch with their patients, why patients have lost faith in their doctors, and how we can get back to that therapeutic alliance that we all need in order to be truly healthy. That is what this book is all about.

    It turns out the most powerful force in Medicine is not an antibiotic. It isn’t stem cell therapy, genetic engineering, or robotic surgery. The most powerful force in Medicine is trust. It is the trust that lives between a patient and a physician, and it goes both ways. I trust you to tell me the truth about how you feel and what you want. You trust me to give you the best advice I can possibly give. We trust each other to fight against whatever ails you, physical or mental, to the best of our abilities. Ms. Meyer did not trust me. That was my failure, not hers. And that personal failure is a mirror of the failure of Medicine writ large – our failure to connect with patients, to empathize, to believe that their ailment is real and profound, and to honestly explain how medical science works and succeeds, and why it sometimes doesn’t. We doctors have failed to create an environment of trust. And into that vacuum, others have stepped.

    It’s not entirely doctors’ fault, of course. The average primary care physician has less than fifteen minutes to conduct a typical new-patient visit. If the doctor doesn’t stick to that time, the practice will go out of business – overwhelmed by payments for malpractice insurance, overhead, and dwindling reimbursements from insurers. It’s hard to create trust in fifteen minutes. Combine our limited schedules with a seemingly unfeeling healthcare system, which sometimes charges thousands of dollars for an ambulance ride to the hospital and tens of thousands of dollars for even routine care, and it is no wonder why, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, trust in physicians is lower in the United States than in twenty-three other economically developed countries.

    While the healthcare system and physicians are not synonymous, physicians are the face of that system. In earlier times, we ran that system. It is no longer the case. Most physicians haven’t realized this yet, but we are no longer a managerial class. We are labor, plain and simple, working for others who, without medical training but with significant business acumen, use our labor to generate profit for companies and shareholders. Part of the key torestoring trust between patients and doctors is for all of us to start fighting to reform the system. And doctors should be on the front line of that battle.

    There is a right way and a wrong way to earn someone’s trust.One key lesson in this book is that it takes a keen observer to tell thedifference. Honesty, integrity, transparency, validation: These are good ways to create trust, and physicians need to commit to them wholeheartedly if we ever want our patients to take us seriously. Patients need to commit to honesty and transparency as well, even when the truth is painful. But less-than-scrupulous individuals can also leverage certain cognitive biases to create trust in ways that are manipulative. Trust hacking like this is a central reason modern medicine has lost ground to others who promise a quick fix for what ails you. It’s important not only to evaluate your own methods, but also to be able to spot whether someone is trying to earn your trust in an ethical way, to spot bad actors whose intentions may have little to do with actually helping you.

    There are several ways to hack trust. One is to give an impression of certainty. The naturopath who treated Ms. Meyer was unambivalent. He told her exactly what was wrong with her: heavy metal toxicity. There was no long list of potential alternative diagnoses, no acknowledgment of symptoms that were typical or atypical for that diagnosis. He provided clarity and, through that, an impression of competence. To know who you can truly trust, you have to learn to recognize this particular trick – you have to be skeptical of people who are overly certain, overly confident. Health is never clear-cut; nothing is 100 percent safe and nothing is 100 percent effective.

    Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. This book will show you how to grapple with medical uncertainty and make rational decisions in the face of risk.

    Traditional doctors like me are trained early on to hedge their bets. Patients hate this. Ask a doctor if the medication you are being prescribed will work, and they will say something like “For most people, this is quite effective” or “I think there’s a good chance” or (my personal pet peeve) “I don’t have a crystal ball.” This doctorly ambivalence is born out of long experience. We all have patients who do well, and we all have patients who do badly. We don’t want to lie to you. We’re doing the best we can. And, look, I know that this is frustrating.

    Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astronomer and brilliant science communicator, once wrote, “The good thing about Science is that it’s true, whether or not you believe in it.” When it comes to the speed of light, the formation of nebulae, and the behavior of atoms, this is true. The laws of the universe are the laws of the universe; they “change” only insofar as our tools to study them have improved. But Medicine is not astrophysics. It is not an exact science. Or if it is, we have not yet explored enough of the nooks and crannies of the human machine to be able to fix it perfectly.

    Physicians, if we are being honest, will admit that their best advice is still a guess. A very good guess – informed by years of training and centuries of trial and error. But we are still playing the odds. Trust hackers, though, are never so equivocal. Ask your local homeopath how to cure your headaches, and you will be told they have just the thing.

    You can also hack trust by telling people what they want to hear. For someone who is sick, tell them they will be cured. For someone who is dying, tell them they will live. For someone who feelsa stigma surrounding their depression, tell them it is not their own brain, but an external toxin, that is wreaking havoc. To know who to trust with your health, you need to first know yourself. You need to know, deep down, what you want to be true. And be careful of those who tell you it is true.

    This skill, consciously avoiding the cognitive bias known as “motivated reasoning” (the tendency to interpret facts in a way that conforms with your desired outcome), is challenging for all of us – doctors included. But it is probably the most critical skill to have ifyou want to make the best, most rational choices about your health. The answer you are looking for might not be the right answer. That’s why we will discuss, right in the first chapter, how before you know who else to trust, you have to learn to trust yourself.

    The community of people vying for your trust is truly massive. It spans individuals from your neighbors and your friends on social media to the talking heads on the nightly news. All of them are competing in a trust marketplace, and not all of them are playing fair. A smattering of recent headlines illustrates the overwhelming amount of medical-sounding “facts” you may have been exposed to: coffee cures cancer; depressed mothers give birth to autistic children; marijuana is a gateway to opiate abuse; eggs increase the risk of heart disease; eggs decrease the risk of heart disease. Each day, we are inundated with confusing and conflicting headlines like these, designed more to shock, sell, and generate clicks than to inform. I will give you the skills to figure out what health information can be trusted and what is best left unliked and unretweeted.

    The information age brought with it the promise of democratization of truth, where knowledge could be accessed and disseminated at virtually no cost by anyone in the world. But that promisehas been broken. Instead, the information age has taught us that data is cheap but good data is priceless. We are awash in bad data, false inference, and “alternative facts.” In that environment, we are all – doctors and patients alike – subject to our deepest biases. We are able to look for “facts” that fit the narrative of our lives, and never forced to question our own belief systems. If we can’t interrogate the quality of the information we’re consuming, we can’t make the best choices about our health. It’s that simple.

    When you read this book, you’ll learn that doctors aren’t perfect. As humans, we have our own biases. Rigorous studies have shown that those biases lead to differential treatment by race, sexual orientation, and body mass index. While most physicians are worthy of your trust, not all of them are. I’ll teach you how to recognize those who aren’t putting your interests first.

    It’s not wrong to be skeptical of Medicine. Medical science has been developing, evolving, and advancing for the past one hundred years, and has had many stumbles along the way. Scandals from the repressing of information about harms linked to Vioxx (a drug that was supposed to relieve pain), to the effects of thalidomide in pregnancy (which was designed to reduce nausea but led to severe birth defects), to the devastating heart problems caused by the diet pill fen-phen remind us that the profit motive can corrupt the bestscience. Alleged frauds like the linking of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism diagnoses pollute the waters of inquiry, launch billion-dollar businesses, and leave the public unsure of what to really believe.

    Why would I, a physician and researcher, highlight the failures of medical research? Because Medicine isn’t perfect or complete. It is also, in terms of the alleviation of human suffering, the single greatest achievement of humankind. But you need to understand Medicine, warts and all, to make the right choices about your own health. We must be skeptical, but never cynical.

    This book will also detail some of the astounding successes and breakthroughs that medical science has made possible. For the vast majority of human history, life-or-death issues were determined by randomness or chance. Maybe it was a broken bone that prevented someone from hunting and gathering, or a cut on the arm that got infected, or a childbirth that developed complications for the mother and her child. It’s no mystery why before the modern era, one in four babies died before their first birthday. And those who survived their first year had only a fifty-fifty chance of reaching adulthood. These days, the script has been flipped. Ninety-five percent of humans born on Earth today will reach adulthood, and life expectancy has more than doubled in the last two hundred years. We’ve witnessed the near eradication of diseases like smallpox, rubella, and polio, which would have easily killed or disabled our ancestors, and we’ve achieved major advances in drug treatment and medical procedures that can prolong our lives despite the onset of deadly diseases. Medical science, translated from lab bench to bedside to the doctor’s prescription pad, has been nothing short of miraculous. It has transformed the human experience from lives that are, to steal from Thomas Hobbes, “nasty, brutish and short,” to the lives we live today, which, while not without their troubles, would be unrecognizable to our ancestors.

    Here we stand, in the midst of a torrent of information that would have been inconceivable thirty years ago. Some of it is good, some is bad, but all is colored by our own biases and preconceptions. Decisions about your health happen every single day. If you want to be in control, you need to know how to separate the good from the bad, whether it comes from someone sitting atop the ivory tower, or from your friend on Facebook. This book is about medical science. But it’s really about learning to trust again. When you finish reading it, you will no longer be swayed by the loudest voice, the most impassioned plea, or the most retweeted article. You will be able to trust your doctor, trust yourself, and trust Medicine – our imperfect science and the single greatest force for good in the world today.

    Excerpted from the book How Medicine Works And When It Doesn’t: Learning Who to Trust to Get and Stay Healthy by F. Perry Wilson, MD. Copyright 2023 by F. P. Wilson, MD. Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved.

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  • Melany Of MList: My wintertime beauty regimen

    Melany Of MList: My wintertime beauty regimen

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    Skincare is difficult in a cold climate, and you have to be proactive about it. Neglect your skin, especially on your face, and you’ll end up with a host of ailments that are harder to cure than they are to prevent. I’ve been lucky enough to have wonderful skin, but I also put a lot of time and energy into ensuring my skin stays hydrated and well taken care of. So I thought I’d share my wintertime beauty regimen with you.

    Eat well. Diet has a major impact on your skin. Eat too many greasy or fattening foods and you’ll notice unwanted or unexpected breakouts (even at our age!). So eat lots of colourful fruits and veggies – not only will your skin thank you, but your immune system and overall health will benefit too.

    Hydrate. It’s easy to remember to drink water in the summertime when it’s hot and humid, but all too often, we forget to heed the same advice in the colder months. Keep that bottle of water on you at all times. Add some lemon, cucumber or fresh herbs for some refreshing flavours.

    Moisturize every.single.day. Yes: EVERY SINGLE DAY. Don’t miss even one day of moisturizing. The cold, dry air will suck all the moisture out of your skin, leaving it dry, flaky and itchy. Find a face cream that works well with your skin type and apply it regularly.

    Keep applying that sunscreen. Sunscreen is just as important in the wintertime as it is in the warmer months. Wear it every.single.day.

    Go for a facial. A great face treatment could really help to keep your skin on track (and give you a little R&R too). Visit our beauty vendors to find great locations all around the city where you can book a facial and save money.

    Don’t forget about your lips. Winter wreaks havoc on our lips in the winter months. Apply lipbalm liberally throughout the day to stave away cracked, dry puckers.

    Melany xx

    Married with three kids, MList’s Melany is a jack-of-all-trades. Not only is she a hardworking mom but she’s a serial saver (she loves her MList Card!), she loves to cook, she is very spiritual, and she is very organized. She is also chronically busy. Get her take on what to see, do and buy in Montreal and beyond.

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  • Supermom In Training: It takes a village

    Supermom In Training: It takes a village

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    When they told you it takes a village to raise a child, they weren’t entirely right. You can raise a child without the village backing you. But when you’ve got the strength of the village on your side, you can raise a really awesome well-rounded kid!

    I have a village. I have amazing grandparents who give my son so much love and attention and comfort. I have wonderful aunts and uncles who spoil him in every which way. I have incredible friends who love my kid as much as their own, and who are my sounding board when I’m on the edge of a ledge. I have a church full of parishioners who have always embraced my son and made him feel like he belongs. I have the greatest school, with such passionate teachers and volunteers, who make his school experience one that has been inclusive and positive and very educational on so many levels. And speaking of the volunteers, I’ve been lucky enough to have befriended many of these lovely ladies, who look out for my son as well as me, who offer advice and help, and devote so much of their own time to making my son’s school days exciting and fun. I have this awesome community, where we all look out for each other, where we feel safe and where we have made true friends. And, even though I freelance, I have a network of colleagues and clients whom are understanding when it comes to motherly duties – some are parents, and we spend the first half of meetings or interviews catching up on one another’s families. They provide me with comradery and grown-up conversation and sanity.

    Because of them, all of them, I can be a better mom. These different people have shaped my bean into the smart, inquisitive, compassionate kid he is today, and provided me with the friendship I’ve needed in times of being frustrated, exhausted and scared, because, as a parent, these moments happen a lot. 

    I love my village. And I am forever grateful for my villagers.

    A full-time work-from-home mom, Jennifer Cox (our “Supermom in Training”) loves dabbling in healthy cooking, craft projects, family outings, and more, sharing with readers everything she knows about being an (almost) superhero mommy.

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  • On Top Of Everything Else, Kevin McCarthy Wetting Bed Again

    On Top Of Everything Else, Kevin McCarthy Wetting Bed Again

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    WASHINGTON—Sighing as he hid another pair of soiled pajamas deep in his hamper, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) confirmed Friday that on top of everything else that had been going on, he was also wetting the bed again. “Jesus, this is the absolute last thing I need! This has been the worst week of my life,” said the visibly frustrated California lawmaker, whose bid for the role of House speaker has been met with persistent opposition among members of his own party and has been the cause of severe anxiety that, McCarthy noted, was not being helped at all by the vengeful return of his urinary incontinence problem. “Man, I thought a dozen failed attempts for the speakership, our dog running away, and spilling coffee all over my desk yesterday were as bad as it could get, but now I’m peeing all over my sheets in the middle of the night. It’s like my freshman year of Congress all over again. Ugh, I just completely reek of piss. My wife and housekeeper can’t seem to look me in the eyes, and I could really use their support right now, because I’m sure not getting enough at work.” At press time, McCarthy was reportedly seen crying in the Capitol bathroom after Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) had told everybody about the pack of Depends she saw in his briefcase.

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  • This Company Is Turning the “DNA” of Music Into Medicine – EDM.com

    This Company Is Turning the “DNA” of Music Into Medicine – EDM.com

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    There’s good reason to believe the emerging field of music therapy is a multi-billion dollar industry in-waiting.

    As the team at MediMusic notes, music has consistently shown promise in its naturally healing potential. Prior studies on music exposure has shown the art form demonstrates the benefit of reducing anxiety by up to 44%, and pain reduction by 29%. 

    Knowing those statistics, there’s certainly good reason to believe music is medicine. But in this case, it’s more than a cliché. MediMusic is prescribing music to help remediate a variety of everyday and chronic ailments.

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    Cameron Sunkel

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  • Melany Of MList: 4 Potty training tips that will save your sanity

    Melany Of MList: 4 Potty training tips that will save your sanity

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    Potty training – it just might be one of the most challenging things for parents. There are so many things that factor into the success and timeline of potty training, from whether your child is actually ready to carrying it through until there are no more accidents at all, even at night. It can be a long process – but now, with families at home more than ever, it’s the perfect time to conquer this milestone. Use these 4 potty training tips that will save your sanity.

    – Make the potty as accessible as possible. Yes, it’s great to have one in the bathroom so your little one can mimic mommy and daddy on the toilet. But kids who are learning to potty train also don’t recognize the urge until the very last-minute, and getting to the bathroom on time could be a huge challenge. It may not be the decor accent of choice, but a potty in common rooms like the living room or kitchen could also help things along.

    – Let accidents happen. Yes, the cleanups are awful. And I know all about changing sheets in the middle of the night. But the more that you child is out of diapers and accurately feeling what’s going on down there (wet underwear or bedding), they won’t feel the true discomfort of it and, hence, want to use the toilet. (Quick tip: If nighttime bed-wetting is a problem, layer sheet, plastic sheet, sheet, so you already have another dry later ready to go.)

    – Have a reward system in place. Bribery may not be the best parenting route for other lessons, but when it comes to potty training, you want to do anything that works. What’s your child’s sweet spot? Smarties? Doritos? Keep them handy and in sight but out of reach. ONLY give them out with a successful number one or two in the potty.

    – Make it fun. No- it’s not fun for you. I get it. But when it’s more fun for them, they’ll be more inclined to get into it. Let them help you choose a potty. Decorate it with stickers. If you’re training with a toilet, there are decals you can affix to the bottom of the bowl for boys’ “target practice,” as well as flushable floating targets (my mom used Cheerios with my brother). And pick out new big-boy or big-girl underwear together. 

    Melany xx

    Married with three kids, MList’s Melany is a jack-of-all-trades. Not only is she a hardworking mom but she’s a serial saver (she loves her MList Card!), she loves to cook, she is very spiritual, and she is very organized. She is also chronically busy. Get her take on what to see, do and buy in Montreal and beyond.

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  • Open Call: Nominate Immigrants in Healthcare for the Vilcek-Gold Award

    Open Call: Nominate Immigrants in Healthcare for the Vilcek-Gold Award

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    The Vilcek Foundation and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation partner to present a $10,000 award in recognition of immigrant healthcare professionals in the United States.

    Press Release
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    Nov 14, 2022 10:45 EST


    NEW YORK, November 14, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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    The Vilcek Foundation and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation have announced an open call for nominations for the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare. The award recognizes immigrant professionals in medicine, healthcare, or public health whose work demonstrates an outstanding commitment to humanistic and community-centered care. The 2023 award includes a commemorative heart-shaped trophy, an unrestricted cash award of $10,000, and an invitation to present at the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Learn Serve Lead annual meeting. Nominations for the 2023 award will be accepted through Monday, Jan. 31, 2023, at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. 

    The Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare is a joint initiative between the Vilcek Foundation and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation that honors the mission and values of both organizations. The Vilcek Foundation recognizes and celebrates the contributions of immigrants to science, culture, and society in the United States, and fosters appreciation for the sciences and arts more broadly. The Arnold P. Gold Foundation champions “humanism in healthcare,” defined as “compassionate, collaborative, and scientifically excellent care that places the interests, values, and dignity of all people at the core of teaching and practice.”

    All nominations will be reviewed following the close of the open call period. Eligible candidates will be reviewed by a panel of public health experts appointed by the Vilcek Foundation and The Arnold P. Gold Foundation. The recipient of the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare will be announced in June 2023, and the award will be presented at the Association of American Medical Colleges’ annual meeting in November 2023.

    To be eligible for the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare, nominees must have been born outside of the United States and U.S. territories to non-American parents. Candidates must work professionally in healthcare, medicine, or public health, and their professional accomplishments should demonstrate their commitment to humanism and to making healthcare equitable and accessible. Eligible candidates must be based in the United States and intend to continue in a career in medicine, healthcare, or public health in the United States. Full eligibility details and requirements can be found on The Arnold P. Gold Foundation website.

    Nominators are required to submit a copy of their selected nominee’s CV or resume, answer short questions about their nominee, and write two essays that describe how the candidate’s work aligns with the mission and values of the Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare. Nominators are encouraged to alert their nominee of their intention to nominate them for the award. 

    Details about the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare can be found on the Vilcek Foundation website at www.vilcek.org. The nomination form for the 2023 Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare can be accessed at The Arnold P. Gold Foundation website at www.gold-foundation.org. For questions regarding nominations and eligibility requirements, please contact Vilcek Foundation Program Officer Julia Lo at julia.lo@vilcek.org or 212-472-2500. 

    The Vilcek Foundation

    The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences. The foundation was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia. The mission of the foundation was inspired by the couple’s respective careers in biomedical science and art history. Since 2000, the foundation has awarded over $7 million in prizes to foreign-born individuals and has supported organizations with over $5.8 million in grants.

    The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org. 

    The Arnold P. Gold Foundation

    The Arnold P. Gold Foundation was founded in 1988 with the vision that healthcare will be dramatically improved by placing the interests, values, and dignity of all people at the core of teaching and practice. The Gold Foundation champions humanism in healthcare, which the foundation defines as compassionate, collaborative, and scientifically excellent care; the foundation embraces all and targets any barriers that prevent individuals or groups from accessing this standard of care. The Gold Foundation empowers experts, learners, and leaders to create systems and cultures that support humanistic care for all. 

    The Arnold P. Gold Foundation is a public not-for-profit organization, a federally tax-exempt organization under IRS Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit www.gold-foundation.org. 

    Source: The Vilcek Foundation

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  • Celebration of life to be held for Leslie Jordan in Chattanooga

    Celebration of life to be held for Leslie Jordan in Chattanooga

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    The City of Chattanooga announced plans to hold a celebration of life for the late actor Leslie Jordan who died in a car crash in Los Angeles two weeks ago.

    Jordan was born and raised in the Scenic City. His friends, family and fans will have the chance to mourn together.

    Jordan’s family requested that the proceeds from the event be given to Cempa Community Care.

    The organization serves underserved communities through primary care and infectious disease care.

    The event will be held on Sunday, Nov. 20, at 5 p.m. at the Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga.

    It will be all about Leslie Jordan from performances, to comedy, shared memories from family and close friends, special guest appearances, and a special announcement is also expected to be made.

    “Thanks to the city elevating the event and honestly who he was a person and the way he blew up on social media during COVID and the light he brought to so many, I think it will be sold out. I am hopeful for that because he deserves that. He deserves that recognition and honor of all of us to come together across any line that we have and celebrate him,” Miles Huff said.

    Miles Huff is the Director of Community Engagement for Cempa Community Cares.

    He said it is an honor that Jordan’s family wanted the proceeds to go to Cempa to help continue their mission.

    “When we found out about Leslie’s death, our entire team mourned that loss. We reached out proactively to his manager at the time and offered to help and we found out that family requested that we be a part of the event to receive funds and recognition because of his legacy. It is very humbling and a testament to who he was as a person and the friend he was to our organization,” Huff said.

    Huff expressed that Jordan was a longtime friend and advocate for Cempa Community Care as they have always assisted those affected by HIV.

    “We first partnered with him in 2006 with an event that sold out at the Tivoli Theater and several more events in person prior to COVID. Also, in a variety of ways whenever he had a platform that involved Chattanooga, he also mentioned Cempa Community Care and has always been kind to use,” Huff said.

    Here’s the link to tickets.

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  • Henderson Co. breast cancer survivor shares story, helps inform Spanish-speaking community

    Henderson Co. breast cancer survivor shares story, helps inform Spanish-speaking community

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    Breast cancer survivor shares story, helps inform Spanish-speaking community

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  • Parenting 101: What you should know about National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, or Orange Shirt Day

    Parenting 101: What you should know about National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, or Orange Shirt Day

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    Each year, September 30th marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honours the children who never returned home and acknowledges the survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. 

    It’s also Orange Shirt Day, which is an Indigenous-led grassroots commemorative day intended to raise awareness of the individual, family and community inter-generational impacts of residential schools, and to promote the concept that “Every Child Matters”.  

    Here are a few events that will honour this cause:

    Illuminating Parliament Hill

    To commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and to honour the Survivors, their families and communities, buildings across Canada will be illuminated in orange from September 30th at 7pm to sunrise October 1st. This will include federal buildings such as the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill.

    Remembering the children

    A one-hour national commemorative gathering will be broadcast live from Ottawa’s LeBreton Flats on September 30, 2022. Check your local listings.

    Truth and Reconciliation Week

    This bilingual educational program is open to all schools across Canada. All sessions will be held virtually, allowing classroom participation from across the country and the involvement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. From September 26-30, 2022, registration is required.

    Former residential school students can call 1-866-925-4419 for emotional crisis referral services and information on other health supports from the Government of Canada. Indigenous peoples across Canada can also go to The Hope for Wellness Help Line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for counselling and crisis intervention. Call the toll-free Help Line at 1-855-242-3310 or connect to the online chat.

    – Jennifer Cox

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  • Parenting 101: Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation’s 5km family walkathon

    Parenting 101: Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation’s 5km family walkathon

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    On Saturday, June 4, Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation is launching a brand-new event – its first Family 5K Walkathon around Centennial Lake in Dollard-des-Ormeaux.

     

    Not only will participants enjoy a nice walk around the lake, but there will also be food, music, and other activities for the kids. People of all ages (and even their dogs!) are welcome to participate in this event. Funds raised at the event will go toward adding three beds to their short-stay inpatient mental health unit, as well as toward the Youth Mental Health Centre in Kirkland.

     

    Demand for mental health services in our community, especially for patients between the ages of 0-and 25, has drastically increased since the beginning of the pandemic. Young people are seeking help for anxiety, depression, ADHD and trauma more than ever. Since March 2020, the Youth Mental Health Clinic in Kirkland has seen its average number of referrals almost triple. In 2021, Lakeshore General Hospital added a five-bed short-stay inpatient mental health unit to help with demand.

     

    Event details

    Date: Saturday, June 4

    Time: 8 am – 1 pm

    Location: Centennial Park, DDO (Entrance at DDO Civic Center)

     

    – Jennifer Cox

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  • Austin Pets Alive! | Bring Joy to Jingle & Jangle

    Austin Pets Alive! | Bring Joy to Jingle & Jangle

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    Dec 20, 2021

    It was a regular day at the shelter until evening came and the staff went to lock the Maddie’s® Cat Adoption Center’s doors.

    Right outside, there was a cat carrier sitting alone with nothing but a note. As the carrier was shaking violently, a staff member went closer to see what was scribbled across the napkin. It read, “Dog flea treatment. Poisonous. Seizures.” As she looked into the carrier she could see two tabby cats in crisis.

    The cats, later named Jingle and Jangle for the holiday season, were rushed to the clinic. The staff said they had never seen anything like it. They were convulsing uncontrollably and nothing was seeming to stop the seizing. Clinic staff spent hours trying various methods until finally at 4 a.m., they were able to stabilize the cats by putting them in a medically induced coma.

    Flea medicine if used incorrectly can be deadly. Jingle and Jangle’s nervous systems were shutting down because their bodies couldn’t handle the dose. The clinic knew if they could get them stabilized after around 72 hours, they would have a good chance at recovering when the medicine worked its way out of their system.

    Miraculously, a day later you would never recognize that these were the same cats that were left to fend for themselves, seizing uncontrollably. Once the flea medicine got through their system they returned to their perfectly playful selves. The siblings were soon adopted out together and now are named Blue and Penelope.

    Their mom, Pattie had nothing but ‘purrfect’ things to say about the siblings. “Penelope loves naps on beds and chairs. Her favorite spot is getting on top of the refrigerator. She is a purr machine when she gets love. Blue is such a house cat. He will lay around all day long anywhere; on the floor, by the window, on a box just anywhere. He loves cuddles and is a chatterbox. They sleep, play, eat together and groom each other all day long,” Pattie said.

    Blue and Penelope’s lives could have ended up so much differently if you didn’t support the work APA! does. Our clinic staff feels your support behind them every step of the way. Lost or stray animals usually go to the city shelter, but because of you, they didn’t think twice about staying until the early morning hours if it meant these lives were saved. Together with you, we can continue to lift the spirits of pets and humans alike as we all strive to save the ones that are left behind.

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  • Doctors Open Medical Spa With Focus on Overall Wellness and Aesthetic Services

    Doctors Open Medical Spa With Focus on Overall Wellness and Aesthetic Services

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    Press Release
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    updated: Mar 21, 2019


    BATON ROUGE, La., March 21, 2019 (Newswire.com)
    –
    It’s a beautiful spa feeling with a traditional take on medicine. Two physicians, Neurosurgeon Robert S. Davis, MD, and Internal Medicine Physician Hema Edupuganti, MD, are looking forward to opening Nūr Medical Spa on March 25 and expanding their medical practices to include unique healing options.

    The ultimate focus of the spa will be total wellness including body improvement through weight loss and lifestyle changes as well as anti-aging treatments and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. Every service is designed to make women and men feel their most healthy.

    Drs. Davis and Edupuganti are excited to offer minimally invasive cosmetic procedures that will make clients look and feel better. “People can look great at any age,” says Dr. Davis. “I want them to look how they feel and have personalized care. We will really take time with our patients to understand their unique beauty and wellness concerns.”

    Nūr Medical Spa will offer other luxurious services as well, including facials, Botox treatments and dermal fillers, chemical peels, hair removal, skin tightening, UltraShape, and VelaShape. More services will be added at a later date, and all will focus on beauty and wellness.

    “This has been my dream for years,” Dr. Edupuganti says. “I want women and men to improve their confidence and self-esteem. This will allow them to think positively about themselves and enjoy their lives that much more.”

    The spa will offer 40 percent off laser treatments for any appointment booked from now to March 29. Customers may schedule the service to occur after those dates, but the appointment must be made within that date range to qualify for special pricing. Laser services include hair removal, laser skin tightening, laser spider vein treatment, laser facials and Intense Pulsed Light (IPL). All laser services at Nūr are to be performed with the most technologically advanced lasers available, providing their clients with fewer treatments and minimal discomfort.

    Located at 4309 Bluebonnet Boulevard, Nūr Medical Spa is now accepting appointments. Call (225) 255-2963 to schedule your first appointment.

    Source: Nūr Medical Spa

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