This may not be the latest news, or even the most scientific news - this is the news of interest to me, living a life that includes COPD. I hope that you will find something of value on these pages also.
After your visit here, please stop by my website -COPD and So Much More - because we are So Much More than a diagnosis...
Karen
Navigating the Health Care System - Improving Your Health Literacy
There is a truism in health care: When you don’t fully understand or can’t act on information about your health care, you are more likely to be in poorer health.
Nearly all of us, about 9 of every 10 American adults, have some problems with health literary.
Health literacy is not only about reading. It’s about understanding difficult health terms and issues. Even highly educated people can have trouble understanding health care information.
For example, health literacy plays a role in how well:
Someone is able to take the right medicine at the right time.
A person with diabetes properly manages the condition.
A parent follows instructions for helping a child recover from surgery.
Health care is complicated and the health care system can be confusing. That’s why so many people have trouble understanding information about their health and health care options. Older adults, minorities, immigrants whose first language isn’t English, poor adults, and people with ongoing mental and physical conditions are more likely to have a hard time. But everyone can have trouble sometimes, especially when you’re sick or have just been told you have a disease.
Limited health literacy can literally harm your health. If you have trouble understanding instructions, you may have a hard time managing a health condition or taking your medicines correctly. You may end up in the hospital more, spend more on health care, and have poorer health. Limited health literacy can also decrease your chances of getting important tests, like mammograms, or helping a loved one with his or her care.
Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and hospitals can all play a role in helping patients better understand and use health information.
To help, the Federal Government in May announced a national effort to make health information more straightforward and understandable.
My agency, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, has developed tools to help doctors and their office staffs improve communication with all patients so they can better understand a doctor’s instructions and other important medical information. Another tool helps pharmacists talk to patients about how to use drugs safely.
While these efforts can help, you can take steps, too. To improve your health literacy:
Ask questions. Then, make sure you get and understand the answers. If you don’t understand, ask the doctor or nurse for more information. Asking questions may not always be easy, but it can get you the information you need to take better care of yourself. To help you, my agency developed a list of questions you can bring to the doctor, the pharmacist, or the hospital.
Repeat information back to your doctor or nurse. After your doctor or nurse gives you directions, repeat those instructions in your own words. Simply say, “Let me see if I understand this…” This gives you a chance to clarify information. Studies show that doctors and patients often have very different ideas of what the patient is going to do after leaving the doctor’s office. For example, if a clinician advises you to ‘take two’ Coumadin, it is really important to know if they mean 2 milligrams—or two pills. Repeating back can help avoid potentially serious mistakes.
Bring all your medicines to your next doctor’s visit. Ask your doctor to go over all of your drugs and supplements, including vitamins and herbal medicines. More than one third of adults struggle to understand how to take their medicines. Reviewing your medicines can help you and your doctor. You may even discover some mistakes, such as two drugs that shouldn’t be taken together.
Have another adult with you. This might be especially true when you expect to receive important information.
Let the doctor’s office know you need an interpreter if you don’t speak or understand English very well. You have a right to an interpreter, at no cost to you. Even if you speak some English, tell the doctor’s office what language you prefer when you make an appointment.
Make a Pill Card. My agency has published step-by-step instructions to create an easy-to-use Pill Card to help patients, parents, and others keep track of medicines.
With Health Literacy Month coming up in October, this is a good time to try these suggestions. You might even improve your health—or the health of someone you care about.
Click here to view Navigating the Health Care Video Advice Columns from Dr. Clancy.
More Information
AHRQ Podcast
Health Literacy Limited for Many Americans (Transcript) Podcast Help
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Questions are the Answer: Build Your Question List
http://www.ahrq.gov/questionsaretheanswer/questionBuilder.aspx
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Healthfinder.org
http://www.healthfinder.gov/
The National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy
http://www.hhs.gov/ophs/news/20100527.html
National Institute for Literacy
America’s Literacy Directory
http://literacydirectory.org
Improving Your Health Literacy. Navigating the Health Care System: Advice Columns from Dr. Carolyn Clancy, September 7, 2010. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/cc/cc090710.htm
September 7, 2010
Tags: improve health literacy, understanding your health Posted in: COPD - Getting Good Health Care, COPD - Patient Resources 
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Tuesday’s COPD Tune
Tuesday’s COPD Tunes come to us through the creative efforts of EFFORTS Vice President Ann Lornie. This week we enjoy a parody of “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story.
West Side Story - the ruination of the tune ‘I Feel Pretty’
I feel sickly,
Somewhat prickly,
I feel sickly and prickly and rough
I am certain that it’s curtains -
Oxygen isn’t enough.
Is it worth it?
All this sighing?
All this sighing and crying for air?
Who will hug me? More like bug me,
And I really don’t think it is fair.
See that helpful group on the internet?
What group and where?
Who can that attractive group be?
See the EFFORTS group
See the EFFORTS group
Oh, whoopee …….
It will help you
To feel better,
Better and fitter and may
Make you stronger and live longer
To enjoy yet another good day.
What’s new on the EFFORTS Website?
Sign the COPD Postage Stamp Petition!
September 7, 2010
Tags: Ann Lornie EFFORTS, Ann Lornie song lyrics, COPD song lyrics, COPD tune Posted in: Tuesday's Tunes No Comments
The truth about 12 health myths
Don’t let your mother tell you differently — voluntarily crossing your eyes will do you no harm
True or False?
You Shouldn’t Cut Off the Bread’s Crust. It’s Full of Vitamins.
If You Go Out With Wet Hair, You’ll Catch a Cold.
If You Cross Your Eyes, They’ll Stay That Way.
You Should Feed a Cold and Starve a Fever.
Gum Stays in Your Stomach for Seven Years.
An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away.
You Lose 75 Percent of Your Body Heat Through Your Head.
To Get Rid of Hiccups, Have Someone Startle You.
Eating Fish Makes You Smart.
You Shouldn’t Swim for an Hour After Eating.
Every Child Needs a Daily Multivitamin.
Warm Milk Will Help You Fall Asleep.
So What’s The Truth? Click here to visit CNN Health and find the answers
September 7, 2010
Tags: common health myths Posted in: COPD - Living With It No Comments
My Fighting For Air Community
How are you doing? How can I help?
The American Lung Association is proud to offer My Fighting for Air Community, a free and simple way for people with lung disease and their families to receive support from a personally created community of their family, friends, neighbors and others who care about them. Users can create private, secure My Fighting for Air Community web pages that offer two primary services and continued access to all the American Lung Association information and resources.
Families can post photos and journal entries to keep loved ones updated on medical matters and other aspects of their lives. It’s a great way to update everyone at once, and a real time and energy saver for those who are living with lung disease.
The “care coordination calendar” is a wonderful tool where you can post a list of items for which help is needed, such as transportation, meals, household chores and just taking a break. That way family, friends and others who care can sign up to help.
Privacy and security settings allow you to decide who is permitted access to your own My Fighting for Air Community.
Visit My Fighting for Air Community
The My Fighting for Air Community is powered by Lotsa Helping Hands.
American Lung Association
1301 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20004
T: 202 785 3355 | F: 202 452 1805 | E: info@lungusa.org
September 7, 2010
Tags: American Lung Association community, Fighting For Air Community, lung disease support Posted in: COPD - Support, Education and Advocacy No Comments
PBS TV Newest Fitness Series DVD’s Now Available to Libraries
Healthwise Exercise, producers of doctor reviewed and approved Functional Fitness starring Suzanne Andrews,® celebrates being approved by the National Educational Telecommunications Assn for PBS TV by offering the DVD series to libraries worldwide.
Approved by the National Educational Telecommunications Association for syndication on the PBS network of stations in the US and Canada, Functional Fitness starring Suzanne Andrews® is now available to libraries. Recommended by the top physicians in the country, Functional Fitness is the only line of video fitness instruction that is taught by an occupational therapy practitioner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fea0UIhf4RM
The Functional Fitness package comes with eight discs, each targeting core health areas such as arthritis, brain power, asthma and bone strength, to name a few. Tailored for the mature and or plus size body, Functional Fitness offers DVD’s that are very unique in that they can also be performed standing or seated, making it easier on those with limited mobility.
PBS TV viewers who follow Andrews’ health program sing its praises, from the grandmother who has found a new love of skiing with her grandchildren, to doctors who applaud the care and compassion Andrews has put into her work. Followers of Functional Fitness find that the daily exercise and breathing routines help them lose weight, reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure, increases bone density and helps improve short-term memory. Andrews, the instructor and creator of Functional Fitness, wants those using her collection to know that it’s never too late to begin a fitness regimen, although the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll see results.
Dr. Paul D’Arezzo,MD, author of the book “Functional Fitness: Look Younger, Stay Active Longer.” praises Andrews as a compassionate and dedicated instructor who gets results.
“Suzanne, as a fellow medical professional, I appreciate the fact that you are an occupational therapy practitioner which implies a certain level of compassion and understanding that sometimes I think run of the mill instructors lack and how much small changes in strength and function can make a big difference in the quality of some people’s lives.
I have always felt that in an exercise program what people really want are things that help them to maintain function for as long as possible, to stay independent and to keep doing all the things they need and want to do for as long as possible. And thus, it seems, the biggest bang for the buck are exercises like yours that closely mimic and use muscle groups we need for everyday life.”
Dr. Mache Seibel, MD, Founder of HealthRock, describes Functional Fitness as “accessible, cost-effective and universal” and strongly believes that this series will make “an important difference in your life.”
What’s Included
1.) Award Winning Arthritis DVD
Recommended by Nathan Wei, MD., a leading arthritis expert. “Superb Arthritis DVD keeping people healthy and young. The Functional Fitness Arthritis DVD program provides a simple, easy to follow, doable program for people with arthritis. The exercises are done at a pace that most people can follow. What I particularly liked was the comprehensive approach to the total body. Any person with arthritis who is thinking about starting an exercise program needs to view this set of videos first.”
Functional Fitness Arthritis DVD awarded 5 stars by Dr. David Demko. Functional Fitness starring Suzanne Andrews ® Arthritis DVD awarded 5-5 Stars for excellence in content, presentation and delivery. “Truly an exercise in excellence,” Dr. David J. Demko, founder and editor, ZOOMER™ magazine.
2.) Fat Burning
Designed for those that want to burn fat and tone without strenuous, high-impact workouts , the Fat Burning DVD is designed for those that want to burn fat and tone without creating added stress or unnecessary strain on their joints.
Reviewed by Dr. Roy Vartabedian, author of the best seller, Nutripoints, “I really like Suzanne’s perspective on the DVD. She is not just an exercise guru, but she is an occupational therapist by training. The exercises are simple and straightforward, with an optional chair version. Her pleasant style makes it easy to watch and follow.”
3.) Bone Builder for Osteoporosis.
“All of us, women and men, are at risk for osteoporosis and there are simple things that you can do - that no drugs or doctors can do - that can help prevent this debilitating disease. “Suzanne Andrews, in her DVD, Bone Builder, provides you with a simple series of exercises that anyone can do that help us preserve and maintain the muscle and bone strength we need for everyday life. Her fun, easy going manner makes the exercises easy to follow, and the fact that she is an occupational therapy practitioner gives added credibility and insight into the exercises. I highly recommend this program.” Dr. Paul D’Arezzo, MD and author of the book, Functional Fitness.
4.) Better Balance: Stronger Body, Stronger Balance
2 Workouts to Better Your Balance!
Increase your agility, coordination and equilibrium. Enjoy a 25 minute workout, using a ball to engage the body. Then move on to the second workout, which uses medically proven therapeutic techniques to work your body toward better balance. “I’ve been a physical therapist for over 32 years, and Functional Fitness Better Balance is as good as it gets.” eucating people with therapeutic techniques for improved balance.” Francisco Perez, PT/L
5.) COPD/Asthma: Stronger Breathing Muscles
Give those lungs back their strength! This disc focuses on breathing techniques to treat COPD, asthma and other breathing difficulties. Exhale and enjoy this session and feel the life come back to your lungs.
Reviewed by About.com (A New York Times Company)
” Suzanne Andrews provides a clear explanation of the disease process, and incorporates a variety of breathing techniques into this uncomplicated, comprehensive exercise DVD. My favorite feature is the special therapeutic energy conservation section. If you want to increase your ability to perform daily living activities and decrease the workload of breathing, then Functional Fitness for COPD and Asthma is a good option.” Deborah Leader, RN and the medical review board.
COPD Alert , “This DVD helps persons with COPD - an incurable and progressively debilitating disease, which is the 4th major cause of death and 2nd of disability in the U.S. - to manage their lives more effectively by better breathing techniques and simple exercises.” –Vlady Rozenbaum, PhD, COPD-ALERT.com
International COPD Coalition, “I’m happy to say that our ICC expert in rehabilitation has found your DVD for the respiratory area to be a sound and useful communication and she recommends that we list the DVD and call it to the attention of our ICC website viewers and e-mail list. We don’t endorse any commercial material but we are able to call things to people’s attention that our experts believe to be useful for them.” Dr. Larry Grouse, MD, PhD
6.) Diabetes: Take Charge of Diabetes.
“This is my favorite exercise program for diabetes. Suzanne’s special touch and concise manner offer you an important component to a healthy diabetes program.” Dr. Carlos Mercado, MD CEO and Founder of Sternum and GeriatricsMD.
7.) Brain Power: Improve Your Memory
Engage your brain with Brain Power’s fun, 25 minute easy brain workouts. Revive your memory, learn a new skill with exercises medically proven to improve cognitive functioning.
“Brain Power’s refreshing program supports relevant current research on the importance of exercise for improved cognitive functioning. Suzanne’s dedication to baby boomers’ health is evident in both her enthusiastic approach and knowledge in her craft.”
Dr. Alice Godbey, Ed.D Professor, Behavioral & Social Sciences, Daytona State College
8.) Pain Free Back and Neck: Reviewed and recommended by top doctors in the country, this therapeutic session helps relieve the pressure of back and neck pain.
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To learn more, including free preview of Functional Fitness starring Suzanne Andrews ® DVD’s offering real life fitness solutions for your real life challenges go to http://www.healthwiseexercise.com/shop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16173&category_id=103
September 6, 2010
Tags: arthritis exercise, balance exercise, COPD exercise DVD, exercise for breathing, exercise for COPD Posted in: COPD - Exercise No Comments
