Healthcare workers need to step up...

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/jan/18/smokers-need-not-apply-job/

I came across this article yesterday and it had amazing timing.  Walking into work yesterday, I was thinking about how unhealthy our society is.  The New England Journal of Medicine just published an article stating 1 out of 3 people are obese!  We have a huge obesity problem with the children in the Columbus area.  I was trying to think about how this all became about.  It just became the norm to be an overweight person.  As I walked into the hospital thinking this, I walk right by the parents of sick children smoking in the parl across the street from the hospital.  I wondered how poor of role models we are for our children.  We smoke and we are overweight.

As I walk into the hospital, I realize that we are not good role models in health care either.  Society cannot control parents, but we can control who are children look to in a hospital and in our schools.  It got me thinking.  Should we higher people in a hospital who smoke?  Even more out there, should we hire people who are obese?  These are very iffy topics of discussion, but it got me thinking.  If you were a child and you came into a hospital you see that the people who are supposed to be making you healthier are not even healthy themselves.  It makes no sense.  Health is not just about having a good heart or having healthy bones.  It is well rounded.  Study after study has indicated that smoking leads to many of these health problems.  Maybe we should ban smokers from working in a health care study.  I don't think it is too far off from reality.  However, where do you stop?  Can you really deny employment to someone who does something legal in their spare time at home?  I am not a fan of having the government control our lives, but I am a fan of providing role models for our children.  If you want to work in health care, then you should be a healthy person.  Do you take golf lessons from someone who cannot play golf?  Or take baking advice from someone who always burns the meal?  Of course not, you only take advice from someone who walks the walk.  We (people in health care) need to be healthier role models for our children.  We cannot accept the norm of having obese people treating our children.  I do not know where the line is.  I do not know if I could ever set the line.  This is a very sensitive topic and could have many unknown ramifications.  It is just a thought outside of the box.  I do however agree with the article.  When you become a health care worker, you are committed to the health of the community and the patients it deserves.

Disclosure:  All ramifications of such harsh decisions have not been fully investigated, so I would not support such an idea at the moment.  I do think it makes for interesting debate on how healthcare workers need to step up and walk the walk of a healthy lifestyle (whether that be smoking, drugs, obesity, etc...).

And an interesting facebook status related to the story: "Pregnant woman in hospial with chili dog in one hand and pack of Newports in her back pocket telling the nurse that ppl are trying to hurt her baby...."

From above...

It is not very often that I speak of spirituality or life after death.  To be quite honest, my biggest fear is death.  Although I have never had my life threaten (thank you Lord), I feel that I have had more than my fair share of death.  I guess after all, I do choose to work in a hospital.  Anyways, I just had an amazing moment on the treadmill...

I got off work late today, so I wanted to get a quick run on the treadmill at the gym. I was the only one there (which I love).  Due to an Achilles injury a few months back, I have been trying to increase my mileage 10% with each run.  I was supposed to run 2.75 miles today.  I felt amazing at mile 1.5, so I mentally convinced myself that I should shoot for 3!  At about 2.6 miles, I was exhausted.  No Achilles pain,  just pain from being out of shape.  At that moment, I had to decide: quit at 2.75 or push through my out-of-shape endurance.  By coincidence, Cher "If I could turn back time" was blaring in my headphones.  I looked up in the air and pointed, asking my Dad for some help getting through 3 miles.  Within five seconds, my body was numb!  It was awesome.  True runners high.  I knew it was him, because with about a tenth of a mile to go, the numbness had worn off and I know that he would want me to feel the hard work through the finish line to "punish" me for being out of shape.  But thanks Dad for the extra push to get me through.

I never did like how I felt running.  I enjoy the runners high I get about 1 out of 4 or 5 runs.  But I really enjoy this part right now, knowing that I have finished the run!!!

That reminds me, I was thinking this past weekend about how amazing it was back in high school to run the mile.  I miss the feeling at the finish line where I literally could not stand up.  I want to get that feeling/experience back.

Thoughts to ponder:
1) What gives you a runners high?
2) When did you get special help from another spirit?
3) What do you miss most from your past: as a kid, high school, college, etc...?

Appreciating the things we take for granted…

Tonight I struggled to motivate myself to workout. I left work a bit early, ran all of the errands on my to-do list, and caught up on all my emails. I had nothing to do and no distraction. I was set up to enjoy a great workout. However, I just could not get motivated. I did workout, but at maybe 50% energy. As I was showering afterwards, I was angry at myself as I could not figure out why I didn’t want to work out. I reflected on a challenge I gave Matt a few months ago as he was getting into great shape. I told him, come up with a ring tone to motivate me to get out of bed. Something motivational. He resisted, but I pushed to get him to help motivate me. About a week later, he sent me an email with the motivation. I couldn’t find the exact words, but he said “think about all of the children at your hospital, who would love to wake up today and run around outside. Walk up and down the hallways. You can do these things. These kids are taking chemotherapy and fighting diseases and you can’t get out of bed to workout?” It was a lot better than that. Hopefully I can get the exact email and post it, because it was a lot better than that. It just got me thinking again. We often go through life taking advantage of the small things we have. I am healthy and had the perfect day to workout. Sure we have those days when we just don’t have it, so maybe it was one of them. But I started to remember back to when I broke my femur and couldn’t run track. For months, all I wanted to do was run around a 400m circle. This fall when I hurt my Achilles, all I wanted to do was be able to run around and be active. Now that I have been healthy for awhile, I choose not to take advantage. This holds true for so many things in life.

When was the last time we really appreciated our eyes? Really just took a second and thought, wow, look at that. And just paused. When was the last time we enjoyed the sense of touch. Just felt the recliner we sit in? The clothes that we put on? When do we light a candle and just enjoy the scent. Or bake our favorite dish to take in the smell? All of these things in life we take for granted, but they are not guaranteed. It would be interesting to be part of an experiment and have to live a day with a blind fold on. What would you do? I guarantee you couldn’t do the vast majority of your tasks at home or at work. What if our nerves could be shut off for one day and we couldn’t feel anything? How long after the experiment would we start to take the same small things for granted again? Would it be a cycle?

One of the biggest reasons I went into a profession within health care was because of my experience working at Sarah Bush Lincoln hospital. I vividly remember working 2nd shift and delivering medications to the ICU at 10:55 as I walked out at 11:00. The ICU was right above the exit to the parking lot. I would get in my car look up at the ICU and be thankful that I had a good job while being in college. I really appreciated everything I had in life in those moments. Those 8 people, most intubated, did not get to go home tonight. They didn’t even get to stand on two legs. How could I complain in that moment about life as I looked up. Working in a hospital grounded me. It gave me a better perspective on life.

As I think about it now, I sometimes forget this. As most of my work is not done on patient floors anymore, I forget about these moments. As I develop into a pharmacy manager, I need to make time to go up on the floors and see patients to remember exactly why I do what I do. It will help me professionally, but more importantly, it will help me personally…appreciate the simple things in life.

I have become one of them...

It used to bug me when I would go to the gym after the New Year and all of the sudden people cared about their health.  Well, I have officially become one of those people.  I think I have worked out as many times this week than I did in the month of December.  Getting back into shape is not fun.  Getting out of shape sure is.  I ate everything that looked good with no regard to restriction.  And now I have to pay for it.

The thing that I struggle with when getting back into shape is how hard do I go.  I have learned over the past few years that I am not 18 years old and can't all of the sudden go into fifth gear from first.  But I still have that mentality.  I have made the mental commitment to get back into shape, so I want to be in fifth gear.  The struggle I have is I have never learned how to go from gear to gear.  This week and next week: am I working hard and over doing it risking injury? or am I just being mentally weak and opting for the easy way out of getting back into shape.  

 It is amazing how my workouts have changed over the past five years.  Five years ago, Justin and I trained for the Chicago marathon.  How am I so sore today after running two miles?  I am probably sorer today than the days we would run 13 miles.  But nowadays, I understand the value in yoga, stretching, and swimming. If I workout everyday but do not do the above three, I do not feel healthy.  That being said, would swimming and yoga be over doing it today or am I being a big wimp if I skip the swimming? 

Also on the health front, I think a phone call from Clint inspired me to try my first triathlon.  Date: April 25th in Sullivan.  I haven't fully committed yet, but it is looking like a challenge I want to pursue.

New Year's Resolution

I have never really taken New Year’s resolutions seriously.  I can only remember having two resolutions that I rotated between: trying not to fight with my brothers and not using God’s name in vein.  I think these two resolutions were fairly successful, at least most of the time and depending in who you ask.  As I explained my lack of interest in resolutions to Kristen last week, she challenged me to think of one and try and stick to it.  What was it supposed to be?  I try and be a good person and do the right things.  A few days after New Years and my attempt to pass on another resolution, Kristen asked me if I had came up with anything.  I really liked the idea of having one this year for the first time.  I thought and thought and she asked me what was something that I wanted to do that I haven’t been doing.

Bing!  As I chowed down on Dallas BBQ (Texas Roadhouse but better), it hit me.  I have always wanted to start a blog.  For two reasons:  First, I thought it would be a great way to communicate to my friends and family across the country.  Second, it would act like a journal of my life.  I have never had a journal and thought it would be cool to read these blogs in five years, etc… Or have my kids read my blogs.  So here I am, making my resolution come true.  I have decided that I will write whatever is on my mind.  It might be about frustrations I am going through.  It might be about the cool things I have been blessed to do.  I might through in some pictures (if it is possible).  I might talk about the news or health care or money.  What I haven’t decided is how often I will write.  I want to blog at least once a week, so that is my starting goal.

One disclaimer: I am not going to proofread these blogs and edit them over and over, so do not expect novel quality writing.

Hope you find joy/interest in my blogs.  Please feel free to reply or comment on them.

http://thoughtsunderthecurls.blogspot.com/