{"id":592,"date":"2012-07-31T18:47:11","date_gmt":"2012-07-31T18:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wordsthatsing.com\/?page_id=592"},"modified":"2012-07-31T18:47:11","modified_gmt":"2012-07-31T18:47:11","slug":"health-healthy-living","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wordsthatsing.com\/?page_id=592","title":{"rendered":"Health & Healthy Living"},"content":{"rendered":"

Health & Healthy Living<\/span><\/h1>\n


Mentally Ill and Homeless
<\/strong>Alberta Views, <\/em>November\/December 2003, pp. 32-39<\/span><\/p>\n

Heather lies awake at night, worrying whether she\u2019ll keep the roof over her head. All too familiar with the limited housing options for a mentally ill Albertan whose disability pension brings in a princely $600 a month after taxes, she\u2019s determined to hold onto the condo purchased from a distant cousin a few years ago. \u201cI\u2019m trying to stay out of warehousing, as I call it, because that can be very damaging,\u201d she observes on the phone from Calgary, recalling 15 years punctuated by frantic searches for apartments and all-hours visits from neighbours in crisis. \u201cI have a kidney disorder and I\u2019m severely bipolar. Between both disorders, I have to be very, very careful about keeping my environment routine and healthy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In truth, the odds seem stacked against Heather\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2003 by Cheryl Mahaffy. <\/em>All rights reserved.
For reprint information, contact Cheryl@wordsthatsing.com<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n


Meeting the Practice Challenge: It\u2019s a Matter of Ownership
<\/strong>Nursing PRN, <\/em>Issue 1, Spring 2010, pp. 16-21<\/span><\/p>\n

Early in her career as a nurse, Jan Schimpf provided a home away from home for a mother\u2013daughter duo while the woman\u2019s husband was in intensive care with a ruptured aneurism. As they agonized over his care, Schimpf learned lessons she still employs as senior operating officer at Edmonton\u2019s Misericordia Community Hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t about the machinery,\u201d Schimpf recalls. \u201cFor his wife, it was that he had a gown on, that he looked comfortable, that the nurse acknowledged her presence and asked her how she was. And they would have huge debates about how long they should wait before ringing again when nurses said they would call back but forgot.\u201d The husband later died while undergoing a tracheotomy that his daughter, also a nurse, had reluctantly approved at Schimpf\u2019s urging.<\/span><\/p>\n

Standing with that family, Schimpf saw firsthand that what nurses say and do dramatically affect people\u2019s lives. Working in critical care at the time, she also knew the challenges that could easily compromise care. The experience solidified her determination to seize every opportunity to grow as a nurse\u2014or, as she puts it, to own rather than rent her career\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

For reprint information, contact Cheryl@wordsthatsing.com<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n


The risks of being young in the workplace: Protecting young workers from injury
<\/strong>Occupational Health & Safety Magazine, <\/em>May 2009, pp. 17-20<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle Colleton\u2019s passion for the safety of young workers took root March 7, 1991, the day her brother Sandy was crushed by five tonnes of metal in a fabrication shop. Her voice still shakes when she describes how the apprentice welder had to climb a poorly designed trolley day after day to unhook rigging from sheets of metal that were hauled inside the shop, and how a crane knocked over that final sheet before he could move out of the way. Studying in Wales at the time, she received the tragic news in a phone call from a friend and had to pass it along to her vacationing parents. Sandy Colleton was so disfigured that the coroner advised the family not to view the body.<\/span><\/p>\n

Challenged by the health and safety officer involved in her brother\u2019s case to \u201cdo something\u201d with her rage at the circumstances surrounding his death, Michelle Colleton set aside studies in political science to take occupational health and safety training at Ryerson and then at McGill. Reached at her work as a safety team leader for BP Canada Energy Company, she says her desire to keep young Alberta workers safe is all the more acute now that she is a mother\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

For reprint information, contact Cheryl@wordsthatsing.com<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n


Your Health
<\/em><\/strong>February 2005, pp. 30-41<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeking the fountain of youth? Don\u2019t look for a miracle. Instead, live sensibly, choose wisely and be content. That\u2019s the prescription offered by Capital Health geriatric workers, who know what life is like among those who have succeeded in living long\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2005 by Cheryl Mahaffy. <\/em>All rights reserved.
For reprint information, contact Cheryl@wordsthatsing.com<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Health & Healthy Living Mentally Ill and HomelessAlberta Views, November\/December 2003, pp. 32-39 Heather lies awake at night, worrying whether she\u2019ll keep the roof over her head. All too familiar with the limited housing options for a mentally ill Albertan whose disability pension brings in a princely $600 a month after taxes, she\u2019s determined to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":12,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-592","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsthatsing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsthatsing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsthatsing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsthatsing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsthatsing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordsthatsing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/592\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsthatsing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsthatsing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}