Community News
Signs of a Great Memory Care Residence

Moving to and living in a new place can be very unsettling for anyone. It is even more so for people with memory loss. Here are some signs of a great residence. The living space should be well designed to feel homey and inviting. The decoration, lighting and outdoor landscaping should be thoughtfully curated to be welcoming and consistent to reduce decision fatigue. People need to be treated as unique individuals with particular needs and tastes. Look for a care plan that provides amenities and activities specifically designed to enhance the well-being of people living with memory loss. Activities should be tailored to individual need and cognitive ability. Residents should be encouraged to enhance their rooms with familiar furnishings to remind them they are home, they are unique, and they are still the person they’ve always been.

Lianne Ketcheson, Nanaimo Memory and Complex Care, NanaimoMemoryCare.com

Let’s Go Ride a Bike!

Do you enjoy riding your bicycle but find that the hills are now a little steeper than you remember? Maybe you have given up riding all together because of knee pain or exercise induced asthma. Would you like to recapture the fun of being a kid on a bike again – able to go anywhere? Electric bikes remove many of the roadblocks and challenges that people face with traditional pedal-powered bikes. It is just like a regular bicycle – only better. You can pedal normally (or not), and get assistance up to that steep hill. Take a fun ride down to the beach or up into the mountains in comfort and watch the hills disappear behind you. Electric bicycles offer the same great benefits as traditional bicycles, including cost efficiency, health benefits and connection to a community.

Ruby Berry, Pedego Electric Bikes
PedegoQualicumBeach.ca

Whole Foods and Phytonutrients

Plants produce phytocompounds which are substances that help them thrive and protect themselves from their environment. Many of these compounds are also beneficial in the human diet, where they are referred to as phytonutrients and can make an important contribution to optimized health. When using whole food concentrates from around the world, the diversity of phytonutrients is as unique as the environments from which they originate. Whole foods deliver a plethora of nutrients including phytonutrients, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and healthy fatty acids – things we need and cannot get from diet alone. Using whole food concentrates enables the beneficial effects of the molecular structure of these phytonutrients to remain intact. Data indicates that Functional Foods may be a novel and comprehensive dietary approach for the management of a number of degenerative diseases. Functional Foods are recognised for their health benefits. Typically sacred plants of the original peoples from around the world are Functional Foods.

Dorothy Spencer, Independent Consultant, Zurvita, Facebook.com/ZealBTheChange

Bowenwork® – The Original Bowen Technique

A Bowen treatment consists of gentle rolling moves with pauses between moves, giving the body time to benefit from each set and process the information. Bowenwork® balances and stimulates; the restorative process begins once the body is no longer in a state of ‘fight or flight’. By releasing muscle tissue tensions patterns, clients often describe a deep state of relaxation, a feeling of peace and calm, as well as a more positive frame of mind less affected by stress, and they make better decisions. The Bowen technique is appropriate for anyone dealing with pain and injuries, from a newborn to an elderly person. It can help athletes and pregnant women, as well as people with disabilities or chronic conditions. This innovative form of bodywork was first developed in Australia by the late Tom Bowen. His work was verified in 1975 by the Victorian Government, revealing that he saw some 13,000 patients every year!

Andrée Boisvert, Bowenwork® Practitioner, ABHolisticHealth.com

Joy of the Mountains

Did you know that sweet marjoram (Origanum marjoram) is also referred to as Joy of the Mountains? The genus name Origanum comes from the Greek words oros and ganos. Together they translate as joy (or adornment) of the mountains. Ancient Romans associated the herb with love, and among ancient Greeks, it was used as a crown of adornment for a bride and groom. Sweet marjoram essential oil has a uniquely spicy, woody, and camphoraceous scent. Due to its pleasantly calming and warming character, it is typically beneficial for anxiety, mood, stress, sleep, and hyperactivity issues. It may also help alleviate muscle tension, bruising, and fatigue. Use one drop of sweet marjoram essential oil in recipes that call for dried marjoram. Apply to arms and legs before and after exercising. Apply to a fussy child’s feet prior to a nap. Blends well with lavender and rosemary essential oils.

Nelson Meggitt
OptimumWellnessFactor.ca

Ask the Expert

Q: I got something in my eye while gardening this spring, but my eye doctor says there’s nothing in it. She said to keep using drops and it will get better. Please help.

A: I don’t know the details of your case, but it’s a common complaint. If you don’t have anything foreign in your eye, then it’s probably irritated from a slow-healing abrasion or simply from inadequate lubrication. Keep up with the drops and your doctor’s instructions. Warm compresses on your eyelids would also help. You might need to be patient. Wearing eye protection while gardening is also important.

Dr. Alex Kennedy
MosaicVisionCare.com

Defining Clean Eating

Clean eating means enjoying whole foods in their most natural state, those that are un- or minimally processed, refined, and handled. Be mindful of the food’s pathway between its origin and your plate. Buying products that have traveled thousands of km from locations with questionable standards is not sustainable for the planet or your health. Modern food production is sophisticated and eating whole foods is challenging. Most processed foods contain additives to make processing easier, alter taste, and prolong shelf life; these can include corn, salt, sugar, wheat, soy, rice, MSG, and chemicals that defy pronunciation. Eating locally grown fruits and vegetables and non-processed meats and grains allows the body to shed the build-up of ingested toxins. Read the labels. Generally, if there are more than 3 ingredients in a product, avoid it.

Stephen Dalley, B.Ed., MA
Comox Valley HCG Holistic Weight Loss, ComoxValleyHCG.com

Life-Changing Weight Loss

Losing weight takes a great mindset and determination. It’s a not a diet, but a lifestyle change. Marianne shares her weight loss transformation through Ideal Protein Protocol.

“When I started my journey, I never thought I would be able to lose 20 lbs, let alone 70 lbs. I started with sticking to the plan 100%. It wasn’t easy at first to be around a lot of food temptations, but I just kept reminding myself that what I was doing was working and it wasn’t worth it to slide back into eating unhealthy food. The plan is very simple, everything is laid out for you to follow, and they have fantastic food you can eat. The ladies at Success Weight Loss are so helpful with recipes to try. My coach Janet helped me so much and was so encouraging. I am truly thankful for all their support.”
– Marianne M. Courtenay.

Alma Naranjo
SuccessWeightLoss.ca

Prolozone for Whiplash

Whiplash syndrome describes a traumatic event of the neck, secondary to abrupt flexion and extension of the neck. The most common causes are due to motor vehicle accidents and sports injuries. Whiplash can cause damage to various parts of the neck including ligaments, facet joints, cervical vertebrae, cervical disc, nerves, and muscles. It is one of the most common causes of pain in the general population. The usual imaging, such as x-rays, CT, or MRI is unlikely to show evidence of injury, giving little insight into what is responsible for ongoing pain. Whiplash symptoms can include: Neck pain, muscle tightness, decreased range of movement, headaches, dizziness, blurred vision, tinnitus, fatigue, inability to focus. A relatively unknown but effective treatment for cervical spinal pain is Prolozone. Prolozone therapy works by addressing the cause of pain: ligament, tendon, and joint instability. Prolozone involves the injection of ozone to regenerate the ligaments and cartilage tissue in the areas that have become weak.

Dr. Ross Ralph Dr.TCM, R.Ac., DOMP
Courtenay Healing Centre
CourtenayHealingCentre.ca

Fun Foot Facts

The average person will walk over 100,000 miles in a lifetime. That is more than four times around the earth. Walking is the best exercise for your feet. It contributes to your general health by improving circulation and weight control. The average woman walks three miles more per day than the average man, and is four times more likely to experience foot problems, often due to inappropriate footwear. As our population packs on the pounds, feet are spreading to support the extra weight. There are 26 bones in each foot, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles and tendons. A quarter of all the bones in the body are found in the feet, and when they are out of alignment, the knees, hips and back can suffer too. Feet are the body’s foundation; when we take proper care of our feet we take care of our whole body.

Diane Calder BScKIN, Pedorthist
B.D. Mitchell Prosthetics and Orthotics
MitchellPandO.com

Massage for Athletic Performance

How does Massage Therapy help with athletic performance?

The benefits of Massage Therapy have long been recognized by top-level athletes as well as “weekend warriors “. So what are the physiological effects?

  • Massage greatly affects the cardiovascular system. It helps with dilation (increase in diameter) of blood vessels which in turn work to move blood more efficiently and therefore promotes circulation
  • Massage encourages venous blood flow back to the heart which enhances blood flow to deliver fresh oxygen and nutrients to the tissues and help with removal of waste and toxins
  • Because of the relaxed state you are in after a massage treatment you will experience a drop in heart rate
  • Massage especially affects the muscular system. The increased and enhanced blood circulation relieves muscle tension, decreases soreness (DOMS), speeds up recovery time and helps to increase range of motion and flexibility
  • Massage aids to decrease inflammation after a strenuous workout and promotes growth of mitochondria (the energy center of our cells).

What about the psychological effects?

  • Massage helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system by increasing dopamine and serotonin levels and decreasing the stress hormone cortisol to help with stress and tension relief as well as managing pre-event anxiety

Sports Massage can be categorized into various types:

  1. a) a short, stimulating, fast paced treatment as a pre-work out or pre-race warm up to get you ready to function at your optimum
  2. b) a more relaxing treatment post- work out or post- race to assist in recovery

Benefits of Massage Therapy to the aspiring athlete are manifold as it will improve your performance and speed up recovery. Regular, weekly massage treatments will (just like exercise) have a cumulative effect and should be part of any serious training program.

 

Willie Muller RMT
CourtenayMassageTherapy.com