Community News
Considering a Pet Sitter?

If you’re a pet owner who travels, arranging for care for your pets while you’re away can feel like an overwhelming decision. It’s important to look for caregivers who will not only provide for basic needs like food and water, but also companionship, reassurance, and playtime while you’re away. If you can find someone to come to your home, your pet gets to stay in his familiar surroundings, which is less stressful than taking him to a new location! When finding a pet sitter, it’s also important that you’re both on the same page about what’s expected and the fees involved for things like the number and length of visits per day, grooming and walking, accident cleanup, and taking the pet to a vet in case of emergency. You and your pet should feel comfortable about the care arrangements, so you (and your pet) can enjoy your vacation without worry!

Lisa Tustin, Professional Pet Services

Clean Eating: Grilled Corn and Avocado Succotash

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. vegetable oil
S&P
2 tbsp. lime juice
4 ears corn
½ pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 bell pepper
¼ inch diced
½ red onion, finely chopped
1 avocado, chopped into ½ inch cubes
¼ c. fresh basil leaves

Directions:

While steaks are cooking, shuck corn, toss in vegetable oil and let cook on other side of grill. Once you have nice grill marks on corn, take off and slice kernels off with sharp knife. Mix with rest of ingredients, and serve.

Prairie Box, PrairieBox.com

Journaling Relieves Caregiver Anxiety

If you’re a caregiver for a senior loved one, have you considered journaling as a way to relieve caregiver anxiety? Experts recommend journaling as a way to sort out your feelings and count your blessings when life gets crazy. In fact, regular journaling may even improve your health. Writing down your worries may strengthen your immune cells, giving you a better chance of fighting off infections and staying healthy. Journaling may help you fulfill your most important roles with a positive outlook and plenty of energy. It helps to: 1. Reduce the intensity of stress and anger by writing these feelings down. 2. Solve problems through creativity and intuition. 3. Recognize productive (and unproductive) patterns in your life. 4. Track your progress and growth for increased confidence. 5. Sort out your feelings. Journaling gives you a “safe space” to share your thoughts and feelings without worrying about being judged or feeling guilty.

Alevtina (Alia) Tuhari, Reliable Home Care Agency, ReliableHomeCare.ca

Caregiver Pharmacy Support

It can be difficult to be a caregiver and manage multiple or complex medications for a loved one. It is important to ensure medications are taken appropriately to help maintain good health. A visiting pharmacist provides personal support with regular medication delivery and home consultations. The pharmacist reviews a client’s prescription drugs and over the counter medications to advise if there are any drug interactions, and makes adjustments as necessary. This level of support can reduce emergency room visits and hospital stays, and results in strong, trusting relationships between clients, caregivers, and pharmacists. The visiting pharmacist also provides seamless care for hospital discharge patients and works closely with other health professionals to deliver a high level of care to the client. Care is tailored to specific individual needs such as assisting with blood pressure readings, adding medications as needed to adherence packaging, and making changes in an efficient manner.

Teresa Giesbrecht
CareAtHomePharmacy.ca

Tune-Up Your Brain!

Your brain is the engine that drives you – so it’s important to keep it well-tuned. Fat – or lipid – consumption is essential for the healthy growth, development, and function of your brain. In fact, 60% of your brain’s dry weight is fat. Several types of plant and animal fats are used for brain-building material, though one lipid reigns supreme: omega-3 fatty acids derived from salmon, sardines, krill oil, and plant-based Ahiflower oil. There are many benefits of omega-3: it increases cognitive functioning and decreases symptoms of depression, anxiety and aggression. It is also shown to be a protective factor against cognitive decline and dementia in older adults; and it is an essential component of a healthy diet for pregnant women, leading to better health outcomes in newborns. Consider adding omega-3s to your diet as an evidence-based way to tune-up your brain for optimal mental health.

Sean Miller, CMHA Manitoba and Winnipeg

mbwpg.cmha.ca

Book Club: Why Can’t I get Better?

Solving the Mystery of Lyme and Chronic Disease by Dr. Richard Horowitz. Looks at pain, fatigue, memory and concentration problems, sleep disorders, and much more. Lyme disease and its related conditions are incredibly complicated. You can take the questionnaire yourself, and start doing your own detective work with this book as your guide.

LymeDisease.org

Importance of Water Filters

Disinfecting our drinking water for more than a century with chlorine ensured it was free of the microorganisms that can cause serious diseases, such as typhoid fever. To this day, chlorine remains the most commonly used drinking water disinfectant. However, drinking tap water has been linked to bladder, breast, and bowel cancer; and long-term drinking, bathing, and swimming in chlorinated water has been shown to cause malignant melanoma. According to Dr. Rona, M.D., chlorinated water destroys most of the intestinal flora – friendly bacteria that help not only with the digestion of food, but with the production of vitamins B12 and K. Chlorinated water can destroy vitamin E and polyunsaturated fatty acids. All of these factors have been shown to result in skin irritations, including eczema, acne, and rashes. A total water whole-home filter removes 92-95% of the chemicals in our tap water, leaving all the essential minerals.

Total Water Cleaners, TotalWaterCleaners.com

Financial Wellness Tips

Pay bills on time and balance your chequebook each month. Know what you currently have to spend so you know what you can afford to spend. • Stop buying on impulse. Instead of using a credit card, save money for something you want. • Always pay more than your minimum balance on credit cards. Get rid of them as soon as possible. You will save money on interest and have more to save for the future. • Always include some savings in your budget. Too many of us are unable to identify our needs after retirement and don’t save. This results in financial difficulty during our declining years. • Find out what you don’t know about finances—and learn it. There is plenty of available information on financial management. • Be careful with the media pull for spending and don’t be drawn into the hype. Be a savvy shopper and saver to avoid overspending and debt.

Brian Denysuik, President & CEO, Creditaid.ca

Find Calm in Chaos

A great teacher once told us that a meditation practice is like weaving a parachute. Eventually, you will need it, and you don’t want to have to learn to weave on your way down. We take comfort in thinking we have control over most aspects of our lives, and in many cases, we do. But when something out of our control happens, it can send us on a downward spiral. Meditation is like parachute weaving, and floating helps you meditate with ease. We get it. Meditation can be difficult. You might even think meditation is boring. But we like to think, if you can’t spend 90 minutes with yourself, who else is going to want to? This is the reason self-care is such an important pillar of wellness. Because the only thing we truly have control over is ourselves. If you can find the calm, you can control the chaos. Brad Dauk, Floatcalm.com

Brad Dauk, Floatcalm.com

Fireworks Safety and Dogs

Fireworks can be fun for humans, and with all of the coming summer weekends, they are inevitable. Dogs don’t always hold the same enthusiasm, however. Here are some tips for helping your dog cope with fireworks season. Make sure your dog is wearing identification or has a microchip in case they run away. Keep your dog indoors during the fireworks, as far away as possible from the noise. Place a thick blanket over their kennel to help muffle the sounds. Make sure the kennel is in an area where they will not overheat. Make sure your dog is tired by nighttime when the fireworks begin. Lots of exercise may be necessary during the day. Give your dog something yummy to chew on in their kennel, such as a Kong toy filled with goodies.

Lisa Tustin, Professional Pet Services

Product Spotlight: Garden of Life

In today’s fast-paced world, even with the best intentions, having a nutritious meal is sometimes simply impossible. Instead of settling for a quick fix such as fast food, consider a whole-food nutritional shake. Garden of Life’s RAW All-In-One Nutritional Shake provides a convenient way to achieve optimal nutrition! When it comes to whole-food nutritional shakes, USDA Certified Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified sources are of utmost importance to limit unnecessary exposure to toxic chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides, and GMO products. Garden of Life’s RAW All-In-One Nutritional Shake is currently the only plant-based nutritional shake in Canada to have the dual certification. This delicious shake comes packed with 44 superfoods; 20 grams of plant-based, Certified USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified protein; 21 whole-food vitamins and minerals; and less than 1 gram of sugar. It is also Certified Vegan, Certified Gluten Free, Informed-Choice Clean for Sport Certified, and Kosher.

Nathan Zassman, Aviva Health, AvivaHealth.com