New Schedule

Welcome to our Island PTE readers,

This post has been reposted by Gary Gray aka garydotgray from Dr.  Robert S. Coull's blog. This is a departure from the standard PEI medical clinic procedure. It is refreshing  to see real changes being put in place to make accessing health care better for Islanders. Thank you Dr. Coull!

Only time will tell how this new schedule will be both accepted and effective for our  Island families of the 21st century.

New Schedule: "

Our new schedule is now up and running.

Rapid Access Clinic now open
We've moved the appointments around to reduce the waiting times. We've spaced out the medical appointments because they had the longest waits on the day, and we've started our Rapid Access Clinics for people who just need two or three minutes with the doctor. The Rapid Access Clinic runs weekdays from 10am till 11am.

Reduced waiting times
We trialled the new schedule last week, and on Friday (when most of the bumps had been ironed out!) the average waiting time for patients was down to 17 minutes. That's a great improvement from the average of around 1 hour that we had before we moved to the new premises, and the average of 35 minutes that we had with the old schedule. We continue to be able to offer appointments usually within a few days.

Our waiting times (both on the day, and for booking ahead) are displayed on our home page.

New opening hours - evening clinic on Thursdays
A couple of changes to hours as well. This is mainly due to the fact that we have had to postpone having a second doctor. The front desk will be open only from 10am until 2pm daily. We will also only be answering the phones between these hours.

We will now be offering appointments every weekday, but only between 10am and 2pm (except the Treatment Room Nurse who will remain open from 8.20am until 4pm). For patients who find it hard to take time off work, we will be starting an evening clinic running to 6pm on Thursdays from next month.

We're really pleased with this new schedule, and we hope it will make accessing care even easier for our patients.

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Neroplacisticy - The Game Changer

Welcome to all of my readers who have suffered brain injury,

Dr Norman Doidge is a Canadian psychiatrist and reacher who has written a book. The name of his book is "The Brain That Changes Itself"  This book is a game changer in the realm of recovery from brain injury. Why? The main reason is because as Dr. Doidge tells us the thinking was over the past four centuries that the brain was a hard wired machine that could not be repaired after it had become damaged.

During his research Dr.. Doidge began hearing that science was learning  in fact the brain did have the ability to repair itself because of the ability to change. In fact the brain was changing every hour and day of our lives. This ability to adapt and change has been given the term Neroplacisticy. Brain Neroplacisticy is the basis from which persons who have suffered a traumatic brain injury can actually achieve an amazing degree of recovery from that injury.

To learn more about this fascinating topic we can read the book "The Brain That Changes Itself" available from Amazon.com as well as most book stores and your local library. Also Dr. David  Suzuki a well known Canadian host of the Canadian Broadcasting Company science documentary "The Nature Of Things" has produced two, one hour long documentries that help us to understand how the brain can be taught to heal itself.


Documentary 1 "The Brain That Changes Itself"

Documentary 2 "Changing Your Mind"

As a stroke survivor I have personally been using the brain teaching methods that are featured in these programs. I am happy to report that my brain  has responded positively over time to recover from the mental effects that had resulted from my stroke - Gary Gray

We are not sure how long these links to the videos will be available to access these two excellent documentaries. If you encounter a broken link please contact us so that we may attempt to find a fix for the problem. (just leave a comment on this post)

For anyone who has encountered Traumatic Brain Injury either personally or by a friend or family member we recommend this game changing information to see how the brain CAN learn, change and heal.

We would love to have you share any experiences that you may have had in this area of brain science. Thanks!

Till next post,

Gary

Practice Nurses Tackling Obesity Epidemic

This post has been reposted by Gary Gray aka garydotgray from a blog post by Dr. Coull of Charlottetown, P.E.I. Canada

Practice Nurses Tackling Obesity Epidemic: "Canada is in the middle of a deadly obesity epidemic.

Fast food, slow death (North America)	Healthy for life (Denmark)

Which life do you want future generations of Canadians to have?


Obesity is classed as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 30. BMI is the ratio of your weight to your height.

The Pheonix Medical Practice computer system contains the height and weight of all of our patients who have been for their initial visit with our clinical team. Each night our computer re-calculates every patient's BMI and works out what percentage of our patients have a BMI over 30.

Today, the computer says 28% of patients at the Phoenix Medical Practice are classed as obese. In 1980 that figure would have been around 10%.

Obesity is a very serious medical condition.

Obesity is a killer. It puts a strain on your heart, lungs, blood vessels, and joints. Your risk of getting diabetes goes up with your weight. The Online Nursing Programs Obesity Overview suggests that "Obesity has become one of the most important public health issues facing not only the United States but also the world."

Condemning our children to a life of sickness and early death

Basically, your chances of being sick and dying young go up with your weight. As obesity rates rise, our children face a life of ill health and short lifespan unknown since the rise of modern medicine.

It's a nightmare that is unfolding so slowly that few are noticing it even happening. Combined with the body image problems of a size zero obsessed fashion industry, we have a society that has a terminal weight problem.

What can we do about it?

The solutions are actually quite simple in theory. We build roads that give priority to cyclists and walkers, we force the food industry to reduce hidden sugar and fat, and we tax sugary and fatty foods. Of course, none of these things are going to happen any time soon in a capitalist economic system addicted to unhealthy food and big cars. That's a discussion for you to have with your politicians. Dr Jenni Zelin is hard at work doing a great job pushing for more cycle lanes in PEI

In the mean time, our Practice Nursing Team will be following the WHO advice. The WHO is urging family physician teams to intervene with healthy eating and lifestyle advice. Our team of nurses are already doing that. They have lists of patients who are obese, and they will be working through the list calling them to offer them support and advice. Our Practice Nurses can run a very successful weight management program with these patients.

The WHO wants to see this introduced nationally. It thinks 40,000 Canadians will be saved if it is. We agree. Our team is already hard at work doing this.

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Living A Healthy Life With Chronic Conditions

Hi to all of our readers with chronic conditions

To day, I would like to introduce you to a program that I believe will help you develop  your coping skills to manage your chronic condition.

I am a stroke survivor: I struggle with fatigue and limited ability to do just the routine tasks of daily living.

You may be working through the challenges of  any number of chronic conditions.

I found this six week course a great help in dealing with the challenges of  Stroke.

Living A Healthy Life With Chronic Conditions is provided in many Prince Edward Island Communities with a small reregistration charge of only $10.00

Each training session is led by a trained health care professional along with a trained volunteer. They work as a team to provide the needed skills for participants to manage chronic conditions on a daily basis.

"Living a Healthy Life is a fun and practical program that helps people with ongoing health conditions overcome daily challenges and maintain active, fulfilling lives.  Throughout the program, people develop the skills they need to help themselves. They gain confidence and motivation to manage their health, and feel more positive about their lives."

To learn the skills to manage your chronic condition  click here

This same program is offered in many other provinces and states throughout North America. Try typing "living a healthy life" into a search engine such as Google to find one near you.

I will post again soon and in the meantime why not learn the skills to live healthy one day at a time.

http://www.gov.pe.ca/health/index.php3?number=1034519&lang=E

Gary

Healthy Living Basics for Stroke Survivors

Special Hi to Stroke Survivors and Caregivers

As you may or may not know one of the keys to stroke recovery is healthy living while watching our weight and maintaining a healthy diet. I would like to share with you a tool that I have been asked to test for our Stroke Education and Awareness committee. It is found on the Canadian Heart and Stroke site and is called the Healthy Weight Action Plan.

Click here to access the Healthy Weight Action Plan

Heart & Stroke Healthy Weight Action Plan  The Heart&Stroke Healthy Weight Action Plan™ is a 12-week, step-by-step program that will support you in achieving healthy habits  and a healthy weight—for life. The Healthy Weight Action Plan will: Identify your risk of heart disease and stroke. Provide tips, advice and support to help you lose weight. Help you create a personalized action plan for healthy living.  I have also been asked to test another diet tool by another well known  organization but you will have to wait till after I try it. I will put up a  future blog post on it then. I hope you enjoy using the Healthy Weight Action Tool as much as I am. Smiles :o) Gary

exercise programs for obese people | Exercise and Fitness Reviews

exercise programs for obese people | Exercise and Fitness Reviews: "Water exercise is excellent for physical therapy and fitness because it enhances range of motion and eases pain of movement. This book makes it easy for you to design your own water exercise program, whether for injury rehabilitation, ..."

Foods That Fight Colds & Flu

Foods That Fight Colds & Flu: "

Onions benefit colds and flu by sulphur compounds and vitamin C plus quercitin, being the most active ingredient. Sulphur is what gives the onions the pungent aroma as well as the health promoting benefits, even antimicrobial properties. The sulphur content in onions is not as high as garlic, about one fourth the amounts. The high vitamin C content is what gives the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. A recommended dosage would be 2 to 3 onions per week.

Garlic has allicin as an active ingredient giving it antiviral and antibacterial properties. Garlic cleans your liver (which cleans your blood) since your blood cycles through your liver every three minutes. So thereby stimulating the white blood cells and in turn boosting the immune system.One can make a Onion garlic syrup for mucous release.

The benefits of honey are that it acts as a natural antibiotic with antiseptic properties. There are vitamins such as B-complexes, C, D, E, minerals enzymes and propolis. Bees produce honey by mixing flower nectar with their enzymes. The propolis in honey boosts the immune system, disables viruses and fights infections. There are different types of honey: locally grown is best for seasonal allergies, asthma and respiratory conditions. Honey acts as a homeopathic in treating like with like in helping the body to heal itself. So if the propolis is locally grown you are treating with the irritants that are common to your area. A pediatric study may show it is more effective than cough syrup because it coats the throat better. Honey benefits not only sooth a sore throat also helps colds, flu, headache, nausea. Dosage would be a tablespoon 4 times per day taken straight or in tea.

Cayenne has a high vitamin C content making it a natural choice for a cold, also vitamin A, B, calcium and potassium plus increases the circulation in the body. I like in a capsule form taking 2 – 40,000 heat units (950mg), or liquid 4 drops of the 200,000 heat units. If you place a few drops in water and gargle with it every 15-30 minutes you will be amazed at how quickly your sore throat will disappear.

Ginger health benefits are the volatile oils they warm the body helping the body to sweat breaking a fever and eliminating toxins, plus they stimulate mucous release.Ginger is a metabolic enhancer the warming also helps with nausea, is a great digestive aid, lung and chest decongesting, and as a body cleansing herb. Ginger tea (especially combined with honey) helps too sooth the throat.

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