Health

This is National Laboratory Week. The Veterans Memorial Hospital Laboratory staff has announced that beginning May 9, the week of National Hospital Week, they will begin offering wellness testing to the community.  Veterans Memorial Hospital has begun offering this service to help accommodate those individuals with rising health insurance premiums and deductibles that would forgo these important tests due to the cost.

Individuals now have the option from a menu of wellness tests during select hours.  While these tests do not take the place of regular medical care, they are a tool for patients to monitor their own health and wellness.

Anyone in the community will now be able to walk into the lab between the hours of 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. and request any of a number of tests, all without a physician’s order.  Results are then mailed to the individual within five business days.

Anyone who lives to the age of 72 will have a 95% probability of needing blood or blood products at sometime in their life, so blood donors are greatly needed.

The next local LifeServe Blood Center blood drive will be held Thursday, May 5, from 12-5 p.m., at the First Baptist Church in south Waukon. Blood drives are held the first Thursday of every other month in Waukon, falling on the odd-numbered months, to allow for more donors to give. LifeServe Blood Center supplies Veterans Memorial Hospital with its blood and blood products.

by Tami Gebel,
Occupational Therapist

Living life to its fullest potential, that is what most people desire. How each person lives their life to the fullest is different.
For some people, their job or profession brings confidence and self-reliance. For other people, leisure activities, such as golfing, painting or gardening, provides hours of enjoyment. Still others find spending time with family brings the greatest joy.  However a person defines “living life to its fullest,” most people worry that after a family member experiences a stroke the “living life to its fullest” no longer exists.

The local Grief Support Group will hold its monthly meeting at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon Wednesday, May 11 at 2 p.m. in the ICN Conference Room of the hospital, which is located on the lower level. This informal meeting is open to anyone suffering from any type of loss, whether it be death, divorce, illness or some other grief.

Those attending should feel free to bring a friend. This grief support group meets the second Wednesday of each month at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon.
 

The next LifeServe Blood Center blood drive will be held Thursday, May 5 from 12-5:00 p.m. at the First Baptist Church located in south Waukon. Blood drives are held the first Thursday of every other month in Waukon, falling on the odd months, to allow for more donors to give. The LifeServe Blood Center supplies Veterans Memorial Hospital with its blood and blood products.

Blood centers across the United States see a decrease in blood donations during the busy summer months.  During the summer, people become more active, have busier schedules, spend more time outdoors and take vacations. While donations decline, hospitals see an increase in the need for blood.  More driving can mean more automobile accidents. A person who has suffered severe injuries from an automobile accident can need up to 50 units of blood.

by Tami Gebel,
Occupational Therapist
 
April is National Occupational Therapy Month. Occupational therapists work in outpatient clinics to assist people in recovery from work-related injuries. Many times careless mistakes lead to injuries, other times injuries occur due to an obscure accident.

When an injury occurs, it often leads to pain, inability to complete all activities (even non-work related activities), time off from work or change in work duties.  Employers do not like work-related injuries because they cause a loss in wages, production and manpower.

It is the right of the patient to choose the medical care they wish in any situation, even when the patient is too sick or hurt to tell their family members or their physician. The way to ensure the correct healthcare wishes are carried out is to complete an Advance Directive. Advance Directives include: Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare and/or a Living will.

1. In order to have an Advance Directive the patient will need to discuss their wishes with their family and physician. An Advance Directive should be done by discussing your wishes with your family and physician and then complete our Power of Attorney for Healthcare form.  

by Karen Collins, MS, RDN, CDN, FAND

Q: Does a lactose-free diet play a role in reducing cancer risk?

by Jill Fleming, MS, RD/LD, Veterans Memorial Hospital

by Karen Collins, MS, RDN, CDN, FAND

Q: I’m well over 65, do I need to be doing strength-type training exercises?