Our Watertown Area Run Club, out for coffee after a Sunday run! What a great time it is! This is exactly why my running friends may be the best friends I will ever have. They understand you, and your desire to run, and be healthy. And when one of us is hurt, or has health issues, we all struggle. It is just not the same when somebody who is usually there, now isn’t. I struggled when I had my health issues, and right now, another one of our good running friends is having health issues as well. She has not been able to be running with us for a while, and it is just not the same. I have said for years when we started this, no one will be left behind. We may not all be the same speed, but we watch out for each other, and cheer each other on. Our Run Club started out as a group of people, but we finish as a group of friends!
We run in all kinds of weather, warm, cold, rain, snow…but life throws us curveballs at time, and we have to “weather” those storms as well. Never tell a runner that they cannot do something! I guarantee we will prove everybody wrong! We may get knocked down, but we are not going to stay down!
We have had many times when we have traveled together to go run a race somewhere. We all love the challenge of a race, and going somewhere different, but it is not really about the race. It is about the time you spend together, as we all trained and worked together, as well as on our own, to get to the same spot. It all boils down to the fact that it is all about finding people who are your kind of crazy! We all love a challenge, and we all push each other!
We always gather at whatever events we are at for a picture. We worry how each of us is doing. WE CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER! What more can you say?
We all get injured, or have health problems. I guess that is part of being human. But when someone has been gone, and then gets back to running, we are all jumping for joy! You know you are a runner when your running friends are the only ones that understand your love of running, and your constant need to talk about it! We all are happy when we all can do what we love to do. Our good friend will be back at it again some day. This I have no doubt. But we are there for her along the way. That road may get bumpy at times, but again, we can “weather” any storm. All you need is a little help from your friends! Keep moving everybody…especially for those of us who can’t!
Yesterday I went to go see one of my patients as she had a celebration for her 90th Birthday. I have helped take care of Grace since I came to Watertown in 1994. One thing for sure, when you are a Family Physician, you truly are taking care of the family. You do what you can to help your patients get through the bad times, and good times, the struggles, and the joys. Everybody experiences up and downs, and we all have issues that can come up with our health. The hope is that we can do something about those issues when they come up. One day, we are all going to leave this world, but we want to enjoy as much of our life, and our family, for as long as we can.
As a Family Physician, we are helping at the core of our patients. We may not be able to take care of, and solve everything, but what we can’t do, we need to know where we are going to steer our patients. We try to do the best, and most, we possibly can to take care of them.
For many years now, Kelsey and I having been having our Strive to Survive wellness program to help our patients. We continue to keep promoting a healthy diet, and encourage exercise, to help our patients help themselves as much as possible. Keeping on task is always a struggle, because during the day, some patients may need more time that what any of us thought. Things come up. We go with the flow. Sometimes big things come up, and serious things come up, and you do what you have to do to take care of that patient. As a physician, we may start off with a schedule for the day, but very seldom does it just flow without any problems. That is just how it goes!
As much as I try to stay on time during the day, it just does not always happen. Things happen! As a patient, you just need to hope I don’t need to spend a lot of time with you that day. The more time I need to spend, the bigger the issue, or the more serious the problem may be. But when you deal with serious issues all day, every day, there are just those times when you need to have some fun too. Laughter, after all , can be the best medicine.
Some times you may just need to cut loose and hula! Whether at the clinic Christmas party, or being involved in a hula hoop contest at an Assisted Living! Have fun and laugh! Personally, I am a Disney fan, and in particular, Mickey Mouse!
Laughing can be a great way to relax, and take control of your own health! Always remember this! This should be just as important a way of taking care of yourself, as does watching your diet, and exercise!
As a Primary Care…Family…Physician, our roles are enormous. We cover a large spectrum of care involved with our patients. We help coordinate care as well. Bottom line, we are going to do what needs to be done to help our patients. Nothing will change on this over time. In my career, I have taken care of patients for many years, and some, like Grace, for as long as I have been a physician! They become like family as well. After all these years, we know what is important in our patients lives, and the struggles they have to deal with as well. It is important for us to be there when they need us! And that goes for celebrations of good things as well!
So, once again, Happy Birthday Grace! You have had a great 90 years, and I hope you get to experience many more to come! I will be there for you, just like my other patients. I am your Family Physician, and we are vital to families! I just ask my patients to help meet me half way, and do what they can to help themselves! Eat right, exercise regularly, and learn to laugh!!! Keep mopving everybody!
Iron is a mineral needed to make hemoglobin, which carries oxygen on red blood cells throughout the body. After picking up oxygen in the lungs, iron and hemoglobin carry it to muscles and other organs. Iron deficiency anemia occurs when there is not enough iron to maintain normal red blood cell activity. In order to prevent fatigue and weakness, it is important to build a diet that has a variety of foods with both heme and non-heme iron.
Heme iron is found in animal products
made from meat, poultry, and seafood. Heme iron is easily absorbed during
digestion and is the best source for iron-deficient individuals. Oysters,
clams, and animal liver provide excellent sources of heme iron, while meat
products like beef, shrimp, turkey, pork, and venison are considered good
sources.
Non-heme iron is mostly found in
plant-based foods, such as beans, lentils, spinach, soybeans, quinoa, broccoli,
and whole grain products. Including foods rich in vitamin C will improve
absorption of non-heme iron from these plant-based foods.
Know your labels:
– Foods that provide at least 20% of the daily
value of Iron for a 2,000 calorie diet are considered to be an “excellent
source” of the important mineral
– A “good source” of iron has 10-19% of the
daily value
– Find out how much iron a product has by looking towards the bottom of the nutrition facts label.
Make sure you have healthy
options available for your family to pack for school! It is important that all
children reach their daily recommended number of servings for all food groups.
An easy way to create a balanced packed lunch is to follow MyPlate. It is
important that packed school lunches offer just as much nutrition as meals
served at home and offering foods from all of the food groups helps your child
develop and learn. Following MyPlate, you can see that packed lunches should
have servings of fruit, vegetables, dairy, whole grains, and a protein source.
Your child can also purchase a serving of milk from their school’s cafeteria.
Finally, offer healthier snacks like pretzels, yogurt-covered raisins, popcorn,
trail mix, and whole grain crackers with peanut butter.
Build your own school lunch by
choosing a 1 item from each food group below!
Fruit – Apple slices, grapes, berries, banana,
applesauce
Vegetables – Cucumber slices,
carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, celery sticks (pair with hummus,
peanut butter, or ranch dip!)
It was a busy weekend for us! We went out to Deadwood on Wednesday for our annual SD Family Physician conference. Sarah was sworn in on Friday night and will now be the president of the SD Academy of Family Physicians! Congratulations Sarah!
She was sworn in on Friday night by the National Academy of Family Physicians President Dr. Gary LeRoy! He came from Ohio to join our conference, and to officially swear her into office. What a great conference!
She and I spent Thursday afternoon teaching other Family Physicians on Diabetes.
It is a great conference where we all can learn new things, and learn from each other as well. That will be one of the job responsibilities of the president; helping with ideas for topics for continuing education for the 350 Family Physicians of the state. She will get to do some traveling as well to national conferences, including Kansas City, Chicago, and Washington DC. I plan on going with her on some of these! We also had fun spending time with friends, classmates from med school, and Carletta Hauck, our Executive Director for the SDAFP!
Carletta’s daughter Carissa also came. It was great getting to see her again! She was helping Carletta with the conference, along with Steve, and Noah. It was a family effort! Each afternoon we had between 1-2 hours out of the whole day to do something else. So, of course, we went running!
Here I go by the sign Moon Mountain! The route by the hotel is up in the mountains. We would go 4 miles, with the first mile up, the second mile down, and then back. Those hills are incredibly tough.
Here Sarah is leading the way on the first mile going up! We just had to keep telling ourselves that once we got done with the first mile, it would be downhill for the next. Then repeat! That 3rd mile, going back up again, was a killer. At least the 4th mile was back down again!
The hills did not seem too bad when you had a least a great view. All of the pine trees, the pine tree smell, and even saw a few deer! It was enough of a break to go back at it again for the evening sessions!
Sarah will do a great job of being President, and will lead by example. She had the audience laughing with her speech! We have been a big part of this academy since medical school! Family Medicine is what we do, and we always need to keep learning. As she said in her speech, it will be just like when I was president over 15 years ago. The academy just got a 2 for 1 deal. You vote in one, and you get the benefit of having both of us. Good job Sarah! Congratulations! You will do great! Keep moving everybody!
