Danger Ahead

There have been some disturbing developments with antibiotic resistant bacteria.

A woman died in Nevada in September of this year....and they tried 26! different antibiotics, with no success, to save her.  Virtually every single thing we have on the shelf.

There's another strain of bacteria that only respond to colistin...an antibiotic that destroys your kidneys.

When dealing with antibiotics, please, please, please follow these tips:

• Don't take antibiotics for viral infections.  They don't help.  Antibiotics only work on bacteria.  Your doctor won't, generally, prescribe antibiotics for viral infections, but if you demand a pill, they might go ahead and rip off a prescription to shut you up.  Don't do it.

 

• When you take an antibiotic, take them all.  Even if your symptoms all disappear, you need to finish the whole course and be sure that all the bacteria hiding in you gets killed.

 

• If your body disagrees with antibiotics...stomach pain, constipation, diarrhea, etc. then try looking here for advice from the Cleveland Clinic.

 

Stay healthy, my friends!

Volunteers!

We are truly fortunate to welcome three new individuals to our volunteer service....Thomas, Rachel and Zach have all signed on in the last few months.

But we can always use more.  Emergency Services all over the county, and particularly small volunteer outfits like ours, are struggling to keep up with the coverage.

At its worst, when you call 911, there's simply no one to help you...like this area of Connecticut, where 26% of their calls went unanswered!

Happily, one way or the other, that hasn't happened to us, but we're not so flush that we can't use more folks to help.  


And it doesn't take a huge commitment....as little as a few hours a month.  Sign on as a driver and, if you like it and want to do more, we'll provide EMT classes.  

The easiest way to get started is to simply ride along with us a couple times.  If you don't like it, then no harm, no foul...just walk away with our thanks for taking a look.

But if you DO like it, there's a whole new world just waiting for you.  

For your New Years resolution, please consider volunteering with Southern Jasper County Ambulance Service.  Its good for you, its good for your community.

We can be reached by simply emailing SJCAS101@gmail.com.

Good luck and I hope to see you soon!

Sleep - how to!

As we discussed in the last post, a good night's sleep can be critical for your physical and mental health.

But be careful.  This article from NPR talks about the dangers of using commonly prescribed sleep medication.  That stuff isn't good for you!  You don't need it.

Here's some advice from lifehacker on how to get better sleep without that stuff.  Just simple lifestyle changes.

And if you can't sleep longer, maybe you can sleep better.  Ninety minute increments is one key.

If you can't swing seven or so hours a night, you might get some of the same benefits with power napping.  Although its uncertain if that lends as much to your health as a good night's sleep.

If you're technologically oriented, there are other resources for drug-free sleep at night and power naps.  One that I like (and use) is pzizz.  A really interesting (free!) app for ios or android.  And no, I'm not a paid sponsor...I just find it handy.

So use the links above.  Get some rest.  You deserve it.

Sleep - What you don't know can hurt you

Sleep.  

You need it.  


Your brain needs it.

According to the CDC, insufficient sleep is both a public health crisis and an "epidemic" in America.  Whether its stress, lifestyle or simply trying to keep up with the job and home, we don't get enough sleep and that's bad for our brains.


When we sleep, the brain is "detoxified".  The beta-amyloids associated with Alzheimer's are decreased.

Additionally, lack of quality sleep, whether from apnea, insomnia or simply lifestyle, increases stroke risk.

It's been suggested that one of the single most important things you can do for your health is to get a nightly dose of good, quality sleep.

Try it!

Indiana ranks 45th in the country for Mental Health

Not good....you can read about it here.

But, from the article, "Both Flora and Courtney say there’s a stigma around mental illness in Indiana, but communities are slowly starting to treat the problem as a health issue — as opposed to a moral one."

So that's encouraging.

Free CPR class for the community

30 June 2016

18:00 Eastern

(6 p.m.)

Southern Jasper County Ambulance Service is hosting a free 'HeartSaver' CPR class for the community.

Come to the ambulance station and join us.

You'll be glad you did!





If you have questions, please feel free to contact us via sjcas101@gmail.com
 

Hope.

Its a long, long way away, but there's some hope on the Alzheimer's front.


This article from Nova Next explains a recent article published in Nature on using light to stimulate the recovery of memories in mice.

Yes, recovering the memories of mice is a long way from dealing with Alzheimer's in people, but these mice develop the same amyloid protein clusters, or plaques, that are indicative of the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

And, in a disease this devastating, this cruel, any news is good news.