Community News
Four Benefits of Funeral Pre-Planning

Peace of Mind: Leaving written instructions and setting aside adequate funds relieves you of worry, knowing that things will be easier on your family financially and emotionally. Dignity & Control: You are able to make the decisions and document every detail of your final wishes, while controlling the budget. Money when your family needs it most: Pre-paying for funeral expenses allows for funds to be available immediately to pay for funeral costs; no probate or unnecessary delays. Eligibility and Flexibility: You are eligible for benefits at any age and any health condition. There are payment options to suit anyone’s budget.

30-Day Online Fitness Challenge

When striving to reach a fitness and/or weight loss goal, there’s nothing more powerful than a timely, focused 30-day challenge that offers you step-by-step daily activity checklists and a high level of accountability to your coach and fellow participants to keep you on track. With the right eating and training program, and the right platform to gather virtually, you have all the key ingredients for a powerful, results-producing 30-day challenge not just for weight loss, but also for better physical and mental health. For more information, check out the 30-Day September Slim Down Challenge offered by ReDefine Health & Fitness!

Book Club

Living Well with Arthritis: A Sourcebook for Understanding and Managing Your Arthritis Living Well with Arthritis is written by Canadian doctors for Canadians. Its authors, all respected experts in the field, focus not only on medications and complementary treatments, but also on management of the many aspects of life that arthritis can affect. Topics such as dealing with chronic pain and fatigue, developing emotional and social coping strategies, and managing relationships are all explored, taking readers through the steps of how the body is affected, and ways to manage the disease.

Clean Eating Recipe

Grilled Chicken Lettuce Wraps. 1 lb lean ground chicken; 2 shallots, thinly sliced; ½ red pepper, diced; 1 tbsp chili powder; 2 tbsp lime juice; 2 tbsp orange juice; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 1 tbsp honey; 1 tbsp sriracha; 1/3 c fresh cilantro leaves, chopped; 12 iceberg lettuce leaves; 1/3 c chopped peanuts. Sauté chicken, shallots, red pepper, and chili powder 5-8 min, until chicken is brown. Stir in lime juice, orange juice, fish sauce, honey and Sriracha. Cook 3-5 min, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir 2 tbsp cilantro into the mixture. Remove from heat. Serve in lettuce leaves. Garnish with cilantro and peanuts. Enjoy!

Words to Live By

It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it. – Albert Einstein

Words To Live By

Love yourself the most and treat yourself the best! That is in your best and highest interest; and in the best and highest of everyone else as well!

Words to Live By

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. – John F. Kennedy

How Tinnitus Impacts Daily Life

Most people have experienced a few hours in which they heard a constant ringing or buzzing in their ears without any external source of noise, likely after a concert or some other loud event. Even if temporary, ringing in the ears can be distracting and make communicating difficult. For most people, the noises typically fade after a short period of time, but for some, the ringing never goes away.

This ringing is called tinnitus, a condition that affected an estimated 9.2 million adult Canadians (see hearing loss Canada) in the past year (Stats Canada). It can manifest as a ringing, clicking, buzzing, or a variety of other sounds. Like hearing loss, tinnitus ranges in severity and can be caused by many different things. Although there is no cure for chronic tinnitus, when symptoms persist for over three months, there are treatment options that can allow patients to live a normal life despite the condition.

When approaching treatment options for tinnitus (see free hearing test), it is important to understand what tinnitus is, and what causes it. Tinnitus is most commonly caused by age and long-term exposure to loud sounds, but there are some other causes as well. Ototoxic drugs, impacted ear wax, and problems in the middle ear are less common causes of tinnitus but can create the same effect. For cases such as impacted ear wax, the sounds being heard are the sounds that our bodies naturally produce. But for most types of tinnitus, the sounds are not influenced by any external input. In these cases, tinnitus is the brain’s attempt to make up for a lack of external stimuli caused by damaged hair cells in the cochlea, which is the part of the inner ear involved in hearing.

The impact of tinnitus pain differs from person to person and depends on the severity of the issue, and the type of treatment the person is using. Common negative impacts of tinnitus include anxiety, poor concentration and sleeping habits, stress, irritability and depression. Poor sleeping and challenges with concentration are the two most common side-effects of tinnitus and can both be dealt with in similar ways.

Because tinnitus is more noticeable when it’s quiet, falling asleep can become extremely difficult for people with tinnitus. Some people find that using a sound machine or white noise app helps drown out the tinnitus and makes falling asleep easier. There are also masking devices that can be worn, such as hearing aids, that help to cover the sound of tinnitus.

People with tinnitus may find it difficult to complete complex tasks or follow conversations as the constant noise can be incredibly distracting. For people who have trouble sleeping because of their tinnitus, concentration becomes even more difficult.

Although some people can live with only slight annoyances from their tinnitus, others find it much harder to ignore the constant ringing or other sounds. In these cases, a professional can help to determine the best treatment options for their patient’s unique condition.