Community News
When to Call a Nurse Practitioner

Nurse Practitioners (NP) are growing in number in Manitoba. With our wide scope of practice, we function much like your family doctor or urgent care doctor. Most people don’t know what we do let alone when to call us. Nurse Practitioners can assess, diagnose, treat, prescribe order tests and perform minor surgeries. For example, an elderly person who can’t get out of their home and may be suffering a chest infection or leg wound should give us a call. We can treat wounds, infections, abscesses, coughs and colds and sprains, amongst other ailments. So, if you’re finding it hard to get to a doctor or an urgent care call a Nurse Practitioner.

An Important Step to Solving Reading Difficulties

When a student struggles with reading and learning it is important to first rule out the possibility of a vision problem. Often this can be an eye coordination problem which means that your child will pass most vision screenings in school and even at the pediatrician’s office. Vision screenings typically test for how clearly one can see the letters on the eye chart (“20/20”) which is only 1 of 17 visual skills required for reading and learning. If reading is difficult and homework takes longer than it should, be sure to schedule a developmental vision evaluation, for more information or to schedule an appointment call our office.

Daily Disposable Contact Lenses – Part Two

Daily disposables are a great option for teenagers. With all that’s going on from school to sports to social lives, teenagers are apt to forget or ignore cleaning and changing contacts. Daily disposables make cleaning unnecessary and changing lenses an easy daily routine. While most people who choose to wear contact lenses hate wearing their glasses, it is important that you ensure you have a back-up pair of glasses. If you have an eye infection or intense allergies that make your eyes red and itchy, you may need to go without your lenses for a day. So please make sure you like your back-up glasses.

Acupuncture for Digestive Problems

Acupuncture is a safe and effective way to naturally treat many acute and chronic conditions of the digestive system, including nausea and vomiting, functional disorders (irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, and diarrhea), peptic ulcer disease, Crohn’s disease, postoperative ileus (a predictable delay in gastrointestinal motility that occurs after abdominal surgery), and gall stone disease. Digestive disorders may be caused by a variety of factors, such as chronic stress and other dietary issues. Acupuncture, in conjunction with medical treatments, can help with digestive imbalance by reducing stress and regulating the endocrine and nervous system hyperactivity that often accompanies digestive disorder patterns.

Change Your Money Mindset

After the busy holiday season that often involves a lot of spending, you might find you need to work on your money mindset. This is often shaped by various attitudes, beliefs, and emotions that you connect to things like spending, saving, and investing. These can include: ‘Money is bad’, ‘more money solves all problems’, or ‘money is tied to worthiness’. Take time to review your money mindset by asking yourself without self-judgment: 1) What do you believe about having/saving money? and 2) What do you believe about spending money? Compassionately exploring our beliefs and emotions about money can help us have a healthier relationship with money.

Safe Disposal of Expired Medications

It’s not uncommon to have bottles of expired medications sitting in your cupboard or medicine cabinet, but why hold on to them? Start the new year off right by going through your health products and getting rid of anything you no longer need. To dispose of expired prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, and other natural supplements properly, bring them into your local pharmacy instead of flushing them down the toilet, placing them down the sink, or throwing them in the garbage. Medications that aren’t disposed of safely can cause health risks for people and animals who might unknowingly ingest them.

Make Saving a Life Your New Year’s Resolution

Did you know that eating donuts can help save lives? The blood donation process takes one hour from start to finish, but only 10 of those minutes are actually spent donating blood. After your donation, having a donut, cookie, and juice helps your body recover by reintroducing fluids, sugars, and salts back into your system. Often, your unit of blood will be used within five days of your donation. Consider donating with friends and family in 2020 to support local patients in need. Book online at www.blood.ca

Prepare for your Healthy Vacation

Help to make your next vacation free from developing a travel-related illness. Plan ahead and speak with your pharmacist about how to stay healthy while travelling away from home. Your Pharmasave Pharmacist can give you vital health information regarding managing your medications, recommended vaccines and medications to prevent illness, useful travel products, and basic first aid supplies to have on hand while travelling. Your pharmacist will ensure you have the information and products you need to be prepared for health issues that may arise while you are away. Stay healthy on vacation. To find out more, speak to your Pharmasave Pharmacist before your travel.

Are You Fatigued?

You may need vitamin B! Lack of vitamin B in your regimen may impact your physical health in different ways. Hundreds of bodily biochemical reactions are supported by B-vitamins, and deficiency in vitamin B can lead to fatigue and lethargy. A B-complex vitamin is a mixture of eight essential B-vitamins that are critical to metabolism at the cellular level. Isotonix Activated B-complex helps to maintain healthy levels of serotonin, increase energy and decrease stress. It also delivers metabolically active forms of several vitamins and minerals in isotonic form, ensuring that your body receives and uses vital nutrients quickly and efficiently.

Fight Colds & Flu

Your immune system needs a strong thymus and spleen to produce antibodies and specialized white blood cells that help prevent disease. Do you know how yours are functioning? Nutritional testing or Biofeedback are great ways to find out if there is a weakness or imbalance in these immune organs. If a weakness or imbalance is identified, specific nutrient formulations designed to naturally support and strengthen the thymus, spleen and immune system can be taken. This will help you to better fight against influenza, rhinovirus (common cold), pneumonia, and other bacterial infections – or avoid them altogether.

Community Event

Christina Reinke BA, MA Life Coach, is hosting a Workshop to help you better manage your financial stress. Join her on January 19 from 1-4pm for “Your Money Story. Lifting The Veil Off Money Stress”, which is being held at The Yoga Barre, 200-6640 Roblin Blvd. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased at www.platformsforpeace.ca