Notification:
Genesis DeWitt offers Cholesterol, diabetes & stroke screening again on May 18 (6-9 a.m.).
A blood draw for Comprehensive Metabolic Profile for $25 (check or cash) provides you information about blood levels to check for diabetes, the lipid profile and other tests. It is best not to eat 12 hours prior to the blood test but it is OK to take water and medication!
News from the Parish Nurse: DID YOU KNOW? Our LCMS Synod publishes a newsletter The Reporter and includes a supplement Ministerial Growth & Support that provides information that is specifically aimed at helping our pastors and other called workers (teachers, DCEs, Ministers of Music,…) be as healthy as they can be. The April supplement has as its headline TAKING WELLNESS…’UP A NOTCH’. The week of May 16-22, 2010 is identified as Ministerial Wellness Week and May 19th is LCMS Health and Fitness Day. Our LCMS pastors, teachers, DCEs, and staff are encouraged to look at what they do to be well and try to find ways to “Kick it up a Notch”! As they are encouraged, so can we be encouraged – to look at what we do to maintain personal and household wellness and to pray about how we can make changes to “kick it up a notch”.
The article pictures a Wholeness Wheel – which reminds us that our wellness is more than physical wellness (and physical wellness is more than controlling blood pressure and cholesterol). The author, David A. Muench, then takes the Wheel and looks at each area of wellness to think about what changes can be made. He begins with the spiritual realm – “What ‘fresh’ behaviors in the realm of scriptural study, prayer, devotion, meditation, etc., will you ‘toss into the mix,’ continually strengthening our walk in ‘righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit’ (Rom. 14: 17).” The other areas are: emotional well-being, intellectual well-being, vocational well-being, financial well-being, physical well-being, and social/interpersonal well-being. A Health and Wellness Advisory Council has been formed with representatives from Concordia Plan Services and Ministerial Growth and Support as well as experts from health and wellness. Among their first targets: to encourage behavior changes that increase daily physical activity and decrease daily caloric intake. These are areas where changes can benefit all of us. On May 19, LCMS ministers are committing to walking at least 4000 steps (about two miles) as a way to support changes for better health. Maybe you and a friend or friends can join them by committing to walking in your neighborhood or at the Fitness Center on May 19 – and use this as a beginning in making changes for your better health.
As Muench notes: It is important to consult your physician to help you determine your own readiness for engaging in an increased level of physical activity.
If you want to know more about any areas of health, or other health/illness issues, feel free to contact me (church office or home 659-8146).
Grace Gotoski, MS, RN