The Cooperative Extension Program of Prairie View A&M University (Dallas County) will join forces with Methodist Dallas Medical Center to host a "FREE" Diabetes Education Awareness & Prevention program called D.E.A.P. The three-part series program is scheduled on three consecutive Tuesdays from 10:00 p.m. until 12:00 p.m. (December 1, 8, & 15, 2009). It will be held at Methodist Dallas Medical Center in the Weatherford Room (1441 N. Beckley Avenue Dallas, Texas 75203).
For more information, contact: Marvin R. Young at 214-904-3050 or mryoung@tamu.edu.
It's holiday time again, and while holidays are supposed to be a time of enjoyment and happiness, you and your family may feel stressed because of extra demands placed upon already busy schedules. The following suggestions may help:
- Sit down as a family and make a list of all of the things that need to be done, then delegate tasks.
- Make a December calendar and include all of the dates and times of all activities so you don't worry about forgetting something.
- Take a look at your family's holiday activities. Are there things that you do but don't really enjoy. Consider not doing that activity or doing it in a different way.
- Plan easy meals. Double batch your favorite casseroles and put in the freezer for a quick meal on a busy day.
- Take a few minutes each day for yourself and do something relaxing.
- Keep your eating and sleeping routines as close to normal as possible.
- Expect young children to misbehave occassionally. Remember, they have short attention spans and tire easily.
- finally, make time for family fun!
Have a very happy holiday season!!!!!!!
Save the date! Texas AgriLife Extension Service will host a Family Issues Summit on Thursday, March 4, 2010, from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas.
The summit titled "What Keeps You Up at Night? Issues and solutions for today's families" will include, but not limited to, topics on finances, care giving, health and wellness, communication, and stress management. Attendees will bring home information that is educational, practical, and beneficial to themselves as well as their families.
So mark your calendar! More details will be posted later on Lifeline. For a copy of the event flyer click Save-the-Date Family Issues Summit.pdf.
For more information about the Family Issues Summit contact Texas AgriLife Extension Service-Dallas County via phone at 214-904-3050 or Email Lexie McGrane at amcgrane@ag.tamu.edu or Wenhsing Cheng at wcheng@ag.tamu.edu.
November is National Family Caregivers Month. Area caregivers who help older adults and persons with disabilities are invited to attend "The Fearless Caregiver: A Day of Sharing Wisdom." The workshop, free and open to the public, will be held Wednesday, November 11, at Highland Springs Retirement Community, 8000 Frankford Road, on the border of Dallas and Plano from 8:30 am - 2:30 pm. Highland Springs will provide complimentary refreshments and lunch for attendees.
Leading the workshop will be Gary Barg, Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Today's Caregiver magazine, and caregiver.com, author of The Fearless Caregiver: How to Get the Best Care for Your Loved One and Still Have a Life of Your Own.
The conference is designed to help attendees receive hands-on advice for his or her caregiving challenges regardless of the disease or illness their loved one is dealing with. Attendees will learn how to become a member of their loved one's care team, tried and true "time-off techniques," expert advice for beating stress and depression, and hands-on advice from caregiving experts.
A panel of experts will provide information about how to access resources including 2-1-1, the Aging & Disability Resource Centers, and Family Caregivers Online.
Rosemary Redmond, attorney, will discuss the most common legal questions and issues for caregivers.
Underwriting sponsors helping make this conference possible are Highland Springs Retirement Community, ResCare Home Care, Alert Response, Reachout Home Care, and Evercare.
This conference is a service of the Area Agencies of North Central Texas on Aging, Dallas County and Tarrant County. Other sponsors include Alzheimer's Association of Greater Dallas and the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.
Although the event is free, pre-registration is required, no later than November 9. Reservations can be made via email, at caregiverconf@flash.net, or by phone, at 1-800-272-3921, extension 9194.
For more information, contact Zanda Hilger at 817-929-3535.
Halloween is just around the corner! Texas AgriLife Extension Service urges parents and family service providers to take precaution with children's safety, both indoor and outdoor, while enjoying the fun and excitment. Here are a few resources of tips to help keep children safe and sound on Halloween:
The American Red Cross, http://american.redcross.org/site/DocServer/RC_HalloweenSafety08.pdf?docID=677
The American Academy of Pediatrics, http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/octhalloween.cfm
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov/family/Halloween/
The US Consumer Prodcut Safety Commission, http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/hallow.html
Happy Halloween!
Texas AgriLife Extension Service - Dallas County offers a child care provider conference on November 14, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. This conference is low-cost and will provide an interactive, hands-on learning environment. Topics include Emergency Planning for Child Care Facilities and Healthy Eating with MyPyramid.
This conference will be held at 10056 Marsh Lane, Suite B-101, Dallas, TX 75229. Participants who attend the entire conference will earn three clock hours for professional development.
Registration fee is $5 per person. Registration form and payment should be received no later than Friday, November 6, 2009. Click Child Care Provider Conference flyer.pdf to download registration form.
For questions regarding the Child Care Provider Conference contact Wenhsing Cheng at 214-904-3050 or wcheng@ag.tamu.edu.
Once again Texas Department of Transportation is conducting a seat belt demo project in the five Texas counties with the highest rate of unbuckled teen deaths. Dallas County is one of them!
The campain will be conducted throughout the month of October with extra enforcement October 19-25. The Click It or Ticket Teen campaign last May was extremely successful. The effort increased both driver and passenger safety belt use by 4.5 percentage points.
Teens, go to http://seatbeltsrock.com/. Take the "Are you smarter than your seatbelt?" quiz and win stuff!
Did you know?
- Crashes are the #1 killer of teens.
- A teen dies in a traffic crash an average of once every hour on weekends and nearly once every two hours during the week.
- The majority of teens killed in traffic crashes are not buckled up.
Remember:
- Texas law now requires that everyone in the vehicle -- in front and back seats -- wear a safety belt!
- Wear your seat belt. It can be the most important thing you plan for--your future!
For information about passenger safety programs contact Bev Kellner, Program Manager of Passenger Safety, Texas AgriLife Extension Service at 979-862-1782 (phone) or bkellner@ag.tamu.edu (email).
KERA, Public Television and Radio for North Texas, received the Best Practices in Parent/Family Education for their Ready for Life Project. Ready for Life transforms research into a curriculum for parents of children aged birth to five years that is both useful and enjoyable. Ready for Life is based on the work of internationally recognized researchers. Visit Ready for Life website at http://www.readyforlife.org/.
Join Danny Henley, Director of Education for KERA, Public Television and Radio to learn more about Ready for Life in the Texas Association of Parent Educators (TAPE) Online Workshop on October 23, 2009, noon to 1:00 pm Central time.
There is no fee to participate, but registration is required. Participants will receive a certificate documenting one clock hour of professional development. Click Registration Form Ready For Life.doc for registration info.
Once you know the sources of stress (refer to last week's entry for tips to identify the causes of stress), you must determine which are ones you can do something about and which are beyond your control. Successful coping involves accepting what you can and cannot change.
For example, you will not be able to change a parent who has always been demanding and inflexible, but you can control how you respond to your parent's demands. If your father has a progressively debilitating illness, you can't change that. However, you can develop skills for coping with the changes brought on by his illness.
Usually, some action can be taken to decrease stress. Changes don't have to be major to make an important difference. Sometimes, letting go of unrealistic expectations or adjusting your standards of how often or how well you perform a task (such as housekeeping) will make a big difference in reducing your stress.
In general, professionals who have extensive experience working with caregivers agree on five basic strategies to help control the destructive effects of stress. They are:
- Set realistic goals and expectations.
- Plan achieveable goals.
- Develop realistic expectations.
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- Establish your limits.
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- Ask for and accept help.
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- Take care of yourself.
- Express your feelings.
- Maintain your health.
- Take time for yourself
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- Involve other people.
- Hold a family conference.
- Seek professional assistance.
- Use your community resources.
This flu season is expected to be especially active but, by taking common-sense precautions, you can reduce your risk of contracting seasonal flu and the novel H1N1 influenza, and/or spreading the flu to others.
The flu virus becomes airborne from coughs and sneezes and easily survives on surfaces for eight hours. Good hygienic practices, self-isolation and social distancing can significantly decrease the spread of the flu.
Some steps you can take to manage your risk include:
* Get a seasonal flu shot now and be prepared to get the 2009 H1N1 flu vaccine later. It is expected to be available in mid-October.
* Wash your hands frequently with soap and water, or carry an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with you and use it often.
* Keep your hands away from your mouth, nose, and eyes.
* Keep a distance of three to six feet between you and those who are ill.
* Don't eat, drink, or smoke after others.
* Cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve so viruses are trapped in the fabric of your clothing and so you do not contaminate your hands.
* If you cough into a tissue, throw it in a wastebasket immediately. Don't lay it on a surface that others might touch. Wash or sanitize your hands as soon a possible.
If you do contract the flu, stay home until you are fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medicines.
Further information on the flu can be found at the following URLs:
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/txflu/default.shtm
Last week we discussed the warning signs of caregiving stress. Once you recognize the stress, the next step is to identify the stressor -- What caused it?
The causes of stress vary with the caregiver and his/her responsibilities. What creates stress for you may not create stress for someone else. There are, however, some common sources of caregiving stress, which can be identified in the next series of questions.
After you answer the questions, look carefully at those to which you answered "yes." You will want to focus your full attention on these specific areas as you work to reduce stress.
- Are there many demands on your time, energy, or money?
- Do you feel that your responsibilities conflict with each other?
- Is there a difference in the expectations of your family, your boss, your dependent relative and yourself?
- Do you believe that you do not fully understand the older person's mental or physical condition?
- Do you have difficulty meeting your relative's physical or emotional needs?
- Are you pressured by financial decisions and a lack of resources?
- Do you feel a loss of freedom, a sense of being "trapped"?
- Is there disagreement among family members?
- Do you feel that other family members aren't doing their share?
- Does the older person place unrealistic demands and expectations on you?
- Is there a lack of open communication between yourself and the older person or other members of the family?
- Do other family memebers have negative attitudes that you must contend with?
- Can you see deterioration in your family member that is painful to watch?
- Do you have other problems with children, marriage, employment, or health?
Stay tuned next week for strategies to manage stress.
Texas AgriLife Extension Service is partnering with the Texas Education Agency to host a "Beat TEA - Walk Across Texas Challenge!"
Walk Across Texas is a program from AgriLife Extension that encourages people of all ages to increase their levels of physical activity. It is an eight week walking program that has been used with youth and adults.
During the third week of September we observe Obesity Awareness Month. TEA will be initiating a challenge to all Independent School Districts encouraging them to participate in a friendly competition. The goal is to motivate our youth to move more!
Research done at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research indicates that:
* Academic Performance (TAKS) - Higher levels of fitness are associated with better academic performance.
* School Attendance - Higher levels of fitness are associated with better school attendance.
* School Incidents - Higher levels of fitness are associated with fewer negative school incidents.
If your school is interested in participating in the Beat TEA! Walk Across Texas Challenge, contact Lexie at 214-904-3050, or amcgrane@ag.tamu.edu.
As we observe Obesity Awareness Week, it is helpful to think about ways in which we can manage our waistline by making healthy changes to our lifestyle. Most of us would agree that losing weight can be difficult and, as we age, maintaining a healthful weight becomes even more of a challenge.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, research conducted on the role of fruits and vegetables in weight management, suggests that a diet which includes an adequate amount of fruits and vegetables may help.
To lose weight, a person must consume fewer calories than he or she expends. However, most of us do not limit what we eat based on calories, but rather from the feeling of satiety (fullness). Fruits and vegetables are foods with low energy density that provide a greater volume of food and fewer calories. In other words, eating more fruits and vegetables can create the feeling of fullness but still provide fewer calories.
The following tips can help us add more fruits and vegetables to our diet and promote healthy weight:
* Add fresh fruit to your cold cereal
* Enjoy a small salad with your lunch
* Cover half of your dinner plate with vegetables, or fruits and vegetables; and
* Remember to enjoy your fruits and vegetables without added sugars, fats or sodium.
Family members who play a major role in caring for elderly relatives often ignore their own needs. However, it's just as important to take care of your own needs as it is to provide the best care for your dependent loved one. Ignoring your own needs and failing to manage stress can harm both you and the person depending on you.
When you experience an unusual level of stress, certain warning signals occur. Answering the following questions will increase your awareness of these signs. A "yes" answer to even some of these questions can indicate stress that has become debilitating. Recognizing the source of this stress is the next step in dealing with its destructive effects.
- Do you feel a loss of energy or zest for life?
- Do you feel out of control, acting or behaving in uncharacteristic ways?
- Do you lack interest in people or things that you once enjoyed?
- Do you feel increasingly isolated?
- Are you consuming more sleeping pills, medications, alcohol, caffeine or cigarettes than usual?
- Are you having increased health problems -- for example, high blood pressure, ulcers or difficulties with digestion?
- Do you have trouble falling asleep at night, or do you wake up too early or sleep too much?
- Have you noticed a change in your appetite or eating habits?
- Do you have trouble concentrating or remembering things?
- Are you increasingly irritable or impatient with others?
- Do you have thoughts of suicide?
Visit Lifeline next week for information on the causes of caregiving stress.
A community event sponsored by the Area Agency on Aging of Dallas County and Mental Health America of Greater Dallas will address caregiving stress on September 24. Review the event flyer Stress 9-24-09.doc for more information.
Children react to disaster differently according to their age. They may respond to disaster by demonstrating increased anxiety or emotional and behavioral problems.
According to the American Red Cross, children from birth to 2 years of age may display some of the following common physical and emotional reactions after a disaster or traumatic event.
Birth to 2 years--When children are pre-verbal and experience a trauma, they do not have the words to describe the event or their feelings. However, they can retain memories of particular sights, sounds, or smells. Infants may react to trauma by being irritable, crying more than usual, or wanting to be held and cuddled. As children get older, their play may involve acting our elements of the traumatic event that occurred several years in the past and was seemingly forgotten.
Stay tuned to "Lifeline" for more information on other age groups and how they cope with disaster and traumatic events.
For more information on helping children cope with disaster or traumatic events, please contact us or visit our websites at:
pvcep.pvamu.edu; or
dallas-tx.tamu.edu; or contact Marvin R. Young at 214-904-3050 or mryoung@tamu.edu
According to the American Red Cross, children from birth to 2 years of age may display some of the following common physical and emotional reactions after a disaster or traumatic event.
Birth to 2 years--When children are pre-verbal and experience a trauma, they do not have the words to describe the event or their feelings. However, they can retain memories of particular sights, sounds, or smells. Infants may react to trauma by being irritable, crying more than usual, or wanting to be held and cuddled. As children get older, their play may involve acting our elements of the traumatic event that occurred several years in the past and was seemingly forgotten.
Stay tuned to "Lifeline" for more information on other age groups and how they cope with disaster and traumatic events.
For more information on helping children cope with disaster or traumatic events, please contact us or visit our websites at:
pvcep.pvamu.edu; or
dallas-tx.tamu.edu; or contact Marvin R. Young at 214-904-3050 or mryoung@tamu.edu
