April 2009 Archives

Visit the following website for a wealth of flu-related information:  http://texashelp.tamu.edu/004-natural/disease-and-epidemic.php

You can also find excellent information on the CDC website: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

Stay well,

Lexie

It affects the company's bottom line in many ways.  Here are three key factors:

• Decreased health care costs
• Increased productivity and staff retention
• Better morale

Rising healthcare benefit costs are a significant concern and poor health habits and unnecessary medical care costs consume portions of corporate resources as well as the employee's paycheck.  The worksite is an ideal setting for health education, health promotion, and disease prevention programs.  Employees spend many of their waking hours at work, nearing 50 hours per week.  That's why the workplace is an ideal setting to address health/wellness issues. 

For more information, contact me at amcgrane@ag.tamu.edu.

Lexie 

Parents are the primary influence in a child's life. Extension programming in parent education enables prospective parents, parents, and grandparents to improve their knowledge, parenting practices, and caregiving skills.

Child care providers play a vital role in caring for America's children. Extension provides research-based information on child care related issues and on-line courses for child care providers to satisfy state mandated training requirements.

The Aging/Gerontology program focuses on improving health, well-being and independence through educational programs for older adults, their family members, children and youth, and professionals serving older adults and their families.

For more information about family life education, visit our website at http://fcs.tamu.edu/families/index.php or e-mail Wenhsing at wcheng@ag.tamu.edu.

Do you feel overwhelmed and frustrated that the economic downtime has taken a toll on your finances? Do you have the feeling that money controls you instead of the other way around? Are you thinking about taking a money management class? We can help you!

Extension programming in family economics and resource management assists families and individuals to:

• maintain economic stability and security,
• manage human and material resources, and
• increase consumer proficiency.

For more information about financial management, visit our website at http://fcs.tamu.edu/money/index.php or contact Wenhsing at wcheng@ag.tamu.edu.

Are you looking for a way to add more physical activity to your life?  Do you want to turn in your couch potato membership card?  Think about walking across Texas! 

Walk Across Texas is a program created by Texas AgriLife Extension Service in 1996 to help you establish the habit of regular physical activity. From border to border, you or your team, can walk 830 miles across the state, seeing your progress across the state on-line, or on a Texas road map!

Most people start by walking as a member of a team of eight for eight weeks at work or with another type of group such as their church or county. Then, after that, they can transfer their own mileage from those eight weeks to the By Yourself option and continue walking across the state on their own. You may also choose the By Yourself option from the very beginning.

Regardless of whether you choose to start as a team in a group or by yourself, you can walk whenever and wherever you want. Team members do not have to walk together. Some prefer walking outside, while others walk on a treadmill. You may even choose to bike, swim or dance across Texas! 

For more information about starting a team at work, or participating on your own, contact me at:

amcgrane@ag.tamu.edu

Lexie McGrane, MS, CEA-FCS

Have you been encouraging your employees to adopt healthy lifestyle behaviors, or thinking about developing a worksite wellness program?  The "Working Well" program from Texas AgriLife Extension Service, a comprehensive worksite wellness planning and implementation program, can help you reach your worksite wellness goals.  We can help you conduct a needs assessment, organize a worksite wellness committee, develop an action plan, implement health and wellness programs, and evaluate success.

For information about this valuable free program contact me at:

amcgrane@ag.tamu.edu

Lexie

With May right around the corner, I think of how much we like outdoor activities in the warmer weather months.  In my neighborhood everyone is working in their flower beds, getting their pools ready for the swimming season, and getting outdoors as much as they can. While we should be concerned about sun exposure all year, we are reminded in May, "Melanoma-Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month", about the risks associated with sun exposure.  You can visit the website for the American Academy of Dermatology http://www.aad.org for good information about Skin e-News, sun safety programs in your area, and much more.

For Extension programs related to skin cancer/sun safety that are available free to your group or organization, contact me at amcgrane@ag.tamu.edu.

Enjoy the sun safely!!!!

Lexie

Being physically active is key to good health. It is also a great way to reduce stress. The family is happier when family member's stress level is lower. That goes for both adults and children. Here are a few things parents can do to keep their children active:

First, limit screen time to one to two hours a day; including television, computer, video games, and cell phone.

Second, involve children in the decision making process. Let each child pick an activity of the day. Another way is to have each family member list their favorite activities and draw one out each time.

Last but not least, be a good role model and stay active. Do activities as a family. The activity can range from as small as playing in the backyard or walking the dog to as big as going on a camping or ski trip.

Sometimes it can feel like a challenge to make healthy choices about what we eat.  Good nutrition should be our goal but how do we know what good nutrition means?  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) made it easy for us to answer that question by developing MyPyramid.  Visit the interactive MyPyramid website http://www.mypyramid.gov for personalized information based upon your lifestyle. 

While online, you can also visit http://healthyliving.tamu.edu. to find family nutrition information, programs to help you stay healthy, videos that answer the question "Whats for dinner tonight?", and much more. 

Healthy eating!!!!!!!