Refresh and Renew for Spring!
Spring brings about rebirth and new beginnings, making it a great time to get your home looking, feeling, and smelling more refreshed. Using essential oils can make your spring cleaning experience even better! Besides smelling fantastic, essential oils have many other important qualities. Lemon, grapefruit, and orange oils offer great spring scents, and with their acidic properties, provide antiseptic and antibacterial cleansing. Lavender oil is also antibacterial and helps deter pests like moths, while providing a relaxing scent. Eucalyptus and tea tree oils can be used as air and surface sanitizers and are great for treating mold and mildew!
Community News
Pets and Bee Stings
Warmer weather, blooming plants and buzzing insects can all spell trouble for your pets. If your curious pooch or pouncing feline gets stung by a bee, here’s what you can do: Scrape away the stinger if you can find it. Pulling the stinger with fingers or tweezers could rupture the poison sac allowing toxin to enter the bloodstream. If no medical history or treatments contraindicate, administer 1 mg Benadryl® per pound of your pet’s body weight and apply a cold pack for short periods at a time. If swelling is severe or if ANY breathing difficulties develop, do not delay—seek veterinary attention immediately.
Stay Active While Working from Home
Self-isolation means fewer opportunities to be physically active if you are used to going to the gym or playing sports. Equally worryingly, the home environment also offers abundant opportunity to be sedentary. Exercise can help keep our immune system strong, and our bodies less susceptible to infections. So, what should we do? Alternate periods of sitting with standing by creating your own stand-up desk area. Try a yoga class on YouTube to stretch and relieve tension from your muscles. Get some work done in the garden or yard or play with your dog. It’s also a great time to try an online work out! Ask if your local gym offers this service.
Community Announcement
Good Neighbours Active Living Centre is delivering lunch to seniors in the following apartment buildings:
210/220 Oakland Ave.
1080/1100 Henderson Highway
1590/1630/1660 Henderson Highway
The cost is $8.50, and includes soup or salad, a hot lunch and dessert. For more information, please call 204-667-6812 or email resrf@gnalc.ca.
Community Announcement
At Anderson Family Vision Care, the health and safety of our patients and staff are top priority. As such, our optometrists will temporarily only be seeing urgent and emergent care cases (eye trauma, vision loss, pain, and redness). Our opticians will also accept appointments on a case-by-case basis to limit the number of patients at any given time. To help our patients, we are offering: free contact lens shipment directly from our suppliers, and 25% off computer glasses. We are also accepting payments by e-transfer, or over the phone with a credit card. We look forward to hearing from you! Dr. Matthew Anderson, OD, FCOVD Dr. Andrea D’Mello, OD AndersonVisionCare.ca
Dehydration: A Serious Health Risk for Seniors
As you age, your sense of thirst diminishes. So even when your body needs to be replenished with water, you might not realize it. Because of that, many seniors do not drink enough liquids. By the time they are thirsty, it is already an indication of early dehydration. The consequences of dehydration are well known. Dehydration is a common cause of hospitalization among elderly people that can have serious health consequences. Water can get boring but don’t limit yourself – supplement with juices, milk, fruits and vegetables that contain high water content!
Home Remedy for Denture Pain
Sometimes dentures can cause pain or discomfort, especially if your dentures are old or ill-fitting. Did you know that cloves are an excellent remedy for oral pain? Eugenol, the main ingredient in cloves has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. Thus, it works as a pain reliever and helps disinfect your mouth. Grind a few cloves to get ½ teaspoon of powder. Mix a few drops of olive oil into the ground cloves. Apply it onto your sore gum. Wait 5 minutes, and then rinse with warm water. Repeat 2 times per day until gum feels better.
Product Review: WELLNESS TINCTURE
ACTIVE RELEAF aims to encourage active wellness through the use of nature’s most powerful ingredients. Offering a collection of plant-based wellness products, ACTIVE RELEAF’s WELLNESS TINCTURE is their strongest remedy. Used as a natural plant-based alternative for people experiencing anxiety, insomnia, pain, inflammation and other ailments. The WELLNESS TINCTURE is formulated with a high concentration of broad spectrum cannabinoid-rich hemp plant extract, paired with coconut MCT oil to help deliver cannabinoids and increase bioavailability. Taken sublingually (under the tongue) or mixed into your favourite beverage. With three different concentration options (400mg, 1000mg & 2000mg) and measured droppers, dosing is accurate and flexible for your needs.
Use of Contact Lenses During Covid-19
Although there is no scientific evidence that contact lens wear is problematic during this pandemic, the research literature is clear that to prevent contact lens infections due to bacteria, viral and fungal diseases, contact lens wearers must remember the following: 1) Wash hands thoroughly for 20 seconds with soap and warm water and dry completely. 2) Don’t use expired solutions and don’t top up or reuse solutions. 3) Replace cases at least monthly and keep them clean and dry daily. 4) Use daily disposable contact lenses if possible. 5) Don’t wear contact lenses when you are ill. 6) Don’t sleep with contact lenses on.
10-Point Risk Assessment
Is it time to get a medical alert system in your home? If you answer “yes” to most of these, maybe it’s time to consider one. Are you over the age of 55? Do you live alone? Do you use a cane or walker to assist you? Have you fallen in the past year? Do you take daily medication? Have you been hospitalized in the past 3 years? Do you sometimes feel weak or dizzy? Is it important for you to continue living independently? With a medical alert unit, you can have peace of mind knowing that help is available at the push of a button, anywhere you go!
Words to Live By
“There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no insurmountable barrier except our own inherent weakness of purpose.” -Elbert Hubbard
