Life

Teaching Children To Give Back

June 28, 2015 By Twila Van Leer

Charity is not the exclusive domain of adults. Children, many of whom are over-indulged in today’s society, should be taught that they, too, have a responsibility to society.

There are opportunities for community service year-round, although most charitable service seems to be saved for the annual holiday season. Even toddlers can help gather food items for a community pantry. School children can be encouraged to clean the closet now and again and see that usable but outgrown items are taken to a charitable outlet where they can do double duty for others.

On birthdays or holidays, teach a lesson in charity by encouraging your children to evaluate their toys and games to see if some are expendable now that new ones are likely in the offing. If they see their parents doing the same periodically, they will be more likely to follow the example. Many communities have conveniently located bins where donations can be made.

If possible, however, don’t make charitable giving a “sanitized” activity. Children need to have concrete experiences that bring home the fact that they have it much better than many of their peers. Even those who don’t have an excess can find ways to help others. You have to be very poor not to be able to find ways to improve your community. Often, your presence is as important as anything material you can contribute.

Have youngsters join the adults in providing services to a local school, hospital or nursing facility. Participate together in a community activity such as helping to build homes for the needy or cleaning up and improving pubic parks and grounds. Just be certain the relevant officials are notified and supportive before you show up. Learning empathy for others less fortunate often becomes a lifelong habit.

Occasionally, the media spotlights a young person who has learned early to recognize the needs of others and take steps to help provide relief. Some of their efforts are so phenomenal they provide a pattern worthy of adult emulation. Fund-raisers often provide an opportunity in school or church groups for children to participate.

You may like to help your children and friends conduct a bake sale or other event to raise money. Be certain at the outset what the objective is and give the children a sense of pride in having contributed time, effort and products to such events. A “book roundup” to benefit the local library would be worthy cause.

Usually, charitable service gives youngsters a positive glow. If there is an opportunity for them to share their experience, such as discussing their efforts with family members or giving a report in their class at school, try to make such opportunities available. Like the measles, it’s catching.

Effective Blood Tests For Cancer Coming

May 21, 2015 By Twila Van Leer

New, fast DNA sequencing technology may lead the way to what the medical world has long hoped for: a simple blood test that would detect cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages.

Confidence in the eventual widespread availability of such tests is being voiced in the medical community. For instance, Dr. Eric Topol, professor of genomics at the Scripps Research Institute, predicts that the DNA technology will become “the stethoscope for the next 200 years.”

Research labs around the world are studying the possibilities. The potential is based on the fact that dying cancer cells shed DNA into an individual’s blood. The amount is miniscule and is obscured by healthy DNA in the blood, so measuring is difficult. But the science holds promise for large-scale screening in the future.

Finding cancer early is the best indicator of successful treatment. In the United States, screenings such as mammograms and colonoscopies have marked clear success in curbing the death rates from breast and colon cancers.

The prospect of “liquid biopsies” would significantly increase the ability to find cancers early. The science also has prospects eventually to aid in treatment, since doctors would be able to pick a therapeutic drug based on the specific DNA mutation driving a cancer. That eventuality would make it possible to base treatment on simple blood tests rather than invasive biopsies.

Companies that produce fast gene-sequencing equipment already are anticipating a huge market ($40 billion is a figure bandied about) for their products..

But there is a lot of research ahead before valid claims can be made for the cancer-detection properties of the science. Because there are many types of cancer, the ability to detect the most common types will have to be proven. The researchers argue that if they can demonstrate success with common cancer types, the technology will go mainstream.

One Chinese physician deeply involved in the research has conducted a project with 20,000 middle-aged men in Hong Kong. The targeted form of cancer is nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a common type among Chinese men. Among the first 10,000 screened, the researchers found 17 cases of the cancer, 13 of them in the earliest, most treatable phase. Nearly all of those identified have been successfully treated with radiation. The typical survival rate is less than 70 percent when patients seek medical help based on advanced symptoms.

Such evidence of successful research gives hope to the eventual application worldwide. In the not-too-distant future, a blood test for cancer may be on the list of annual checkup items.

10 Tips To Cope With Holiday Stress

November 28, 2014 By Twila Van Leer

Stressed? Depressed? Here’s How To Cope

If you’re feeling Grinch-y, Scrooge-y and a bit more than bah hum-bugged, overwhelmed by the array of demands the holidays bring, there are ways to make things better, according to a Mayo Clinic release.

Among the stressors are too many – sometimes unwelcome – guests, selecting and then paying for gifts, shopping, baking, cleaning and entertaining. And the list goes on, depending on your own circumstances. Plenty to make for a no-good, no-fun, no-happy Noel.

The trick, if possible, is to recognize the potential and stop it at the pass. Especially if you’ve had problems in the past, anticipate an emotional toll and don’t let it happen.

The Clinic’s suggestions include:

1. Acknowledge your feelings. If you’ve had particular challenges recently, don’t expect them to be less emotionally draining just because it’s the holidays. It’s all right to cry or otherwise express your feelings.

2. Reach out to others. If loneliness or isolation get too big to bear alone, seek out community, religious or other opportunities to be with others. Volunteer to help others as a way to put your troubles into perspective and broaden friendships.

3. Be realistic. Nobody’s holidays are perfect. If things are different from last year, if your family structure has changed, traditions and rituals altered, don’t expect things to be the same. Hold onto some of your personal traditions and be open to new ones. For example, if your adult children can’t make it home, find new ways to share long-distance, through emails, pictures, chats or videos.

4. Set aside differences. Looking for the ideal in any normal family is an exercise in futility. Accept each other as is. If there are grievances, wait for a more opportune time to discuss them. If others get upset or distressed, be understanding. Avoid confrontation.

5. Stick to a budget. If your stress and depression are triggered by money matters, make them matter less. Plan a realistic holiday budget and then stick to it. Buying an avalanche of gifts that you can’t afford will only extend the pain beyond the holidays. Give homemade gifts, donate to a charity in another’s name, promote a family gift exchange.

6. Plan your time. Divide up the chores into manageable bits: a time for shopping, baking, parties and other activities. Avoid last-minute scrambling. Be sure you have the ingredients you need for cooking. Line up help for preparation and cleanup.

7. Learn to say No. If you overextend yourself, you end up feeling resentful and overwhelmed. If you can’t involve yourself in every possibility that comes your way, don’t feel the need to apologize. If you can’t avoid the added demands, for instance, if the boss says he needs you overtime, drop something else from your schedule if you can. The days during the holiday season are just 24 hours long, as usual. Don’t try to pack them too tightly.

8. Retain healthy habits. Have a snack before a party to avoid overeating. Get enough sleep. Make exercise part of every day.

9. Take a breather. Make time to relax and be by yourself. Just 15 minutes maky be enough to refresh and help you handle what’s on the agenda. Take a nighttime walk. Listen to music, read a book, get a massage. Whatever it takes to relieve the tension and prepare you to jump back into the maelstrom.

10. Get professional help if you need it. If you persistently feel sad or anxious, have recurring physical symptoms, can’t sleep, are irritable and feel hopeless and unable to face routine expectations, see a doctor or mental health professional.

Businesses Shore Up Health Campaigns

October 17, 2014 By Twila Van Leer

October is the month designated as Breast Cancer Awareness month.

They are calling it “shared interest”- combining a well-known health campaign with the interests of companies and organizations who support the cause and stand to share in the attention they create.

A notable “for instance.” The city of Chicago has “gone pink,” for October, including lights, banners and flags along its skyline, to help publicize the goals of the annual Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. Those goals include early diagnosis, treatment and research into the devastating woman’s disease. More than 200 of Chicago’s buildings, landmarks and businesses were encouraged to join the effort. The city’s contribution to the Pink Ribbon campaign will be prolonged with a 5K run in November.

Chicago isn’t the only entity doing extraordinary things to share in an effort well known to the American public. On the list are Times Square, ABC News, Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Lexus, Kroger, Macy’s, Go Daddy, the NFL and who knows how many others whose presence in American life is easily identified.

Shared Interest allows these entities to participate in a “higher order purpose” and to align itself with others around a mutual cause, proponents say. They enjoy a “human equity” fallout, proving that sometimes-aloof organizations do have a heart.

The movement has its critics. Some say that the early intervention message gets lost in the hype, that it offsets the important goal of getting more money into research that might find cures for breast cancer. Some of the companies that have rallied to the pink cause even have products and policies that counter the effort – for instance, those that pour carcinogens into the ecosystem.

Breast cancer is not the only campaign that spawns Shared Interest. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge raised more than $100 million to fight that debilitating disease. It stood out as the poster child for awareness that leads to action.

Last month was Hunger Action Month, with the focus on one in six Americans who go to bed at night hungry. That effort raised millions in money and resources and considerably improved awareness.

The proof of the overall positive result of Shared Interest lies in the increased knowledge the public gains of the very real needs for help in combating some of the most serious problems Americans face. For instance, ask the family of one woman who took the pink ribbon campaign seriously – whatever the source of her information – and got into treatment for her own disease early. Those family members most certainly would support the joint effort to get out the word.

What’s The Price of Speaking Out?

October 16, 2014 By Twila Van Leer

Malala Yousafzai is an example to "the millions of children who brave daunting odds to go to school each day in Pakistan." — Malala Yousafzai is an example to “the millions of children who brave daunting odds to go to school each day in Pakistan.”

In recent years, the world has been made aware of some high-profile instances of women who had the courage to speak up when they believed injustices were being done. And the price they paid for doing so. The incidents have raised the question, how many of us would do the same?

Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani, was only 11 when she began blogging for the BBC about what she saw as unconscionable repression of women in the matter of education. The daughter of a school principal, she documented the Taliban’s tightening bans on female education, the destruction of some schools and closure of others in her hometown of Swat in northern Pakistan.

Her blatant protests resulted in an attack by a Taliban gunman. He stormed onto the school bus in which she was a passenger and shot her in the head. She survived and her family relocated to England. On her 16th birthday, she gave a speech at the United Nations in New York and she has continued her campaign for education for all children, publishing a book, “I Am Malala,” and establishing the Malala Fund to promote female education around the globe. Recently, she learned she would share a Nobel Peace Prize with Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi. Malala put off celebrating, going instead to her chemistry class in a Birmingham high school. She joked that the money that goes along with the prestigious prize “is not going to help in exams.” She will continue to advocate for the 57 million children who are barred from education.

Briana Aguirre spoke up about the lack of proper protection while treating a patient with Ebola. She risks criticism and losing her job, which her family depends on.

More recently, Briana Aguirre, a nurse in Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, publicly denounced hospital leaders for failing to adequately prepare staff to care for patients with Ebola, the fatal disease that is ravaging areas of Africa and is now showing up in America. Those who were assigned to attend a patient who contracted the disease were not given adequate clothing to protect them from exposure, she said. Gowns had gaping holes at the neck. Other patients also were put at risk when they were not removed from the area, she said.

The hospital had presented optional seminars once or twice, but provided no hands-on training for those who would work with infected patients, Aguirre said.

Aguirre told Today reporters that hospital administrators did not mention Ebola to staff when the facility accepted Thomas Duncan, a victim of the disease, as a patient. Nina Pham, 26, a fellow nurse, contracted the disease after caring for Duncan. Aguirre then was assigned to care for Pham.

Aguirre, a typical middle class worker, faces financial devastation and possible ill effects to her career.

Congress has stepped in and will grill Texas Presbyterian’s chief executive, Daniel Varga, about the matter. Centers for Disease Control director Tom Frieden, will participate.

The world tends to stand in awe of people like Malala and Aguirre who have the courage to stand up and act on their convictions in spite of the hazards they face in doing so. Even the compensation of a Nobel Peace Prize, in Malala’s case, can hardly do justice to their acts in speaking truth that is unpopular with others.

Congratulations to both these women for filling the void of indifference by those of us who fail to act.