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Posts in COVID-19
It Takes a Village: Distilleries
April 9, 2020
It takes a village to battle a pandemic. Every day, healthcare workers use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect themselves, patients and others while providing care. Properly using PPE helps prevent the spread of infection. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increased demand for PPE. This demand has diminished the supply, and the PPE shortages are creating tremendous challenges for hospitals and healthcare systems around the world. For Augusta Health, facing this challenge has been eased by the community that surrounds it. The Augusta Health Foundation is coordinating the...Continue Reading
What should I know about Diabetes and COVID-19?
April 9, 2020
This is an unsettling time for many people, especially for people who have existing medical conditions such as diabetes. So if you have diabetes, whether you are concerned or not, it's good to take steps to be prepared and get some information on your increased risk for complications from COVID-19. What Can I Do to be Prepared? Everyone has their own diabetes treatment plan, but here are some general preparation guidelines based on the American Diabetes Association recommendations. You should have: Extra supplies on-hand (rubbing alcohol, hand soap, blood glucose testing strips, needles, etc...Continue Reading
It Takes a Village: Mask Makers
April 8, 2020
It takes a village to battle a pandemic. Every day, healthcare workers use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect themselves, patients, and others while providing care. Properly using PPE helps prevent the spread of infection. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increased demand for PPE. This demand has diminished the supply, and the PPE shortages are creating tremendous challenges for hospitals and healthcare systems around the world. For Augusta Health, facing this challenge has been eased by the community that surrounds it. The Augusta Health Foundation is coordinating...Continue Reading
Great Hope in the Midst of This Pandemic
April 8, 2020
We work hard to be in control of our lives. We have work plans, summer plans, retirement plans, house plans, yard plans, educational plans, worship plans, childcare plans and on and on. We are used to small interruptions in our plans that come from weather, or illness, or traffic jams. We are not used to dealing with the mighty disruption that a worldwide Pandemic has created. This is a whole new ballgame with new rules that are being created day by day. It is upsetting, mind-boggling, overwhelming, and at times downright frightening. We are all being challenged to let go of normalcy more...Continue Reading
6 Practical Steps to Manage Stress
April 7, 2020
Manage your stress. It's great advice, but difficult at any time—and the COVID-19 outbreak makes the idea of managing stress an even taller order. Concern about your own health and the health of loved ones, coupled with an overwhelming amount of information about events around the world just add to the stress. Two major stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, can weaken the immune system. So learning to manage stress can support and boost the immune system to help keep you as healthy as possible is perhaps more important now than ever. Here are six practical steps you can take to manage the...Continue Reading
Boost Your Immune System with a Good Night's Sleep
April 6, 2020
A good night's sleep is always important for a healthy immune system. The COVID-19 outbreak, though, has caused many a sleepless night for some. Sleep is a major time of repair, rebuilding, and processing for your body. Not getting enough sleep can negatively impact both your immune system and your emotional resilience. Here's some practical advice to help you get a good night's sleep: Try to establish a sleep routine : Going to bed at about the same time, getting up at the same time, and getting the same amount of sleep each night. For most, seven to eight hours of sleep is optimal. Exercise...Continue Reading
Mindfulness: Challenging Thoughts
April 3, 2020
We can have a lot of anxious thoughts on our good days. Add a Pandemic and our thoughts can really reach a peak. Like our reaction to the Coronavirus, we want to use all of our tools to get the peak back down. One of the ways we can do it is by challenging our very own thoughts. Have you ever had the thought in the past that, "This day will never ever end?" Well it did end. You got through it. You probably have gotten through lots of challenges in your life that you were not sure you would get through. The thought that this day will never end is just a thought. We can challenge our irrational...Continue Reading
Why We Social Distance - Flattening the Curve
April 2, 2020
Over the past few months, two phrases have crept into our vocabulary and every day conversations: Social Distancing and Flattening the Curve. What do they really mean? Why are they important? And what does one have to do with the other? Allison Baroco, MD, Infectious Disease Specialist at Augusta Health, explains the concepts and answers the questions: What is Social Distancing? Social distancing is deliberately increasing the physical space between people to reduce the spread of an illness. Examples of Social Distancing are keeping six feet between people, canceling and avoid gatherings of...Continue Reading
Spring is Actually Here
April 2, 2020
In the midst of very real concerns about the many different ways the Coronavirus is interfering with "life as usual," Spring has arrived. All around us nature is going on as it does and the Winter has turned to Spring. It is lovely outside. The temperature is slowly getting warmer and the flowering plants are bursting into color. And many of us are missing it. We are more or less "in our heads" (more than usual) thinking about all of the things that we think about normally plus a host of additional concerns. We are worried about our children, our parents, our patients, our jobs, our...Continue Reading
Dealing with Uncertainty
April 2, 2020
by Rev. Dr. Chris Mason, Chaplaincy Program Coordinator at Augusta Health Uncertainty is a word that comes up often in regards to COVID-19. There is uncertainty about our health, the health of family and friends, economic and financial means, and probably some other areas of uncertainty as well. Uncertainty is one of those words that may conjure up feelings of apprehension, stress and anxiety for you, but here are a few important things to understand about our feelings in the midst of uncertainty. First, whatever you are feeling right now is completely understandable and normal. Second, we...Continue Reading