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IN THIS ISSUE
Overheard at MD's Office
Take Home and Tuck In
I Scream for Sunscreen!
Lighter Notes
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What's New at
Guardian Nurses
Overheard at the
Doctor's Office
This week a patient shared with us a recent interaction with her primary care physician. She told the doctor that when she took her pulse, she was having "extra beats." He responded, "Then stop taking your pulse." |
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"Take Home and Tuck In" Service Offered
In the course of working with a new client, we were asked to help her get a colonoscopy. Finding a physician and scheduling the procedure was the easy part. Turns out, she had no one able to drive her home from the procedure. No hospital or outpatient facility will allow a patient to go home without adult accompaniment. We reached out to the Ardmore office of Griswold Special Care for their "Take Home and Tuck In" service. Griswold resources will accompany patients to their procedure, wait through the completion and drive the patient home, making sure they are "tucked in." The service is private pay through Griswold Special Care. |
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Lighter Notes
World Cup Trivia
Just days before the World Cup of 1966 in England, the trophy was stolen and then later retrieved by a dog named "Pickles." The trophy was hidden under a hedge in a garden in South London. Pickles' owner, David Corbett, collected a GBP6,000 reward. The man who had demanded a GBP15,000 ransom for the return of the trophy was jailed for two years.
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Every summer when I was growing up, my parents would pack up their six fair-skinned Irish kids and head down to Wildwood, NJ. Before heading to the beach, I remember my mom slathering me with Coppertone. I don't know what SPF it was; I just know that years later, my back is still a freckled mess. I visit a dermatologist annually to keep tabs on those freckles.
Today, we know there's no such thing as a "healthy" tan. Although advertising once conditioned us to see tanning as attractive, studies have proven that both sunburns and tanning assault the skin's DNA.
We offer you some helpful information below.
 Instead of a tan, go with your own glow!
Betty Long
Betty Long, RN, MHA, President and Founder
Guardian Nurses Healthcare Advocates, Inc. |
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I Scream, You Scream,
We All Scream for Sunscreen!!
A Dozen Helpful Things To Know This Summer:
Wear Clothes. Shirts, hats, shorts, and pants shield your skin from the suns UV rays. And don't coat your skin with goop. A long sleeved shirt is a good start.
Sunburn - the skin reddening caused by overexposure to the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation -- may seem like just a temporary irritation, but sunburns can cause long-lasting damage to the skin.
Find Shade. Or make it. Picnic under a tree, read beneath an umbrella, take a canopy or umbrella to the beach.
Plan Around the Sun. If your schedule is flexible, go outside in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun is lower in the sky. UV radiation peaks at midday when the sun is directly overhead.
Babies under six months old should never be exposed to the sun. Their skin is not yet protected by melanin.
Babies older than six months should be protected from the sun and wear UV-blocking sunglasses to protect their eyes.
Children are especially at risk. One blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence more than doubles your chances of developing melanoma later in life.
Don't be fooled by labels that boast high SPFs. Anything higher than "SPF 50+" can tempt you to stay in the sun too long, suppressing sunburn but not other kinds of skin damage. The FDA says these numbers are misleading. Stick to SPF 15-50+, reapply often and pick a product based on your own skin, time planned outside, shade and cloud cover.
Ingredients matter. Avoid the sunscreen chemical oxybenzone, a synthetic estrogen that penetrates the skin and contaminates the body. Look for active ingredients zinc, titanium, avobenzone or Mexoryl SX. These substances protect skin from harmful UVA radiation and remain on the skin, with little if any penetrating into the body.
Message for men: Wear sunscreen. Surveys show that 34% of men wear sunscreen, compared to 78% of women. Start using it now to reduce your cumulative lifetime exposure to damaging UV radiation.
Got your Vitamin D? Many people don't get enough vitamin D, which skin manufactures in the presence of sunlight. Your doctor can test your Vit. D level and recommend supplements or a few minutes of sun daily on your bare skin (without sunscreen).
Sunglasses are essential. Not just a fashion accessory, sunglasses protect your eyes from UV radiation, a cause of cataracts.
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