2013 Walk a Mile to Save Our Babies!

The Forsyth Infant Mortality Reduction Coalition is holding their annual event to bring awareness regarding infant mortality!

Here is a brief description from the Coalition's website:

Register Now for 2013 Walk a Mile to Save Our Babies

In 2011, forty-six babies dies before their first birthday. Please join Forsyth County Infant Mortality Reduction Coalition and community partners as we walk with empty baby strollers to commemorate this tragic loss in our community. We will walk rain or shine on Tuesday, September 17, 2013. Come walk with us wearing Pink or Blue.


For more information and/or to register, a flyer is available with contact and location information.

Happy September (already!) to my readers!

Antibiotics for Gonorrhea

Antibiotic resistance, in general, comes up from time to time in the news - mostly stories of antibiotic misuse/abuse and insufficient dosage to kill all the bacteria.

In the pet world, when we first brought our dog home from the shelter, we were given weeks of oral antibiotics for her skin problems, and we tried to be vigilant about her medication everyday.  Our vet said that she sees some dogs who are resistant to their first-line antibiotics and even some of their more powerful ones...not good.

Back to humans, this article (found from Public Health News Wire) discusses how some gonorrhea-positive patients have become resistant to oral antibiotics - although the injectable antibiotic still works to treat the STI for now.  Although a small percentage (6.7%), this number appears to be growing.

I'm not sure all the reasons why resistance is increasing - perhaps in part to the misuse/abuse and insufficient dosage - but we could certainly strive to increase and ensure proper (and longer?) medication adherence...and ensure use of condoms!

I think a dual method of contraception (male/female condom barrier + hormonal birth control [implant, ring, pills]) is not a bad idea, particularly if you are not abstinent nor in a monogamous, long-term relationship.
Yeaa, safe sexual behaviors for the new year!

Flu Vaccine

If you haven't thought about perhaps getting the flu vaccine, I encourage you to keep informed - especially if you're in the "high risk" group!

According to a recent post from the Public Health News Wire (from APHA), flu activity is accelerating and appears to be particularly hot and heavy this season - some say perhaps due to the mild winter we've had.

I've always been on the fence about getting the flu vaccine every year, since I don't feel I'm very high risk, but I've been reconsidering that this year and trying to keep on top of the research and recent news to inform my decision.  (So don't let the news folks scare you...Fear does not always lead to informed decisions, if ever!)

Here's a nice infographic from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (and explains what "high risk" mean):

Workplace Wellness

I happened to flip through my partner's latest newsletter from his workplace (which I read...not often), and I came across an article about his company's new efforts to implement a worksite wellness program called "Runway to Wellness" (a wink-and-a-nod to its aviation focus/customers) partnered with Carewise Health. 

As part of this program, there will be employees who are "Wellness Champions" - which seems to be like go-to persons for other employees regarding wellness education and activities.  Although I've yet to hear more updates or even how many "Champions" signed up, I think these are good steps to improve the health/wellness culture in an organization - so long as the implementation is right and employees rally around it.  Yea public health!

Canning - Preserves and Pickles

This is probably not the best time of year to be talking about canning (I suppose it's more of a spring/summer activity), but I've been thinking/doing some canning lately during my holiday break - about 2 weeks in, yay!

For preserves, I like to do an organic strawberry or mixed berry preserves with some red wine (merlot or cabernet) using frozen fruit.  I think the first time, I didn't use enough pectin and too much wine (whoops!), so it didn't firm up very well.

...But now they turn out gorgeous and lovely.  I just bought a few bags of frozen strawberries from Trader Joe's, so let the winter canning commence!

(And the pot afterwards!)

I started pickling cucumbers when we were going through so many jars of store-bought pickles and me being increasingly wary of yellow dye and high fructose corn syrup so often among the ingredients list (urg).  I still have yet to master those scrumptious bread-and-butter pickles you get at the store, but I have increased the sugar content - though some recipes call for several cups of it, oof!

I also add some pickling spice, salt, some vinegar-based barbecue sauce for heat (I don't add too much - don't want a Bloody Mary-looking jar!), and regular white vinegar.  So far, so good.

Transportation and Health

I like (effective) infographics - really caters to my right- and left-brain interests!  The one below is a little long, but has a lot of interesting information.  It suggests solutions to alternative transportation, though they aren't always that clear cut in real practice...

For instance, due to my partner's job, I commute about 40-45 minutes to campus for my MPH courses - but the trade-off is that he only travels about 15 minutes to work.  Sure, moving closer to campus would cut down on gasoline, etc., costs, but for many reasons, this works out the best for the both of us.  Not entirely environmentally friendly, but I think that's OK.  (If the infographic is hard to see, here's the link.)

Oh!  Speaking of bicycling, here's another graphic on biking safely - always a nice reminder, I think!

Ride safe, readers!

Rum Chocolate Muffins

Over the past month, I think, my partner and I have been searching for the just right replacement car for his old Subaru WRX (obviously, trying not to dwell too much on the hours wasted/arguing over this...).  A bit sporty, automatic transmission, roomy enough to fit his mountain bike, and new(er) model were the main concerns.

After much hemming and hawing (and perhaps some semi-ultimatums and threats to speed the process along), we decided on a new Volkswagen GTI.  Which, btw, is no easy feat as we are both varying levels of indecisiveness and worriers and overthinkers and just a bit Type A.  (Lovely combination when it comes to large, expensive purchases.)

Though we're both excited and relieved that this process is over, he enlisted the help of some of his friends/coworkers to view cars (including one that was 3 hours away!!), provide opinions on cars, and general moral support.  Quite commendable of them - and so glad I didn't have to participate in some of that process!

Thus...I spent today baking rum chocolate muffins as a token of appreciation and general peace offering for their time and efforts.  [THANK YOU for putting up with the crazy!]

Besides rum and cocoa powder - to make these extra special, I added spices (cayenne pepper included!), orange juice, coffee to bring out the chocolate, and a small pile of chocolate chips in the center (and a few dots on top) so that it oozes yum as you bite into them.

  ...But mostly, I just taste the chocolate and the spicy tingle of that rum in the back of my throat.  (And yes, I save a few for myself!)