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Be Prepared

The phrase “be prepared” may be the Boy Scout motto, but it’s for everyone! Disaster can strike at any time. While the size of these can vary, the one common denominator is that you never truly know when it will hit.  With the climate change we are experiencing, natural disasters are becoming more common. It is Emergency Preparedness Week in Canada and the Federal Government is reminding you and your family to create a plan and ensure you have an emergency kit prepared that will help ensure your survival for 72 hours. (www.getprepared.gc.ca) This kit should include the basics of:

  • Water
  • Non perishable foods
  • Medical supplies (like bandages, alcohol wipes, gauze pads)
  • Candles and matches
  • Blankets and extra clothes
  • Activity books and toys to entertain young children
  • And don’t forget about the animals in your home—ensure you save food and water for them as well!

We have written about Emergency Preparedness and specifically how this relates to people with disabilities in the past. We encourage you to please take a look at this valuable information: Emergency Preparedness.

Remember… always be prepared!

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Nurture The Mental Health of Your Employees

Nearly half of all Canadians experience some form of mental health concerns at work. Mental health issues are the number one cause of short term and long term disability leave.  So what can be done to create happier, healthier employees who are more productive and miss less time off work?

In Episode 5 of our Occupational Therapy Video (OT-V) Series we discuss how employers, employees, Occupational Therapists and medical teams can help employees overcome mental health stressors and other stressors at work.

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40 Years 40 Gratitude’s

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

Milestones are important.  They frame a lifetime.  Whether you are taking your first steps, graduating high school, getting married, or retiring, these life events symbolize where we are at on our journey.  Personally, I am at that mid-life crossroad we call 40.  For some just a number, for others a crisis, or a time to pause, reflect and make a new plan for the next four decades.  For me this is a bit of both.  If 40 is the new 30 I have nothing to complain about.  In fact I think I might be at the top of my game as I turn this corner.  But the transition comes with thoughts, feelings and emotions that have taken time to process.

I started planning 40 at 35.  I wrote a bucket list, developed a five year plan, and started looking forward to this event.  But as it approached my feelings varied between “so what” (who cares) and “so what” (what will I do to celebrate that is memorable and meaningful).  I wanted to celebrate then I didn’t.  I wanted to go away then I wanted to be alone.  At one point I just thought “I am going to own this mid-life crisis and stop perseverating on what it all means”.  Then I got clarity reading the wonderful book “Be Happy”.

One of the exercises in this exceptional book is called 100 Gratitude’s.  Simple but effective, you write down 100 things you are grateful for.  After all, being grateful is above all else on the list of ways to live a happy life.  So I made my list of the things I am thankful for and realized a theme:  it included people, experiences, and simple life pleasures.  Nothing material, vain or things I bought.  Just things I have lived, valued and appreciated in my 40 years.

This gave me an idea.  For my 40th I would write 40 letters of gratitude to those people in my life that I truly cherish.  These letters would be nothing but a positive reflection of how important that person is to me and what it is about them that I am grateful for.  It was important to me that these were “letters” – the old fashioned hand-written and mailed with pen and crafty lined paper.  I am not sure why, but there is something personal and ageless about our handwriting – sloppy or legible.

I did decide to vacation for my birthday.  I had a strong urge to have my feet in the sand and my eyes on the ocean while soaking in the sights, smells and sensations of being alive.  I will be disconnected from the hectic virtual world we all now occupy and will savour the mental clarity this will offer.  Maybe I will make a new bucket list, or a new 5 or 10 year plan, or maybe I won’t.  Perhaps I don’t always have to be so driven and this milestone is about slowing down. I will mail my letters before I leave so these become special surprises to those that know I have reached this milestone with their love surrounding me.

Whether you are over or under the magical number of 40, perhaps consider creative and impactful ways to make life events truly meaningful for both you and the people around you.  After all, the best way to feel grateful is to be grateful.  My exercise of 40 Years and 40 Gratitude’s will cost me some paper, ink, stamps and my time.  Priceless if you ask me.

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The Government Gets it Wrong – Again!

Sorry people of Ontario, but I feel that the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) is an embarrassment.  In short, FSCO is a FIASCO. 

FIASCO is responsible for regulating and governing our provincial auto insurance product.  And what a mess it is.  If you read up on articles about auto insurance, benefits and changes, the comments are hilarious.  Ontarians seem to have a strong dislike for both FIASCO and Insurance Companies.

Working in this field since 2000, I have witnessed many changes.  Some good, most bad.  I have studied this product and written academic papers on the evolution of this since the SABS was introduced in 1996.  Well, more bad news.

Let me describe it this way:  we are all required to purchase car insurance – it is “mandatory” if we want to drive legally.  Insurance companies are “for profit” and compete with each other to sell this product.  The cheap insurance is typically run by crappy companies that have a culture of “deny first” and these will generally treat you poorly at the time of claim.  Like a family member of mine that was ignored by one such company for 2 years after a serious accident to finally receive a cheque to “go away”, you will get what you pay for.

So here is what is happening now.  In 2010 your benefits, or the product you were paying for at the time of renewal was reduced by 97% for “minor injuries” and by 50% for “severe injuries”.  I wrote about this previously and used the analogy that if you were buying a computer (as a comparison) instead of getting the entire computer, you would now just get the monitor for the same price.  Well recently they came out with the next round of executions.  They are suggesting that the benefits for catastrophic injury (the most severely injured that suffer long term and devastating losses) will also be cut in half.  The seriously injured again get hit with another 15% reduction (a total of 65% in 5 years).  No change to minor injury because the only way to honestly reduce that further would be to axe it altogether.  Here is the direct link to the information about what is happening:  http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/budget/ontariobudgets/2015/ch1f.html#ch1f_18

But to drive this home I tried to think of another analogy.  I think it would be like you getting and paying your property tax bill (at its usual rates) to then go and pave your driveway to be told “sorry you don’t own that part of your property anymore – we cut that from your property line last year”.  Or, as taxpayers who pay into OHIP one day we go to the hospital in an emergency and are told “sorry, OHIP doesn’t cover emergencies anymore”.  If the stories were comparable, the government would have told you about these changes in some “fine print” but perhaps you would not have noticed.  In fact, they hope you don’t.  After all, if you truly understood what they were doing before they did it, you would join the fight to make a change.

So what can we do?  My peers, colleagues and clients are going to the MPP’s.  They hope that our elected officials can talk some sense into FIASCO.  However, we have done that before with little resolve.  Sorry government officials, you repeatedly let the people of Ontario down when you don’t help us fight for our basic rights on a mandatory product.  As FIASCO says these changes are for “consumer protection” then we can assume that the result will be drastic reductions to our premiums, right?  If you are cutting my coverage by 97% and 65% I expect an equal reduction in my premiums.  My usual $1000 bill for car insurance on my Caravan will now be $30.00, right?  I am sure my refund is in the mail. 

Please join us in the fight against changes to this product by contacting your local elected MPP.  You can find your local MPP here:

http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_current.do?locale=en&ord=Riding&dir=ASC&list_type=all_mpps

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Trust Your Intuition

We all have that gut feeling from time to time—the one that tells us to be wary of certain situations or on the other hand to jump in with both feet!  Do you trust it?  New research tells us we should.  Check out the following article from Medial Daily discussing the science behind our gut feelings and why intuition should be an important part of your decision-making process.

Medical Daily:  Your Gut Feeling Is Way More Than Just A Feeling– The Science Of Intuition

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Safety 1st At Work

April 28th is recognized as The World Day for Safety and Health at Work. It is held as an annual international campaign that seeks to promote safe, healthy and decent work environments.  April 28th is also The National Day of Mourning in Canada, which commemorates people who have had an accident or injury in the course of their job. It is important that we are all involved in the initiative to create healthier and safer places of work – workplace safety should not be optional.

The following infographic from Health and Safety Ontario provides you with a snapshot of injuries in Ontario.

PIP-2013-Info-graphics-posterLR_Finalb

Consider these four steps to make sure that health and safety are paramount in your organization:

1.    Get on board: You don’t have to be an owner or boss to be concerned about safety. Everyone is responsible for contributing to a safe workplace.

2.    Get in the know: Understand the hazards and risks at your own workplace.

3.    Get involved: If you see a hazard on the job, speak up and offer your insight and possible solutions.

4.    Get more help: All workers have the right to refuse work if they have reason to believe it is dangerous. Speak to a supervisor if you have concerns, or seek guidance from the Ontario Health and Safety Contact Centre at 1-877-202-0008.

Or, if you are off work due to injury or illness and need help returning, would like solutions to help you work more comfortably, or are concerned about the impact of your job on your physical, cognitive or emotional health, consider contacting an occupational therapist. We are here to help.

For more information on creating a healthier and safer workplace, please visit our Healthy Workplace page.

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Healthy Eating Tips That Stand The Test of Time

When it comes to eating well, fads come and go, but there are some basic principles that stand the test of time.  Check out the following from the Huffington Post which discusses 5 strategies that work and are not just another passing craze.

The Huffington Post:  5 Healthy-Eating Strategies That Will Outlast Any Trend

For more resources on eating well please visit our Food For Thought page.

 

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Setting Tech Boundaries: Saying i-Don’t

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

I don’t think I am alone when I say that I am becoming completely overwhelmed by technology.  Not being a techy person, it took me a while to warm up to email, then to the internet, cell phone use, texting and lastly social media.  Now I have two email accounts, three phone numbers, three websites, a cell, blog, and business and personal Twitter, Linked In, Google+, and Facebook accounts.  I bank online, shop online, do most of my communication by email, manage my business with my phone and computer, and even use an app to meditate.  My life is organized into files and folders that are populated with faxed, emailed or scanned documents that are backed-up, saved to disc, or exported to secure places.  My car can answer my calls, direct me to new places and even tell me when my favorite songs are playing.  My cat has an automatic feeder and my phone is accessed with my fingerprint or voice.  Sometimes people send me an email then text me to tell me they emailed me.  Or, they leave a voicemail then repeat the contents in an email or fax.  Or call me at home, then work, then on my cell. Craziness!

So how many people are ready to tech-out?  I know some days I dream of a home in the wilderness with no Wi-Fi, TV, computer, or cell service.

My love-hate relationship with technology has been an ongoing emotional versus productive battle inside my head for some time.  While I am trying to model appropriate technology behavior for my children, the pace at which the world seems to be operating, and the time sensitive nature of my clinical work, requires me to work-from-home some nights, visit the office on a weekend, and respond to texts afterhours.  I am not proud of this, and feel that I failed miserably in 2014 to keep an appropriate balance.  So, I have vowed that this year will be different.  While I cannot change the pace at which people try to reach me, I can change the pace of my response and can learn to reduce the guilt I often feel when my response is delayed, or when a nice evening at home took priority over my inbox.

Even society is starting to get fed up.  In France it is now illegal for employers to email their employees after hours.  I am not sure such behavior needs to be “illegal” beyond ensuring that the employee cannot be fired or demoted if they don’t respond after-hours, but this law shows the extent to which people feel pressured to communicate at all times – whether it is the right time or not.

I had a comical interaction with a friend one night that highlights this.  Working late, I had sent him an email asking a question about a service they provided.  He responded quickly with a “yes”, while failing to answer my other questions.  I humorously responded with a “thanks for your wordy response” to which he added “considering that I am out with my wife for our anniversary I think I said too much”.  Agreed.

So in an effort to not repeat my mistakes of 2014, I have set some firm tech boundaries for 2015.  Some of my strategies include:

1.  Work at Work.  I have an office at which I am extremely productive.  Lugging my computer back and forth from work to home is not good for it, my back, and tends to anchor my evenings to work when I have a list of other things I would like to be doing.   So, in 2015 I am leaving my computer at the office.  So far this means I am behind on my emails and have not tackled many things on my “to do list” but my family is enjoying my presence and my evenings are much less stressful.  And the real secret here is that I have noticed a definite DECLINE in the amount of emails I am getting since I started getting behind.  I guess people are finding other ways to solve their problems versus asking me.  Perfect.

2.  Phone Off.  In speaking with my techy husband, I asked about ways I could set some firm boundaries with my phone.  I wanted to limit texts from work contacts and stop my business email from surfacing on my phone after 5pm and on weekends.  Low and behold with an iPhone you can’t do that. Sure I can use airplane mode, or do not disturb, but this limits contacts from all people, and there are some people (my friends and family included) that I would like to be able to communicate with at any time.  So, I visited Roger’s and they too confirmed that I can’t be selective about who, how and when people can reach me.  My options then were just to behave differently (don’t check email or texts from work contacts), or to get an entirely different phone with a new number and “personal email only” set-up for after-hours.  While I still believe that one email or text can completely derail an evening or weekend, for now I have decided that when home my phone will be anchored to a spot in the kitchen on airplane mode.  When out, I will do my best to not read or respond to work messages until the following business day.

3.  Go Public.  To get the support of my team, I told them my plans for 2015.  This included my work hours and desire to set firm boundaries around my technology time.  We realigned our operations to divide roles and duties to reduce the triplication of emails to multiple people, and to ensure that people had clear lines of accountability – instead of their habit of going to the person they thought would respond first (typically me).  My team was very supportive and I have noticed a sharp decline in after-hours emails since I told them of my plans.  I also involved my family in my decision to leave my computer at the office and to limit after-hours phone time so that they too can encourage me along the way.

No, I am not perfect and will slide at times with the boundaries I am trying to set.  But even if I can accomplish half of my intention, I am 50% better than my experience of last year.  In the end, I guess I just want my enjoyable life to include a reasonable amount of technology, and not for technology to result in an unenjoyable life.