Time With Your Children
Time With Your Children
If you're a working mother how much time do you get to spend in quality time with your children?
As life becomes busier and financial pressures mount on the family it's become imperative that mothers go out to work. Sometimes the income brought into the family by the working mother is all that stands between survival and disaster.
But there is a cost that the family pays and that cost is the amount of time working mothers get to spend with their children each day. Until now there has never been an exact figure put on that amount of time but now we do have a time... measured in just minutes.
You can read more about it at Just 19 Minutes for the Kids at Information for Her
Treating Depression
Treating Depression - It Takes Time
Depression is an illness that affects people from all walks of life and from all ethnic backgrounds. Depression is also an illness that is chronically under-reported and many sufferers struggle through their daily lives without treatment of any kind.
While there are a number of drugs available to the medical profession to use in the treatment of depression there is no one drug that is more effective than any other. And for some sufferers there is no drug that will treat their depression.
To further complicate the treatment of depression is the fact that, whatever drug is used to treat the illness, there is a long lead-time between first treatment and any noticeable improvement in the symptoms. In fact recent research in the United States suggests that doctors should allow at least 12 weeks for the medication to begin taking effect.
For the patient suffering from depression 12 weeks can seem like an eternity but the research has shown that those who wait that length of time are far more likely to have a positive outcome from the treatment than those who don't.
What Happens During Orgasm
What Happens During Orgasm
Scientists - and a whole lot of other people - have often wondered just what happens inside a person's head during orgasm. Now they think they know.
Scientists in the Netherlands have taken brain scans of men and women having sex and reaching orgasm and it has revealed some interesting differences. The key to female orgasm seems to be relaxation and a lack of anxiety.
On the other hand men need relaxation and a lack of anxiety to reach orgasm but not to the same extent as women. For men, the sensations coming from the genitals are more important than they are for women.
You can read more about this amazing study here
The Real Cost of Electricity
We take electricity for granted. We flick a switch and the light comes on, we press a button and the dishwasher begins its wash cycle. We drop bread into the toaster and it begins to prepare our breakfast. We do it every day and we never stop to think where the electricity that powers those lights and appliances comes from.
Electricity is part of our daily life that we take for granted. But it doesn't come out of thin air - electricity is the produced by power stations that can employ any one of a number of different methods.
Here in Australia much of our power comes from the burning of coal and the same is true in other countries too. Oil can also be used to produce electricity as can water, the sun and the wind. Unfortunately most countries depend on coal and oil and as those resources become more finite and more expensive we begin to look for alternatives.
Not every country has access to sufficient levels of sunlight to make solar energy a reasonable alternative and besides, generating the amounts of electricity that the western world needs to survive requires more generating power than the current level of solar technology can provide.
And it's the same with wind generated electricity. Wind farms are beginning to appear but they are a long way for reaching the generating level that we need.
So it should come as no surprise that more and more countries are looking to nuclear power to supply the electricity that we need every day. But is that a wise alternative?
There are many who say that it is a wise alternative and that it is perfectly safe but to those people I say just four words - Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
If you don't think that a major accident could happen at one of the West's nuclear power plants then remember Three Mile Island that happened in 1979 and seven years later Chernobyl spewed its deadly radiation cloud into the atmosphere.
Both were accidents caused by people who were either poorly trained or desperately trying to cut corners to save costs. The legacy of those accidents will haunt us for many years to come and the reminder of Chernobyl - a site still not stabilized 20 years after the event - will stay with the world forever.
If you think nuclear energy is safe to use then visit the site Chernobyl Revisited and take some time to read the text and look at the photos taken during a journey through the dead zone.
Who wants to live in a world where there are dead zones?
And if Chernobyl Revisited is too graphic for you then visit Chernobyl: Ghost of the Soviet Union - it's not quite so stark and threatening.
And once you have seen what simple accidents could do - accidents that came through cost cutting and poorly trained staff - you decide whether you want public companies (those very companies who cut costs to save money and improve their bottom line) to be allowed to build a nuclear reactor in your country.
Coping With A Child Leaving Home
Coping with a child leaving home.
On my daughter's eighteenth birthday, she announced that she would be moving out after Christmas. This was a big shock, since she had just recently started a new job, that wasn't even quite up to minimum wage. I wondered how she thought she was going to handle all her expenses.
I tried to get her to wait and save up some money to cover all of her expenses, but she was stubborn and thought she could do just fine with her part-time job. I knew she had to find out the hard way and already I had begun to worry about my daughter, feeling that empty feeling of my only child being out on her own.
On December the thirtieth she moved out. The feeling I had was one of loneliness, dread and worry. I constantly worried whether she was eating right, if she was safe, was she at home at a decent hour and how her job was holding out.
I wanted to rush to her house and order her back home, but knew that she was now an adult on her own. So I decided to be patient and not let her see me worry about her. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, but knew in my heart, that just watching over her was all I could do.
I really shouldn't have worried so much, since she began to drop by the house every so often, until it became an every day thing. She would come eat dinner, do laundry or borrow money; aggravating as that was since she had asserted her independence, I grabbed hold of every bit of time that I could spend with her.
I wanted so badly to tell her to return home and save up some money, but I'm just as stubborn as her and couldn't bring myself to utter the words.
It wasn't long before she lost her job and couldn't pay her bills. She soon found out that she was pregnant and didn't know what to do about the situation. She wanted the baby, but didn't know if she was going to be able to take care of it financially on her own.
Watching her worry about her financial situation and her baby ate at my heart. She didn't want help from her dad and I, so we just had to sit back and watch her struggle. It was heartbreaking and I didn't know how to cope with my little girl becoming depressed.
During this time, her home was broken into several times and she was afraid to stay at home by herself. We invited her to spend the nights at our home on the couch and she willingly took us up on the offer. Although we wanted her home permanently, we knew that asking was only going to make her more stubborn to remain out on her own. It had to be her choice.
Finally I decided it was time for mom to step in and do something about her situation. I contacted her and sat her down for a long talk. I asked her to come home until she could get on her feet and the baby was born. No rules, other than common courtesy of a phone call if she was going to be out late, keep her room clean and have respect for her parents. I knew that she would need help with her pregnancy and I could help her get the help she needed. I wanted her home safe and I was willing to do anything to make her come home.
I think she finally understood that not only was I her mom, but her friend. I needed her, just as much as she needed me and the support I could give her to get through her first round of entering into the adult world. She asked for help in moving, learning how to deal with finances and finally admitting to us, that she was not ready for the world outside of her safe haven she called home.
I finally realized that the next time she moves out on her own, I will have to let her spread her wings and fly, in order for her to learn life's lessons and become the competent adult I know that she will be.
Now she has been home for the past seven months, expecting her first baby and growing up a bit more before heading out into the adult world.
It will be hard to let her and the grandbaby go when the time comes, but I know that in order for her to be able to learn how to stand on her own two feet, I'm going to have to learn to loosen the apron strings a bit. I know in my heart, that if she needs me at any time, she knows that mom will be there.
Brenda
Hereditary Breast Cancer
Breast cancer takes the lives of many women world wide every year. Some funding is provided by the various health departments but at the same time some women miss out on important checks because they cannot afford the fees that come with a mammogram and in some cases an ultra scan.
How much should one place on someone's lives. Of course not all health issues can be funded for research but surely funding research into a program that will help save lives should be of high importance. But unfortunately it doesn't sit high on some agendas…
Perhaps some of the ministers should take pay cuts or donate their paid travel allowances to help fund some of the research programs that will save lives….
Hereditary breast cancer research funding 'inadequate'
A world expert on hereditary breast cancer has called on the Federal Government to provide a multi-million-dollar funding boost for research and screening.
Hereditary factors account for up to 10 per cent of all breast cancer cases, and the disease often kills those in normally healthy younger age groups.
American Professor Mary-Claire King says there is grossly inadequate funding to address the problem of hereditary breast cancer and no national program for genetic testing.
"Inherited breast cancer hits particularly young women, the women that we lose to this disease, that we needn't lose, are young professional women, are women who have decades and decades of productive life ahead of them," she said.
ABC News Website 23rd November 2005
The Future of Health Care
Our health care system is in crisis. Admission to a hospital can spell financial ruin for many middle-income people and for some it is completely out of the question ... they simply cannot afford it.
Pharmaceuticals are beyond the reach of many people. Doctors may write prescriptions but the ill cannot always afford to have them filled. Even those with diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses that need daily treatment cannot afford to buy the medication that they require every day simply to survive.
Does that sound like the country that you live in? Let me tell you that most of those of those circumstances fit just about every country in the world because the health care system of every western country is in crisis.
A recent global survey by the PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute, that interviewed 700 health leaders in 27 countries, has revealed that health systems around the world are under siege and many will be completely unsustainable with 15 years unless fundamental changes occur. The need to deal with the crisis is recognized by governments around the globe but the urgent solutions that they need are not going to be found within their own country.
Instead health care experts are looking beyond their own borders for shared solutions. Almost every country has some part of their health care system that works very well but overall every system has insurmountable problems.
The survey suggests that governments will need to work together with each other and with private industry and consumers to overcome the problems. And the survey stresses that consumers will also have a bigger financial stake in the new health care systems and a greater responsibility for their healthcare.
Even in systems where historically the tax payer has paid the nation's health care bill a move towards a greater shared responsibility is beginning to appear and only a small number of the health leaders who were included in the survey think that a tax-funded system is sustainable.
So what will the future look like?
The survey suggests that consumerism will change the way health care is delivered. As individuals assume greater responsibility for their healthcare they begin to demand accountability and information about pricing, safety and quality so that they can make better decisions about what they are "buying".
The survey suggests that healthcare organizations will have to publish or perish. Like other industries do now private healthcare providers will have to report their prices, error rates and safety standards and eight in every 10 healthcare executives who were included in the survey suggest that transparency will be one of the most important features of a sustainable health system. Sadly two-thirds of those surveyed believe that hospitals are not yet prepared to meet the challenges of consumers who expect to be informed.
At the same time as consumers are becoming more informed about health care they are also becoming more concerned about wellness and prevention. Almost everyone accepts that preventive care and disease management are the most important ways to reduce healthcare costs.
Governments and even employers are beginning to demand health promotion and wellness initiatives that include things like smoke free work places, offices, entertainment areas and public spaces.
Pay-for-performance initiatives are also beginning to be recognized as an important way to keep medical expenses down. Early diagnosis of such diseases as cervical cancer and coronary heart problems are being encouraged so that less radical and less expensive treatment can be used early in the life of the disease rather than later when the costs escalate.
In California doctors are receiving bonuses for screening patients for those conditions and similar programs are coming into place in some European countries too.
Flexible care models are also being investigated. Hospitals are being redesigned; new ways to use technology and outsource elective procedures are also being discussed. An example of that is occurring in German where a medical company is constructing smaller hospitals and connecting them to a highly specialized and centralized high tech medical unit.
In Australia 45 hospitals now offer "Hospital in the Home", a system where patients remain at home and are visited by traveling nursing staff who take care of their needs.
While the current healthcare system is in crisis throughout the world steps are being taken to overcome the problems but it will mean an incredible shift in the way we, the consumers, think of healthcare and the way in which healthcare providers actually deliver it. Our traditional views will fade away as new innovative and more economic ways of treating the sick and injured come into use.
Consumers can expect to have to contribute more both financially and through self-management of their condition and for many that will be quite achievable. But sadly this report seems to have ignored what may happen to the poor and economically disadvantaged when they fall ill.
Will their situation and level of treatment improve in this coming brave new world of healthcare? That is yet to be seen.
© Stuff and Information - 2005
Mommy Tags
Some Call Her a Fighter, She Prefers Mom
Silverdale, WA (PRWEB) October 19, 2005 -- MommyTags.com owner, Kirsten Reed, has endured a lot in the past decade -- including the gunpoint kidnapping of her mentally delayed daughter and a bout with Bell's Palsy. Now 44, Reed is taking back control and celebrating the one thing that is most important to her -- motherhood. Reed's "Mommy Tags" are recycled silver tags engraved with a child's name and birth date. Much like a wedding band, they symbolize the awesome and eternal connection a mother has with her child.
In July of 2000, Kirsten Reed was happily married, had two beautiful children and enjoyed her job as a paralegal at a prominent Seattle law firm. Then, the unthinkable happened. Her mentally delayed sixteen-year-old daughter was kidnapped at gunpoint. Although her daughter managed to fight off her attacker, she sustained a nasty head injury in the process.
As Reed sought the medical and psychological treatment needed to help her daughter begin to recover from this trauma, she was blindsided by a second blow. According to her children, their biological father had been forcing them to perform sexual acts in front of him for years.
For months, Reed lodged complaints and called for an investigation if not an arrest. To her utter amazement, charges were not brought against the alleged abuser, but rather against the eldest of his alleged victims. After a prolonged effort by the prosecution to force Reed and her son to testify against her daughter, Reed took the radical step of going into hiding with her son. When the case was dismissed for lack of evidence and the statute of limitations had run out, Reed and her son reunited with her daughter.
Around that time, Reed began noticing some disturbing drooping and numbness in her face. It turned out that she had a severe case of Bell's Palsy. "It was as if my face was displaying for the world to see on the outside just how broken I felt on the inside," Reed explains of the illness, going on to add, "But I knew that if my children could silently endure a terrible secret for years, if my daughter could crawl home after being attacked, if we could beat the so-called justice system, then I could find the strength to fight this disorder." And fight it she did. That year, Reed made a full recovery and ran the 2003 New York City Marathon in celebration.
That was the beginning of happier times for Reed and her children. The same year, Reed's sister-in-law gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. In honor of the occasion, Reed made a simple silver necklace upon which hung a silver tag engraved with the new child's name and birth date. It was the first of what would become Mommy Tags and a new career. "I figured if the Palsy could manifest all the pain and anguish in my face, I could create a physical manifestation of something even stronger-the bond between a mother and child."
Kirsten Reed's recycled silver commemorative tags, which can be worn as a bracelet or necklace, are available online at www.mommytags.com and with select retailers. They have been popular with high profile celebrity moms like Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts and Courtney Cox Arquette, as well as the mom next door. In addition to her "Mommy Tags," Reed also offers "Daddy Tags" and "Tot Tags."