View allAll Photos Tagged dietitians
I miss going to my favorite high bush blueberry farm. We used to gather several quarts and freeze them for the year:)
Theme: Candy
I'm a dietitian so this is candy for me!
Looking close on Friday!: Vegetables
As a dietitian I couldn't pass up this theme, thank you Maria!!!
Onions on are on just about everything, don't you think?!
Happy Weekend ;D
July 29-feastday
Patroness of Butlers, Cooks, Dietitians, Domestic Servants, Homemakers, Hotel-keepers, Housewives, Innkeepers, Laundry Workers, Servers, Single Laywomen, & Travellers
A Prayer to St. Martha
O blessed St. Martha, your faith led Jesus to proclaim, “I am the resurrection and the life”; and faith let you see beyond his humanity when you cried out, “Lord I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” With firm hope you said, “I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him”, and Jesus called your brother Lazarus back from the dead. With pure love for Jesus you welcomed him into your home.
Friend and servant of our Saviour, I too am “troubled about many things”.Pray for me that I may grow in faith, hope and love, and that Jesus, who sat at your table, will hear me and grant me a place at the banquet of eternal life. Amen.
I've always thought that we can learn a lot from the animal world. Whether it be how we raise our young, interpret the signs exhibited by those around us, adapt to changing situations that present, or even how to eat a healthy diet. Being trained as a nutrition expert (aka Registered Dietitian), we always preached the importance of fruits and vegetables ... specifically green leafy vegetables. As you can see, this dall sheep already knows that lesson. LOL
I've had two nice encounters with dall sheep and both have surrounding around them eating their "leafy greens". It's like they knew and were trying to show me. LOL.
Happy Tuesday everyone! Thanks for stopping by to view.
© 2019 Debbie Tubridy / TNWA Photography
Memories from the 1990's.
Me with Actress ELENI FILINI ΕΛΕΝΗ ΦΙΛΙΝΗ at the annual party of the well known Dietitian Dimitris Grigorakis, in Kolonaki, Athens, Greece.
I was on assignment to cover the event.
I just scanned the old print and using current technology, this is the final product!
(May 16, 2020).
Thanassis Fournarakos - Θανάσης Φουρναράκος
Professional Photographer, Athens, Greece
(retired in 2011, born in 1946).
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
None of my images may be downloaded, copied, reproduced, manipulated or used on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit written permission. THANK YOU!
With helios.
As a dietitian and photographer, I love the book Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison. Lovely vegetable imagery and recipes.
Have a lovely weekend my friends and so happy you dropped by!
Our STREETteam had the pleasure to photograph Sara McKinney, a future yoga instructor and logistic specialist. She and her family plan to relocate to Tennessee next year as we work to build the yoga & wellness program! Additionally, she sews as one way to unleash her creative energy. Her pants are hand sewn! She loved our Home GROWN Strap™ and now is the proud owner of a custom crocheted yoga strap! We exchanged ideas, contact info and look forward to our next meeting already!
Wellness workshops and educational retreats will be offered as a way for participants to learn about and develop a firm commitment to self-care and optimal health practices that they can bring back home. At SWSI, program participants will be educated with a philosophy that wellness is not something that someone just "does". SWSI will teach that wellness is a way of life that involves proper nutrition, exercise and stress-reduction techniques as well as balance in other areas of life. Nutritionists and Registered Dietitians will work closely with the agricultural team creating educational programs for individuals, groups and families with children to address wellness issues through classes, workshops and hands on events that will provide opportunities for people to reconnect with the Earth and where and how food is produced. All meals served in the dining hall and café will be prepared on site addressing personal health issues.
Sweet Water Sustainability Institute’s philosophy supports self education of health and healing that take place in one’s body, mind, and spirit. We offer a wide range of options designed to help students on the path to a healthy life. We will create the perfect environment for our caring and skilled practitioners to help students learn how to renew, or dive deeper into their journey of wellness through a variety of educational practices of complimentary integrative healing methods.
SWSI
Sweet Water Sustainable Institute Tentative Classes Include, but not limited to:
● Acupuncture
● Chinese herbal medicine
● Zero balancing
● Biofeedback
● Chiropractic care
● Massage therapy
● Physical therapy
● Reiki
● Sound therapy
● Ayurvedic Medicine
● Tai Chi
● QiGong
● Yoga
● Herbalist Consultations
● Personal Training sessions
tags:
humanityhealing, SWSI, sweetwatersustainable, institute, tennessee, ecotourism, humanityhealinginternational, streetteam, omtimemagazine, socialchange, socialresponsibility, cocreatingchange, healing, spiritualactivism, todoortobe, tobe, bethechange, deZengodesigns, sacredspacestudio, namaSpirittn, saraMcKinney, instructor, activism
Located at 705 North Dixie Avenue in Cookeville, this building was originally built in 1969 and was formerly known by the following names: Varsity Cinema Theatre, Varsity Twin, and Alumni Building. The Varsity Cinema Theatre held its grand opening ceremony on September 11, 1969 and was not an official university building at the time if its conception. The movie theatre operated from 1969 until 2001. In 2014 Tennessee Tech acquired the former Varsity Cinema Theatre where it operated as the Alumni Building. On the 50th anniversary of the Varsity Theatre's grand opening, Tennessee Tech renamed it the Varsity Building. In 2017, the building was renamed the Leonard and Gladys Crawford Alumni Center in honor of two individuals who had such great impact on the Tech campus.
For nearly 3 decades, alumni and administrators Leonard & Gladys Crawford were among the most beloved figures on the Tech campus. Leonard, a member of Tech’s class of 1929 – the first baccalaureate class – is noted for his efforts in growing the Alumni Association. He also directed Tech's alumni and job placement offices, student recruiting and campus workshops. Gladys, a 1935 graduate, ran Tech's cafeteria for many years as head dietitian.
The Crawford Alumni Center is housed in the Tennessee Tech Varsity Building on the corner of 7th St. and Dixie Ave. The Center manages alumni engagement, annual giving and stewardship efforts for the university and is the main point of contact for the Tennessee Tech Alumni Association.
Though nearly half a century has passed since the Crawford's service to Tech, alumni still remember them with fondness. Leonard and Gladys Crawford were leaders in both school spirit and campus life – and that's a role the Crawford Alumni Center strives to fulfill today with the experiences they offer to alumni and friends of Tech.
www.tntech.edu/univadv/cac/crawford_about.php
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/
You can find a large number of full-resolution photos under a Creative Commons license on my official website: nenadstojkovicart.com/albums
I hope that all of my American friends had a wonderful 4th of July yesterday ... full of fireworks, cook-outs, and reflections as to what the holiday is actually celebrating ... that is, our independence. For me, I had a strangely quiet day, but in one regard it was quite exciting.
Going on the theme of gaining independence, I have a special announcement to make. Ready?
I have officially "quit my day job!" In a strange, but fortunate chain of events, 4 months ago, the company I worked for went through a re-structuring and my position was one of 25% that were eliminated. Now, while many would have been (and were) devastated, the truth is that my plans for retirement (15 years for that company already under my belt) were already in the works. See, Tom has been retired for 5 years already and had been quite patient with me as I mentally prepared myself for this monumental decision. I'm quite excited, as Tom is as well.
What will I be doing? Well, that still remains a mystery. Obviously, I plan on continuing my photography pursuit, stepping it up too, as I will have more time to do so. Travel is high on my list as well. I'm actually taking recommendations for places to go and see. LOL... seriously! Spending more time with my family and friends, as well as my cats Malarky & Buffy, is also important and will be high on my list. Oh, and there's just over 6 weeks until Alaska! I wonder if it will feel different. :-)
I've worked hard all of my life in my nutrition profession (yes, I'm first and foremost a Registered Dietitian) and also while working as a Pediatric Nutrition Medical Sales Rep. I do miss my co-workers, colleagues, and physicians, NPs, PAs, and the other allied health professionals that I called upon. But it's all good. Some of my friends ask if I'll be bored. Strange question to me actually, as I can't imagine how I could with so much to do and see. I'm sure that those of you who are already retired can totally relate to that. :-)
I have always believed that things happen for a reason ... and in this case it couldn't be more true. I also believe that when one door closes, another opens. I have a feeling that many will open as I pursue my true passion ... Nature, Wildlife, Adventure, & Photography. Get ready for me Tom ... maybe I'll even carry my own stuff :-).
Wishing everyone a wonderful rest of the weekend! Thanks for stopping by to view and especially for sharing your thoughts and comments.
@ 2015 Debbie Tubridy / TNWA Photography
This picture is #9 in the 100 Strangers Project - Round 2
Meet Danielle.
I met Danielle quite by chance during a lunch break a few weeks back (am quite delayed on my uploads). I had no plans of any pictures as I stepped out to pick sushi but carried my camera more by habit.
But when I saw this young lady finishing up a lunch with another lady for companion (who I presumed was her friend) I couldn't resist. Approaching them and excusing myself for interrupting their lunch I made my request, and the Danielle was quite willing to participate. I just walked around a few steps to find a decent location and was joined by Danielle and her companion Noella - they indicated they were not in any real rush so we had a few minutes to try out stuff. I request Noella to help with the reflector and she was pretty happy to. Danielle's strong features including her beautiful eyes, fabulous curly hair and a very cheerful happy smile were the the reason she grabbed my attention. It was pretty fun to do these pictures with her as she was open to trying few poses with a lot of confidence as well as chat about herself. Danielle is half African (mom is from Central Africa) and half Caucasian. She works at Bed Bath as a receiving assistant. She is also studying Life Sciences at the Montgomery College, and eventually hopes to becomes dietitian. She considered herself pretty boring as far as hobbies are concerned but enjoys animation and video games. One thing she would like to see is more empathy in people - a wonderful sentiment indeed.
Also on a side note turns out Noela who I had assumed to be Danielle's friend was actually her mother - so it was actually pretty cool to have this fun encounter chatting with these two.
Usually i would have preferred a straight gaze picture for the project. But am going with this one despite the eyes closed just because it was a spontaneous moment where Danielle just expressed how she felt. This pic in a way makes me smile when I look at it with its happy relaxed vibe.
It was wonderful meeting you Danielle and your mom. Hope you like your pictures and if you would like a copy please drop me a note. Wish you all the very best
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page
For my other pictures on this project: 100 Strangers - Round 2.
For pictures from my prior attempt at 100 Strangers: 100 Strangers - Round 1.
never needed someone, so bad in my life.
someone from England adopt me, please.
we have the most beautiful sunsets where i live!
okay, i like this one a lot better!
ill probably delete the other later!
1/52
november 6-12
okay I'm starting a 52 week project today, really hoping I'll be able to complete, I'm determined and inspired :)
---------------------------------------
okay thought of a good idea, along with each week on my 52 weeks, I'll do a tag, so those following can get to know me better :)
this weeks tag-
Name: Meaghan Murphy
Age: 16
Languages: English and a bit of French.
Favourite Color: Teal.
Sexual Orientation: Straight.
Career Aspiration: Dietitian, or a personal trainer. Something to do with fitness.
What are your passions?: Running, Photography, anything to do with health/fitness and One Direction [fan girl over here]
Hobbies: Running, Photography, Reading, Fan girling over One Direction.
Goals in life: Run a Marathon, Fall in love (Niall Horan would be perfect for that) Get married, have children.
Favourite book(s): All Harry Potters, Winter Girls, Perks of Being a Wallflower,Before I Fall, to many to count!
Favourite movie: Home Alone, All Harry Potters, Paranormal Activity 1-3, 127 Hours, anything scary really.
Favourite animal: Dog, I guess (cliche)
Favourite song: What Makes You Beautiful, How to Save a Life, Sweetest Girl, Iris, The A
Team.
You watch: Big Brother, LOST, Criminal Minds, Modern Family.
One random fact about you: I'm a dreamer.
One thing you wish you could change about the world: NO Gobal Warming :(
ALSO IF YOU WANT TO DO THIS TAG GO AHEAD, YOU ACN SAY I TAGGED YOU :)
Blog here www.ilovesimplicity.com
These hands are all over my body and they've been trying to pull me down.
Money, money, money.......
I’ve been trying to save money, it’s been weeks and two pay days have passed... I haven’t saved enough. I could've asked dad or mom but it felt unfair to spend someone else's money for my wants.
I went to hidalgo twice already, hoping for a good deal, but I couldn’t convince myself to go for a third party flash especially I do not know much about the “this and that” of a good one. And not to mention i need a diffuser, trigger, and a lot more.
A friend of mine found a piece of paper the other day like it was sent from above. It said: eat one orange for breakfast, a SMALL slice of chicken with two tomatoes for lunch, and A piece of root crop for dinner AND, the paper also said no snacks.
She called her diet a necessity. Our dietitian called it a crash diet. I gave her a gun.
41/365
Doka Estate Coffee has a small section growing other food bearing plants like these banana.
BANANAS IN COSTA RICA:
20 Mar 2014
Fresh Plaza - Global Fresh Produce and Banana News:
Jorge Arturo Sauma Aguilar, manager of CORBANA
Costa Rican bananas competing in a saturated world market:
Although more famous for its pineapples, Costa Rica devotes around 44,000 hectares to the cultivation of bananas; less than 1% of the country's territory. 48% of the business is in the hands of small producers and the rest in those of companies such as Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte.
Costa Rica's most common bananas are the Gran Enano Valery and the famous Cavendish, "which is considered the world's best banana," says Jorge Arturo Sauma Aguilar, manager of CORBANA.
The banana market is becoming increasingly saturated:
"Banana production has expanded without control in recent years and this is leading to an increasingly more saturated market. Considering the market's global status, all producing countries should hold off a little if they wish to continue making a profit. First it was Ecuador, now also the Philippines, Guatemala or Cameroon, whose produce stands at considerably lower prices," he explains.
"The wages of a Costa Rican labourer are not the same as those of an African or Filipino and we cannot compete with that. That is why we need to do as much as possible to let consumers know about the value added by ethical social and environmental policies. We are currently working with the EU for the designation of a Protected Geographical Indication to Costa Rica's bananas."
The European Union and the United States are the two largest markets for Costa Rica's bananas, and Sauma Aguilar believes that, despite the oversupply, there is still room for growth.
"I think we can still grow in the North American market, and our supply volumes to some EU countries could also increase. We are also really interested in entering markets in the Middle East, like Dubai or Saudi Arabia, where healthy eating habits are being strongly promoted by their governments."
Race 4 Fusarium: the greatest threat to Costa Rican bananas
Competition with other countries is not the only obstacle for Costa Rica's banana sector. "The greatest threat to our produce is the Race 4 Fusarium virus, which has yet to affect us, but if it did, it would cause incalculable losses.
At the latest congress organised by Corbana we recognised it as a real threat, and we determined that a joint effort from all Latin American nations, as well as the exporting countries, is required to prevent such threats."
Fairtrade and organic in Costa Rica:
Even though not many Costa Rican companies are Fairtrade certified, Sauma Aguilar believes that Corbana is fundamentally a Fairtrade producer, as "great efforts are carried out for the protection of the environment, with assistance from the Environmental Banana Commission (CAB), and for improvements to be made to the labourers' social structure. There is still a lot of work to do, but most of our producers are certified by Global Gap, ISO 14001 or Rainforest Alliance."
Regarding the organic market, "it is harder to grow organic bananas in Costa Rica than in other places like Piura, in Peru. Temperatures are very high here and we need some phytosanitary control mechanisms."
All three forms of trade likely to prevail:
In what concerns banana trade, Sauma Aguilar believes that, despite the latest trend among large supermarket chains, like Walmart and Tesco, of working directly with producers, the other two forms of trade are also likely to prevail.
"I think that there will still be producers working through large distributors, as well as others exporting the fruit themselves. All trading forms are acceptable as long as growers are able to make a profit."
About CORBANA:
The National Banana Corporation (CORBANA) is a non-state, public entity, founded with the goal of promoting research in Costa Rica's banana industry and improving the situation for producers. "The Costa Rican government hands over all research and technological transfer issues to CORBANA. We also offer assessment to the government in matters of trade and treaty development, such as the latest one signed with the European Union," concludes Sauma Aguilar.
BANANAS - GOOD or BAD??
by Amy Margulies, lead registered dietitian for Retrofit
"why-is-everyone-so-terrified-to-eat-bananas-a-dietitian-peels-back-the-truth":
You’ve probably heard people talking, or read articles online, about why eating bananas is bad for you nutritionally and can impede weight loss. While some people insist that bananas are just fine, others are convinced this is a fruit you should stay away from if you’re trying to lose weight – and many do, just in case the rumors are true. But what’s the real deal with bananas? It’s time to peel open this myth.
What the critics are saying
The controversy started with Dr. Susanna Holt, an Australian researcher who developed the Satiety Index, a way to evaluate how full different foods make you feel. “We found that bananas are much less satisfying than oranges or apples,” Holt stated at the conclusion of the satiety study.
Bananas are generally higher in calories from carbs than most fruits. So for those who are counting calories, this may seem like a poor choice for a snack. People have also observed that bananas cause a “binding” effect, or put more simply, they cause constipation. That’s something you don’t want when you look to the scale for signs of progress.
Another side to the story
While the above claims may be true, there are more positive attributes to eating bananas. It turns out that they also contain resistant starch, a dietary fiber that the body can’t actually absorb. As a result, you feel full without absorbing additional weight in the long term. What’s more, according to Dr. Janine Higgins at the Colorado Clinical and Transitional Sciences Institute, research indicates that resistant starch can increase the rate of fat burning your body does after a meal.
Combined with potassium and other vitamins and minerals that occur naturally in bananas, there are some serious benefits that the banana-mashers tend to ignore. It’s no surprise we see stories from people like Loni Jane, who lost weight and improved her health significantly when she made bananas a major part of her diet.
What’s your take?
Some people will always believe the hype, despite the facts. But the truth is that the science is in favor of bananas being part of a healthy, weight-loss friendly diet. To get the most benefit, eat bananas that are still a little bit green – that’s when there’s more resistant starch. As a banana ripens, the starch breaks down and becomes less resistant to absorption.
We’re not recommending that you eat 10 bananas a day like Loni Jane, but eating them in moderation as part of a weight loss diet and active lifestyle will bring you nothing but positive benefits – so peel away!
Also Read:
Read more at www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/07/why-is-everyone-so-t...
We just spent the week in the lap of medical luxury, surrounded by nurses, physicians, residents, dietitians, technicians, aides with every conceivable purpose to ensure my husband was making progress toward his return to robust health. If you saw my last posting you know how much we appreciated all this.
This morning I glanced out the window and watched a squirrel on our side deck (if you know me, you know I didn't shoot this ... it's a Getty photo) and my mind began to blend images of the week we just spent at the hospital and this sweet angel out in the freezing cold on my deck. I thought: what if her body is being chewed up by Cancer, what if next week, she'll succumb -- outside -- alone -- in the winter cold.
What can we do? Not much, I imagine, but we could consider that pesticides are probably a factor. We could also take a quick moment to be nice to wild animals. If they're going to die painfully and alone maybe we can try to help them enjoy their lives once in a while by making things a little easier for them.
www.livescience.com/9680-cancer-kills-wild-animals.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why Veganism:
Macro Mondays Fav T.V.
He gave up the job of car air freshener dispenser a long time ago but remains a dash board icon. As well as my dietitian, hair stylist, guru and philosopher. I refuse to wear the blue slacks.
HMM
Mary Shomette Gooch - Amorous Dietitian
Newsstand Library U171, 1961
Cover Artist: Robert Bonfils
"The hungry search that men make for a woman. The hungry search that women make for a man. The tasting, trying, discarding, lonely search. Nurses, doctors, dietitians, everybody searches."
Mary Shomette Gooch - Amorous Dietitian
Newsstand Library U171, 1961
Cover Artist: Robert Bonfils
"The hungry search that men make for a woman. The hungry search that women make for a man. The tasting, trying, discarding, lonely search. Nurses, doctors, dietitians, everybody searches."
Visit my blog for more : www.nutriflavours.blogspot.gr
#mushrooms #nutritious #dietistjavisst #dietist #dietitian #nutritionists #fitness #paleo #healthylifestyle #healthyfoodideas #fitfam #healthyeating #foodporn #foodie #workout
Summary of 2021
By Andrew Karagianis
Flickr version
If 2020 was a year of fear and panic, 2021 was a year of frustration. However, it wasn’t all bad.
Let’s get the COVID stuff out of the way first. People are still wearing masks below their noses, as though their nose and lungs aren’t connected – probably the same reason why it’s fine to breathe through your nose underwater as long as your mouth is closed.
Wait, what?
People are still socializing indoors with people who don’t live with them, without masks on, even though we know that the virus is airborne, not just spread via droplets. The government still hasn’t made a blanket travel ban or gone into another long-enough lockdown, because it values jobs over lives. And as I’ve realized more recently, mask mandates as they currently exist aren’t as helpful as they could be, because masks are not one-size-fits-all. I have yet to find a mask that doesn’t leave gaps – and the big honking industrial respirator I have that would offer the best protection isn’t allowed in a lot of settings because it has a valve that lets breath out.
And so here we are, with COVID cases skyrocketing like we’ve never seen before during the past few weeks due to this Omicron variant. The pandemic is nowhere near over, and our freedom to socialize like it’s 2019 without that nagging concern of “Am I going to be exposed to COVID by doing this?” is not on the horizon. Even the Q-anon confidiocy (confederacy + idiocy), who believe the world is out to get them, know deep down that maybe those large gatherings are risky for them personally. Vaccines prevent severe disease, but they don’t prevent infection, and that has been my justification for not seeing friends or family in person very much this year – because no level of face-to-face fun is worth finding out a few days later that someone’s been exposed to COVID.
But we’ve all spent enough time reading about the pandemic, so here’s how the rest of my year went. This year I’m going to separate the months by headers.
There were eight main events in 2021 that made it a significant year for me, which I will highlight as they come up in the chronology.
January:
Ally and I rang in the new year at home. Toronto was [still] on lockdown. We watched two episodes of Schitt’s Creek, and read our books.
In the first half of January, the provincial government announced a stay-at-home order effective January 14th, for everyone who could stay home. On January 14th, I got the word from my employer that I should try to work from home as much as possible. I texted our landlord, and he agreed to let me use NathAnne’s old apartment as a work space temporarily. On January 15th, I started working from home.
February:
February was cold.
I got my second FitBit – a Charge 4. I also started my GAIN Q3 training. As of December 24th, I still haven’t finished it due to lack of opportunities to do my practice interviews.
Also in February, my stocks on the investing app reached their peak. From that point on, my portfolio gradually decreased in value until July, when I reached the “break-even” point and sold it all off. Then I bought back a few shares in one company that consistently did well, and as of the end of 2021, I’m up about $70. Small gains as far as experienced investors are concerned, but it’s better than being in the hole!
March:
The first of the eight main events that influenced my experience of 2021 was that on March 20th, I got my first dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID vaccine. Let me just say how amazing that is. Humans had never developed a coronavirus vaccine until 2020, and now, a little over a year into the pandemic, I’d been given one.
Unfortunately over the course of the year, we would come to realize that vaccinated people can still be infected and even hospitalized in some cases, so it’s not perfect, but I am certain that mass vaccination has prevented lots of deaths. When I wrote my summary of 2020, 4.9 million people had received one dose of the vaccine. As of December 22nd, 2021, 4.49 billion people have had at least one dose of the vaccine. So that’s great progress.
But more needs to be done to get vaccines to less-wealthy countries where the vaccination rates are much lower than they are here. Why? Not just to save their lives; that’s the moral argument, and I’m fine with that. But also because most of the variants of concern have come from less-wealthy countries. And unless air travel completely stops, those variants will all come to Toronto soon after they’re discovered. Oops; I got to talking about COVID again! Well, of course I am; this is the biggest thing since World War Two.
Anyway, also in March, Ally embarked on a mini-project to document the rivers buried underneath our neighborhood in Leslieville, and I meanwhile took pictures of the date stamps of some of the manhole covers and sidewalks to see how old they were. One was from 1929! Damn, we’re just fascinating, aren’t we?
Also in March, Terrance (our parrot) started having problems with what seemed to be his breathing. We took him to a few vets over what I think were several days… I remember Ally being out with him to the vet once while I was working from home, and looking at his empty cage and getting teary-eyed at the thought of Terrance dying. Fortunately, after a few weeks of medication, he was back to normal. Now he’s 16 years old!
The second (and most significant) event of 2021 for me (at least until November) was that on March 24th, I got a bloodtest, and stupidly looked up my results online that night. It’s not a death sentence, but it fucking might as well have been in my mind, for the first few weeks as I tried to make sense of it. It said my fasting blood glucose was 6.5, and the report said that it indicates prediabetes. Great, thought I – I’m destined to have a disease in which a) I can’t have sugar ever again, and b) I have to prick my needle-phobic skin every day. All of those trips to Bulk Barn in which I bought $30 worth of chocolate at a time had caught up with me, not as an overweight 60-something, but as a slim 35-year-old.
I didn’t hear from my doctor for close to a month though, and no news is good news when it comes to medical things, but I immediately stopped eating cookies and started looking into the glycemic index and figuring out what life-long staple foods I wouldn’t be able to eat anymore, and what I’d be left with.
April:
After I made an unrelated doctor’s appointment in April, the substitute doctor confirmed that I do tentatively have prediabetes. They would test me again in August, but in the meantime, the substitute doctor suggested I start talking to a dietitian, so I did. I woefully overhauled my entire diet over the spring. Gone were:
• Gigantic bowls of cereal – my first love and a daily staple for as long as I can remember.
• Cookies – I probably ate a few hundred calories’ worth of cookies on most days.
• Normal pasta (as opposed to whole wheat).
• Pizza
• Chocolate
• Pop
• White bread products (even though I’d already switched to whole grain bread for sandwiches a few years ago, despite being on my Hate List from 2010).
Needless to say, I started losing weight, and not because I wanted to. These foods constituted the majority of my diet. My Zoo friends circa 2008 were right – those foods I was eating every day back then (white bread, honey buns, pop, etc.) were bad for me. I knew at the time that they were probably right, and my teeth had been showing evidence ever since I was a kid, but since I never got fat, I just assumed this would happen to me much later in life.
I replaced my beloved boxed cereals with porridge; started eating junk chick peas (dried flavoured chickpea snacks), seeds, nuts, and yogurt, and made sure to include protein or “healthy fat” with every carb-based snack or meal. I had to do whatever I could to avoid getting the daily needle prick disease that also happens to have some other shitty effects.
I also started jogging [again] that spring. Let’s be clear – I’ve been pretty sedentary my whole life, with some bouts of medium-term exercise in between. I’d only jogged a few times, but I got into the habit of going out for a power walk or jog before working from home on weekday mornings, and eventually got to the point of being able to jog 0.975km without stopping, once. Unfortunately, I actually got worse at jogging as the year went on, and I’m not exactly sure why, but I think it might have to do with a) the summer humidity, and b) the mostly-downhill route I was taking around Greenwood Park in the spring.
On April 4th, I bought a Canon EOS IX Lite on eBay for $46 – an APS film SLR! I hadn’t really considered that APS film could be had with SLR technology until more recently, so I figured I could get some great film shots with it in combination with whatever lenses I had that would fit it. Two of them fit, but malheureusement, the pictures were grainier than the ones I took with the Kodak Advantix T500 point-and-shoot camera. Given that APS film is such a rarity, I’ve only used one roll in the EOS IX Lite because the T500 produces better-quality pics, but it could also have been related to the roll of film itself…anyway, it was neat to try, and I’ll try it again.
On April 24th, I’d lived in Ontario for 17 years.
On April 25th, Ally & I gave the landlord our notice to move out. After 7.5 years, we decided it was time to leave, as the stench of pot smoke from the basement tenants in the shared ventilation system was pissing us off, and the landlord had recently told us he was considering selling the house. We needed the guarantee of a second room for a private work-from-home space…and I knew that once a new landlord took over the house, I’d be kicked out of the second-floor apartment in short order. I was upset the whole weekend and cried about it three times that Sunday (yeah, that’s right; normalize men expressing emotions) while Ally was downstairs working.
I had gotten attached to the house, the view of the jungle (as I called it) out the third-floor windows, and the neighborhood itself, down to the routes I walked so often along the main roads for shopping or eating; TTC/walking commuting routes while working at Good Shepherd, and along the side streets that we’d wander on evening walks. We’d arranged a network of local services for us in that area over the years. But as I said to Ally, we had done that neighborhood to death. Our neighbors were dicks, and I was intellectually okay to live somewhere else even if I emotionally didn’t want to. We started looking for new apartments right away, and saw one that night. Whether virtually or in person, we saw 8 apartments within 7 days of giving our notice.
May:
On May 1st, Ally got her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and then we saw and put a deposit down for a two-bedroom apartment in Etobicoke.
Over the next few weeks, we filled my car full of boxes and other stuff and made at least 8 runs over to the new place in advance of the big moving day. We were lucky in that the landlady gave us a key a month before we moved in.
Around May 25th, I went to Mom’s house and she gave me a Kodak Retinette film camera that had belonged to Gramp, and was made between 1954 and 1958 – my fourth film camera, but the first that uses 35mm film! As of January 1st, 2022, I still haven’t used it though.
At the end of May, I created a 2021 version of my Hate List, and promptly forgot about it. Although there are still a lot of things that grind my gears, I’m a lot less focused on resentments than I was back in 2010 when I wrote the original Hate List. Also, before you make a comment about the existence of a hate list in the first place, you need to see what was on it. It doesn’t target things that people are born with.
June:
On Saturday June 5th, we moved to our new apartment. This was the culmination of the third big event that shaped my 2021. After 7 years, 7 months, and 22 days, it was time to leave the *****Haus (a name we didn’t use until the very end, when we needed a name to refer to it as part of our history). It was the last time I’d hear the roar of the GO train or the screeching from the subway yard in the background, or the chirping birds in the tree canopy outside our windows. We loaded up my car and took Terrance over to the new apartment, set him up, then drove back to the house one last time to meet the movers. We were 35 this time and decided to get someone else to do the heavy lifting down two narrow stairways and around tight corners.
It was insane how much stuff we had, even in this bigger new apartment. But eventually we sorted it out while listening to Elton John and George Harrison on Ally’s Spotify, and made it liveable. We ate Indian food and ice cream, and rejoiced about never having to see our old neighbors again.
Within two days of moving in, I found a new spot for taking pictures. I wanted to retain the habit of going for almost-daily walks, so I familiarized myself with the local streets pretty quickly.
On June 16th, I got my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
I spent most of my non-work time in the summer walking and riding my bike around our new neighborhood, which was more bike-friendly than the old one (Leslieville), even if the biking culture is different here. Less hipsters and more Lance Armstrong types, but at least the cycling infrastructure is better here. We rode to Tom Petty (Sam Smith) Park and east along the Martin Goodman Trail several times, and got to know that easterly trail route pretty well. Don’t get me wrong; Leslieville had some recreational trails nearby, but they were a lot farther away. Now the physically-protected bike trails are much closer.
During the first couple of months in our new home, we spent a lot of evenings sitting on the front porch, reading books or eating supper. It was just nice to be able to sit outside on one’s own property (even though we’re tenants) – for the previous 7.5 years, if we wanted to sit outside, free of judgement, we had to go to the park. As the summer went on, we spent less time on the front porch and more time in the back yard. This probably coincided with the upstairs tenants moving out in July; that apartment being vacant for a month, and new tenants moving in in August.
July:
On July 3rd, I got the Strava app as a way to map my bike rides. I also set up my drums in the new apartment in July; having thought I probably wouldn’t be able to in the new place since there were actually other tenants in the adjacent units here (we lived with two empty apartments between us and the basement tenants for almost four years at the *****Haus, so drumming there was never much of a concern).
August:
On August 1st, we headed to Emily Provincial Park for our second camping adventure together, which brings us to the fourth event that made 2021 significant for me – 2021 was the year of camping for us. It was the first year since 2014 that I didn’t leave the province, but camping was accessible enough for us to go a few times. We paddled along the Pigeon River, did some fishing and drone flying (outside of the park; I’m no scofflaw), and choked on the thick 24-hour campfire smoke – clearly some of the other campers didn’t get the memo that you don’t burn a campfire all day during the summer. But it was a nice trip overall.
After camping, I was brought back to working from the office more often, which increased further in September. I was on the fence about it. Working from office mixed up my day a bit, in that it gave me more variety, but it also gave me less time to exercise for diabetes prevention, not to mention putting 70km on my car per day. Which is still an improvement over the 98km per day I was doing when I lived at the *****Haus, but anyway.
In August I finally finished posting my honeymoon pictures on Flickr. It took me two and a half years. I was sad to finish that project, because I got to revisit bits and pieces of my honeymoon frequently over two and a half years. Travel for me is a very nostalgic thing, because although I may only spend a handful of days in a new place, I spend months or years posting pictures from it, so really, the trip feels a lot longer to me, which I like.
September:
In September, I started posting my Europe 2020 pictures, skipping over my trips from 2018 and 2019 in favor of the more-timely contrast of my Europe pictures, because they were taken just days before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.
September was eventful. Ally bought a car around September 8th. I bought a JBL Bluetooth speaker, since the new apartment has these things called “rooms”, in which sound from my computer doesn’t carry as far. It arrived just in time for me to stream some of the ceremonies for the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
It’s hard to believe 9/11 was 20 years ago, and that there are adults today who hadn’t been born yet on 9/11. But at the same time, it feels like it was 20 years ago, even though I remember images and conversations from that day like it was yesterday. I was a teenager then, just shy of my 16th birthday, living in St. John’s Newfoundland, still in high school, hopelessly single, with dreams of being a rock star (and working toward it, as only a naïve and modestly-talented teenager could). Now I’m 36, live in Toronto, married four years, and have been working as an addiction counsellor for nine years.
A few days later, I went for my follow-up bloodtest to either rule out or confirm prediabetes. Unfortunately, it was confirmed. My fasting blood glucose was actually a tiny bit worse, which was a drag because I’d been making so much effort to eat better and get more exercise during the previous six months. But my doctor told me not to be discouraged, so….we’ll see what the next test shows.
The next weekend we went camping again; this time to Point Farms Provincial Park for just one night. We concluded that we could go camping frequently if we went to relatively-nearby parks and were willing to go for just one night, to avoid the need to ask for time off work. It was a nice little journey to Lake Huron, which I had never seen (other than its offshoot, Georgian Bay). When we got back home, we decided to book another one-night camping trip.
For the federal election, I voted by mail like a communist. Just kidding; communist countries don’t have legitimate elections. We live in a democracy, but you don’t have unlimited rights to personal liberty. Canada isn’t America, and never was. Get used to it, snowflake.
On September 25th, I went for my longest-ever bike ride — 31km! My legs were shot by the end of it, but I was happy with myself.
October:
On October 2nd, we went camping for a third time; this time for a one-nighter in Algonquin Park, at the Canisbay Lake campground. Yes, one night is not much time for a trip to Algonquin, but I can’t stress how much of a pain in the ass it is to have to request time off work, especially in my job, where there are certain days each month that I can’t take off. My previous employer was very fast at approving such requests, but my current one is not. On this trip, we got rained out. But we did see a moose about 50 feet in front of us on the trail! And it was very scenic with all the deciduous tree leaves in bright fall colors.
On October 9th, I bought an iPad and put the old 2010 MacBook Pro into full retirement. It’s not dead yet, but it was time to get a device that I could consistently use to browse the internet, after the MBP kept being useless due to an erroneous clock/date error that I couldn’t fix.
On October 14th, I had my first colonoscopy. Yes, you needed to know that. This was the fifth event that made 2021 significant for me. The prep actually wasn’t too bad. I hardly felt hungry on the all-liquid diet the day before. But I opted to do the procedure without sedation, because being put to sleep is my second biggest fear (behind death itself). Let me just say that if you haven’t had a colonoscopy before…when it’s time, get the sedation. It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life, like someone jabbing my stomach from the inside with a baseball bat. It felt like the kind of torture they might apply to extract information from an inmate at Guantanamo Bay.
But I was able to walk out of the clinic and go about my day without any assistance, so at least there was that!
After that, I was back to working from home 3 days a week, which I was fine with and which continued for most weeks until the end of the year.
If there was a theme to October itself, it was Ally’s mural project. We spent every weekend in October (except the camping weekend) plus a few weekday evenings painting a whale mural on a garage door near the Junction. A woman had seen Ally’s Bell Box mural from 2019 and commissioned a similar design. It was a nice way to spend time together, in spite of the alleyway channeling the cold wind like it was the Scarborough Town Centre bus terminal. If you look at the photo of the mural above, @creating_to_be_whole is Ally’s Instagram account.
November:
Ally and I got our flu shots on November 2nd. Never before had I been so gung-ho to get a flu shot.
On November 6th, a day that will live in infamy, I went to Mom’s house for a masked visit. We took Penny for a walk to Centennial Park and talked about prediabetes, and then went back and talked about various things in her living room. Elliot came over and joined the conversation. Then I drove home and got stuck in traffic on Lake Shore Blvd at Cherry Street, as they had demolished the onramp to the Gardiner near Logan Ave in September, and Lake Shore was down from three lanes to one, without sufficient signage. When I got home and parked in the driveway, I took a picture from inside my car of a person riding by on a bicycle with the sunset in the background, not knowing it was the last picture I would take before my world changed. I was going to go inside and tell Ally that I got stuck in traffic, which is why I took so long getting home.
Ally was standing in the kitchen, and she told me “I think I’m pregnant!”
Holy fuck!
* * * * *
This was the sixth event that made 2021 significant for me, and turned everything else on its head. For the first several days, I was pretty concerned. We’re doing okay, but we aren’t part of the wealthy Toronto homeowner class. How am I going to be able to afford a kid?!?
We both asked a lot of questions of ourselves and each other, but by the second half of November, we eventually settled on “If we have this opportunity to have a kid and we decide not to, we would probably regret it in the long run.”
So, most of November was spent deliberating about what we were going to do, all while not allowing ourselves to get advice from anyone else because we didn’t want to tell anyone else (other than Ally’s doctor) quite yet.
December:
On December 5th, we told our parents. They were over the moon!
I had the weeks of December 13th and 20th off work, so I recorded a bit of music and did some more walking, which was limited by the prevalence of ice on the sidewalks earlier in the month.
On December 16th, I went with Ally to get her second ultrasound. I heard the baby’s heartbeat and we got a printed picture, in which it definitely looked like a baby this time.
We went up to Dad’s house for a pre-Christmas visit on December 19th, knowing that we probably wouldn’t visit on Christmas Day now. I booked my COVID booster shot for February 1st once the government released the hounds, I mean appointments. Then I got word of another place with earlier appointments and I booked one for January 15th, and later found an even earlier appointment for December 30th. In fact, if there was a seventh theme for 2021 for me, it was the year of needles, which is significant because I fucking hate needles as I mentioned earlier:
• On March 20th I got my first dose of the COVID vaccine (Pfizer).
• On March 24th I got bloodwork.
• On June 16th I got my second dose of the COVID vaccine (Pfizer).
• On September 13th I got bloodwork.
• On October 14th I got two finger pricks to test my blood sugar before and after the colonoscopy (thankfully those were only 5.6, but I had been on a liquid diet).
• On November 2nd I got my flu shot.
• On December 22nd I got my tetanus/pertussis/diphtheria booster shot.
• And on December 30th I got third dose of the COVID vaccine; Moderna this time.
The Omicron variant had made its way to Ontario by early December, and by December 23rd the daily count of new COVID cases had broken the record set in April; over 5,000 (on December 31st, it was 16,713 cases). We decided that week that we were not going anywhere for Christmas this year. Not worth the risk.
On Christmas Day, Ally and I had a leisurely morning and opened our presents around 11:00am. We went for an afternoon walk, FaceTimed with my family who were at Dad’s house in the afternoon, and ate leftover lasagna for supper. A very low-risk Christmas for us. On Boxing Day, we took and posted a picture of us with the second ultrasound picture of our future child and Terrance photoshopped onto my shoulder. The likes and comments started pouring in! A lot of people were happy for us! Later that day, Ally recorded vocals and I recorded an intro guitar part for “Mr. Tambourine Man”, finishing our rendition of The Byrds’ version of the Bob Dylan classic.
Indeed, if there was an eighth theme of 2021 for me, it’s that I recorded more music in 2021 than in any previous year (except 2011, when I made more recordings of Adam & Evil songs). I also sang on at least three of them, which is a big step for me. I collaborated with Ally, Dad, Terrance, and the ambient sounds of Leslieville on some tracks, and made 48 recordings overall in 2021 (although I’m counting unfinished versions).
I did very little painting in 2021; just a couple of cards I think, but I did buy Procreate (how fitting, amirite) for iPad in December.
I was more active on Flickr in 2021. I posted 211 photos/videos in 2021, whereas I posted 103 in 2020, and only 62 in 2019 for comparison.
TV shows gotten into/watched/finished:
• The Beatles Get Back
• That’s it! With no Mandalorian or The Crown until 2022, 2021 was a minimal year for TV.
Memes/Instagram accounts I liked:
• Anakin and Padme in a field – so many possibilities!
• Middle Class Fancy/Rand & Nance - #relatable as a middle-class person.
• Townie Memes – this reminds me of my homeland.
• BlahTO – a spot-on satire of BlogTO.
• Jenny-Jinya – this account is a tear-jerker if you have pets.
Books read:
1. Finished A Promised Land by Barack Obama
2. Tried reading The Bedside Book of Birds by Graeme Gibson, but it involved a lot of bird abuse stories.
3. Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld
4. Face The Music: A Life Exposed by Paul Stanley
5. A Journey Across the Island of Newfoundland in 1822 By W. E. Cormack
6. The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King
7. Almost Feral by Gemma Hickey
8. Son of a Critch by Mark Critch
9. Started Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
10. Started You’re going to be a dad!
A few songs I got into:
• “Two of Us” and “Don’t Let Me Down” by The Beatles
• “Saving Ourselves for Marriage” by Anal Cunt
• “Tomorrow” and “Under The Gun” by KISS
• “Living in Lightning” by City and Colour
I haven’t seen a movie in a theater since “The Rise of Skywalker” in 2019. I haven’t been to an indoor family meal since Christmas 2019. I haven’t eaten in a restaurant since March of 2020. Lots of people have taken a different approach, but this approach is what’s worked for me so far. We will get through this pandemic…remember, this isn’t just a hard year – as I said above, this is the biggest event to strike humanity since World War Two. Of course it’s hard. Of course we’re fed up with it. I’ve been lucky since my job is protected as being essential, and so I haven’t been on the rollercoaster of open/close, income/no income that some of you have experienced. I’ve also been lucky in that while I’m an essential worker, I’m not required to work with people who are known to have COVID, like hospital workers are. Those are the people I feel for. For them, this might as well be World War Three.
But clearly the virus isn’t done with us yet. No one person has the power to stop it, but collective action goes a long way.
Hang in there, and thanks for reading! Happy New Year!
Sources:
ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-covid19-canada-world-de...
On the front line against malaria: Army medical researchers in Kenya mark World Malaria Day 2010
U.S. Army photo by Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa Public Affairs
KISUMU, Kenya – Hundreds of local people gathered Sunday at Kit Mikayi primary school to mark World Malaria Day 2010 with educational skits, songs and dance.
Among them was Lt. Col. Maria Bovill, director of U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s Kombewa Clinical Research Center – where research into the world’s first phase three clinical trial of a malaria vaccine is underway.
The daylong event offered a great opportunity for the people to share information about the advances of malaria research and reiterate prevention measures with the community, Bovill said.
“This is important for the community where we work, to recognize the advancements in malaria research and prevention,” Bovill said. “I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Crowds danced on the school’s soccer field to live music performed by local musicians who tailored their lyrics to the day’s message – wiping out malaria in Africa. People presented skits to dispel malaria myths and stress preventative measures. Screenings for malaria and HIV were available, as were immunizations and pharmacy prescriptions.
“We all hope that one day this disease will no longer be a reality of everyday life for so many people,” Bovill said, during her remarks at the event.
In the U.S., malaria campaigns over the weekend ranged from photo exhibits to baseball stadiums. In several cities, people slept outside under mosquito nets to raise awareness. Media events were held in Europe, Asia and Africa.
But the front line in the fight against malaria is arguably near Kisumu, along the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya’s Nyanza province. Home to the Luo people, the area is where President Barack Obama’s father came from. Some of Obama’s paternal family still lives nearby. The World Malaria Day event took place a stone’s throw from Kit-Mikayi, a 70-foot tall rock formation sacred to the Luo people.
“We took time to come here today to show our local community that we are dedicated, to be here with them and recognize the fight against malaria,” said Agnes Onyango, who works alongside Bovill at the Kombewa Clinical Research Center. “We let people know that adding vaccine trials to other efforts can work, so malaria stops killing the innocent.”
In a statement released Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched a new six-year strategy to combat malaria. The goal is to cut malaria illnesses and deaths by 50 percent in most affected countries of sub-Saharan Africa by 2014.
U.S. Army medical researchers have been combating disease in East Africa for more than four decades. In 1969, Kenya invited the U.S. Army to study trypanosomiasis, a parasitic disease transmitted by the tsetse fly. In 1973, the unit was permanently established in Nairobi, working through an agreement with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
USAMRU-K has a staff of 12 U.S. Army Soldiers, two Army civilians and over 500 Kenyan contractors – a mix of doctors, nurses, scientists, laboratory technicians and administrative staff who work together to research, test and prevent disease. They collaborate with Kenyan health officials, U.S. civilian and military organizations, private companies and universities, plus nongovernmental organizations and non-profit foundations.
With the establishment of U.S. Army Africa, USAMRU-K is now coordinating its established missions with new Army initiatives on the continent. USAMRU-K, known locally as the Walter Reed Project, is named for U.S. Army Maj. Walter Reed, who in 1900 discovered mosquitoes transmit yellow fever. Now, USAMRU-K efforts are focused on malaria – another disease transmitted through infected mosquitoes.
With U.S. Army Africa Soldiers and U.S. Africa Command service members performing more missions on the continent, USAMRU-K’s role in Africa serves as a model for interaction in Kenya and elsewhere. Additionally, USAMRU-K studies infectious diseases those troops will face in order to determine what force health measures to implement and subsequently, protect the Soldier.
Currently, USAMRU-K is taking part in a vaccine trial that may produce the world’s first malaria vaccine for children. Research participants receive free healthcare for the duration of the three-year study, known to researchers as MAL-55. Later this year, USAMRU-K will undertake another study to gauge the vaccine’s effectiveness specifically in HIV-infected children.
Bovill, an Army dietitian with two-decades in uniform, hails from Raceland, La., a small town roughly 60 miles southwest of New Orleans. In Aug. 2009, she became the head of USAMRU-K’s Muriithi-Wellde Clinical Research Center in Kombewa, just as MAL-55 began.
Fueled by two decades of research, MAL-55 is the first malaria vaccine trial to reach this phase of study. Once proven safe and effective, the vaccine could be marketed to others, she said. The current study is the result of a partnership that includes the nonprofit Malaria Vaccine Initiative and the pharmaceutical company Glaxo Smith Kline.
At Kombewa, 1,000 children, from five to 17 months , already take part. The next step is to find 1,000 more participants as young as six weeks. That means building trust with new mothers in rural villages, who often give birth at home, Bovill said.
“Community relations is very important,” Bovill said. “The key ingredient is our staff of 70 field workers, whom we rely upon to explain the study to local people.”
During World Malaria Day, the study’s field workers – young Kenyans who interact with potential study volunteers from the community – performed a dramatic scene and recited a poem in Luo, before declaring loudly to the disease itself that they were there to “push you out of Kenya, Africa and the whole world.”
Like most people in the community, Calvin Odhiambo, 23, has firsthand experience with the disease. That motivates him as he explains the vaccine research to others.
“Today, we celebrate efforts made together to take initiative, measures to reduce or eradicate malaria – from mosquito nets and drug tests to further vaccine research,” Odhiambo said. “The community here is very optimistic.”
Sometimes people are hard to persuade, which is the reason why public events such as World Malaria Day are so important, said Maureen Ochieng, a 25-year-old field representative who is often going door-to-door to explain the study to mothers of young children.
“To one woman I said ‘go listen to the briefing, see where you end up. She went, understood what she heard and consented. She is now a very cooperative volunteer.”
In a few months, Tom Onyano Oludhe will be a father. The 25-year-old field representative for USAMRU-K's malaria vaccine research grew up hearing of people crippled with polio, a disease he saw eliminated in his lifetime. When he is out in the community discussing the malaria study with potential participants, he often thinks about how his own child may not have to endure the effects of malaria.
“It’s satisfying to know that malaria may one day be out of the question, like measles or polio,” Oludhe said. “Even more satisfying is to know that I was a part of it and how I can tell my children that. I’m privileged. “
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
Official Vimeo video channel: www.vimeo.com/usarmyafrica
The Newark ShopRite, as well as most ShopRite stores, now have full-time dietitians on-staff. Is this something that anyone has seen in other markets?
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The 70,000 sq. ft. ShopRite of Newark, NJ opened in the fall of 2015 in Newark's Central Ward. The Springfield Marketplace shopping center is located in what used to be a dense, urban neighborhood, but which was badly burned and damaged during the 1967 Newark riots and which has struggled to come back since.
In 1990, Pathmark opened a 45,000 sq. ft. supermarket and development has slowly proceeded since then. In 1993, Newark's biggest champion, Prudential Financial partnered with Loew's Cinemas to open a movie theater; next came The Home Depot, Duane Reade, and finally, a developer announced in 2012 that they were developing a new shopping center on this long vacant lot. Walmart signed on to open here, but citing the quality of jobs Walmart would bring to the city as the reason, the proposal was rejected. ShopRite stepped in and Neil Greenstein, whose family has owned a ShopRite in neighboring Bloomfield for 3 generations, signed on to build and operate a new ShopRite store.
Today, ShopRite, along with a Pathmark-turned-Acme are the only large chain grocery stores to operate in this city of 281,000 people, though there are many smaller markets. Whole Foods will open downtown later this year.
Mural work on the Downtown Community Health Clinic (DCHC) at 569 Powell St in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
DCHC:
We provide clinic services, referral services, support groups, therapy and ambulatory nutrition care, and a full range of addiction and mental health services, which are free for those living in the Downtown Eastside and Strathcona areas.
Methadone and Suboxone are both available as opiate replacement therapies. Our team includes a podiatrist, respiratory therapist, and dietitian.
Did you know Carrboro has a fish market? Yep, for over 3 decades. They bring fresh seafood from the coast weekly and are open Thursday-Saturday. If you’re not sure what to make or how to prepare something, the staff are awesome with recommendations. As a dietitian (I know, surprised ya with my post earlier-everything in moderation), I recommend cooking up some of what TR’s procures! It’s delicious every time. #ncseafood #tomrobinsonsseafood 📷: @katesayre128 / on Instagram www.instagram.com/p/BNxLFmSBj-b/
On the front line against malaria: Army medical researchers in Kenya mark World Malaria Day 2010
By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa
KISUMU, Kenya – Hundreds of local people gathered Sunday at Kit Mikayi primary school to mark World Malaria Day 2010 with educational skits, songs and dance.
Among them was Lt. Col. Maria Bovill, director of U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s Kombewa Clinical Research Center – where research into the world’s first phase three clinical trial of a malaria vaccine is underway.
The daylong event offered a great opportunity for the people to share information about the advances of malaria research and reiterate prevention measures with the community, Bovill said.
“This is important for the community where we work, to recognize the advancements in malaria research and prevention,” Bovill said. “I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Crowds danced on the school’s soccer field to live music performed by local musicians who tailored their lyrics to the day’s message – wiping out malaria in Africa. People presented skits to dispel malaria myths and stress preventative measures. Screenings for malaria and HIV were available, as were immunizations and pharmacy prescriptions.
“We all hope that one day this disease will no longer be a reality of everyday life for so many people,” Bovill said, during her remarks at the event.
In the U.S., malaria campaigns over the weekend ranged from photo exhibits to baseball stadiums. In several cities, people slept outside under mosquito nets to raise awareness. Media events were held in Europe, Asia and Africa.
But the front line in the fight against malaria is arguably near Kisumu, along the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya’s Nyanza province. Home to the Luo people, the area is where President Barack Obama’s father came from. Some of Obama’s paternal family still lives nearby. The World Malaria Day event took place a stone’s throw from Kit-Mikayi, a 70-foot tall rock formation sacred to the Luo people.
“We took time to come here today to show our local community that we are dedicated, to be here with them and recognize the fight against malaria,” said Agnes Onyango, who works alongside Bovill at the Kombewa Clinical Research Center. “We let people know that adding vaccine trials to other efforts can work, so malaria stops killing the innocent.”
In a statement released Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched a new six-year strategy to combat malaria. The goal is to cut malaria illnesses and deaths by 50 percent in most affected countries of sub-Saharan Africa by 2014.
U.S. Army medical researchers have been combating disease in East Africa for more than four decades. In 1969, Kenya invited the U.S. Army to study trypanosomiasis, a parasitic disease transmitted by the tsetse fly. In 1973, the unit was permanently established in Nairobi, working through an agreement with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
USAMRU-K has a staff of 12 U.S. Army Soldiers, two Army civilians and over 500 Kenyan contractors – a mix of doctors, nurses, scientists, laboratory technicians and administrative staff who work together to research, test and prevent disease. They collaborate with Kenyan health officials, U.S. civilian and military organizations, private companies and universities, plus nongovernmental organizations and non-profit foundations.
With the establishment of U.S. Army Africa, USAMRU-K is now coordinating its established missions with new Army initiatives on the continent. USAMRU-K, known locally as the Walter Reed Project, is named for U.S. Army Maj. Walter Reed, who in 1900 discovered mosquitoes transmit yellow fever. Now, USAMRU-K efforts are focused on malaria – another disease transmitted through infected mosquitoes.
With U.S. Army Africa Soldiers and U.S. Africa Command service members performing more missions on the continent, USAMRU-K’s role in Africa serves as a model for interaction in Kenya and elsewhere. Additionally, USAMRU-K studies infectious diseases those troops will face in order to determine what force health measures to implement and subsequently, protect the Soldier.
Currently, USAMRU-K is taking part in a vaccine trial that may produce the world’s first malaria vaccine for children. Research participants receive free healthcare for the duration of the three-year study, known to researchers as MAL-55. Later this year, USAMRU-K will undertake another study to gauge the vaccine’s effectiveness specifically in HIV-infected children.
Bovill, an Army dietitian with two-decades in uniform, hails from Raceland, La., a small town roughly 60 miles southwest of New Orleans. In Aug. 2009, she became the head of USAMRU-K’s Muriithi-Wellde Clinical Research Center in Kombewa, just as MAL-55 began.
Fueled by two decades of research, MAL-55 is the first malaria vaccine trial to reach this phase of study. Once proven safe and effective, the vaccine could be marketed to others, she said. The current study is the result of a partnership that includes the nonprofit Malaria Vaccine Initiative and the pharmaceutical company Glaxo Smith Kline.
At Kombewa, 1,000 children, from five to 17 months , already take part. The next step is to find 1,000 more participants as young as six weeks. That means building trust with new mothers in rural villages, who often give birth at home, Bovill said.
“Community relations is very important,” Bovill said. “The key ingredient is our staff of 70 field workers, whom we rely upon to explain the study to local people.”
During World Malaria Day, the study’s field workers – young Kenyans who interact with potential study volunteers from the community – performed a dramatic scene and recited a poem in Luo, before declaring loudly to the disease itself that they were there to “push you out of Kenya, Africa and the whole world.”
Like most people in the community, Calvin Odhiambo, 23, has firsthand experience with the disease. That motivates him as he explains the vaccine research to others.
“Today, we celebrate efforts made together to take initiative, measures to reduce or eradicate malaria – from mosquito nets and drug tests to further vaccine research,” Odhiambo said. “The community here is very optimistic.”
Sometimes people are hard to persuade, which is the reason why public events such as World Malaria Day are so important, said Maureen Ochieng, a 25-year-old field representative who is often going door-to-door to explain the study to mothers of young children.
“To one woman I said ‘go listen to the briefing, see where you end up. She went, understood what she heard and consented. She is now a very cooperative volunteer.”
In a few months, Tom Onyano Oludhe will be a father. The 25-year-old field representative for USAMRU-K's malaria vaccine research grew up hearing of people crippled with polio, a disease he saw eliminated in his lifetime. When he is out in the community discussing the malaria study with potential participants, he often thinks about how his own child may not have to endure the effects of malaria.
“It’s satisfying to know that malaria may one day be out of the question, like measles or polio,” Oludhe said. “Even more satisfying is to know that I was a part of it and how I can tell my children that. I’m privileged. “
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
Official Vimeo video channel: www.vimeo.com/usarmyafrica
Amidst the growing burden of diabetes worldwide, diabetes care leader Novo Nordisk, the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital Section of Endocrine, Diabetes and Metabolism, the UST College of Education, and the Philippine Society for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (PSEDM) conducted screening activities, patient education and simulation of diabetes complications at the UST campus as part of the country’s observance of World Diabetes Day (WDD). The event themed “Reducing Risk for Diabetes, Reducing Risk for Complications” was attended by more than 150 people where the culminating activity was the formation of the World Diabetes Day Blue Circle.
Latest data from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) reveal that 415 Million people worldwide have diabetes. The IDF estimates that this figure will increase to 642 million by 2040.1
About 3.27 million people in the Philippines have diabetes, affecting one in 16 of the country’s adult population. An estimated 1.74 million Filipinos remain undiagnosed and are therefore untreated, putting them at risk for complications such as heart attack, blindness, kidney failure and loss of limbs. In 2014, over 50,000 deaths in the country were related to diabetes.
“The number of Filipinos with diabetes continues to rise. If not controlled, diabetes causes life-threatening complications. As such, we need to increase awareness on diabetes prevention, early diagnosis and optimal treatment,” said Dr. Sjoberg Kho, Chief, Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, University of Santo Tomas Hospital (USTH).
“Patient education and awareness is crucial in the prevention and optimal management of diabetes. An informed patient has a much better chance of preventing the serious complications of the disease,” said Associate Professor Cristina Sagum, Program Chair, UST College of Education, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics.
“Diabetes management requires a multi-disciplinary team consisting of endocrinologists, nurses, diabetes educators, podiatrists, nutritionists-dietitians and, most importantly, patients. Patient self-management is vital in optimal diabetes management,” said Associate Professor Zenaida Velasco, UST Department of Nutrition and Dietetics; and former Board of Director, Philippine Association of Diabetes Educators (PADE).
“The number of people living with diabetes continues to grow. Of the 415 million people with the condition, almost half do not even know they have it, putting them at risk of developing serious complications such as heart attacks, blindness, kidney failure
and loss of limbs. Novo Nordisk is committed to change diabetes and we are honored to work with our partners in celebrating World Diabetes Day in the Philippines,” said Mr. Jeppe B. Theisen, General Manager, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals Philippines, Inc (NNPPI).
“A healthy lifestyle, which includes proper diet and regular exercise, combined with optimal treatment compliance is the key to reducing the risk for serious, life-threatening complications of diabetes. Self-management as well as helping educate family members who may also be at risk is a vital role of patients,” said PSEDM President Dr. Bien Matawaran.
Held at the UST College of Education quadrangle on November 10, 2015, the World Diabetes Day activity was organized by Novo Nordisk Philippines in partnership with the USTH Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, the UST College of Education and the PSEDM. Activities included screening tests for fasting blood sugar (FBS), lectures on healthy eating and reducing risk of complications, and interactive simulation booths designed to let people “experience” the serious complications of diabetes such as hypoglycemia, blindness, amputation, dialysis and peripheral neuropathy (loss or tingling of sensation in hands or feet).
In the Blindness Booth, a person wears a blindfold and walks around the booth for three minutes. In the Amputation Booth, a person uses crutches to walk around the booth for five minutes. In the Hypo Simulation Booth, a person wears a 3D simulator headgear and watches a 3-minute video on how hypoglycemia feels. In the Nutrition Counselling Booth, a person receives healthy eating advice from a nutritionist-dietician. In the Dialysis Simulation Booth, a person wears a 3D simulator headgear and watches a 5-minute video on how undergoing dialysis feels. The Neuropathy booth, while patient is wearing thick gloves, they will touch certain textures to experience limited touch sensation.
For the culminating activity of the World Diabetes Day activity at UST, members of the Ugnayan Diabetes Club, UST faculty members and students, USTH healthcare professionals, and Novo Nordisk Philippines employees formed a Blue Circle in the UST Football Field. The Blue Circle is the international ‘unite for diabetes’ symbol.
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Dietitian Susanne Trout records key points of Jaclyn's weight history while they discuss her eating and exercise habits.
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Eat your way to happiness with these top feel-good super foods.
Clinical dietitian Dr Sarah Schenker and psychologist and nutritional therapist Dr Christy Fergusson share their insights:
Pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Pumpkin seeds contain tryptophan – the amino acid needed to make several important hormones including the mood-regulating neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin plays a role in fighting anxiety, promoting good moods and producing the hormone melatonin to help regulate your sleep pattern.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: A handful of pumpkin seeds could be all you need to give your body the building blocks it needs to make serotonin and wave goodbye to cravings and the blues, especially as the tryptophan helps to produce important B-vitamin niacin, needed for good mental health and to prevent depression.
Work it: Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on salads, breakfast cereals, porridge and stir into yoghurts.
Chia Seeds
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Chia seeds are rich in fibre, calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus and magnesium. Just one tablespoon of chia seeds contains five grams of fibre. So adding a tablespoon of chia seeds to your breakfast is a great way to increase your fibre intake and stabilise blood sugar levels.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: Chia seeds are also rich in protein and packed full of tryptophan, an amino acid that encourages good mood, sleep and a sense of calm.
Work it: Soak chia seeds in coconut water or yoghurt overnight and then mix with fruit for a nutritious breakfast.
Salmon
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Salmon is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are vital for good mental health, brain function, energy production, oxygen transfer and immunity. Salmon contains omega-3 fats DPA (docosapentaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), which can help to reduce inflammation. High levels of inflammation may be linked to depression.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: Salmon is rich in DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). A lack of DHA increases corticotrophin, the hormone that is responsible for your day-to-day emotions. Without this your hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis can become imbalanced and affect your ability to stay cool and calm, leaving you irritated, anxious and moody.
Work it: Serve pan fried with steamed vegetables or flake into basmati rice.
Wholegrain Basmati rice
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Fluctuations in blood sugar levels are usually associated with what we eat and drink but can also be caused by changes in mood and energy. After eating sugary foods or refined carbohydrates, your blood sugar levels can rise rapidly, which may cause feelings of stress and anxiety, only to crash soon after, which can then leave you feeling lethargic or in low spirits. Low-GI foods such as wholegrain basmati rice contain the type of carbohydrate that releases energy slowly, keeping your blood sugar levels steady and maintaining a more balanced, calm mood.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: Many of us spend our days riding the blood sugar rollercoaster. We feel happy one minute, and then the next we are spiralling down towards irritability and anxiety. Wholegrain basmati rice could be just what you need to jump off the rollercoaster and feel calm and content from morning until night.
Work it: Serve wholegrain basmati rice with curries, stews, casseroles, tagines and use in pilafs and kedgeree.
Quinoa
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Quinoa provides complex carbohydrates and fibre, which helps to maintain stable blood sugar levels. With a higher amount of protein than most grains, quinoa can help to control your appetite and reduce cravings for sugary and fatty snacks between meals. Feeling more in control of your appetite can reduce stress levels and help you make healthier choices at meal times.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: To make feel-good happy chemicals, known as neurotransmitters, we need to provide the body with the building blocks in the form of amino acids found in complete proteins. Quinoa – a complete protein – can therefore provide us an abundant supply of amino acids. Just what our body needs to keep our brain brimming with feel-good brain chemicals.
Work it: Use quinoa in risottos and add to soups and salads.
Chickpeas
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Chickpeas contain substances known as phytoestrogens, which can help to balance hormones such as testosterone, found in both men and women. When the level of this hormone rises, mood can be affected and increased feelings of stress and anxiety can occur. The fibre in chickpeas can prevent blood sugar fluctuations, which are associated with irritability.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: If you have been struggling with hormone havoc, nutritional superstars phytoestrogens could be just what your hormones need to go from haywire to harmonious. They lock into your hormone receptor sites and offer your body a more natural and gentler form of oestrogen. Over time, this can help to correct hormone havoc and make any monthly moods more bearable.
Work it: Add chickpeas to salads, soups and stews and use to make hummus.
Coconut
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Coconut flesh is high in protein and fibre. The saturated fat in coconut oil supports the thyroid gland and the nervous system, both of which are important for maintaining your energy levels and help keep you in a positive mood.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: The fatty acids in coconut oil are excellent for killing harmful pathogens (disease) and so potentially help prevent infections – which are both physically and mentally wearing.
Work it: Add coconut to curries, grate into yoghurt and serve with fruit salad.
Asparagus
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Asparagus is one of the richest sources of B vitamin folate available, a lack of which has been linked to poor mood.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: Folate is one of the key ingredients your body needs to make the feel-good mood chemical serotonin, without which you can’t properly metabolise what your body needs to feel upbeat and smiley.
Work it: Serve steamed with fish or chicken dishes, use in omelettes and risottos.
Blueberries
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Blueberries contain large amounts of vitamins, including vitamin C and antioxidants that can help you feel more energetic and promote a healthier mood.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: Blueberries are also full of seeds packed with the nutrient zinc – essential for hormone balance.
Work it: Throw a handful of blueberries into your porridge or blend with yoghurt to make smoothies.
Spinach
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Spinach contains important vitamins including vitamins A, C and E, which are needed for the healthy production of thyroid hormones. Energy, appetite, mood, weight and body temperature are all governed by hormones that are produced by the thyroid gland and any hormone imbalance can produce a wide variety of symptoms.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: If you have been struggling with low energy, weight gain and suspect your thyroid could be crying out for help, spinach will help give your system the ingredients it needs to make your thyroid hormones.
Work it: Use in salads, stir fries and soups.
Avocado
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Avocado is one of the highest sources of tryptophan, which is converted into serotonin, promoting feelings of happiness and relaxation. Avocados also contain omega-3 fatty acids, which can reduce your risk of depression.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: Omega-3 fatty acids are vital for optimal brain function and will keep mood steady.
Work it: Slice or mash avocado and add to wraps and pitta instead of mayonnaise. Add avocado to any smoothie for a creamy, dairy-free taste.
Chicken/Turkey
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Chicken and turkey are good proteins and a source of tryptophan, which is important for digestion, skin, nerves and serotonin production, promoting healthy sleep. What’s more, these foods also provide chromium, a dietary mineral that can help the body use insulin more effectively, improving energy levels. They also contain amino acid tyrosine, used to make the hormone adrenalin; aiding optimism, motivation and alertness.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: Serotonin is by far one of the most important brain chemicals for determining our mood and regulating our sleep. Of the approximately 40 million brain cells, the majority are influenced by serotonin either directly or indirectly. In particular those cells that make us experience happiness, attraction, memory, appetite, sleep and even social behaviour.
This rich source of tryptophan is most effective when enjoyed with carbohydrate. This helps your body to absorb the tryptophan and boosts happy chemical, serotonin, more quickly.
Work it: Use chicken or turkey in wraps and pitta pockets. Use turkey mince instead of beef or lamb mince in cottage pie or chilli con carne.
Pomegranates
Dr Sarah Schenker says: The phytochemicals found in pomegranates stimulate the oestrogen and serotonin receptors in your body, so great news for mood boosting.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: Pomegranate boosts serotonin levels and can help to lessen feelings of depression.
Work it: Add pomegranate to tagines and couscous or sprinkle pomegranate seeds on your salad. Pomegranate seeds are also great for snacking.
Ginger
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Ginger contains a potent antioxidant, gingerol, which helps neutralise the harmful chemicals our bodies produce when we experience stress. Ginger can also help calm anxiety and can settle a nervous stomach.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: Ginger is believed to have anti-inflammatory qualities. (Inflammation has been linked to depressive symptoms.)
Work it: Grate some ginger into your soups and stir-fries and use to make tea.
Bananas
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Bananas contain tryptophan and vitamins A, B6 and C, fibre, potassium, phosphorous and iron as well as carbohydrates to get past the blood brain barrier. The body uses tryptophan to make serotonin and melatonin – mood-boosting and sleep-regulating chemicals respectively.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: The average banana’s 12 milligrams of tyrosine combined with the banana’s vitamin content helps the brain manufacture feel-good brain chemicals.
Bananas are also packed with mood-boosting minerals magnesium and potassium.
Work it: Slice half a banana onto wholemeal toast in the morning or blend into your smoothie.
Beetroot
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Beetroots contain a nutrient known as betaine, which can improve the production of the natural mood-enhancing serotonin, which plays a part in fighting anxiety, promoting good moods and producing the hormone melatonin to help regulate your sleep pattern.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: Beetroot is not only your liver’s best friend, it is also perfect for calming your nerves and boosting your mood.
Work it: Add beetroot raw or cooked to salads and use to make beetroot hummus or even beetroot brownies.
Yoghurt
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Probiotic bacteria in yoghurt has been shown to improve mood due to the presence of serotonin receptors in the gut; an imbalance in good and bad bacteria can disrupt the production of serotonin. Probiotics keep levels of bad bacteria down. Yoghurt is also a good source of calcium, which helps to reduce stress and anxiety.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: Around 95 per cent of serotonin is located in your gut. If your gut contains too much yeast and pathogens (disease), your mood could suffer.
Work it: Use yoghurt in recipes instead of cream and enjoy with cereal instead of milk.
Brazil Nuts
Dr Sarah Schenker says: Brazil nuts are the richest source of the mineral selenium, containing 10 times more than the next richest source. Selenium-rich food helps to combat depression and studies have shown that eating a small handful of Brazil nuts every day can help to improve mood.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: The thyroid, which is integral to mood, relies on mineral selenium. Research shows that people with low levels of selenium are more prone to depression and anxiety. One review paper published in Nutritional Neuroscience found at least five studies linking selenium deficiency with depression. You only need three a day to reach the recommended daily allowance for this mineral.
Work it: Eat a small handful of Brazil nuts between meals; chop and sprinkle into yoghurt with grated dark chocolate.
Beans
Dr Sarah Schenker says: The fibre, protein and complex carbohydrates in beans can reduce the amount of insulin needed after eating. Insulin is released to regulate blood sugar levels, so if too much is produced, mood and energy levels can be negatively affected.
Dr Christy Fergusson says: To balance blood sugar levels, beans are the ultimate slow-releasing energy-packed food.
Work it: Replace half the quantity of red meat in dishes such as bolognaise, cottage pie or chilli con carne with beans. Butter beans are also a great way to add protein to salads.
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Mainline food reformers might shake their heads at some of the “healthful” foods that Linkwell promotes. There are coupons for packaged Hormel Natural Choice deli meats, for example, and Smart Balance Buttery Spread, something food-reform author Michael Pollan might classify as a “foodlike substance.” Linkwell does have criteria about what foods it promotes. For example, a food cannot have more than 480 milligrams of sodium per serving and must have two grams or less of saturated fat per serving.
“We realize that Lean Cuisine is not a home-cooked, organic meal,” Gardner says. “We are a pragmatic solution that is not letting perfection get in the way of progress.”
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The Miami Herald -- TRAVEL...With storms possible and crowds definite, experts warn: Get to the airport early for Thanksgiving travel. The AAA holiday forecast predicts a 4 percent increase in travel compared to 2010 over the long Thanksgiving weekend, which starts Wednesday.
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.....item 1).... The Miami Herald ... www.miamiherald.com/
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With storms possible and crowds definite, experts warn: Get to the airport early for Thanksgiving travel. The AAA holiday forecast predicts a 4 percent increase in travel compared to 2010 over the long Thanksgiving weekend, which starts Wednesday.
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.....item 2).... The Miami Herald ... www.miamiherald.com ... The Miami Herald > Living > Food
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Specialized coupon distribution promotes healthy eating
BY JANE BLACK
WASHINGTON POST SERVICE
www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/06/v-fullstory/2985602/specia...
Cook from scratch. Eat foods in season. Buy locally. That is the conventional wisdom on what Americans must do to become healthier.
Ben Gardner disagrees. The founder of Linkwell Health knows that Americans, especially those with chronic diseases, should eat better. Consumers with diabetes buy twice as many candy bars and more than twice as much Mountain Dew as their healthy peers, according to the research firm Nielsen, while those with heart disease buy 10 times as many frozen dinners.
But instead of trying to persuade these customers to purchase fresh produce and prepare a home-cooked meal, Linkwell offers them coupons for more healthful frozen dinners or diet soda. In short, it doesn’t let the ideal be the enemy of better eating, and the strategy is working.
Gardner’s approach reflects his background, which is healthcare, not food. Health insurers had spent decades building sophisticated, and expensive, disease-management programs. And yet, given the skyrocketing rates of obesity and chronic disease in the United States, it was clear that they couldn’t compete with slick marketing campaigns for chips, candy, soda and other unhealthful foods. Why not, Gardner thought, steal a page from the food companies’ playbook to encourage more healthful eating?
“Instead of sending someone a 100-page booklet, which nobody reads, about how to manage your health, why not just give them a coupon that they can actually use?” he says.
Americans do love coupons. More than 80 percent say they use coupons regularly, according to NCH Marketing, which tracks usage. In 2011, fueled by tough economic times, we redeemed $4.6 billion worth of coupons, a 12 percent rise over the previous year. Most of those, a quick peek through the Sunday paper will prove, are for unhealthful foods: soda, chips and snack cakes.
Gardner’s task was to target the consumers who most need to change the way they eat. The answer was to utilize an innovative program implemented by — wait for it — the U.S. Postal Service. When you move and file an official Postal Service change-of-address form, you can elect to receive useful discounts on moving trucks, household appliances, furniture and storage. It’s what you need, when you need it. (Gardner worked for several years at Imagitas, the company that designed and manages the postal program.)
To target needy consumers, Gardner reached out to health insurers, which have detailed health data on patients who struggle with their weight and diseases. He asked them to include healthful food coupons in their regular mailings. To protect patients’ privacy, Linkwell never sees the health data nor do the brands that sponsor the coupons.
Over the past four years, Linkwell has partnered with 20 health plans, including EmblemHealth, Humana, United Healthcare and WellPoint, which cover 120 million consumers, mailing about 100 million coupons from well-known brands such as General Mills, Kellogg’s, Kraft and Quaker Oats. The take-up rate — the number of consumers who use the coupons they receive — is more than double that for coupons in the Sunday newspaper circulars.
Linkwell also has run pilot programs in which grocery stores offer discounts on fresh produce or seafood. It is experimenting with promotions in which customers who buy a box of, say, Special K get $1 off fresh blueberries.
Mainline food reformers might shake their heads at some of the “healthful” foods that Linkwell promotes. There are coupons for packaged Hormel Natural Choice deli meats, for example, and Smart Balance Buttery Spread, something food-reform author Michael Pollan might classify as a “foodlike substance.” Linkwell does have criteria about what foods it promotes. For example, a food cannot have more than 480 milligrams of sodium per serving and must have two grams or less of saturated fat per serving.
“We realize that Lean Cuisine is not a home-cooked, organic meal,” Gardner says. “We are a pragmatic solution that is not letting perfection get in the way of progress.”
Nutritionists agree.
“It’s small, gradual changes that work best,” says Constance Brown-Riggs, a registered dietitian and a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
“You do have some individuals that can turn everything around and empty their cupboard and load up on fresh fruit and vegetables and never eat anything from a can again. But there are many individuals who are unable to make those kinds of drastic lifestyle changes. The research shows that small changes do make a difference.”
Health insurers like the program because it is a simple way to nudge consumers toward better health. But it also encourages customers to open and read their healthcare plan information. Humana, for example, says it saw its “open rate” jump from 60 percent to 90 percent over the years it has worked with Linkwell. The coupons are sent out quarterly and also can be downloaded online. A service for mobile devices is in development.
For the food companies, Linkwell offers ultra-targeted marketing that the grocery circular can’t. Dreamfields Pasta, a specialty item designed for diabetics, says it gets double the redemption on coupons issued through Linkwell because it puts them in the hands of patients who need to manage their blood sugar.
Other, more mainstream, brands such as Quaker Oats and Sargento get a kind of halo effect because coupons for their product are packaged with information from a health-insurance company.
The goal, says Gardner, is to help consumers take control of their health. “Health care is a mystery to almost everyone. But coupons are a currency that everybody understands.”
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.....item 3).... BiZz-R-O Cinema: "Get Ready to Get Weird" With WTF Films and $3 Beers ...
... Miami New Times ... blogs.miaminewtimes.com/cultist ...
... Cultist - Miami's Culture Blog ... Film / Video ...
By Hannah Sentenac .. Thu., Mar. 28 2013 at 9:00 AM ...
blogs.miaminewtimes.com/cultist/2013/03/bizz-r-o_cinema_w...
O Cinema is known (and loved) for its eclectic mix of weird, wacky and wildly artistic flicks, and now they're branching out into another genre. Namely, what the fuck? In their own words, that sums up the films in their new series, BiZz-R-O Cinema, kicking off on April 5.
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The new lineup, programmed in partnership with the folks at Gutter Films, will offer a late-night glimpse into the offbeat, kitschy and "downright disturbing" for four Fridays in a row. Think serial killers, man-eating gators, and batshit crazy Scandinavians. You don't wanna miss it.
See also:
- O Cinema With Harry's Pizzeria: Marilyn Monroe Pics and Shepherd's Pie This Tuesday
The first film, screening on Friday, April 5, is Alligator, a flick about a pet Florida gator who gets flushed down a Missouri toilet and ends up living on the corpses of dogs who were test subjects for growth hormones. You can probably infer the course of events.
Attendees are encouraged to "come dressed as your favorite Florida swamp dweller, be it a gator, flamingo, tacky tourist or snow bird."
According to Matt Walter, who programmed the series with colleague
Kevin Bosch, the concept came about based on a tradition of offbeat, late-night film programming that dates to the 1930s.
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As far as selections, Walter wanted to get weird. Really weird.
"Fortunately there's little shortage of unusual films out there, but we want to make sure we're not just settling for the typical run-of-the-mill stuff," Walter says. "It's our job to not only select films that are both weird and good, but that leave you thinking 'Now that was weird!'"
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While flicks are scheduled through April as of now, they're hoping it becomes an ongoing "weekend refuge for those who are overexposed to the mundane normalcy of the typical workweek for a night filled with beer-fueled cinematic madness," according to Walter. Normalcy = bad.
The experience is also designed to be interactive, with everything from costumes to cosplay being incorporated into the pre-screening festivities. The evenings will kick off at 10 p.m. with beers, BBQ, tunes and games in the theater's massive parking lot slash courtyard. $3 beer specials are also on the menu.
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The rest of the month's lineup will feature The Shining on April 12, Kubrick's classic "Where's Johnny?" Jack Nicholson flick; Häxan on April 19, a surrealistic old-school Scandanavian silent film about superstition and mental illness; and Brazil on April 26, a 1985 British science fiction fantasy film.
So don your best swamp-dweller getup and get ready to let your inner freak out next Friday. Don't worry, Miami's best weirdos will be there right along with you.
Visit the Facebook event page for more details.
Follow Cultist on Facebook and Twitter @CultistMiami.
Location Info
O Cinema
90 NW 29th St., Miami, FL
Category: Film
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U.S. Army medical researchers in Kenya mark World Malaria Day 2010
U.S. Army photo
KISUMU, Kenya – Hundreds of local people gathered Sunday at Kit Mikayi primary school to mark World Malaria Day 2010 with educational skits, songs and dance.
Among them was Lt. Col. Maria Bovill, director of U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s Kombewa Clinical Research Center – where research into the world’s first phase three clinical trial of a malaria vaccine is underway.
The daylong event offered a great opportunity for the people to share information about the advances of malaria research and reiterate prevention measures with the community, Bovill said.
“This is important for the community where we work, to recognize the advancements in malaria research and prevention,” Bovill said. “I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Crowds danced on the school’s soccer field to live music performed by local musicians who tailored their lyrics to the day’s message – wiping out malaria in Africa. People presented skits to dispel malaria myths and stress preventative measures. Screenings for malaria and HIV were available, as were immunizations and pharmacy prescriptions.
“We all hope that one day this disease will no longer be a reality of everyday life for so many people,” Bovill said, during her remarks at the event.
In the U.S., malaria campaigns over the weekend ranged from photo exhibits to baseball stadiums. In several cities, people slept outside under mosquito nets to raise awareness. Media events were held in Europe, Asia and Africa.
But the front line in the fight against malaria is arguably near Kisumu, along the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya’s Nyanza province. Home to the Luo people, the area is where President Barack Obama’s father came from. Some of Obama’s paternal family still lives nearby. The World Malaria Day event took place a stone’s throw from Kit-Mikayi, a 70-foot tall rock formation sacred to the Luo people.
“We took time to come here today to show our local community that we are dedicated, to be here with them and recognize the fight against malaria,” said Agnes Onyango, who works alongside Bovill at the Kombewa Clinical Research Center. “We let people know that adding vaccine trials to other efforts can work, so malaria stops killing the innocent.”
In a statement released Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched a new six-year strategy to combat malaria. The goal is to cut malaria illnesses and deaths by 50 percent in most affected countries of sub-Saharan Africa by 2014.
U.S. Army medical researchers have been combating disease in East Africa for more than four decades. In 1969, Kenya invited the U.S. Army to study trypanosomiasis, a parasitic disease transmitted by the tsetse fly. In 1973, the unit was permanently established in Nairobi, working through an agreement with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
USAMRU-K has a staff of 12 U.S. Army Soldiers, two Army civilians and over 500 Kenyan contractors – a mix of doctors, nurses, scientists, laboratory technicians and administrative staff who work together to research, test and prevent disease. They collaborate with Kenyan health officials, U.S. civilian and military organizations, private companies and universities, plus nongovernmental organizations and non-profit foundations.
With the establishment of U.S. Army Africa, USAMRU-K is now coordinating its established missions with new Army initiatives on the continent. USAMRU-K, known locally as the Walter Reed Project, is named for U.S. Army Maj. Walter Reed, who in 1900 discovered mosquitoes transmit yellow fever. Now, USAMRU-K efforts are focused on malaria – another disease transmitted through infected mosquitoes.
With U.S. Army Africa Soldiers and U.S. Africa Command service members performing more missions on the continent, USAMRU-K’s role in Africa serves as a model for interaction in Kenya and elsewhere. Additionally, USAMRU-K studies infectious diseases those troops will face in order to determine what force health measures to implement and subsequently, protect the Soldier.
Currently, USAMRU-K is taking part in a vaccine trial that may produce the world’s first malaria vaccine for children. Research participants receive free healthcare for the duration of the three-year study, known to researchers as MAL-55. Later this year, USAMRU-K will undertake another study to gauge the vaccine’s effectiveness specifically in HIV-infected children.
Bovill, an Army dietitian with two-decades in uniform, hails from Raceland, La., a small town roughly 60 miles southwest of New Orleans. In Aug. 2009, she became the head of USAMRU-K’s Muriithi-Wellde Clinical Research Center in Kombewa, just as MAL-55 began.
Fueled by two decades of research, MAL-55 is the first malaria vaccine trial to reach this phase of study. Once proven safe and effective, the vaccine could be marketed to others, she said. The current study is the result of a partnership that includes the nonprofit Malaria Vaccine Initiative and the pharmaceutical company Glaxo Smith Kline.
At Kombewa, 1,000 children, from five to 17 months , already take part. The next step is to find 1,000 more participants as young as six weeks. That means building trust with new mothers in rural villages, who often give birth at home, Bovill said.
“Community relations is very important,” Bovill said. “The key ingredient is our staff of 70 field workers, whom we rely upon to explain the study to local people.”
During World Malaria Day, the study’s field workers – young Kenyans who interact with potential study volunteers from the community – performed a dramatic scene and recited a poem in Luo, before declaring loudly to the disease itself that they were there to “push you out of Kenya, Africa and the whole world.”
Like most people in the community, Calvin Odhiambo, 23, has firsthand experience with the disease. That motivates him as he explains the vaccine research to others.
“Today, we celebrate efforts made together to take initiative, measures to reduce or eradicate malaria – from mosquito nets and drug tests to further vaccine research,” Odhiambo said. “The community here is very optimistic.”
Sometimes people are hard to persuade, which is the reason why public events such as World Malaria Day are so important, said Maureen Ochieng, a 25-year-old field representative who is often going door-to-door to explain the study to mothers of young children.
“To one woman I said ‘go listen to the briefing, see where you end up. She went, understood what she heard and consented. She is now a very cooperative volunteer.”
In a few months, Tom Onyano Oludhe will be a father. The 25-year-old field representative for USAMRU-K's malaria vaccine research grew up hearing of people crippled with polio, a disease he saw eliminated in his lifetime. When he is out in the community discussing the malaria study with potential participants, he often thinks about how his own child may not have to endure the effects of malaria.
“It’s satisfying to know that malaria may one day be out of the question, like measles or polio,” Oludhe said. “Even more satisfying is to know that I was a part of it and how I can tell my children that. I’m privileged. “
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
Official Vimeo video channel: www.vimeo.com/usarmyafrica
On the front line against malaria: Army medical researchers in Kenya mark World Malaria Day 2010
By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa
KISUMU, Kenya – Hundreds of local people gathered Sunday at Kit Mikayi primary school to mark World Malaria Day 2010 with educational skits, songs and dance.
Among them was Lt. Col. Maria Bovill, director of U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s Kombewa Clinical Research Center – where research into the world’s first phase three clinical trial of a malaria vaccine is underway.
The daylong event offered a great opportunity for the people to share information about the advances of malaria research and reiterate prevention measures with the community, Bovill said.
“This is important for the community where we work, to recognize the advancements in malaria research and prevention,” Bovill said. “I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Crowds danced on the school’s soccer field to live music performed by local musicians who tailored their lyrics to the day’s message – wiping out malaria in Africa. People presented skits to dispel malaria myths and stress preventative measures. Screenings for malaria and HIV were available, as were immunizations and pharmacy prescriptions.
“We all hope that one day this disease will no longer be a reality of everyday life for so many people,” Bovill said, during her remarks at the event.
In the U.S., malaria campaigns over the weekend ranged from photo exhibits to baseball stadiums. In several cities, people slept outside under mosquito nets to raise awareness. Media events were held in Europe, Asia and Africa.
But the front line in the fight against malaria is arguably near Kisumu, along the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya’s Nyanza province. Home to the Luo people, the area is where President Barack Obama’s father came from. Some of Obama’s paternal family still lives nearby. The World Malaria Day event took place a stone’s throw from Kit-Mikayi, a 70-foot tall rock formation sacred to the Luo people.
“We took time to come here today to show our local community that we are dedicated, to be here with them and recognize the fight against malaria,” said Agnes Onyango, who works alongside Bovill at the Kombewa Clinical Research Center. “We let people know that adding vaccine trials to other efforts can work, so malaria stops killing the innocent.”
In a statement released Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched a new six-year strategy to combat malaria. The goal is to cut malaria illnesses and deaths by 50 percent in most affected countries of sub-Saharan Africa by 2014.
U.S. Army medical researchers have been combating disease in East Africa for more than four decades. In 1969, Kenya invited the U.S. Army to study trypanosomiasis, a parasitic disease transmitted by the tsetse fly. In 1973, the unit was permanently established in Nairobi, working through an agreement with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
USAMRU-K has a staff of 12 U.S. Army Soldiers, two Army civilians and over 500 Kenyan contractors – a mix of doctors, nurses, scientists, laboratory technicians and administrative staff who work together to research, test and prevent disease. They collaborate with Kenyan health officials, U.S. civilian and military organizations, private companies and universities, plus nongovernmental organizations and non-profit foundations.
With the establishment of U.S. Army Africa, USAMRU-K is now coordinating its established missions with new Army initiatives on the continent. USAMRU-K, known locally as the Walter Reed Project, is named for U.S. Army Maj. Walter Reed, who in 1900 discovered mosquitoes transmit yellow fever. Now, USAMRU-K efforts are focused on malaria – another disease transmitted through infected mosquitoes.
With U.S. Army Africa Soldiers and U.S. Africa Command service members performing more missions on the continent, USAMRU-K’s role in Africa serves as a model for interaction in Kenya and elsewhere. Additionally, USAMRU-K studies infectious diseases those troops will face in order to determine what force health measures to implement and subsequently, protect the Soldier.
Currently, USAMRU-K is taking part in a vaccine trial that may produce the world’s first malaria vaccine for children. Research participants receive free healthcare for the duration of the three-year study, known to researchers as MAL-55. Later this year, USAMRU-K will undertake another study to gauge the vaccine’s effectiveness specifically in HIV-infected children.
Bovill, an Army dietitian with two-decades in uniform, hails from Raceland, La., a small town roughly 60 miles southwest of New Orleans. In Aug. 2009, she became the head of USAMRU-K’s Muriithi-Wellde Clinical Research Center in Kombewa, just as MAL-55 began.
Fueled by two decades of research, MAL-55 is the first malaria vaccine trial to reach this phase of study. Once proven safe and effective, the vaccine could be marketed to others, she said. The current study is the result of a partnership that includes the nonprofit Malaria Vaccine Initiative and the pharmaceutical company Glaxo Smith Kline.
At Kombewa, 1,000 children, from five to 17 months , already take part. The next step is to find 1,000 more participants as young as six weeks. That means building trust with new mothers in rural villages, who often give birth at home, Bovill said.
“Community relations is very important,” Bovill said. “The key ingredient is our staff of 70 field workers, whom we rely upon to explain the study to local people.”
During World Malaria Day, the study’s field workers – young Kenyans who interact with potential study volunteers from the community – performed a dramatic scene and recited a poem in Luo, before declaring loudly to the disease itself that they were there to “push you out of Kenya, Africa and the whole world.”
Like most people in the community, Calvin Odhiambo, 23, has firsthand experience with the disease. That motivates him as he explains the vaccine research to others.
“Today, we celebrate efforts made together to take initiative, measures to reduce or eradicate malaria – from mosquito nets and drug tests to further vaccine research,” Odhiambo said. “The community here is very optimistic.”
Sometimes people are hard to persuade, which is the reason why public events such as World Malaria Day are so important, said Maureen Ochieng, a 25-year-old field representative who is often going door-to-door to explain the study to mothers of young children.
“To one woman I said ‘go listen to the briefing, see where you end up. She went, understood what she heard and consented. She is now a very cooperative volunteer.”
In a few months, Tom Onyano Oludhe will be a father. The 25-year-old field representative for USAMRU-K's malaria vaccine research grew up hearing of people crippled with polio, a disease he saw eliminated in his lifetime. When he is out in the community discussing the malaria study with potential participants, he often thinks about how his own child may not have to endure the effects of malaria.
“It’s satisfying to know that malaria may one day be out of the question, like measles or polio,” Oludhe said. “Even more satisfying is to know that I was a part of it and how I can tell my children that. I’m privileged. “
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
Official YouTube video channel: www.youtube.com/usarmyafrica
Take me on a picnic, please.
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Bulgur, Feta & Mint Salad
from: Mrs. Cook’s Kitchen - Basic & Beyond
Makes 4 to 6 servings
Preparation: 20 to 25 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
This salad features the flavors of Greece that blend so well together. The tangy saltiness of the crumbled feta goes perfectly with the cool mint and the nutty, chewy bulgur.
1 cup (250 mL) bulgur
2 cups (500 mL) boiling water [I did not add salt to the water though the recipe calls for it]
3 tbsp (45 mL) fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp (45 mL) olive oil
1 tsp (5 mL) freshly ground black pepper
1 yellow bell (sweet) pepper, seed, quartered & finely sliced
1 medium tomato, seeded & diced
4 radishes, trimmed & thinly sliced
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup (50 mL) pitted & halved black olives
4 oz (120 g) feta cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup (75 mL) chopped fresh mint leaves
In a saucepan, add bulgur to the boiling water, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Place the bulgur in a bowl and add the lemon juice, olive oil and pepper. Leave to coll for 10 minutes. Add the green pepper, tomato with the juice, radishes, onions, olives & feta cheese. Stir in half the mint leaves. Garnish with remaining mint.
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Notes:
This flavourful salad provides protein, fibre-rich carbohydrates, monounsaturated fat, and a plethora of other nutrients, particularly vitamin C. Rather than count the calories, I like to think of it as nutrient-dense, satisfying, and a source of 3 out of 4 food groups.
The dietitian in me has to acknowledge that yes, feta is a salty cheese, so be sure to balance it with low sodium choices at the rest of the day’s meals. The daily Adequate Intake (AI) for sodium is 1200 to 1500 mg/day for healthy adults, decreasing with age. The Tolerable Upper Limit (UL) for health for sodium is 2300 mg/day. A serving of this salad (about 3/4 cup) provides 253 mg of sodium, or a little over 10% of the UL. So all in all, not terribly high.
Three tasty rules-of-thumb for cutting down on sodium: 1) Eat fresh 2) Avoid processed foods 3) Season with herbs & spices.
Next time I make this salad I’m going to try legumes (e.g., chickpeas, canellini) instead of feta.
On the front line against malaria: Army medical researchers in Kenya mark World Malaria Day 2010
Photo by Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Africa Public Affairs
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
Official Vimeo video channel: www.vimeo.com/usarmyafrica
Join the U.S. Army Africa conversation on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ArmyAfrica
KISUMU, Kenya – Hundreds of local people gathered Sunday at Kit Mikayi primary school to mark World Malaria Day 2010 with educational skits, songs and dance.
Among them was Lt. Col. Maria Bovill, director of U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya’s Kombewa Clinical Research Center – where research into the world’s first phase three clinical trial of a malaria vaccine is underway.
The daylong event offered a great opportunity for the people to share information about the advances of malaria research and reiterate prevention measures with the community, Bovill said.
“This is important for the community where we work, to recognize the advancements in malaria research and prevention,” Bovill said. “I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Crowds danced on the school’s soccer field to live music performed by local musicians who tailored their lyrics to the day’s message – wiping out malaria in Africa. People presented skits to dispel malaria myths and stress preventative measures. Screenings for malaria and HIV were available, as were immunizations and pharmacy prescriptions.
“We all hope that one day this disease will no longer be a reality of everyday life for so many people,” Bovill said, during her remarks at the event.
In the U.S., malaria campaigns over the weekend ranged from photo exhibits to baseball stadiums. In several cities, people slept outside under mosquito nets to raise awareness. Media events were held in Europe, Asia and Africa.
But the front line in the fight against malaria is arguably near Kisumu, along the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya’s Nyanza province. Home to the Luo people, the area is where President Barack Obama’s father came from. Some of Obama’s paternal family still lives nearby. The World Malaria Day event took place a stone’s throw from Kit-Mikayi, a 70-foot tall rock formation sacred to the Luo people.
“We took time to come here today to show our local community that we are dedicated, to be here with them and recognize the fight against malaria,” said Agnes Onyango, who works alongside Bovill at the Kombewa Clinical Research Center. “We let people know that adding vaccine trials to other efforts can work, so malaria stops killing the innocent.”
In a statement released Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched a new six-year strategy to combat malaria. The goal is to cut malaria illnesses and deaths by 50 percent in most affected countries of sub-Saharan Africa by 2014.
U.S. Army medical researchers have been combating disease in East Africa for more than four decades. In 1969, Kenya invited the U.S. Army to study trypanosomiasis, a parasitic disease transmitted by the tsetse fly. In 1973, the unit was permanently established in Nairobi, working through an agreement with the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
USAMRU-K has a staff of 12 U.S. Army Soldiers, two Army civilians and over 500 Kenyan contractors – a mix of doctors, nurses, scientists, laboratory technicians and administrative staff who work together to research, test and prevent disease. They collaborate with Kenyan health officials, U.S. civilian and military organizations, private companies and universities, plus nongovernmental organizations and non-profit foundations.
With the establishment of U.S. Army Africa, USAMRU-K is now coordinating its established missions with new Army initiatives on the continent. USAMRU-K, known locally as the Walter Reed Project, is named for U.S. Army Maj. Walter Reed, who in 1900 discovered mosquitoes transmit yellow fever. Now, USAMRU-K efforts are focused on malaria – another disease transmitted through infected mosquitoes.
With U.S. Army Africa Soldiers and U.S. Africa Command service members performing more missions on the continent, USAMRU-K’s role in Africa serves as a model for interaction in Kenya and elsewhere. Additionally, USAMRU-K studies infectious diseases those troops will face in order to determine what force health measures to implement and subsequently, protect the Soldier.
Currently, USAMRU-K is taking part in a vaccine trial that may produce the world’s first malaria vaccine for children. Research participants receive free healthcare for the duration of the three-year study, known to researchers as MAL-55. Later this year, USAMRU-K will undertake another study to gauge the vaccine’s effectiveness specifically in HIV-infected children.
Bovill, an Army dietitian with two-decades in uniform, hails from Raceland, La., a small town roughly 60 miles southwest of New Orleans. In Aug. 2009, she became the head of USAMRU-K’s Muriithi-Wellde Clinical Research Center in Kombewa, just as MAL-55 began.
Fueled by two decades of research, MAL-55 is the first malaria vaccine trial to reach this phase of study. Once proven safe and effective, the vaccine could be marketed to others, she said. The current study is the result of a partnership that includes the nonprofit Malaria Vaccine Initiative and the pharmaceutical company Glaxo Smith Kline.
At Kombewa, 1,000 children, from five to 17 months , already take part. The next step is to find 1,000 more participants as young as six weeks. That means building trust with new mothers in rural villages, who often give birth at home, Bovill said.
“Community relations is very important,” Bovill said. “The key ingredient is our staff of 70 field workers, whom we rely upon to explain the study to local people.”
During World Malaria Day, the study’s field workers – young Kenyans who interact with potential study volunteers from the community – performed a dramatic scene and recited a poem in Luo, before declaring loudly to the disease itself that they were there to “push you out of Kenya, Africa and the whole world.”
Like most people in the community, Calvin Odhiambo, 23, has firsthand experience with the disease. That motivates him as he explains the vaccine research to others.
“Today, we celebrate efforts made together to take initiative, measures to reduce or eradicate malaria – from mosquito nets and drug tests to further vaccine research,” Odhiambo said. “The community here is very optimistic.”
Sometimes people are hard to persuade, which is the reason why public events such as World Malaria Day are so important, said Maureen Ochieng, a 25-year-old field representative who is often going door-to-door to explain the study to mothers of young children.
“To one woman I said ‘go listen to the briefing, see where you end up. She went, understood what she heard and consented. She is now a very cooperative volunteer.”
In a few months, Tom Onyano Oludhe will be a father. The 25-year-old field representative for USAMRU-K's malaria vaccine research grew up hearing of people crippled with polio, a disease he saw eliminated in his lifetime. When he is out in the community discussing the malaria study with potential participants, he often thinks about how his own child may not have to endure the effects of malaria.
“It’s satisfying to know that malaria may one day be out of the question, like measles or polio,” Oludhe said. “Even more satisfying is to know that I was a part of it and how I can tell my children that. I’m privileged."
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
Official Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/usarmyafrica
Official Vimeo video channel: www.vimeo.com/usarmyafrica