When They Need Help, And You’re Not There

In TED Conference Talk Feb 2008, neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor  moved the audience with her own experience of a massive stroke in 1996. With stirring speech and gestures, Dr. Taylor enlivened the unforgettable morning she suffered stroke, when she was 37. Because of the hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain, she was paralyzed on the right side, and she lost her ability to think, talk, read, write, or recall anything in her life…

Struggling with her loss of brain functions, Dr. Taylor managed to get herself to the phone side, found her colleague’s contact and called him for help. Unlike normal persons, that was an extremely difficult process for her. She told the audience she spent 45 minutes to go through an inch thick of business card stack and finally found her colleague’s. However, she could not recognize any of the symbols on the business card. What she did was to match the symbol’s shape on the card with the one on the phone pad and pressed the matched digits one by one using her paralyzed right hand. When she finally got the number dialed, she realized that she could not decipher her colleague’s speech nor hers at all — her language ability was totally lost. Fortunately, her colleague sensed that she needed help and came to her rescue. She has survived the stroke.

As a brain scientist, Dr. Taylor knew well how the brain functions and affects the body. And she was calm enough to handle the situation. But think about your elderly parents and grandparents. How would they react if something similar happened to them? What if they failed to handle such critical situation by themselves? What if they were alone at home? What if they were unable to make a call for help? There are just too many what-ifs we can imagine, but if you love them, do consider the worst scenarios they could encounter and start taking safety precautions now.

A medical alarm system is designed to assist the elderly just in case they need immediate help but happened to be alone. Unlike the conventional panic buttons, BrickHouse Alert Tele-Assist features a fall alert detector that automatically alerts the emergency personnel that the wearer has fallen and cannot even push a button for assistance. The system is ideal for home. So if you have to leave your parents or grandparents alone at home, Tele-Assist can help you to watch over them like a live helper yet without interfering their activity.

Outdoors, the Mobile GPS connects the wearer to live help at anytime and anywhere in the world. The GPS powered bracelet comes with a two-way built-in speakerphone that can be used like a cell phone and call for help with just a press of a button. In an emergency, the operator can immediately see where exactly the wearer is and thus summon help efficiently. In cases of wandering, that the wearer does not know where he or she is, due to Alzheimer’s, alert is automatically activated when wearer wanders outside of the designated area. The operator will call the wearer on the bracelet and dispatch help if necessary.

Protect your loved ones like how they protected you when you were a child. You can give them more with the medical alarm systems. In the case that you can’t be there immediately for their rescue, help is on the way.

Pick Your Own Running Shoes

When buying a pair of running shoes, what is your top priority? Price, brand, fashion, or your individual needs?

Last time I would go for the cheapest shoes and not care much about the shoe’s brand and design. I felt that no matter how good the running shoes can be, it will still need to be replaced after some time of wear or some distance of run. So why spend so much on it? But running with a poorly designed and engineered shoes is likely to risk your feet to injuries that could lead to a disaster for you. I learned the lesson when the bunion on my right big toe was obviously worsening during my intensive half marathon training. It hurt whenever I put on my running shoes. My doctor had advised me to invest in a pair of good shoes that meet my biomechanical needs. The most important factors are quality, comfort, and safety; price, the last.

When a person recommends you to buy some big-branded shoes for they will improve your running performance, don’t take his words for granted. Not even if he is able to explain to you the strengths of the shoes in details. His feet are not equal to your feet. He and you do not run the same. So, the best is, you understand your biomechanical needs and running conditions, and you choose your own pair of shoes that suit you well based on your individual needs.

Basically, running shoes can be classified into three major categories: cushioned shoes, stability shoes, and motion-control shoes, according to individual’s biomechanical needs; and three minor ones: performance training shoes, racing shoes, and off-road shoes, which are designed for specific running conditions. Major manufacturers such as Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Asics, to name but a new are well versed in designing and innovating the running shoes to provide greater comfort, stability, breathability, durability, motion control and lighter weight for different types of runner. However, there are no perfect shoes for everyone, although some shoes could be perfect to you. Despite of their high reliability, all these brands have their pros and cons in many different aspects. So, it is wise to do a thorough research before you decide to buy. Find out more information here.

As for me, I need roomy shoes with wide toe box, so that there is enough space for my bunion and orthotics. I prefer New Balance’s motion control running shoes for this reason. I’ve got a pair of New Balance W587 and I love it very much. It looks really plain but provides excellent comfort and stability. An advice for you anyway, if you plan to order one from the online stores. Do order a half size larger than your regular street shoes as New Balance runs small.

All in all, good luck in picking your own shoes.

Shop At Ease

I’m a person who is not keen in conventional shopping. I have experiences hanging around in shopping centers with relatives and peers for almost a day just to look for a few goods. Often, the purchase took less than 15 minutes to settle. What was really time-consuming is the process of searching the goods, compare and finally decide. Worse, sometimes we ended up leaving with empty hands when nothing had come to our satisfaction, but money had been spent unnecessarily on food, parking fees and transportation.

Nowadays I prefer online shopping for its two main advantages: convenience and wide choices. Convenience in the sense that I can easily find a product in possibly less than a second, and I can shop at anytime I like. Shopping and placing an order in the midnight are just fine. Also, my choices are no longer confined to one or few shops. With a powerful search engine, I can effortlessly access to the online shopping stores worldwide and compare the price. Most of the price offered by the stores are reasonable, sometimes surprisingly cheap.

My last online shopping was few months ago, after I read about Nintendo’s new video game, Wii Fit. I was fascinated by its fun-and-fitness approach in getting the user to stay health-conscious. The game is not designed only for youngsters, but for anyone above the age of 3 years, provided he/she is physically fit for the activities in the game. I thought it is just ideal for my family, especially the seniors who dislike outdoor activities. I searched online and found a list of online stores promoting the product. After surveying the price, I think it’s worth investing in a Wii Fit as it is a lot cheaper than the conventional workout machines but more fun, flexible and multipurpose in exercise wise. I ordered one with price £69.00 and received the product in less than 2 weeks time. It is just perfect.

Painkiller That Nearly Killed A Life

My friend Susan met a car accident two years ago. Although she survived the accident, the impact of the car crash had caused fractures in her lumbar vertebrae. Since then she had suffered from low back pain frequently. To ease her pain, her physician had prescribed some opiates.

After 6 months of therapy and rest, Susan had finally recovered from her injuries and back to work. However, another problem arose without her awareness. During her resting period, Susan had become pretty dependent on her pain medication. She took painkiller whenever she felt discomfort and eventually the painkiller was taken at an even higher dosage than the initial prescription.

She became addicted to the opiate (painkiller) effects that she could not help to withdraw the pain medication even though her initial back injury had healed. The excessive opiate intake had adversely affected her daily life that she became easily depressed and could hardly concentrate in her work. She also suffered from insomnia often and lost weight badly. Struggling with those unhealthy symptoms for about a year, Susan realized she needed to do something before her painkiller addiction could ruin her life thoroughly.

Susan sought treatment for her painkiller addiction at a drug treatment centre called Meditox after doing some online researches and went through a 6-week outpatient opiate rehab program. The drug withdrawal was a successful one. Now Susan is back to a cheerful person as she used to be and has somehow become more motivated and socially active than ever.

I chatted with her online some days ago and she told me about her future plans. Well, looks like she has got great influence from her treatment counselor that she is considering to enroll in counseling services program! Happy ending isn’t it? I wish her the best of luck.

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