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	Featured Article NEW OSHA GUIDELINES FOR NURSING HOMES THE EDEN ALTERNATIVE: CREATING HABITATS, NOT FACILITIES HEALTH & FITNESS QUICK-TAKES READERS' FORUM

NEW OSHA GUIDELINES FOR NURSING HOMES

That's right...TEAMWORK! Although it doesn't seem like a new concept, it's exactly what the doctor ordered for preventing injuries in the nursing home. No more one-person lifts. Either use a Hoyer machine, or get another person to help perform a two-person lift. Nursing homes rank third in number of non-fatal injuries on the job. They are notorious for operating understaffed and pushing their help to work faster with fewer resources. Most of the injuries involve aides straining/spraining their backs while lifting patients. Those injuries can be quite costly for the nursing home owners. OSHA discovered one nursing home participating in its pilot study that reported a 75% drop in costs related to on-the-job injuries simply by following OSHA's teamwork guidelines. The Director of Nursing at a facility in Maryland that was not part of the study says that her staff has been 100% injury-free since they eliminated one-person lifts there FIVE YEARS AGO! Bottom line--TEAMWORK saves your bottom line a lot of money. That money stays in your pocket, where it belongs. Read on... »

THE EDEN ALTERNATIVE: CREATING HABITATS, NOT FACILITIES

Loneliness, helplessness, and boredom: Whether a person is young or old, these elements can combine to form the recipe for a hopeless existence full of drudgery. Most young people are fortunate enough to find some kind of meaning in their lives, because they have so many ways to interact with the world. Often those interactions occur in unpredictable ways, which also adds a certain amount of excitement. "Never a dull moment" people often say, even when things go wrong. "Variety is the spice of life" is another truism. Unfortunately for the majority of our elders residing in nursing homes, the opportunities for meaningful and spontaneous interactions with their environments are severely diminished, if not completely absent. The only responsibilities they really have is to wake up and eat their meals. On almost any random facility inspection the old people can be seen, effectively warehoused, slumped over in their wheelchairs or geri-chairs, oblivious to the world. A physician named Dr. William Thomas began a very successful initiative designed to transform our nursing homes into continuing growth experiences for the elder populations residing in them, as well as for for the staffwho run them. This ambitious project is called The Eden Alternative, and the concept, in their words, is that "We must teach ourselves to see the environments as habitats for human beings rather than facilities for the frail and elderly." They accomplish this goal by providing continuous opportunities to care for and nurture other living beings besides themselves. They may be plants, animals, or even children-- who don't just visit them occasionally, but who actually live in the environment on an ongoing basis. This provides a large measure of responsibility in the elders' lives, which greatly enhances their self-esteem. Studies performed at Eden Alternative "facilities" have demonstrated significant decreases in the use of psychotropic drugs. To find out more, visit their website at: www.edenalt.com/, using the link below. Find out more... »

HEALTH & FITNESS QUICK-TAKES

Bobby Bustup walks into an orthopedic outpatient clinic with an injury to a ligament. He's not a candidate for surgery. His well-trained and highly competent physical therapist says, "We can strengthen the muscles around the joint/ligament, but we can't really strengthen or tighten up the ligament itself." A procedure that has been gaining popularity recently can do just that. It is called Prolotherapy, short for Proliferation therapy. An MD injects dextrose mixed with another benign chemical into the ligament. This irritates the tissue, causing increased blood flow to the ligament and stimulating new tissue growth. The result: thicker, stronger ligaments. Very few physicians are currently trained in this technique. to find one in your state, click on the link below. National Prolotherapy Physician Directory »

READERS' FORUM

Starting with the next issue of our newsletter, this spot will feature answers to questions from our readers. Send your physical therapy-related questions to: pt@oaktreept.com. If we answer your question in this column, we will send you an Oak Tree PT ergonomic pen. Please be sure to include your mailing address, to be used strictly for mailing the pen only, and no other purpose.