Cambridge Church of Seventh-day Adventists, Medford MA

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Mar 10th
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You're here,> Home Health and Temperance

Director: Daniel Cadetapple

The most important objective of Health Ministries is to help men and women reach their full potential, mentally, spiritually and physically. To reach full potential, health principles must be practiced. Our Health Ministry realized that the gospel of Christ is well illustrated and the message of God practiced through health and temperance. Without this ministry, the gospel witness is muted; it is merely a theory, an idea. The more closely our outlined principles are followed, the better health a person enjoys. Our church is very active in public health education.

H1N1 flu vaccine to Guillain-Barré Syndrome

September 1, 2009 - Neurologists should be vigilant in tracking any new cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome after patients have received the H1N1 flu vaccine, say officials.

 The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is teaming up with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make sure doctors remain alert.

 Guillain-Barré has been linked to several vaccines, including the preparation for the 1976 swine flu.  In a statement issued by the AAN, experts said that although they do not expect the 2009 H1N1 vaccine to increase the risk for the autoimmune disease, this is a concern with any pandemic vaccine. "The active participation of neurologists is going to be critical for monitoring for any possible increase in Guillain-Barré following 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccination," AAN spokesperson Orly Avitzur, MD, said in a news release.

 The H1N1 vaccine is currently in production.  High-risk groups will be encouraged to receive the vaccine this fall.
Infants, children, young adults, pregnant women, adults 25 years and older with underlying health conditions, and healthcare workers are considered good candidates for the vaccine.

 Doctors are being asked to report adverse events using the standard CDC and US Food and Drug Administration Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
Guillain-Barré affects 1 to 4 people per 100,000 annually around the world.  It causes respiratory failure requiring ventilation in an estimated 25% of people, and between 4% and 15% die.

 The AAN guidelines on the treatment of Guillain-Barré are available online.

 

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) are requesting neurologists to report any possible new cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) following 2009 H1N1 flu vaccination using the CDC and U. S. Food and Drug Administration Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

It is not anticipated that the 2009 H1N1 vaccine will have an increased risk of GBS.  However, out of an abundance of caution, and given that GBS may be of greater concern with any pandemic vaccine because of the association of GBS with the 1976 swine flu vaccine, the CDC and AAN are asking neurologists to report any potential new cases of GBS after-vaccination as part of the CDC’s national vaccine safety monitoring campaign.

The Academy plans to reach neurologists and other health care professionals to encourage reporting cases of GBS following vaccination.  “The active participation of neurologists is going to be critical for monitoring for any possible increase in GBS following 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccination,” said Orly Avitzur, MD, MBA, FAAN, who is leading the AAN effort.  Resource materials, including upcoming webinars, will be available on AAN.com.

All neurologists nationwide who encounter patients with adverse events post-vaccination should use the CDC and FDA Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) to report their observations. Information on VAERS and case report forms will be available on AAN.com and at the VAERS website at http://vaers.hhs.gov.

The 2009 H1N1 vaccine is currently in production. Vaccination among high-risk groups – including infants, children, and young adults ages six months through 24 years, pregnant women, adults 25 and older with underlying health conditions, and health care workers – will begin this fall and will continue through the flu season.

Neurologists are doctors who specialize in treating neurologic disorders such as GBS, a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system, causing tingling and weakness in the arms and legs.  Most GBS cases are treatable, but a few can be fatal.

For more information on GBS, visit the AAN’s website for the public at http://www.thebrainmatters.org.  For more information on the 2009 H1N1 vaccine, visit the CDC’s website at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu.  In addition, the AAN guidelines regarding the treatment of GBS can be found at http://www.aan.com/practice/guideline/.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 21,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care through education and research.  A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as epilepsy, dystonia, migraine, Huntington’s disease, and dementia. 

For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit http://www.aan.com or http://www.thebrainmatters.org.

 

Duties of Health Ministries Leader

Health Ministries Leader Duties

Health Ministries are an integral part of the mission of the Adventist Church. "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). Health ministry is the gospel of Christ illustrated, the message of God practiced. Without it, the gospel witness is muted; it is merely a theory, an idea.

The most important objective of health ministry is to help men and women reach their full potential, mentally, spiritually and physically. To reach full potential, health principles must be practiced.

The more closely these principles are followed, the better health the person enjoys. The more active a church is in public health education, the more effective will be its public evangelism. For health is the most universal entering wedge.

Duties of the Health Ministries Leader

The ministry to which a person is called when he or she becomes the Health and Temperance leader in a local church can be described in the following ways:

  1. Health Promotion. Keeping church members aware of the importance of health and educating new members on the significance of health and temperance is one of the major responsibilities of the Health Ministries leader. This responsibility may be carried out at every opportunity, but there is one week, the second week in October, that a special program and emphasis should be planned.  The Health Emphasis Week is a unique opportunity to increase the level of awareness and practice of health principles in your local church.  Ministry is most effective when there is adequate personnel and financial resource.  Your church has an opportunity to encourage the support of the health and temperance work through the Annual Health and Temperance Offering. In some churches the offering is part of the combined budget. In others, a special offering is taken. The North American Division Health and Temperance Department prepares an informational brochure each year to help motivate giving. The date is the second Sabbath in December. The last Sabbath in February of each year is set aside to create an awareness of our health and temperance journals: The Winner for children, Listen for teens, and Vibrant Life for adults.
  2. Continuing Health Education. There is a question asked in the New Testament, "How can they learn without a teacher?"  This is especially true regarding the health education of new church members.  The health and temperance leader is responsible for the health education of the new members in the Adventist Lifestyle. Here are a few suggestions:
    1. Provide each new member with the pamphlet Good Health in One Package. This little pamphlet, available from The Health Connection Catalogue, explains the eight basic principles of health and temperance.
    2. Invite the new church members systematically, for the first few months at least, to your home or to the church's fellowship dinners, to acquaint them with vegetarian food.
    3. Loan or give them one of the Ellen G. White health classics, especially Ministry of Healing.
    4. Ask them to assist your local church in outreach programs.
    5. Invite them to training seminars on health ministry; invite them to camp meeting or other special meetings on health.
  3. Committees. You are the chairperson of your local church Health Ministries committee, and a member of the church board and the Church Ministries Council. Your committee is the place to plan particular activities and events. On the board you will represent the interest of health ministry in the policy and financial decisions of the local church.   If your church has a Church Ministries Council, you will coordinate your activities with those of the other leaders in these meetings to plan a comprehensive, balanced church program.
  4. Program Development. It is your responsibility to take the initiative in coordinating the planning and organization of health screening and health seminars for the public. Everywhere Adventists are known as providers of stop smoking plans, cooking schools, and seminars on nutrition, heart disease, stress management, cancer prevention, physical fitness, weight control and the Bible basis for healthful living, as well as screening projects for high blood pressure, coronary heart disease and other health problems.  Constant attention is given to these programs in the press across the United States and Canada. Major corporations and civic leaders often request the help of Adventist in these areas.  Unless you bring together your committee and develop programs, then these will not be available in your community.   You cannot do it alone, but you can recruit and coordinate a team that can make it happen, using the proven guidebooks and kits available.

Health Fitness Challenge

Health Fitness Challenge
Steps for Life Fitness Challenge

exercise"Steps for Life Fitness Challenge" is a NAD-wide Adventist program starts on January 1, 2009, launched by the Health Ministries Department to encourage and improve fitness among our church leaders and members. Conference and church leaders will be expected to initiate the program for their workers and members.

Steps for Life Fitness Challenge
How can Steps for Life help your conference? For starters, getting employees into an exercise program can reduce healthcare costs by reducing disease. It improves brain function. It reduces absenteeism. It helps show others in the community that we are serious about health and caring for our body temples. It helps us to follow God with more energy and clearer thinking, and it glorifies Him.

Exercise appears to be the "magic bullet" for better health and faster, more permanent weight loss. It helps us live longer and more productively. The health benefits of simply walking are astonishing! Not only does walking help reduce stress and depression, it also reduces the risk of developing or dying from heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, and various cancers. If we walk daily we can reduce the risk of dying from all major illnesses by as much as 50% to 75%.

Could walking also be used as an evangelistic tool? Dr. Don Morgan from Tennessee Middle State University thinks so. He suggests that the simple action of walking and talking with your neighbor could result in the biggest evangelistic outreach we have ever achieved. If you prefer walking alone, you can engage in Prayer Walking, praying for your neighborhood and people there while you are walking through it.

Organize your conference. The best way to stay with an exercise program is to do it with a friend or in a group. Check with your conference Health Ministries director to learn what has been planned for your conference, and for assistance to organize and inspire your conference workers, institutions and churches to form Steps for Life groups. Encourage each person to go to the Steps for Life website and sign up for membership. Conferences may wish to offer incentives, such as a day off to those who log the most exercise or who are the most faithful. Encourage and assist each person to get a membership and a pedometer to measure the number of steps they take. Many conferences are already planning participation and are laying foundations for a strong program in the next two months.

Organization: Four committees have worked hard to design a program that is scientifically sound, simple and inexpensive. They are listed here.

Leaders: Use the Steps for Life Fitness Challenge website at http://www.instepforlife.com/. At the bottom of the page is a link for "Coordinator Resources." Encourage your members to visit the website and become a member.

Everyone is encouraged to join, whether they are part of a group or not. Each person is encouraged to do 30 minutes of some type of exercise every day. Get a pedometer (offered at the website) to help you be more aware of how many steps you take each day, and set a goal of at least 10,000 steps per day. Log your daily activity. As you record your activity on the website, take a virtual walk in the steps of Jesus; a missionary trip with Paul; hike some famous trails, such as the John Muir Trail, Pacific Crest Trail; hike the Oregon coast or Mt. Rainier. Take a virtual historical or an international trip.

Get InStep with God, with your church and with your community by joining us in this program specifically developed for all church members within the North American Division. By following this simple yet effective program you will enjoy healthier, happier and more productive lives which enables you to better serve God, your family and your community.

What is Good Health?

Taking Charge Of Your Health

What is Good Health?

 

Good health is more than just having a body free of disease or disability. Good Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being, says the World Health Organization.

Natural good health is when the body performs all its normal functions without difficulty or external assistance from chemical or medical devices. This means people with disabilities or a long-term illness can still enjoy a sense of well being and quality of life even though they may be limited in their activities.

The Discovery Health Course is designed to assist you in making more informed choices about your body and the care that you give it. The information is scientific and correct at the time of publication.

Why learn about health?

We influence our health by how we live, work, and interact with other people and with our environment. So our choice of behavior will either enhance or risk our health. The choice is yours – take charge and positively influence your health.

 

Who Is Responsible For Your Health?

In short, you are – with some help from health professionals. Good health largely depends on choices we all have. Of course we cannot choose our genes or control unfortunate life experiences, but our choices can reduce our risks and make the most of our circumstances. This in turn gives us control over our quality of life.

Many people think that it’s the doctor’s job “fix you up” when you get sick. They don’t bother to find out how to prevent that sickness in the first place with some simple strategies. When you take responsibility to give your body the basic things it needs to work properly - the right fuel, treatment and environment – it will naturally move towards good health. This will boost your feeling of well-being and enjoyment of life, and will more than repay your efforts in prevention. Seeing a medical practitioner when you are sick is increasingly important for early detection of serious illnesses and conditions. However there needs to be a greater emphasis of prevention of lifestyle diseases. These diseases often occur as a consequence of a lifestyle that is damaging to health.

The risk of being affected by heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, lung cancer, mature onset (Type 2) diabetes and respiratory (lung) diseases can be lessened by making healthy lifestyle choices.

 

Taking Charge of Your Health


Information:

The first step in taking charge of your health is to be informed about how your body functions (physiology) and what it needs to keep functioning efficiently. Once informed, you can make the right choices.

Motivation:

Changes won’t occur if you are not motivated to change behavior that may prevent good health. So how do you get motivated about giving up something that you enjoy but is not good for you?

Inspiration:

We all need something to aim for to keep us motivated. Keeping the following goals in mind can help keep you motivated:

  • more energy to do more things you enjoy such as traveling, sports etc.
  • a sense of well-being and being in control of your life
  • losing weight so you feel better about yourself
  • living longer independently

Commitment:

Often commitment is born of frustration with a situation. Feeling angry or passionate about the need for change, you decide to bring the full force of your resolve to change a particular situation. You are committed.

Sense of Control:

Most of us like to be in control of our lives, not controlled by others or by our circumstances. When you are successful in making changes in your life you are clearly demonstrating to yourself that you are in control.

 

How Can I Achieve Good Health?

Good health is actually quite simple. The remainder of this topic introduces eight basic areas vital to maintaining good health. The rest of the course gives more specific information.

1. Nutrition

Nutrition is simply the study of what foods can help our bodies to function at their best. The food we eat is one of the most important aspects of health as it directly impacts on the way we feel and perform. It provides fuel for the body to run on. Energy from good food is the body’s number one necessity.

When you choose food lacking in essential nutrients your body becomes deficient. For example, an iron deficiency can make a person feel “washed out” and tired. The body needs iron to carry oxygen around the body, and a lack of iron means the oxygen isn’t carried around the body very well.

So what is a nutritious food?

Nutritious foods contain lots of essential nutrients like vitamins, minerals (such as iron and calcium), carbohydrates, and some protein, fats and water. These are substances the body must get from food because it is unable to make its own supply. All food contains nutrients, but some foods contain more nutrients than others. It’s important to choose the most nutritious food possible so that your body gets all the nutrients it needs to function properly. (Nutrition and healthy eating habits are covered in more detail in topics 2 and 3.)

 

2. Exercise

You need to be physically fit to be able to meet the demands and stresses of day to day life.

Many people think of fitness as being an ability to run a marathon but it actually means being able to do all the things you have to do each day and still have energy left over for family and relationships. It also means having a feeling of wellbeing, rather than constant fatigue.


Exercise has many benefits:
  • controls your weight
  • helps you manage stress
  • boosts your immune system
  • reduces your risk of heart disease
  • reduces your risk of cancer
  • perhaps even reduces your risk of premature death.

Because the “Western lifestyle” of most Australian and New Zealanders does not involve a lot of physical activity, it is important that we take regular exercise. Older people generally do less activity than those who work or go to school, so it’s even more important for them to have a regular exercise program. How to begin an enjoyable exercise program that will benefit your health is covered in topic 4.

 

3. Water

Your body is about 60% water, and even though you can live up to 50 days without food, you can live only a few days without water. Water is vital to life itself - and yet we often ignore the importance of water for our body’s health.

Many people use their thirst as a guide to how much water they should drink, but thirst is the body’s first sign of dehydration. We all lose water each day through urine, feces, sweat and via evaporation from our lungs. Adults need to drink about 6 to 8 glasses of water every day, and even more in hot weather or during exercise. Water is vital for kidney function, regulating body temperature and body fluids. So drink up - water is kilojoule free!

 

4. Sunlight

Australians and New Zealanders can take for granted the abundance of sunlight that we enjoy. Some countries in the Northern Hemisphere have only a few months of sunlight each year. Research in those countries has revealed how important sunlight is for people to feel happy and well. Depression and low morale is common during the long winter months on the Northern Hemisphere.

Sunlight boosts our supply of vitamin D, an essential nutrient that our bodies can make in skin that is exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D helps you absorb and use the calcium you need for strong bones and teeth, for healthy immune and nervous systems, for control of body hormones and for cell growth.

However, too much sunlight can be damaging especially in Australia and New Zealand where skin cancer rates are high. Being “sun safe” is very important - don’t forget the 15+ or 30+ sunscreen, collared shirt and hat.

 

5. Balance

When we talk about balance, we do not mean “everything in moderation”. (Who wants cyanide in moderation?)

Balance means a proper combination of the good things that promote health – and no destructive ones.

Balance is about a lifestyle that increases quality of life and a sense of well-being.

All the issues you’ll study in this Health series express the importance of a balanced lifestyle.

 

6. Air

The air we breathe is also critical to our health.

Air pollution can cause illness and death if pollutants become concentrated for a period of several days or weeks. Increased levels of carbon monoxide and air-borne acids, as well as decreased oxygen levels, can put people under strain. This is especially stressful for people who suffer from congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, such as chronic bronchitis or emphysema, and also for the very young and the elderly. Hence the warnings on the news when the smog levels are very high.

Not all air pollution is caused by humans. Air is also polluted by forest fires, pollen bloom and dust storms. However humans have polluted the air at an ever-increasing rate since the Industrial Revolution. Now at least there is growing awareness of the importance of protecting our environment.

 

7. Rest

Relaxation, recreation and sleep are vital to health. With the rapid pace and pressures of life, it is essential to find some time each day for relaxation, so the tensions that build up in our muscles can be released.

Recreation is a vital part of rest. Getting away for a day in the bush or a walk along a beach can make us feel re-created and able to cope.

Hugh McKay, a sociologist in Australia and author of 'Reinventing Australia', recommends that ideally an individual should devote some time each week to purposeful reflection and relaxation. This regular time period should provide opportunities for “reflective detachment’, time out from the hard reality of life. This can be found in activities like walking, making music, religious worship, meditation, play and spending time with family, friends and pets.

The need to sleep has an awesome power over us. If we’re deprived of sleep for long, we can’t stay awake to even save our lives - as shown by car accidents when people fall asleep at the wheel. Most people don’t get enough sleep, and studies show the average person needs between 6-8 hours of sleep per night.

And researchers believe Grandma may have been right: an hour’s sleep before midnight may well be worth two hours afterwards.

How often have you gone to bed feeling depressed and cranky, and woken up after a good sleep feeling a lot better about life?

8. Trusted Relationships

A sense of purpose and a sense of belonging are important in order to enjoy life and feel good. You may wonder what this has to do with health, but a life filled with depression, loneliness and anger is hardly high quality or healthy. Difficult circumstances such as grief or loss, betrayal by a partner, serious illness, or death of a loved one, can have major effects on our health.

A sense of purpose and belonging are crucial, and they can come from the spiritual dimension of health, which includes our values and philosophy of life. To enjoy spiritual health is to possess the capacity for love, compassion, forgiveness, peace and fulfillment. Trust in a power outside of oneself and trust in those around us are vital aspects of good health. The “golden rule” of loving our neighbor as ourselves is basic to a sense of self esteem and self worth.

We all need to find a balance between meeting our own needs and the needs and demands of others. Feelings of cynicism, anger, bitterness, fear, anxiety and pessimism are often felt by people who are over-committed to the needs of others and their work with no energy left for themselves.

Time alone for yourself and your own needs is crucial if you want to feel refreshed and ready to give and meet the needs of other people.