Happy Nursing Assistants Week!

As we celebrate Nursing Assistants Week, let’s think about how much time and talent these diligent professionals contribute to healthcare. Too often these professionals go unrecognized, despite their invaluable work, and at Scrubin we are adding our voices to make sure our indispensible nursing assistants get the recognition they deserve.

It can often be thankless work, and our nursing assistants play a vital role in caring for the elderly, the disabled and those under long-term and hospice care, as well as fulfilling some of the medical duties in correctional facilities. Their importance cannot be overstated.

Working under a nurse’s supervision, nursing assistants aid in helping the elderly and infirmed perform day-to-day tasks: eating, bathing and helping with dressing and hygiene, just to name a few. They take and record vitals. They assist in stretching and physical exercise, taking the patients for walks and helping them to remain active.

In so doing, Nursing assistants not only help to insure and safeguard the overall health of the patient, they also make an important contribution to the patient’s dignity and quality of life as well. Nursing assistants help these vulnerable folks help themselves, and in doing so serve as voices of encouragement and hope in fraught circumstances. Ask anyone who has been hospitalized, as well as his or her family, and they will testify as to the necessary work performed by nursing assistants.

Changes in healthcare have meant a tough time for many nursing assistants. In the past several years, staffing shortages and budget cutbacks have meant that much of the aforementioned patient care has fallen on fewer and fewer of these professionals. That’s why this week is so important, not to only celebrate the work done by our nursing assistants but also to showcase this viable and valuable career. As more and more Baby Boomers age, nursing assistants are going to be needed in the future more than ever before.

Let’s all make this Nursing Assistants Week a good one by honoring these committed professionals and thanking them for their hard work.

June Is Men’s Health Month

A quick question for the guys: What’s your PSA? Don’t know? You’re not alone. June is Men’s Health Month, however, so there’s no better time to stop and take stock of your overall health and well-being. You may even learn a few things along the way.

For instance, PSA means “prostate-specific antigen,” and it’s a protein made by the prostate and found in the blood. High levels are an early indicator of prostate cancer, and getting it checked is as simple as visiting your doctor for a routine physical.

In fact, a yearly physical exam is a simple, yet vital, means to insuring good health. But men tend to procrastinate on getting them, always pushing them off for another day. No one can afford to wait. Call your doctor, set the appointment, get the tests run, and bask in the sweet relief a clean bill of health can bring!

A firm focus on prevention is perhaps the most important long-term course for good health than anything else. A focus on nutrition, diet and exercise is important, as well as regular checkups and physicals. At Scrubin we’re big believers in being proactive, so we would like to highlight some easy ways to get into a healthier lifestyle. Help us make Men’s Health Month the first step in a long campaign for healthier lifestyles for America’s menfolk!

• Nutrition is an increasingly vital concern for all of us, and this is particularly true of men, who are so vulnerable to heart disease, gastrointestinal issues and strokes. It’s easy: more fruits and vegetables, more fish and lean meats, less fast food and sugary sodas.

• Exercise is a part of any truly healthy lifestyle. American men are working harder than ever, but in jobs that by and large do not benefit them physically, either in the area of cardiovascular health or for long-term muscular performance and flexibility. One doesn’t have to be a gym rat but no man can afford to ignore sensible, moderate exercise. It is key to both quality of life and longevity. Try for an hour a day, even if it’s just taking a good, long walk.

June brings not only National Men’s Health Month, but June 7^th is National Cancer Survivors Day. The statistics are overwhelming: the way to beat cancer, any form of cancer, is to detect it early. Therefore, Scrubin would like to highlight the necessity of prostate screenings for men.

This is a form of cancer that is highly treatable – if caught early! And yet more than 30,000 men a year die of this disease. This is one cancer that doesn’t have to claim another victim if we are all educated and willing to fight it. Get checked, have the men in your life get checked, and wear the blue ribbon in support of the fight against prostate cancer!

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