Beatitudes Community

Healthy Holidays

The holidays are often a time of joyful experiences, but they can also bring about unique health challenges. During the season of giving, it’s still important to take care of yourself; we hope to provide a few tips to stay healthy this winter.

  • Talk about vaccination status: Most of the breakthrough COVID cases among residents on Campus have resulted from family gatherings. Before planning your holiday get together, talk with your loved ones about who will be in attendance and be sure they’ve all been vaccinated.
  • Be mindful of medications: With winter allergy, cold, and flu season upon us, be mindful of over-the-counter medications, which can have unintended side effects. For example, medications that have sedating or pain mediating effects, such as decongestants and cough syrups, can lead to confusion. Consult your doctor before taking beginning new over the counter medications for cold symptoms, and always being aware of multi-symptom products that treat coughing, sneezing, pain, etc. These medications can contain similar ingredients to medications you are already taking, which can put one at risk of overdose.
  • Healthy healing alternatives: Try alternatives to over the counter cold and allergy medications, such as resting, drinking more fluids, saline nasal sprays, and drinking honey in your tea for coughing.
  • Winter workouts: It’s easy to fall away from your usual exercise routine during the holidays but maintaining an exercise regime for 30 minutes a day helps boost your mood and energy levels and improves sleep quality. Try to carve out regular time for yourself to prioritize walks and healthy activity even on busy days.
  • Seasonal schedule: Keeping a usual medication and sleep schedule, especially if you are travelling, also boosts your immune system and energy levels. Aim to go to bed and wake up around the same time every day and be consistent in taking your medications on time. If traveling, have an updated copy of your medication list with you, along with your labeled medications and pill organizer. Before you leave for a trip, make sure you have enough medications for the duration of the trip and for the days after you return, so you won’t need to rush to refill medications.
  • Holiday food and spirits: Maintaining a healthy diet can be challenging during the holidays, but it is important to stick to your regular diet as closely as possible. It’s okay to treat yourself, but eat rich, fatty and sugary foods in moderation and add more vegetables to your holiday plate. This season is also a time when people are more likely to drink alcohol at parties and gatherings. Studies show that regular drinkers have a tendency to over-imbibe during the holidays, while many holiday drinkers who do not drink regularly need to be aware of their lower alcohol tolerance. Be mindful of the risk of confusion and falls when drinking and ask your physician or pharmacist about how alcohol interacts with your specific medications.


Keep these tips in mind and enjoy a happy, healthy holiday season this winter!!

Flu and Pneumonia

I So far this flu season, Arizona has seen “sporadic” activity since the flu season began on September 30, 2018.  There were 41 cases confirmed during the week of 10/14/18 through 10/20/18 for a total of 91 so far according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.  This is up from 26 confirmed cases the week before.  You may track the flu season activity at website:  https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/flu/index.php#surveillance-home

Each year we want to make sure that you have flu and pneumonia prevention tips readily available.

Below are excerpts from an article published on the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) website about flu and pneumonia prevention last updated November 6, 2017. 

Pneumonia Can Be Prevented—Vaccines Can Help

“Pneumonia, an infection of the lungs, needlessly affects millions of people worldwide each year. Pneumonia can often be prevented and can usually be treated. Lower your risk of pneumonia with vaccines and other healthy living practices.

Globally, pneumonia kills nearly 1 million children younger than 5 years of age each year. This is greater than the number of deaths from any infectious disease, such as HIV infection, malaria, or tuberculosis.

Pneumonia isn’t just a public health issue in developing countries though. Each year in the United States, about 1 million people have to seek care in a hospital due to pneumonia. Unfortunately, about 50,000 people die from the disease each year in the United States. Most of the people affected by pneumonia in the United States are adults.

Vaccines and appropriate treatment (like antibiotics and antivirals) could prevent many of these deaths—globally and in the United States.

Pneumococcal Recommendations for Older Adults:

CDC recommends 2 pneumococcal vaccines for adults 65 years or older.

Get a dose of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) first. Then get a dose of the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) at least 1 year later.

If you’ve already received PPSV23, get PCV13 at least 1 year after receipt of the most recent PPSV23 dose.

If you’ve already received a dose of PCV13 at a younger age, CDC does not recommend another dose.

Lower Your Risk with Vaccines

In the United States, vaccines can help prevent infection by some of the bacteria and viruses that can cause pneumonia:

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)

Influenza (flu)

Measles

Pertussis (whooping cough)

Pneumococcal

Varicella (chickenpox)

These vaccines are safe, but side effects can occur. Most side effects are mild and go away on their own within a few days. See the vaccine information statements for each vaccine to learn more about the most common side effects.

Protect Your Health with These Healthy Living Practices

Try to stay away from sick people. If you are sick, stay away from others as much as possible to keep from getting them sick. You can also help prevent respiratory infections by:

Washing your hands regularly

Cleaning surfaces that are touched a lot

Coughing or sneezing into a tissue or into your elbow or sleeve

Limiting contact with cigarette smoke

Managing and preventing conditions like diabetes

Pneumonia Affects the Young and Old

Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs that can cause mild to severe illness in people of all ages. Common signs of pneumonia can include cough, fever, and trouble breathing.

Some People Are More Likely to Get Pneumonia:

Adults 65 years or older

Children younger than 5 years old

People who have chronic medical conditions (like asthma, diabetes, or heart disease)

People who smoke cigarettes

Encourage friends and loved ones with certain health conditions, like diabetes and asthma, to get vaccinated.

Causes and Types of Pneumonia

Viruses, bacteria, and fungi can all cause pneumonia. In the United States, common causes of viral pneumonia are influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). A common cause of bacterial pneumonia is Streptococcus pneumonia (pneumococcus). However, clinicians are not always able to find out which germ caused someone to get sick with pneumonia.

Community-acquired pneumonia is when someone develops pneumonia in the community (not in a hospital). Healthcare-associated pneumonia is when someone develops pneumonia during or following a stay in a healthcare facility. Healthcare facilities include hospitals, long-term care facilities, and dialysis centers. Ventilator-associated pneumonia is when someone gets pneumonia after being on a ventilator, a machine that supports breathing. The bacteria and viruses that most commonly cause pneumonia in the community are different from those in healthcare settings.”

It is important to remember that keeping your hands clean through hand hygiene is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Many diseases and conditions are spread by not washing hands with soap and water. If soap and water are unavailable, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol to clean hands. Also, if you are experiencing flu like symptoms, please contact your physician and try to stay away from others to stop the spread.  If you have not yet received your flu or pneumovax shot, please contact your physician to see if one may be a good idea for you.*

Influenza is Widespread in Arizona

Have you been feeling under the weather lately? If so, you are not alone. The Arizona Department of Health Services has indicated that the geographic spread of influenza activity currently in Arizona is “Widespread” which is the highest level that is reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) weekly. In comparison to last year, we only achieved a regional spread of influenza in 2014-2015.

Most recently we have heard from the local hospitals that they are inundated with patients exhibiting flu and pneumonia like symptoms with the majority of the Influenza viruses testing positive for Influenza A (H1N1). The CDC reported preliminary overall influenza vaccine effectiveness (VE) of 59 percent so far at last report in February.

Below are excerpts from an article published on the American Heart Association’s website about flu and pneumonia prevention last updated on December 3, 2015.

“The flu can leave most people sick for a few days, but it can be a much more serious ordeal if you have heart disease or have had a stroke.

In fact, the flu can cause complications, including bacterial pneumonia, or the worsening of chronic heart problems.

Pneumonia is a lung infection that prevents your lungs from getting enough oxygen into the blood, creating a strain on the heart. It can also increase risks for stroke patients.

‘It’s more stress on your heart. It has to work harder to pump blood through your lungs,’ said Donna Arnett, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a past president of the American Heart Association.

Because of potential complications, which can sometimes lead to death when a patient is already sick, it becomes even more important to avoid the flu if you have heart disease and as you get older, Dr. Arnett said.

Flu Season Starts in the Fall

Flu season begins in October and typically runs until early to mid-spring. Though many people confuse colds and upper-respiratory infections with the flu, when you have the real flu its symptoms are usually more severe, Dr. Arnett said.

The flu can strike suddenly and can cause fever, chills, cough, sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches and fatigue. Vomiting and diarrhea associated with the flu is more common in children.

A yearly flu shot can help guard against the contagious illness, which is caused by influenza viruses. Flu vaccines are created to combat the strains of flu expected to be circulating in a given year.
Heart and stroke patients should also be immunized against pneumonia unless they’ve experienced a bad reaction or allergy to the vaccine, Dr. Arnett said. Re-vaccination should be discussed with your doctor and will depend on the person’s age, the type of vaccine used and prior vaccination history.

A scientific advisory by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology has recommended an annual flu vaccine in injection form for cardiovascular disease patients ‘with coronary and other atherosclerotic vascular disease’.

‘It’s a very safe vaccine,’ Dr. Arnett said, adding that adverse reactions are rare. Occasionally there is soreness in the spot where the shot is given.

People develop some immunity to the flu a week after getting vaccinated, though two weeks is when immunity is most likely to kick in for the majority of people, and at four weeks the response to the vaccine generally peaks. You can get the flu vaccine in September before flu season hits and even months into the season.

Basic Preventive Steps

There are other precautions you can take to avoid the flu. ‘It’s important to stay away from people who are sick. It seems like an obvious thing, but I think it’s one we forget about,’ Dr. Arnett said.
If you haven’t been vaccinated, stay out of crowds, particularly if the flu is spreading through your community, she said. Washing hands frequently is also a good practice, along with keeping your hands away from your face.

If you do suspect you’ve been stricken with the flu, get to your physician early, Dr. Arnett said. If it’s confirmed that your illness is the flu, an oral antiviral treatment can help reduce the duration of the sickness.

It is important to remember that keeping your hands clean through hand hygiene is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Many diseases and conditions are spread by not washing hands with soap and water. If soap and water are unavailable, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol to clean hands. Also, if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms, please contact your physician and try to stay away from others to stop the spread. If you have not yet received your flu or pneumovax shot, please contact your physician to see if one may be a good idea for you. *