KTIL’s Shaena Peterson Finds Freedom from Weighty Problem

by Guest | Jul 11, 2019 | Being Well

By Laura Swanson, Tillamook County Pioneer
“It’s different for us all,” began Shaena Peterson about her transformation, “and it’s a process to figure out what will work for you. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

Shaena interviewing Ginny Gabel, Community Health Educator, Adventist Health – Tillamook

Shaena’s journey started around the Christmas holiday in 2012.  Her hip was out and she weighed 300 pounds.  Yes, really.  “I knew that I had to do something, so I talked with Ginny Gabel, the community health educator at Adventist Health and, in April 2013, I attended their CHIP classes.”  Through her participation in the hospital’s Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP) classes, Peterson lost some weight and saw her cholesterol numbers significantly reduced.  “I started to realize that changing my lifestyle habits made a big difference,” she said. “It wasn’t hard to do, just eating healthier and walking more.  I was learning about my body.”  Other changes included quitting tobacco and a new awareness about food.
In 2014, Peterson continued her journey, trying a reduced calorie meal plan, dropping more weight, but she still struggled with maintaining a comfortable weight.  Then Peterson changed her environment, moving back to the family cabin.  After conversations with family members, Shaena made a decision to change her eating habits. “I purged my pantry, focusing my eating on whole foods while cutting out processed foods, especially those with refined flour and sugar,” said Shaena. She also noted that living alone made it easier to make the change.
In July of 2018, Peterson weighed 250 pounds.  “The weight came off gradually,” she said.  She lost 80 pounds in six months and has continued to maintain her weight at 170 pounds.  Shaena grins, “I feel like this is the weight my body is supposed to be!”
To get started, Shaena used an app to help with tracking her food intake.  “I wasn’t super-strict about some things and I’ve added back some treats, like these grapes,” she says, pulling them out of her bag of snacks.  “I just wasn’t hungry. In fact, I ate more and was more satisfied. And it was so easy to source whole foods locally,” she continued. “Valley Produce out 3^rd Street, Tillamook Meat.  I’m buying higher quality, buying local and my food budget is less.  It doesn’t cost more to eat healthy, it truly doesn’t.”
So what does Shaena’s primary care provider think about all this?  “All my numbers are so good,” she again grins, sharing that her blood pressure is 91 over 62 and her cholesterol remains below 200. Since starting her journey, she has lost over 120 pounds.
Shaena said, “At my heaviest, I would say that I had a bad case of being 60. I’ll be 68 in September and I feel younger than I did in 2012.  It’s about finding out what works for each person and taking advantage of the resources and education that are available. It’s a cliché, but it’s so true ‘we are what we eat.’”
For more information about local health and wellness resources, visit our website www.tillamookcountyhealthmatters.org or follow Tillamook County Wellness on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
 

Tillamook County Earns National Achievement Award for Health

by Guest | Jun 20, 2019 | Being Well

Wellness Partners Provide Programs to Support Positive Changes

by Guest | Jun 6, 2019 | Being Well

Rinehart Clinic’s Quality Director, Denise Weiss, presented the clinic’s “Success Stories:  Diabetes Control” at a recent OCHIN Learning Forum attended by healthcare centers from across the region. (OCHIN is an electronic health record program.)

Tillamook County Wellness partners are teaming up to help people more readily access the things they need to make healthy behavior changes, because cost and convenience are often the leading barriers to developing better habits.  Wellness committees are working to improve community walkability and outdoor recreation access; exploring innovative ways to ensure people have access to healthy foods like fresh produce, no matter where they live.  There are community surveys and interviews being conducted about how we are screening for chronic diseases, and how to better connect patients with a network of care to lower that risk.

The Rinehart Clinic in Wheeler has been providing this level of support to their patients with much success. They recently shared their story at a regional forum so other communities can learn from their example.

Rinehart Clinic’s Diabetes Success Stories featured at Learning Forum

Rinehart Clinic’s Quality Director, Denise Weiss, recently presented “Success Stories: Diabetes Control” at a Learning Forum in Portland, sharing the clinic’s strategies for helping patients with type 2 diabetes manage the disease.

According to Denise, “One of the key factors of our patients’ success is their participation in the clinic’s healthy eating and lifestyle classes in between regular visits with their doctor. To make it easy as possible for our patients to make positive changes in their health, we offer encouragement in the form of farm-fresh veggies, vouchers for healthy foods at a local grocery store or farmers market, and free physical activity passes to help them on their journey.”

The behind-the-scenes work by Rinehart Clinic’s Panel Coordinator is also a critical part of the program. The Panel Coordinator tracks how our patients are doing, patient-by-patient and diagnosis-by-diagnosis. When it’s time for a check-up or screening to see how the patient is doing, she notes that in the chart so the care team can coordinate with the patient.  Having a staff member dedicated to coordinating this tracking and working with the team on follow-up is an important part of what’s working well at Rinehart Clinic. Last year, Rinehart Clinic was recognized for being the top performing clinic for diabetes control within the Columbia Pacific Coordinated Care Organization member clinics.

Many of the lifestyle habits that reduce risk for type 2 diabetes can also help people better manage the condition. Making and sticking with healthy behavior change is difficult for most people, especially without any follow-up or encouragement.  When advising a patient how to lose weight, improve blood sugar levels, or lower their blood pressure, health care providers often recommend adopting healthier eating patterns and becoming more physically active. Research has shown these types of changes can significantly improve health and prevent chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and many forms of cancer.

Changing how we eat and move requires developing new habits and routines which can be overwhelming, expensive or simply inconvenient. Having a support team such as the one at Rinehart Clinic can help, but there is a lot more to the process. Healthy food options need to be available and affordable. If someone lives a long way from a store, they need reliable transportation. Similarly, living in an apartment on a busy street does not allow for a convenient or safe space to exercise and having access to a gym costs money.

Tillamook County Wellness partners are working to remove these barriers and provide support programs to reduce the risk for Type 2 diabetes.  To find out more about the Rinehart Clinic diabetes program, the Diabetes Prevention Program available through the YMCA or other resources, go to www.tillamookcountyhealthmatters.org or like the Tillamook County Wellness Facebook page.

Safe Medication Disposal

by Guest | Apr 25, 2019 | Being Well

Protect our Community. Protect our Children. Protect Our Water. Protect Our Environment.

Old prescriptions? Leftover pills?  Too often these extra pills end up in the wrong hands and the wrong places.  Keep everyone safe. There are convenient, safe medication “drop box” and drop off locations in Tillamook County at: Rinehart Clinic & Pharmacy in Wheeler, Rockaway Beach Police department, Tillamook City Police and Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office during the open hours.

Flushing or dumping prescription medication down a drain is not a good way to dispose of your meds. Since Tillamook is “the land of many waters” even small amounts of medication can enter the environment, contaminate drinking water, and affect people and wildlife. Help protect Oregon’s most precious resources by taking your meds back to secure collection boxes.

Find the collection box nearest you at www.takemedsseriouslyoregon.org/disposal/disposal

Protect our drinking water

Pharmaceutical residues can affect people. Traces of medication have been detected in the drinking water of 24 major metropolitan areas across the country serving 46 million people.

Protect our lakes and rivers

Another study showed that 80 percent of the sampled streams in the U.S. contain small amounts of prescription and over the counter medicines, personal care products, and other chemicals. Sewage treatment systems cannot remove all medications from water that are released into lakes, rivers or oceans. As a result, fish and other aquatic life have shown adverse effects from medicines in the water. And small amounts of medicine have been found in our drinking water from these sources.

Sources

The Associated Press. (2018). Pharmaceuticals found in drinking water.

United States Geological Survey. (2018). Wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams.

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Where There’s Smoke … Second and Third Hand Smoke & Diabetes

by Michelle | Mar 21, 2019 | Being Well

Where There’s Smoke … Second and Third Hand Smoke & Diabetes

By DeAnna Pearl, MAT, BS, CPS, SOS Tillamook Prevention Program, Tillamook Family Counseling Center

“I have diabetes but I don’t smoke – how does smoking impact me?”  Most everyone is aware of “second-hand smoke.” Second-hand smoke is the byproduct of the act of smoking made up of particulates of ash and dust that holds up to 4,000 chemicals, including nicotine, which is inhaled by others.

But what about “Third-hand smoke” — what’s that? Third-hand smoke is the ash and dust that holds up to the same 4,000 chemicals, including nicotine, that gets absorbed into the surface of other materials such as walls, clothing, and floors. These are slowly released back into the air of your home and can enter the body through direct contact.

According to Prof. Manuella Martins- Green, UC Riverside CA, “Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to Third-Hand Smoke (THS) and its impact on health.  Because infants frequently crawl on carpets and touch objects exposed to exhaled smoke, they are at high risk for THS exposure.  The elderly are at high risk simply because older organs are more susceptible to disease.”  While the toxic byproducts of the act of smoking are dangerous, the chemical nicotine causes arteries to constrict, reducing blood flow.

This is especially serious for people who have diabetes. Complications from diabetes include being vulnerable to peripheral vascular disease or narrowing of blood vessels that carry blood to the body’s extremities, such as arms, hands, legs and feet. There is danger of a blood clot blocking a narrowed artery, and the result could be damage to or the loss of an arm or leg. Exposure to nicotine, in any form, is a major risk factor of peripheral vascular disease and more severely for smokers than nonsmokers.  Diabetics who smoke or who are exposed to second/third hand smoke are twice as likely to develop this disease and increase dramatically their chances of amputation.

The good news is that when smokers quit, symptoms improve immediately, restoring blood flow to the body’s extremities.  And in cases where surgery is needed, it’s more likely to be successful in people who’ve stopped smoking!

Thinking about quitting?  Setting a date is a great first step – Kick Butts Day in March is a national day to encourage smoking cessation and, in particular, to end youth smoking.  There is help. Ask your doctor about cessation resources covered by insurance. There are also free, effective programs through the Oregon Quit Line at 800-QUIT-NOW (800-784-8669), or www.quitnow.net/oregon.

For local programs and classes, contact SOS Tillamook Prevention Program at 503-815-5426, or www.sostillamook.og.

For more on this subject go to “Where there’s Smoke, There’s Diabetes”

https://endocrinenews.endocrine.org/innocent-bystanders/

“Thirdhand Smoke Linked to Type 2 Diabetes.” – https://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/35360

For more health tips and information about local wellness partners, visit tillamookcountyhealthmatters.org or find us on Facebook at Tillamook County Wellness.

Tillamook County Wellness Developing Ways to Prevent Diabetes in Tillamook County

by Guest | Mar 21, 2019 | Being Well

Community organizations are working together to focus on improving the wellness of citizens in Tillamook County. During the past year, members of the Tillamook County Wellness Task Force and committees have focused attention on one health issue – reducing the percentage of people in Tillamook County at risk for Type 2 diabetes over the next 10 years.  Currently 11.3% of the population in Tillamook County have type 2 diabetes. Based on current research, nearly 30% of our population is at risk for “pre-diabetes” and most don’t even know it.  A large study concluded that healthier eating patterns, increased physical activity and moderate weight loss can reduce a person’s risk for developing diabetes by as much as 58%.

What is the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes? Both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes involve problems with the hormone insulin effectively managing blood sugar levels.  Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body lacks the ability to produce insulin well, whereas, Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not properly use the insulin the body is producing.

What is Prediabetes?  This is a stage before people develop type 2 diabetes and it occurs when a person’s blood sugar levels are consistently higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. There are not always symptoms, so most adults living with prediabetes likely do not know.  However, prediabetes does not automatically lead to diabetes, and can be fully reversed with healthy lifestyle changes and even small decreases in weight.

What is Diabetes?  Diabetes is a group of chronic conditions in which the body has a hard time controlling blood sugar on its own due to issues with the making or using of insulin.  For those without diabetes, the body knows exactly when and how much to make to break down the sugars and starches we eat.  For a person living with diabetes, this process doesn’t happen exactly as it should.

How does someone know if they have diabetes or prediabetes? There are several methods medical providers can use to determine diabetes risk. Screening tools and blood tests measuring blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels can provide a good indication of risk. Another blood test, referred to as the A1C, measures average blood sugar levels over a three-month period.  An A1C of 5.6 or lower is considered normal. A person with an A1C of 6.4 or higher would be diagnosed with diabetes. Scores falling within the range of 5.7-6.4 are considered prediabetes.

To learn more, take a type 2 diabetes risk test on-line.  Talk with your primary care physician about your risk factors and blood test options. If you have already received a prediabetes diagnosis or are interested in learning more, sign up for the upcoming YMCA Diabetes Prevention Program orientation on April 1^st.  For more information, call 503-842-9622 ext. 111.

Or go to www.tillamookcountyhealthmatters for more information.  Watch for more information about upcoming Tillamook County Wellness committee projects that will help our communities to be happier and healthier, while reducing diabetes.