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Perception is Everything |
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 Webster defines perception as coming into an
awareness by means of our senses, specifically our senses of sight
and hearing. Can you name the senses? There’s sight, hearing,
smell, taste, and touch. I began to wonder if it was no
coincidence that “common” is not found under the list of
“senses”. Because what we see and hear are individual
experiences, perception now becomes drastically limited to
individual revelation.
Click here for the complete article. |
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Esmeralda
(Esmer) Flores-Zaedow
District "Here’s Looking At You" Presenter |
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National Sleep Awareness Week |
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 March
5th-11th is National Sleep Awareness Week. The
National
Sleep Foundation reports that 85% of teenagers do not get the
8.5 - 9.25 hours of sleep they need each night.
The
National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration conservatively estimates that 100,000
police-reported crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue
each year. This results in an estimated 1,550 deaths. Over 50% of
the drivers involved in these crashes are teenagers and young
adults in their early twenties.
Sleep deprived teens today are facing serious and even fatal
consequences when combining drowsiness with driving. New
research has shown how critically important it is for teens to get
enough sleep to function at their best – physically, mentally and
academically. |
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©Copyright 2007 National Sleep Foundation. All
Rights Reserved.
http://www.sleepfoundation.org |
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"Workplace
Eye Health and Safety" Month
March is Workplace Eye Health and Safety
Month. For a Workplace Eye Safety Fact Sheet and other vision
fact sheets from Prevent Blindness America, click
here.
 Founded in 1908, Prevent Blindness America is
the nation's leading volunteer eye health and safety organization
dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight. Focused on
promoting a continuum of vision care, Prevent Blindness America
touches the lives of millions of people each year.
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Copyright © 2006
Prevent Blindness America ®
http://www.preventblindness.org/ |
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Step Aerobics |
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 Place:
Wilson Elementary Gymnasium
Dates: Mondays and Wednesdays
Times:
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Instructor:
Colleen Valenta
Must bring your own step (“The
Step” recommended)
Wear good aerobic or
cross-trainer shoes
Contact Tonie at
632-3275 to sign-up or email
Sharon Wilkes
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Ballroom Dancing Lessons |
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Great Fun, Great
Exercise!
Place:
Cathey Middle School
Dates: Mondays
Times: 3:45 - 4:45 p.m.
Instructor:
Orlando Perez
Place:
Travis Middle
School
Dates: Thursdays
Times: 3:45 - 4:45 p.m.
Instructor:
Orlando Perez
Be sure to wear tennis shoes.
All staff and
students welcome!
Contact Tonie at
632-3275 to sign-up or email
Sharon Wilkes
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Water Aerobics |
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Place:
Nikki
Rowe High School Pool
Dates:
Monday - Friday until further notice
Times:
6:45 - 7:45 p.m. Water Aerobics
7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Lap Swimming
Fee:
$1.00 per session
$8.00 per 10 sessions
Free to MISD employees (must
show ID)
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Wellness...a way of life! |
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In last
month's issue, we talked about the possibility of getting
infections from the time clocks. There is something far more
dangerous to our health, something most women carry with them
where ever they go--purses! Please read on if you if you are
REALLY concerned about contracting infections.
 Have you
ever noticed women who set their purses on public restroom floors
– that go directly to their dining tables? Happens a lot! It’s
not always the ‘restaurant food’ that causes stomach distress.
Sometimes “what you don’t know will hurt you”! Read on… Mom got
so upset when guests came in the door and plopped their purses
down on the counter where she was cooking or setting up the
buffet. She always said that purses are really dirty, because of
where they have been. Smart Momma!!!
It’s
something just about all women carry with them. While we may know
what’s inside our purses, do you have any idea what’s on the
outside?
Shauna Lake
put purses to the test - for bacteria – with surprising results.
You may think twice about where you put your purse. Women carry
purses everywhere; from the office to public restrooms to the
floor of the car. Most women won’t be caught without their
purses, but did you ever stop to think about where your purse goes
during the day?
“I drive a
school bus, so my purse has been on the floor of the bus a lot,”
says one woman. “I put my purse in grocery shopping carts, on the
floor of bathroom stalls while changing a diaper,” says another
woman, “and of course in my home, which should be clean.”
We decided
to find out if purses harbor a lot of bacteria. We learned how to
test them at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake, then we set out to
test the average woman’s purse.
Most women
told us they didn’t stop to think about what was on the bottom of
their purse. Most said they usually set their purses on top of
kitchen tables and counters where food is prepared. Most of the
ladies we talked to told us they wouldn’t be surprised if their
purses were at least a little bit dirty.
It turns out
purses are so surprisingly dirty, even the microbiologist who
tested them was shocked. Microbiologist Amy Karren of Nelson Labs
says nearly all of the purses tested were not only high in
bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria.
Pseudomonas
can cause eye infections, staphylococcus aureus can cause serious
skin infections, and salmonella and e-coli found on the purses
could make people very sick. In one sampling, four of five purses
tested positive for salmonella, and that’s not the worst of it.
“There is fecal contamination on the purses,” says Amy.
Leather or
vinyl purses tended to be cleaner than cloth purses, and lifestyle
seemed to play a role. People with kids tended to have dirtier
purses than those without, with one exception. The purse of one
single woman who frequented nightclubs had one of the worst
contaminations of all. “Some type of feces, or even possibly
vomit or something like that,” says Amy.
So the moral
of this story – your purse won’t kill you, but it does have the
potential to make you very sick if you keep it on places where you
eat. Use hooks to hang your purse at home and in the restrooms,
and don’t put it on your desk, a restaurant table, or on your
kitchen countertop.
Experts say
you should think of your purse the same way you would a pair of
shoes. “If you think about putting a pair of shoes onto your
countertops, that’s the same thing you’re doing when you put your
purse on the countertops” – your purse has gone where every
individual before you has spat, coughed, urinated, emptied bowels,
etc! Do you really want to bring that home with you?
The
microbiologists at Nelson also said cleaning a purse will help.
Wash cloth purses and use leather cleaner to clean the bottom of
leather purses. |
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 75%
of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies
to half the world population.)
In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that
it is mistaken for hunger.
Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as
3%.
One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs
for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of
Washington study.
Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water
a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up
to 80% of sufferers.
A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term
memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing
on the computer screen or on a ! printed page.
Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of
colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast
cancer by 79%., and one is 50% less likely to develop
bladder cancer. Are you drinking the amount of water you
should drink every day? |
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Now the question is, would you like a glass of water?
or a Coke?
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 In
many states the highway patrol carries
two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from
the highway after a car accident.
You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke and it will
be gone in two days.
To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the
toilet bowl and let the "real thing" sit for one hour,
then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains
from vitreous china.
To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers,
rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap
aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.
To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour
a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the
corrosion.
To loosen a rusted bolt: Apply a cloth soaked in
Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.
To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into
the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake.
Thirty minutes before ham is finished, remove the foil,
allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a
sumptuous brown gravy.
To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of Coke
into the load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run
through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen
grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your
windshield.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid.
It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric
acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major
contributor to the rising increase of osteoporosis.
To carry Coca-Cola syrup! (the concentrate) the
commercial trucks must use a hazardous Material place
cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.
The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean
engines of the trucks for about 20 years! |
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This month I want to recognize one of our
Partners In Excellence for his contributions to the district’s
Wellness Program. Many of you know Orlando Perez as
“Mr. Dance”. He has touched many lives with his energy and
enthusiasm as he teaches Ballroom Dance (especially Salsa). Last
semester he conducted a Salsa class for staff; this semester he is
conducting Ballroom Dancing for middle school students and staff.
Orlando is an active member of our
School
Health Advisory Council. He knows the direct relationship
of health and wellness to the success of students, academically,
physically, mentally, and emotionally. Orlando often speaks to
students about health, emphasizing the need to eat well and
exercise in order for their minds to be healthy. He related the
following story to me which I am please to share.
A
district elementary campus invited Orlando to speak to their
KWOW (Kids Working on Wellness) Club. During that
presentation, he discussed fast foods—how they contain so much
fat, and how they can be unhealthy for us. He went on to say how a
healthy meal can be made at home in ten or fifteen minutes. He
challenged the students, that the next time their parent suggested
going to a fast food restaurant, to say “Mom, let’s go home and
eat a healthy meal. We are willing to wait fifteen minutes so we
can eat something healthy.”
A
few days later, Orlando was approached by a mother who thanked him
profusely. She told him that she asked her children if they wanted
to go to McDonald’s for dinner. To her delight she heard, yes, you
guessed it, “Mom, let’s go home and eat something healthy. We are
willing to wait fifteen minutes!!!!!”
We
know that children are so impressionable. They are bombarded by
advertisements for fast foods, sodas, candies, etc. How different
it could be if they were constantly reminded about healthy
choices. Orlando Perez, we love you for all you do to make
health and wellness enjoyable, exciting, enticing and energizing
for our entire community. I am honored to place you In the
Spotlight! |
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Sharon B. Wilkes,
RN, MA, CPS, CCS, Coordinator, Prevention Services |
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DENTAL CLAIMS
The address for mailing dental claims has
changed. Dental claims should be mailed to:
American Administrative Group (AAG)
P.O. Box 93670
Lubbock, Texas 79493-3670
In order for a claim to be considered eligible
for benefits, proof of loss should be submitted within 90 days
following the date of loss. Dental Claim forms are available in
the Employee Benefits Office.
HEALTH ID CARDS TO BE REISSUED
Due to the new mailing address for filing of
dental claims, revised Health ID Cards will be reissued to all
participants. The plan administrator, American Administrative
Group (AAG), will begin mailing the revised cards on or about
March 19, 2007. The ID cards will be mailed to participant’s home
address.
The current ID card can continue to be
presented for services until such time the new card arrives. For
dental services in the interim, provider should be advised of the
new mailing address or encouraged to call AAG Customer Service at
1-866-471-6047 prior to submitting a claim. All other provider
information on the card will remain unchanged.
Visit the
MISD Employee Benefits Department web site for up-to-date
benefit forms and information. |
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Contact the Employee Benefits Office at 618-6007 for additional
information.
Mr. Andres Silva is the
Director of Employee Benefits/Risk Management |
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Lunch and Learn
Sessions
All sessions will take place in the Board Room of the McAllen ISD
Administration Office from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm. |
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Date |
Session
Description |
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March 2, 2007 |
General
Health and Wellness
Dr. Aaron
Guerra will discuss this topic, with a special focus on
osteoporosis. He will include the importance of good body
mechanics. |
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Healthy salads
may be ordered by calling Tonie Aleman at 632-3275 at least 3 days
in advance. The cost is $2.65. Bring your own drink and the
correct
change, please. |
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Staff
development sessions for time equivalency regarding
Wellness
topics are now posted on the
ERO (Look under
Wellness). |
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For
Health/Wellness Information, library of resource documents and
other useful information, click
here. |
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