Have you ever tried to finish a home improvement project without using the right tools? How did it turn out? As a new homeowner, I’ve learned the results aren’t pretty.

Along the same lines, using the right equipment can enable people with certain physical limitations to safely accomplish every-day tasks in the home. If you use any of these common household items for these (or similar) reasons, allow me to share with you a few safer options.

1) Avoid holding onto the towel rack to enter and exit the bathtub or shower.…

Everyone knows someone who has asthma. While it is very common throughout the United States, it is particularly prevalent in the northeast.

Why is it so high here and is there anything that can be done to change that? I’m glad to say that there is something that can be done to change it, and it is called getting informed and controlling your symptoms. Medication management is very important in any disease but environmental changes often bring the biggest impact on symptom control. This means that there are things that you and…

Neti pots have been in use for a very long time all around the world. If you have never heard of them it is used to flush the nare-nose of secretion. If you are an allergy sufferer you may use one when the seasonal allergies become unbearable. For some children, it is a method to clear blocked sinus passages with a warm water solution. Kids tell me that it looks like a ‘terrible teapot’ in other words they don’t like BUT do like the fact that they breathe better after…

For families that care for an ill child at home the work is 24/7, and the stress of daily care can take a toll on everyone. But much research on home care in children supports that these children often do so much better at home. They continue to maintain their role within the family. Surround yourself with those that love you, and you love and anything is possible. Here is a thought:

H — Happiness lives there;
O — Overwhelming love and safety;
M — Me and my family, strong together;
E — Everyone I care…

Life Skills is something we, as adults, take for granted since we feel pretty independent in all our daily living needs unless we suffer from some illness that requires assistance. But our children, specifically our teenagers, are poised at the ready to enter the big world of adulthood. Are they ready? Better yet are we ready? How do you prepare your teen or young adult out of college to handle daily independent living in a positive way?

Things are very different now then they were 20 or more  years ago. To…

As 2011 is winding down my gut instinct is to make a few of the familiar resolutions for the coming year. Does starting a new exercise plan or eating healthier ring a bell?

However, before I make any of those resolutions I took time to reflect on my experiences providing care in the greatest city on earth and here’s what I came up with.

The Value of Home Care

Having choices is good. Having choices when it comes to caring for the older adults in our lives is invaluable. Everyday I witness how home health care improves the quality of life…

Corrective pediatric surgeries happen everyday in most hospitals in the United States. For the most part, these surgeries are required for many different conditions and can be life changing. Corrective surgeries, for example, open doors for ambulation, normal cardiac function, normal diet consumption and opportunities for achievement. Families do there best to prepare themselves and their child for what may be a difficult road to recovery. It can be life changing in both good and bad ways.  Bad in that some surgery recipients have complications and have great difficulty “getting…

Holiday cheer, family in from out of town, and all the fittings of the many feasts that come with the holidays. As you prepare to entertain, visit with family and routines get changed, don’t forget the safety part of any holiday. Many years ago, I had a parent who reported to me her daughter’s trip to an ER on Christmas Eve. Because her daughter (then 3-years-old) took an unidentified pill. A pill you ask? Yes, it was left in the bathroom on the sink by an older cousin who had…

It’s no surprise that many successful athletes have been able to prolong their careers by taking care of their bodies. At age 42, relief pitcher Mariano Riveria who is famous for his conditioning regimen continues to help the New York Yankees win close games. He also happens to be their oldest player in a sport that values youth.

Equally if not more impressive are the elderly I work with who continue to take care of their bodies by staying physically active. Here are some of the ways I have observed how…