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4 Actions Home Health Leaders Should Take

When you become the owner, manager or administrator of a home health agency people look up to you for leadership, to clarify, and guide them in the right direction, even if they don’t ask for it they do want it. When I was thrust into a leadership position a few years back, I kept looking for someone who could guide me and show me “the ropes.” I started reading as many leadership books that I could get my hands on. However, what helped me the most was watching leaders and mentors such as Oprah, Tony Robbins, Les Brown, and a bunch of unknown leaders in various professions in action. YouTube is great for having easy access to top leaders in the world.

I found that it was hard to find a person in a leadership position who would take the time to show me the ropes. Huh! I had to learn the hard way through many trials and errors. I finally understood that in some industries there is no emphasis on the concept of mentoring and coaching the” newbies”. You are on your own, especially if you need help in the home health industry.

So many home health agencies are in need of having an experienced director of clinical services on board, that they are now hiring nurses with no experience in home health that can jeopardize the success of the agency. Having the right person and processes in place is crucial to meet the state and federal requirements. Thus, having someone with great leadership skills, experience and knowledge is becoming ever more important in the home health industry.

What about Homecare (Personal care) Agencies?

While homecare agencies are not required to have a Director of Clinical Services, the Manager still need have specific qualifications required by the state regulations.

As a first-time Administrator, Manager, Owner, or Director of Clinical Services, here are a few strategies that any leader can use to be successful.

1. Be a first-class Listener

To be a good listener you must be present. This means to be physically or mentally focused on what is being said and not being distracted by everything that is happening around you. Being a good listener will make you more appreciative of what the other person has to say. You will be more effective in problem solving. Listening to your staff may take a lot of practice, consistency, and effort on your behalf, especially if you don’t agree with what that person has to say. We must remind ourselves of the benefits to listening more than talking. We must not judge the employee who is speaking, and look at the situation from their point of view.

2. Be a Better Communicator

Being a leader who can successfully communicate will be key to your success. Great communication skills should be a required for all agency owners, managers, or administrators. This is one skill that will vastly improve over time with practice.

3. Have a Vision For Your Agency

A great leader should have a clear and exciting vision for the future of their agency. This vision should be clear to everyone working for your agency, your clients, and business associates. What are your goals for the agency? Share those goals with people who matter and can help your goals manifest.

4. Find a Great Leader to Emulate

As I mentioned before, when I first started out on my journey as a leader, I was looking for someone who would serve as a role model and good leader. Of course, there wasn’t anyone in the home health or healthcare industry for me to emulate. Who do you know that is a successful leader as a home health administrator, owner, or manager? Good question huh! Since our choices are very limited, we have to emulate people from other industries to guide us to success and prosperity.

A leader that can demonstrate their commitment to being persistent, honest, take risks, and discover ways to develop creative solutions will be successful in growing a very profitable business.

A Simple Method to Cure Cold or the Flu

It is accepted that the common cold is caused by viruses such as the rhinovirus and can be transmitted from one infected individual to the other. The cold viruses are easily spread by one human coughing or sneezing in the air surrounding a healthy subject.

According to Wikipedia, Rhinovirus infection proliferates in temperatures between 33-35 degrees Celsius (91 to 95) the temperature found in the nose.

Dr Fiset after being exposed to a child suffering from a cold’s drect cough, developed symptoms of the common cold such as a sore throat.

She elaborated the premise that if she could lower the temperature in her mouth and nose by breathing by her open mouth, the virus might not develop. During the first day, she breath with her mouth slightly opened letting in cooler air (room temperature air is normally around 22 degrees Celsius) and did not develop a common cold the next day.

Dr Fiset added to her breathing technique drinking a lot of cold water and gargling with cold water. She based her behavior on the premise that it is accepted knowledge that a person starting a cold needs to hydrate herself. The gargling aimed at removing the virus from her throat.

Dr Fiset then filed a provisional patent for her breathing technique and recruited volunteers to practice her breathing methods the moment they felt a cold coming. She wanted to test if other people could get similar results, that is to say stop a common cold from developing by breathing through their mouth the minute they felt it in their throat.

To do her breathing technique, she opened her mouth creating a space of one quarter to one half of an inch between her upper and lower lips (when she was in public not to stand out). She breathe through her mouth widely opened when alone. Her breathing rate was not modified. She did this breathing technique many times during the first day she felt the cold in her throat.

According to Webmd, between lost work and doctor visits, and cold medicine, the common cold costs the U.S. economy about $40 billion a year.

Further research with double blind controlled studies need to be done. Dr Fiset also questions if by having a shorter encounter with the rhinovirus a person might not develop as much antibodies as if she had developed the full course of the common cold.

The power of using Dr Fiset’s breathing method to stop a cold from developing is that it is natural and theoretically can succeed against any virus causing the common cold, contrary to potent retroviruses that also carry important side effects.

Antiviral drugs cost a lot of money and can cause resistant viruses. Furthermore, some cold viruses would not be affected by antiviral drugs.

Dr Fiset’s breathing technique is free. It also changes the environment in a natural way making it unsuitable for common cold viruses to develop fully.

There will always be viruses that give common cold. By developing her breathing technique, Dr Fiset is merely suggesting that an acute cold can be stopped, diminished or alleviated naturally.

Dr Fiset voices her concern that if her breathing method to stop the cold from developing spreads, a new generation of viruses that give a cold might develop, one that can thrive at lower temperature.

Why Is Plant Oil an Ideal Health Choice?

Plant oils are usually extracted from different plants, especially the seeds. Just like most fats, the oils help to make food palatable, and can be used for purposes of cooking. There are many varieties of plant oils today and there seems to be no end in sight. In the local supermarkets today, there are different oils that you can choose to purchase because they are readily available.

One thing that is obvious is how easy it is to find plant oils that are refined instead of the ones that are cold pressed and fresh. However, such oils are added to processed foods. Some are also included in cosmetics and cleaning products.

Plant oils are not equal when it comes to health benefits. Some have more properties than others. There are some considerations that you need to make such as how the oil was made in the first place. Usually, the seed oils are first subjected to very high temperatures and sometime harsh chemicals are introduced. This makes the oil lose some of the nutrients that are supposed to be beneficial to our bodies.

As for the virgin oils, they are ground and centrifuged to separate the oil and the seed. The extra virgin oils usually need to meet very vigorous criteria in terms of chemical composition and purity.

When you are buying the plant oil, you need to consider how far it really is from the original form. In most cases, when refined oils are being created, they have to follow different steps. This includes mashing, bleaching, deodorizing, stripping, refining under high temperatures, chemical alterations, and so on.

Most of the plant oils are in liquid form and are almost never in solid form. When the weather gets cloudy and cold, the oil may become cloudy. The exceptions to this rule are coconut and some butter because of the fat content that is quite highly saturated. If you notice that oil is solid, it may be an indication that it has been altered chemically especially through hydrogenation.

Usually, the fats that are refined commercially have trans-fats. This comes during processing. What you notice is that most plant oils have a very high omega 3 content and that is why you should be using them instead of the refined options.

The most popular plants with a high omega 3 content include:

  • Flax seed
  • Hemp seed
  • Pumpkin seed
  • Walnut seed

The ones with higher monosaturated oil content include:

  • Olive
  • Almond
  • Avocado seed
  • Palm
  • Peanuts

The plants with higher saturated oils include:

  • Unrefined palm
  • Unrefined coconut

The reason why you should avoid the commercial cooking oils is that they have a higher content of omega 6. Choosing an oil that provides your requirement of omega fatty acids is always a good way to go. There are some that are able to offer omega 3, 6, and 9, which are very essential for wellness, health, and vitality. They are better than flax and fish. It is always good to know the health benefits to expect from the oil you intend to use.

28 Tips To Energize Your Life

To Revitalize You, To Say Good-Bye To Fatigue…

  1. Eat properly – Nutritious meals are number one in the battle against fatigue.
  2. Get up early – too much sleep can reduce your life expectancy.
  3. High-protein food.
  4. Munch on fruit when you need a snack.
  5. Avoid too much caffeine.
  6. Take vitamin B Complex.
  7. Get proper rest, relaxation and sleep. Relax before you get tired.
  8. Meditate whenever you get an opportunity for it – meditate many times during a day.
  9. Pamper yourself; take a break when you need it.
  10. Daily brisk walking.
  11. Enjoy music and songs whenever you get an opportunity for it during the day.
  12. Enjoy walking rather than driving.
  13. Play outdoor games.
  14. Make something more beautiful – Aesthetic Culture.
  15. Learn how to overcome stress and tension.
  16. Energy follows thought. Do not think about your inadequacies, your defects, your imperfections and your failures. But think about your achievements. Feel your beauty, your inner worth, your Buddha nature.
  17. Enjoy yourself. Look at the beauty and enjoy, listen to music and enjoy, use all your senses and enjoy. Use your senses at their optimum, then you will really live your life will be aflame; it will not be dull, it will be aflame with energy and vitality. Be alive because it is only on the wings of life that you will reach to truth. If you are dull you are lost. Be radiant.
  18. Love more and your body will gather more energy from the whole cosmos.
  19. Be very aware about your eating. Remain aware what and how much you eat, and its effect on your body. If you experiment with awareness, you will certainly find out which is the right food for you, which food gives you tranquillity, peace and health. There are no real difficulties in doing this, but because we do not pay any attention to feed we are never able to discover the right food. And eat joyously and happily.
  20. Take bath daily. It purifies and refreshes not only the body but our innermost core too.
  21. Enjoy reading.
  22. Much time and energy is dissipated in fighting, accept what is. Make friends with what is.
  23. Do not create absolute ideas; remain flexible. Be like water. It has no form, it is infinitely adjustable. That is its beauty, it knows no rigidity. Flexibility is life. It means responding to the moment without any preconceived idea.
  24. Consult your doctor and take medicine whenever needed. Take Neem for healthy body and skin, Bitter Melon (Karela) for regulation and good metabolism, Holi Basil (Tulasi) for relieving cough and cold and boosting immunity, Boswellia Serrata (Shallaki) for relieving joint pain and inflammation, Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) for relieving stress, strain and fatigue, Bacopa (Brahmi) for good memory and concentration.
  25. Love your work and be creative. Change your work into fun. Boredom sucks. Work as play. Work as worship. Combine activity and relaxation.
  26. Laugh your way to health. Laughter brings strength. Laughter is one of the most deep-going medicines.
  27. Do not prevent the tears. Let the tears flow. Learn to talk with God. Weep alone. Do not repress your tears.
  28. Let silence rejuvenate you. Learn the silence – the silence which is alive, positive, and affirmative. Silence is a joy. It is not just absence of worry – it is the presence of ecstasy. The real silence has to be in the crowd. When the crowd cannot disturb your solitude, then it is yours. When nothing disturbs you, when nothing distracts you, then you are centered. When you are really silent, you will find silence everywhere. Silence is something inside; quiet I something outside, hence, silence is not quiet. Quiet depends on conditions outside; silence is unconditional. Watch, witness, be centered, meditate and enjoy silence.

Follow all above 28 tips and keep yourself healthy, strong and energetic. Whole of your being must be full of energy.