Writing, editing, photography, technology, and Web development for small businesspeople
It’s wonderful that there’s so much focus these days on senior safety. I recently had two entries to my Webgrammar health page, and I want to give you these links, because they are both done so professionally and thoroughly. I could go on and on, but they will speak for themselves.
Enjoy!
The Do’s and Don’ts of Medication Management
By SingleCare
Being diagnosed with a health condition (be it a chronic illness, disability, or even a temporary sickness) can be a hard pill to swallow. A single health condition could require multiple medications ranging from prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicine to vitamins or supplements. If you’re part of the 66% of older adults in America who have been diagnosed with multiple health conditions, your list of medications could double or triple. The following is a list of do’s and don’ts that you should consider in order to streamline your medication regimen.
Don’t go it alone. It’s normal to feel a bit helpless when you receive a diagnosis of a health condition. However, feelings of isolation can be avoided by building a strong healthcare team. Doctors and pharmacists will be able to provide unbiased, professional medical advice when you have questions about treatment. Your family and friends can offer moral support. And your caregiver can lend a helping hand whenever you need it most. All you have to do is ask for help.
Do adjust your mindset. Treatment can be frustrating at times, especially among seniors who recall a much shorter road to recovery in their past. It’s important to understand that when our bodies change and age, so does our response to treatment and medication. What was once an effective medication in the past may no longer work as well, as quickly, or in conjunction with other medications that you are taking now.
Don’t hesitate to ask questions. It’s critical to get answers from your doctor when you don’t understand something. The medical field is full of jargon and, after all, there is no such thing as a bad question when it comes to good health. You should also feel empowered to provide candid feedback if something doesn’t feel quite right. Your doctor may need to adjust the dosage of a medication or take you off of it altogether.
Perhaps the most important yet often overlooked question to ask your doctor is whether there are any medications that you can stop taking. Doctors are sometimes apt to add medications to a treatment plan without taking any away. Less is more when it comes to medication management.
Do read prescription labels. First, verify that your patient information and the prescription information is correct. Then, read all of the instructions for taking the medication as well as prescription warnings. Jot down the drug names, strengths, and dosages all on one piece of paper and post it in a central location at home so you can keep track of what to take when.
You’ll also find contact information for your pharmacy and doctor on the prescription label in case you have any questions once you get home. If you’re completely overwhelmed, you can also schedule a medication review with a pharmacist. Ask your caregiver to come along to take notes for you so you can give the pharmacist your undivided attention.
Don’t underestimate the power of organization. What if you forget a dose? What if you accidentally take too much? These can be dangerous mistakes. You can streamline medication adherence by creating a medication schedule. Here, you’ll list each medication, which days of the week you need to take it and at what time, and how much of the medication to take. In addition to a schedule, you can set an alarm to notify you when it’s time to take your medicine.
In addition to more health education guides, you can download and print a free medication schedule on SingleCare.
By Lucy Wyndham
Ever wondered where writers actually do their writing? For a lot of writers, writing happens in a number of different locations such as coffee shops, parks, libraries or group writing spaces. Writing in new and different places can help to mix things up for extra inspiration and to help generate new ideas. However, setting up a writing space in the home where the majority of writing will occur is essential. This is where most writers will produce the greater part of their work, free from distraction and in the midst of home comforts and conveniences. Setting up an inspiring and relaxed home writing space is an important part of the process, and this article will look at how you can create the perfect writing spot in your home.
Choosing your writing space
If you don’t have a spare room in your home such as a study, then you will need to get creative by turning a little nook or a corner of one of the main rooms into a writing space. The key consideration when deciding on which space to use is finding somewhere that will be peaceful and quiet the majority of the time. With this in mind, converting the corner of your bedroom into a writing space could be a good idea as you are less likely to get disturbed. However, some people don’t like writing in the same place that they sleep, preferring to separate the two. In this case, you could consider another main room such as the kitchen, living or dining room, or a conservatory if you are lucky enough to have one!
Choose a bright spot
Ideally you should choose a space with ample light. Choosing a space by a window or in a south facing room in the house is preferable. This will help to keep you alert, refreshed and awake, or even get part of your vitamin D fix while writing! Dotting plants around your writing space will also help to boost mood and improve the air quality in the room, helping to keep things fresh and salubrious. Writing in a room that is affected by damp or mould is not a good idea, research shows that this can adversely affect both health and well-being.
Flash, fold out desks
There are also a range of lovely small, wall attached, fold out desks that you can buy which are compact and help to save space, perfect for an impromptu writing space in a small corner. They also allow plenty of room for your legs as there are no table legs to get in your way, thereby increasing levels of comfort and flexibility. Prioritising comfort in your space is important as you will be sitting there for long periods.
Decrease clutter
True to the saying ‘tidy house, tidy mind’, excessive clutter can be stifling. having too many objects and ornaments around that are lacking in order or organisation can burden the mind and make it more difficult to think clearly and process our thoughts. This is why it is recommended to create a more minimalistic writing space, perhaps adorned with some inspiring works of arts on the wall or a selection of your favourite ornaments.
How to make your website more accessibility friendly
By Lucy Wyndham
Making your website accessibility friendly is incredibly important now that people are more reliant on technology and online services. It is now common practice to turn to the web to access a range of different resources and industries such as education, business, healthcare, entertainment and employment. Accessible website design is therefore critical to ensure that no one is limited by their disability when it comes to accessing important online services.
Understanding user needs
The key to website accessibility is to firstly understand the needs and potential issues that may make it difficult for some user to access your services, in order to be able to cater for and accommodate everyone without exceptions so you can be welcoming to all visitors.
Being keyboard friendly
This first step is the most important because many assistive technologies rely on keyboard navigation only. So in order for your website to be accessibility friendly, users need to be able to use all of the websites major features without the use of a mouse, this includes accessing all content such as pages, pop outs and links. Your goal should be to make sure that all content can be navigated via the ‘tab’ key, which is the most common way of navigating using a keyboard
Making your website accessible to the visually impaired
In order to cater for the visually impaired, you should add alt text to all images so that pictures can be read. In fact all of the key content on your website needs to be made accessible in audio form.
Many visually impaired users will access websites that have special high-contrast web browsers, screen readers or by substituting CSS styles with a set of rules that are designed to remove visual barriers, in this case you should make sure that all essential information is delivered separately from CSS files.
Being mindful of colour
Forms that use colour to identify different fields could pose a problem for people that are colour blind or using a screen reader, so be mindful of this when choosing colours for different parts of your website.
Word resizing
You should also make sure to build your website to support a word resizing feature, which is a function that visually impaired people will use often to blow the text up to a size that is comfortable and easy for them to read whenever necessary.
Displaying data in forms
Forms are a common feature for most websites and it is important to make sure that they are designed carefully so that they can accessed by everyone. It is important to make sure each field is clearly labels, placed right next to their respective fields so it is easy to match the label to the corresponding field. You should also aim to provide clear instructions and information in a way that all users can easily understand. You could use a tool such as the Caldera Forms builder in WordPress which is designed with an accessibility focus in mind.
Limiting the use of tables
While tables can be useful for people with assistive technology to parse large amounts of data, they can sometimes become confusing if they are used for anything other than tabular data. You should avoid using tables for layouts, list or anything else where it is not essential as otherwise it can be confusing to screen readers.
Judy Vorfeld's
OFFICE SUPPORT SERVICES
10439 W Royal Palm Rd.
Peoria AZ 85345
