Joshua Goad and his wife are always on the go.
“We are very active. I’ve got a sailboat, a kayak. We enjoy going to the gym and working out. It keeps us young,” says the 56-year-old, smiling.
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Their billboard sits off of Route 1 in Prince William County, not far from Dawson Beach Road, and less than five miles from Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center.
We had a chance to interview these physicians, learn more about what drives them, and have them share their experiences.
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Good Morning – Comcast Cares Day is Saturday, April 21 from 7:30am-1pm at the Georgetown South Community in Manassas. This wonderful partnership with Leadership Prince William brings together hundreds of volunteers to do supper stuff throughout the community. Grab your friends, family and colleagues to join in the fun. Tasks for the day include mulching 45 playgrounds, planting the community garden and window boxes, painting and personalizing 30 picnic tables in the green space but most importantly putting house numbers on the rear of all 840 homes in the community for added security and safety. Please register online at: leadershipprincewilliam.org/event/Comcast-cares-day or by calling the Community Center at: 703-361-4500. It doesn’t get any easier to accomplish so much more.
Here’s a term you might not be familiar with — the sandwich generation. It typically refers to the generation that cares for both children and aging parents.
Traditionally, the generation is made up of people in their thirties and forties. But with technology, advanced healthcare and a wide span of years during which parents decide to have children, the sandwich generation can include people in their twenties and fifties, maybe even sixties, in some cases. The Pew Research Center says, “Who is the sandwich generation? Its members are mostly middle-aged: 71% of this group is ages 40 to 59. An additional 19% are younger than 40 and 10% are age 60 or older.”
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Just as the weather breaks and it begins to grow warmer, the Women’s Health Center at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center’s team of doctors, nurses and staff are trading in their scrubs for tennis shoes.
It’s for the annual March of Dimes March for Babies walk.
In a previous article, we talked about ways to make local travel easier for the senior in your life. Sometimes, local travel means going to the doctor’s office. If you care for a senior who needs you to take them to see a doctor, you’ll need to be prepared. The general rules of planning a trip will probably still apply, but visiting the doctor requires some additional considerations. Here’s your to-do list.
Start the conversation – A few weeks before the appointment, when the senior in your care is relaxed and preferably talkative, ask how they have been feeling. Is there anything new bothering them? Do they have any questions? Listen closely and jot down notes in a health journal or notebook. Then list all medication and doses and how long they have been taking it. Document the day and time of the conversation.
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We know what it’s like to live in this area. Between the busyness of everyday living, the demands continuously made of us and the traffic, it’s enough to try the sanity of even the most level-headed among us. So imagine what it’s like for the senior in your life who has to travel locally with you. Not only can they feel your stress, they have their own issues to manage.
We’ve worked with families enough to know that no one wants tempers to flare or plans to be disrupted, especially over something that could have been avoided by implementing some simple strategies. Because we understand how easy it is to get derailed by even the little things, we’ve put together these tips and reminders to help make traveling locally with your senior as smooth and painless as possible. Let’s get started.
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Emergency Department physician Dr. Anoop Kumar has dedicated his life to helping people who are sick, scared and hurt.
“I received my MD in 2007 and completed my training in Emergency Medicine in 2011. I like the clinical diversity of Emergency Medicine. I see young, old, female, male, many critically ill, some not so ill, medical, psychiatric, surgical, and social conditions. If one can bear to look, it’s [the Emergency Department] a window into the soul of society,” says Dr. Kumar.
In our last article, we talked about four activities you can enjoy with the senior in your life to increase quality of life. We started off with conversation, sketching, reciting and singing. Here are four more ideas to try.
Stretching – If you have been caring for a senior for a while, chances are you know a little about their physical strengths and challenges. Put this knowledge to good use. Lead a little stretching session. You might be able to do whole body stretches (reach high up over the head, point palms to ceiling and gently wiggle the fingers) or focus on a particular body part, like the foot. Point the toes, flex the ankle, whatever feels good. Be sure to go slowly and ask your senior how each movement feels. The point is to loosen the muscles and to engage in conversation about sensations. Note, it is recommended you ask a physical therapist or doctor what kind of movements they would recommend before you engage in this activity.