asthma / life / stuff bloggers do / work

disclosure update / new jobs! | Identity Doctor, Inc. & University of Alberta

• by kerri

My full disclosure statement can be found here, and is updated each time I undergo a change in partnerships, specifically/especially ones in which I have an online presence or may be of greater impact to individuals reading this blog (like how I disclose the heck out of asthma related things because every group is somehow intertwined and I am kind of heavily invested in that subject).

My Identity Doctor (/Identity Doctor, Inc.)
Community Outreach Coordinator 

As of yesterday (01/08/15), I re-entered an agreement with Jon at My Identity Doctor. This time, I’ll be doing some community engagement work for his online medical ID jewelry company (I’ve worked with Jon before, and you can find this on my disclosures page). The bulk of this position will include me researching and reaching out to potential MID partners—patient support communities, both online and off, whose members could benefit from wearing medical identification jewellery—and providing them discounts to help them encourage discussion [and action] among their members to protect their wellbeing by wearing medical identification. (If you’re now an intrigued community leader/moderator, or have questions or concerns about this, shoot me an e-mail.)

University of Alberta – Pulmonary Research Group
Research Associate 

Today (busy week!) I had a follow-up phone call solidifying an offer of a Research Assistant position with the University of Alberta’s Pulmonary Research Group. While there may be some overlap with my role as the Canadian Severe Asthma Network Patient Lead, I’m very excited that I will be (remotely) assisting with a variety of aspects of an asthma research study, as directed by the study’s Primary Investigator, Dr. Dilini Vethanayagam.

 

Here’s to new horizons! As always, any questions about these, or any of my partnerships, check out my disclosure statement first for the whole story, and drop me an e-mail if you still have curiosities for me to address.

asthma / health + fitness / stuff bloggers do

slingshot saturday: ten links from around the web.

• by kerri
In one way or another, I’ll be using Saturdays to look back—whether it’s on goals I’ve made and progress towards them, recapturing the past month, on music that I’ve been digging, anything goes.
 
Today’s Slingshot Saturday will take us back to some links from the past week. [It was the week we all started having to write 2015 on stuff, so good links were both easy AND difficult to find].
  • The Massive Fitness Trend That’s Not Actually Healthy At All. Thanks to the real-talk of Greatist for this gem on “the militarization of fitness” and why it’s not a good thing. (That’s right… Let’s ALL embrace not puking at the gym… Lactic acid craziness does not go hand in hand with a good workout, resolutionists.)
  • Real-world doctors fact check Dr. Oz, and the results aren’t pretty. Yes, those of us immersed into this scene could have told you this years ago about the fairytale land Oz is living in (and The Doctors)—I just hope this information is adequately getting to the general public.
    You know how you’re not supposed to believe everything you read on the internet? That goes for TV, too—even more-so, maybe.
     
  • About that mom who’s not bragging about her kid. As a young adult with learning and attention issues, parts of this article definitely resonated with me: while I struggle sometimes with not being as proficient with a variety of things as I’d like—both now and in the past—this article really hit home for me about maybe what my mom was thinking in certain conversations with people at times, especially when I was in university. That’s right, if anything, this can intensify after high-school graduation.
     
  • A Step Forward. A blog post by my friend Mike at My Diabetic Heart that is definitely worth reading if you have or care for someone with chronic disease: it’s hard to be perfect, and sometimes it’s the outward-seeming smallest steps that can get us back to focusing on better.
  • Jeremy Kyle: Who Stole my iPhone. Much like Maury Povich is to America, Jeremy Kyle is really just a far more amusing [to me] version, except from England. My friend Simi and I watch Jeremy Kyle via YouTube late-ish at night (for me) and early in the morning (for her in England, thus her knowledge on Jeremy Kyle). Related: “Which of my children stole my bingo winnings?”

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

advocacy / badassmatics / being a student / dare you to move / faith / health + fitness / health advocacy / life / stuff bloggers do / wellness

plan, initiate… result?: reflecting on goal progress [from 2011?!]

• by kerri

So this, this is all too true. And with that, I present, Goals from 2011 – Revisited.

Small things

  • Focus on the good things.
  • Complete the onehundredpushups program and not derail. Yes, I am doing girly push-ups. It is better than no push-ups.  If all goes well, this will be completed by the end of January.
  • Stop making Saturday and Sunday the exception: 
    • the weekend is not an excuse to only brush my teeth once a day instead of twice
    • it is not an excuse to forgo a workout or two
    • and it is not a cop out for eating all kinds of random food.
  • Become more reliable at hitting up the cardio workouts 45 minutes/day, 5 days/week.
  • Read over the day’s notes when I get home from school and make study notes as the term goes on, because it will make finals suck less.

Bigger things

  • Health advocacy: do new things, reach beyond what I’ve already been doing in some way.  [Maybe that’s doing more races sporting the Team Asthma gear, maybe that’s trying to see if volunteering at asthma camp will work this year, maybe that’s giving my time and my own body for research if I’m eligible.  It could be a lot of things, or all of these things].
  • Actually walk a half marathon.  I’ve been saying I’m going to do one for about two years, so let’s make 2012 the year pending all goes as planned.
  • Work with others to help them realize their own potential, be a part of that ripple effect.
  • Figure out where I’m at with God.
  • Make another attempt at the 365 project.
  • Hesitate less, do more.

So. How have I done?

Focus on the Good Things: It’s a conscious choice, but I try to nail it every. Single. Day. And I think I’m succeeding for the most part.

Onehundredpushups: Nope. I can safely say that I have not, nor am I trying presently, to be able to do 100 pushups… of any sort.

Stop making Saturday and Sunday the Exception: Here’s the issue: every day is Saturday and Sunday to me right now. Which means that I try often and fail at brushing my teeth twice daily—I always get bedtime in, morning is a bit tougher to remember and I don’t know why—I can tell you that I haven’t done any working out since several weeks ago when I impulsively bought a yoga app and did a yoga workout I really enjoyed and then… didn’t touch it again—and, I eat random food all the time. Right now I have Combos beside me. If you want to talk about random food, that is the epitome of it right there.

Become more reliable about hitting up the cardio workouts: 2013 derailed this because I was sick for so much of it. But you know what? it’s effing over. 2013 is effing over and it has been for a long time, and yes that got me off track but it is no reason to still be off track.

Studying: Currently irrelevant, but I can say I never really made good on this, except for in Anatomy round 3.

Health advocacy: In the big picture, I have done this—when I wrote this, I had maybe haphazardly filled out an app to medicine-x at Stanford… But then I got in for 2012. I had yet to learn of attending the World Congress of Asthma with the Asthma Society in Quebec City in 2012. And, I had yet to know that I’d start taking on more roles with the ASC, link up with the Canadian Severe Asthma Network, attend MedX again, and, most importantly, find more ways to practice everyday advocacy within the places I was all the time: school and work. So I’m going to give this a check mark—but it’s a constant growth, and I still have more work to do. See also: Badassmatics!

Actually walk a half-marathon: I don’t even know if this is on the goals anymore to be perfectly honest. But maybe see that thing about cardio above.

Work with others to help them realize their own potential, be part of that ripple effect. I’m gonna give this one a check-mark, but once again, that isn’t something that ends.

Figure out where I’m at with God. My journal would indicate that is still a big question mark, but it’s actually something I’ve been contemplating in the last week. And, I feel like I might never figure that out and that’s just part of my story.

Make another attempt at the 365 project. CHECK MARK. More to come on this!

Hesitate less, do more. Sometimes I meet random strangers off the internet in airports in a country I don’t live in, and they drive you down me state awhile and drop me off to crash in a hotel with someone I also don’t know. And then I repeat that process in a few different ways in a few different states. And, sometimes those people end up becoming your best friends. That’s a pretty extreme example, and I’m sure there was a lot of reservation, but… adventure is really not born of extreme caution, it’s born of optimism and trusting your instincts. And, it’s worked for me.

—

There are certainly things to build off of here, but the important thing is, I have been building. But, I need to act more, and more fully. And I know this—I just have to harness the energy to make it all happen, because I can. In the coming weeks, I’ll revamp the goals list for 2015—and be doing some introspection surrounding previous goals lists, too.

Even though I am to not be bound by calendar years, yes, that fresh start effect everyone gets so into is contagious.

adventures / advocacy / friends / health + fitness / health advocacy / life / on the road / social media / stuff bloggers do / wellness

Tour de Good Things: People. | #medx 2014

• by kerri

The Tour de Good Things was a way i could summate the crazy journey I took to culminate August and begin September—both on an extremely high note. It has been nearly impossible to come down from the high that begun prior to Medicine X 2014 at Stanford University [disclosure], especially since the journey encompassed 7,227 kilometres (or about that). The last Thursday in August, I got into a car with a 60L hiking backpack of necessities and a drawstring backpack of medications, my only “prepared” travel document being my passport, and left home for 12 days. I arrived back into Winnipeg by plane last Monday after a red eye flight via Minneapolis—my initial destination.

There are many posts in here waiting to be written, and a video to come. But as many, many others have summated, the power, the magic, the amazing of Medicine X is in the people: This is a theme that would cover the entirety of the Tour de Good Things.

Minneapolis.

This kid (my cousin, Dean) headed down to University of Minnesota to start becoming an engineer of the probably civil variety, not the train variety [though, train engineers are probably also very civil]. So thanks to him I got a really long ride to the airport.

I also had grilled cheese and an awesome conversation on the parallels of asthma and T1 diabetes with these lovelies, Scott and Heather.

SFO. All over the East Bay. Santa Cruz. Davis.

My awesome aunt, Linda, and my grandma dropped me off at MSP after a 4.5 day drive to the airport […okay, the airport truly is only 8 hours from home. Not that that’s close.] and a four hour flight, I hit ground at SFO and was swept up into my “Cali-bestie” Steve’s truck, where (after picking up pizza), I FINALLY got to meet his long time partner and now husband, Doug (finally. On my third visit to the Bay Area—third time’s the charm, right? Doug is, of course, to a tee of how Steve describes him, and a total sweetheart just like Steve). We headed to Santa Cruz the next day, and San Jose where I finally got to meet his mom, Claire, his sister Sheree, and Sheree’s husband, Dan, who had us over for lunch on Monday.

The next day we headed over to Davis to get Steve’s new bass set up by a cool dude named Harrison.

San Francisco.

Steve drove me out to SF on Wednesday [because he is the best] to ensure I made my connection with my friend Carly (whom I met at MedX in 2012!) at the Twitter building. Carly’s friend Samantha was [at the time] working for Twitter, and had invited Carly for lunch—and opened up the invitation to any of Carly’s friends who wanted to come, too, which was beyond awesome :). (Samantha on the left, Carly—our link!—in the middle :].) Thanks, ladies!

Carly and I made a brief stop in Japantown after lunch and our tour around Twitter with Samantha, and then headed for Palo Alto. Not long after arriving, we had a spontaneous MedX ePatient gathering by the pool—meeting, and reuniting, with a lot of kickass ePatients—friends.

Carly and I (left, of course), [fellow Canadian!] Annette, Liza, Meredith, Dee, Marie (from Ireland!) and Michael (from England!) at the Sheraton. (Thanks to the Sheraton team member who ran out to take this shot for us!)

The next day, the fun really got started when Dr. Larry Chu [the beyond awesome MedX Conference Director!] introduced us to the Selfie Stick [here’s a professional picture (source) of Leslie, Emily, Karen, Rachel [TEAM CANADA!], myself, and Nikki selfie-ing with a selfie-stick on pre-conference workshop day!]

Of course, Ryan had to give it a go once we hit MedX full-stride—he had to make himself short for me so that a) I could adequately put my arm around his shoulders, and b) because he is too tall and was blocking the world medicine :).

No selfie stick for Brett and I, though (…everybody is SO TALL). He yelled “Oh hey, it’s Kerri!” in the corner right by the selfie station, and then we hugged, and I was like “okay we need to selfie so we don’t forget!” :]

We don’t always selfie in front of the selfie wall—sometimes we selfie in front of the gold badge door. Not only was Devon, below, a hit among the crowd at MedX, I was super excited to find another lunger on the scene [I mean, asthmatics DO hide everywhere, but… they hide].

Devon spoke on a panel about “the non-smartphone patient”, and has COPD. And, though he seemed adamantly against it before I showed him everybody tweeting his quotes, I did get him signed up on Twitter!

My super sweet roomie, Karen, and behind us, her poster presentation on the metaphorical dance that is chronic illness. Karen is a sport psychologist from Mexico and is generally amazing, so we never had a shortage of fun things to talk about :).

And on the subject of roommates, my 2012 roomie, Kim, and I—clearly in the club, and not at a medical conference. #ClubMedX

And, Miss Zoe Chu. While puppy, and not people, she lovingly made MedX granola for me and we had selfie times, so she clearly belongs on this list :].

Joe from Eli Lilly’s Team of Good People and Awesomeness (aka Lilly Clinical Open Innovation) and I—we look less like a painting in person. Probably. 🙂

And, Jerry from Eli Lilly, who was in the elevator on Thursday morning before Partnering for Health when a bunch of ePatients yelled my name and hugged me as I got on the elevator. Except we didn’t know we were supposed to know each other yet, and then he sat down beside me at Partnering for Health and identified us as the people from the elevator and said he was wondering if we were Medicine X people. Because I am all class, I was like “Yeah, we were the people yelling and hugging in the elevator—did you feel left out?! Do you need a hug!?”—he accepted this crazy Canadian’s hug, so we are clearly meant to be friends. Also, he’s awesome. And broke into a presentation during Partnering for Health when all the patients were very confused on Twitter.

Alan, Britt, Leslie, myself and Julie (Photo grabbed from Britt via Facebook!)

Sarah—one of the awesome ePatient advisors—with her CANADIAN SCARF, Rachel and I, after the closing ceremony of Medicine X.

And below, Britt (on the ePatient advisory team), Marvin—who is super sweet and I didn’t get to connect with nearly enough! :)—Rachel and I. 

And, my own ePatient advisor and friend from 2012, Chris (he’s laughing about attempting to hug me with the giant hiking backpack on)—just before Joe (below!), Marie and I headed to the airport (where I almost lost my phone and Joe totally provided an amazing Joe-hug to alleviate my stress, and told me how I could get the Delta people to bring it to me to avoid having to go back through security, since I’d left it at the check-in kiosk). 

These people—and ALL the people I met and interacted with at MedX

(I can’t even source those photos anymore :])

—are not the entirety of the story of Medicine X: but they are the part that matters most. As are the people that preceded my arrival for Medicine X to my own part of the journey, and the people who engaged in #MedX via Twitter: WE belong here.

(Photo of photo cred to Joe Riffe)

And here isn’t always a place: often, it’s a state.

And I love each and every one of you, and I hope our stories continue to connect in a way that makes a difference: Remember to not lose sight of where you were—where we were—hold on to that feeling.

We’ll change the world together.

health + fitness / kinesiology / life / stuff bloggers do

searchorama: blog craziness and answered questions

• by kerri

Jenny Simmons did a blog post earlier based off of the crazy stuff that brings people to her blog. I tweeted the other day a short list of more ridiculous search terms, but . . . here are some more crazy search terms and commonly asked questions that lead people here [with answers!].

Point of decision prompts: These are exactly what they sound like: signs that prompt a healthier choice at the time the decision needs to be made. Frequently, these signs are posted by elevators encouraging use of the stairs [I.e. Burn calories, not electricity], or in prompting healthier food choices [i.e. like sweets? Try fruit!]. They can be used in a variety of situations, and can be created to prompt a positive decision even within your own environment–just be creative! [See the image below for a point of decision prompt example about the stairs]

The MedicAlert conundrum: I get a surprising amount of traffic for people searching about the MedicAlert Canada price increase. I’ll post more on this tomorrow, but essentially MedicAlert increased their membership fees, and people are pissed off. The reasoning, from MedicAlert, is that it “costs more to run a business in Canada than in the US”. As a nonprofit, MedicAlert strives to make membership accessible to the “most people possible” [and offered me a slight reduction on my membership had I chosen to renew, which I did not, but only because I complained.] I also have beef with the fact that identification products that are exactly the same as the American products are 50-75% more expensive. What gives?

Giant Nutella: Yes.

I want to train for 10K runs but I have asthma: Go for it. Asthma may modify how you do things, but it shouldn’t modify what you do. I have trouble running, so I walk, but that is a choice I’ve made, just as choosing to train to run 10K is a choice, too. Start with a slow pace and work yourself up. If you haven’t yet, starting with a 5K is probably desirable, and I know many people who have been successful doing the Couch to 5K plan. One of my favourite fitness-weapons, however, is dailymile.com — add me as a friend! Make sure to take your inhaler with you, and if you’ve been instructed by your doctor, take it about fifteen minutes before you head out to work out. Also, ensure you do a long, gradual warm-up [walking, for example] and some stretching for about 10 to 15 minutes before you run–a long warm-up is imperative to success running with asthma because it allows your lungs time to adjust to the greater demand on them more gradually then if you just go out and start running hard right away.

Jay Greenfeld [and variations of his name, and references to his guest post]: Jay is a counselling psychologist and university professor, and is the author of My Choice – My Life: Realizing your ability to create balance in life. He also wrote a guest post about living with type 1 diabetes. I was fortunate to have the experience of having him as my Physical Activity: Promotion and Adherence prof last Fall. [If you’re googling “Is Jay M. Greenfeld awesome?” the answer is yes, googling student — and don’t worry, I pre-google my profs too, sometimes.]

Playing in leaves: Jay told us to. Legit.

Literal exercise: Literal exercise is the opposite of figurative exercise. I.e. literal exercise is the exercise you are actually doing, whereas figurative exercise is exercise you could be doing but aren’t and are instead sitting on your couch eating Cheetos? [I don’t know. I’m not an English major here, I am majoring in the literal exercise that is kinesiology. I may have had to look up figurative in three dictionaries.]

Cute edges of a cube: I have no idea what this is about.

Taking the stairs: is always a good idea. I made this slide on the subject for when I talk to grade elevens about asthma and physical activity sometimes. It tries to make a good point in pretty colours. Oh and look, a point of decision prompt!

10 flights of stairs a day can equate to 3.1 pounds of body fat lost over a year

Run stairs instead of escalator: You should!

Is physical activity important for a young child: YES! First, play is the way kids learn, and active games and play help to engage kids physically, affectively [socially and emotionally] and cognitively. Physical activity not only helps a child’s body become stronger and more efficient, but also builds thinking and problem-solving skills and helps build motor pathways. Playing in groups helps kids to work together as a team cooperatively, develop moral understanding of right and wrong, and in turn, helps kids to understand their own emotions and feelings, and those of their friends. Physical activities present a host of potentially new experiences for a young child and should be encouraged as much as possible!

AND . . . one of my favourites:

Sphinx wearing a tutu: I can’t even explain. I love the stuff people Google, for real.