In November 2013, Mind it! partnered with St. John Ambulance to put on two dog therapy events at Red River College.

Our first event was held in the Library Hallway at the Notre Dame Campus. Five certified therapy dogs and their handlers were on hand to help more than 80 people take a break from school and work. The day was a big success that saw students and staff leaving with smiles on their faces and a better idea of how taking care of our mental health can be simple, fun and as easy as petting a cute animal!

Our second dog therapy event was held in the Atrium at the Exchange District Campus.
Approximately 100 people stopped by over the course of the two-hour event to meet the pups and many more people stuck around to ask questions and find out more about mind it! and how animals can play a role in maintaining our mental health.

As many RRC Wellness Blog readers will know, Mike Krywy, Senior Research and Planning Analyst, has been the Chair of the Wellness Committee for the past several years. Under his leadership, the College has seen a number of fabulous wellness-related initiatives take hold or grow in popularity! Mike will not take credit for any of these but we all know that he has had a hand in them! In no particular order:

• The Chili Cup
  

  Mike up to his usual wellness antics at work.

• The Take 5 Challenge
• The “One” Initiative
• The Wellness Breakfast
• The RRC Walkathon and Rebel Run
• Ongoing Staff Wellness Survey design, collection and analysis
• The Wellness Works pledge
• …and, the Wellness Blog, of course!

Mike has determined that it is time to hang up his hat and become the “Past President” of the Wellness Committee. We applaud his hard work, we look forward to his continued participation as a committee member, and we are all wondering what he will be doing with all of his spare time now.

Seven brave riders, eleven great rides, one worthy cause

One month from today, your intrepid Red River Rebel Riders will be back in Riding Mountain National Park with a goal of raising $5,000 for MS in this, their 11th year! The only change in the team for 2014 is the addition of Deron Warkentin from the Roblin Campus, replacing Wayne Ferguson who is recovering from hip surgery.

Yes, 2014 marks 11 years! How can you help to make it a perfect ride?

• Donate securely online by clicking on any team member’s name at this site. All monies raised go to supporting those suffering with MS or to MS research.
• Join the 2014 team. As already mentioned, we are currently 7 riders: Marnie Boulet, Guy Dugas, Dayna Graham, Miguel Guzman, Mar-Zeus Macasieb, Michael Poitras, and Deron Warkentin. Train with us through August to get in shape for the big ride Sept. 6-7. Email Captain Marnie for details or simply click here and then click on the Join team button.

Together we can end MS. Help make 2014 a perfect ride!

In October 2013, Mind It! partnered with the Canadian Mental Health Association Winnipeg to bring two art therapy-inspired events to students at Red River College.

On two different days, tables in the hallways at the Notre Dame Campus and Exchange District Campus were stocked with blank canvases, paint of every colour, decorating supplies such as glitter and plastic gloves for students who felt like finger painting.

From landscapes to abstract shapes to portraits of pets and people, students spent more than two hours painting whatever they desired and chatting with friends.

Overall, it was a great way to break up the day and help everyone de-stress. After the two events were said and done, 105 blank canvases had been transformed by students, staff and others from the community who stopped by!

There’s good reason the saying, ’laughter is the best medicine’ exists. It’s because the natural link between comedy and mental health is very real. Many people with mental health issues turn their lived experience into positive, inspiring and often comical stories and important lessons for us all. Some even wind up making audiences laugh for a living — including award-winning comedian Big Daddy Tazz who paid a special visit to RRC in February 2013 at the Make Laughs! comedy show.

With a fantastic lineup of local comedians, Big Daddy Tazz as the show’s headliner and Ace Burpee as the emcee, this comedy show at RRC’s Exchange District Campus was an absolute hit! Not only did students have a great time but the event helped to increase mental health awareness on campus through Big Daddy Tazz’s performance that had the audience laughing one minute and emotional the next as he opened up about his personal struggles with Attention Deficit Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, depression and suicide.

If you missed the show last year, you may get another chance to laugh it up! Planning is underway for mental health events held on campus during the 2014/15 academic year. Keep checking our events page for updates!

Tips for Everyday Reduction of VOCs

Welcome back. This is our 4^th and final post in a series about ways to make the air we breathe at home, healthier.   We’ve talked about VOC’s, how they affect our health and begun to consider how to minimize hazardous VOCs in our homes. In this post we offer the following healthier cleaning and personal care product ideas:

1. Avoid fragrances in home cleaning and personal care products.

The Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment (CPCHE) tells us

“Some fragrance ingredients, such as phthalates, musk xylene, toluene and others, have been linked to cancer, hormone disruption and other harmful effects….” and goes on to distinguish between “fragrance free” and “unscented”:

Some products labeled “unscented” contain masking agents to cover the smells of other ingredients. These masking agents are often synthetic fragrances. Fragrance-free products, on the other hand, are likely to be totally free of fragrances. In the absence of fragrance-free products, unscented products are acceptable alternatives.

2. Use plants. NASA¹ says, house plants are very effective at removing VOC’s from our indoor air; although to be true to readers; plants may work best under experimental conditions.

3. Have fun, keep it simple & make your own home and personal care products.  This way you know and control the ingredients and save money. Examples:

– clean the tub/ shower with baking soda.

– Wipe windows and hardwood with vinegar.

The David Suzuki Foundation and Queen of Green share some secrets and recipes for cleaning and Downloadable Green   Cleaning Recipes and personal care products.

Summary

This 4 part series on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) provided definitions of VOCs, identified some sources of VOCs, listed adverse health effects of VOCs, and demonstrated ways to reduce our exposure to VOCs in our homes. We have relied on VOC emitters for years; using them in construction, cleaning and fuel. Recognizing them and finding healthier options for everyday life is a liberating process. Baby steps.

References

1. The Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment (CPCHE)

1. NASA

3. Healthy Housing: Practical Tips for your Home

4.Previous posts in this Series on VOCs: Thinking of Sprucing up the House?; Indoor air, VOCs and our Health and Reducing VOCs in Your House

Submitted by Health Services

You’ve taken the plunge; you are working out on a regular basis.  You’ve been more faithful to your workout schedule than any girlfriend/boyfriend in the past.  You are starting notice some changes and then days become weeks, the scales won’t budge you aren’t seeing any changes in your body and your resolve slowly turns to cookie-dough ice cream. You’re at serious risk of becoming another statistic, one more person fallen prey to the dreaded plateau.  Somebody who decides to pack it in, accept life as a couch potato accepting that the only way you’ll ever see your toes again is in mirror.

The human body is a remarkably adaptable instrument. Once it grows accustomed to the initial stimulus of a change in diet and activity level, it may simply submit to the law of diminishing returns, decide to declare a new state of normalcy and effectively put a stop to muscle gain and fat loss.

A plateau has a snowball effect, both mentally and physically. Mentally, you become frustrated, which leads to emotional eating, fatigue and finding excuses not to workout. This either amplifies the plateau or actually causes you to backslide. Physically, if you allow a plateau to negatively impact your mindset, you produce stress, which has many well-documented ill effects on the body, inhibiting the ability to gain muscle and promoting the storage of fat.

Plateaus are essentially a form of maintenance—if you run three days a week for the same amount of time you’ll continue to hold your own in terms of health and fitness, for example, but you won’t move forward.

So what do you do now?

• Build variety into your workout. Change what you do and how you do it. Alter your routine in duration, frequency and intensity. Add more exercise, or different activities, workout at different times.
• Sometimes less is more. When you hit a plateau, it’s tempting to workout more. You may be overtraining and stalling as a result. Rest is a critical aspect of any fitness regimen.
• Alter your diet. A change in nutrition can make a difference. Most people go the wrong way, lowering calories, when sometimes raising calories to maintain weight for a week and then dropping them again is all that’s needed.
• Don’t decrease the amount you eat — food is fuel for the metabolism. Try manipulating your eating routine — have your main meal at noon instead of the evening. Eat several smaller meals rather than three big ones.
• Stay focused. Write down goals and read them every day. Have an underlying reason to achieve your goals that’s more than a superficial ‘I want to lose weight.’ Focus on overall health.
• Don’t weigh yourself every day. A static scale over an extended period of time will just increase your frustration and be disheartening over the long run.
• Consult with a certified professional.  Now may be the time to schedule a session with a personal trainer to help you get back on track.  Perhaps one of the reasons you are stalling is improper technique.

Be successful. Create a vision of where you want to be and stick to it. Set goals, form a plan to attack those goals and consistently take action day after day.  Don’t get frustrated if you don’t advance X amount on a certain day; because it’s the long term plan (and results) that matter.

“HEALTHY CUP” app is part of an innovative project to improve public health surveillance in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS), named participatory surveillance. It is a free Web application, designed for use on mobile devices and web browsers.

It’s a simple process that relies on voluntary participation by visitors or residents in Brazil, reporting their health status through information on 10 signs/symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, joint pain, headache, bleeding, and exanthema [rash]) during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

“HEALTHY CUP” was developed in Portuguese, English, and Spanish to be a complementary channel for health information and services to users, enabling the participation of all.

This project is an initiative of the Surveillance Department of the Ministry of Health in partnership with the Departments of Health of the venues of the matches and other national and international institutions such as the Skoll Global Threats Fund, TEPHINET, HealthMap, and ProMED-mail.

ImmunizeCA is another handy app where you log in all your Canadian vaccine information so it is quickly available no matter what country you are in.

All visitors to other countries are strongly urged to check your immunizations at least 6-8 weeks ahead and be up to date. Many countries,including holiday destinations,are experiencing outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases including Measles. Contact a travel health clinic for updates on travel to any country for the most current information.

Don’t bring something home you didn’t plan on for you, your family and friends or workplace. If you become ill shortly after returning from another country, see a Dr and tell them about your travels, it could be serious.

How to download for Brazil’s Health Cup App:

– iOS devices (iPhone and iPad): available from the App Store via <https://itunes.apple.com/br/app/saude-na-copa/id860378564?mt=8>

– Android devices (Samsumg, Motorola, LG, etc): available from Google play via <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=br.com.epitrack.healthycup>

From Health Services

by Mario De Negri, Fitness Coordinator For Rebel Athletics and Recreation Services

I came across this blog when I was feeling a fair bit of turbulence in my life. I personally was doing great. Everything was in line, I was working at my best, and being my best self which warrants recognition as that’s something I have failed to do in my past, and can image others feeling something similar in their lives. This was affecting my life from the outside and I had the choice to sit there and take it or stand up and step to the side. I had made some tough decisions to try to keep myself on a healthy path but I couldn’t help shake the pain in my heart. Sometimes clarity of the mind doesn’t mean you’ll find peace in the heart right away. Sometimes the aches in the heart are real but just growing pains we must endure for our own personal growth as a person. Every time I look back at times this has been true I can feel peace in my heart now, but wasn’t so in the moment at that time. This blog brings to lights some of those tough self-questions we need to be asking ourselves to see if we are on our true path. So many of the points highlight quite directly some of the fears about myself I had to face and to accept if I was to move forward on my path. Hopefully they can bring some insight onto you as they have re-affirmed in mine.

Check out the blog here;

http://www.lifebuzz.com/just-stop/

College Days are upon us once again, and the Wellness Committee is hosting a series of events to eat, meet and greet, and move your feet.

Come out for a free Wellness Breakfast

On the morning of May 29^th staff are invited for a free Wellness Breakfast at the Roblin Centre and the Notre Dame Campus (Voyageur Cafeteria) beginning at 7:30 am and going till 9:30.  The buffet breakfast will offer a range of healthy (and tasty!) selections. Wellness Committee members and other helpers will be on hand to say hello, gather pledges for the Walk-a-thon, and answer any questions you may have.

Walkathon – EDC and NDC

After you’ve had time to digest your breakfast, come on out to the Wellness Walk-a-thon at noon on May 29^th.

Exchange District Campus:

The Walkathon starts after a brief warm up  at the Roblin Centre Atrium  (aka right by the Tim Hortons) and then we’ll walk to the Forks Market and back (three routes to choose from!)

Pledges $5 or over get entered to win prizes!

Check out the Wellness displays in the Atrium!

Notre Dame Campus:

The 2.5 km route will take you outside of the Notre Dame Campus grounds with a chance to enjoy some great scenery. Come with friends and colleagues to the North Gym area at noon after a brief warm up, or you can get a map and take the run or walk at your own pace. In order to limber up the limbs, drop by around 11:45 for a guided warm-up.

Pledges over $10 get entered to win prizes!

Register now at https://hub.rrc.ca/EmployeeDevelopment/

Get your pledge forms here.

Help support staff dependents to study at RRC

Aside from the benefits that come from walking, monies raised go toward the Bursary for Dependents of RRC Employees. The bursary was started back in 2009 from an endowment fund which the Walkathon has helped grow to nearly $25K. To date, the award has provided a total of $3,700 to nine recipients. For more information about this award and/or to get an application form, head to the RRC website and look under General Awards.