Quick Jump Brain Injury Awareness Month Diabetes Alert Day Juvenile Arthritis Month MS Awareness Week National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month National Kidney Month National Nutrition Month Workplace Eye Health and Safety Month World TB Day Printer Friendly    In partnership with our member charities, Community Health Charities is proud to offer National Health Day email updates to businesses throughout the state to promote and enhance the health and wellness of employees and their families. Feel free to contact us if you are interested in learning more about any of the monthly National Health Day topics. We may offer a Lunch & Learn relevant to a topic that may be of interest to the employees in your workplace. To support any of the 34 health charities we represent, be sure to ask about our charitable giving campaigns for the workplace to support your health charity(ies) of choice. National Nutrition Month Most Americans eat their evening meal at home but only one in three make it from scratch. Americans are more likely to order takeout from a restaurant than be seated and eat there. One in five restaurant meals were purchased from a car without ever stepping into the restaurant itself. Burgers, french fries, and pizza were the top three most popular items ordered in restaurants overall by adult men and women. Side salads and main salads ranked fourth and seventh among women and fifth and tenth among men. Coffee is the No. 1 breakfast food, drunk daily by 53 percent of Americans. Fresh fruit consumption rose by 4 percent from 2002 to 2004; fresh vegetable intake fell 2 percent. Fast food eating may mean more calories, more total fat, and more saturated fat. Better selections include: chef salads or salad bar, grilled chicken sandwiches, frozen yogurt, chicken fajita pitas, baked potato with vegetable or yogurt topping, and low-fat or fat-free milk or a diet soft drink (but a soft drink is not a good choice for children). Lunch & Learn topics related to nutrition are available. Please refer to topics 5 and 9 in your Lunch & Learn booklet. Sources: Food Technology, Jan. 6, 2006: pp 19-27. News release, Institute of Food Technologists; American Cancer Society website www.cancer.org; American Heart Association Website www.heart.org. National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. and third most common cancer diagnosed in men and women. It claims more lives than either breast or prostate cancer. Men and women are equally at risk. Regular colorectal cancer screening and testing are powerful weapons in discovering colon cancer in its early, most treatable stage, when there are few symptoms. A Lunch & Learn topic related to colorectal cancer is available. Please refer to topic 24 in your Lunch & Learn booklet. Source: American Cancer Website www.cancer.org. For Free American Cancer Society recipes, click here. Diabetes Alert Day - March 28th 20.8 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes; nearly one-third of them (or 6.2 million people) do not know it! Diabetes is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders. Risk factors for diabetes include: Having high blood pressure (at or above 130/80), having a family history of diabetes, having had diabetes during pregnancy or having a baby weighing more than nine pounds at birth. Some symptoms of diabetes can include frequent urination, excessive thirst, extreme hunger, unusual weight loss, increased fatigue, irritability, and blurred vision. Lunch & Learn topics related to diabetes are available. Please refer to topics 9, 12, and 39 in your Lunch & Learn booklet. Source: American Diabetes Association Website www.diabetes.org. For Free American Diabetes Association recipes, click here. National Kidney Month 20 million Americans have chronic kidney disease. More than 20 million more are at risk for developing it and most do not even know it. Warning signs of kidney disease are: burning sensation or difficulty urinating, more frequent urination particularly at night, passage of bloody-appearing urine, puffiness around eyes and swelling of hands and feet (especially in children), pain in the small of the back just below the ribs (not aggravated by movement), and high blood pressure. Risk factors for chronic kidney disease include: diabetes, high blood pressure, family history of chronic kidney disease, and older age. Chronic kidney disease is more common in African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian or Pacific Islanders, and American Indians. A Lunch & Learn topic related to kidney disease is available. Please refer to topic 8 in your Lunch & Learn booklet. Source: National Kidney Foundation Website www.kidney.org. Juvenile Arthritis Month Nearly 300,000 children under the age of 17 are affected by juvenile arthritis. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), affecting 50,000 children, is the most common form of juvenile arthritis and one of the most common childhood diseases in the United States. Common symptoms of JRA: pain, swelling, tenderness and stiffness of joints causing limited range of motion; joint contracture resulting from holding a painful joint in a flexed position for an extended period; damage to joint cartilage and bone leading to joint deformity and impaired use of the joint; and altered growth of bone and joints leading to short stature. A Lunch & Learn topic related to arthritis is available. Please refer to topic 16 in your Lunch & Learn booklet. Source: Arthritis Foundation Website www.arthritis.org. For Free Arthritis Foundation recipes, click here. Workplace Eye Health and Safety Month Each day more than 2,000 workers sustain serious eye injuries related to their jobs. Of these, 10-20 percent will cause temporary or permanent vision loss. Experts believe that the appropriate eye protection could have lessened or even prevented 90 percent of eye injuries from accidents. Work safety eyewear should be worn whenever there is a chance that machines or operations present the hazard of flying objects, chemicals, harmful radiation, or a combination of these or other hazards. Anyone walking through a work area that poses eye hazards should also wear appropriate eyewear at all times. Know your work eye safety dangers! Source: Prevent Blindness America Website www.preventblindness.org. Brain Injury Awareness Month Each year in the U.S., 1.4 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Of these individuals, 235,000 are hospitalized; 50,000 die and 80,000-90,000 people experience a long-term or lifelong disability. TBIs are most often due to falls, motor vehicle-traffic accidents, and assaults. An estimated 300,000 sports-related brain injuries of mild to moderate severity occur in the U.S. yearly. Among children ages 0-14 years, TBIs result in an estimated 2,685 deaths, 37,000 hospitalizations, and 435,000 visits to emergency departments. In 2003, there were an estimated 1,500 incidences of TBI in Connecticut. Signs and symptoms of a TBI can be subtle. Symptoms may not appear until days or weeks after an injury; symptoms can also be missed completely. The Brain Injury Association offers a list of TBI signs and symptoms as well as preventative tips on bike safety, falls, sports and recreation safety, and transportation safety. A Lunch & Learn topic related to brain injury is available. Please refer to topic 17 in your Lunch & Learn booklet. Sources: Brain Injury Association Website www.biausa.org; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Website www.cdc.gov "Traumatic Brain Injury: Causes and Characteristics", "Brain Injuries and Mass Casualty Events", and "Traumatic Brain Injury: Incidence and Distribution". Easter Seals Greater Rehabilitation Center also recognizes this month. World TB Day World TB Day is held yearly on March 24. The occasion raises the awareness about the international health threat presented by tuberculosis or TB (an airborne bacterial infection that primarily affects the lungs). TB can be spread by coughing, sneezing, laughing or singing. Repeated exposure to someone with the TB disease is generally necessary for the infection to take place. Although TB primarily affects the lungs; other organs and tissues may be affected as well. More than 14,000 new cases of TB were reported in the United States in 2003. In 2002, 784 people died of TB which was an increase of 2.6 percent from 2001. This was the first time since 1989 that TB deaths increased in the U.S. Several symptoms are associated with TB, including prolonged coughing (sometimes including coughing up of blood), repeated night sweats, unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite, fever, chills, and general lethargy. Because these signs may be indicative of other diseases as well, one should consult a health care practitioner to determine the basis of these symptoms. Source: www.lungusa.org. MS Awareness Week - March 13-17 The National Multiple Sclerosis Society strives to end the devastating effects of multiple sclerosis (MS) - a chronic, often disabling disease affecting the central nervous system. It's generally diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, and affects three times as many women as men. Symptoms can range from numbness in the limbs to loss of vision or paralysis. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatments are giving hope to those affected by the disease. The MS Society provides a wide range of vital programs and services in the areas of counseling, education, employment, information and referral, advocacy and financial assistance to more than 6,000 residents diagnosed with MS in Connecticut. In addition, the National MS Society is a leader in funding research to find the cause, new treatments, and a cure for this devastating disease. Locally, more than $3 million was allocated to Connecticut's best medical centers, universities and research institutions in 2005 to further MS research. Individuals interested in supporting those living with MS may partner with the Greater Connecticut Chapter for MS Awareness Week, to be held Monday, March 13 through Friday, March 17, by wearing an MS Band of Hope bracelet, or may join in the MS Walk, to be held on Sunday, April 23, at eight locations across the state. For more information, please contact the Greater Connecticut Chapter at 860.953.0601 or visit www.ctnmss.org. Lunch & Learn topics related to Multiple Sclerosis are available. Please refer to topics 30 & 33 in your Lunch & Learn booklet. Source: National MS Society If you would not like to receive these updates each month, please send an email to the list administrator by clicking here