Optimism and joy are great, untapped sources of healing. We know relatively little about the power of joy, but it IS powerful. Norman Cousins demonstrated it healing himself with movies that made him laugh. Laughter yoga is healing groups of people or at the very least making their days more enjoyable. Here is another testimony to the power of joy. Singing to heal stroke damage.
Categories
- Healing (4)
- Healing Relationship (1)
- Health Promotion (3)
- Heart (1)
- Integrated Care (1)
- Love and Compassion (2)
- Patient's Viewpoint (2)
Joy and Healing
February 22nd, 2010MRSA Superbug Solution
February 8th, 2010An Associated Press (AP) article written by Martha Mendoza and Margie Mason “Solution to Killer Superbug found in Norway” describes a solution so simple it boggles the mind. Aker University Hospital in Oslo, Norway has virtually stopped MRSA spread. How they did it? Norwegians stopped taking so many drugs. They cut back on the use of antibiotics.
MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) causes 19,000 unnecessary deaths a year in the U.S., more deaths than from AIDs. It is an antibiotic resistant bacteria. The World Health Organization says antibiotic resistance is one of the leading public health threats on the planet.
Simplicity trumps complexity. Let us return to the least invasive, the simple foundations of restoring health and treat manufactured drugs and invasive treatments with respect and use only an exception basis.
Florence Nightingale Declaration for a Healthy World
December 28th, 2009The Nightingale Declaration campaign has several noble goals with the ultimate objective of creating healthy communities around the world through nursing practices that reflect the principles and practices of Florence Nightingale. The Declaration is quoted below from the web site sponsoring it. I signed the declaration in support of nurses dedicated to creating health for humanity and the planet. You can sign it by going to their web site.
The Nightingale Declaration for Our Healthy World
“We, the nurses and concerned citizens of the global community, hereby dedicate ourselves to the accomplishment of a healthy world by the year 2020.
We declare our willingness to unite in a program of action, sharing information and solutions to resolve problems and improve conditions — locally, nationally and globally — in order to achieve health for all humanity.
We further resolve to adopt personal practices and to implement public policies in our communities and nations, making this goal for the year 2020 achievable and inevitable, beginning today in our own lives, in the life of our nations and in the world at large.”
Million Nurse Global Caring Field Project
December 23rd, 2009The Million Nurse Global Caring Field Project promotes a caring relationship between nurses, their patients and the planet. Below is a description of it taken from the Watson Caring Science Institute web site. Meditating on the virtues of the heart heals self and others. Imagine the healing power of a million nurses meditating at once on the virtues of the heart! You can join them on New Year’s Day.
“Million Nurse Global Caring Field Project: Radiating a field of Worldwide Energetic Caring Consciousness for Global Healing and Health for all.
Goal: Connect simultaneously with a million nurses (or more) around the globe: to create and radiate an energetic Caring Field of Heart-Centered Love for Self, Others, and the Planet Earth. This intentional focused experience honors and extends the human caring vibration of nurses into the universal energy field of humanity facilitating healing and health for all.
Launch Date:
The formal launch of the Million Nurse Global Caring Field Project is planned for January 1, 2010 at 12 pm / Noon – Eastern Standard Time (EST/ UTC -0500). A series of heart-centered meditations and events led by Dr. Jean Watson and other dignitaries will be scheduled and broadcast around the world. Visit the Watson Caring Science Institute or our FaceBook profile and event page regularly for the most up-to-date information, links to scheduled events and emerging opportunities to be a part of this special global healing experience.
This latest evidenced based science of the heart confirms that humans meditating on Heart-centered feelings of Love, Gratitude, Forgiveness, Compassion, and Caring (higher vibration positive emotions associated with the heart) radiate an electromagnetic field several feet beyond themselves. When working from a heart centered loving –caring consciousness, there is more ‘coherence’ in the human electromagnetic field radiating from the heart.
Nurses around the world bring this loving heart-centered caring energy of Love and Caring to their individual work every day. However, nurses may be silently unaware of their actual energetic linkage and connection they have with others in their environment, and their natural capability of unlimited expansive potential to affect the universal consciousness field of humanity.”
Relationships and Healthcare – An Oxymoron?
December 22nd, 2009A fundamental problem in healthcare is that relationships are brief and fairly short lived. Relationships were broken by the creation of provider networks when managed care arrived and by the relatively easy movement of people about the nation following jobs and loved ones. As a result, long-term relationships with a physician became a memory of the past.
Much has been written on relationship-centered care. Follow the link for one of the earliest and best works on it, the Pew Fetzer Task Force report. It specifies very practical ways to implement Relationship-Centered Care. It identifies specific knowledge, skills and values needed. Some of them are to develop effective communication, engage a community and to improve ones self / health. The report also provides 6 principles which include expanding patient function and meaningfulness into all functions of life, reflective self-work, being close to the community and ongoing education.
Sadly more has been written than practiced when it comes to relationship based care. It is continually given lip service in many healthcare organizations; however it rarely crosses the threshold into action. What is required first is commitment to building relationships, and then becoming able to enter into and sustain them through self-work and an altruistic interest in the welfare of others.
When we have a national electronic medical health record, there will be an unbroken flow of information, which will prevent unnecessary and redundant tests and improve care for patients. However, we still have the human element of love, compassion and trust between two or more people that needs attention. Relationships are essential to heal one’s self. Let us focus on healing and relationships.