Working for Your Health: Look out for each other
Perhaps you have witnessed a scene like this: An older adult walks out of their house after a dusting of snow. Their driveway looks clear, maybe with a bit of frost. They are getting...
Working for Your Health: Is old age over?
Few of us relish the thought of growing old. No matter how well we take care of ourselves, aging can bring unwelcome changes that are often painful and debilitating. Yet we are fortunate to...
Working for Your Health: Community health center scrambling after Leslie’s closure
As news of the closure of Leslie’s Pharmacy reverberates across the Island community, local agencies are scrambling to assist vulnerable patients who relied on the longtime pharmacists for advice and prescriptions.
Leslie’s, a Vineyard Haven...
Dukes County Health Council: Take the plunge
Watching athletes like Katie Ledecky and Torri Huske take home the gold during the Paris Olympics has inspired some of us to take to the water. These superstar athletes are doing more than making...
Working for Your Health: Summertime blues
On Martha’s Vineyard, as August swelters on, the crowds have come. Seemingly overnight, the number of people on our 96-square-mile Island skyrocketed from an ample 20,500 to a staggering 100,000.
The stressors related to summer...
Working for Your Health: Vineyard youth
Most of us have an idea of what “being healthy” means to us. Not being sick, being able to do the things I want to do, having energy are a few of the things...
Dukes County Health Council: Hard conversations
Most of us do not like to think about bad things — like being sick and unable to speak for ourselves. However, most of us do know what we want out of life. Choosing...
Working for Your Health: PFAS and you
What is PFAS?
There’s been a lot of news lately — much of it cautionary — about the chemicals known as PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances). Chances are you’ve been exposed to them, perhaps unknowingly,...
Working for Your Health: Heart health
Here are some fun facts about the human heart gathered from health.clevelandclinic.org/fun-facts-about-your-heart:
The heart is an organ about the size of two clasped hands. It’s made mostly of muscle tissue that contracts rhythmically, to...
Working for Your Health: A New Year’s resolution
“This year, I will do what I can to keep from getting sick from an infection, and help others to do the same.”
In 1952, the polio epidemic reached its peak in the U.S.; 60,000...
Working for Your Health: There’s no place like home
The concept of “home” varies from person to person; all of us know its importance. For many of us, home takes on greater meaning during the holiday season. It is a place where we...
Dukes County Health Council: Working for your health
Did you know?
By 2050, the number of people in the U.S. living with Alzheimer's disease is estimated to reach nearly 13 million.
1 in 3 older adults dies with Alzheimer's or another dementia.
...
Working for Your Health: Are you ‘health literate’?
Do you know the names of any medicines you are taking, and why you are taking them? Can you read their labels? Are you confident you are taking your medications the way that your...
Dukes County Health Council: Working for your health
Vaccination is one of the most important achievements in the history of medicine. Its role in safeguarding public health and eradicating deadly diseases is far reaching because vaccines not only protect individuals but contribute...
Dukes County Health Council: Working for Your Health
The topic of climate change is in the news daily, notably the pressures we face from an increase in extreme weather events. Lately we’ve been affected by smoke-tinged air, carried from Canada by migrating...
Dukes County Health Council: Working for your health
Whoever said, “The eyes are the windows to the soul,” he probably wasn’t thinking about the importance of protecting them from environmental threats, or supporting ocular health through proper nutrition. At the time, eye...
Dukes County Health Council: Working for your health
It can be uplifting to hear good news, especially when it involves preserving human life and improving its quality. A growing number of scientific advances, coupled with our increased adherence to healthcare messaging, are...
Dukes County Health Council: Working for your health
In 1968, a piece appeared in the Reader's Digest introducing the phrase "Getting old ain't for sissies," bringing humor to an aging population’s aching joints and hardening arteries. Later, comedian Betty White refined it...
Dukes County Health Council: Working for your health
In 1787, Benjamin Franklin wrote the French intellectual Jean-Baptiste Leroy about his hopes for the longevity of the newly drafted Constitution of the United States, and noted, “But in this world nothing can be...
Dukes County Health Council: Working for your health
It may surprise you that Martha’s Vineyard is considered a “level two rural community,” an important distinction shared with only 20 percent of the nation. How can our bustling community be considered “rural” when...