In Washington state, where QuickMedical's fine facility is located, April is Disaster Preparedness Month. I've been thinking quite a lot about natural disasters since Haiti, the string of earthquakes that followed, the tsunami warnings and now the more recent volcanic activity. I've come to realize no one is safe and living in earthquake prone Washington and seeing Mt. Rainier everyday on my drive to work is an everyday reminder that I need to be prepared for a disaster. Maybe you believe geologically, you are in a safe area, even though that's highly unlikely, there are still other disasters like pandemics and terrorist attacks to think about. I apologize for being such a downer, but being prepared for a disaster is something everyone should consider, no matter where you are.
Hey Chocolate Lovers, I'm worried about you. Are you stressed out? Feeling down? Are you depressed? An article on Reuters this week, featured a recent study that found people who are depressed eat more chocolate than those who aren't depressed. U.S. researchers say that those who were depressed ate an average of 8.4 servings of chocolate per month, compared to 5.4 servings among those who weren't. Did those who were clinically depressed consume more chocolate, you ask?
What constitutes intoxication? In most of the USA, a blood alcohol level of .08% constitutes intoxication and prohibits a person from legally operating motor vehicles. But that tipsy feeling can start long before the .08% blood level is reached and make operating a motor vehicle a very bad idea. What exactly is intoxication? Why does it impair our movements and judgments? How drunk is drunk?
QuickMedical's CEO Scott Hanna and Government Sales Director Tom Smith recently left the rain of the Pacific Northwest to visit sunny Orlando for the IMCO (Independent Medical Co-op) National Convention. IMCO, the premier Co-Op for medical supply distributors, was founded in 1981 by partnering key manufacturer companies with distributors of all sizes throughout North America, to unite independent medical distributors in order to compete against the national competitors. IMCO was designed to keep the independent medical distributor independent through direct relationships and total volume pricing. The IMCO National Convention is an annual vendor and trade show event, where new products and opportunities for medical supply manufacturers and distributors are explored.
IMCO has proved to be a great resource for QuickMedical. So what have Tom and Scott been doing down there?
The following is an audio transcript from a recording made at QuickMedical World HQ in the Break Room dated 4/26/10.
Tim: Thanks for joining me Devon, here in the break room, for this completely impromptu and unrehearsed discussion about health and lifestyle choices.
Devon: You're welcome, Tim.
Tim: So, what's that on your belt, there?
Have you ever considered the fact that you are here, alive and well, in some part due to an accident that happened 80 years ago? In 1928, in a messy laboratory under a bench, in a stack of unused culture dishes placed there for later use, something was growing that would change the way humans live forever.
Tendonitis is an inflammation of the tendon. The symptoms can be soreness and stiffness in the joint around the affected tendon, or a general burning in the area of the joint. Tendonitis is fairly common and affects almost 70,000 workers every year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We're not immune to tendonitis at QuickMedical, and we certainly can't cure it, but we do have inside information on how to treat it. How you might ask?
Think about this: 40 years ago you could dump anything you wanted into streams, rivers, lakes and oceans, including toxic waste. Smoke stacks were more prevalent and businesses had no environmental restrictions on what they could and couldn't do. Smog was causing lung problems and the bald eagle population fell greatly due to the pesticide DDT. In the spring of 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson, D-Wisc., set out to change this by introducing Earth Day to the American public. With a grass roots campaign led by a group of environmentally concerned 20-somethings, over 20 million Americans participated that first year. This pressed the government to establish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that December, which lead to a string of new laws in the coming years including the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
The world is a weird, wonderful place, full of amazing things that used to make Arsenio go, 'Hmmm.' Whatever happened to that guy? When you're done pondering that one, here are some Fascinating Facts from QuickMedical to make you wonder...
Yes, April is National Occupational Therapy Month, as we've talked about previously on the blog. With the help of the American Occupational Therapy Association, we're going to focus on some helpful hints this week for your kids. At first glance, occupational therapy would seem to leave out a very important and large segment of society-- children. On the contrary, occupational therapy is uniquely concerned with the lives of children, both at school and at home.
A scary thought--could your child be quietly, perhaps permanently, damaging their health at school without your knowledge?
