Spotlight

Maranda Parker, (former) Health and Fitness Education Specialist, White Birch Community Center, Henniker, New Hampshire

Drop! Cover! Hold On!

These three, simple steps can help you protect yourself during an earthquake. Federal, state, and local emergency management experts and other official preparedness organizations all agree that this is the appropriate action and steps to take in order to reduce injury and death during earthquakes.

It’s a funny sounding name, but this virus is no joke.

The Zika virus is growing health concern that has the attention of lead health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).The Zika virus can be spread in three different ways. The most common way is when a mosquito bites someone who has Zika and then bites someone else, thus spreading the virus. Another way of spreading Zika is through unprotected sexual activity. A third route of transmission can happen when a pregnant woman gets Zika, she can pass it to her fetus. A fourth way is through a blood transfusion, however this has not occurred in the United States. The CDC has developed an infographic explaining how Zika is spread.

It was a crisp breezy fall morning as I drove my car into the garage near my job. Suddenly my cell phone rings and I look at the caller ID and take a deep breath. Sigh…it’s my daughter’s child care provider again.

We were excited to hear child care mentioned in the first 10 minutes of the first Presidential debate. It makes sense - 90% of Americans want the next president to expand access to child care and early learning opportunities. It's a critical issue that candidates across the aisle can agree on.

All children should have the opportunity to grow up healthy. In the United States, many adults and children spend a lot more time than we should sitting and watching screens. And even though we know better, children and adults don’t always eat as many vegetables and fruits or lean meats as we should. There are a lot of reasons why—fresh fruits and vegetables can be expensive, and often times we are so busy that we don’t have time to cook foods from scratch. We also spend a lot of time in our cars, rather than walking places. Maybe it’s because there are no sidewalks where we live, or neighborhoods are not safe or the closest store is miles away. Unfortunately, the consequences of these behaviors can be long-term illnesses and obesity.