@NAHC October Edition

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@NAHC Yoga at the Native American Health Center

By, Sandra Tavel Grants and Contracts Administrator

About a year ago, NAHC’s Director of Nutrition and Fitness, Chris Weahunt, along with one of our clinic Dietitians, Laura McLively, wanted to share the expertise of their yoga teacher, Yoko Yoshikawa, with the NAHC community. Chris and Laura began by asking Yoko to teach yoga to our patients during the Nutrition Department’s monthly Thursday wellness classes. Community members responded positively to Yoko’s gentle and informative teaching style—especially patients with special needs and physical limitations. Yoko’s presence with patients was so successful, that Chris used wellness-based foundation monies to provide a weekly yoga class for NAHC staff. Yoko began teaching yoga to NAHC staff on Monday evenings from 5:15pm – 6:30pm at Seven Directions in Oakland in February of 2012. To date, the class has hosted 26 NAHC employees, of which about half attend the class regularly. Some feedback about the class includes the following, “Mondays are tough. Catching up on emails, setting the week’s to-do list, following up on projects... there’s no better end to the busy day than coming together with my colleagues and restoring our minds and bodies together with Yoko! I can tell that my fellow yogis and myself both get a lot of therapy from our Monday yoga practice. We leave relaxed, smiling, and strong. I’m so grateful!” Another student says, “I do yoga because it helps keep me centered, calm and focused. I also appreciate how yoga helps build core strength and flexibility.” What is yoga, exactly? Yoga is an ancient South Asian practice that originated in India that combines breathing, movement and spirituality to move your body in a mindful way. There are many forms of yoga in the world and many teachers. Yoko’s style is based on B.K.S. Iyengar, who was born in 1918 in India and developed a style of yoga that focuses on alignment by using props to get the body into positions gently, building on your own pace. Yoko explains each movement and actually shows you individually, without judgment and taking into account your own body’s limitations, how to get into the poses gently yet with an inner strength that she draws out of you.

It’s hard to explain without actually doing it. As a devoted student of this particular class, the joy I find in practicing yoga is that it compels me to stop and switch gears to what’s going on inside of me. I get a whole hour and fifteen minutes to breathe and move—all for my own wellness. As a result, I feel more relaxed and present in the moment, which is struggle for many people, as humans tend to live in the past or the future. It’s hard to be here, now, with so many distractions. The connection I make with myself through yoga enables me to better connect with others—which is crucial in a service-delivery workplace.

This class does a great job of being accessible to all. Sometimes yoga is viewed as an appropriation of privileged western people seeking and taking something they can’t find in their own culture. Branding and mainstream media can suck the meaning from a lot of sacred things (including American Indian culture and practices!) so this class approaches yoga with humility and from a place of healing—which is in total alignment with NAHC’s mission. If you’re an NAHC staff member and curious about the class—check it out and see how you like it. It’s held in the 7Directions Employee Lounge every Monday evening from 5:15-6:30pm and costs $10/month. That’s $10 for 4 classes taught by a seasoned instructor in a safe and familiar space. You really can’t beat that! For more information, please call or email Laura McLively at 510-535-4463 or LauraM@nativehealth.org Yoko’s bio can be found in the Piedmont Yoga Studio website: http://www.piedmontyoga.com/pys-faculty.html


HR Buzz NAHC Wellness Committee By: Yvette Torres The NAHC Wellness Committee formed on July 2012 to support staff on their path to wellness. Since the formation of the committee, several tasks have been accomplished. One task was to define what wellness means to an individual and to the agency as a whole. Then we used this definition to create the NAHC Wellness Mission Statement: To promote a healthy lifestyle by providing culturally affirming resources and programs to support staff on their path to wellness and to create balance, empathy and understanding for each otherthat promotes a culture of wellness. The committee believes in supporting staff in making important lifestyle choices and to encourage health in mind, body and spirit. We are currently in the process of creating our Wellness Committee Logo and will set 1, 3 & 5 year goals which will assist the committee in creating programs to help staff identify and act on ways to stay healthy. If you are interested in joining the committee, please check with your supervisor prior to contacting Yvette Torres. Be on the lookout for upcoming fun and exciting ways to get healthy and stay healthy. Please enjoy this month’s wellness topic on Emotional health: Manage Time Pressure: Hurry Less, Enjoy More If you’re like most people, you feel stressed because you’ve got too much to do and not enough time. Feeling rushed and overwhelmed can take a toll on your health and the quality of your life. When you haven’t got time to relax, you may not accomplish what you think you should, so you may not feel good about yourself. You may not enjoy the process of accomplishing your goals or pat yourself on the back for your achievements because you’re rushing to do the next task. Your personal


relationships may not thrive because you don’t have time for real conversations and intimacy. You may lose sleep, which can lead to daytime sleepiness, memory problems, depression, slow thinking, and grumpiness. Your jam-packed schedule can make it easy to slip into bad habits, like eating badly, not exercising, smoking, drinking, and or using caffeine to rev yourself up. Your life doesn’t have to be so hurried. Most people are too busy because of their choices, and if your life feels out of sync, there are techniques you can use to reduce time stress, so you can hurry less and enjoy more. Tips for recovering Rushaholics Live your values Choose simplicity Enjoy each moment Find time for the things you love Balance your work and life

New Faces @NAHC

Welcome to the Native American Health Center!

Aarati Sawhney Application Specialist Administration Dept 3124 International Blvd.

Adrienne Sullivan Medical Assistant, On Call. Medical 7D

Angela Cool Program Assistant, Temporary CWD Richmond

Anthony Redhorse Custodian SF Maintenance

Atziri Rodriguez Health Educator Program Manager SBHC

Cynthia Quoshena, Program Assistant, Temporary, CWD 3124

Ellen VandenBerg Mental Health Intern Therapist SBHC

Gavino Maravilla Custodian, Temporary Maintenance 3124 & Richmond

Julia Jordan Medical Assistant On Call, Medical SF

Meleane Poteki Medical Assistant On Call Medical Dept 7D

Sharmila Chitnis Social Worker Therapist

Source: Adapted with permission from the Healthy Mind, Healthy Body Handbook (as published under the title Mind & Body Health Handbook), David Sobel, MD, and Robert Ornstein, PhD, 1996 Reviewed by: Andrew Bertagnolli, PhD and David Price, MD, October 2011 Additional Kaiser Permanente reviewers © 2011 Kaiser Permanente © Kaiser Permanente, 2012


Rock the Native Vote By: Jordan Skye Paul Events Coordinator

The Native American Health Center has partnered with the Native Vote campaign initiated by the National Congress of American Indians for the 2012 General Elections! Through this campaign NAHC participated in National Native Vote Action week as a sponsor of a weeklong series of events aimed at registering our community members to vote on November 6th. The Native American Health Center sponsored 5 consecutive events at each NAHC site as well as Intertribal Friendship House and the Friendship House Association of American Indians registering a total of 76 registrants of which 68 identified as Native American/ Alaska Native. The Native Vote campaign and the Native American Health Center aim to help support community members when necessary on how to register to vote, understand what it means to be a registered voter, offer resources on how to find more information about your polling place, and how to find more information about propositions that will be on this year’s ballot. Let’s Continue to Rock the Native Vote 2012! Thank you to all those who have registered and have volunteered your time to this valuable campaign effort! If you have not yet registered please feel free to use the information below to complete a paper registration or complete an online voter registration form. Important Dates: 10/11/12 6pm PST- Vice Presidential Debate 10/16/12 6pm PST-Presidential Debate- Town Hall Forum 10/22/12 6pm PST- Presidential Debate- Town Hall Forum 10/22/12 Last day to Register to vote in CA 11/6/12 Election Day!

Registration Cards can be found at: NAHC-3124 International Blvd- 2nd Floor Rm. 206 NAHC-7Direction 2650 International- 1st Floor Lobby NAHC-Capp St.-CWD Department NAHC-Richmond site Intertribal Friendship House- 523 International Blvd. Friendship House-56 Julian Ave, SF



The Latest in Health Research: Sit Less to Cut Your Risk

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Adapted from Diabetes Forecast by Laura McLively, RD Long hours spent sitting, whether at work or in front of the TV, are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and premature death. But the good news is that there are ways to sit less! First of all, studies show that people who exercise also sit less throughout the week. So the benefits of exercise are twofold: it increases active time AND decreases sitting time. If you do not already get regular exercise, start small and work your way up to 150 minutes a week (that’s about 30 minutes 5 days a week).

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Another way to decrease sitting time is to turn normally sitting-related activities into standing ones. We can’t help the fact that we need to sit a lot of the day at work, but we can get more creative about cutting down on sitting time. Try the following tips to sit less and cut your risk: • • • • • •

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Stand during meetings (you’ll stay awake too!) March in place while on the phone Stand at your desk during a webinar/conference call Use your breaks to walk around the block Stand on BART or on the bus during your commute Use your lunch break to stretch or go on a quick walk

Deta

Sept 6

Special Topic

Nutri

Sept 13

Special Topic

Diabe

Sept 20

Fitness Class

Stren

Sept 27

Cooking Demonstration

Mexi

Oct 4

Diabetes Class

Diabe

Oct 11

Special Topic

Helpi

Oct 18

Fitness Class

Chair

Oct 25

Cooking Demonstration

Scru

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Introducing the EHR Implementation Team In September, the EHR Implementation Team began to meet weekly, kicking off the next major phase of the NextGen project. These folks represent different areas of the agency that will be using NextGen’s Electronic Health Records system, and they bring together a diverse mix of experience and expertise. In the coming months, this group will participate in intensive NextGen training and will work together to design the new workflows to be rolled out with the launch of Electronic Health Records in March 2013. Wish the team luck as they embark on this major milestone project!

ails

ition BINGO!!!

betes Screening Day

ngth Training with DynaBands

ican Makeover

etes Q&A

ping YOU Prevent the FLU

r Aerobics

umptious Squash

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Back Row: David Lichtenstein*, Dr. Fumi Suzuki, David Samlan, Ruel Empleo, Chao Liang*, Kristin McKean-Brown, Chir Patel*, Karen Harrison, Bonnie Trinclisti, Linda Yoshino Front Row: Dr. Linda Aranaydo*, Rebecca McKenzie, Josalynn NealLloyd, Aarati Sawhney*, Meriah Gille*, Lillawa Willie Not pictured: Geinny Martinez *indicates Core Team members




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