Obscurely blended into many of our workplace offices, PTA committees and church choir rehearsals are a quiet population of adult children. Many of them go unsung for their good deeds and are left to maintain the rigors of their own lives while simultaneously needing to sort out the life of an aging parent. Often referred to as “caregivers”, adult children of aging parents are faced with heart wrenching decisions, sleepless nights, and sometimes uncompromising parents who are no longer safe in their homes.

Planning for a new baby can feel like a full-time job in itself. Chances are, though, that all of your planning is happening in addition to your responsibilities
at work.
Just over 70% of employed women took a maternity leave after their last pregnancy according to Women’s Health USA 2011. So how to do you make the most of your time at home with your new baby and set yourself up for a successful return to your career?

While the seasonal changes from winter to spring are often inviting and beautiful; nearly four million allergy sufferers find the changes to be miserable. Allergic rhinitis is a collection of symptoms caused by the body’s reaction to small particles in the air called allergens. The effects of rhinitis are vastly underestimated, and have a significant impact on quality of life and healthcare costs. In the United States of America nearly twenty percent of people are affected to some degree by allergies. Nearly fifty percent of these patients suffer for greater than four months per year, with twenty percent symptomatic for at least nine months annually. The incidence of allergies has been on the rise over the past fifty years. This translates into allergic rhinitis being one of the main causes of absenteeism at work, and nearly two million school days are also missed annually.

he latest step in the evolution of modern cataract surgery has now become available in Delaware. This new technology, Femtosecond laser cataract surgery, offers precision never before possible and aims to meet the expectations of today’s active cataract patients. FDA Approved in 2010, and under investigation for several years before then, the laser has been used in thousands of cataract procedures worldwide. But within the United States, availability of these lasers has been limited. Along with my partners at the Center for Advanced Surgical Arts, I have monitored the results of this new technology. Recognizing the significant benefits, we brought this technology to our surgery center, the first and only laser of its kind in the area and one of the first 75 in the country.

Eileen Challenger was born and raised in north Wilmington, earned her Bachelors Degree in Psychology from the University of Delaware, and several years later, returned to studies at Cecil County Community College where she completed her Nursing Degree.

She said, “My initial career was working with people with disabilities at Elwyn, and then for the state of Delaware as a Case Manager. One day, I was reading about the nursing shortage and thought, “Hmm, I can probably do that,” so I decided to go back to school and become a nurse. Somewhere along the way, perhaps from my multi-disciplinary background, I discovered the field of hospice nursing and knew that it would be a perfect fit for me.

“Which class is going to challenge me more? I really want to feel the burn.”

Screeeeech…wait, stop….This is a tale-tale sign that someone needs yoga. Not more exercise and more challenging poses, but good ‘ole yoga. Yoga that encompasses so much more than asanas (physical postures). Yoga that creates change; emotional, spiritual, & physical. Yoga that takes you deeper, without creating injury.

In the US yoga has come to mean asanas or fitness. If yoga is limited to a physical workout, you are missing what yoga is truly about and diminishing what traditional yoga has to offer.

Let’s start off by acknowledging that I detest over-generalizations and “umbrella cures”. What does this mean? It means that there are various causes for similar syndromes, so while massage may be beneficial for many depressed and anxious patients, it will not be the cure-all for everyone.

At times, just one or two teeth don’t look quite right. You may not know why or it may be a very obvious problem, such as a crooked tooth. You may wonder, what can I do about this problem?
My patient, Miss A., is a 27 year old who was unhappy about her “snaggle tooth”. Her canine (or eye tooth, the tooth that people refer to as a vampire tooth) looked too pointy and there was a space between the canine and the lateral tooth. She felt that, when she was introduced to people, it was the first thing they noticed. She asked me, what can I do?

When people shed the winter clothes, chances are that some look in the mirror and feel regret: regret for not working out more and regret for eating or drinking too much. Then, when it’s time to put on shorts or a tank top, the mirror doesn’t lie. Forget about shopping for a new swimsuit. There’s no need to step on the scales if last year’s summer clothes don’t zip.

What’s a girl to do? Try Pilates.

Did you know that the longer you put off getting hearing help, the longer it may take you to reacclimatize to the sounds that you are currently missing? The lack of stimulation to the auditory system is called auditory deprivation. Putting off getting hearing help not only delays your reconnection to the world through your hearing and ability to communicate, but it also impacts how well you can make use of the sounds you hear, once they are restored.

The good news is that today’s technology not only can help restore those missing sounds but also employ an adaptive process for reintroducing them. This allows the auditory system time to organize these new sounds for maximum benefit and minimum annoyance.