Our health committee meetings are held on the 3rd Mondays of the month unless there is a conflict or a holiday. Our next meeting with be May 19, 2025 at 8pm ET. We are going to start thinking about a special Health Fair/Panel for this year. Please stay tuned for more information.

If you are a former member of the health committee or would like to find an area where you could be involved, please contact me at health@nfbpwc.org and I will put you on my list. The more you can contribute, the easier it makes it for me. I’d love to have you.

Notes from the Chair:

The Health Committee is doing a lot of brainstorming on our article section, a future project for the year, and more. Even with the small number of attendees at meetings (and the make-up is always different) good ideas flow. I always appreciate how productive our meetings are, and I cannot wait for what we have planned for the rest of the year.

Healthy Thinking for the Month:

"Negativity is contagious but so is positivity; desperation is contagious but so is joy: do not follow negative people but continue to radiate light and hope around you! And know that hope doesn’t disappoint, it never deludes!" (June 2014) – Pope Francis December 17, 1936 – April 21, 2025)

Health Awareness Dates:

May is –

Asthma Awareness Month; Awareness of Medical Orphans Month; Clap 4 Health Month; Clean Air Month;  Family  Wellness  Month;  Fibromyalgia Education and Awareness Month; Food Allergy Action Month; Global Employee Health and Fitness Month; Global Health and Fitness Month; Global Youth Traffic Safety Month; Heal the Children Month; Healthy Vision Month; Huntington's Disease Awareness Month; Inherited Retinal Disease (IRD) Genetic Testing Month; International Mediterranean Diet Month; Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection & Prevention Month; Mental Health Month; National Arthritis Awareness Month; National Hepatitis Awareness Month; National High Potassium Awareness Month; National Meditation Month; National Mental Health Month; National Osteoporosis Awareness & Prevention Month; National Physical Fitness & Sports Month; National Stop The Bleed Month; National Stroke Awareness Month; Necrotizing Fasciitis Awareness Month; Older Americans Month; Oncology Nurses Month Link; Prader-Willi Syndrome Awareness Month; Save Your Tooth Month; Strike Out Strokes Month; Tay-Sachs and Canavan Diseases Month; Trauma Awareness Month; Ultra-violet Awareness Month; Women's Health Care Month

ALS Awareness Month - (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's Disease) - https://www.als.org/awareness

Apraxia Awareness Month -https://www.apraxia-kids.org/awareness/

Better Hearing & Speech Month -

https://www.asha.org/national-speech-language-hearing-month/

Better Sleep Month -https://www.sleepfoundation.org/

Bladder Cancer Awareness Month -https://www.urologyhealth.org/media-center/press-releases/may-is-bladder-cancer-awareness-month

Borderline Personality Disorder Month -https://www.borderlinepersonalitydisorder.org/may-bpd-awareness-month/

Brain Tumor Awareness Month -https://braintumor.org/

Building Safety Month -

https://www.iccsafe.org/advocacy/building-safety-month/building-safety-month/

Celiac Awareness Month -https://celiac.org/schar/

Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month -https://www.cff.org/intro-cf/cf-awareness-month

EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) Awareness Month -https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/may-awareness/

Lupus Awareness Month -

https://www.lupus.org/lupus-awareness-month

Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month -https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/motorcycles

National Allergy/Asthma Awareness Month -https://aafa.org/get-involved/asthma-and-allergy-awareness-month/

National Better Hearing Month -

https://www.asha.org/national-speech-language-hearing-month/

National Brain Tumor Awareness Month -https://braintumor.org/events/brain-tumor-awareness-month/

National Electrical Safety Month -https://www.esfi.org/national-electrical-safety-month-2022/

National High Blood Pressure Education Month -https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6520a5.htm

(World) Lyme Disease Awareness Month -https://www.lymedisease.org/get-involved/take-action/lyme-awareness-month/

National Mediterranean Diet Month -https://tinyurl.com/mpy92c32

National Physiotherapy Month -https://opa.on.ca/recent-news/national-physiotherapy-month/

National Syringomyelia Awareness Month -https://justfacts.votesmart.org/public-statement/973471/national-syringomyelia-awareness-month#.V9iF0uRTHyQ

National Tuberous Sclerosis Month -https://www.tscalliance.org/

National Water Safety Month -http://www.nationalwatersafetymonth.org/

National Youth Traffic Safety Month -

https://teenslearntodrive.com/youth-traffic-safety-month/

Neurofibromatosis Awareness Month (aka NF Month)

-https://www.ctf.org/makenfvisible/

Pediatric Feeding Disorder Awareness Month -https://www.feedingmatters.org/pfd-awareness-month/

Pediatric Stroke Awareness Month -

https://chasa.org/you-can-help/pediatric-stroke-awareness/

Preeclampsia Awareness Month -https://www.preeclampsia.org/

Skin Cancer Awareness Month -https://www.skincancer.org/get-involved/skin-cancer-awareness-month/

Sturge-Weber Awareness Month -https://sturge-weber.org/

Tourette’s Syndrome Awareness Month (5/15 - 6/15) -https://tourette.org/awareness-month-2024/

Toxic Encephalopathy and Chemical Injury Awareness Month -

https://www.brownielocks.com/may.html

If you are a former member of the health committee or would like to find an area where you could be involved, please contact me at health@nfbpwc.org and I will put

Healthy Foods Information –

you on my list. The more you can contribute, the easier it makes it for me. I’d love to have you.

12 Foods That Can Help Lower Blood Pressure -https://tinyurl.com/ycxbwxn421 Impressive Health Benefits and Uses of Parsley -

https://www.medicinenet.com/21_impressive_health_benefits_and_uses_of_parsley/article.htm

If you would like to submit a healthy recipe to publish in future newsletters or have your own health food tip, please send them to health@nfbpwc.org

Article courtesy of Health Committee Member Carolina Vasquez, BPW, Texas Affiliate

Advice to Take Care of an Aging Parent While Guarding Your Health as Well

To my fellow BPW members:

Blessings from El Paso, Texas from a member of BPW Paso del Norte border town with Mexico.

Last year I had to say goodbye to my mother after taking care of her for the last 10 years of her life due to her Dementia.

I want to share my journey with you because I want to help anyone in my position to navigate this family

journey so that you do not fall into the depression I experienced when my mom went to heaven.

After living a wonderful life which culminated with a 20-year job with the US Department of State as a Cultural Liaison for International Visitors and

crisscrossing our Country Several times a month (I got to visit 48 states excluding Hawaii and Maine) I made the decision to resign and concentrate on being my mom’s caretaker until she passed away.

I had no idea what I was going to encounter but did it out of love and respect for my mom, a woman I adored and respected. I knew she was very difficult to please and realizing the horrible effects of Dementia, I did not want her to encounter hostility or uncomfortable circumstances that would make her last years of life unbearable I never realized the shortcomings that my decision was going to have in my life. I recommend that as a loving daughter, you explore all venues to make your parents have a peaceful end to life. However, please do not immerse yourself 100% in your role as a caretaker but make provisions so that you also have a social life along with your duties as a caretaker.

I was caught inside the covid epidemic and moved to a little town outside El Paso that permitted me to protect mom in a safe environment, a gated home where she could walk and take care of her birds and plants. This was a wonderful benefit because she could be outside or inside if I was watching her. Of course, things happened and at one point she could no longer roam unattended, so my duties became very stressful.

Dementia has a way of little by little destroying the person that your parent was and living you with a human being that slowly stops recognizing you and even ends up turning hostile to your company, One has to understand that this is normal and not take anything they say or do at heart, because they are no longer the parent you knew and loved. At this time of your journey, I suggest you find a place where you can monitor them but no longer be 100% at their side.

This will destroy you and you need to be strong to help them transition to a peaceful last journey. You cannot be at their side 24 hours a day. You need to have a life as well aways from your duty as a caretaker. I did not do this, so I ended up facing a total mental degradation feeling helpless and alone.

Don’t fall into that trap. They are at the end of their journey, but you are not, so keep on living while you take care of your sick parents. Do not feel guilty, they would want you to be happy if they still could take care of you, I can guarantee you.

During this time, try to find out all you can about your parents, learn what they liked in their lives, what their dreams were, their likes and dislikes, their triumphs and their shortcomings. All this will comfort you

Health Article FYI

Mind-wandering could actually be helpful when it comes to learning something new -https://tinyurl.com/mryr279z

7 Foods and Beverages That Have the Most Microplastics (and What to Eat Instead) -

https://www.superage.com/articles/7-foods-and-

When they leave this earth, and you will be able to remember them with love and respect.

This is a short recommendation given to you as a person that almost committed suicide feeling so helpless and alone, I isolated myself without realizing that I was hurting myself in the process.

beverages-that-have-the-most-microplastics-and-  what-to-eat-instead

Ilona Maher Is Bringing Body Positivity Back -https://verilymag.com/2025/03/ilona-maher-is-bringing-body-positivity-back-2025?mc_cid=b4e813c64e&mc_eid=f7047d46e4

If you are a former member of the health committee or would like to find an area where you could be involved, please contact me at health@nfbpwc.org and I will put you on my list. The more you can contribute, the easier it makes it for me. I’d love to have you. We will meet on the 3rd or 4th Monday of the month unless there are any conflicts or holiday forthcoming. Next meeting is May 19, 2025.