Change Has Come To America: How About You?

President-Elect Barack Obama has traveled a road to the White House wherein we have all become witnesses to change coming to America. Beyond being a witness we were asked to participate in a process of national empowerment; a process which has given birth to a new era of personal accountability towards the fulfillment of national renewal.

We have all been asked to make a service pledge which extends beyond today, the Martin Luther King Day of Service. What is your pledge? How will you be the change you wish to see? Are you on your path? You have been "called"!

National Institutes of Health (NIH) CORE Week 2009

From February 9-13, 2009, The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will premier its first CORE Week, Conditioning and Relaxation Together, highlighting the science and practice of different modes of physical activity and their relaxing counterparts. During this five-day series of events open to NIH employees and the public, participants will learn about the benefits of conditioning and relaxation while being able to experience them first-hand.

This event is being sponsored by the NIH Recreation and Welfare Association (NIH R&W) with collaboration from NIH Office of Research Services, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the National Institute for Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases (NIAMS). In addition, the NIH Recreation and Welfare Association has partnered with several local businesses to create a community-focus to this week.

Margaret will be attending the Wednesday night networking event featuring a Peak Pilates Reformer Demonstration and a panel discussion entitled “Shifting Toward Prevention: Integration of Health Modalities to Achieve Overall Well-Being” with Robert Sherman, Group Fitness Department Head for Rockville Life Time Athletic and International Speaker on Physical Activity and Cathy Hannon, Mind/Body Coordinator at Life Time Athletic. The panel will be moderated by Rachel Permuth-Levine, PhD, Deputy Director for the Office of Strategic and Innovative Programs at NIH.

For a complete review of the week's activities which are open to you, please visit the agenda posting under Wellness News and Events on the homepage of the WPC website, http://www.wellpartcoaching.com/ . The posting will remain through the duration of CORE Week.

2008 Medical Weblog Award Nominees

This is the 5th year of the Medical Weblog Awards competition designed to showcase the web's best medical blogs as well as their valuable role in medicine and society. Categories for this year's awards include the following.
-- Best Medical Weblog
-- Best New Medical Weblog (established in 2008)
-- Best Literary Medical Weblog
-- Best Clinical Sciences Weblog
-- Best Health Policies/Ethics Weblog
-- Best Medical Technologies/Informatics Weblog
-- Best Patient's Blog

With nominations completed and five finalists in each category announced on Monday, January 5th, 2009, the ballot polls opened Tuesday, January 6th, and will close at 12 midnight on Sunday, January 18th (EST). A winner will be announced in each category on Friday, January 23, 2009. Visit http://www.medgadget.com/ to learn more and cast your ballot.

National Blood Donor Month

Celebrated by the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), American Blood Centers and the American Red Cross, National Blood Donor Month (NBDM) 2009 is focused on encouraging donors to give or pledge to give blood. The combination of holidays, travel schedules, inclement weather and illness traditionally results in a reduction in blood donations which can render the national supply critically low.

As stated on the AABB website, "Every day in our country, approximately 39,000 units of blood are required in hospitals and emergency treatment facilities for patients with cancer and other diseases, for organ transplant recipients, and to help save the lives of accident victims. Our goal is to help ensure that blood is available to patients whenever and wherever it is needed because it is the blood on the shelves that helps saves lives."

For more information regarding this health observance and blood donation eligibility, visit http://www.aabb.org/ . Celebrate NBDM with AABB by donating blood and encouraging others to do so as well.