health | Live Well Lamoille

What Is Your New Years Resolution?

Live Well Lamoille Health and Wellness Resolutions

Jan 08 2019

A new year has arrived, presenting the perfect opportunity to reflect on the past and reset. Even if you’re not in need of a completely fresh start, everyone can benefit from embracing a more positive frame of mind and a few new wellness goals.

We asked Live Well Lamoille bloggers to share the healthy habits they hope to embrace this year. Here is what they said:

Valerie Valcour, Vermont Department of Health: A renewed focus for me in 2019 is work-life balance. The first step will be to incorporate 10 minutes of meditation into each day. The best time will be the transition between work and home each afternoon and mornings on the weekend. A book with 52 meditative focus areas will be my weekly topic guide. I wish you all the best in accomplishing your goals for 2019.

Caleb Magoon, Power Play Sports: A couple of years ago, I was a bit down in the dumps following a very tough year. In an effort to focus on all the positive things I had going in life, I resolved at the New Year to write a bit about those positive aspects of my life. Rather than a traditional journal chronicling all life events, I decided instead to simply write about positive events, moments of beauty I saw daily, or uplifting interactions with people around me. My goal was to write nearly every day, which I did, albeit not for the whole year.

Though my effort was short-lived, it was not without a positive effect. I found that by focusing on the positive rather than complaining about the many negative things (because that is just too easy), had a profound effect on my outlook.

This year, I plan to do something similar. I have some new and slightly more realistic expectations. I’m quite certain that by taking just a few minutes each week to celebrate the positive things in my life, I will see an improved outlook. Deep in the Vermont winter, many of us struggle to keep a positive attitude. Small exercises like this that take little time can do big things for your mental health.

Dan Regan, Northern Vermont University-Johnson: In 2019 I resolve to continue two strategies, which I’ve begun. The first is: Allot extra time for all tasks and commitments. My mom gave me this advice, and she lived past 95. It means leaving early to pick someone up, arriving beforehand for an appointment or meeting, planning on extra time to cook dinner, complete a report, etc. I’m someone who acutely feels the pressure of an upcoming commitment. For me, and maybe others among you, a more unhurried approach reduces stress, helps control blood pressure and contributes to overall health.

In my seventies, time is obviously precious; but I can’t honestly claim that each second is equally indispensable. So I don’t begrudge waiting and “wasting” some of those seconds. Paradoxically, the willingness to waste some time unapologetically has made my “productive” moments feel—well—more productive and meaningful.

The second resolution is: Minimize multitasking. That means, for starters, no peering at screens while I’m exercising or checking phones when I’m actually watching something. I find the more I commit to uni-tasking, the more I get done. I’m better able to focus on the task at hand. And an unforeseen benefit is that, without distraction, my mind is free to move in unexpected and sometimes productive directions. For instance, I “wrote” this short piece in my head while running in a pool.

I hope I can make good on these two, simple commitments and I wish everyone a good (better) and healthy 2019!

What are your health and wellness resolutions? Maybe you’d like to start meal planning, start walking for 20 minutes per day, or just want to stop overscheduling your calendar to cut down on stress. How do you plan to stick to them? Let us know in the comments section below.

Improving Health, One Organization at a Time

Feb 13 2018

By: Valerie Valcour

Did you know that where you live, your zip code, is important to your health? Do you think that where you work, play and learn are also important to your health? How about when you stop in that corner market for a quick snack or when you meet for church service, do you think these places impact your health too? The Vermont Department of Health says yes.

The Vermont Department of Health has added two new organizations to the list of 3-4-50 partners. There are new Tip Sheets and Sign-On forms for retailers and faith-communities. Haven’t heard of 3-4-50?

3-4-50 is a simple but powerful way to understand and communicate the overwhelming impact of chronic disease in Vermont. 3-4-50 represents 3 behaviors – lack of physical activity, poor nutrition and tobacco use – that lead to 4 chronic diseases – cancer, heart disease/stroke, type 2 diabetes and lung disease – resulting in more than 50 percent of all deaths in Vermont.

Retail establishments, like the corner markets, can help you meet your goals for good health by displaying healthy snack options like fruit and nuts and they can keep tobacco products out of eye-sight, especially from children.

Faith-communities can set guidelines that make sure healthy foods are made available during coffee hours, potlucks and meetings. They can also create property-wide tobacco-free spaces. Having bike racks or offering physical activity options for gatherings can also help the overall health of the community.

Join the Lamoille Valley 3-4-50 Partners and sign your organization on to good health and wellness today! http://www.healthvermont.gov/3-4-50

Valerie Valcour is a Public Health Nurse and specializes in chronic disease prevention and emergency preparedness at the community level for the Department of Health in Morrisville. Valerie has lived in Lamoille County most of her life. She graduated from People’s Academy in 1983 and worked as a nurse at Copley Hospital for several years. In addition to her work, she volunteers as a board member of both Community Health Services of Lamoille Valley and the Lamoille County Planning Commission.

Improving Heart Health, One Step at a Time

Feb 09 2018

Keeping your heart healthy may seem like a big job, but even small changes in your daily habits can make a big difference. In fact, small changes are much easier to integrate into our lives than larger ones, so they’re more likely to become lasting habits.

In honor of American Heart Month, we asked our Live Well Lamoille bloggers to share one simple thing they do to keep their heart healthy. We hope this list provides inspiration for incorporating heart-healthy behaviors into your life.

Steve Ames: To be honest, I try to run up the stairs as often as possible, and skip elevators or so escalators whenever possible.

Mary L. Collins: I have begun a practice of going to sleep while listening to meditative music. It may seem an odd way to be heart healthy but for me, as I age, I find sleeping is one of the areas I can easily attenuate to be healthier. So, I listen to music that helps me fall asleep. It softly plays on my nightstand at a very, very low volume. I can barely hear it but it is just enough “there” so that I am soothed into sleep. Think of it as “Lullabies for Adults”. Works for me and is completely natural.

Rebecca Copans: Each week I try to take a brisk walk on five days and go to at least one yoga or other exercise class. I find that if I set a goal of trying to eat 5 different colors of fruit and vegetables each day it helps me to eat more fresh foods.

Rorie Dunphey: I take a 30-minute walk during my lunch hour.

Caleb Magoon: I love to drink a cold beer or two once in a while. But boy those calories add up! I have a simple rule I follow: Sweat before you drink. I allow myself the indulgence, but only on days when I am sure to get a little exercise.

Todd Thomas: I religiously check my Fitbit each day to ensure that I get my steps in. I have always been told that 10,000 steps a day makes for an active and healthy lifestyle. My personal goal is to get to 14,000 steps a day. I chose to walk to and from work (and to and from the house for my lunch-break) to help meet my daily goal. If I achieve that daily goal, that gets me to 100,000 steps per week. My body always feels great when I achieve 100,000 steps weekly!

Nancy Wagner: I love to snowshoe with my dog. She’s right there waiting and ready when I get home from work. I have a headlamp and we go out back in the woods.

Michele Whitmore: I exercise regularly and play tennis three times a week. Playing tennis has many health benefits including increasing aerobic capacities. lowering resting heart rate and blood pressure. Additionally, in 2016 there was a study done involving numerous exercises and sports that increase one’s lifespan, tennis was ranked in the top two. This research report also stated that playing a racquet sport, such as tennis, was linked to a 47% reduced risk of death. (More information here.)

Valerie Valcour: I do Tai Chi for 20-30 minutes five mornings a week. It helps ground me and gets my heart rate up just enough to get going.

What is one thing YOU do to be heart healthy? Let us know in the comments section below!

Help Me Grow – How to Find and Connect Families to Help

Jan 21 2018

By: Steve Ames

In my work as Building Bright Futures Regional Coordinator for the Lamoille Valley, I’ve been working to spread the word about Help Me Grow. Help Me Grow is the information and referral center for young families and kids that has recently been ramping up in Vermont.

A key component of Help Me grow is the call center. It’s part of the 211 System, and Child Development Specialists Elizabeth Gilman and Megan Fitzgerald are on the other end of the line (or text at 211*6).

The call center works closely with other agencies throughout the state. Though most calls come from families directly, sometimes they come from medical providers, or child care providers or family and friends. Calls run the gamut from “I missed my WIC appointment, do you know how late they’re open?” to wanting to have an in-depth discussion about a child’s development, or a request for potential help in the community for food or housing. There is significant value with the Help Me Grow system in that the calls can be anonymous, which lowers a caller’s fear, encourages them to really describe what they need, and allows trust to be built over time.

“The calls can be anonymous, which lowers a caller’s fear, encourages them to really describe what they need, and allows trust to be built over time.”

The Help Me Grow call center Child Development folks describe working with a mom with two children, one of whom receives special education services. The mom is a recent domestic violence survivor who had moved in with her family. The caller did not want to share information about herself or her kids on the first call, which was a request for help around food. She didn’t want to have to share her story repeatedly with service providers because she was concerned about being pitied or seen as not a good parent. The initial call with Help Me Grow was directed by the specialist to all the positive things the caller was doing as a parent – how involved she was in her child’s Individualized Education Plan, the positive relationships she had with her parents, identifying some basic needs in her area, and how she might access resources. The specialist spoke specifically about Reach Up and how it might build on the strengths and resiliency she already had to transition her back to work. On that first call, she was not interested in seeking state assistance. However, after several calls and follow-ups, she went to a local food shelf and had a very positive experience, and some time later went to the Economic Services office to sign up for help.

Often families don’t have built-in supports that the caller described above did. Elizabeth, one of the two Child Development specialists at Help Me Grow, has reached out to families referred from medical providers when the families are hesitant or don’t respond to calls from Children’s Integrated Services. Elizabeth often works with the medical provider and Children’s Integrated Services (CIS) to ensure that the referred family is getting connected. Often it can take several months for families to feel comfortable and safe enough to try accessing support services like CIS.

Help Me Grow is working on a more intentional partnership with CIS. Recently, a family was referred to Help Me Grow by a physician. The family has two young children, ages 2 and 4, and their doctor had developmental concerns about both. Elizabeth called the parent and they completed CIS referral together over the phone. Elizabeth got permission to share information with the medical provider, CIS, and school district from the caller. Then she worked together to pursue Early Intervention for the younger child and school-based services for the older child. Help Me Grow was able to make the referral to the school district directly so CIS staff could focus on the Early Intervention work for the younger child. Then Help Me Grow followed up with the physician to let them know that the connection had been made and that the kids had begun to get the supports their physician knew they needed.

Text the letters HMGVT (in the body of the message) to the (short) phone number 898211.

When providers refer families to Help Me Grow, they have to let the family know and get their permission for follow up. Help Me Grow never cold calls a family. The Help Me Grow referral form requires providers who complete it to confirm that they’ve talked to the referred family. The Help Me Grow referral form also lets a provider indicate if they’ve already made a referral directly to CIS as well, so that Help Me Grow can instead focus on connecting the family to wrap-around supports like playgroups, activities or basic needs, while they are going through the CIS referral process. There are some families who, even if referred to CIS, are hesitant to engage with anyone from the government, so having another option for engaging those families is critical. Help Me Grow is this option.

Understanding the depth of follow up through the call center is critical for community partners to understand. Help Me Grow is working to fill gaps and build connections over time with more difficult-to-reach families and eventually connect them to services. Those who resist getting help with their young children in need are difficult to find, and, when they don’t receive the help they need, problems often increase over time.

To make Help Me Grow even easier to connect with, the Child Development Specialists are available via text for families – folks can text the letters HMGVT (that’s what you send in the body of the message) to the shortcode (imagine this as a phone number) 898211.

Here is Help Me Grow’s super informative website. On it you can find the Referral form and lots of developmental information for young families as well as for providers of services:

http://helpmegrowvt.org

Here are two great smartphone apps, for both iPhones and for Android devices that are terrific ways to get more information about your child’s development:

http://www.joinvroom.org

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones-app.html

As the Regional Coordinator for Building Bright Futures, Steve staffs The Lamoille Valley Building Bright Futures Regional Council, a volunteer committee focused on the well being of young children and their families. There is one such Council in each of twelve regions of the State. Steve also works with the Playroom in Morrisville. He writes about early childhood, families, community, play, and equity.

When to Visit, When to Stay Home

Jan 18 2018

By: Mary L. Collins

My great aunt was well into her 90’s when she passed away some years ago. She was an independent, active person who continued to work as a volunteer at her church, walking the three blocks from home, up the steep steps of the cathedral’s entry, spending many hours there multiple times a week to dust the pews – of which there were hundreds. She also mowed her own lawn – with a push mower – the old-fashioned kind that relied not on a gas-powered engine, but on physical strength.

You might say she had an indomitable spirit. She did, indeed. But she did not have an indomitable body.

When my great aunt passed away in the spring of the year, it followed two weeks of sickness due to a cold that evolved into pneumonia. That evolved into a hospital stay, and finally, sadly, her eventual passing. It is not uncommon for vulnerable elders to succumb to pneumonia. Respiratory illnesses younger persons can more easily recover from are often extremely risky when contracted by an elder.

This is not an alarmist’s tale, but one of practicality and consideration. Given that flu season is upon us, and with the recent frigid temperatures, it’s especially important that the most vulnerable among us are shielded in all the ways that we can provide it from exposure to illness. It is essential to be vaccinated and be provided proper medical care to prevent outbreaks of the flu and other airborne illnesses, but it is equally important to be aware of one’s exposure.

It will probably come as no surprise that my great aunt had been exposed to someone who visited her when they were still experiencing flu-like symptoms. Those of us who are younger and often “tough it out” when we are sick do not always recognize when we might still be contagious to others and when we might risk putting a more vulnerable loved one in harm’s way. Contagious winter illnesses can create a real risk for the elderly, young children and the more vulnerable among us. It is not our intent to cause harm, but we sometimes do so without knowing.

At The Manor, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center and residence to approximately 88 vulnerable elderly people at any given time, staff education, and training is critical to maintaining a safe environment for residents, staff and visitors alike. Policies and procedures are in place for staff who are taught what are “best practices” when working with residents who may have shown symptoms that could be contagious. In closed environments like The Manor, it is critical that these procedures be followed to minimize the risk to residents, visitors, and fellow staff. According to Staff Educator and Infection Preventionist, Nicole Keaty, RN,

“We are working very hard to keep our residents and staff healthy at all times but especially during the winter months when Flu and other viruses are more prevalent. We ask the community’s help in this effort. We love to see family and friends visit the residents but we strongly encourage that if you are ill, feeling under the weather, or have family members who are ill, it may be better to not visit.”

Getting an annual flu vaccine is the first and best way to protect yourself and your family from the flu. Flu vaccination can reduce flu illnesses, doctors’ visits, and missed work and school due to flu, as well as prevent flu-related hospitalizations. It’s not too late to schedule yours. Contact your health care provider to find out what’s best for you.

Keaty offered a few tips on what works best when visiting a loved one during cold and Flu season. “Most viruses are contagious before we are having symptoms. If you do visit The Manor, we have hand sanitizer at our entrances as well as masks. These are for visitors’ use. We recommend that visitors sanitize upon entering and again when you leave so you don’t bring anything home with you.” She offered that masks are available for visitor’s use should you have a cough, cold or sore throat or if you are visiting a resident who has any respiratory illness. And, the tried and true recommendation of frequent handwashing is also one of the best things we all can do to prevent the spread of any viruses.

The public has a critical role in this prescription for health care management – and it is a simple one:

“If you are not feeling well or believe you may be suffering from a cold, Flu or other communicable illness; it is always best to err on the side of caution and NOT visit your loved one until you are no longer contagious.”

Your consideration of your loved ones includes your own self-care. By keeping yourself healthy, you also protect the people you love most.

Mary L. Collins is the Marketing Director at Lamoille Home Health & Hospice. A 2014 Home Care Elite Top Agency, LHH&H is one of eleven VNAs of Vermont home health and hospice agencies serving Vermont. She also serves as Marketing Director at The Manor, a 4 star nursing home and short term rehabilitation facility in Morrisville, VT, and she chairs the Lamoille Region Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

What Will This Cost?

Jan 09 2018

By: Leah Hollenberger

Healthcare how much will it cost
Buying healthcare isn’t like shopping for clothes or groceries. The question ‘What will this cost?’ is not easily answered, particularly for inpatient stays and outpatient procedures. The answer can be difficult because charges vary by hospital. They vary due to the types of services each hospital provides and the mix of patients it sees. It is also complicated by how our healthcare reimbursement system operates.

So what can you do? The best way to find out what the hospital will charge for a proposed treatment or test is to contact the hospital’s Patient Financial Department or the Billing Department. They’ll ask for information about the proposed treatment or test and will be able to provide you with an estimate of what will be charged. They can also help you determine how much deductible, co-pay, and any amount not covered by insurance for which you may be responsible. It will be a range because every person responds differently to treatment and it is difficult to predict in advance all of the supplies and services you may end up receiving. The other thing to remember is that everyone is charged the same price but most people do not pay the full amount because they are covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance. Hospitals also offer financial assistance and the financial counselor/billing staff can help you apply for assistance and/or help you set up a payment plan. At Copley, you can reach our patient financial counselors at 888-8336.

Another tool is the Vermont Hospital Report Card on the Vermont Department of Health’s website: http://healthvermont.gov/health-statistics-vital-records/health-care-systems-reporting/hospital-report-cards. Here you can compare the average charge for inpatient stays, outpatient procedures, and charges for common outpatient services and visits. Be aware that the most current data is for Outpatient Services and Visits; it is from 2017. The data for Inpatient Stays and Outpatient Procedures is from 2015; it lags a few years because they are based on claims data and it takes time to aggregate the group of charges that make up the overall cost for a specific type of inpatient stay or outpatient procedure.

Hospital rates change each year, so if you are seeking an estimate for an inpatient stay or outpatient procedure, you may want to contact the hospital’s billing office to get a more up-to-date estimate.

Price is but one factor when considering where to go for your healthcare services. Other factors that people consider is the relationship they have with their doctor, quality measures such as rate of successful outcomes and infection control, transportation, and how easy it is for family and friends to visit or assist. All of these factors are important when considering healthcare. The best thing about considering all of these factors is that it means you are an informed patient taking an active part in making the right choice for you.

Leah Hollenberger is the Vice President of Marketing, Development, and Community Relations for Copley Hospital. A former award-winning TV and Radio producer, she is the mother of two and lives in Morrisville. Her free time is spent volunteering, cooking, playing outdoors, and producing textile arts. Leah writes about community events, preventive care, and assorted ideas to help one make healthy choices.

The Link Between Childhood Trauma and Tobacco Use

Nov 21 2017

By: Scott Johnson, Lamoille Family Center

Perhaps you’ve heard about the impact of trauma on long-term health. In Vermont and here in Lamoille Valley there is a lot of attention being paid to the set of childhood experiences that are directly linked to challenges later in life. These experiences, called Adverse Childhood Experiences (see the list below), or ACEs, are traumatic events that, if untreated, can have significant negative effects. The most common of these ACEs in Vermont are: divorce/separation, parental substance abuse or mental illness, and extreme economic insecurity.

What may surprise you is the link between these ACEs and tobacco use. The chart below shows the number of ACEs and their relationship to early smoking onset, adult smoking rates, and the lung disease known as COPD. Here are some important statistics about those connections.

If you experience more than three ACEs you are more likely to use tobacco.
88% of Vermont smokers started before age 18.
In Vermont, forty percent of young adults ages 18 to 24 who have experienced more than three ACEs are using tobacco. That’s more than twice the number of users in that age range who have fewer than three ACEs.
Those individuals with four or more ACEs are 3x more likely to start smoking before age 18.

According to the Vermont Department of Health website, tobacco use is the NUMBER ONE preventable cause of death. In Vermont, smoking costs approximately $348 million in medical expenses and results in about 1,000 smoking-related deaths each year.

According to their own internal documents, tobacco companies try to attract new young smokers by targeting retail stores near schools and parks. (http://www.counterbalancevt.com)

According to the 2015 Youth Behavior Risk Survey, almost one-quarter of high school students in Lamoille County have reported using three different types of tobacco products: 27% tried electronic vapor products, 23% tried a flavored tobacco product, and 22% smoked a whole cigarette, with 11% of students reporting that they smoked within the past 30 days.

If we want to reduce the use of tobacco and improve health outcomes in our region we must do something to reduce exposure to those ACEs, or do more to help young people heal from the impact of those experiences before they start using tobacco. The annual focus on urging smokers to quit is called The Great American Smokeout, and it occurred last week on November 16^th. Maybe some of you participated in this event, and remain tobacco free!

The community has an important role to play in reducing the likelihood our young people will choose to smoke. The links between smoking rates and adverse childhood experiences tell us that solutions lie in community-level efforts that support children, youth, and families. Research shows that the kind of help that makes a difference includes community-level activities that:

Make sure all children are socially and emotionally supported, and
Assure each family has two or more people who can offer concrete support in times of need.

As you may have heard, Healthy Lamoille Valley (HLV), our community prevention coalition, has regained tobacco prevention funding and is charged with addressing prevention of initiation of tobacco use among youth, eliminating exposure to second-hand smoke, and increasing tobacco-free policies in towns, public places, workplaces, and college campuses. If you want to get connected to our local efforts, including our reestablished HLV Tobacco Prevention Task Force, contact the HLV Policy and Community Outreach Coordinator, Alison Link at alison@healthylamoillevalley.org. Check out the website at https://www.healthylamoillevalley.org/tobacco.

*ACEs include: mental illness, depression, or person with suicidal intentions in the home; drug addiction or alcoholic family member; parental discord – indicated by divorce, separation, abandonment; incarceration of any family member; witnessing domestic violence against the mother; child abuse (physical, sexual, emotional); child neglect (physical, emotional).

Scott Johnson is Executive Director of the Lamoille Family Center and has worked in Lamoille Valley in human services and education for nearly his entire career. The Family Center has served our community by encouraging, educating and celebrating children, youth and families for forty years.

Scott writes about early care and education, adolescent development and strengthening families that improve conditions of well-being.

How 336 Dimples Helped Me Lose 20 Pounds

Sep 05 2017

By: Todd Thomas

I don’t get to sleep-in much anymore. Believe it or not, I am thrilled with this change.

Most mornings, I now jump out of bed, grab a granola bar, and walk up the hill to Copley Golf Club. As I arrive on the first tee of the golf course, I am alone. Save for the glance and scurry of the occasional mama fox and her kits, there is not a sound to be heard. My (usually wayward) first tee shot is often the first human sound heard each morning in the heart of the village. Then I am off, pounding the fairways, chasing the 336 dimples of my golf ball around the 66 acre golf course.

By the time I complete my morning 9 holes of golf, I have already taken about 10,000 steps, all before 8 AM. As I walk to work with my golf round (and dreams of joining the Senior Golf Tour) firmly behind me, I feel energized and refreshed. Getting more exercise in is so much easier now because I enjoy it. Chasing that little white golf ball around Copley Golf Club has helped me lose more than 20 pounds during the last two years. That weight loss is a pretty cool accomplishment. It is not as cool as playing golf for a living on the Senior Tour, but being healthier, skinnier, and feeling better about myself is still pretty fantastic.

So please feel free to join me for some sunrise golf at Copley (membership is a bargain there at only about $600 a year). You may not improve your golf game, but walking those 9 holes before work a few times a week will definitely make you healthier.

What’s your favorite way to get moving? Let us know in the comment section below.

Todd Thomas has a Master’s Degree in City Planning from Boston University and has worked both in Massachusetts and Vermont as a consultant and as a land use planner for town government. Todd is currently the Planning Director for Morristown, Vermont.

Todd’s recent work includes helping to revitalize downtown Morrisville, making it the fastest growing city and/or historic downtown in the State since the 2010 Census. Todd attributes much of the downtown’s housing and population growth to zoning reform as it relates to minimum parking requirements.

Activity Diversity

Jul 11 2017

By: Caleb Magoon

It’s summer! Time to get out and have a little fun. If you aspire to be more active, fit and healthy, what are the best activities to get you there? Turns out, it doesn’t matter much what you do to stay active. What’s far more important is being active consistently and doing a variety of activities.

We all have that one activity we love above all else. For me, it’s mountain biking. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid and love riding more than all other forms of summer fun. During the summer months, I consistently ride the trails in our area 3-4 times a week.

There is nothing wrong with riding a bike to stay fit and healthy. But only riding a bike and not participating in other activities limits fitness progression. Our bodies are built to adapt to different activities and get efficient at them. For me, biking only provides a minimal amount of fitness. My body has figured out how to be really efficient at it over the years.

Diversification is the name of the game. You may love that one activity, but try and sprinkle in some others to raise your fitness level. You don’t have to go crazy. I drop in on an Ultimate Frisbee game once in a while. For me, an hour of that is better than several hours of biking. The fast cuts and sprints my body aren’t used to provide maximum fitness impact. On days where I feel like something low key, I’ll just shoot hoops at the local outdoor court or go for a quick hike. Everything helps!

The point isn’t to kill yourself, but to provide your body with different activities working different muscle groups. These will prevent it from getting too efficient at any one activity. Study after study shows that a variety of fitness activities lead to better calorie burn, all-around fitness and strength.

So get out and try lots of things. Throw a baseball or football or Frisbee in the yard. Join a volleyball or basketball pickup game when time permits. Hike, bike, walk or run. Keep doing those things you love too, but add some twists to your repertoire to keep yourself lean and mean. You will see the results. Plus, do you really need an excuse to enjoy all the different activities a summer in Vermont has to offer? I didn’t think so…

Caleb Magoon is a Hyde Park native who grew up hiking, hunting, biking and exploring Vermont’s Green Mountains. His passions for sports and recreation have fueled his career as the owner of Power Play Sports and Waterbury Sports. Caleb encourages outdoor activity and believes it is an essential element to a healthy lifestyle and the Vermont way of life. Caleb serves the Lamoille Valley by volunteering on numerous community boards such as the Lamoille County Planning Commission, The Morrisville Alliance for Commerce and Culture, Mellow Velo, and the state chapter of The Main Street Alliance. He lives, plays and works in Hyde Park with his wife Kerrie.

Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Injuries and Reconstruction

Jun 07 2017

By: Leah Morse, MS, PA-C

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament, the “ACL”, is an important stabilizing ligament in the middle of the knee. It is at risk of being torn in skiers, soccer players, and other athletes who commonly use cutting or twisting movements. About half of the time, an ACL tear will be accompanied by a meniscal tear and/or medial collateral ligament tear due to the overwhelming rotational or hyperextension force to the knee. Patients with ACL tears typically experience sudden pain and giving way of the knee, sometimes with an audible “pop” at the time of injury. The knee will typically swell with fluid, become painful and unstable.

If this happens to you, initial treatment includes a period of rest, ice, compression, elevation (RICE), bracing, crutches, and anti-inflammatories. Early range of motion of the knee as tolerated with a trained physical therapist is also helpful. Then, an MRI is usually ordered to better visualize the ACL and further assess the knee injury.

Definitive treatment of an ACL tear depends on the patient’s age, desired activity level, and associated injuries. For young, active patients, ACL reconstruction offers a good chance of a successful return to sports and the pre-surgery level of activity.

Like many things in medicine, ACL reconstruction has advanced over the years. Mansfield Orthopaedics at Copley Hospital offers patients a minimally invasive “double-bundle” ACL reconstruction done arthroscopically. This reproduces the two naturally occurring components of the ACL, the anteriomedial and posterolateral bundles, through a few small incisions. Our orthopaedic suregeons can restore the location and orientation of the two ACL bundles using cadaver tissue or the patient’s own tissue to build a new ACL. Surgery usually takes 60-90 minutes, and any meniscal or cartilage injury can also be addressed arthroscopically at that time. (You can learn more here.)

Patients who undergo ACL reconstruction take on the small risks of surgery to regain knee stability and the ability to return to sports. Surgery is done on an outpatient basis and physical therapy is restarted one week after surgery. Rehabilitation after ACL reconstruction is a lengthy process – it takes many months for the body to reincorporate the new tissue into the knee. Patients who have undergone ACL reconstruction may start sports-specific agility training and drills five to six months after surgery, and running four months after surgery. It does take one year for full recovery and to properly rebuild muscle strength.

Leah Morse is a Certified Physician Assistant with Mansfield Orthopaedics at Copley Hospital. After completing Physician Assistant School and her Master’s Degree at Wagner College in New York City, Morse worked with the Neurointerventional Surgery team at Roosevelt Hospital in mid-town Manhattan. She relocated to her native Vermont in 2010 to work at Mansfield Orthopaedics, specializing in Hip and Knee joint replacement and sports medicine. Morse coordinates both the research program and the inpatient total joint replacement team.

It is essential that you seek professional advice for all issues concerning your health. Do not take any of the information in this blog (either in posts or comments) as professional advice or official communication from Copley Hospital or any of the blog authors. Posts and comments on this blog are not intended to be professional advice, unless implicitly indicated in the blog post, and do not necessarily reflect Copley Hospital policy or corporate opinion. The opinions and/or views expressed on Live Well Lamoille represent the thoughts of the individual bloggers and commenters, not those necessarily of the organizations they represent or organizations affiliated with the blog.

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Tag - health