CALENDAR of To change your life, Between You and Me
By Barbara Pierce
HEALTH EVENTS change your story
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Rome Memorial Hospital’s classroom is located on the second floor of the hospital. Guests are asked to enter the North James Street entrance of the hospital. For more information, call 3387143.
June 16
Junior B Sharp benefit concert on agenda The Junior B Sharp Musical Club will present its 10th annual benefit concert at 3 p.m. June 16 at the Stone Presbyterian Church, 8 South Park Row, Clinton. Performing will be high school members of the club from Whitesboro, Deerfield, Utica, New Hartford, Clinton and Oneida. The Junior B Sharp Musical Club was established in 1916 to augment the musical offerings of the schools and private teachers by giving outstanding area music students opportunities for solo and ensemble performance. This year the membership has chosen to support the Parkinson’s unit of The Presbyterian Home. A $10 donation ($25 family) will be taken at the door. For more information, contact senior adviser Lauralyn Kolb at 853-8738.
June 18
FSLH Foundation’s golf open set to tee off The Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare Foundation will hold its 30th annual golf open on June 18 at Yahnundasis Golf Club, 8639 Seneca Turnpike, New Hartford. Proceeds from this year’s event will benefit the renovation of the Regional Cancer Center’s Outpatient Infusion Treatment Unit at FSLH. The $250 per person donation includes 18 holes of golf, continental breakfast, lunch, dinner for the golfer and a guest, and a golfer gift. Registration and continental break-
fast will be at 6:30 a.m. with a shotgun tee time of 7:15 a.m. A lunch buffet will be available starting at 11:30 a.m. with a second shotgun tee time of 12:45 p.m. Following play, a dinner and awards banquet will be held from 6:309 p.m. For more information, contact Betsey Weaver in the foundation office at 315-624-5608 or bweaver@mvnhealth. com.
June 25
Rome Hospital Foundation to hold golf classic The 18th annual Rome Hospital Foundation Golf Classic will be held June 25 at Teugega Country Club. The presenting sponsor of this year’s event is NBT Bank, a longstanding partner of the Rome Hospital Foundation and the golf classic. All proceeds from the tournament benefit the Rome Hospital Foundation. For more information, contact the Rome Hospital Foundation at 315-3387181 or at bdaiuto@romehospital.org.
July 19-20
Little Falls Hospital hosting M.A.S.H. camp Little Falls Hospital will again be hosting students for the Medical Academy of Science and Health Camp. The goal of M.A.S.H. Camp is to promote the health professions to young people before they begin selecting high school course work and setting goals for their future careers. M.A.S.H. Camp is all about learning what health professionals do each day by participating in activities that highlight their job duties. Students who participate in camp enjoy several days of fun and interaction at their local hospital. M.A.S.H. Camp at Little Falls Hospital will be held July 19-20 at Little Falls Hospital, 140 Burwell St., Little Falls. For more information, visit www. cnyahec.com/M.A.S.H.camp.html or contact Linda Belden, education coordinator, at 823-5221.
Overcome your bladder control problems
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our doctor may ask you to drink less coffee or perform exercises that strengthen your pelvic floor muscles to help you control your bladder control problems. The inability to hold in urine is a common problem among older adults. Many people have trouble controlling their bladder when they cough or sneeze or when they have sudden, uncontrollable urges to urinate. “Bladder control issues don’t usually cause major health problems, but the issue can embarrass individuals and cause them to avoid certain social Page 14
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functions and physical activities,” said Jamie Kerr, a physician who serves as vice president and chief medical officer for utilization management, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. Kerr advises anyone who answers “yes” to any of the following questions to talk to their doctor: • Do you have sudden urges to urinate that are difficult to control? • Do you ever have urinary leakage when laughing, coughing or lifting heavy objects? • Do you get up twice or more during the night to go to the bathroom?
IN GOOD HEALTH – Mohawk Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper • June 2012
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e all have stories that play in our heads. Not fiction or fantasies, but stories of who we are, of what we are. Our versions of our life. How we explain ourselves. “I don’t do technology,” I quickly replied to a friend who suggested that I should get an IPod. “I don’t do technology” is the story I tell myself and others to explain why I don’t learn how to text, why I will not take pictures with my cell phone, why I don’t have a website. “My brain refuses to learn anymore than doing emails and attachments,” I say with an apologetic laugh. One of my stories is that I am not capable of doing complicated technological things. “I’m not that bright, but this is what I think,” I have often heard my friend Clarence say. After making that introduction to what he wants to say, he comes out with the most eloquent and beautifully articulated gems of wisdom. He is extremely bright. His story is that he’s not very bright. Our stories are crucial to us. We make sense of Pierce ourselves and our lives by the stories we tell ourselves and others about ourselves. Most of these stories have been with us a very long time. They often come from what our parents said to us or about us. Jeanne, a 53-year-old client, once said to me, “I can’t ever do anything right.” I asked why she said that. Her mother had told her she wasn’t able to do anything right. So, for all of her life, she believed the story that she couldn’t do anything right. We are what we believe ourselves to be. We are our stories. World-renowned physician Deepak Chopra focuses on mind-body connections. In his new book “Spiritual Solutions,” and on YouTube’s: “To Change your Life, Change Your Story,” he discusses the important of our stories. “All stories are fiction,” he says. “Your stories are fiction.” “When we create stories, we create beliefs,” he explains. “When we create beliefs, we live out these beliefs. And these beliefs limit our ability.” My belief that I can’t do technology certainly limits me. Clarence’s belief
that he’s not bright limits him. Jeanne’s belief that she can’t do anything right limits her.
Separating fact from fiction
Who decided that your stories are true? Who decides if they are still true? How did your stories develop? What if you reconsidered your stories and how they originated? I asked Jeanne to remember when she first heard her mother tell her that she couldn’t do anything right. She described the scene; it was still vivid in her mind. She was only 4 or 5 years old, trying to do the dishes. When she realized that no 4- or 5-year-old child is capable of doing the dishes right, she recognized that her mother was wrong. The story she had believed all her life was pure fiction. She had to revise the story that was so limiting. Clarence is an 88-yearold African American man. He grew up in the days when an African American man was not supposed to be bright. Though he has a college education and the ability to express himself articulately, he learned to protect himself by being self-effacing, by explaining that he isn’t very bright. So if you choose to discard what he says as worthless, he’s prepared for that to happen. His story protected him when he needed to be protected. His story is pure fiction. Chopra suggests that the next time you are suffering, you ask yourself: “What is the story that I have told myself?” “What is the story that I have told myself that is causing my suffering?” Then, ask yourself: “This belief that I hold to be true, is it really true?” “How did it originate?” “What are other versions of this story?” “What is this story doing to me?” “What would I be without it?” To change your life, change your story. • Barbara Pierce is a retired licensed clinical social worker with many years’ experience helping people. If you have a concern or question that you would like Pierce to address, send your concerns to her at BarbaraPierce06@yahoo.com.
UCP Tradewinds Tigers win gold
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he Upstate Cerebral Palsy Special Olympics Basketball Team, the Tradewinds Tigers, recently won the gold medal at the 2012 Special Olympics games held in Rochester. The team is comprised of 17 student athletes from both the Utica and Rome Tradewinds Education Centers. The Tradewinds Education Center of Upstate Cerebral Palsy is a comprehensive educational and residential facility
with locations in both Rome and Utica. The center is committed to providing excellence in education to children between the ages of 5-21 who have been diagnosed with severe behavioral and developmental disabilities. The program is composed of students who attend school and return home at the end of the school day and students who attend the school and also reside in housing provided by the program.