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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2022)
20 Wednesday, January 26, 2022 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Your Story MATTERS Audry Van Houweling, PMHNP Columnist One foot in front of the other To be honest, I am tired of writing about the turbulence of our COVID- era world. I am tired of prefacing each article with the muddy context of circumstances many of us find ourselves in. Like many of you, I am more than ready to move on, and yet the collective emotional climate can- not be dismissed. Resilience, self- care, mindfulness, and acceptance have become ever more popular buzz words alongside grief, trauma, and burnout. Most all of us have become more intimate with loss and fear than we would ever prefer. It is easy to feel daunted. It is easy to want to hide in bed. It is easy to want to escape. It is easy to want to numb. It is also, in many cases, under- standable and sometimes unavoid- able. Some of us have experienced levels of emotional distress not felt before, some of us have been haunted from past traumas rearing up in the uncertainty, some of us have asked for help for the first time. In my worldview, nobody is enti- tled to a carefree life or perpetual hap- piness. Part of resilience is learning to sit with discomfort — to acknowl- edge it — to recognize its inevitabil- ity. Struggle can be devastating, but without it, I wonder how virtues of empathy and compassion would be cultivated. And so, the world keeps turn- ing and the sun keeps rising. It is a new year, and we are all crossing our fingers that maybe just maybe 2022 will bring some sort of respite. In the meantime, we cannot forget the importance of the energy we bring to this world. Our behaviors and actions have consequences, and the ripple effect is powerful. Learning to take ownership of our energy is a major component of our wellness. In a time where many of us are reevaluating, the habits that lay the foundation for forward momentum and our capacity for compassion, are not just impor- tant, but sacred. So, please remember the basics: 1. Sleep. Preferably eight hours or more. Try hitting the pillow and waking up at the same time each day. Have a wind-down routine. Racing thoughts? Try journaling or medita- tion. And, please, I am begging you, put down the darn phone. 2. Eat real food and nourish your body. Throw out the processed food. It does your body no favors. Eat lots of plants. The Earth will thank you for it. Support local and organic when possible. Eat enough. This is not a time to deprive yourself. This is a time to be strong. We need your energy. 3. Move. If you are lucky enough to have a functioning body, please don’t take it for granted. Your body helps you live out your character. Take care of it. Go outside if pos- sible. If you are afraid of the ice like me, dance in your living room, find a treadmill, do some crunches on the floor, stretch. 4. Connection. Find meaning in your loved ones, friends, fam- ily. Connect to nature. Connect to a higher purpose. Find your “why.” When we stumble in the dark, it helps when we can point to a north star. And now for a few notes about habit-making: 1. Consistency is key. Sometimes we get so focused on intensity that we burn out too fast. Start small and build. Does that 60-minute workout routine feel daunting? Start with five minutes. Progress is not a race. 2. Add a touch of satisfaction. While you are on the treadmill, lis- ten to your favorite podcast, sip your favorite coffee as you work on your budget, make healthy food with a loved one. These perks of positive reinforcement make it easier to solid- ify new behaviors. 3. Focus on systems. We are an outcome-based culture. Outcomes are celebrated far more than the process. Many times, we attempt to start habits based on an outcome and we spend less time planning the systems. Your goal might be to get off the couch and run a 5k. Do you have your shoes? Do you have a schedule? Do you have support? Do you have fuel? Do you know your routes? 4. Check your beliefs about who you are. How positive is your inner dialogue? Who do you want to become? What are your core val- ues? Identify the “whys” driving your efforts and be kind to yourself in the process. And finally, self-care can be hard some days, but it does not have to be complicated. Here are 20 (mostly free and mostly COVID-proof) DIY self- care ideas: 1. Breathe in for four counts, hold for four counts, breathe out for four counts. Repeat. 2. Note three things you are grate- ful for each day. 3. Dance like nobody’s watching. 4. Watch a funny movie. 5. Get outside and enjoy nature. 6. Give yourself one compliment each day. 7. Make a friend date. 8. Hug somebody. 9. Sleep eight hours. 10. Ditch the booze. 11. Volunteer. 12. Take a long bath or shower. 13. Cuddle your four-legged pals. 14. Take a social media hiatus. 15. Put on your favorite outfit. 16. Take a couch day. Rest is important. 17. Get your smells on with aromatherapy. 18. Make a budget. 19. Read a good book. 20. Cook a nourishing meal. Wishing you health and resilience as we launch into 2022. Take good care of yourself. We will all be better for it. Home COVID Tests St. Charles Sisters adds two new doctors By Bill Bartlett Correspondent The medical staff at St. Charles Family Care Clinic on N. Arrowleaf Trail has grown with the additions of Dr. Danielle Eigner, DO and Dr. Inger Lied (pronounced Leed), MD. Eigner is a 1999 graduate of Western University Health Science College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific in Pomona, California, which is the only osteopathic medical school west of the Rockies. Eigner comes to the clinic from Tamalpais Internal Medicine in Mill Valley, California, where she was affiliated with Marin General Hospital and Sutter Health Novato Community Hospital. Doctors of osteopathic medicine (DO) see patients, prescribe medica- tions, perform surgeries, and deliver babies in hospitals, medical centers, and offices across the United States and overseas. Whether they are pri- mary care providers or specialists, DOs use all the standard tools of mod- ern medicine, but also have additional therapeutic modalities with which to care for their patients. Osteopathic medicine is a whole- person approach that emphasizes the body’s interconnectedness. Osteopathic physicians are trained to use a hands-on approach called osteo- pathic manipulative medicine (OMM) for patients, in addition to using tra- ditional diagnostic and therapeutic techniques. Each patient is treated as an individual, not a set of symptoms. Lied, a native-born Norwegian, joins St. Charles from Northeast Iowa Family Practice Center in Waterloo, Iowa. She earned her MD accredita- tion in 2017 upon graduation from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Dr. Lied tells The Nugget, “I first fell in love with Oregon when I was 17 years old as an exchange stu- dent, so naturally my husband and I couldn’t wait to move back. Central Oregon has always held a special place in our hearts. Sisters has proven to be a welcoming and inviting town. I am thankful for my patients’ patience as I adjust to this new setting, and an employer like St. Charles for support- ing me as I establish my practice.” Eigner added her sentiments: “I moved to Sisters to raise my active sons in a small town close to nature, and to practice community-based fam- ily medicine. We love it here. We love the mountains, the school, and all the team sports, our community, friends, and neighbors. Unfortunately, my mother was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, so I will be doctoring part-time while I care for my fam- ily and savor the time we have left together.” The new doctors are a welcome addition as the clinic works to keep pace with growth in Sisters Country. They follow Mark Sauerwein, MD, a primary care physician of longstand- ing practice at the Clinic who retired, and Joseph Bachtold, DO, a primary care provider who left the practice last year. St. Charles — who operate hospi- tals in Bend, Redmond, Madras, and Prineville — has been overwhelmed by COVID-19, especially in the last two weeks as cases from the omicron variant of the virus have exploded. Forty-two Oregon National Guardsmen arrived Tuesday and 48 more on Thursday last week. They will be spread out among the four hos- pital units to provide a range of clini- cal tasks. There are 854 unfilled job open- ings in the system, St. Charles told The Nugget. This includes openings for physicians and other high-level medical professionals. In addition to the 500 million tests ordered by the federal govern- ment, Oregon is in the process of acquiring and distributing 6 million tests. However, those supplies have yet to be distributed to communities, said Nahad Sadr-Azodi, Deschutes County Health Services director of public health. Residents can have results in 15 minutes. “The county is working on a strategy to distribute these tests to high-needs populations in coordina- tion with community partners and (the Oregon Health Authority),” Sadr-Azodi said in an email. “Consistent with past decisions, dis- tribution of these tests will be based on risk-level and equity.” Under the federal plan, each U.S. household will be entitled to four easy-to-administer-and-read rapid tests. To be included go to www. covidtests.gov. Residents of Black Butte Ranch have reported difficulty in getting approved for the deliveries due to the unique addressing system the Post Office uses to deliver mail at the Ranch. The website was not syncing with the mail handling sys- tem at the Ranch, creating consider- able angst among some residents. The situation is further com- plicated for those receiving mail at post office boxes, mobile home parks, floating homes (house boats), and for some who get their mail at a rural route address.