8
in other words
september11
2012
Natural Path to Health: Self Preservation
By Carl McIntyre
We all know that we have to
take care of ourselves. Most of the time
this is “easier said than done” (so the
saying goes…). I will be taking some
new measures of my own to ensure I am
taking the best care of myself so I can
take the best care of all of you.
As of October 1st, we will have
new office hours. Mon/Tues/Thurs the
office will be open from 10:00 AM – 4:00
PM, with the last appointment scheduled
at 3:00 PM. Wednesday hours will stay
the same from 3:00 – 8:00 PM. Fasting
blood draws will still be scheduled in
the mornings as needed. The new office
hours are to accommodate my personal
need to take care of my physical body.
Anyone of my patients knows
that I do a lot of physical body work
in my office. I must keep up on my
conditioning so that my body can keep
up with working with all of you! Starting
in October, I will be regularly attending
yoga classes Tues/Thurs mornings at the
Vernonia Community Grange taught by
the amazing Britt Steele. This will help
me to maintain my physical strength
and overall health, including my mental
health.
The other opportunity that
changing my office hours opens up is
my ability to teach qigong again. I was
doing this for a few years at the Grange
or at the park in summer months. Once
my practice grew and I gave birth to our
second child, my schedule was so full I
discontinued classes. Now, I am going
to literally schedule in time for this
very important piece of my practice! I
couldn’t be happier.
Although I do not have an exact
‘start up date’ for qigong, I do know
that it will be on Monday mornings
at the Vernonia Community Grange.
Class time will most likely be 7:30 –
8:30 AM. Qigong is easily modified
to accommodate everyone, no matter
what level of physical ability. I would
love to see more of our senior citizens
or people with disabilities participate.
Qigong benefits all types and levels of
disease and is one of the main pieces of
the healing triad of Chinese medicine-
acupuncture, herbs and qigong. It is time
I bring this vital piece back to life in our
community and back into my personal
practice. Ask around… there are many
qigong supporters in Vernonia!
My practice gets stronger every
day thanks to the support from our
wonderful community. I have patients
taking advantage of the new low cost lab
and taking proactive steps toward their
health. Also, anyone who has Kaiser can
ask for a referral from their PCP to come
see me. We now have medical assistant
interns rotating through the office as
well, so you may see some new faces.
I am very happy with the success of my
practice here and am proud to serve our
community. A healthy community is a
happy community. Let’s do this! Here’s
to self preservation. Thank you for
joining me. Be Well~
Creature Comforts ~ Flower Essences for Your Pet
By Victoria Guerrero
Many holistic Veterinarians agree that stress
can be a huge factor in illnesses effecting animals
today. It has been the quest for many pet owners to find
natural, gentle ways to alleviate such stress.
Bach
Flowers are a mild and natural way to help animals in
negative states of stress. It may seem fairly normal for
a human to jump into the car and drive for an hour or
two, but for a dog, it can be the longest hour of its life.
One hour for a cat in a crate in the car can seem like an
eternity!
Rescue Remedy for pets is used to support
a calm peaceful state of mind during stressful times,
such as a car ride, or other traumatic times. In Rescue
Remedy there is found a blend of five of the original
thirty eight original Flower Essences.
The first is Rock Rose which is used for terror
and panic. Secondly Impatiens, for irritation and you
guessed it impatience. The third remedy is Clematis
which is for inattentiveness, and lack of interest. Then
Star of Bethlehem is an amazing flower essence used
for shock and trauma. Lastly Cherry Plum is used for
lack of self-control. These five essences are sustained
for pets in glycerin, which is non-addictive and non-
habit forming. Rescue Remedy for pets can be used
for separation anxiety, stress from loud noises, shock,
trauma, adjusting to new surroundings, and my personal
favorite, a trip to the groomer.
Granted it is important to acknowledge that
some situations with animals may be beyond the help
of Bach Flowers. Perhaps a dog has suddenly become
aggressive. This could be assumed to be an emotional
problem but it could also be a severe medical problem.
Obviously giving Bach Flowers would be the wrong
avenue for the owners to choose. Make certain the
animal is in good health by visiting your veterinarian.
Another factor to consider before using Bach
Flower Essences is training of the animal. Some pets
have been ill trained, and possibly ill-treated. Flower
Essences can be of help in retraining but the remedy
alone will not change bad manners.
As mentioned, there are 38 flower essences
which Dr. Bach, who was a British Bacteriologist,
developed beginning in the 1930’s, which became
Bach Flowers. Dr. Bach recognized that there was a
link directly related to his patients’ physical illnesses,
and certain states of mind. He left his lucrative practice,
and devoted the rest of his life to a new way of
helping people, and of course, animals. He spent years
preparing and testing thousands of plants until one by
one he found the ones he wanted. Each flower focused
on balancing the negative state to the opposite.
At first it may seem strange that a flower can
change a state of mind, but consider how you feel when
you smell a fragrant rose, or the feeling you may have
from leaning against a pine tree. One of my favorites,
which isn’t actually a flower, is Rock Water. If you
have ever had a calmness from putting your feet into
the rocks of the creek, and letting the water run over
them, well that is the same balancing energy one can
achieve from the essence of Rock Water.
Creatures is able to special order Bach Flowers
at this time. We highly recommend having some
Rescue Remedy for pets on hand, in case of stress or
an emergency. We are also able to help you choose
individual flowers for your pet’s unique needs. If you
are wanting to do additional research on the internet,
we recommend www.bachcentre.com, also www.
nelsonsnaturalworld.com.
Creatures can be reached at 503-429-PETS (7387)
Disclaimer: I am not a Veterinarian, nor would I ever
claim to be a Veterinarian Licensed, or unlicensed.
If you feel your animal is ill and needs medical help,
I urge you to seek help from a responsible trusted
veterinarian. If you need help locating one, please
feel free to contact me, or my coworkers at the number
attached to this column. The information in this column
is from years of personal experience and research. I
am not therefore approaching this column from a
diagnostic point of view, rather, I am approaching it
from a lay person’s point of view, sharing information
that I have used on my pets over the years, that have
been very very helpful. I hope this information is as
helpful to you as it has been for me.
Meet Your Police: Brent Thompson continued from front page
his job. “I grew up here and the commu-
nity has always been there for me. It’s
nice to be able to give back and be part
of the community.”
Thompson was hired in Verno-
nia as a Reserve Officer in 2009 while
he was still in college, and attended Mid
Valley Reserve Training in Marion Coun-
ty, graduating in May of 2011. Before he
entered reserve training, Thompson vol-
unteered 400 hours during the summer
of 2010 as a Reserve Officer, working
for the City of Vernonia.
Thompson graduated from
Western Oregon University in June and
two weeks later came back to Vernonia
and was hired through a grant obtained
by the Vernonia Prevention Coalition,
working part time as a Community Re-
source Officer and part time as a Code
Enforcement Officer for the City of Ver-
nonia.
He was hired in August of 2011
as a full time Police Officer, attending
the Police Academy in Salem from Oc-
tober 2011 to February 2012. He com-
pleted his Field Training in July and has
been riding on his own on patrol for the
G.B.
You Are Hideous
to me!
I.L.Y . W.A.M.H.
S.B.
Hunting Season is here!
Archery Equipment - Sporting Goods
Calls - Cammo - Boots - Accessories
Binoculars - Scent Killers - Targets
Family owned & operated for over 40 years
834 Bridge St, Vernonia
503-429-6364
last few months.
Thompson said his time at the
Police Academy was beneficial and edu-
cational. “It was a good experience be-
cause they pull instructors from all over
the state,” explains Thompson. “Many
of them are retired and are just working
to train and develop new officers, so you
get different mind-sets from all around
the state. Everyone does things just a
little bit differently and there were pros
and cons to it. One person would say this
was the way to do something, someone
else would tell you something different.
Both ways work and get to the same ob-
jective, but might be very opposite. And
that’s the thing about law enforcement
from what I’ve found, everyone has their
own way—their own way of talking to
people, their own way of doing things.
It’s not right or wrong as long as you get
to the end result.”
Thompson is a young man who
has overcome several difficulties to reach
the goals he has set for himself. He has
never met his father and was estranged
from his mother at the start of his fresh-
man year in high school. He lived with
the family of a good friend in the Mist/
Birkenfeld area for three years and was
continued on page 9