International Nurses Day

International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12th. 

Every year there’s a different theme set by the International Council of Nurses (ICN). This year’s theme for 2015 is Nurses A Force For Change: Care Effective, Cost Effective. A kit of promotional and educational material is distributed every year that supports the theme. 

There are different fields and levels of nursing, though all target to do the same thing, to help the individual in need to recover in good health. Nurses constantly try to maintain a sense of community. Nurses communicate with everybody. From doctors, to social workers, to patients and the patients families. 

Nurses are a huge part of the healthcare industry and are responsible for many different tasks. From welfare, recovery, and safety of patients, nurses work tirelessly everyday including holidays and weekends. They work long hours taking care of the ill and injured. So, let's take this week and thank the nurses for doing all the difficult tasks that they do.    

Earth Day

The idea of Earth Day originated during the height of the flower-child culture and hippie period. Although saving the planet was not the cause of the protests, it did lead to such global adjustments later on. During 70s  time period there was nation wide protest because of the war in Vietnam. 

At the time, air pollution was considered to be the smell of success and “environment” was considered to be a word that would show up more in spelling bees than on the evening news to raise awareness. 

Both were put front and center during the 1970s emphasizing Earth Day. 

Earth Day today focuses on global warming and a push for clean energy. The fight for a clean environment continues to build community activism and allows for everyone to participate. 

Pi Day!

This year’s Pi Day is extra special. On March 14th 2015, at precisely 9:26:54 we get the chance to experience Pi Time go into infinity! Just in case you still don’t get it… (3/14/15 9:26:54) equals 3.141592654.  We are most likely not going to be around for 2115 for this next marvelous event to happen.

Pi Day is wonderful excuse for nerds to make funny math jokes and an interesting holiday. Pi Day is celebrated in many different ways from eating a pie, throwing a pie, or calculating pi. Some schools even hold competitions to which student can recall pi to the highest decimal place. 

Pi has been around for about 4000 years. The first calculations of pi was done by Archimedes and continued onwards with the ancient Babylonians calculating the areas of a circle by taking the value of pi to 3. The Egyptians continued to calculate the area of the circle even further to 3.106

Even though pi has been around for centuries, mathematicians only first began using the Greek letter pi (π) in the 1700s.

Happy Pi Day Everybody! 

Stay Safe New York

It’s that annoying time of year again when the city is covered with a white blanket, the roads become more hazardous than they were before, school is canceled, and work is not. Survival of the fittest at its finest, 21st Century style. It’s winter. Are you prepared?

Staying safe and warm during the winter weather is essential to our lives. As a New Yorker in the city that never sleeps a little bit of snow isn't going to stop me from living my life but a lot of snow, now that can be a bit of a challenge.

Luckily our society has evolved enough to adjust to our convenience. You see, we humans love comfort and snow is far from it. Although there’s always that cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows on top after a great snow ball fight, we wouldn't want to be in a snow ball fight with a blizzard, a car, and a shovel. Here are some tips to help stay safe and warm during this winter weather.

Dress Warm- During cold climates heat escapes mostly from our hands, feet, head, and ears! Ears in particular cool down very quickly and in cold conditions ears are more prone to ear infections. Dress in layers. Dressing in layers allows you to put on or take off an article of clothing

At Home- Prepare an emergency kit with at least 3 days worth of food, water, medication, and other supplies.

Don’t forget your pets outside! They get cold too.

Know your risks before you take action. Have you ever heard of think before you act? This is kind of the same thing. Driving on icy or snowy roads can lead to car wrecks, injuries, and death. Also, before going outside check the weather forecast and always stay updated on the latest weather report (you know just in case jeans and a t-shirt isn't enough for you).

Prepare your Car- Did you know that you can purchase windshield wiper blades that cut through the snow? Well now you do. Also make sure to keep the gas tank at least half way full to avoid condensation; though a full gas tank is always preferable from keeping the fuel line from freezing. Just in case, you can pack your car with food, water, blankets and a cellphone charger. The final and obvious point, stay off the roads when local authorities tell you to do so.

Finally Carbon Monoxide can kill! Never use a generator or stove to heat up your home. Putting a unit outdoors, at least 20 feet from doors, windows, or any other opening space will most likely prevent the gas to seeping into your home. Carbon monoxide deaths are higher during the cold winter months. Installing carbon monoxide alarms are a great way to provide warning of accumulating gas particles giving you enough time to move to a different room with fresh air to call for help.