Working From Home Experts Say to Keep Healthy Habits in Mind / Public News Service

Health experts are urging folks to ensure they’re ergonomically up to snuff while working from home.

A 2016 report by the United States Bone and Joint Initiative found the United States loses an estimated $213 billion in treatment and lost wages each year due to musculoskeletal ailments.

Cheryl Schwientek – program manager for office ergonomics and health, safety, and environment at the workplace consulting agency Briotix Health – said the pivot to working from home during the pandemic exacerbated those issues.

She said regular breaks away from the desk can help fend off musculoskeletal issues.

“When we don’t get that blood flowing through our body,” said Schwientek, “we’re not giving it the energy we need to be able to perform these tasks that we’re asking our body to do.”

Experts also advise folks to keep their focus on proper posture when seated at a home office desk – backs should be straight, knees at a ninety degree angle and shoulders should be in a straight line over hips.

Staying active, even if it’s just a daily walk, also can help fight off musculoskeletal ailments.

In a January Pew Research Center poll, more than a third of respondents indicated they were working from home despite their office being open.

Dr. Russell Amundson, national senior medical director at UnitedHealthcare, said folks who choose to work from home should consider how ergonomically sound their home office equipment is.

“There’s been a shift to telecommuting, which seems to have become persistent,” said Amundson, “the so-called ‘hybrid’ work space. So folks have surrendered or have been removed from more ergonomically designed workspaces with good office chairs, with good support, and of course the appropriate height desk.”

The Bone and Joint initiative report also estimates that about half of all Americans suffer from some form of musculoskeletal ailment or condition.

The U.S. isn’t alone though, as the World Health Organization reports lower back pain is the leading cause of disability in at least 160 countries.

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Despite a more challenging environment, rural hospitals still are finding ways to provide critical care. That includes stroke patients, and South Dakota’s medical community says keeping these facilities open is necessary in seeing better outcomes.

May is National Stroke Awareness Month, and a family physician with Avera Health in Parkston said treatment has really evolved for these patients. Dr. Jason Wickersham pointed to specialized facilities where neurologists provide new therapies that can drastically improve a person’s recovery.

But he said for rural residents, local health-care centers are a key first step.

“Even in a rural facility now, I think the training is very good,” said Wickersham. “The ball gets going right away. The CAT scan gets done. If they meet criteria, they’ll get a clot-buster drug in our rural facilities that don’t have that neuro-interventionalist right there.”

He said that buys them time before a patient is transported to a regional stroke center.

But financial stress has left many rural hospitals in danger of closing. This fall, South Dakota voters will decide whether to expand Medicaid, a move supporters say would make smaller health-care operations more stable.

Despite federal incentives, some skeptics worry about costs to the state. But supporters stress the federal government covers most of those costs, and the state’s share is offset by economic activity though local care.

Tony Burke – advocacy campaign Manager for the American Heart Association of South Dakota – said having previously worked as a first responder, he knows timing is critical after a stroke.

“Whether it’s a few minutes or a few seconds,” said Burke, “it really does matter because the longer a person is in a stroke, the more damage there’s going to be to the brain. So, it’s critically important to have those resources close and local so that they can get access to the best possible care.”

The Association feels that with financial relief, that first line of defense stands a greater chance being there for stroke patients. And Wickersham said keeping it local means maintaining a sense of trust through follow-up care.

“Sometimes those patients need some fairly intensive physical therapy, occupational therapy, maybe speech therapy,” said Wickersham. “So, a lot of our rural facilities are set up with those services.”

The Heart Association says stroke is the leading cause of preventable disability in the U.S.

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When a nonprofit food center in the desert Southwest began a project to chronicle challenges of land and water access combined with climate change, they didn’t know COVID-19 was on the way – which demonstrated unexpected resiliency.

The pandemic turned La Semilla Food Center’s storytelling project into a virtual event, but it was nonetheless a place for participants to share their experiences.

Storyteller Mateo Herrera is a chef and the director of a community-based program to preserve the indigenous foodways of the Chihuahuan Desert. He said he wanted to shine a light on local food producers who have fed their neighbors for generations.

“For me it was like our local farmers showing up and being, like, ‘We’re here – and, you know, we’re here to take care of you and we’re here to do our best,'” said Herrera. “They’re the heroes. We wouldn’t have this food if it wasn’t for them.”

The storytelling project included local farmers, backyard gardeners, food producers, chefs, restaurant workers, teachers and artists from Las Cruces to El Paso, including the small and rural towns in between.

Rubí Orozco Santos is the director of storytelling and development for La Semilla Food Center.

She said it helped document how policymakers could create more robust food systems by listening to food growers, who despite drought or low-income levels provided those in need with produce and eggs.

“They redirected produce to families or to food pantries,” said Orozco. “And so there was a nimbleness there that was really a stark contrast to the disruption in the food-supply chain at the grocery store.”

Herrera said although farmers lost sales to restaurants and school districts due to pandemic closures, there were “silver lining” moments that allowed many to reconnect with the land and each other.

“And the beautiful thing about it was, during that time of year the farmers out here and the farms out here were thriving and there was food,” said Herrera. “If you knew where to find it, there was plenty of food available.”

The final report is titled: “Snapshots of Resilience: Tending Land, Sharing Traditions, and Feeding Our Families Before and Amidst COVID-19 Disruptions.“

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By Trista Bowser at Kent State University
Broadcast version by Mary Schuermann reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

When she sees clients who are struggling with depression, Vicki Montesano often tells them to walk outside for 10 minutes each day.

“That connection to a natural environment can enhance wellbeing,” said Montesano, the bureau chief of mental health treatment with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Office of Community Treatment Services. “If you look at different experiments, people who have been exposed to natural environments improved working memory, cognitive flexibility, and attention control.”

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. To encourage more people to benefit from spending time in nature, the Ohio Departments of Natural Resources (ODNR) and the Mental Health and Addictions Services (OhioMHAS) have created the Thrive Outside campaign.

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 4 in 10 adults claimed they had symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder during the pandemic. From January to June 2019, only 1 in 10 reported those symptoms.

“There were studies that had shown a decline in people’s mental health because of more isolation, of course,” said Staci Tessmer, the president-elect of the Ohio Counseling Association.

Just stepping outside for a few minutes allows us to soak up some Vitamin D from the sun which is known to repel symptoms of depression and improve our mood.

“There has been a lot of research on nature therapy and [it] doesn’t necessarily have to be therapy-associated, but just being outside in general can boost our physical and mental health,” said Tessmer, who has been a licensed professional clinical counselor supervisor for more than nine years.

Going on walks can help mental health tremendously, Tessmer said. When you do spend any time outside, make sure to be present and not focus on anything that can cause stress or distract from the peacefulness of what is going on around in the moment, she explained.

“Being outside is one thing, but being outside mindfully is really the key,” Tessmer said.

Because of COVID-19, many have been utilizing the parks that Ohio offers. The number of visitors that go to these parks have been rising in recent years. Amy Bowman-Moore, president of the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association, has noticed this firsthand.

“In the last two years, the parks have seen their visitation grow and grow,” Bowman-Moore said. “And I know there’s statistics out there that let people know how being out in nature affects in a positive way, your physical and your mental state …, if you haven’t tried it, try it.”

For more information and help, consider contacting one of the following for free, 24/7 help:

Ohio CareLine – 1.800.720.9616 to confidentially connect with trained counselors for support and Ohio Crisis Text Line – Text the keyword 4HOPE to 741 741 to connect with a trained counselor. Any additional help and/or details, please go to https://mha.ohio.gov/get-help/get-help-now.

This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.

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