Farmers' Markets: Healthy Food Shopping in Miami

Farmers' markets are growing in popularity worldwide and why not?  These locally-focused business enterprises offer a surprising number of benefits.


Want to know about farmers' markets in our area?  


You can click on this link to find out where you can find farmers' markets in Dade County and below we are sharing information about a market in North Dade that is coming up very soon.


If you know of a great farmers' market in the Greater Miami area not listed here, please let us know.  We'd love to hear about it (and please don't forget to tell us why you're a fan of that market)!

SAMHSA Launches Toolkit to Help Prevent Teen Suicides

SAMHSA Launches New Toolkit on Suicide Prevention in High Schools

Suicide is one of the nation’s greatest public health problems – but it is also completely preventable.  If all of us work together in an effort to reach out and help those at risk we can prevent the needless devastation suicide brings to individuals, loved ones and communities across the nation.

In order to provide practical help in this effort the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has developed a new toolkit entitled Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for High Schools. The toolkit aims at reducing the risk of suicide among high school students by providing research-based guidelines and resources to assist school administrators, principals, mental health professionals, health educators, guidance counselors, nurses, student services coordinators, teachers and others identify teenagers at risk and take appropriate measures to provide help.

The tool kit offers information on screening tools, warning signs and risk factors of suicide, statistics, and parent education materials.

It is based on years of experience in promoting suicide prevention in high schools across the nation. It draws upon the key elements of these programs and makes them easily adaptable to any high school setting.  In addition, it provides high schools with useful information on the many federal, state and community program that are available to help bolster their suicide prevention efforts.

To read this rest of this article, please click on this urlink.

'Any Girl Would've Done the Same for Me' - Teen Runner Wins Blue Ribbon in Sportsmanship

Prep runner carries foe to finish line

by Doug Binder

June 5, 2012

Meghan Vogel doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.

Vogel, a junior runner for West Liberty-Salem High School (West Liberty, Ohio), won the 1,600-meter title Saturday at the Division III girls state meet at Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus. But it's what she did in her next race that was most remarkable.

With about 20 meters to go in the 3,200, Arden McMath, a sophomore from Arlington High School, collapsed in front of Vogel. Rather than run by her, Vogel helped McMath to her feet and carried her across the finish line, making sure to keep McMath ahead of her. "Any girl on the track would have done the same for me," Vogel said Monday.

But Vogel's gesture resonated with the thousands of spectators who witnessed it, as well as with the thousands more who have read about the story or seen video of the race's finish.

By the time Vogel arrived home Saturday night, word of her sportsmanship was spreading. She had 30 new friend requests on Facebook within a few hours. Ohio media pounced on the story and lauded Vogel's selfless act.

Monday was supposed to be a "pajamas day" at the Vogel home in West Liberty, a day to relax after last week's conclusion of the school year and the busy weekend at the state championships. Instead. it was spent reliving the race. "The phone's been ringing a lot," said Ann Vogel, Meghan's mother and coach. It wasn't Meghan's first act of sportmanship on the track. A week earlier, at the state qualifying meet, West Liberty-Salem was running fifth in the 4x800 relay when Vogel took the baton for the anchor leg. She summoned a big effort and passed two other runners, clinching a berth in the state championships for her team. Vogel was so wiped out after crossing the finish line that she collapsed, and her excited teammates rushed to her side to help her back to her feet. But then Vogel saw one of the girls she had passed, a freshman who also had fallen. Vogel went to the other runner and offered a hand up and a few words of encouragement.

"She was in fourth (one spot from qualifying for state) and felt awful," Vogel said.

At the state championships, Vogel had a difficult 1,600/3,200 double. She won the 1,600 in a personal-best 4 minutes, 58.31 seconds, stepped onto the podium for photos and medals, talked to the local media, and went to visit with her family.

That left her with about an hour to get ready for the 3,200, in which she was seeded seventh.

Three laps into the eight-lap race, Vogel was falling off the pace. Her mother watched from the backstretch and could tell that her daughter didn't have the energy to contend for another title.

"By that time it was a matter of just finishing (the race)," Ann Vogel said. "I kind of joked with her about being in last place because she's never been last. And every lap she looked at me and smiled."

Vogel rounded the final turn for home and could see that the only other runner who hadn't finished yet was faltering. And then McMath, a runner Vogel had never met before, fell to the track.

Vogel never had a moment of doubt about what to do next.

"I remember moving to her position," she said. "(McMath) was doing the best she could to keep her body upright. There was a lot of shake in her legs, which is totally understandable."

The crowd cheered when Vogel stopped and the roar grew louder as she and McMath moved closer to the finish line. Vogel purposely steered McMath across the finish line ahead of her.

"We're a little bit of a minority being distance runners," Vogel said. "I think we all have an instant connection."

A race that had become pointless in the grand scheme of the day for Vogel quickly took on a new meaning.

"I think fate may have put me (in last place) for a reason," Vogel said.

Ann Vogel was across the track and couldn't see her daughter when she stopped. But a coaching friend told Ann Vogel, "Ann, look up at the screen."

She turned to the video board and saw her daughter supporting another runner on her shoulder. "I ran around (the perimeter of the track) as fast as I could," Ann Vogel said. "It wasn't easy to get around with all of the people standing there but I was hearing the crowd and I could see tears running down people's faces." McMath was quickly scooped up by medical staff. By rule, a runner in track or cross country is automatically disqualified for aiding another runner, but meet officials chose to leave McMath and Vogel in the results rather than take action.

McMath was given 14th place in 12:29.90, and Vogel 15th in 12:30.24. A half-hour after the race was over, Vogel grabbed her mother's shoulder and said she felt dizzy and a little nauseated. Ann Vogel found a trainer and together they moved Meghan to a tent. Vogel sat down with a cup of Gatorade on a cot that was positioned next to McMath, who was lying down and still recovering from dehydration and heat exhaustion. "She was still pretty sick at that point," Meghan Vogel said of McMath. "Her coach turned to me and said, 'Thank you.' " The two girls will meet again, formally this time, Tuesday morning for an interview with the TV show "Fox And Friends." The response to her simple gesture has taken Vogel by surprise.

"It's been crazy. I can't understand why everyone wants to talk to me, but I guess I'm getting used to it now," she said. "It's strange to have people telling me that this was such a powerful act of kindness and using words like 'humanity.' It's weird. When I hear words like that I think of Harriet Tubman and saving people's lives. I don't consider myself a hero. I just did what I knew was right and what I was supposed to do."

*To read more, please click on this urlink.

'Make it Better' - A Business Takes a Stand in Support of Its Employees

*All human beings are born deserving dignity. Regardless of how any one of us feels about a particular issue, negative feelings about an issue should not compel us or encourage us or allow us to project those feelings towards another human being. Infinite Ways Network joins TD Bank in asking each of you to "make it better" for all people.

TD Strives to Make it Better for LGBT Youth

LGBT TD Employees and their allies share stories on experiencing bullying in their youth and share a message of how It Gets Better. 

You can view the video by either clicking on the video window below or by clicking on this urlink.

IWN Celebrates Caribbean-American Heritage Month!

June is Caribbean-American Heritage Month and Infinite Ways Network is proud to celebrate the unique and important contributions of West Indian people to the United States of America as well as to the world.   

The history and heritage of Caribbean people is both the source and inspiration for the work we do.    The pillars of West Indian culture and society that are community, altruism, service, hard work, creativity, humility, and generosity form the foundation of our mission and work.  

Infinite Ways Network, Inc. invites each of you to join us in celebrating Caribbean-American Heritage Month 2012!

*Proclamation in honor of Caribbean-American Heritage Month 2012 by President Barack Obama.

   

 

 

Are YOU ready for hurricane season?

The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season starts tomorrow and Infinite Ways Network wants to know:  are you ready?   

Living in Dade County means having to live with the always-serious threat of dangerous tropical weather systems known as hurricanes during summer and autumn.   To help prepare our community any possible storms this season, IWN is planning to share various blog posts throughout the upcoming months to help raise hurricane awareness about the importance of preparedness.  

For our first hurricane awareness post this season, we suggest that readers have constructive, clear, specific discussions with your families about preparation for storms this season as well as plans for during and after storms.   If you have not already done, so please make sure to find out and document what your family will need in the event of a storm, whether or not you plan to evacuate (depending on where you live and the strength of a storm threatening our area, you may have to evacuate - please log onto this urlink and enter your home's zip codes to find out more), emergency contacts that live outside of Miami, et cetera. 

 

Please keep checking back here at the Infinite Ways Network Blog for updated tips and notes and more about being ready and aware this hurricane season.

'Treated in a Fair Way' - Jamaica Advocates for Citizens with Disabilities

Gov't to put measures in place for Disabled Community

by Athaliah Reynolds-Baker

Jamaica Information Service

31 May 2012

Minister of Labour and Social Security, Hon. Derrick Kellier, says the government will be working to implement specific policies and plans geared towards meeting the needs of the disabled community.

He said it is crucial that special attention is paid “to this very (important) group of persons, who over the years, have not received the full recognition and support that they really deserve”.

Mr. Kellier was addressing members of the disabled community at meeting on May 30 at the Ministry’s North Street offices in Kingston.

The meeting, held in collaboration with the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities, was held to update stakeholders on the various plans for the sector and to give them a change to raise concerns.

Mr. Kellier told the group that a series of public education campaigns will be undertaken to raise awareness about the needs of members of the disabled community as well as to increase support for their causes.

These efforts, he said, will help to break down stereotype and discrimination towards people with disabilities. “There is a lot stigma attached to persons with disabilities in some communities, because of a lack of understanding. I believe it is going to be incumbent on all of us…to ensure that awareness is developed, so that all Jamaicans can understand that persons with disabilities are not in any way different from the rest of us and are to be treated in a fair way,” he stated.

The Minister further noted that the government will be ensuring that its policies take into consideration the needs of the disabled community.

“We have to ensure that the society becomes a ‘disability friendly’ environment. We need to look at things like building construction. When we are constructing buildings these days, we have to make sure that they are done in a ‘disability friendly’ way (and) that places like sidewalks are accessible,” he said.

“I think within this our 50th year of Independence it is a good time to send a signal to the community that the government is serious about (catering to its members),” he added.

In his remarks, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Alvin McIntosh, said that the Ministry “stands ready” to provide support to the community. “We recognise that there are some special talents in the community that must be utilised and must be harnessed,” he said.

He said that as the government continues to roll out activities under the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP), there will be a place for members of the disabled community.

Newly appointed Chairman, National Advisory Board on Disabilities, Denworth Finnikin, noted that improving opportunities for education and training must be a key part of government’s plans to empower the community.

Mr. Finnikin said he is working to ensure that every institution employs at least one qualified person with disability. “Already, we have identified some funding to look at software for persons with disabilities and so I’m sure that we will be able to advance the cause and the worth of persons in this community,” he stated.

Among the urgent concerns raised at the meeting were: access to housing, educational support, funding for non-governmental organisations, employment opportunities, assistance for parents and families, and provision of sign language interpreters and medication, an addressing health issues.

*To read this entire article, please click on this urlink for more.

How Minnie the Moocher Helped Awaken an Elder

Old Man In Nursing Home Reacts To Hearing Music From His Era

To view a powerful video that depicts the amazing resilience of the human mind and spirit - and artistic expression - please click on this urlink or the video window below.

Study: More & More Children are Being Raised by Family and Friends

Number of Children Raised by Relatives, Family Friends Continues to Climb, Report Finds
May 29, 2012

Kinship care, or the practice of children living with adults other than their biological parents for any period of time, is a part of the human experience that dates back thousands of years (remember Moses?).  New attention, however, is being paid to kinship care as it exists in the U.S. today.   According to a recent study, almost three million children currently live with relatives/friends in the United States.  About 25 percent of children in foster care (about 100,000) live with relatives and about 400,000 children avoided foster care because of relative placement. 

Almost ten percent of children live with relatives/friends for some period of time and twenty percent of black children do.   The study also argued that relative placement is better for children regardless of label (but it did not necessarily make the "better" assertion in direct comparison to anything) because kin care minimizes shock and adjustment difficulties for children moving from home.

In Florida, about four percent of all children in the state are in some type of kincare which is consistent with national figures however, 43 percent of all children in foster care in the Sunshine State are in “state-supervised kinship foster care” which is the second-highest percentage in the country (Hawai’i is at 46 percent).  

*The national percentage of children in the foster care system living with relatives is 26 percent.

The study also cites data from the Census Bureau that indicates that relative caregiver situations are at-risk of being poorer, isolated, older, under educated and underemployed than in situations where even just one of parent is present.  

 To read the entire study and learn more about kinship care, please click on this urlink for more.

Study: People Living in the Southern USA are Most Likely to Have Strokes

Strokes More Common in Southern States: CDC

Little decline seen in past 5 years, minorities hardest hit

Thursday, May 24, 2012

While fewer people in the United States are dying from strokes, the number of strokes has remained about the same, health officials report. And their findings bear out the South's reputation as the nation's so-called "stroke belt."

According to the report on stroke prevalence from 2006 to 2010, the number of self-reported strokes dipped slightly from 2.7 percent to 2.6 percent during that time. However, disparities still exist by geography, race and ethnicity, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Overall, there is not much change in these five years," said lead report author Dr. Jing Fang, an epidemiologist in CDC's Division of Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.

Only two states -- Georgia and South Dakota -- showed a significant decrease, she added.

However, deaths from stroke decreased significantly, with the CDC reporting a 3.6 percent decline from 2007 to 2008. More people survive strokes primarily because of better treatment.

Since this report is based on people reporting they had a stroke, it's no surprise that reported strokes did not drop significantly, and actually an increase in reported stroke would be expected, Fang said.

"Since mortality has decreased it means that more people say: 'yes, they had a stroke,'" she said.

The report was published in the May 25 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Geographically, there continues to be high incidence of stroke in Southeastern states, although some other states had high rates.

States with the highest rates of stroke include South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Nevada.

Those with the lowest rates include New York, Michigan, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the New England states.

Older people, American Indians/Alaska Natives, blacks and people with lower levels of education had more strokes than younger people, whites and those with higher levels of education, the researchers found.

The disparities in stroke, a leading cause of long-term disability, are largely due to lifestyle factors including obesity, high blood pressure and smoking, Fang said.

"Southern states have higher rates of obesity, smoking and hypertension, which are all risk factors for stroke," she said.

This is also true for blacks and American Indians/Alaska Natives, and people with lower levels of education, Fang said.

To read the entire text of this article, please click on this urlink.

'We're finally here!' - KU med students help open a health center

Med students open clinic inside a Kansas City, Kan., high school

Wednesday, March 28, marked a day that many people had been working toward for a long time.

"There have been a lot of setbacks," says Beka Mullen, a second-year med student. "It's been about two years in the making."

Mullen has been helping to lead the charge in opening a school-based health center at Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kan., and now the work that she and dozens of others have put into the project is paying off.

"It's almost unbelievable that we're finally here," she says. "It's very exciting!"

She has good reason to be proud. The importance of the clinic and the possible difference it will have on the community can't be overstated. Wyandotte County is the least healthy county in Kansas, according to factors such as adult obesity and socioeconomic status. Starting with the community's youth could be the key to turning around the dismal state of its health.

From teachers to parents to area leaders, many are excited to see the changes to come, but questions linger as well.

"One of the first things we get asked is how it's going to be different from the nurse's station that they already have [at the high school]," Beka says. "The biggest difference is that we can diagnose illnesses and other conditions, rather than relying on what's already been diagnosed."

For the Wyandotte students whose families can't afford regular doctors visits, that difference could be incredibly important. Several students treated on Wednesday couldn't recall the last time they had seen a doctor. All services and medications provided at the clinic will be free of charge.

The clinic was named the BullDoc Health Center, a clever combination of Wyandotte's mascot, a bulldog, and the center it was modeled after, the JayDoc Free Clinic. As at JayDoc, KU medical students will examine patients, though diagnoses and prescriptions will be overseen by physicians, such as the Department of Family Medicine's Allen Greiner, M.D., and Josh Freeman, M.D., who have been heavily involved in the project since the beginning.

Meetings with Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools officials and efforts to increase community awareness were essential to the process. But Mullen says the people who really got BullDoc off the ground were the high school students. They assisted in getting registration forms completed, setting up the clinic space and spreading the word. "They wanted this so bad, and they were willing to do the work to make it happen," she says. "They're just amazing."

Many of the Wyandotte students say they plan to pursue careers in health care. If the students' efforts are any indication of the work they will put into their careers, the community has reason to be optimistic.

To read the rest of this article, please click on this urlink.

Thank you!

Thank you very much for your support of Infinite Ways Network, Inc.

We appreciate you and value your commitment to helping make Miami better!

Welcome to the Infinite Ways Network Blog!

Welcome!

It is a great pleasure and a profound honor to welcome you to the Infinite Ways Network blog.   This platform is an extension of our homepage and, of course, the work that we do in our community.   Our blog aims to be an online source of news and commentary that we hope adds information and inspiration to the Greater Miami area.   We invite you to visit us often for articles, news, guest commentary, upcoming events and more that relate to mental health, well-being, gerontology, children, education, policy, nutrition, helpful resources, wellness and more.

We are also very pleased because the Infinite Ways Network homepage and Infinite Ways Network blog are the online expressions of our agency.  For those of you know who worked with us as Open Arms Center, rest assured that OAC is still in business;  IWN is the non-profit arm of the Open Arms Center family so please be sure to follow OAC, too! 

Please be sure to sign up to receive email alerts by entering your email address in our upper right hand column for up-to-date postings here on the Infinite Ways Network blog and, of course, we would love to have you invite your friends to visit us here, too.

We hope that our blog, like our agency and our homepage, will make a positive difference as we work hard to help our community ... in infinite ways.