When someone gets injured or unwell one of the most important things to do is act as soon as possible.  It’s an obvious thing do to, but for a bunch of reasons it doesn’t always happen (or doesn’t happen comprehensively) in practice.  However, when done, the health and cost-saving outcomes are significant.

The diagram below is a very simple way of illustrating the need for early intervention (no, it wasn’t done by my 5-year-old nephew; I did it on my iPad.  Plus I’m much better at drawing than he is).

Here’s a typical story that this diagram sums up:

1. Jon injures his back

2. He takes time off work.  He also stops exercising and no longer really does stuff around the house because he’s in a bit of pain.  He also stops seeing his friends as often

3. After a number of weeks there are some changes in Jon:

• He starts developing a mild depression.  He feels alone and he doesn’t do anything with his days, so he doesn’t have the best view of himself
• He’s fighting with his wife much more than he used to
• He’s putting on weight and his fitness and strength are declining

4. This becomes the norm for Jon.  His life is now much different than it was:

• He’s obese and has early type 2 diabetes
• He and his wife have divorced
• He’s in pain most of the time
• He’s clinically depressed
• He never sees his family or friends

Not good.  Not good at all.  However, this outcome is often avoidable:

An important way to increase the likelihood of a successful outcome is to intervene as early as possible.  This means instituting effective treatment for the injury, and as much as possible encouraging the individual to be active in all areas of their life – keep them in their job or at least in the workplace, ensure they are physically active, and encourage healthy levels of social interaction.

Naturally all the levels to which these are encouraged must be dictated by the individual’s impairment, so as usual it’s about individualising your approach while adhering to the fundamentals.  But odds are, if you intervene early and comprehensively, everyone involved will benefit.

Michelle, a rehab nurse specialising in head injury rehabilitation, recently used BE Intent’s wellbeing software to provide support to one of her clients (Sarah) as part of her vocational return.

Sarah was about 4 months into her head injury rehab and had returned to her fulltime office role.  She was still receiving support from Michelle and the team as needed, but the main focus was on promoting independence and getting back into her work.  Sarah still had problems with fatigue and as such her pacing and scheduling skills were essential to achieve a graduated and successful increase in her work duties.

Michelle gave us her information on fatigue- and self-management and using this we created a tailored programme for Sarah in BE Intent.  This meant that, while she was at her desk, Sarah would receive reminders every hour to take a break and pace herself; at the same time, she would also receive a “nugget” of wisdom about managing her fatigue, which reinforced the messages she received during her initial care with Michelle and the team.

We sat down with Sarah for a cup of tea to talk about her experience with BE Intent as part of her return to function.  Two of the main areas in which she noticed BE Intent’s influence were:

• Being reminded of her fatigue management skills during the day, especially in periods of increased workload – times that she needed these skills the most.
• The feeling that she was being supported in the workplace without the need for too much practitioner input

So Sarah found the tool to be a fantastic support during her recovery.  It meant that the material and messages that Michelle and the multidisciplinary team had taught Sarah during the early stages of her rehabilitation could be reinforced while she was back at work, speeding Sarah’s return to her normal lifestyle.

That’s a great outcome for all involved and we’re really glad that we could help.  We’re looking forward to helping other clients and health professionals.

Supporting clients in their independence

• Working with Michelle, we created a fatigue management education package using BE Intent’s software
• Because it was using material that Michelle and her team already had, it was evidence-based and it aligned with the messages Sarah had received during earlier stages of her recovery
• Once all set up, Sarah received regular reminders throughout the day to motivate her to employ the self management skills she’d been taught
• As a result, Sarah found the tool a fantastic adjunct to the support she received from her health professionals

A quick note:  to protect privacy we haven’t used the client’s or the therapist’s real names.

In an earlier post we looked at some of the gear you’ll need to take to head for the hills in New Zealand – in this post we’re going to look at some of the food that you might like to take along to eat.

Tramping (ie hiking) cookery has always been a fine art, chiefly because you’re trying to trade taste off against weight. In other words, it’s tempting to just take 2 minute noodles for every meal, although they probably won’t taste very nice; it’s also tempting to take an espresso machine and a generator, although they’re probably going to be unfeasbily heavy.

Personally, I’ve spent time in both camps: having once esteemed lightness-at-the-expense-of-taste, I now adhere to taste-at-the-expense-of-lightness – depending on the length of the trip, of course. But you can still eat nourishingly either way, so in this short article I’ll give you a brief idea of what you can expect from both schools of thought.

Breakfast

Light. For a light and energetic breakfast, it’s impossible to go past a One Square Meal or two – they’re healthy, nutritious, filling and rectangular. They come in Cranberry and Apricot, but I prefer the Cranberry ones. No dishes to do, and you can be out the door in minutes!

Tasty. If you like a cooked breakfast, you might want to take some lean bacon, a couple of eggs, a tomato and some mushrooms. You could also consider taking some refried beans to heat up, or if there’s any potato/kumara mash left over from the night before (see below), then you can fry them up as potato cakes.

Lunch

Light. To be honest, it’s pretty hard to go past a couple of One Square Meals for a light energetic lunch as well. For a little more variety, you might like to throw in a few crackers and some honey, but don’t bring too much – one box of Vita-Weat could last a person four to five days, and a little 250g tub of honey could easily last a week.

Tasty. For me, the light lunch described above is pretty tasty anyway, but you might also like to take some fresh fruit and maybe a little salami. Or, make some sandwiches the day before with whatever’s healthy that comes readily to hand.

Dinner

Light. If you want to eat a lightweight dinner, then you’ll need to involve either pasta, rice or couscous. Couscous gets my pick, since it’s perhaps the easiest to cook food known to man, healthy and nourishing. What you put on it is a matter of taste – but realistically, if you want to keep the weight down then you’re probably looking at a bag/can of tuna in a flavoured sauce. I’m sorry. But at least you can have some dark chocolate for dessert.

Tasty. All food tastes better in the wilderness after a day of walking, so why not go the extra mile and cook something that would taste good anywhere? Once you try it, you’ll never go back.

So take a nice steak and a sausage or two from a good butcher, some seasoning, capsicum, mushroom, onion and garlic. Boil up some potatoes and kumara and later add some cheese or spring onion for some potato/kumara mash – and if there’s any left over you can have it for breakfast the next morning. Take a bottle of wine and some more nice cheese.

For dessert, let your imagination roam free – last time I went we took a pavlova base, some lemon curd and a bottle of cream. Poached pears perhaps? And don’t forget the dark chocolate!

Snacks

And finally, you’ll also want to take some extra muesli bars and scroggin for snacks along the way. Also always take some extra food in case of an emergency – a few packs of 2 minute noodles and some extra muesli bars will weigh almost nothing, but could just save your life.

And don’t forget to take lots of water – 2 litres or more per person.

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So enjoy! In a future article we’ll look at some of the logistical steps you’ll need to take for organising your energetic relaxing weekend away.

Image: Sam Alexander