By Lee Woodruff, AARP Most caregivers have a complicated relationship with self-care. We keep a polite smile on when someone (usually not actively caregiving) tells us, “Make sure you take care of yourself, too!” Sure. Of course. Easier said than done. So how do you find ways to incorporate very specific actions and physical […]
By Eileen J. Tell, Mph; Pamela Nadash, Phd;Marc A. Cohen, Phd This report is one of two components of the RAISE Family Caregivers Act. Family caregivers were provided multiple forums to express their needs and challenges, thoughts and concerns. This report identifies findings from the forums and identify the specific services, supports or policy […]
By Venus Wong, PhD, BCBA, Sarah Rosenbaum, MD, MPH, Winnie Sung, MBChB,Robert M. Kaplan, PhD, Nicholas Bott, PhD, Terry Platchek, MD, Arnold Milstein, MD,Nirav R. Shah, MD, MPH We were pleased to see our Building Better Caregivers® (BBC) program as part of a New England Journal of Medicine catalyst publication where the authors present […]
Abridged version by Neal Kaufman, originally written by Leroy Hood appearing in the LA Times “America was sick before COVID-19 struck. The pandemic has made our national sickness more acute and illustrated the critical importance of “wellness” in preventing disease and optimizing health. We know this because COVID disproportionately impacted people with chronic illness […]
By Wendy Wood Resilience is the courage to grow from stress. But, how do we become more proficient at becoming more resilient? Here are some ideas: Resilience is: the building of our inner resources, and, the identification of reliable external resources. Resilience is: self-confidence that supports fear-management. Resilience is: the ability to stabilize […]
By Carrie Pittman Maria Pfeiffer was a student studying behavior change models including the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) when she was unexpectedly diagnosed with a chronic condition. The intersection of her life’s work and her personal life was illuminated by the benefits of peer support — the very foundation of her studies. […]
This Fall, VA Caregiver Support Services will be expanding their program of comprehensive assistance for family caregivers. Over the last 6 years, our Building Better Caregivers® (BBC) program has been available to all Caregivers who are caring for a Veteran from any era. To date over 9,000 Caregivers have enrolled in Building Better Caregivers. The […]
This month, we celebrate the life of our colleague Kathleen Mahoney who passed away in early August. Like many of our peers, Kathleen had facilitated our online workshops for close to a decade helping hundreds of workshop participants and was a close colleague and friend to many. She was a seasoned facilitator and became a […]
By Wendy Wood Many, many, years ago, I found myself in a drug store looking for a band-aid for my boyfriend. For the first time in my life, “flesh color” did not denote the color of skin I was trying to match. My mind was blown that I had never noticed this before. I […]
By Wendy Wood Yoga was the air I breathed and the food I ate; until it wasn’t. A back injury came between my yoga-yes and my yoga-no status. When practicing yoga was no longer an option for me, I was left with a shattered self-image and a directionless routine. If I didn’t practice yoga, […]
By Canary Coaches Team Canary Coaches are healthcare professionals who provide support to individuals who want to lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by losing weight and becoming more active. With the heightened recognition of structural racism, we are increasingly aware how our biases influence our thoughts, words, and actions. We have […]
Earlier this month, I was Chair of the DTx West Conference. This was the seventh in the US based series – one occurring each half year and alternating between Boston and the Bay Area. It has been truly special to see the Digital Therapeutics industry evolve and mature over these several years, and it was […]
By Katy Plant The New Year is a chance at a fresh start. Many of us set New Year’s resolutions with good intentions wanting to get the year off to a successful start. For those that set an intention or resolution to make changes to their health, they may find themselves signing up for […]
By Katy Plant As we’ve discussed in the past, we’re committed to ensuring as great a user experience as we can for our program participants. This means not only a rigorous process of user testing prior to launching new features, but a continuous process of reviewing feedback. Recently, we reviewed the self-reported reasons participants […]
By Brent Vaughan, CEO and Co-Founder, Cognoa We are experiencing a mental health crisis:one person in every four in the world will develop one or more behavioral conditions during their lifetime. Today in the U.S., one in five children have a diagnosable behavioral health disorder and only 21% of those children receive needed treatment. […]
MD Magazine recently sat down with Canary Health’s Chief Medical Officer, Neal Kaufman, to discuss digital health, the benefits of, and the role it plays in the future of healthcare. Read the Article
The success of many therapies for chronic diseases depends in large part on the ability of patients to follow often-complicated self-care regimens. Patients face many challenges when attempting to implement these recommendations such as multiple co-morbidities, physical limitations, lack of resources, poor social support, lack of confidence or skills, and insufficient knowledge. It is not […]
Interview of Dr. Marcus Thygeson, M.D., M.P.H. by Adam Kaufman As defined on Wikipedia: Peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters… and can take a number of forms such as peer mentoring, reflective listening (reflecting […]
Increasing self-efficacy – one’s capacity to identify actions that improve one’s life and the confidence to accomplish those actions – has been shown to:1 Accelerate health behavior change (e.g. healthy eating, medication adherence) Reduce depression, anxiety, and stress-related disorders Diminish social isolation Improve system navigation and health program uptake Importantly, the impact of self-efficacy […]
Self-efficacy, or confidence as it is commonly known, is the optimistic self-belief in one’s competence or chances of successfully accomplishing a task and producing a favorable outcome. Self-efficacy is certainly worth having because as Henry Ford famously put it, “Whether you believe you can or you cannot, you are right.” Gandhi perfectly understood the central […]
I first get snippets of Jen’s story from the Better Choices, Better Health® (BCBH) user survey she completed. She writes: “So my situation was unique because I’m a registered nurse. As a nurse, you’re always helping other people and don’t tend to deal with your own stuff. I had taken care of my elderly […]
It’s the afternoon in Los Angeles and already the evening in Baltimore on Thursday, June 6th when I connect with Suzanne for our Slack call. “It is 2009, and I am working full time for the Baltimore County Department of Aging and I have a part-time job in addition. Being so busy I didn’t […]
Neal had the opportunity to participate in the National Council on Aging’s Age + Action conference this June. Age+Action is the premiere national conference focused on ensuring every person’s right to age with their best possible health and economic security. The event brought together 900+ professionals from across the country who are dedicated to making aging […]
Sharing another partnership this month — Washington, DC Department of Health. Please help us spread the word. DC Health is covering the costs for our Better Choices, Better Health®(BCBH) program for hundreds of district residents. They are making the program available without cost to a limited number of Washington, DC residents. Interested participants can […]
Catasys, Inc., a leading AI and technology-enabled healthcare company, is piloting Canary Health’s Better Choices, Better Health® (BCBH) program with eligible members of one of its national health plan partners. Read the Press Release Schedule A Meeting
Sharing some good news and an ask of a favor. The New Mexico Department of Health has funding for health improvement activities, and is making Canary Health’s Better Choices, Better Health® program available without cost to a limited number of New Mexico residents. Interested participants can register here: Register This is the second […]
In May, we were fortunate enough to bring together a variety of stakeholders for a Service Blueprint exercise with the Caregiver Support team from the Department of Veteran Affairs. The group included VA Peers Support Mentors, front line Call Center Support staff, VA Caregiver Support Specialists, as well as Caregivers themselves. From these exercises, we’re […]
—“Only the fact that there are others out in this great big world, going through the same things/feelings and rough patches as I am.” This is how Audrey starts the last of our several email exchanges after I have asked her what was her most important takeaway from Better Choices Better Health® (BCBH). We’ve […]
This month we feature an article by C.J. Sieck, et al, The Patient Engagement Capacity Model: What Factors Determine a Patient’s Ability to Engage? Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst, Sieck et al start their article describing the “Promise and Challenge of Patient Engagement” and then proceed to present their “Engagement Capacity […]
When we’re on the phone, Judy explains that she wanted to make sure her mother-in-law would already be asleep. She had scheduled our call for late Tuesday night – well late for the east coast, but 6pm in Los Angeles. Judy has been a caregiver for many years, first for her own parents and now […]