Almost 10 years to the day since my last post. In that time, I left the University and started working at the Veterans Administration as a primary care provider. I also got trained as a mindfulness teacher and have been teaching at the VA. What a rich and busy time it has been! Over the years I have thought many times about sharing stories from that world. I think I'm about ready to do it! First I have to see if I can even get back onto this blog and create a post. Fingers crossed!

Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

            This is my last column of the semester. This means most of you are too busy to read it, having higher priorities like studying for finals or writing papers. This is fine; I’m not offended. There is a time and place for everything.

            For those of you who do have a few spare minutes to spend with the Daily Lobo, I am glad that you are taking a breather. It is important to slow down from time to time. Still, I will be brief.

            Before I leave you for several weeks, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge you, whoever you are, reading this. It is an odd feeling, writing for  unknown readers. I never know whose eyes are scanning my words, how and where my thoughts land, whether you find them interesting, irrelevant, helpful or boring.

            Perhaps you are a student at the end of a long semester, or a staff person on a break. Maybe you are having coffee and a Frontier roll, or waiting for a bus, or putting off grading papers for a few more minutes. Possibly you just grabbed a newspaper to line your bird cage or pack up your belongings.

            When I was a child my mother read to me and my sisters from Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories. Kipling wrote as if he was speaking, and he referred to his reader as “O’ my best beloved.” When I heard that, I always felt specially acknowledged. Writers write for their readers, after all, so thank you for reading.

            What I most want to say to you is that I hope you acknowledge yourself. Whoever you are, there is only one of you in this universe. You are the definition of unique. Nobody else has your experiences, your struggles and accomplishments, your exact take on the world. You have your own preferences, habits, quirks and your very own style.  Your strengths have saved you; your weaknesses have cost you. Life has hit you in the gut, one way or another, leaving you a little wiser and a little stronger each time.  You are a changing, growing human being, shaped by your changing, growing life.

            Between nature and nurture, the forces that mold us are endless and varied. It takes every single one of us to complete the complex, wondrous picture that is life on earth. I personally find it fascinating that there are no two of us alike anywhere, and I thank you for your contribution to the landscape.

            Have a good winter break.

Take a Flu Shot for Raymond

Raymond Plotkin was a freshman at UNM in 2009. A native of Texas, he was one of 18 freshman accepted into the Learning and Living Community for Engineering. He planned to become a nuclear engineer, and he was very happy here. He loved living in Redondo Village and eating at La Posada. He was a friendly young man who liked his roommates and got involved in student engineering clubs and the local Hillel House. He kept in close touch with his parents and older brother in Houston. His mother Elaine said, “Raymond fell in love with UNM. He really connected with his School of Engineering advisors and did very well in school. He made good friends and was having fun. Everything was falling into place for him and the future looked bright.”

The Fall semester was going well. Raymond carved a jack-o-lantern for Halloween and reveled in his first snow experience, even saving snowballs in his dorm room freezer. When the time came, he got a flu shot. Sadly, that was the year that the H1N1 flu took the nation by surprise, and the regular flu shot, the flu shot that was available to Raymond, didn’t include protection from H1N1.

In early November, 2009, Raymond got his first symptoms. He came to the Student Health Center and was treated for flu. A few days later, on a Saturday, he got much worse and his roommates took him to UNMH where he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. For four days the doctors did everything they could, fighting to save his stricken lungs and heart with all that modern medicine has to offer. Tragically, nothing worked. On November 11, just weeks shy of his 19^th birthday, Raymond died from H1N1.

A week before his death, Raymond posted a quote on his Facebook page. “Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.”  Raymond’s parents, rather than allowing themselves to become paralyzed by the terrible grief that losing a child brings, have become passionate advocates of influenza immunization. They don’t want anyone else to lose a son or daughter to flu if it can be prevented. “Take One for Raymond” is the name of their initiative that has now become a foundation, spreading the word about influenza immunization.

Writes Elaine Plotkin, “All we ask is that everyone considers taking a flu shot, and if you’re on the fence about it, please think about it again. No family wants to hear that a loved one is sick in bed with the flu. It is our intent to educate and inform everyone about the importance of flu immunization. We do this because we wouldn’t want any other family to have to go through what our family has … without our son. That is why we will do everything we can do to ask each of you to take the flu shot, if you are able to do so.”

Stu­dent Health & Coun­sel­ing (SHAC) and UNM Hos­pi­tal part­ner to offer free “Take One For Raymond” flu shot clinics for the UNM com­mu­nity. The influenza vac­cine will be offered to UNM stu­dents, staff and fac­ulty (any­one 18 years old or older) Tuesday-Wednesday, Sept. 25–26, and Tuesday-Wednesday, Oct. 23–24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Stu­dent Union Build­ing atrium.

  Elaine and Ronnie Plotkin, Raymond’s parents, also established a scholarship in his name, starting the fund with a generous donation the same year they lost Raymond. Each Fall, the scholarship is awarded to an incoming freshman engineering student. Recipients so far are Paul Gilbreath and Sean Chavez. To contribute to the scholarship or for more information, contact the UNM School of Engineering at 277-5064 or visit http://www.unm.edu/~soeschol/freshman.html .

For the past two years, Elaine Plotkin has written an article like this one for the Daily Lobo. This year the honor is mine.  I take this task very seriously because, you see, I have a son almost Raymond’s age.  And that same year, my son also contracted H1N1. To my profound relief, he survived it. So every Fall when flu season breaches the horizon, I imagine the pain Raymond’s parents have endured, and my heart hurts. And every Fall I find inspiration in the courage they have shown by moving beyond the paralysis of unimaginable challenge, and I go “take one for Raymond.”

I hope you will too.

Meditation

Last week I had the great good fortune to attend a meditation retreat in the high country of northern New Mexico. For three days I sat for many hours on a cushion, silently bringing my attention back to my breath over and over again, or walked slowly upon the earth, soles alert to every pebble on the path. During the breaks I savored delicious food, wandered flower-bedecked meadows, and immersed my senses in fresh air, stars and running water. There was no phone service, no internet connection, no television. By the end of the retreat I felt a depth of rejuvenation and calm that still sustains me.

Why am I telling you this? Beyond wanting to share my joy, I thought you would be interested to know that meditation is actually good for you. For starters, it can improve your GPA. Meditators have more gray matter. This has been measured. Gray matter is what does your homework for you, so presumably more is better. More specifically, the gray matter growth that has been observed in mediators occurs in areas associated with learning and memory, sense of self, empathy and stress management. Further, long-term meditators have more folds in their cerebral cortex, which allows for faster information processing. “Sitting” makes you smarter.

Meditation is also good for your health, both physical and mental. Scientists have studied this, in typical scientist fashion, by plastering electrodes all over the heads of meditating Buddhist monks, surveying thousands of people with a smart phone app, and of course using more conventional methods like basic lab measurements. Meditation can lower blood pressure and pulse rates, improve your immune system and decrease your experience of pain. People who meditate have less anxiety, depression, and insomnia, and respond better to stress. If you have a chronic illness like AIDS or cancer, meditation can help manage the physical and emotional symptoms. Meditation and exercise are the only two activities proven to prolong brain function in old age. And perhaps most importantly, meditators are happier and more resilient in times of stress.

What is meditation anyway? In the simplest sense, it is the practice of relaxing the body and clearing the mind. Another way to describe meditation is focused attention on the present moment with awareness and without judgment. There are different kinds of meditation, but they all have the same goals. Mindfulness meditation uses awareness of the body and mind to bring the attention to the here and now. Other traditions use an object or an image for focus, and some use a prayer, a mantra, or a wish for widespread happiness. Yoga was traditionally a way to prepare the body for sitting meditation, and can be used as a kind of movement meditation. There are many choices. The concept of meditation is simple, but that doesn’t make it easy. The nature of the mind is wild and wandering, and getting to even a few moments of calm, present-moment awareness can take years of practice.

Sakyong Mipham, a great Shambala Buddhist teacher, likens the mind to a wild horse that gallops off at every opportunity. Jack Kornfield, an internationally renowned meditation teacher, writes that meditation is like training a puppy to sit and stay. The puppy always gets up and runs away, and you just pick it up and put it back down over and over again. If you have never tried it, meditation might sound mysterious at best, useless at worst. But more and more people are trying it, liking it, and keeping it up. It is sweeping the globe. In fact, just last weekend people in over 100 cities around the world held a special meditation for peace. This included 100,000 meditators in Buenos Aires alone.

If you think you might be interested in meditation, you could start with some reading. In addition to the teachers mentioned above, I recommend Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chodron, The Dalai Lama, or Jon Kabat-Zinn. These are just my personal favorites: there are many others. You could also check out a DVD, find a meditation center near you, or take a class.

Amy Gross, former editor in chief of O, the Oprah Magazine, retired from her highly successful career to become a full time meditation instructor and practitioner. She writes, “As you meditate, the grip of your history loosens and you get a little saner, lighter, less entangled.” Maybe that is what I was feeling up in the mountains last week. It’s somewhat indefinable for me at this moment. All I know is that it felt good, and right, and if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to my cushion.

Dr Peg on Veterans Day

My latest Daily Lobo article

Dr. Peg on Itching

My latest Daily Lobo article

De-stress a little at a time

From my Ask Dr. Peg column in the Daily Lobo newspaper.

Take Time to De-Stress

Flu Shots

From my Ask Dr. Peg column in the Daily Lobo newspaper:

Should I Get a Flu Shot?

Consider NOT Considering the Source

Consider the source.

That is one of those truisms for critical thinking we learned in college. Before you accept something you hear or read as truth with a capital T, look at who is saying it, and decide if they are worth listening to or not. Is this person an expert? Is this article peer-reviewed? Was the study double-blinded? Could this person be biased? Do I even like this guy?

It's a good idea, to an extent, but I submit it can get carried too far. Do you ever consider the source before you listen to what they have to say? I know I do. Oh, that guy is a Republican. I know I won't agree with him. Her? She said something nasty and untrue to my friend the other day. I know I won't believe a word she says. My husband? I'm pissed at him for something he did this morning, so anything he says today I'll take personally.

The thing is, if you filter stuff before it even gets to your brain, like this, you can miss out on a lot of good information. That Republican guy might have something reasonable to say about the gulf oil spill. The nasty gal might have just been on the rag the other day and have a great tip for sale dresses today. My husband making an observation about my behavior might just be right (I cringe to admit).

I've been practicing NOT considering the source. Try evaluating the message on its own merits. Forget the messenger. Whether it be someone's take on current events or feedback on how I come across, I'm trying a "just the facts, ma'am" approach. Is the message valid, interesting, worth considering? If so, it doesn't matter where it came from. I can learn from the message, even if I'm too biased to learn from the messenger.

If the message is worthless, let it go. Push the eject button and get it out of my mind. Easier said than done, but worth a try.

Getting rid of excess body hair

My latest Dr. Peg article in the Daily Lobo.

"Did you kill anyone over there?"

This is one question it is NOT okay to ask an Iraq war veteran. I know this, although I've never been exactly sure why. Best I could figure, it is because a) that is an intensely personal question, kind of like asking a stranger if they've ever had an abortion and b) because the answer is most likely "yes" and I should know that and they probably don't want to talk about the war.

Recently I have become acquainted with an army veteran of some thirteen years, multiple continents and numerous conflicts, including Afghanistan and Iraq. Thanks to his courage to look within and work hard, he has done a lot of healing from the inevitable psychic wounds of war, and thanks to his generosity in sharing, I am learning a lot from him.

I asked this vet why the question is so taboo. He explained that, during the conduct of war, you have to do things that, in our civilian society, are unacceptable. In peacetime, killing another human being is murder, and it's wrong. In war, it is the business of war. You do it because you have to, because they are the enemy. You kill people, you see people killed, you witness horrible destruction and suffering. It is what you do in combat, yet part of you whispers that if you're doing this, you must be a bad person. Sometimes, that part becomes convinced.

When you come home, you put those things, the events of war you have lived through, into a fragile compartment in your mind and protect it carefully.

If you try to answer the question, "Did you kill anyone?," all of a sudden you are forced to dig into your mind, expose that fragile compartment, and relive it. Whether you have personally killed anyone or not, you have been at war. You have participated in the conduct of combat and now you have to look at yourself in the mirror. You want to be a good person, you try to convince yourself that you are a good person, but when you see again the scenes of combat and feel the contamination of war's aftermath, you feel like a bad person. The conflict is excruciating.

I have never, thank goodness, asked a vet that question. Now I'm sure I never will.

A paid writing gig hits the 'net.

Here is an article I wrote for My Family Doctor, a magazine that recently went paperless.

50 Ways on Facebook

Sheila Key and I have joined the swelling ranks of midlifers doing social media and have made a Facebook fan page for our book, 50 Ways to Leave Your 40s. If you're on Facebook, please come visit our page and become a fan. If you're not on Facebook, where are you? In a cave?

Be there.

:)

The Facebook page title is the same as the book title.

Practicing Meditation for Life

In my last post I wrote about practicing meditation as an end in itself. But that isn't all there is to it. The practice in meditation is practice for life. By this I mean that the skill you learn "on the cushion" can be applied in everyday life. It isn't just about sitting on the cushion and bringing your mind back to the breath over and over. It is about refining that skill for the rest of your life, life off the cushion.

Why? Why bother? What is the point?

As a beginning meditator I'll offer my thoughts. The main reason to carry the present-moment awareness skill into daily life is so that you can live this life -- as it happens -- to the max. If you are really right here, right now ALL the time (good luck with that, but it's worth trying) then you will have the full, real experience of your life. You won't be distracted from whatever is going on by ruminating over the past or worrying about the future. You'll HAVE this moment in all its glory. Or sorrow, pain, joy, whatever it is. You'll be right there, rather than some-where else or some-when else, like most of us usually are.

Another reason I have found for meditating is that the skill of bringing my mind back to the present serves me in relationships. During an interchange, if I am able to hear the other person, to see them as they are right here, right now, without past baggage or future fear getting in the way, things between us go much better. Talk about challenges! But on the rare occasion when I get a glimpse of this, I see the value.

Beyond these, there are the health benefits of meditation, which are becoming more documented with each passing day.

I'm sure I'll find more of my own personal reasons to continue meditating as time goes on. For now, this is enough to get me onto the cushion for 20 minutes each morning.

Practicing Medicine and Meditation

I have been practicing medicine for about twenty years. I have always thought it a little odd that we call it "practicing." When I was a kid, that word always meant getting out my cello, rosining the bow, and playing my scales and assigned pieces. When I practiced the cello, I was aiming for a concert, or a recital. Preparing for the big event. Practice was a means to a specific end.

In medicine, there is no big event for which we're preparing. We just practice every day. There are the usual jokes, like "someday maybe I'll get it right" and so forth. But for the most part, "I practice medicine" is just another way of saying "I'm a doctor." I don't know any other profession that uses that term. Do you? A mechanic doesn't say, "I'm practicing auto mechanics." Imagine your chagrin if he did! A teacher doesn't say, "I practice education." He better not; not with my kid in his class! But nobody seems to mind that their doctors are practicing.

About a month ago I began another kind of practice: meditation. Here again is an activity for which the practice is the activity, is the point. Sure, some people say or think, "I'm meditating now" but I think most or many experienced meditators refer to it as "practicing meditation." I really like that. If I thought I were practicing for some big meditation performance, which I had to pull off without a false note, I'd have given up after the first five minutes!

Meditation is practicing. Every time I bring my attention back to my breath it is like playing a note in tune just for a moment, before my unruly mind goes stumbling all over the neck of the cello again.

Meditation Pearls

I'm taking a class called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. Based on the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts, it is basically a meditation class. This is the beginning of the 5th week out of 8 weeks. Over the course of the course, as it were, the teacher has offered up some good one-liners to help us. Here they are, so far.

• The mind can only be in one place at a time.
  
• You can only change in the present.
  
• Every thought is accompanied by a physiological response.
• Consciousness is contagious.
• Bring it back, baby! (the mind to the breath)

Meditation is simple and difficult. If you've ever tried it you know. Bringing my attention back to the feeling of my breath, over and over and over and over again. And again. Each time my focus comes back to the breath, thoughts roll off like water off a duck's back. For a fleeting moment I am in the present moment. Right here, right now. Then before you know it I'm off on a trail of thought again and I don't even notice it until I'm halfway to tomorrow. Oops, there I go again! Bring it back, baby!

Do that about a thousand times in ten minutes, and that's a meditation practice.

H1N1 is here

It’s true. Swine flu is here. It is all over New Mexico including here at UNM. Have you had it yet? How about your friends and classmates? How many are out today with flu? I’ll bet there are at least a few, and there will likely be more next week.

We have seen lots of H1H1 influenza or “Swine Flu” at Student Health and Counseling. Since September 1st we have had over 100 cases of “influenza-like illness.” Most of these were H1N1. All have recovered. And those are just the ones who have come to the clinic. There have been many more cases where people just stay home and take care of themselves.

The virus continues to spread. It is very contagious and likes young people. Chances are good that you’ll get it, and chances are excellent that you’ll survive. Here are some tips to help you manage before, during and after you get H1N1.

Before you get sick: Get the regular seasonal flu shot. Make sure you have basic medications at home for fever, cough and congestion. Buy a thermometer, and maybe some soups and juices. Once you have flu you won’t feel like going out to the store for this stuff, and they won’t want you there spreading germs. So stock up. Try to avoid getting the flu by staying away from sick people, keeping your hands away from your face, and washing your hands often. Get plenty of sleep and eat well so your body is strong for the fight against germs.

Once you are sick: Flu symptoms are fever over 100.5, cough, body aches, sore throat, headache, chills, fatigue, and sometimes diarrhea and vomiting. If you have some or all of these you might have flu. Take to your bed! Drink lots of liquids and treat your symptoms. Expect to be out of commission for five to seven days. Please do NOT go to work or school or out to eat at a restaurant! I know students who have done all of these things. If you go out in public you are putting others at risk. Be considerate and stay away. Contact your professors by email or phone to let them know you are sick.

Should you get medical care? If you are a basically healthy person who gets the flu, you probably don’t need to see a doctor. Self treatment at home is usually adequate. If, however, you are pregnant, have asthma or other lung problems, are under 2 years old or over 65, or have any chronic medical condition, you should seek care. There is a medication called oseltamivir (Tamiflu) that is recommended for people in these high risk groups, to decrease the risk of flu complications like pneumonia.

If you are not in these risk groups, there is a small chance that you could still get seriously ill from flu. We have all heard the stories of people who died from H1N1 who had no underlying medical problem. Those stories are scary to be sure, but thankfully also very rare. It is unlikely to be you. That said, if you do get any of the following symptoms, regardless of who you are, please hustle in to the nearest emergency room:

Severe difficulty breathing, severe pain in the chest or belly, sudden dizziness or confusion, severe or persistent vomiting.

After you recover. First of all, this takes a while. As I said before, expect to be out of commission for five to seven days. That means at home resting. Even after the worst of the symptoms have passed, you’ll be weak and easily tired for several days. Take it easy. Don’t return to sports until you feel really good.

Once you are well, step outside and take a deep breath of our crisp Fall air. Stretch your strong body, look up at our New Mexico Blue sky and give yourself the gift of gratitude for your life and good health.

Doctor's Notes for School and Work

What is it with teachers and employers requiring doctor's notes? It is a silly requirement that wastes a lot of everyone's time. This has become one of my pet peeves.

I work at a university. The students are paying to come here and get an education. They are responsible for their own learning. This includes, in my mind, deciding whether and when they'll go to class. If they decide that they'll get more out of reading the book than attending the lecture, that's their choice. I had a classmate in medical school that showed up only for exams (no classes) the first two years. He is now a successful physician. If students get sick and decide they need to stay home and rest, more power to them. That's probably where they belong. Home resting, letting their body heal.

When a teacher requires attendance, she is deciding for the students that the class is worth their time, every time. When she requires a doctor's excuse for absences due to illness, she is making a decision for this adult as to when they need to go see a doctor. Sometimes all a person needs is a few days in bed. Not a visit to the clinic, not a doctor to confirm that yes, in fact, they have a cold, or a stomach virus. Many of our patients know this. They get sick, they go to bed. But then, because their teacher requires a note, they come in to the clinic, wait with all the sick people (possibly catching a new germ in the process), then waste their time and ours telling us they were sick and stayed home and asking for a note. The next time they get a cold, they'll come right in, knowing they'll need a note. It sets up a pattern of unnecessary office visits and contributes to the culture of dependent patients who think they need a doctor for every little sniffle.

It's ludicrous. In my humble opinion.

H1N1 - article in last week's Daily Lobo

In polite company we call it Novel H1N1. It’s the Influenza Formerly Known as Swine Flu. Originally thought to come from pigs, this flu virus is actually a mix of pig, bird and human. Believe it: only a virus could pull off that combination.

This rascal made a big splash last Spring, as you no doubt remember. After making its debut in the southern hemisphere it worked its way north, and by late summer there were so many cases the CDC stopped counting.

The media hype is hopping about this new germ, and lots of people are afraid. Since it is a new germ, and we haven’t been through a winter with it yet, there is a fair amount we don’t know. But what we do know is reassuring. Most of this comes from statistics but some comes from experience: we have already seen several cases here at Student Health and Counseling.

So far it looks like H1N1 is going to be gentler than the regular flu. Most cases of H1N1 are mild, and over with in a few days. Yes, there have been deaths around the country, but mostly in people who had serious medical problems. If you are otherwise healthy when you get the flu, you can put money on your survival.

Still, any flu can be miserable, so I suggest you don’t catch it. How to avoid it? Keep your hands off your face! That’s the best thing you can do. The flu enters your body through your respiratory system. That means through your mouth or your nose. How often do you pick your nose or your teeth? Don’t answer that. Just know that if the virus is on your hands when you touch your face, you’re toast.

Before I go further, I need to teach you a new word. Fomite, pronounced with a long O and a long I, accent on the Fo. Fomite is a medical term that means any object that can carry germs and pass them along. Fomites are things like towels, drinking glasses, pens, money. Here’s why this word matters.

The H1N1 flu is passed in large droplets. That means if a flu patient coughs, the virus flies out of their mouth in droplets. The droplets then fall onto the nearest surface. H1N1 doesn’t hang around in the air for long, unlike some other viruses that are passed in smaller, lighter droplets. How do you catch the flu then? Either you were unlucky enough to be in the line of fire when that person coughed, or – and here’s where that new word comes in – you touched a germy fomite and then touched your own face.

Think about it. Our hands are everywhere. We use them for everything. Opening doors, using a phone, handling money. As soon as you touch a fomite, your hands are host to whatever little nasties got on there from the other people who touched it. Then you wipe your nose or rub your eyes and wham. Germ transfer.

Yes, it is important to wash your hands, especially before you eat or otherwise touch your face, but washing your hands isn’t enough. The germs don’t soak in through your hands to make you sick, after all. So wash and sanitize, by all means, but mostly keep your hands off your face. If you have to touch your face, like to eat or put on makeup, wash your hands thoroughly first.

Besides washing your hands and keeping them off your face, take good care of your body in the usual ways so that your immune system is on max alert at all times. Sleep enough. Eat well. Exercise regularly. You know the drill.

If you’re already sick, please be responsible and protect others. Keep away from people! If you get symptoms of the flu, stay home! Symptoms are primarily fever, cough, and body aches. You might also have a sore throat, stuffiness or stomach upset. H1N1 typically comes on over a short period of time. Like a Ferrari that goes from zero to 60 in a matter of seconds, H1N1 will rocket you from well to miserable in a matter of hours.

If you are sick, cover your cough. Not with your hands! The latest official advice is to bend your arm at the elbow and cough or sneeze into your elbow, or the fabric of your sleeve above the elbow. If you choose to spray your germs into a tissue, fine, but then please discard the tissue and wash your hands.

The best treatment for H1N1 is rest. Your body is a pretty efficient virus-killing machine, but it needs your support. Stay in bed, drink plenty of fluids, and take medicines for your symptoms. Acetaminophen or ibuprofen for fever and body aches, dextromethorphan for cough, phenylephrine for congestion, or pick your own personal favorite.

If you decide to go to the clinic for H1N1, you’ll probably leave with nothing more than good advice. There are some anti-viral medications on the market, but so far they’re only being used for flu victims that are so sick they need to be in the hospital. Those are the folks with chronic medical problems like asthma, emphysema, diabetes and others. If you have a chronic medical problem and you get sick with flu, you should definitely seek medical care, and you might get treated with antiviral medication. But if you are the typical UNM student, young and healthy, it’s better for you and the rest of the community if you stay home.

UNM is doing its part. We’re expecting an H1N1 vaccine, probably in October, and we’re planning for campus-wide vaccinations. In the next few weeks, watch for announcements about the regular seasonal flu shots, which will be free of charge this year. Meanwhile, you’ll see hand sanitizers around campus, along with signs reminding you to wash your hands. SHAC has provided flu kits to the dorms, with thermometers, surgical masks, hand sanitizer and Tylenol. If you get the flu and you live in the dorms, LaPo will bring you "flu meals." Professors have even agreed to lighten up on asking for doctor’s notes if you have the flu.

For more information, visit our website.

Women Veterans in NM - some numbers

Yesterday I spent the day at a conference for women veterans, designed to provide information and resources for everyone from WWII WACs (and there were two of them there) to Viet Nam Vets to active duty OIF/OEF (Iraq/Afghanistan) personnel, and everyone in between. Not a veteran myself, but with a blossoming interest in a second career in veteran health, I went to learn. Here are some numbers I learned.

New Mexico has 200,000 veterans. Of these 16,000 are women. That's about 8%. Of all the veterans in NM, only about 40,000 have even applied for veterans services and benefits from the state. That means three out of five vets could be getting benefits they aren't getting. At the state level, these range from a free fishing license to scholarships and property tax breaks.

More women are currently in service. Of all American active duty, 15% are now women. The women vets I met and heard yesterday were all very proud of their service and deeply loyal to their country.

The presence of women in the military has brought to light a phenomenon termed MST, or Military Sexual Trauma. This is any kind of sexual harassment or assault experienced while in the military. The Veterans Administration now has a MST coordinator at every facility in the country. Every vet, male and female, who applies for services now gets asked if they experienced MST. They can answer "Yes," "No," or "I don't want to answer." In 2007, 25% of American women vets screened answered Yes.

Of course there was discussion of PTSD, and one speaker reviewed some of the alternate terms being considered for this. There's a move to get rid of the part that says "disorder" so as to reduce any perceived stigma. "Trauma Stress Injury" was my favorite of those mentioned.

There were more numbers, like Chapter 33, which is a GI bill specially for those who serve after 9/10/2001 in OIF/OEF. And 20%, which is how disabled you have to be to receive vocational rehab on the VA's penny. And 22, which is the number of days Shoshana Nyree, the first female American POW of the Iraq war, and our guest of honor, was held before the marines rescued her. (She has a book coming out soon titled Still Standing)

Numbers can be impressive. I know I was impressed with the number of services and benefits available to veterans. I believe they have earned it, and I hope it all helps. And I know that behind the numbers and the statistics are real live women and men, some damaged so badly that no matter what number of services they get they will never heal.