Category — Community

The Web is here to support us. Even though we live in Sandpoint, we have access to the entire world’s offerings via the Internet. As the healthcare issue grows as a concern for everyone, more organizations are stepping in with Internet (Web 2.0 - social networking) solutions. These organizations are generating sites that provide services for their viewers.

ReadWriteWeb writes about how “the number of U.S. adults who are Health 2.0 consumers has risen to over 60 million.” SWC is part of this trend - we are providing usable information to our community.

ReadWriteWeb writes about how “the number of U.S. adults who are Health 2.0 consumers has risen to over 60 million.” SWC is part of this trend - we are providing usable information to our community.

Here is a post on some of the new web sites on health. I found a few very interesting. Patients Like Me as the names infers, it connects up people with similar conditions. Daily Support also connects people in a similar way. This is where the new Web 2.0 excels.

DoublecheckMD gives you the access to medical text that your physician also as access too. You get to research diseases and drugs - if in doubt, search.

Vitals.com allows you to check out any doc. You learn where and when he or she went to school along with his or her contact information.

Organized Wisdom is a collective knowledge base created by laypeople, the “the Wikipedia of healthcare.”

American Well “makes it easy for you to talk to physicians, immediately, from home. ”

Then there are the old providers of information:

www.webmd.com

www.mayoclinic.com

www.medicinenet.com

www.healthline.com

www.drweil.com

This was an email sent to Robin, one of our members.

Marian agreed to share it with everyone -

Good morning Robin!

I wanted to comment on the Sandpoint Wellness Council’s article in November’s River Journal.  However, there was no shared email address or Internet place to contact ou as a group; so I am sending this to you and hope you will share it with the others.

I thought your group article on Fibromyalgia was timely, important and very well done — a true community service.  For me it’s timely because I have a new client suffering from Fibromyalgia.  She was diagnosed after numerous tests.  What sets my client apart from the things you (all) mentioned is that she has been a crystal meth addict.  This is not my first — the rapid teardown of a body exposed to crystal meth use is common among users and the statistical link between meth and fibromyalgia is growing.  So it is to be expected in their cases that their recovery to health will be long and hard.  What makes it even harder is that they usually have no money for treatment.

In my experience muscle spasms from detoxification (which can reoccur over months) can be severe and crippling; therefore massage is essential and I appreciate Krystle’s comments as well as her observation that many such sufferers are hypersensitive to being touched.  That’s where non-touch vibrational modalities (such as Pranic Healing or even self-touch methods like EFT) can be very helpful.  Penny’s suggestions about changing the internal environment and rebuilding the immune system through diet/herbs and reflexology are also very important.  A person in this bad a shape is often deeply depressed and therefore hard to motivate.  So spiritual overlays may also be in order.

I will keep this article for my office clients to read and I congratulate you on your group approach.  It has been long known that a group mind is much stronger and more creative than the mere sum of its parts.  Together you will enhance and highten a healthier environmebnt for your community.  Keep up the good work.

Marian Breckenridge, Healing Arts Associates,Sandpoint, ID  83864

Kevin Watson and Owen are developing a web site and business that unites all the aspects of living a whole life under one site. Whole Revolution supports the growing lifestyle of enjoying the benefits of everything from holistic health to environmental design homes. The site is sponsoring the collaborative writing of a book about the Whole Revolution.

They plan to take advantage of the fact no other company or site is addressing the need to have a meeting place for people who share common interest in living a Whole Life. Beyond green living, whole living addresses the need for comfort, pleasure, connection, purity of products and a spiritual connection. From a marketing standpoint, this is over 4 billion dollar market just in the U.S.

Sandpoint Men’s Group just launched their blog: www.AjourneyofIntegrity.com . This blog chronicles the travels the men in our local men’s take. Check it out.

It’s Wednesday night in Sandpoint. A lot of Sandpoint husbands and fathers aren’t home. So where are they? Drinking? Bowling? Watching “the game”? Nope. They’re gathering in houses and offices to enjoy the honor of being men.

For more than three years, a steadily-growing group of Sandpoint men have met every Wednesday night. The Sandpoint Men’s Group started with twelve men who wanted to recapture the camaraderie of youth, the feeling of relating to other men in a setting outside a bar or a baseball diamond. We all remembered the boyhood excitement of hanging out with our friends—the friends we looked forward to seeing, the friends we could count on to be there when we needed them, the friends who were honest with us, even with those hard truths.

With all the pressure these days, there’s not much opportunity to just be with our friends, where nothing is expected from us. We have roles to fill and responsibilities to meet for our work, our family, and even our friends. Don’t get me wrong: we chose these roles, and we enjoy them. But we need a place where we don’t have to perform, a place where we’re the only expectation is that we’ll just be ourselves.

What is in a meeting?

Letting go of my roles to “just be” was hard. There were a lot of things I needed to leave at the door, like my position in the community and my mask of being a professional. At Men’s Group meetings, I walk through the door simply as a man. A simple concept, but a challenging task. But in three years, I’ve learned to be the man I once dreamt of being.

As a kid, I imagined that a man was a person who possessed special qualities that I couldn’t see having. My father and other men seemed superhuman. I wondered how these men who once were boys became men. Conception was a mystery, but manhood was the mystery.

For decades, I was processing a belief that I was not one those men I saw as a boy. I felt cheated that I was not anointed into manhood. But I certainly was not going to admit that I was a fraud as a man. I joined the collective agreement: don’t question another man’s authenticity, and he won’t question mine.

But I let go of this agreement. I realized that my father and his friends were suffering the same fate I was. I understand how difficult it is to be a man. Through the pleasure of trusting them, my resentment and fear of other men transformed into compassion and empathy for them.

Men from the groups have experienced such powerful changes, their friends and family started to ask: “What have you been doing? You’re happier, you’re more fun to be with.” These men’s wives and partners wanted the same for themselves, so they started the Sandpoint Women’s Group.

The Sandpoint Men’s Group and the Sandpoint Women’s Group both support personal evolution. We’re working to evolve out of the boxes we placed ourselves in. We’re learning to just be ourselves.

We’re not therapy groups, and we have no religious affiliation or agenda. Participation in the groups is free. The groups meet weekly, following an agreed-upon protocol of confidentiality and honesty. But each man or woman determines his or her level of participation.

You are invited

If you’d like to learn more about the groups, you, your friends and family are invited to an open house on May 14^th at the Sandpoint Community Center from 6:30 to 8pm. You will meet many of the groups’ members and their families, have the chance to ask questions, and enjoy some food and drinks.

To learn more about the groups view our web sites: www.SandpointMensGroup.com and www.SandpointWomensGroup.com . If you’d like to talk to someone, please call Sandpoint Men’s Group at 946-4266.

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Owen Marcus is our local Rolfer and a founding member of the Sandpoint Men’s Group .