PHS - Portable Health Solutions

Happy National Assisted Living Week! We're celebrating and honoring the amazing caregivers of the communities we serve and the compassion, kindness, and light they bring to their residents and families. Thank you for everything you do, from the meaningful experiences you create to the exceptional care you provide every day.

As we acknowledge the 25th anniversary of 9/11, we must also reckon with the reality that there are now more first responder deaths due to certified illness from the 9/11 response than there were total victims on that day; toxic dust, pulverized concrete, asbestos, and chemicals encountered at Ground Zero continue to claim the lives of these brave Americans. We must continue to provide the resources and care our first responders, police, and firefighters deserve.

Did you know? August is , with a call to focus on healthy routines, stress reduction, and self-care. Ironically, health care itself is the industry in greatest need of these things given the demands of caring for others. It would be absurd to try and list here all of the reasons why stress reduction, formation of healthy habits, and self-care are necessary, or all the different ways they can receive a little more attention. But given the hectic nature of August and how the region where we operate seems to be a boiling cauldron due to the heat wave, perhaps we can at least ask ourselves, "Am I *actually* hydrating enough?" as well as try to reflect on the last time we took five minutes to just breathe, perhaps with an exercise like box-breathing. It's all about the tiniest steps; no habit just bursts through unannounced in our daily lives!

With all the excitement surrounding Artemis II's successful mission, we can also add "first diagnostic portable X-rays in space" to the list of achievements during this Space Age boom! As the future moon base(s) and will absolutely require in-person oversight, it won't be long before we can add "first portable x-ray on the moon" to the list as well. 🌜 🚀

Portable system captures 1st diagnostic-quality X-rays during spaceflight A new paper published in RSNA’s flagship journal details how experts were able to successfully capture radiographs using an off-the-shelf portable scanner.

Happy birthday to the one and only Kristin Chenoweth, Oklahoma's own!🎂🥳 We had a blast celebrating with you over some birthday cake! 🎉

On this 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it's worth considering the struggle, sacrifice, and power of friendship that defined the American Revolutionary War, which had commenced the previous year - April 19th, 1775 - and did not conclude until 1783. It was in no way a guarantee that these rebels would be successful. Not long after this, Washington lost nearly 17% of his fighting force in the brutal winter of Valley Forge. Philadephia - the site where the Continental Congress approved the Declaration - was occupied starting in Sept. 1777.

Against this backdrop, the power of allies defined the history and strength of the United States from the start. Moving from covert aid to the Formal Treaty of Alliance in 1778, France not only provided funds, uniforms, and gunpowder, but thousands of soldiers and sailors. They also played a pivotal role at sea, including a block of British reinforcements and supply lines at Chesapeake Bay and a stretch of resources by picking fights across the world...and this is the Royal Navy we're talking about!

The depth of French support for the fledgling United States was such that it plunged the economy of France into massive debts it could not recover from, a primary spark for the French Revolution in 1789.

Whether it was France, the Choctaw, Chickasaw, the Dutch Republic, Spain, the critical intervention of Prussian officer Baron von Steuben's instillation of discipline and training, Marquis de Lafayette, Comte de Rochambeau, Johann de Kalb, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, and so many others, America was never alone. Such is the power of friendship in the most trying of times, when victory is hardly guaranteed.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Did you know? Heart disease remains the leading cause of death among men (1 in 4!), followed by cancer and unintended accidents (including overdoses). And yet, only 3/5 will go to their annual checkup, and almost 2/3 admit to delaying a doctor's visit for more than six days from the start of symptoms...never mind that 40% say they only go when it's an emergency. If it's been a while for you, the best way you can observe Men's Health Month is to schedule an appointment. If you're always on-time with your vehicle's maintenance and milestones, why not for yourself? It's the best way to keep your own vehicle trucking along.

We must always review our history with a critical lense, not a passing glance, in order to fully appreciate its significance and the connection with our own humanity. What is not often discussed with regard to Juneteenth is that there are historical accounts relating that all the way to Galveston, all people were well aware of the goings-on of the war, including its end and the significance of the Confederate defeat when it came to the institution of slavery. June 19th, 1865 wasn't simply a date where news of all slaves becoming free reached the shoreline, as if they didn't already know this, so much as the day it became abundantly clear that the Freedmen would have the full backing, support, and enforcement of the US Army and government of said freedom. The flood of army reinforcements into Texas included more than 40 outposts, arrests of judges and sheriffs, overtaking court cases, and in all ensuring the obeyance of the law and complete extinguishment of a rebellion that had still refused to concede defeat.

We've been blessed to serve our wonderful skilled nursing communities for so long that fax wasn't even close to its peak when we began...and thermal paper roll was still en vogue. 🫢 😂

CMS Just Set a 2-Year Deadline for Nursing Homes to Ditch the Fax Machine — and the Clock Starts Tuesday - Skilled Care Journal Washington, D.C. — A federal rule that ends decades of fax-and-mail paperwork in healthcare claims is about to take effect, and skilled nursing operators are now on a two-year clock to replace one of the industry’s most stubborn pieces of office equipment. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid S...

"Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them." - FDR

We give thanks this Memorial Day for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.