Our two dogs zipped around the yard, noses to the ground, celebrating the warmer temperatures and nearly snow-free backyard. A pair of cardinals sang loudly from the trees as if they were celebrating, too.

Cardiovascular disease remains the most common cause of death in the US as well as a very common cause of chronic illness and disability. Heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes result in about 2,500 deaths per day in the US, according to the American Heart Association. While huge strides continue to be made in the treatment of these events, including medications and procedural abilities, as always, prevention is the best medicine. Many risk factors exist for cardiovascular disease; some, such as genetics or family history, are out of one’s control. However, there are many things we can do to reduce our risk, including quitting smoking and controlling high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes. One behavior that applies to us all is to get enough exercise.

Is anyone else completely over winter, or is it just me? By the time March rolls around in Manitoba, most of us have reached the same stage of the season – the boots are crusted in salt, the driveway snowbanks have turned a suspicious shade of grey, and we’ve all forgotten what grass actually looks like. At this point, we’re not asking for tropical weather—we’d settle for seeing the sidewalk again.

“I’ll have oatmeal, a bowl of fruit and whole-wheat toast with honey,” the older gentleman at the adjacent restaurant table said. “Could I get a banana, too?” he asked.

Every year I ask my students, “How old is old?” The answers vary, but the most honest response I’ve ever received came from a patient who said, “Old is 10 years older than my age.” We all tend to push aging just out of reach, as though it belongs to someone else.

All photos by Larry Stokke .

“Do you have anything on the ‘information diet’?” someone asked. I wasn’t exactly sure what he was talking about.

Health care professionals enter every patient encounter with the goal of helping individuals heal, yet many don’t realize how often past adversity shapes the way a person experiences care. Trauma, whether from childhood experiences, medical procedures, accidents, interpersonal harm or environmental conditions, doesn’t remain a distant memory. It becomes embedded in the body through biobehavioral adaptations that influence posture, muscle tension, breathing patterns, nervous system sensitivity and low body safety. When we understand that trauma lives not only in stories but also in tissues and reflexes, we begin to see why a trauma- informed approach is essential for building trust.

Oh, the pineapple plant…the famous pineapple plant that has taken over my kitchen. It’s still growing and thriving and beautiful. It’s on another leg of the journey, and I’m here for it. Apparently, so are other people.

I was sitting across from someone at a community meeting when she suddenly put her hand on her chest. Then she lowered her head onto the table.I looked wide-eyed at the intern attending the meeting with me. We both stared at the person across the table. Did I remember CPR? I’d better review the steps after today, I thought to myself. The Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive” started running through my head. That song — along with several others — has the right number of beats per minute (100-120) to guide chest compressions.