May is Mental Health Awareness Month!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month:  How to Get Mental Health Help

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Everyone has mental health! This designation for May was begun in 1949 by Mental Health America. Their theme this year is “Tools 2 Thrive.” Mental Health America provides resources to improve personal mental health and increase resiliency.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) promotes the theme “You Are Not Alone.” NAMI states that the purpose of this theme is to “focus on the healing value of connecting in safe ways, prioritizing mental health and acknowledging that it’s okay to not be okay.”

In Canada, Mental Health Week 2021 Is May 3-9. This year’s theme is “Name it, don’t numb it.”

In the UK, Mental Health Awareness Week is designated May 10-16 in 2021. The 2021 theme is “Nature.” A strong connection to the natural world is good for anyone’s psychological and emotional health.

Did you know that one in five US adults and one in six US youth and teens will experience a mental illness in any given year? It is a sad statistic that less than half of them will receive any treatment. One in five homeless people in the US have a serious mental health condition. Over a third of incarcerated adults and nearly three-quarters of youth in the juvenile justice system have been diagnosed with a mental illness.

Anyone who is affected by mental illness, including family members, coworkers and friends of those directly affected, should receive appropriate support without stigma. With proper care, those struggling with mental illness can achieve a high quality of life and be happy and fulfilled. Nobody needs to feel alone.

Please check out the informative poster sets on Virtual Ability’s Healthinfo Island during May to learn more about mental illness and the resources available. You can teleport to any of the eight displays and exhibits using the SLURLs below. Click on the poster with the same name as the title of the poster set to receive a notecard of all the text of the posters plus descriptions of the images. If you click each poster, you will get a message with additional information and live links.

Mental Health Awareness Month: How to Get Mental Health Help
    SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/111/81/24

Minority Mental Health Equity
    SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/21/62/32

Borderline Personality Disorder
    SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/99/37/26

Dementia
    SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/51/27/28

Bipolar Disorder
    SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/25/24/30

Basic Facts About Depression
    SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/196/156/23

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
    SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/187/181/24

Music and Mental Health
    SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/172/154/22

 

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month

The month of March has been designated as Brain Injury Awareness Month. One purpose of this special time is to increase awareness of how to prevent traumatic brain injury (TBI). Another purpose is to promote strategies which can improve the quality of life for persons living with TBI and their families.

TBIs are damage to the nerve tissue in the brain. They are caused by an impact or force to the head or body, or by a penetrating injury to the head. They are a major cause of death and disability in the US each year.

If the person with the head injury survives they may recover quickly or they may face effects that can last the remainder of their lives. They may have impaired movement, damaged vision, hearing or speech, problems with cognition and memory, or personality changes or depression. These issues will affect their family members as well as the person with the TBI.

Falls can cause TBIs and other serious injuries, and are a common concern among the elderly. Falls are the second leading cause of TBI-related deaths. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has created the STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths & Injuries) program with materials for older persons to explain how to help prevent falls and decrease fall risks.

On Thursday, March 25, at 1pm SLT (Pacific time), Namaara MacMoragh of the Brain Energy Support Team will present on brain injury recovery and daily life in the Meeting Room on Healthinfo Island. You are welcome to join us for this session in Second Life here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/206/73/22.

You may also want to visit the Healthinfo Island poster exhibit “Brain Injury Awareness Month” here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/99/37/26.

For more information on brain injuries, including school sports concussions, please see: https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/basics/index.html.

Healthinfo Island March Topics!

For March we have a wide variety of topics.  Click here to visit Healthinfo Island, or click each poster for a link to its information.

 

February 28 is Rare Disease Day

February is Heart Health Month, but there are other important dates in the month. Feb 28 (or Feb 29, if available) is Rare Disease Day.

Did you know that 1 in 20 people will live with a rare disease at some point in their life? Over 6,000 rare diseases have been identified. Unfortunately, there is no cure for the majority of rare diseases and the causes of many are unknown.

You can learn more about rare diseases in Second Life. At 10am SLT (Pacific time), Gentle Heron will present information about Rare Disease Day at the Research Pavilion on Virtual Ability’s Healthinfo Island. Join us here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/135/198/30.

At noon SLT, Community Virtual Library and Conrado F. Asenjo Library at the University of Puerto Rico will share awareness information about rare diseases here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cookie/184/226/21.

EURODIS (Rare Diseases Europe) is the organization that began Rare Disease Day awareness events in 2008. They are holding a fundraiser all day with DJs and music at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tainted%20Island/155/209/2004.

Things to Do - Healthinfo Island Exhibits and Displays for February 2021

Heart Healthy Month - Keep Your Heart Pink and Healthy!

February is Heart Health Month!

You can teleport to any of the eight displays and exhibits using the SLURLs in this notecard. Click on the poster with the same name as the title of the poster set, and you will get a notecard that contains all the text of the posters plus descriptions of the images.

If you click each poster, you will get a message with additional information and live links.

Central Pavilion of Healthinfo Island
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/128/126/24

Heart Health Awareness Month
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/196/156/23

Alcohol and Your Heart
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/187/181/24

Signs of Heart Disease That You May Not Recognize
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/172/154/22

Heart Healthy Diet
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/111/81/24

Surprising Heart Facts (a quiz!)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/99/37/26

Things You Didn't Know About Cholesterol
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/51/27/28

How We Damage Our Hearts
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/25/24/30

Preventing Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/21/62/32

Healthinfo Island Exhibits and Displays for January 2021

You can teleport to any of the eight displays and exhibits by left-clicking the links or the pictures.  If you don't already have a Second Life account, it's free and easy to join! Simply click here and follow the steps!

Central Pavilion of Healthinfo Island
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/128/126/24

Fiber and Your Microbiome
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/196/156/23

National Blood Donor Month
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/187/181/24

Wearing a Mask
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/172/154/22

Dry Skin - Causes and Cures
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/111/81/24

Thyroid Awareness Month
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/99/37/26

Annoyed by Hemorrhoids?
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/51/27/28

Coenzyme Q10
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/25/24/30

Grapefruit is Great!
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/21/62/32

Things To Do - Visit HealthInfo Island!

This month, Virtual Ability's HealthInfo Island focuses on:

• The Americans with Disabilities Act
   
  
  
• The History of the Independent Living Movement
  
  
  
• The Role of Organizations for People with Disabilities
  
  
  
• What do you call people with disabilities?
  
  
  
• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
  
  
  
• What defines community?
  
  
  
• Why is community important to people with disabilities?
  

Send yourself, interested friends, and family to HealthInfo Island so all of us can learn more about these important topics.

Things to Do - September Topics at HealthInfo Island!

September is Pain Awareness Month. So we also have three very different types of pain as topics: Dealing with Arthritis Pain, Migraine! and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).

I guess you could even say that What is an anti-inflammation diet? might help with pain since inflammation accompanies or causes pain.

The other topics are:

• Deaf Awareness Week Sept 21-27
• Reproductive Cancers Awareness Month
• Blood Sugar Control After Eating; Help for Type 2 Diabetes

Come, visit inworld at HealthInfo Island, Second Life!

Things to do - July Exhibits and Posters at HealthInfo Island - Staying Safe From The Sun (among other things!)

At HealthInfo Island this month are exhibits on how to have a safe summer.

July is also Social Wellness Month and and includes Therapeutic Recreation Week.

Also, July has Hepatitis Awareness Day, and we include information on racial disparities in US health and healthcare (in some respects the statistics are not good).

And, to balance out all the gloom and doom, there's Go For Nuts! which explains how eating various kinds of nuts can benefit our health.