Breast milk is the best food to help your baby to grow and develop. It is custom-made by each mother for her own baby, and contains the perfect amount of protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins and minerals. Remarkably, as your baby grows, your milk will also change to keep up with your baby’s needs. Human milk is also easier than formula for your baby to digest, which means less mess and fuss!
 
Breast milk contains valuable antibodies that help prevent disease and may reduce the risk of your baby developing allergies. After birth, your first milk, called Colostrum, offers vital early protection and helps to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria by coating your baby’s digestive system. This early protection is even more important if your baby is born prematurely.
 
Benefits to Mom
Research suggests that breastfeeding provides a measure of protection against breast cancer, ovarian cancer and weak bones later in life.
Your body uses calories to produce milk, so breastfeeding can help you to gradually lose weight gained during pregnancy. Exclusive breastfeeding may also delay the return of menstruation for at least a little while.
Breast milk is always safe, fresh and exactly the right temperature. It’s ready for baby at a moment’s notice, and you don’t have to heat it, boil water, or sterilize bottles. This makes night time feedings a lot easier.
Since breast milk is always with you, travelling and shopping with your baby is simpler, with no equipment to carry or refrigeration needed.
Breastfeeding Support
Breastfeeding is natural, but it may take up to six weeks or longer to establish, so don’t give up!  Advice and support are available from your midwife/primary care provider and/or public health unit.  They have experience with the challenges you may be facing and will understand how you feel. 
Everyone can offer encouragement so mothers feel supported to breastfeed anytime, anywhere.  The Temagami Medical Centre and Family Health Team welcomes and encourages breastfeeding on our premises.  We have a designated breastfeeding area with a special comfy chair available for breastfeeding mothers (provided by the Timiskaming Health Unit).  Please feel free to enquire at the front desk.


The Temagami Medical Centre and Family Health Team…
committed to keeping you as healthy as possible!

Picnic and BBQ season bring lots of opportunities for outdoor fun with family and friends, but with the warm weather also comes opportunities for foodborne bacteria to thrive.  As food heats up in the summer temperatures, bacteria can quickly multiply.
 
Pack and Transport Food Safely

• Keep cold food cold – place it in a cooler with ice or frozen gel packs.
• Organize cooler contents. Pack drinks separately, that way as you open and reopen the drink cooler, the perishable foods won’t be exposed to warm temperatures.
• Keep coolers closed.  Limit the number of times the cooler is opened.  This helps to keep the contents cold longer.
• Don’t cross contaminate.  Be sure to keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood securely wrapped.  This keeps their juices from contaminating prepared/cooked foods or foods that will be eaten raw, such as fruits and vegetables.
• Clean produce.  Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables under running tap water before packing them in the cooler.  Dry them with a clean cloth towel or paper towel.

 
Safe Grilling Tips

• Marinate safely in the refrigerator – never on the kitchen counter or outdoors.  Don’t reuse marinade.
• Cook food thoroughly.  Have your food thermometer ready.  Always use it to be sure your food is cooked thoroughly.
• Don’t reuse platters or utensils. Using the same platter or utensils that you previously used for raw meat, poultry or seafood allows bacteria to spread to the cooked food.  Instead, have a clean platter and utensils ready to serve your food.
• Check for foreign objects in food.  If you clean your grill with a bristle brush, check to make sure that no detached bristles have made their way into your food.

 
Outdoor Hand Cleaning
If you don’t have access to running water, use a water jug, some soap, and paper towels or consider using moist disposable towelettes for cleaning your hands.
 
Protect yourself and your family and practice safe food handling!
 
 
The Temagami Medical Centre and Family Health Team ...
committed to keeping you as healthy as possible!

Most people are fairly healthy, but as we age, we are faced with challenges, choices and risks specifically in relation to food, alcohol, tobacco and inactive lifestyles.  Unfortunately, the common result of these choices is obesity, physical inactivity, tobacco use, alcohol abuse and unhealthy diets.  All of these things contribute to today’s epidemic of heart attacks and strokes, cancers, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and other diseases.
 
The good news is that it’s possible to reduce your risk by adjusting your lifestyle and taking better care of yourself.
 
Self-Care includes:

• Knowledge & Health Literacy – the ability to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make the right decisions about your health.
• Mental wellbeing, self-awareness and prevention – being more aware of the present moment, including your thoughts and feelings, your body and the world around you (also known as mindfulness), can positively change the way you feel about life and how you approach challenges; In terms of prevention, know your body mass index (BMI), cholesterol level, blood pressure and participate in health screening.
• Physical Activity – The World Health Organization defines physical activity as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure – including activities you do while working, playing, carrying out household chores, travelling, and engaging in recreational pursuits. Adults aged 18-64 should try to do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity throughout the week.
• Risk avoidance – quitting tobacco, limiting alcohol use, getting immunized, practicing safe sex and using sunscreen.
• Good Hygiene – hand washing, brushing your teeth and washing your food, e.g. fruits and vegetables
• Rational and responsible use of products and services (diagnostic testing and medication) –  being aware of dangers and using as prescribed.

Is self-care hard to do?  Absolutely – some elements definitely are, such as quitting smoking.  Small steps in a positive direction are the best way to achieve long-lasting results.

If you are a patient of the Temagami Family Health Team and would like to see our dietitian, our mental health worker, our respiratory therapist or one of our primary care providers, please feel free to call the office at (705) 569-3244 to schedule an appointment. 
 
Preventative Health Care – the Easiest Way to Protect Your Future!

Nobody wants to stay inside when the sun’s shining. So when you’re outside, be safe and protect yourself and your family from getting too much sun.
Sun Safety Tips:

• Check the UV index daily
  • A UV index of 3 or higher means that you need to use extra caution to protect your skin.  The sun’s rays are strongest between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. so try to reduce your time in the sun during these hours. In Canada between April and September, the UV Index can be 3 or more from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., even when it’s cloudy.
• Seek Shade
  • If your shadow is shorter than you are, it’s time to find some shade.
• Cover Up
  • Cover up as much of your skin as you can - clothes provide better protection than sunscreen; wear a hat.  Many skin cancers happen on the face and neck so be sure to put sunscreen on your ears, chin and neck even when you’re wearing a hat.
• Wear sunglasses
  • Sunglasses can help prevent damage to your eyes so keep your shades on and make sure your children do too. Close-fitting ones with UVA and UVB protection in a wraparound style are the best option.
• Use Sunscreeen properly
  • Use an SPF of 30 or higher.
  • Make sure the sunscreen is labelled broad-spectrum (offers both UVA and UVB protection).
  • If you’re in the water, make sure your sunscreen is water-resistant
  • Apply a generous amount and put it on before make-up
  • Use a lip balm with SPF – your lips need protection too
    
    

Talk to your health care provider about any changes to your skin like:

• a birthmark or a mole that changes shape, colour, size or surface
• any new growth on your skin – pale, pearly nodules that may grow larger and crust, or red, scaly, sharply defined patches
• any sore that doesn’t heal
• any patch of skin that bleeds, oozes, swells, itches or becomes red and bumpy

Preventative Health Care – the Easiest Way to Protect Your Future!