Safety after 9/11, Cryotherapy, Grief in Care Facilities

Assessing Security and War 17 Years after 9/11 Guest: Eric Jensen, JD, Professor of International Law, BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School Today is the anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks. America has been fighting back now for 17 years. Are we safer today as a result of the global war on terror? Long-Distance Care for Your Loved Ones Guest: Sara L. Douglas, PhD, Professor of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University As the Baby Boomers age, their children increasingly find themselves in a caregiver role. At least five million Americans are long-distance caregivers, meaning they live at least an hour’s drive from the sick loved one, but often much farther away, according to the National Council on Aging. This particular group of caregivers hasn’t received much attention from researchers, but if you’ve been one, you know how difficult and draining it can be. You can’t help with the day-to-day needs of your loved one, but you try to be helpful where you can, which means a lot of time on the phone with doctors, nurses and family members and expensive trips to visit when possible. Resources Specific to Distance Care Givers: Caregiver Action Network, Aging Life Care Organization, Caring From a Distance, AARP, National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer’s Association (national and local) The Real Results of Cryotherapy Guest: Joe Costello, PhD, Senior Lecturer in Exercise Physiology, University of Portsmouth, UK Icing sore muscles after a game is standard among athletes. But some people are now embracing an extreme form of icing called cryotherapy, where you climb into a chamber chilled to minus 160 degrees Fahrenheit, and sometimes even colder. There are elite athletes and spa-goers who swear by it. But the US Food and Drug Administration has warned that “whole body cryotherapy” is a dangerous and unproven. Dealing with Grief in Long-Term Care Facilities Guest: Toni Miles, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Georgia Death is a part of life in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. But that doesn’t make it any easier. The inclination among some caretakers is to keep the loss quiet, so as not to upset the other residents. But epidemiologist Toni Miles at the University of Georgia, disagrees. Her research in care facilities suggests that openly grieving a patient is healthier for that person’s friends and family, as well as the staff and other residents. Back-to-School at the Movies Guest: Kirsten Hawkes, ParentPreviews.com Since back-to-school is Top of Mind for many families right now, we’ve asked Kirsten Hawkes at Parent Previews.com to round up some of her favorite films about being a kid in school. There’s a critically-acclaimed one in theaters right now called Eighth Grade which we’ll get to in a bit. But first, we’ve got a couple of picks that could be great conversation starters for your next family movie night.