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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Ensure Posterity: Invest in Safety For Comfort

Kathy Kolcaba Crossing Guard in Chagrin Falls, Ohio 2012
“Grandma, Why did the shooter have an automatic rifle?" 

As some of you may know, I am a crossing guard in my small idyllic community, one which is similar (although not as wealthy) as Newtown, Connecticut.  

After the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook, Connecticut, last Friday, December 10, 2012, my eight grandchildren, who all live locally, dealt with their thoughts and emotions over the weekend.

I don’t know how their parents told them about the carnage, nor how their discussions progressed into questions. But this morning, one of my grandsons crossed at his usual spot where I am posted with my big STOP sign and my neon jacket and hat, designed to get the attention of drivers in a hurry. 

The irony struck me this morning, as I was waiting for my kids to show up, that my motivation for doing this seemed sooo insignificant compared to the FACT that, indeed, we are not  “keeping our children safe” in our nation and my small act of volunteerism was truly insignificant, or at the best symbolic...But anyway, I am there for the kids.

 Listen To Simple Insights

Along came my grandson, right on time, animatedly talking to me as soon as I was within range. 

“Grandma, why did the shooter have an automatic rifle?  Why are they legal?”  Clearly, he had been thinking about prevention of such an event in the future.
   
“They didn’t used to be legal,” I said.  Clearly, I heard the voice of pure reason here; maybe HIS generation can do something about this.

He continued, “Why does anyone NEED an automatic rifle?” 

My feeble reply, “They aren’t for hunting, that’s for sure.”   And he walked on...puzzled. 

A Call For Leadership Accountability 

Please, America; please, fellow health care workers, please, Right to Lifers...let’s help our politicians find courage to protect the lives of our born children. And for those of you who belong to the NRA, please help your leaders think about the safety of our grandchildren in their schools. This shooter had body armor, for heavens sake, and he easily bypassed the “safety” measures the school had innocently followed. 

The preamble to our U.S. Constitution states,
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Invest in Safety For Comfort 

Safety and comfort are not the same thing, but safety IS a necessary condition for comfort. 

Can any citizen be ever truly comfortable again, if we continue to do this to ourselves?

What do you think? How did this tragic event affect how you think about safety and comfort where you live? Leave your comments below, I'd like to know what has changed for you?

 - Kathy Kolcaba

Find, Friend and Share Comfort Is Strength!
Copyright 2012 Katharine Kolcaba, RN, MSN, PhD. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Katharine Kolcaba, RN, MSN, PhD, The Comfort Line, Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44022. E-mail: kathykolcaba@yahoo.com Phone: 440-655-2098 Web: http://thecomfortline.com/

- Betsey Merkel, The Comfort Line and Comfort Is Strength Communications
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Location: Chagrin Falls, OH, USA

Monday, December 17, 2012

Animals As Healing Agents For Children in Pain


Dog Tag. Image © Alice Merkel. All Rights Reserved. On Flickr.
Doggie Visits Provide Comfort and Healing

Emphasizing and Quantifying Comfort for Hospitalized Children with Animal-Assisted Therapy, is a well documented student project investigating the comforting effects of Doggie visits to reduce pain and enhance comfort for patient healing. 

Do you have a dog or cat? How do animals bring you comfort in your daily life? The paper below details a research study quantifying the effect of animals as healing agents for children in hospital environments.

Please note that children had no problems documenting their increased comfort with the Comfort Daisies designed by Kolcaba, and that comfort was different than pain.  These two findings are particularly important for anyone wanting to do comfort studies with children.

Read the complete paper published to Scribd below. 


Add your stories and comments in the "comment box" below we'd like to hear from you! 

How do you employ forms of comfort in your life, for your children and loved ones? What methods do you use to bring on relief, ease and transcendence from hurts and pains that may be encountered in daily living? What tips can you offer? 

For more information about research in Comfort Theory, please visit the website, The Comfort Line.

Find, Friend and Share Comfort Is Strength!
Copyright 2012 Katharine Kolcaba, RN, MSN, PhD. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Katharine Kolcaba, RN, MSN, PhD, The Comfort Line, Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44022. E-mail: kathykolcaba@yahoo.com Phone: 440-655-2098 Web: http://thecomfortline.com/

- Betsey Merkel, The Comfort Line and Comfort Is Strength Communications



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Location: Chagrin Falls, OH, USA

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Comfort As Advertising


Comfort For Everyone? 

I admit to being puzzled by the Hanes ComfortBlend – Softer Than A Kitten Video even though the entire campaign supports the importance of comfort in its simplest form.  And we know from nursing research that Comfort is a basic human need; further, it is important for Strength in our patients and ourselves…but 25 years of Comfort Theory development (Kolcaba) tell us that comfort is also related to performance, as measured by better outcomes, goal achievement, or productivity. 

So Hanes, please tell us, what is the purpose of comfortable underwear?  

Strength of erection comes to mind, but that could be inconvenient in the workplace (LOL). Other possible purposes might be to concentrate on a task, to get rid of that unpleasant distraction of underwear that is NOT soft (LOL??), or to encourage sociability.  

From the Research 

Comfort Theory also presented types of comfort revealing that:  an important part of comfort was the ability to transcend, overcome, or rise above stressful situations in order to achieve optimal health outcomes.  The theory states that if nurses helped patients with their comfort needs in the context of health care, then patients were strengthened to engage more fully in health seeking behaviors. Later, the application for nursing was broadened to include all the healthcare disciplines, both for patients and practitioners. 

Comfort Applied to the Health Care Industry 

For practitioners, Comfort Theory was utilized for improving their working environment – that is, for healthcare teams to create a “comfort zone” for each other in which renewal occurred following experiences with multiple life and death stressors. During those times of stress, health care providers had to come out of their comfort zones in order to perform at their highest levels, and often for prolonged periods of time.   When those situations were resolved, practitioners could then return to their comfort zone, both at work and hopefully at home for renewal. 

But Comfortable Underwear?

If comfort is a basic human need, and it is linked to the desired outcomes of strengthening or renewal for patients and health care providers,  what is the desired outcome for men wearing soft underwear?  And do we dare ask if comfort is limited only to patients in hospitals or for those who buy Hanes?  

If we want our fellow citizens to have good outcomes, shouldn’t comfort be available for all of them, too? There are many guides for what constitutes comfort including food, shelter, clothing, meaningful work, warmth, rest, safety, compassion, support, and hope. These essentials are provided during hospital care, but what about afterwards?  

How do we as citizens address the comfort needs of our vulnerable brothers and sisters and children and elders so that they can all do better?  

Comfort as a Basic Human Value for Everyone

Where are our values placed as a society, as evidenced by how money is spent?  If we value comfort, as advertisers want us to do, let’s also value the purpose of comfort---for everyone.  Let’s put our money where our values are!!

Let me know what you think. Post your comments and share the discussion. I'd like to hear from you about your reactions.

(sigh...) If only comfort was as simple as having soft underwear…..

- Kathy Kolcaba

Links of Interest
 
Find, Friend and Share Comfort Is Strength!

Copyright 2012 Katharine Kolcaba, RN, MSN, PhD. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Katharine Kolcaba, RN, MSN, PhD, The Comfort Line, Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44022. E-mail: kathykolcaba@yahoo.com Phone: 440-655-2098 Web: http://thecomfortline.com/

- Betsey Merkel, The Comfort Line and Comfort Is Strength Communications

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Location: Chagrin Falls, OH, USA
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