Saturday, November 4 was the perfect sunny, Southern California day for the 4th Annual Get Fit Festival held at Kaiser Permanente Irvine Medical Center. Although the event was held at the Irvine location, people from all over Southern California made the trip for this fun and pro-wellness-filled day!
Kaiser Permanente strives to promote wellness and preventative care to its members and its employees. I have seen 100% buy-in to this program from the doctors, nurses, and staff who have been there to assist me on my visits to Kaiser Permanente Orange County. They even sport the “Thrive” apparel to work!
Here’s an overview video of the Get Fit Festival:
Some of the events they offered to participants included:
- Thrive 5K Fun Run/Walk—Proceeds benefited Special Olympics Southern California
- a 30-Mile Bike Tour of Orange County
- a 6-Person Relay (36 miles)
Other activities not requiring running or biking at the event included:
- The Thrive Zone – Challenging carnival games to test anyone’s luck
- The Fitness Zone – Zumba, yoga, and line dancing sessions
- The Kid’s Zone – activities for kids ages 4-12, to bounce & blast their way through
- Food trucks – some of OC’s finest food trucks
- Live music – the great sounds of Catfish Junction played live on the main stage
- Fitness and Health Expo – a select group of fitness and health professionals were on hand as health vendors at the Festival.
Kaiser Permanente hosts a variety of “Get Fit” events throughout the year. For more information about upcoming events, go here.
Open enrollment for Kaiser Permanente kicked off November 1. If you’re looking for a new provider, explore plans with Kaiser Permanente Orange County and you’ll have the ability to select from many services for you and your family including primary and urgent care, emergency facilities, labor and delivery, pharmacy, and lab all housed under one roof. Find out more today at: kp.org/orangecounty.
Connect with Kaiser Permanente Orange County on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram.
I absolutely adore my 31 first graders this year! They are the cutest bunch of kids and are so sweet and eager to learn every single day. They also like to give me tons of hugs and even share their snacks with me
.It’s a sweet gesture when one of them hands me a snack and I’d never want to crush their spirit so I kindly thank them…and dispose of it properly when they walk away. 
It’s extra important to be on top of your health when you’re a teacher because if you’re sick and have to be out of the classroom, it affects everything. (We all know what can happen when there’s a sub.) I’m very fortunate to be a “seasoned” teacher because a brand new teacher is likely to get sick more often, suffering from up to 2 colds per month. I remember those days!
With cold and flu season upon us, I set up an appointment with Kaiser Permanente Orange County Physician Dr. Eric Troyan to chat and get his his best advice for keeping healthy in the classroom. He had some great tips and advice for me, which could be valuable information for anyone who has prolonged contact with children on a daily basis and works in a school or daycare like me. 
Here are some of the great illness prevention tips we talked about:
Keep Your Immune System Optimized
He really stressed the importance of this one for people like me who are around children. He also explained that the flu vaccine this year will be more effective than the one last year and told me that it’s considered a “killed version” vaccine as opposed to a live one, which you would hear about people actually getting sick after receiving it. The best time to get a flu vaccine is before Halloween but if you don’t do it by then, you’ll definitely want to get yours before Thanksgiving! Flu season tends to peak after the New Year in California, so why not go into it well prepared to fight it off?
Teacher wellness is essential when it comes to a successful school year. Do you or someone close to you work with children? What kinds of things do you do to help fight off illness during the school year?
What starts off as a headache just seems to escalate and get so intense that my head feels like it’s going to pop off! The pain can get so bad that I need to go lay down in a dark room to sleep it off, which usually means sleeping until the next morning. Even worse are those migraines that last more than one day.
I decided to set up an appointment to meet with a Kaiser Permanente Orange County Clinical Dietician. I wanted to chat in person and talk about my own experiences with migraines, what I’m eating, and if there’s anything I can alter in my diet to help minimize my migraines? I’ve had a few friends mention certain foods being related to the cause of migraines,so that was one of the things I wanted to inquire about. I also wanted to ask for other tips to help minimize the frequency of my migraines. I was anxious for my appointment with Natalie Lloyd, R.D., who’s a Clinical Dietitian from Kaiser Nutritional Services. 
The first thing I learned was about 90% of migraine sufferers have a family history of migraines, which means, if your parent has migraines, you’re pretty much guaranteed to experience them also. My mom does get them, so that was discouraging news, however, there are still things I can do to combat that statistic. I’m not giving up hope.
Some other factors that can be related to migraines include lack of sleep, dehydration, hormones, and stress. Well, I fall into every one of those categories, too. 
I decided that it was time to make some big changes and get more pro-active in my efforts to do things to counter what could be making me get migraines. 
During my appointment with the Clinical Dietitian, I learned that there’s no actual evidence that’s been found to link any certain food as the actual cause of a migraine. So weird because I swear there are foods that set mine off. We discussed this further though and although there isn’t actual evidence to support that, there are certain foods and ingredients used in foods (and some drinks) that can be avoided to help minimize migraines.
The Clinical Dietitian also gave me some great general nutrition tips to follow as well. I feel like her tips were great for maintaining overall wellness, which is something that Kaiser Permanente Orange County strives to teach all of its patients and staff. It’s really more of a general guide to daily living, that could easily keep you on track and I feel like it’s really helpful. She also suggested keeping a food journal or food log, especially if you’re attempting to eliminate certain foods to see how your body reacts.
I learned so much at my appointment with the nutritionist. Although there’s no cure and nothing will completely eliminate my migraines, it’s been a big help to be more educated about some of the things to avoid. Since my appointment, and after making some changes in my diet and regimen, I feel a lot better and have experienced far fewer migraines lately.
As a new member in a network, health care can sometimes seem hard to navigate, especially when it’s new-to-you health care. There are often different offices or labs to visit. Even having to drive to a pharmacy after an appointment can be another task. Did you know that most Kaiser Permanente Orange County locations include a pharmacy, a lab, X-ray services and more? During my visit, they literally walked me through everything and were so happy to answer any questions I had.
I was quickly checked in at the main desk but I also learned you can access all of it on their app as well. (continue reading to learn more about their app) After I was called into the office, I first sat to chat with the nurse while she took my vitals. They take the utmost precautions to preserve patient confidentiality. I like that you’re not just sitting out in the open, answering private questions about your healthy history, for all to hear.
Once I was placed in the room, my doctor came in promptly and introduced herself. As a new patient, this first visit is done with the doctor that’s going to be your primary care doctor. I loved how thorough my doctor she was and I never felt rushed during my visit.
Did you know that at Kaiser Permanente Orange County, you can actually choose your own doctor? I think sometimes people have the wrong perception and think that you must stay with the primary care doctor they’re assigned to initially, but that’s not true. You can go to KP.org and search the doctors according to their personality and experience to find the best fit for you.