Healthier, Wealthier and Wiser

Self-Care 101 was not in my college curriculum. I graduated knowing more about forms of poetry — I especially liked terza rima — than how to live healthy, let alone wealthy or wise. (Though the latter was supposed to be the road to which my liberal arts education led.)
    Not in high school or elementary school either did I learn when a cold was contagious, how to survive nausea or how to enjoy exercise and make it part of my life. Even motherhood left me clueless, so it’s a good thing my children played hard outdoors and had pets to desensitize them to life’s everyday germs.
    The knowledge I’ve acquired of basic survival skills I pretty much picked up on the go. Among those tidbits were folk remedies easily dismissed. A world away from my immigrant grandmother, my mother’s description of her prescriptions seemed pretty silly. Now I see that garlic does have healing properties and that a rub of olive oil and a warm cloth can soothe a stiff neck.
    Those are not among the wellness tips you’ll read in Bay Weekly’s first paper of our 24th year, Vol. XXV, No. 1. (Unless you take my word for it.)
    What you will find is a nice Whitman’s Sampler of ways to consider as you set out on the self-improvement campaign that’s comes with each new year’s jolt, whether or not we make formal resolutions.
    Our tips pop up all along the spectrum of well-being. They range from fitness to finance, wellness to wealth, bodywork to body care — and touch on food for our and our pets’ health.
    Do you want to find medical care that helps you stay well as well as get well? Owensville Primary Care makes you that promise in these pages.
    Do you want to stop smoking in 2017? You’ll read here how to take a first step with Anne Arundel County’s Learn to Live program.
    Is your resolution America’s third most popular: losing weight? Doctor James M. Wagner offers insight into that annual challenge.
    Are you ignoring what the sun may have done to your skin because you can’t find a dermatologist who has time for you? Maybe Calvert Dermatology is the one. I’m going to see for myself.
    Do you need to know where to go when you feel too bad to wait for your doctor? Maybe AFC Urgent Care is right for you.
    Is it finally time to learn CPR or upgrade your First Aid knowledge? Much of our community made that decision when a walker was stricken on our roads. Carrie Duvall of Duvall CPR & First Aid offers group and individual classes when and where you want.
    Just how sick is your kid — and when should you seek help? Dr. Azam Baig of South River Pediatrics gives you tips I wish I’d known way back when.
    Is fitness your goal? Get the help you need to succeed from Chesapeake Health & Fitness, Pilates Plus or Poston’s Fitness for Life.
    In assembling these tips, we partnered with local businesses that have a stake in your well-being. We’ve not sought to be comprehensive or conclusive. Our purpose has been introducing you to people, places and programs in our own community that guide you in making wise wellness choices. Each of our well-being partners promises you not only a service but also information and expert help in making your 2017 healthier, wealthier and wiser.
    I send you my best wishes in achieving those goals.

Sandra Olivetti Martin
Editor and publisher; [email protected]
Plus a life in stories: www.sandraolivettimartin.com