Keeping the Women we Love Healthy

It is always a pleasure and an honor to work with wonderful women.  Dr. Skaidrite Krisans, or Skai-- as we called her-- always had a great sense of humor. Her energy and love for life was just contagious. "Skai was a fitness buff and was always willing to try the next new workout," comments Kay Pierce, Treasurer of the Foundation.  "For a while she did the Perfect Workout-- moving very slowly while lifting weights.  I would meet her at her gym and join her in this work out… years ago…" She continues to talk about Skai. "She loved her trips to Italy and improving her working knowledge of the Italian language.  She took pride in the fact that after the first two trips she was treated like a local in Italy.  In other words, she would go in and buy an espresso and get the locals price and her husband would go in later in the day while she was in her Italian language school and he would get the 'tourista' price. It took them some time to figure out tha

Pictured above, from left to right: Dr. Patricia Roth, Professor and Director of the Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing Program;  Dr. Jane Georges, Dean and Professor; Ph.D candidate Michelle Fleishman; Cheryl Wilson, RN; Ph.D Candidate Michelle Lee and Dr. Mary Barger.  The doctor diagnoses and treats an illness.  Yet, the bottom line is that nurses are the ones who actually take care of our loved ones.  This year, the Cheryl Wilson Scholarships were awarded to Ph.D Candidates Ellen Fleishman and Michelle Lee. The Cheryl A. Wilson Scholarship was established 6 years ago to honor her for all her work at the Doris Howell Foundation.  A nurse herself, Chery is the Chief Executive Officer of St. Paul's Senior Homes & Services in San Diego.  Proposals for the scholarphips are assessed for their impact on women’s health, research design, scholar qualifications and feasibility of accomplishing study goals.  Each student must have a qualified research mentor to direct and gu

How does one become addicted? Does addiction start with a bad habit? What happens in our brain when we suffer from addiction? What is the correlation between the science, the physiology and the psychology of addiction?  Are there any differences between men and women when discussing addiction? We hope you will join us on August 17th at the upcoming Howell Foundation Health Lecture Luncheon with guest speaker Dr. Carolyn Coker Ross  "Addiction: It's not just drugs and alcohol". There are many forms of addiction.  One can be addicted to food, to tobacco, to relationships, to video games, to cell phones. But the one element that accompanies addiction is the stigma associated with it: the perception that it is a weakness.  Understanding the science behind addiction becomes a key issue on being able to set an action plan to treat the behavior. According to Healthline.com , "Addictive substances and behaviors can create a pleasurable “high” that’s physical and psy