While it may often be overlooked, your teeth and toes are an important part of your health. From 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday March 5, Age Friendly Windham will be hosting a free Teeth to Toes event at Union Gardens, teaching how to properly care for your teeth and toes with specialists Tara Wilson of Lunder-Dineen Health Education Alliance of Maine about oral health and foot care from Heather Fogg of Fundamental Footcare.
“Even though these are opposite ends of the body, it is still important to know how to care for them properly, especially as you age,” says Bell-Watkins.
Tara Wilson is a health education implementation specialist and is a part of Lunder-Dineen Health Education Alliance of Maine as well as Maine’s Oral Team Based Initiative: Vital access to Education (MOTIVATE).
It is a program that helps educate and promote oral health for older adults. The MOTIVATE at Home program provides free education, information, and tips. The program teaches older adults, caregivers, and health care professionals the importance of oral health and what their role can be for promoting oral health for their older adult living at home, even if they do not provide hands-on care.
This is important as older adults have unique needs that put them at greater risk when oral health is overlooked. The majority of the program is available online offering 24/7 access to education in the form of videos, tip sheets, audio recordings and oral health resources and tip sheets. More information about MOTIVATE can be found on its website at https://lunderdineen.org/program/motivate-at-home-portal/
“There is a lot of value in bringing this kind of education to nursing homes and organizations that really do not have funding and other sources to help provide this kind of education,” says Wilson. “Many people do not understand that oral health is very important; there is a lot of evidence out there that really shows the connection between oral health and overall health, especially for older adults who are at greater risk for oral health problems.”
Wilson stresses the need to understand that without good oral care, our older population is more at risk for health disease, cardiac disease, diabetes, and many other health issues that can impact them.
“Fogg reached out to me because she is always looking to train nurses to help people with toenails and feet maintenance,” says Bell-Watkins. “We talked about what she does and then it grew into this education opportunity.”
Fogg says that chronic illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, and cancer are growing at an alarming rate, due to lack of health maintenance, patient education, and difficulty accessing affordable care.
“I have seen too many patients, young and old, lose toes, feet, and limbs unnecessarily,” she says. “Being proactive in the management of our health will minimize the burdens on ourselves, our loved ones, and to our overall healthcare system. That is why I started Fundamental Foot Care.”
Feet are often overlooked by the majority of the medical community. Consequently, the hospitalization of people with diabetes is most often due to diabetic foot ulcers. The cost burden to our healthcare system is in the billions.
“The majority of older adults cannot safely trim their toenails themselves — due to arthritis, reduced eyesight, weight gain, loss of balance —and are embarrassed to ask family or friends for help or feel ashamed that they can no longer do it themselves,” says Fogg.
Fogg provides in-home, person-centered care, that focuses on prevention of infection, avoiding falls, improving comfort, and maintaining dignity, and is committed to growing the availability of competent, medically trained nurses to fill this void in care.
Bell-Watkins said she hopes that the valuable information that these ladies will share will help our community gain more knowledge about proper oral and foot care.
The event is free and will be held at Unity Gardens in Windham, 124 Tandberg Trail, Windham. Each specialist will speak for about 20 minutes, followed by questions. There will then be handouts and other resources that can be taken home.
For additional details regarding other Age Friendly Windham events, go to https://agefriendlywindham.org/. <
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