Healthy Living is an important part of taking control of your life! Many health conditions (e.g., diabetes, high blood pressure, or congestive heart failure) are preventable and manageable if we make safe and healthy lifestyle choices. If you have certain conditions in the family, you may be at risk to develop those, too. Also preventable are injuries from falls, a common occurrence for older adults.

Be proactive about your health! Adequate exercise and good diet are your best interventions, but changing your habits is often difficult. Many new resources are available to assist us in managing our care and improving our quality of life every day. The resources below cover a range of information, from managing your health information like medications, to transitions from a hospital to a nursing home, to how to live successfully and happily with chronic conditions.

• Questions to think about and ask others
  Start with these questions. They'll help you focus and point you in the right direction. Be sure to write down your answers.

• A Personal Health Record is one of the tools available for your personal health management. Create and keep current an electronic file with your health history, medications, preferences, and power of attorney for health care. It can give you the comfort of having a plan in place. It also allows you to print out the information to carry to your healthcare providers.

• Healthy lifestyle choices are known to improve the quality of life for people of all ages. Everyone has the opportunity to improve health outcomes each day by carefully considering the impact of a social activity, a meal, exercise, and many other types of choices and then making a good decision. Find support at the Healthfinder Web site.

• Be mindful of continuity in care. It is common for a person to move from one healthcare setting to another. Such transitions could be from the hospital to your home, or from the hospital to a rehab center. When you leave a facility (i.e. you are “discharged”), you and your health team need information to continue your care. Without information and planning, things can go wrong. Many people find themselves back in the hospital after a few days because the care plan was not clear. Use this free discharge planning checklist to help you plan for the transition.

• Prevention activities can improve your quality of life. Did you know that mild Type II Diabetes can be controlled with diet and exercise? Did you know that falls in older adults are one of the most dangerous and life-changing events and that there are many good techniques to prevent them? Much information about the prevention of falls and other diseases and conditions is available through AZ Links. Medicare now covers many preventive screenings now. You can find a list of those screenings as well as other prevention activities at the Medicare Website.