Monsoon Season in Southern Arizona

The word "monsoon", originally comes from the Arabic word, "mausim", meaning "a season". It was first used to describe the winds over the Arabian sea, which blow from the northeast for six months and from the southwest for another six months.

In Arizona, the monsoon, begins with the extreme dry heat of May and June, when temperatures rise to 100 degrees and above. As the atmosphere warms, the dry jet stream moves northward and the winds shift up from the south. This shift brings in humidity and moisture from the Sea of Cortez, and the Gulf of Mexico. Once the moist air arrives, the intense summer sun heats the air, creating columbous clouds, which lead to frequent afternoon and evening thunderstorms with a spectacular display of lightning.

Officially, the monsoon starts on June 15th and ends on September 30th.

Flooding causes more deaths in the United States than any other weather-related hazard except severe heat.

In Arizona and New Mexico, floods killed 57 people between 1995 and 2006, while hundreds of others have needed swift water rescues. The economic price tag is also high, costing Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah approximately $5 billion between 1972 and 2006.

The Dangers of Flash Flooding
Flash floods can occur within minutes after the onset of a rain storm. They can be deadly because water levels rise quickly and flow like rapids within minutes.

City streets become rivers, because with no drainage system, except for low-lying washes and arroyos the water has nowhere to go and cannot be absorbed into the ground.

Mountainous areas also experience flash floods, as the higher grounds funnel water into the canyons. One tragedy in 1981, killed eight people in the Sabino Canyon area in Tucson, Arizona.

Learn more here.

Children's Summer Swimming Guide To Stay Healthy and Fit

A Guide To Defining Healthy Activity Goals With Children
Parents should take the time to discuss health and activity-related goals with their children. You can use these tips as a starting point to develop goals with your child for swimming or adapt this outline for whatever type of activity your child is interested in.

Talk about swimming
Talk with your child about swimming and its positive effect on the body. Get them excited about engaging in a new activity. Your conversation may go something like this:
"It’s fun to be in a sport like swimming. Did you know that it also helps your body? When you play a sport, you build your muscles in three ways...
1. You make your muscles stronger.
2. You make your muscles stretch and pull without getting hurt.
3. You can work and play longer without getting tired. You can swim farther.
Did you know that your heart is a muscle? To build your muscles, heart and lungs, you must play a
sport at least three times a week. Before you play, you should warm up by walking, then gently stretching your muscles. This will keep your muscles from getting hurt when you play your sport. After you stop playing, walk and then stretch. This gives your body a chance to slow down and your heart rate to return to normal. The wonderful thing about swimming is that it’s one of the sports you can do your whole life."

Define goals
Next, define with your child goals for swimming. For example, you may choose to set a main, long-term goal, such as:
• Swim the length of the pool a certain number of times in one session.
• Get really good at one particular stroke, like the breast stroke.
• Practice swimming (number of times a month).
• Convince a friend to learn to swim and then do it together.
• Develop a new game your child and his or her friends can play in the water.
• Join the swim team or a synchronized swimming class.
Then, you can list the intermediate or short-term goals required to reach the main goal.

Write The Goals Down
Goals will become more real for your child if you write them down together. Here’s one way to do it. With your child, check off his or her goals as they are accomplished and post it in his or her room.

Sample Goal Sheet
My Swimming Goals
Name:
Age:
Swimming goal (what I want to accomplish):
In my next swim class, I will:
In one week, I will:
In one month, I will:
By the end of the session, I will:
By the end of the summer, I will:

Resources
The CDC has material on children and water safety, including information on swimming, using sun
screen and more, at www.cdc.gov/node.do/id/0900f3ec8016eb51. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has materials for parents and children, and many of the materials are available in English and Spanish, visit corpslakes.usace.army.mil/employees/watersafety/art.html.

Source: YMCA, Activate Tucson

10 Anger Management Coping Strategy Tips

1. Keep an "Anger Log":
How often during the day do you engage in aggressive actions such as slamming doors, honking your horn, yelling at other drivers, or barking at others? How often do you provoke people to yell, scream, or honk their horns at you?

How often do you have negative thoughts about other people? "What a jerk she is!" "I'd like to punch him!" "Why don't these morons move faster!"

How often do you blow your cool? Do you shout angrily, fantasize about physically assaulting someone, or even explicitly threaten violence? How often do you find yourself frowning, impatient, irritable, in a hurry, gritting your teeth?

Take an honest look at your anger level. Even if you think it is everybody else's fault, make note of the frequency and intensity of your anger.

Once you have kept your anger log for a week or so, you may see that you are angry more often than you thought, or you may see a pattern to your anger. This gives you the chance to deal better with your anger and to resolve some of the issues that are keeping you angry.

2. Talk to yourself:
Make a promise with yourself to try to delay getting angry. Don't you have better ways to spend your time than being angry? Usually many situations are not worth getting angry over. Your time and your health are much too valuable.

Don't jump to conclusions about the motives of the person who may be annoying you. The person who is not moving through the traffic light on schedule is not deliberately trying to keep you from getting to work on time and is probably not a stupid idiot either. He or she is probably just tired and momentarily distracted. Besides, you are probably not going to be late anyway.

3. Cool It!:
When you become aware of hostile thoughts or attitudes, tell yourself to "Stop!", "Chill" or "Cool it." Telling yourself to stop being angry interrupts your thought patterns, decreasing the chance that you will become angry.

4. Distract yourself
When you see that you really have created a 'tempest in a teapot', then back off from the situation and find some way to distract yourself. Listen to the radio when you are trapped in traffic or read a book when you are late. This will take your mind off of a situation you can't change.

5. Decide what you can do about the situation; then do it and let the anger go:
If whatever is making you angry is important, then do what you can to help change it and then get on with life. Holding on to anger after the event has passed just makes it all worse.

6. If you are chronically angry, take a look at yourself
Do you keep finding examples of situations where life is unfair?

It isn't fair. Life's unfairness is not a new discovery. What's the point of continually getting mad about it? It's also true that some people are jerks. Why bother getting mad about that?

7. Avoid over-stimulation.
- Get plenty of rest and exercise.

When you are always upset, you are more likely to feel and express hostility. Too little sleep, working under time limits, and too many items on your 'to do' list will keep you nervous and jumpy.

Watch your diet. Give up or sharply cut back on sweets, caffeine, cigarettes, and alcohol. All of these contribute to overreactions to people and situations.

8. Learn to listen
Start listening. Don't jump to conclusions. Fight the urge to break in with your own comments. Try to learn something new by listening. Don't turn conversations into cross examinations.

9. Assume other people have good intentions.
If you get angry a lot, you probably don't trust other people. You assume the worst of them. Many times your evaluation of their motives may not be correct.

Try to accept other people as they are and not how you want them to be. Try to look at the situation from the other person's perspective.

10. Learn to laugh at yourself.
We all do things that, in hindsight, are an over-reaction to something that is really a very trivial event. Laughing at ourselves helps to get rid of the anger and to keep the event in perspective.

Source: Fleet & Family Support Centers
Marine Corps Community Services, MTF Mental Health

The Power of The Milagros "Miracle" Charm

In Spanish the word milagro means "miracle". Milagros are small charms, generally made of gold, silver, copper or brass, which the faithful believe are endowed with spiritual or magical powers for healing and for helping restore and preserve well-being and balance in their lives, or the lives of those for whom they pray.

Milagros came into the new world with the Spaniards and are now used as symbolic decorative elements, as well as for meaningful spiritual gifts. For example, if a friend is about to have an eye operation, the gift of an eye milagro, is appropriate, or an arm and a leg given to a couple trying to buy a house can wish them good luck obtaining financing. The possibilities are endless.

Milagros then, are not solely religious items, nor are they only for collecting. They are part of a magical and symbolic past, and are an ongoing part of a fascinating folk culture which continues to influence our lives in the southwest today.

The History of The Sacred Milagros
The small Milagros charms, often depict arms, legs, praying people, farm animals and a wide range of other subjects. They are typically nailed, pinned or hung from ribbons on crosses, altars, shrines or sacred objects. They are also carried, worn or pinned on clothing for protection and good luck.

Milagros of animals often are used to ask for help healing sick livestock or to ask for fertility; a Milagros of a body part, such as an arm, might be used to ask for the healing of an associated illness, such as arthritis. Similarly, a heart might represent a heart condition, or prayers for love.

In Mexico, the use of Milagros are often connected with a common practice, known as a "Manda". This where a person will ask saint a favor, and then, in order to repay the saint after the favor has been granted, makes a pilgrimage to the saint's shrine, and leaves a Milagros with a small written prayer of thanks.

Discover more at Milagros (Miracle) Healing Charms

Health Awareness Campaign Toolkit Basics

Creative Program Promotion Ideas
You can put your own stamp of uniqueness on a program through the promotions and incentives you use.

Here are some ideas to get you going:
1. Scheduling
The campaign will probably draw more participants if it coincides with a community event or national awareness week.
Consider:
A. Smoking: Great American Smokeout in November
B. Weight Loss: Getting in shape for summer or New Year's Resolution
C. Physical Activity: When the weather is mild
D. Healthy Eating: Avoid major holidays
For national or state observances: www.health.gov/nhic

2. Campaign Kick-Offs
A. Send invitations creatively packaged to tie in with the campaign theme.
B. Create a pep-rally style event with cheerleaders, school bands, floats, etc.
C. Have a political celebration on the steps of city hall, with the mayor making a public proclamation read at a city council public meeting.
D. Make it Personal- Have sponsors, donors, volunteers, and participants make a "human heart or gather "empty shoes" to signify lives lost to disease for a video public service announcement.
E. Go to the Crowd- Don't try to create a crowd -go to a place where crowds gather, like a shopping mall or large worksite.

3. The Campaign
A. Create contests of competition when possible and appropriate.
B. Award prizes donated by community merchants, and give them free publicity in your campaign materials.
C. Arrange large groups of people together to make the competition more manageable.
- This will also allow you to award more prizes. For example, have elementary schools compete, large worksites, small worksites, etc.
D. Use the Media- Have volunteers spot a few participants each week and recognize them on radio and/or TV.
E. Sponsor a heart-healthy cook-off (choose food items appropriate for you target group) or cooking school.
- Use a cooking school or cooking demonstration as a campaign finale.
F. Hand out recipes and free samples.
G. Make a community heart-healthy cookbook.

4. Other Promotion Ideas
A. Design a logo that can be used for various campaigns, so that each one is more easily identified with your organization.
B. Promote- Never miss an opportunity to put your logo on items that will reach your target audience.
C. Initiate fitness campaigns- Award t-shirts, tote bags, water bottles, visors, sweat bands, gift certificates, etc.
D. Have a nutrition campaign- Give out aprons, recipe cards, and magnets.
E.Give Aways- Hand out heart-healthy food and recipes at the local farmers' market.
F. Find Displays- Check with your local chamber of commerce to see if they have a business fair, offer to set up a booth, or have a booth at the county fair.
G. Use "personal contact" booths in various locations throughout the community to sign up participants for the campaign. Booths should be attractive, of course, and staffed by outgoing, enthusiastic volunteers.
H. Have booths at worksites in locations like the cafeteria or lobby.

5. Work with News Media
A. Change messages every week of the campaign to make it newsworthy.
B. Always have an activity (cooking or exercise demonstration) for television talk shows. The media like action!
C. Study your local newspaper to see where your campaign news might fit- a health and fitness page, the food page, or lifestyle section.
D. Find out who edits those pages, and approach the editor with a package of material written by local experts.
E. Ask a radio station to do a live remote broadcast from the site of one of your activities.
F. Have radio stations read the names of a few campaign participants each hour, to recognize them and give them community support.
G. Feed the information to the stations in short (5 to 15 second) bits each week, delivered in person.

6. Volunteers
A. Award prizes to most volunteers. For example, the volunteer who signs up the most smokers could win a trip.
B. Feed Them- Get a local restaurant (or a campaign sponsor) to donate luncheons, dinners, or banquets to help you recruit volunteers or to reward them after the campaign.