Take Charge of Your Health

Posted on

Nov 13, 2019

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Do you have an ongoing health condition like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, cancer, asthma, emphysema, depression, multiple sclerosis, high cholesterol or kidney disease?
Do you feel frustrated about not only managing your condition but dealing with the impact it has on your life and emotions?
Youre not alone. About 80% of older adults have one chronic health condition and 68% have at least two. Many of them find it challenging to manage their symptoms and condition. They may have a sense of hopelessness or frustration at not being able to live their lives as they would like to.
Take Charge of Your Health and Take Charge of Your Diabetes offer a series of free workshops for people who would like to learn skills and tools to manage their health conditions. Trained leaders guide the workshops, which include topics such as action planning, problem solving, decision making, stress management, talking with your doctor or health professional, dealing with emotions and depression, physical activity and healthy eating.
The workshops are also an opportunity for participants to share the impact their conditions have on their lives and emotions with others who have similar concerns and problems.
People who have completed Take Charge workshops report that learning how to manage their chronic disease symptoms has improved their quality of life and increased their confidence. Reports of participants in similar programs show that a year later they reported improvement in communication with health care providers and medication compliance, less pain and depression and improved stress management.
Find a Workshop
Take Charge of Your Health and Take Charge of Your Diabetes workshops are offered in English and Spanish in community settings throughout the area. For more information and to find a workshop near you, visit www.ilpathwaystohealth.org and click on Programs or call the Take Charge Team at AgeOptions, (800)699-9043.
Take Charge of Your Health is a program of AgeOptions, the Area Agency on Aging of suburban Cook County. It was originally developed by Stanford University.
Editors Note: Submitted by AgeOptions: (708)383-0258; ageoptions.org

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