by Katie Critelli

Katie Critelli writes about health and wellness, with a focus on healing and re-framing the experience of chronic illness. She is also a Product Manager at BetterDoc, a company that helps patients with complex conditions find the right doctors, and is studying nutritional therapy through the NTA program. In her free time, Katie enjoys music, exercise, and exploring her new home of Berlin, Germany.

Over the past five years of healing chronic Lyme disease and arthritis, one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that managing and overcoming chronic health challenges requires a massive mindset shift. It’s not possible to emerge healthy and stronger from the experience with the same beliefs and approaches to life you started with.

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by Mike Critelli

In recent years, advances in technology and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a significant increase in remote work, also known as telecommuting or working from home. While many may assume that working “in the comfort of home” is healthier and more conducive to wellbeing, this assumption is flawed for at least three reasons.

Ergonomics and Movement

Most homes are not set up with a focus on creating an environment for office work. Lacking the ergonomic setup available in an office setting can lead to poor posture, strain on the back, and an increase in musculoskeletal issues for workers. 

Additionally, remote workers may not have the opportunity to move around and stretch as much as they would in an office setting. This can lead to muscle tension and stiffness, which can also contribute to back pain. 

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by MakeUsWell

Don Jones is a renowned retail executive and advisor with nearly five decades of experience and achievement in the fashion, consumer products, food service, management and entertainment industries.

Don also serves on the Board of Trustees at Felician University and the boards of several public and private companies, including the New York City Investment Fund and the Trinity High School Foundation. He is the recipient of the Massachusetts Black Achiever Award and the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association Retailer of the Year, among many other accolades.

By his own account, who is Don Jones?

I am the poster child for the American dream… creating a great life for myself, my lovely wife, and our five children.

Raised by a single mother, along with his seven siblings, Don’s Kentucky origins are humble. In 1969, at the age of thirteen, he began working as a janitor at Fischer’s Men’s Shoes in Louisville. From there, he rose through the ranks of retailers such as Macy’s, Marshall Fields, IKEA, GAP, and Target to serve in chief executive positions in nearly a dozen major retail organizations.

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by MakeUsWell

Cancer Screening for All Through the Power of Tears.

This is the elegantly simple mission statement of Namida Lab, Inc., founded by CEO Omid Moghadam, a new member of the MakeUsWell Network. 

Namida Lab's approach to biometric samples promises to revolutionize cancer screening by utilizing a non-invasive method—tears—to identify a wide range of pathologies earlier and at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods.

The potential for human tears as a diagnostic tool is rooted in the vast array of proteins present in them. As per a 2017 edition of the Expert Review of Proteomics, a peer-reviewed technical journal, over 2,000 proteins have been identified in human tears. 

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by Mike Critelli

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview an exceptionally inspiring high school classmate of mine, Sister Mary Foley, for a newsletter that our Pioneer Class Committee publishes. As a member of the first graduating class of Bishop Kearney High School in Rochester, NY, in 1966, we proudly referred to ourselves as the "pioneer class." Coincidentally, the co-principals of our school had the surnames "Lewis," (Sister Mary Lewis), and "Clark," (Brother Joseph Clark,) which only reinforced the appropriateness of the "pioneer" metaphor.

Sister Mary Foley's career has been nothing short of outstanding. She has been a teacher, missionary, community leader, and licensed clinical social service worker, both in the US and abroad, with a three-year stint in Liberia. However, the part of her life that most deeply intrigued me was her transformation of Luke, a border collie entrusted to her care at the Academy of the Holy Angels in Demarest, NJ, in 2004. Initially, Luke was acquired to help nuns living on the campus discourage and deter geese from doing too much property damage. But Sister Mary Foley, who was passionate about helping individuals and populations who had undergone traumas, had Luke trained as a disaster stress relief dog through Therapy Dogs International.

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