As an occupational therapist working for Capital Region Medical Center, I believe in being a good role model for my patients.
As I approached my mid 40s, I noticed my health habits slipping, but it wasn't until I saw objective data that really gave me insight into my overall health.
In 2013, Capital Region Medical Center initiated a biometrics screening program that allowed us to see our body measurements and gave us an opportunity to complete blood work. Seeing the results of this biometric screening has made me more aware of the need to improve my numbers.
For example, I weighed 150 pounds in 2013, my hip circumference was 40 inches, my body fat 31 percent and my cholesterol was high, for which I had been taking cholesterol medicine.
I knew I had a family history of heart disease and diabetes so I knew I needed to do something to improve my health.
The opportunity of receiving a step counter through Capital Region Medical Center really enhanced my insight to how few steps I was getting each day. I have now evolved to the Fitbit Charge 2 and am obsessed with reaching at least 10,000 steps a day. I try to walk a mile every day at lunchtime, and the CRMC walking challenges that are offered have really been nice to keep me accountable not only to myself but to my teammates.
Over the course of several years, with the help of CRMC biometrics, working with my family physician and an integrative medicine doctor, I have now reached a much healthier weight - 135 pounds, 36-inch hip circumference, 25 percent body fat. I am currently off cholesterol medicine and feel so much better, physically and emotionally!
I encourage everyone to know their numbers! It has really turned my whole life around.
Jeanine Morehouse is an occupational therapist with Capital Region Medical Center in Jefferson City. She graduated from University of Missouri in 2003, the same year she began at CRMC. In December 2019, she was promoted to inpatient supervisor of the occupational therapy department. Jeanine lives in Columbia with her wife, pet dog and two pet cats. She loves the outdoors and is passionate about caring for her 98-year-old grandmother.