Log in  |  Register

GreenField Health's Health Matters: July 2005


Monthly Matters:

  • Expanded Office Hours & Our On Call System
  • Sports Physicals Available
  • Kids in College
  • Talking to Your Kids About Health
  • Acupuncture
  • Happy 4th Birthday to GreenField
  • First Tuesday Reminder

 Expanded Office Hours and Our On Call System

While it isn’t a large change, we are expanding our office hours slightly. For those who would benefit from later appointments in the day, Dr. Eric Murray will now be available until 6:00 PM for visits. Here is a summary of our hours:

  • Phones in the office are on from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM
  • Office visits are available on Monday through Thursday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and on Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
  • Our on call service is active at all times, evenings, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays
  • Email is available throughout the year – your physician will have an automated “out of office” message on if he or she is not available.

 Sports Physicals Available

Dr. Koeller, our Adolescent Medicine Specialist will offer sports physicals on the second and third Saturdays in August. Physicals will last approximately 20 minutes, are by appointment only, and are offered at a cost of $40. This cost is frequently not covered by insurance, however, we’ll be happy to bill insurance where appropriate for those individuals who are GreenField patients. New and one-time patients are welcome.

  • Saturday August 13, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
  • Saturday August 20, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Call 503-292-9560 or email info@greenfieldhealth.com to arrange an appointment.

Kids in College

Many of you have children in or about to go to college. GreenField’s services are the perfect, low cost way of addressing their health needs. Most colleges and universities have student health centers and while some of those centers provide real primary care, most of them focus on urgent care services. Urgent care is nice when needed, but it doesn’t focus on the whole person, follow chronic conditions, or focus on wellness. We’re happy to do so for your kids, even though they live at a distance. We provide such services for many. It provides great care for the college student, and important peace of mind for the parents.

 
Talking to Your Kids about Health

Many of you have young children, adolescents, or kids in college, and you think a lot about their health and well-being. Our parenting series offered this spring by GreenField patient Dr. Kathy Masarie was fantastic. Parenting is an art worth studying. Dr. Masarie is available for one-on-one parent coaching, as is our own adolescent and young adult specialist Dr. Paula Koeller.

The primary determinants of a child’s health are pretty straightforward. In the adolescent and young adult age group, the primary threats to health include accidents, the development of bad health habits that will adversely impact them later in life, the acquisition of chronic infections, and the development of psychological or social problems. Parents obviously have a tremendous influence on their children, and parents can significantly impact their child’s health habits and risks.

The following is our top 10 list of things that you can do to help your children have a healthy life. You should encourage them to:

  1. Always wear a seat belt.
  2. Drive safely and don’t drive at all when you’ve been drinking alcohol. If you are tired, pull over in a safe location, turn off the car, lock the doors and take a nap before continuing on. Or, don’t be afraid to give a friend or your parents a call to come and pick you up.
  3. Always wear a helmet when cycling. The pavement is harder than your head.
  4. Don't smoke. There are better things to do with your money and with your lungs.
  5. Be careful with the drinking. There is no benefit to a drunken stupor. Enjoy, but try to keep the drinking at a moderate level if you are going to drink.
  6. Practice safe sex to avoid nasty and embarrassing sexually transmitted diseases - and if you are not sexually active, don't be in a rush. “Safe sex” implies using barriers such as a condom to avoid the transmission of sexually transmitted organisms. Discussing sex can be embarrassing for many, so if you or your child need to talk to anyone about it, or if anything bad happens, feel free to give us a call. Adolescents and young adults will often open up to their physician in ways that they will not with their parents.
  7. Learn to eat well. Avoid fast food to the extent possible, and when you have to go that way, at least try to make healthy choices. It is important to help kids gain good eating habits early in life. They will eat at college as they were taught to eat at home. Many parents don’t explicitly teach their kids about food, but given the importance of diet, we believe that they should. More commonly kids simply learn passively by the example that their parents provide – if parents eat poorly and feed their children frequently with fast foods or unhealthy foods, then kids will tend to eat that way. Set good dietary habits starting when the kids are young.
  8. Avoid drugs which will generally provide no benefit in life. Encourage them to use exercise as their drug of choice since there is nothing like a good endorphin high. A bit of experimentation with marijuana isn’t the end of the world – many of us did it. However, teach them to avoid more addicting substances.
  9. Exercise regularly and a lot. Regular exercise generally helps academic performance and sets good habits for life.
  10. Get help early for signs of social problems, depression, or eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, or obesity. The longer such problems persist without a positive intervention, the more ingrained and difficult they are to treat.

Acupuncture

In our May Health Matters we discussed biofeedback and in June we discussed hypnosis. This is the third and final part of our review of methods based on the mind-body connection. Our knowledge of each is limited, but the effectiveness of each is well validated.

Acupuncture originated in China thousands of years ago. Its popularity has grown significantly in the US over the past two decades. Acupuncture involves the insertion of thin needles at various depths at strategic points on your body. Like biofeedback and hypnosis, we don't fully understand how or why acupuncture works but studies demonstrate that it may be beneficial in a number of medical situations from reducing pain to helping you quit smoking.

The theory behind acupuncture as a medical treatment is very different from that of Western medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, imbalances in the basic energy flow of life — known as qi or chi (pronounced “chee”) — are thought to cause illness. Qi is believed to flow through 20 major pathways (meridians) in your body. These meridians and the energy flow are accessible through approximately 400 different acupuncture points. By inserting extremely fine needles into these acupuncture points in various combinations, acupuncture practitioners believe that your energy flow will rebalance. This allows your body's natural healing mechanisms to take over.

Exactly how and why acupuncture seems to improve certain conditions isn't known. Western medicine has tried to explain the positive effects of acupuncture in several ways. It is possible that acupuncture may stimulate your central nervous system – the brain and spinal cord to release hormones that activate your body's natural healing abilities. Acupuncture might also stimulate the release of endorphins that are part of your body's natural pain-control system thereby reducing pain. These are some of the avenues of research trying to explain the mind-body connection.

Acupuncture usually involves a series of weekly or biweekly treatments. During acupuncture treatment, the practitioner uses sterilized stainless steel needles that are used once and then thrown away.

For what conditions is acupuncture useful?

Like hypnosis and biofeedback, acupuncture can be useful for the treatment of pain including pain related to:

  • Chronic headaches including migraines
  • Surgery including oral and dental surgery
  • Menstruation
  • Childbirth
  • Tennis elbow or other forms of tendonitis
  • Osteoarthritis or degenerative arthritis
  • Back and neck pain

It can also be used to help treat:

  • Depression
  • Chemotherapy-induced vomiting

How to choose an acupuncture practitioner

In the United States, a certified acupuncturist completes extensive training and must successfully complete board exams conducted by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). If you're considering acupuncture, we would be happy to make recommendations. We suggest that you do all of the same things you'd do if you were choosing a new doctor:

  • Talk to people you trust and ask for recommendations.
  • Check the individual’s training and credentials.
  • Inquire about treatment costs and insurance coverage.
  • Interview the practitioner.

Don’t be afraid to ask about the treatment procedures and how likely they are to help your condition. Remember that acupuncturists, hynotherapists, and biofeedback trainers differ from one another just like doctors do. A bad experience with one practitioner doesn't necessarily mean that you will not receive a more positive result with another individual. For each of these treatment modalities, the will and desire of the individual to participate positively in her or his treatment seems to be an important determinant of success – more evidence of the power of the mind-body connection!

Happy 4th Birthday to GreenField

We were happy to celebrate GreenField Health’s 4th Birthday in June! It has been an exciting four years and our team celebrated by taking a ride on the famous Portland Spirit. We recommend it to all. GreenField’s accomplishments in that short period of time have been impressive. Without wanting to pat ourselves on the back, we know that many of our patients are interested in the work that we do, and their important contributions to that work. Your support is helping us to work on changing the delivery of care both locally and nationally.

First Tuesday Reminder

GreenField Health’s First Tuesday will occur on August 2nd and September 6th in our office starting promptly at 5:30 PM. In addition to one of our internists (Drs. Ferrier, Murray, Hays, or Kilo), Dr. Koeller will be available for both of these to meet interested individuals or parents.

Sincerely,

Your GreenField Health Team:

Beth Davis, your Benefits Coordinator and Biller (email)
Chuck Kilo, MD (email)
Cynthia Ferrier, MD (email)
Dia Gaede, CMA, your Health Coordinator (email)
Elizabeth Hays, MD (email)
Eric Murray, MD (email)
Jill Arena, your Clinic Administrator (email)
Joel Swartzmiller, IT Manager (email)
Pam Mockenhaupt, CMA, your Health Coordinator (email)
Ron Potrue, Clinic Management Consultant (email)
Shelly Banta, your Clinic Manager (email)
Tiana Schmitt, MA, your Health Coordinator (email)



GreenField Health System
9427 SW Barnes Road, Suite 590
Portland, OR 97225
Phone: 503.292.9560
Fax: 503.292.9510
Web: http://www.greenfieldhealth.com
Questions, concerns, comments appreciated:
questions@greenfieldhealth.com


© 2003-2005 GreenField Health