It’s not too late to register for Denver’s Race for the Cure. The walk/run is this Sunday, October 2. There will be on-site registration the day of the race. For details, click here. If you are already registered, good job! If you have never participated, this could be your first! If early mornings aren’t your style, then try “Sleep In for the Cure”. Details on their website.
We all know someone with breast cancer-we can fight back!
As leaders in minimally invasive surgical techniques, The Women’s Health Group is excited to have a new tool in their toolbox. North Suburban Medical Center (http://www.northsuburban.com/) recently installed a daVinci® robotic surgical system in their surgery department. While this is new to North Suburban, our physicians have been using the daVinci system for two years with very successful outcomes. At this time, The Women’s Health Group is the only OB/GYN practice in the north metro area offering this minimally invasive technique as a surgical option at North Suburban. NSMC recently renovated the surgery department with state-of-the-art operating rooms and private pre-op/post-op areas with special attention to patient comfort and efficient workflow-that means less stress to you, the surgical patient.
Why daVinci®? Your time is precious and minimally invasive techniques can reduce your recovery time so you can get back to your busy life quickly.
Other daVinci® benefits include:
Significantly less pain
Less blood loss and need for transfusion
Less risk of infection
Shorter hospital stay
Quicker recovery and return to normal activities
Small incisions for minimal scarring
Better outcomes and patient satisfaction, in many cases
Thinking of a hysterectomy or pelvic support surgery? You might be a candidate for the daVinci® system! We are using this special equipment in our hysterectomies and some pelvic support surgeries. If you have been waiting for the newest technology before you schedule a surgery, wait no more! Call our Thornton office at 303.280.2229 for an appointment with Dr. Volin, Dr. Naake, or Dr. Long for a daVinci® consult. Visit our website at: http://www.whg-pc.com/.
For more information on daVinci®, check out their website at: http://www.davincihysterectomy.com/ and http://www.davincisurgery.com/
We live in a time of instant news, movies on demand, online shopping, and mobile banking. Many of us pay our bills in our pajamas and shop without stepping inside a mall; we even buy books without leaving our living room. We are in a world that allows us to ‘shop’ for a doctor and access their information, appointment schedule, and even pinpoint their location to get verbal directions to their office on our smart phones and car GPS. Along with all that information, we can also read reviews online and make decisions based on other customer’s and patient’s experiences. Online reviews of physicians can be difficult to manage if there is a specific comment. Positive or negative-medical practices cannot address specific comments due to HIPAA regulations and patient privacy. All reviews are helpful to a business, whether they are complimentary or critical. Reviews can pinpoint areas that need adjusting and they can also salute successful service. We appreciate every review and the time it takes to write one.
Last month, we decided to step back from technology and conduct a good old-fashioned pencil and paper survey in our office. For two full weeks we polled our patients on seven different topics. Our patients gave us very constructive feedback; a lot of compliments sprinkled with a few concrete ideas for improvement. Thank you to every woman who took the time to fill out a survey. We will repeat the surveys in the near future and thank you in advance for participating!
So….what did our patients tell us? A lot, actually! They told us we were above average in our care and procedures. They told us they love our doctors and staff. They also told us we need to improve our timeliness. (Yes, we know…and we are trying to fix that.)
Our check-in/check-out process 95% ranked us above average
The friendliness factor 97% ranked us above average
Our physical space 94% ranked us above average
Our physicians 96% ranked us above average
Quality of care 98% ranked us above average
Timeliness 87% ranked us above average
We always have the best intentions of keeping our doctors on time. We don’t overbook them and we allow time for individual attention. However, when a baby decides to show up in the delivery room, our doctors get pulled away. When a patient has a new problem, we take more time. We are constantly reviewing our schedules and systems to find ways to minimize your time in the waiting room and in the exam room, while maintaining excellent care.
We offer you this promise: we will communicate with you when we know our doctors are running behind. We will offer you the chance to reschedule or see another physician if possible. We will do everything we can to make your visit a pleasant experience, despite the fact you are at a medical office. And above all, we will continue to offer the best OB/GYN care in the north metro Denver area by the doctors and staff you trust.
It’s the same routine every year. Check in for your annual exam. Fill out more paperwork. (Yes…we need to make sure the bill finds you but we also want to know how to contact you.) Give a little blood and/or other sample. Chat with the doctor, have your exam and you are out the door. Whew! Done until next year. Wait a minute…if you had any changes in your life last year, your doctor wants to hear about them. Your health and wellbeing are of interest to your healthcare provider. You might think some news is not worth sharing, but your doctor may need to know a few things.
Did you have any changes in your social history? How about a new partner, marriage, divorce, widowed, lost a job, gained a job, planning a move?
Did you have any surgeries? Any major surgery (and some minor surgery) is of interest to your doctor.
Did you have any changes in allergies? Have you had an adverse reaction to any prescribed or over-the-counter medicine?
Did another doctor prescribe any new medications for you? If so, each doctor you see will want an updated list. Have you started taking any new herbal remedies?
Have you had an unexplained weight gain or loss?
Are you receiving other care such as chiropractic, physical therapy, or acupuncture?
Has any family member been diagnosed with a new disease or cancer?
Do you have any questions about the medication/treatments your doctor has prescribed for you?
Has your insurance changed or been cancelled?
It is a good idea to keep a list between office visits, especially if your visits are yearly; it’s hard to remember everything once you are on the table in a drafty paper gown. Even healthcare workers forget things when they are on the other side of the stethoscope. If you are seeing a doctor for the first time, make a list of your surgical history and all your medicines (including doses), along with anything else that may be significant to your health. And while you are at it, put a mini-version of that list in your wallet (in case of an emergency).
Take charge of your healthcare by keeping your providers up to date!
There are some ugly statistics regarding teens out there-abusive relationships, pressure for sex, STD’s at a young age…very disturbing. It’s not all gloom and doom across the board, though. Many teens are making great choices and feel secure in their relationships, however, many are not. According to http://www.stayteen.org/, 1 in 5 teens (in serious relationships) report being hit, slapped, or pushed by their partner. 3 in 10 teen girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. The numbers are overwhelming. The transition from middle-to high school or high school to a job or college is a big turning point in a teen’s life. Many feel they are old enough to take on the responsibilities of an adult relationship. However, many young women (and men) aren’t ready for an intense, exclusive relationship. They may ignore the red flags you warned them about. They may feel their gut instinct won’t win them any friends. Too many young women ignore the red flags and gut instincts.
Teach your teens to look for red flags. Assure them it is ‘ok’ to trust their gut and get out when something doesn’t feel right. Keep the lines of communication open so your teen will come to you with concerns. Keeping your teen safe is your responsibility as a parent. Teaching them relationship survival skills is necessary. A safe and healthy relationship will give them the space to be a teen and enjoy these days without feeling pressured for sex. An unplanned pregnancy is a sure way to say an early goodbye to the teen years.
Maybe you haven’t paid attention to the red flags and gut instincts in your own relationships. A great online resource is: http://www.loveisrespect.org/. This website is a joint project between the National Dating Abuse Helpline and Break the Cycle to provide resources for everyone, from teens and their parents, to peer advocates, law inforcement and the general public.
Learn to notice the red flags. Learn to trust your gut instincts.
Teach your teens to do the same.
Be safe. Be healthy. Be happy. Live long.
From http://www.loveisrespect.org/:
LOVE IS TRUSTING-It isn’t keeping tabs with obsessive calls & texting
LOVE IS SECURE-It isn’t being jealous, suspicious or paranoid
LOVE IS ACCEPTING-It isn’t telling someone what to do, what to wear, how to act
LOVE IS FREEDOM-It isn’t about possessing anyone or anything
Ok, not your typical food fight. But you CAN fight osteoporosis with a good, calcium-rich diet. Many of us come into our 40′s and 50′s with information we didn’t have in our 20′s and 30′s. Thanks to research and better testing, we are able to diagnose and treat disease and degenerative processes much sooner than in Granny’s day (or even our own mother’s day!). May is National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month. For some of us, we are doing more damage control than prevention at this stage of the game. However, it is NEVER too late to make healthy changes. For more information, see the National Osteoporosis Foundation’s website at www.nof.org.
Cheryl Rojic, a holistic health coach, shared an extremely tasty, calcium-rich recipe for Fruity Rice Pudding with Greek Yogurt. We are running this recipe again in case you missed it in our newsletter last year. Caution…it makes a large quantity, but it is so soothing-you might just want it all! Using Greek yogurt really makes a difference! (Besides, you are getting a protein boost from the Greek yogurt as well. Bonus!)
FRUITY RICE PUDDING WITH GREEK YOGURT
(This will feed a large crowd!)
½ cup short grain rice (Arborio is recommended)
3 cups plus 3 TB fat-free milk
1 inch piece peeled fresh ginger, sliced into about 4 medallions
¼ cup granulated sugar (or 3 TB unflavored Agave nectar)
½ cup finely chopped dried apricots
2 cups (16 oz) low-fat or fat-free plain Greek yogurt
2 cups mixed berries, cleaned and chopped if large
Place rice, milk, ginger medallions and sugar into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in dried apricots. Replace cover and let cool for about 30 minutes.Discard ginger medallions and stir in yogurt. Transfer to a bowl and cover surface with plastic wrap. Chill for about 2 hours. Gently stir in berries and spoon into serving bowls or glasses.
Nutrition info per serving (approximate due to varying products/brands used)
Calcium 350mg, calories 250, protein 11g, fat 2g, carbohydrates 45g, fiber 3g, sodium 110mg
Calcium amounts in specific ingredients above:
Cheryl Rojic is a holistic health coach, addressing nutritional and lifestyle choices with clients seeking a healthier lifestyle.
To learn more, please see her website at: http://www.intentionalhealthcoach.com/
You can reach Cheryl at cheryl@intentionalhealthcoach.com
Years ago, it was cocoa butter or baby oil. Foil screens near our faces. Stretched out on the dock, surrounded by water…to get that tan a bit darker, even up the lines. Now we are wondering how high can we go with our sunscreen number? Does it filter UVA AND UVB? How often to we apply? Maybe it won’t happen to me if I go to a tanning salon.
Melanoma is the dark side of that dark tan. According to www.cancer.gov, this type of cancer can start in a mole, but can also begin in other pigmented tissues (eye or intestines)! In 2010, there were 68,130 NEW cases and 8,700 deaths. Yup! That sunburn or tan just might be a death sentence.
Buy the sunscreen and use it! Don’t forget to cover up when possible and remember, the clouds, your windshield and windows don’t protect you. In fact, the clouds might filter out some of the rays, allowing the strongest ones (probably the most harmful) to get through to you. A cloudy day is no reason to skip the sunscreen.
For the educational article posted on our website, please click here.
Got drugs? You know…old pain pills from that root canal. A half-used prescription from that knee surgery years ago. Granny’s heart medicine she didn’t want to take. Trouble lurks in those bottles, whether the pills have expired or not.
Consider this: your child decides to explore and finds those pretty pills and they sure look good. Gulp. Trip to the emergency room. A guest in your home may decide to check out your medicine cabinet and find some old prescriptions. You don’t know this, but maybe that guest has a drug problem. You don’t want to help that, do you? Or, late some night, you stumble to the medicine cabinet with a headache; all you need is a simple aspirin, but you didn’t turn on the light. What you grabbed wasn’t aspirin. It could be a drug that caused an allergic reaction in the past. Guess what? Emergency room. Again.
Those are just a few good reasons to get rid of old medication. You don’t need it. Don’t save it. It could lead to problems you never expected. Medicine thrown in the trash may contaminate our landfills. Medicine flushed down the sink or toilet may contaminate our water supply. We don’t need antibiotics and pain medicine in our water. Dispose of medication properly by participating in the DEA’s safe disposal program taking place on Saturday, April 30.
For a site near you, please check out: www.dea.gov.
Be smart. Keep your children safe.
Ok…you have had ‘the talk’. It’s time to do something permanent about birth control. Have you weighed all your options? He could have a vasectomy and get that little incision down there. Maybe you would have your tubes tied. But that means surgery; not too excited about that idea. IUD? Done with that. What’s left? If you are ready to commit to a permanent solution, check out Essure!
The Essure procedure is usually done in the office. Yes, in the office! That means no hospital or surgery center. That means no general anesthesia. That means no incision! That means permanent birth control with no more worries! That means very little down time-you could resume most activities the very next day.
If another baby is not on your radar and you have decided your family is complete, call us to have a birth control consult. Ask about Essure (but only if you are sure…it IS permanent!).
