Midtown and Bear River Mental Health will work together

By Mikala Lindhardt

 

Bear River Mental Health and Midtown Community Health Center will come together beginning next year to provide mental health services to the Cache Valley community.

Announced earlier this month, Midtown clinic will be taking over the current Cache Valley Community Health Clinic on Jan. 4 to serve the public with physical and now mental needs.

According to Reed Ernstrom, the CEO of Bear River Mental Health, the Cache Valley Community Health Clinic’s limited weekly hours of operation made it difficult for Bear River to work with them in providing mental health services.

The Cache Valley clinic is open two days a week. Midtown will be open Monday through Friday.

Bear River has eight facilities in Cache, Box Elder and Rich counties that provide services such as therapy for individuals and groups, psychological testing and rehabilitation, skills development, stress management, crisis management and peer support.

 “We are excited to have Midtown come,” Ernstrom said. “Those with serious mental issues have a life expectancy of 25 years less than the normal population. With this in mind, we are happy to continue to help the public.”

Midtown is a federally funded, non-profit health clinic and will offer treatment and care for low income individuals and families.

“It is particularly difficult for uninsured individuals to access treatment. We want to be part of providing that access,” said Lisa Nichols, the executive director for Midtown Community Health Center.

Cache County’s second spine specialty clinic is celebrated

By Mikala Lindhardt

The grand opening of Logan Regional Hospital’s Budge Clinic on Nov. 7 included a celebration for Cache County’s second spine specialty clinic.

“There has been an increase of spine patients and more of a demand for doctors, thus creating a need for a new clinic,” said Colin Roper, a medical assistant for the spine clinic.

Due to the rise in patients Logan Regional Hospital saw fit to not only have an orthopedic clinic, but have a separate office to deal with spine injury patients located in the Budge Clinic.

The spine center was previously located in the hospital and patients were required to pay a hospital fee. Now patients can be seen faster and treated by spine specialist without the hospital fee, Roper said.

“With extra space we can have more physicians and help more patients,” Roper said.

The spine treatment clinic has two spine surgeons and three non-operative spine providers, physiatrists.

The clinic sees patients with every kind of ailment and many of them are referred by other physicians in the Budge Clinic, emergency department at Logan Regional and surrounding clinics.

“We treat anyone with neck and back pain no matter how the injury was sustained,” Roper said.

The out-patient clinic offers a variety of services including, steroid injections, surgery consultations, therapy, electro diagnostic testing, diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound and sports medicine.

“The fluoroscopy machine, also known as a live x-ray, is a huge asset to our new clinic,” Roper said. “Using this machine, our doctors can accurately get medicine in the spine where it needs to be.”

Dr. Jake Carlson, a spine specialist at the clinic, believes in the importance of keeping the spine healthy.

“There are a lot of things people can do to keep their spine healthy,” he said. “Avoiding obesity and keeping their core muscles strong are both important.”

The spine clinic stays busy with patients and procedures even with competing Alpine Orthopedic Specialists.   

“We usually have a full schedule every day,” Roper said. “On any given day we could do about 16 injections using the fluoroscopy room.”

Poole and Willis Orthodontics opens new office in Providence

By Mikala Lindhardt

After more than a year of construction, Poole and Willis Orthodontics opened up its fourth office in Providence on Nov. 3.

“We chose to build an office in Providence because a lot of our patients are from that area and we want to better serve our patients. It also seems like there is a lot of growth out that way,” said Dr. Craig Willis, an orthodontist for Poole and Willis Orthodontics.

A date for an open house is currently pending for spring of next year when the weather is nicer, said Kacee Mattinson, the marketing coordinator for the office.

The design of the Providence building is similar to the other three office locations throughout the valley. There is a waiting room for patients and a larger room built where the three doctors and their staff work together to provide orthodontic care, including an office for the doctors, Mattinson said.

“We just love to serve our patients and being in Providence it helps us serve that end of the valley with our patients that are that way,” said Dr. Morris Poole, an orthodontist at Poole and Morris Orthodontics. “We love all our patients.”

Lily Holbrook, a patient at Poole and Willis Orthodontics, also enjoys the new office.

“I love this office so much,” she said. “Everyone there is really kind and they helped me find my way around the new office, but mostly I like how close it is to my school.” 

The three other locations are Logan, Smithfield and Preston, Idaho.

“Once we get more settled into our office out there we are planning on getting another 3-D imaging machine like the one we have in our Logan location,” Willis said. “It is such an amazing technology and we are so lucky to have the opportunity to work with it.”

Poole and Willis Orthodontics is currently accepting new patients at the Providence office. The new location is open Monday through Friday.  

Underwater treadmills speed up patients’ recovery time

Mikala Lindhardt

http://www.mikalalindhardt.blogspot.com/2015/11/underwater-treadmills-speed-up-patients.html

 

Individuals who have been injured, are recovering from surgery or are suffering from pain can now see faster improvement due to the two new underwater treadmills at Logan Regional Hospital.

“Patients report that they are sensing a faster improvement in progressing off crutches, walking with a good walk and progressing with running because of the water workouts,” said Kevin Hall, a physical therapy assistant at Logan Regional Hospital.

Dave Callaway had back surgery and a hip replacement and used underwater therapy treatment for both recoveries.

“I am a firm believer in the underwater treadmill,” he said. “It really is a lot easier on your body. It unloads the weight from your body and you can do more activities.”

Patients are able to begin water therapy sooner after surgery than they could have started physical therapy without water.

“Those who use the underwater treadmill are about a month to six weeks ahead of those who walk on land because the water takes weight off the injury,” said Lori Olsen, a Logan Regional physical therapist.  

The wheelchair-accessible floor of the pool allows for all patients to participate.

“They are very fun,” Olsen said. “The amazing thing about the pools is they can accommodate for so many different levels for patients.”

The physical therapy staff has seen patients ranging from 5 years old and up.  

“The therapists actually get in the water with the pediatric patients,” Olsen said.

Pediatric patients with neurological damage find these pools helpful because they help the patients promote normal walking and movement.  Those who are young and athletic have been treated to speed up recovery time after an injury and the older patients can benefit from the pools to help relieve pain, Olsen said.

The treadmills not only have an adjustable floor, but they have underwater video camera capability.

“These cameras help patients watch themselves run and walk to see their form,” Olsen said.

The hospital has seen a 5 percent increase in physical therapy patients, through referrals from doctors and friends of patients, since the HyrdoWorx equipment arrived in July.

According to Olsen, Logan Regional is still learning about the treadmills and their capabilities with every new patient.

“The next step will be to advertise the benefits and some success stories,” Olsen said.

Cache Valley Community Health Clinic to be under new management

By Mikala Lindhardt

Cache Valley Community Health Clinic will be closing its doors next month to transition to new management under Midtown Community Health Center. This change will bring more treatment options and greater public access.

“Intermountain felt like transitioning to Midtown would allow patients to have more constant and consistent care with more hours and services available,” said Cathy Nielson, the Cache Valley Community Health Clinic coordinator.

The Cache Valley clinic is currently open Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Midtown Community Health Center will have longer hours of operation, Monday through Friday, to better accommodate patients.

These extended hours will “dramatically improve access to primary health care services for underserved populations,” said Lisa Nichols, the executive director for Midtown Community Health Center.

Midtown will also have additional treatments available in order to serve a larger variety of needs.

“We will provide a broader range of services including treatment for acute and chronic illness, prevention care, prenatal care, behavioral health therapy and assistance enrolling in Medicaid and the Marketplace,” Nichols said.

During the 23 years the Cache Valley Community Health Clinic has been open to the public it has provided dental care, women’s services, dermatology services and routine health check-ups by volunteers in the community.

Midtown is a federally funded, non-profit health clinic and will continue to offer what has already been available and more.

“We will continue to support them and their efforts to provide free and reduced care to residents of Cache Valley,” said Jolene Clonts, the director of human resources at Logan Regional Hospital.

The last day of operation for the current clinic will be Dec. 10. This will allow time for Midtown to transition and be ready to open its doors Jan. 4.