For Life! For Life! Fall 2019 Vidalia, GA Every Day, We Work to Improve the Health of Everyone in Our Community. We’re excited to welcome three new surgeons to the Meadows Health team. Learn more about them in this issue of For Life! An equally important part of our mission is to help people lead healthier lives. Be Your Best is our newest service. A physician- directed approach to managing health that puts less emphasis on losing pounds and more focus on maintaining the right weight for you. In an area where the rates of heart disease, stroke and diabetes are among the highest in the nation, Be Your Best can be a life-changer for many of us. You’ll also hear how Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab is making life better for our first class of graduates from this new program. And last but not least, the Meadows mammography team details GE’s new 3D-guided stereotactic breast biopsy technology. We’re currently the only facility in Georgia to carry this technology, and we couldn’t be more excited to offer it to our patients. You can learn more about these and other services we’re adding to make sure the highest quality of care is right here, for you, in this community we all love calling home. YOUR BEST HEALTH IS OUR MISSION Meadows Health. We’re here for you. For Life.
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For Life!For Life!Fall 2019 Vidalia, GA
Every Day, We Work to Improve the Health of Everyone in Our Community.We’re excited to welcome three new surgeons to the Meadows Health team. Learn more about them in this issue of For Life!
An equally important part of our mission is to help people lead healthier lives.
Be Your Best is our newest service. A physician-directed approach to managing health that puts less emphasis on losing pounds and more focus on maintaining the right weight for you. In an area where the rates of heart disease, stroke and diabetes are among the highest in the nation, Be Your Best can be a life-changer for many of us.
You’ll also hear how Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab is making life better for our first class of graduates from this new program.
And last but not least, the Meadows mammography team details GE’s new 3D-guided stereotactic breast biopsy technology. We’re currently the only facility in Georgia to carry this technology, and we couldn’t be more excited to offer it to our patients.
You can learn more about these and other services we’re adding to make sure the highest quality of care is right here, for you, in this community we all love calling home.
YOUR BEST HEALTH IS OUR MISSION
Meadows Health. We’re here for you. For Life.
CARDIOLOGY SERVICES Radial AngiographyAdvanced Care, Less Discomfort to Unblock Arteries
“A heart attack can happen in the middle of the night or the middle of the day” says Dr. Christian Higgins, an interventional cardiologist with Meadows Health. “For someone having that heart attack, it’s important to open the arteries as quickly as possible.”
Radial angiography is one of the most advanced ways physicians can respond to a heart attack—or diagnose one before it happens. A radial catheterization lets the cardiologist enter through the artery in the wrist just above the thumb. Using this radial artery, rather than the leg artery, gives the cardiologist a shorter path to the heart for diagnosing problems, clearing blockage or inserting a stent. The benefits also include less bleeding, fewer complications and less discomfort for the patient.
THE RIGHT WEIGHT FOR YOUHow much should I weigh to be healthy? The answer is as individual as you are.Be Your Best, a new program from Meadows Health, helps adults move toward the right weight, so they can better manage health issues and have a body that makes them feel confident and comfortable.
Directed by Dr. Stanley Morgan, with nurse practitioners Cara Anderson and Ashley Adams, Be Your Best provides a medically driven weight loss plan for patients with a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 30. That can include vitamin B-12 shots to increase energy and appetite suppressants.
Meadows Health also offers CoolSculpting to target stubborn fat. Be Your Best participants can also consult about that option.
WHAT IS COOLSCULPTING?CoolSculpting is an FDA-approved non-surgical way to reduce fat a person hasn’t been able to lose through diet and exercise. Because fat cells freeze at a higher temperature than surrounding cells, CoolSculpting can target and crystallize fat cells under the skin. Those cells die and the body naturally eliminates them, leaving the treated area looking flatter and thinner.
A Meadows Health provider meets with the patient to determine the level of treatment. Each CoolSculpting procedure lasts 35 to 60 minutes, with no recovery time required.
To learn more about creating a medical weight loss plan customized for your body, call us at 912-535-2665 or email [email protected]
SURROUNDED BY SUPPORT:The Meadows Approach to Patient-Centered Cancer CareThe Tommy and Shirley Strickland Cancer Center was built to provide every advantage in the fight against cancer—but the most powerful aspect is our comprehensive approach to care that makes each patient feel at home.
To create the region’s best cancer treatment center, we provide:• The Latest Technology, including
3D imaging such as the Elekta Synergy Linear Accelerator, a state of the art system that targets radiation so precisely it preserves healthy tissue around a tumor.
• Expert Physicians, board-certified radiation and medical oncologists with decades of experience.
• Comfort and Convenience, with large, private chemotherapy suites in one of the nation’s most beautiful hospitals, all within an easy drive for you and your family.
• Personalized Care, that helps you and your medical team map the best approach, using every tool and new treatment available.
Mary McIntyre received treatment for breast cancer using Meadows’ Elekta Synergy Linear Accelerator.
“You don’t even know you’re getting the radiation. You can’t feel anything or see anything,” she says, and adds her appreciation for the patient-centered approach she experienced. “I wouldn’t hesitate to tell people to come here over Macon or Atlanta,” she says.
“Vidalia is so blessed to have this cancer center here.”
MEET THE NEW SURGEONS AT MEADOWS HEALTHOur goal is to put the best technology into expert hands, and we welcome three outstanding surgeons to southeast Georgia and the Meadows Health team to help us do just that.
Kendrix Evans, M.D.Dr. Evans knew he wanted to be a doctor when he was five years old and his determination has never wavered. After earning his Doctorate of Medicine from Morehouse School of Medicine, he served in the Air Force for six years. Prior to joining Meadows Health, Dr. Evans was a general surgeon at Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center and Christus St. Patrick Hospital in Louisiana. He has extensive experience in minimally invasive surgeries.
Joy Dunn, M.D.Dr. Dunn comes to Meadows Health after completing surgical residencies at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Pennsylvania State Hershey Medical Center. She says she was drawn to Meadows because of the commitment of staff to help people in the community and the commitment to help the indigent population. Dr. Dunn earned her Doctorate of Medicine from Wayne State University School of Medicine. She is a member of the American College of Surgeons.
Henry Ferland, D.O.After earning his medical degree from the University of New England, Dr. Ferland completed a general surgery residency at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, serving as administrative chief resident. He received the Ketchedjian Award for excellence in teaching from Tufts University School of Medicine. After working in big city hospitals, he says he and his wife are enjoying the warm welcome they have received in Vidalia and at Meadows. Dr. Ferland is also a pilot and aviation enthusiast.
According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, heart and vascular disease is the leading cause of
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For Life! Fall 2019 Edition
For Life! is published as a community service by Meadows Health. Meadows Health is located at One Meadows Parkway in Vidalia, Ga., online at www.meadowshealth.com and by phone at 912.535.5555.
If you do not wish to receive further newsletters, contact Elizabeth Harvill, Director of Marketing and Community Relations at Meadows Health, at 912.538.5892.
If you have specific concerns about your health, please contact your doctor.
Meadows Health complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.
CARDIAC AND PULMONARY REHAB HELPS HEART AND LUNG PATIENTS GET MORE OUT OF LIFEJoanne Eason remembers her first day at Meadows Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab Center vividly. “When I started this program, I could not walk from the lobby to the rehab center,” she says.Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab helps people with lung and heart disease increase mobility and endurance through exercise supervised by nurses. The program also provides education and motivation to make improvements that can be life changing.
Joanne has COPD, and tasks like dressing herself left her out of breath and exhausted. With the help of a nurse and a plan to gradually increase exercise at the rehab center, Joanne was soon able to walk the length of the building to attend sessions. Now, she can go shopping and do dozens of other things most of us take for granted.
Bill Haynes has had triple bypass heart surgery and several stents. When he moved to Vidalia from Athens, he was worried about leaving his old cardiac rehab program behind.
“But my cardiologist here told us they had just started a program,” Bill says. “I personally need the support of the scheduling and the interaction with people where we, in a social kind of way, help each other.”
Participants also praise the staff, nurses Shannon Hart and Rhonda Phillips. “They’ve just been very encouraging, very supportive, and they make you want to come back,“ Bills says.
To learn more, ask your doctor, call 912.277.2054, or go to meadowshealth.com/cp-rehab
Learn more at MeadowsHealth.com or call 912.535.5555.
Meadows is the first facility in Georgia to offer GE’s 3D-guided stereotactic breast biopsy technology which will both increase the capacity for early cancer detection and provide patients with access to enhanced breast imaging services closer to home. The minimally invasive procedure also reduces the number of images taken from 12 to four, therefore reducing the amount of radiation the patient receives and the time the patient is in compression, making for a more comfortable experience overall.
“We are very excited to be the first facility in Georgia to have GE’s 3D-guided stereotactic breast biopsy capabilities,” said Tracey Kennedy, Meadows Regional Medical Center Director of Radiology. “…Our mammography technologists say it is the ‘Cadillac’ of stereotactic systems.”
For more information about the new technology or to schedule a mammogram today, call Meadows Health Scheduling at 912.535.5679.
Both Joanne and Bill were part of the Cardiac and
Pulmonary Rehab Program’s first
graduating class. Hear more inspiring stories and see how
rehab works at meadowshealth.com.
A NEW “CADILLAC” FOR MEADOWS HEALTH MAMMOGRAPHY TEAM
