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International Medical Graduates

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 TDR 12-9

International Medical Graduates

In our ongoing series with Medical Association of Georgia, we discussed International Medical Graduates on this episode.  Today, we continue to extend the age to which we humans live. This, coupled with the large post-war baby boomer population that is now entering the elderly population, compounds the effects of the period 2-3 decades ago where it was thought we possessed a surplus of physicians. During that time the creation of new medical colleges and expansion of residency programs was limited. These factors combined to bring us to the situation we find ourselves in today: an expanding shortage of physicians in the US.

The ECFMG (Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates) reports that since its inception in the 1950’s it has examined and certified over 320,000 foreign-trained physicians for acceptance to train in US medical colleges and residency programs.  Recent statistics show as many as 25% of practicing physicians in the US are foreign-trained graduates.  And they play a vital role in the delivery of healthcare in our country.  I sat down with Kate Boyenga, Director of Membership and Marketing with Medical Association of Georgia and current MAG president, Dr. Manoj Shah, himself a foreign medical graduate.

We learned about some of the reasons why Medical Association of Georgia is experiencing its largest membership with over 7500 members statewide.  And Dr. Shah shared excellent information about the steps required to study in medical school abroad with the ultimate goal of practicing medicine in the US.  He talked about the tests one can expect to take, challenges they may face while making application to schools/residencies in the US, and possible solutions for them.

Special Guests:

Kate Boyenga, Director of Membership and Marketing for Medical Association of Georgia 

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boyenga

  • BA Communication, College of Charleston
  • Under her leadership MAG Membership is at an all-time high
  • 14 years with MAG

Dr. Manoj Shah, MD, of Physicians for Women and president of MAG  linkedin_small1

  shah

  • MAG’s first President from Warner Robins
  • MAG’s first president of East Indian descent
  • Doctor of Medicine, Baroda, India
  • Residency, Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit
  • Has delivered more than 7,000 babies

Dr. Khusrow Niazi

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Emory Healthcare

Dr. Khusrow Niazi

This week I sat down with Emory School of Medicine’s Dr. Khusrow Niazi, Interventional Cardiologist and Director of Peripheral Vascular Interventions.  Dr. Niazi is a cardiologist but is different from many other cardiologists as he treats disease from the head to toes. He specializes in blockages of the artery which may involve coronary arteries around the heart which may cause chest pain or heart attack, carotid arteries which may cause TIA or strokes, arteries to the leg which may cause leg discomfort or slow wound healing. In addition he is one of the few cardiologists who also treat veins of the legs which may cause leg cramps, swelling, heaviness or varicose veins. He has lectured nationally and internationally and has helped many patients from getting their legs amputated.

Dr. Niazi appeared with the goal of providing the folks in the community with a cardiologist’s perspective on what they need to know about vascular disease which can affect the arteries that supply the brain, heart, and limbs.  We talked about things we can do to reduce our risk of disease in the vascular system.  He also shared recommendations on the types of tests and studies that folks who are at greater risk for vascular disease should consider having conducted.  Many of these tests are quite basic and can be performed at their local primary care physician’s office.  Persons who should consider regular monitoring for the presence of vascular disease include those who are over-weight, have diabetes, high cholesterol levels, hypertension, as well as those who have close relatives with a history of vascular problems.

Dr. Niazi advised our listeners to not ignore symptoms that might indicate a vascular problem exists such as chest tightness/pain, dizzy spells or changes in vision, speech, or ability to walk, pain in the lower legs when walking, shortness of breath at rest or with mild activity, etc.  These can be signs that vascular problems exist that could potentially be corrected with early intervention.  He also spoke about the fact that persons who have a wound on their lower leg or foot need to be evaluated for the presence of correctable vascular disease.  Many of these people go on to have amputations when they may have been prevented by intervention by a vascular specialist.

Special Guest:

Dr. Khusrow Niazi, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine facebook_logo_small3  twitter_logo_small  youtube logo  linkedin_small1

 

Emory Healthcare

  • Doctor of Medicine, King Edward Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan
  • Residency, Cardiology, Kettering Medical Center
  • Fellowship William Beaumont Hospital
  • Multiple published research articles

 

Dr. Jon Minter of Northside Total Joint Specialists

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Northside Total Joint Specialists

Dr. Jon Minter of Northside Total Joint Specialists

This week I sat down with Dr. Jon Minter of Northside Total Joint Specialists.  In our ongoing monthly series with Northside Hospital we learned about the various conditions that could lead to a total joint replacement.  Dr. Minter shared some great information about some of the techniques he uses now to perform the surgery, including using robotic assistance with portions of the procedure.  Having robotic assistance helps the surgeon minimize surgical trauma to the tissue in the surgical field, making the recovery process proceed more quickly and with less pain.

Dr. Minter talked about the fact that he is able to perform joint replacement for a wide variety of joints from knees, to hips, shoulders, wrists, ankles and even digits.  He is able to repair joint damage from disease processes such as arthritis as well as traumatic injuries.  I was surprised to learn that patients undergoing total hip replacement and total knee replacement can often go home to recover the same day as their surgery rather than staying for several days in the hospital.

Dr. Minter discussed how he takes a conservative approach to joint replacement, exploring non-surgical options where feasible to attempt to give the patient relief of pain while avoiding surgery if possible.  If you or a loved one is experiencing a decrease in activity in an effort to avoid pain you should seek a consultation with this specialist.  You will be pleased to experience his pleasant, personable demeanor.  We talked about the fact that when patients begin to avoid activity in an effort to prevent experiencing pain, they can see their heart health decrease over time, potentially shortening their lives.  Dr. Jon Minton of Northside Total Joint Specialists can help you or your loved ones get your life back through his expert, conservative approach to joint replacement.

Special Guest:

Dr. Jon Minter, DO, of Northside Total Joint Specialists  linkedin_small1 

Northside Total Joint Specialists

  • Doctor of Osteopathy, Kirksville Osteopathic Medicine
  • Residency, Orthopedic Surgery, Parkview Hospital
  • Adult Reconstructive and Arthritis Fellowship, Florida Orthopaedic Institute/Tampa General Hospital
  • Published Study Author and Frequent Lecturer on the subject of Joint Replacement

“Think About It”

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Think About It

 

“Think About It” Campaign to End Prescription Drug Abuse

Prescription medication abuse and subsequent addiction is a serious problem that needs our immediate attention as a community and as healthcare providers.  According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Although most people take prescription medications responsibly, an estimated 52 million people (20 percent of those aged 12 and older) have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons at least once in their lifetimes.”  And, National Council for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse states, “Taking prescription drugs not prescribed for you by a doctor or in a way that hasn’t been recommended by a doctor, can be more dangerous than you think.  In fact, it can be fatal.  Prescription drugs are the third most commonly abused category of drugs, behind alcohol and marijuana and ahead of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine.  Some prescription drugs can become addictive, especially when used in a manner inconsistent with their labeling by someone other than the patient for whom they were prescribed, or when taken in a manner or dosage other than prescribed.  Overall, an estimated 48 million people have abused prescription drugs, representing nearly 20% of the U.S. population.”  

This week I sat down with Dallas Gay and Dr. Tennant Slack along with Lori Cassidy Murphy from the Medical Association of Georgia to talk about their recently-launched campaign to fight prescription medication abuse and addiction.  Dallas and Dr. Slack co-chair the campaign and they’re working hard to bring community focus to the problem.  The campaign is being funded by the Medical Association of Georgia Foundation and is working to raise awareness of this issue among Georgia’s residents as well as healthcare providers who prescribe controlled medications.  Their team has developed colorful handout materials that give key recommendations for persons who have prescriptions for controlled pain or anti-anxiety medications with regard to how they take it, how they store it, and how to dispose of it when they no longer need the medication.  Additionally, they’re involved with numerous events around the community to get people talking and thinking about how this problem can be prevented.

Think About It is a program conducted by the Medical Association of Georgia Foundation for the purpose of reducing the incidence of prescription drug abuse and resulting deaths. The concept for the program originated at NGMC in 2010 and is presently co-chaired by Dr. Jack Chapman, Dr. Tennent Slack and Dallas Gay. Hall County has served as the incubator of the program since its inception. The “Help Stop Rx Drug Abuse in Georgia” leaflets encourage Georgians to 1) only take their medicine as prescribed and 2) not share their medicine and 3) store their medicine in a safe and secure place and 4) properly dispose of any unused medicine.

The ‘Think About It’ campaign involves a wide array of organizations, including medical societies, the Georgia Composite Medical Board, the Georgia Board of Pharmacy, the Georgia Pharmacy Association, the Council on Alcohol and Drugs, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation – as well as other law enforcement agencies, schools, and business and religious and other community organizations.

Thank you for listening and PLEASE SHARE! this podcast with your networks.  You may just help someone you care about.

Special Guests

Dr. Tennant Slack, MD, of Northeast Georgia Physician’s Group

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  • Doctorate of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
  • Residency, Anesthesia, Emory University School of Medicine
  • Fellowship, Pain Medicine, Medical College of Georgia
  • Board Certified, American Board of Anesthesiology: – Anesthesiology – Pain Medicine

Dallas Gay, Co-Chair, “Think About It” Campaign

Dallas Gay

  • Board Member, Northeast Georgia Medical Center
  • MBA, Georgia State University
  • Member, Drug Free Coalition of Hall County
  • Former President, Protein Products, Inc
  • Former President, American Proteins, Inc.

 

 

Lenz Marketing

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Lenz Marketing

 

Lenz Marketing

This week I sat down with the Vice President of Marketing for Lenz Marketing, Mr. Mike Killeen.  According to the company’s website, Lenz offers clients the full suite of marketing and communication tools to grow their businesses. At Lenz, integrated marketing is the strategic and coordinated implementation of digital and traditional advertising, PR, web sites, social media, and events to achieve a stated goal.  The company has been serving the Atlanta area for over 22 years.  Mike talked about the fact that the firm started as a traditional marketing company, providing service to a variety of companies looking to increase community awareness of their brands.  Early on their leadership saw an opportunity to help businesses within the medical community, from hospitals to physician groups.

As Mike stated, “We have evolved and refined who we are and what we do to be known best for healthcare marketing, no doubt about it.  We enjoy it and find it very fulfilling.  But we’ve done a lot of different things throughout our history.  And we really fell that our broad set of interests is one of the reasons we’re most successful with healthcare.  Because we don’t think that marketing healthcare is really that different than marketing anything else.  At the end of the day, people are looking to align themselves with companies they believe in, that they think are representative of who they are,  that they can trust, that they think have value.”

At Lenz Marketing believes that today, patients are becoming more educated, having greater access to means to look into a prospective provider of healthcare.  This means patients are becoming “consumers” in that more and more they are realizing they do have choices and access to ways to get to know about those choices.  Lenz is able to help their clients develop a strategy that will improve public awareness of their practice or organization as well as improve engagement with their respective referral bases.

Special Guest:

Mike Killeen, VP of Marketing at Lenz Marketing  twitter_logo_small  Pinterest-logo  linkedin_small1  facebook_logo_small3

Lenz Marketing

  • 12+ years at Lenz Marketing
  • Bachelor’s in Journalism, University of Georgia
  • Program Director, “Weekly Check-up With Dr. Bruce Feinberg” on WSB Radio
  • Founder, “Poverty is Real” non-profit organization
  • Performing Singer, Songwriter, Musician

ShareWIK, Bioscape Digital, and ER Express

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Top Docs Radio

 

ShareWIK, Bioscape Digital, and ER Express

This week I sat down with the CEO’s of ShareWIK, Bioscape Digital, and ER Express.  With the recent implementation of the Affordable Care Act, new requirements came into effect that placed emphasis on patient satisfaction as a component of reimbursement.  As it happens, these innovative companies had been developing and implementing their innovative platforms that dramatically improve patient experience and engagement before the law came into effect.  That positions them as leaders in the space and I was pleased to have them join us to talk about what they’re doing.

ShareWIK.com provides licensed health information to a wide variety of organizations seeking to provide useful health content to their website and social media visitors.  The writers who contribute to the ShareWIK content are journalists who have a true understanding of the topics they are covering.  Content is vetted for accuracy before distribution.  That means companies and healthcare organizations seeking to control health costs through helping employees and patients make better choices in their daily lives now have an effective, engaging tool to do just that.  The team at ShareWIK is also collaborating with the Bioscape Digital platform to provide content that will be served to their patient-users.

ER Express is an application/platform that enables participating ER’s and Urgent Care centers to post an estimated time they can expect to be seen at their location.  This means a prospective patient can register and hold their place in line and do much of their wait time at home, work, etc.  The application uses IP address and Geo-tagging for users on mobile devices to display nearby area care centers and their estimated Time To Be Seen.  In this way patients can reduce their overall wait time as well as optimize ER versus Urgent Care utilization for non-life-threatening problems.  The service is free for patients to use and is currently available for numerous major health facilities in the Atlanta metro (and elsewhere in the country).

Bioscape Digital is a tablet-based platform for use in the emergency department and urgent care settings. The platform is simple to use with a simple, intuitive point-click interface.  It serves the patient with professionally-produced health content provided by ShareWIK that covers a variety of topics from what to expect with a given type of study or procedure to information about available services within the hospital.  The platform provides an engaging way for patients to occupy their time spent waiting for care that improves their awareness of useful health information at the same time.  Patients can use the platform to communicate positive and negative feedback in real time to hospital personnel, giving the staff the opportunity to potentially address and correct issues of concern.  Their platform is already showing a dramatic improvement in patient satisfaction scores as well as staff morale in their client-user facilities.

These Atlanta-based companies are helping to improve the way care is delivered and the way the experience is perceived by patients.  It’s exciting to get to introduce them to a wider audience and help them expand adoption of these helpful, innovative technology platforms.

Special Guests:

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK.com  facebook_logo_small3  twitter_logo_small  linkedin_small1  Pinterest-logo  google-plus-logo-red-265px  

ShareWIK.com

  • Journalism Instructor/Guest Lecturer, Emory University
  • Member, Koles College of Business Advisory Board, Kennsaw State University
  • Former Front Page Series Writer, The Plain Dealer
  • Former Reporter/Commentator, WKSU
  • Co-author, “Building a Business, Building a Life: The Incredible Life of a Woman Business Owner”

Sahil Patel, President of ER Express  linkedin_small1  twitter_logo_small  facebook_logo_small3

ER Express

  • Former VP Decision Support, MedAssets
  • Former Independent Consultant, CodeRyte
  • BBA, Emory University Goizueta Business School
  • MBA, Harvard Business School

Stuart Bracken, CEO of Bioscape Digital  linkedin_small1  facebook_logo_small3  twitter_logo_small  google-plus-logo-red-265px

Bioscape Digital

  • MBA, Finance, Emory Goizueta Business School
  • Co-Founder, Knowledge2Work
  • Co-Founder, Phoenix Holdings
  • President, Goizueta Alumni Entrepreneur Network

 

 

Cancer Support Community Atlanta at Northside Cancer Institute

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Cancer Support Community at Northside Cancer Institute

 

Cancer Support Community Atlanta

 

at Northside Cancer Institute  linkedin_small1  facebook_logo_small3

This week I sat down with three ladies from the Cancer Support Community at Northside Cancer Institute.  The Cancer Support Community, Atlanta, is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing a variety of supportive services for cancer patients and their families in a home-like environment in the heart of Atlanta. Their staff provides a wide range of support, informative education programs, a variety of gentle stress reduction and exercise classes.  The Cancer Support Community also provides access to a number of social activities that enable cancer patients, survivors, and care givers to get to know others who are in or who have experienced similar challenging circumstances.  All classes are offered free of charge and are led by seasoned professionals committed to supporting individuals and families in our community facing cancer.  Through participating in these educational, supportive, and social offerings, patients, survivors, and loved ones can reduce anxiety in their lives, gain hope and a sense of greater control in their lives, and achieve higher levels of health and fitness (physical and emotional).

My guests on the show have all experienced cancer either as a patient or as a loved one/care giver for a person dealing with cancer.  As you listen to their stories it is quickly apparent that when you engage in the services offered by the Cancer Support Community at Northside Cancer Institute you will be cared for by people who truly understand and can relate to your situation.  Many of the folks you’ll meet when you go to the Cancer Support Community are long-time survivors who have been utilizing their services for a number of years—and they plan to continue.  Check out today’s show and you’ll understand why!

Special Guests:

Rachel Newby, LMSW

Rachel is an Atlanta native who attended Oglethorpe University, where she received a BA in psychology.  She continued her education at UGA where she received her Masters Degree in Social Work. Rachel currently lives in the city of Decatur, is married, has 2 kids and way too many pets!  As for her connection to cancer, Rachel’s mother was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer in 1998, her freshman year of college. Unfortunately, at the time, supportive services for cancer patients were limited and she was extremely isolated. She died during Rachel’s senior year of college. She has been with the Cancer Support Community since 2005, making this her 9th year with the organization. Rachel’s day to day goal is to make sure that people that come to CSC Atlanta feel supported by the staff and one another.

Bonnie Bennett

Volunteer coordinator, CSC-Atlanta, 12-year breast cancer survivor and client of CSC-Atlanta

Bonnie is from Winston-Salem, NC and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1966 with a BA in Elementary Education. After teaching in NC, she moved to Atlanta in 1969 and went to work for what was then the Trust Company of Georgia, now SunTrust. In 1973, Bonnie married an Atlanta native and started a family. Twelve years ago at age 58, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Due to a strong family history of the disease, she elected to have a bi-lateral mastectomy with no reconstruction. Two years after this experience, she was introduced to the Cancer Support Community. She found she was having difficulty in returning to life as she had known it before the experience. At CSC, Bonnie found the support she was looking for. The positive and welcoming environment, along with the many activities and events offering further support, helped her move forward. Since that time, Bonnie has continued to participate as an active member in addition to serving as the volunteer coordinator. She coordinates a wonderful group of volunteers who staff the front desk during the week. They are there to greet CSC members, as well as to assist the staff. Bonnie also conducts the Monday morning orientation meeting, which introduces new members to the facility.  Cancer Support Community Atlanta has an annual fundraiser in April, the Chastain Chase 5K, which is staffed by CSC volunteers. Bonnie is a wife, mother and grandmother who is grateful for and passionate about the Cancer Support Community!

Donna Meyer, BSN, MS

Donna Meyer is the Survivorship Coordinator at the Northside Hospital Cancer Institute. In her role she works with patients and caregivers from the time of their diagnosis throughout the balance of their lives—that’s the definition of a “Survivor”! Her focus and passion is on improving the quality of life for families impacted by cancer through treatment summaries, survivorship care plans, supportive care, education and special events.

Donna is a RN with many years of experience in a wide variety of care settings. In addition she has a Master’s Degree in Counseling. She is a cancer survivor herself so she has personal experience with many of the same concerns that patients and families are experiencing. Donna has been active in the community working in schools, churches and community organizations and promotes health and wellness as part of cancer prevention and healthy living after a diagnosis

She is a liaison with the Cancer Support Community and works with them to support their programing and advocate for needs of patients and families within the Northside care system.

 

 

 

Robotic Hair Restoration and ShareWIK

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TopDocsRADIO

Sara Kovak, Diana Keough, Jonathon Williamson, Dr. Ken Anderson

Robotic Hair Restoration

and

ShareWIK

This week I sat down with Dr. Kenneth Anderson, Atlanta’s only robotic hair restoration specialist, and Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK (What I Know).  Dr. Anderson brought along Sara Kovac, his Patient Advocate who meets with prospective patients inquiring about available treatments for hair loss, and Jonathon Williamson, a satisfied patient of his.  We learned how Anderson Hair Sciences Center places much emphasis on patient experience when they consult with the practice.  Dr. Anderson personally meets with every patient and schedules only one procedure per day to allow for a thorough, unhurried approach to every patient.  Patient Jonathon brought a before photo with him to allow for comparison with his now-full head of hair.  It is virtually impossible to see where his procedure was conducted.  He talked about how other hair restoration groups had him meet with a sales person rather than a physician and showed photos of results obtained by a procedure but the patients shown weren’t work done by that practice’s provider.  Reasons for selecting their practice focused on discounted pricing rather than clinical qualifications and outcomes.  We talked about the value of Dr. Anderson’s training (including board certification) in plastic surgery and how it contributes to the artistic component of achieving a natural-looking hairline for his patients.

Diana Keough of ShareWIK shared her story of how she decided to launch her company, having spent the bulk of her career as a healthcare journalist for a Midwest news paper.  She leveraged her experience in healthcare journalism and knowledge of how to effectively tell a patient’s story to begin producing compelling content that shares helpful information that viewers can relate to.  As their website, sharewik.com states, “ShareWIK Media Group produces and distributes health and wellness content that uses the power of personal storytelling to Engage, Educate & Inspire consumers to make better decisions that impact their health.  With hundreds of “MyVoice” in-depth patient videos at the core of its product line, ShareWIK syndicates its content to media outlets and licenses its proprietary educational modules to employers, benefits providers, corporate wellness platforms, and other channels within the healthcare industry.”

Special Guests:

Dr. Kenneth Anderson, MD, of Anderson Hair Sciences Center  google-plus-logo-red-265px  twitter_logo_small  youtube logo facebook_logo_small3  linkedin_small1  flickr

Anderson Hair Restoration Center

  •  Doctor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
  • Residency, General Surgery, University of Michigan
  • Residency, Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery, University of Michigan
  • Fellow, Facial and Plastic Reconstructive Surgery, University of Michigan
  • Assist. Clinical Professor of Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA
  • Hair Restoration Specialist, Emory Facial Center, Dept. of Otolaryngology-Head/Neck Surgery, Emory School of Medicine

Diana Keough, CEO/Founder of ShareWIK.com  facebook_logo_small3  twitter_logo_small  linkedin_small1  Pinterest-logo  google-plus-logo-red-265px  

ShareWIK.com

  • Journalism Instructor/Guest Lecturer, Emory University
  • Member, Koles College of Business Advisory Board, Kennsaw State University
  • Former Front Page Series Writer, The Plain Dealer
  • Former Reporter/Commentator, WKSU
  • Co-author, “Building a Business, Building a Life: The Incredible Life of a Woman Business Owner”

Innovations in Treating Chronic Sinusitis

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Top Docs RADIO

THIS WEEK’S TOPIC:

Innovations in Treating Chronic Sinusitis

Chronic sinusitis, a problem affecting as many as 50 million Americans, is an irritation of the sinus/nasal passages that lasts at least 12 weeks or longer.  In the Southeast, the problem is very common due to our high average humidity and mild winters.  These conditions lead our environment to be heavy with mold and fungus that can take hold in the nasal passages and sinuses leading to chronic infections.  Many persons will deal with slowly-worsening symptoms such as difficulty breathing through their nose, decreased sense of smell, facial or headache pain, frequent sinus infections, and more.  Eventually, folks with chronic sinusitis find their quality of life severely impacted, driving them to seek help.  It’s important to get help from infectious disease and ENT specialists who are well-versed in diagnosing and treating this problem and who use a team approach to achieve the best outcome.  This week, two such specialists, Dr. Pugliese and Dr. French stopped by to share information about diagnostic innovations in treating chronic sinusitis that are available to help them get more specific about what organism(s) are causing the allergic response and inflammation.  One such evolving diagnostic test is DNA sequencing that now lets physicians learn exactly what is causing the problem.  We talked about the various treatment measures used to treat chronic sinusitis as well as got some great advice on things we can do in the home to help reduce the frequency and severity of recurrences when they do happen.  It’s very likely you or someone you know is dealing with chronic sinusitis so please share today’s episode with your network!

The host of Top Docs Radio is Charles “CW” Hall with Hyperbaric Physicians of Georgia.

SPECIAL GUESTS:

Andrew Pugliese, MD, Infectious Disease Consultants twitter_logo_small  linkedin_small1  facebook_logo_small3  Blogger 2  

Infectious Disease Consultants

  • Doctorate in Medicine, St. George University School of Medicine
  • Fellowship, Infectious Disease, Winthrop University Hospital
  • Triple Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease
  • Pioneer in non-surgical treatment of acute and chronic sinusitis
  • President of Sinus Solutions

Courtney French, MD, Ear, Nose & Throat Institute  facebook_logo_small3

ENT Institute

  • Doctorate in Medicine, Loma Linda University School of Medicine
  • Residency, Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery, Loma Linda University Medical Center
  • Regular presenter of research material at numerous national/international ear, nose & throat conferences

 

Breast Cancer Awareness

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month

 

Breast Cancer Awareness

This week I sat down with three women who each contribute great energy to promote breast cancer awareness in our community.  We kicked off Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October) on this episode with Janet Beebe, CEO, of Breast Cancer Survivors Network, Kim Goff, Executive Director, of It’s The Journey/Atlanta 2 Day Walk for Breast Cancer, and breast cancer survivor/6x Atlanta 2 Day Walk for Breast Cancer participant, Yvonne Lloyd.  Breast Cancer Survivors Network is a non-profit organization that supports breast cancer patients who have insufficient means to purchase breast prostheses after mastectomy as well as covering cost for mammography for women under 40 who are at higher risk for developing breast cancer.  To date the organization has helped over 30,000 women in Georgia through their various services.  The are currently being supported through an impressive charitable donation by McD0nough Toyota.  The dealership is covering the cost of a month-long TV ad campaign on Atlanta’s 11 Alive TV with a “Drive Cancer Away” series of ads to help raise awareness of the organization and breast cancer in general.

The Atlanta 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer is an annual fundraising endurance walk that takes place this year on October 11-12th and takes participants through 30 miles of Atlanta over the course of 2 days. This year, 950 walkers have committed to fundraising and training for this event. Participants commit to raising $500-1000 each, depending on whether they intend to walk 1 or both days.  Since 2002, the Atlanta 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer has funded 214 grants totaling $10 million to support breast health programs throughout Georgia. These programs provide mammograms, clinical breast exams, genetic counseling and testing, biopsies, support services, education, and much more. Many of our grants have a specific focus on under-served individuals in our community- uninsured and under-insured women for whom these types of breast health measures are often not available.

Kim Goff, Executive Director, of It’s The Journey/Atlanta 2 Day Walk for Breast Cancer brought along 6 year survivor of breast cancer (and with this year’s event, 6x participant in Atlanta 2 Day Walk for Breast Cancer), Yvonne Lloyd.  Yvonne was kind enough to share her story of diagnosis and treatment and talked about participating in the 2 Day Walk.  She gave some practical advice for folks looking to participate in the event as well as how to remain strong in the face of dealing with breast cancer through faith and support from friends and loved ones.

Breast Cancer Awareness on TopDocsRADIO

Special Guests:

Janet Beebe, CEO of Breast Cancer Survivors Network  twitter_logo_small  google-plus-logo-red-265px  facebook_logo_small3  

Breast Cancer Survivors Network

  • 31 Yr, 2 time Breast Cancer Survivor…4 time cancer survivor
  • President, Founder and Director of The Breast Cancer Survivors’ Network, Inc.
  • Recipient of multiple awards including “Volunteer of the Year” from Am. Cancer Society and United Way and “Business Woman of the Year” by Nat’l. Assoc. of Business Women
  • Frequently spotlighted by numerous publications and media outlets including Atlanta Magazine, ATL Journal & Constitution, Fayette Woman’s Magazine and others

Kim Goff, Executive Director of It’s The Journey, Inc/Atlanta 2 Day Walk for Breast Cancer  twitter_logo_small  facebook_logo_small3  linkedin_small1  youtube logo

It's the Journey Atlanta 2 Day Walk for Breast Cancer

  • Consultant, The Chason Group
  • Former Senior Vice President, Georgia Chamber of Commerce
  • MBA, Georgia State University
  • Georgia State University Robinson College of Business Alumni Award

Yvonne Lloyd, Breast Cancer Survivor

Atlanta 2 Day Walk for Breast Cancer

  • Lobular carcinoma Stage 2 lesion without lymph node involvement
  • Chose mastectomy/reconstruction
  • 5 year course of aromatase inhibitor, Femara
  • This year makes 6x participant in Atlanta 2 Day Walk event