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Welcome to this issue of DMH's e-newsletter, offering medical news and information we hope you find interesting and informative. We love to hear from our patients, their families, and the many organizations that collaborate with us.
Please read, enjoy, and give us your feedback!
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Palliative Care & the DMHC Difference
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Palliative care physicians lead an integrated team of healthcare professionals whose prime mission is the alleviation of pain and distressing symptoms, whether or not a cure for the disease is possible. For decades, the palliative care team was only available to patients in the hospital. Doctors Making Housecalls now brings this enormously valuable service home to patients who need it.
Palliative care is formally defined by the World Health Organization as "an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual."
People sometimes confuse "hospice" and "palliative care." They are actually quite different. While both disciplines strive to alleviate pain and empower the patient to lead as active and fulfilling a life as possible, hospice care is reserved for those with a prognosis of only six months or less to live. Palliative care is for patients of all ages, and at any disease stage, whether that illness is curable, chronic, or terminal.
Common adult conditions that utilize non-hospice palliative care are cancer, kidney disease, dementia, diabetes, and stroke, to name a few. Children with birth defects, sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, and many other conditions also benefit from palliative care.
Palliative medicine not only treats the patients with the disease, it also helps the patient's family and caregivers, be they family or friends, bear the burden of the illness and its symptoms. Addressing the emotional and spiritual aspects of the healing process is an integral part of palliative care treatment. A key benefit of the palliative care approach is that the doctor will take the time to discuss and clarify the goals of care with the patient and loved ones, to ensure that everyone understands the reasons behind each treatment decision that is made. Perhaps the most important feature of palliative care is that it works! One recent example: A 2010 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that lung cancer patients who received palliative care early in their treatment had a better quality of life, suffered less depression, and lived more than two months longer than those who received standard oncologic care. Most Palliative Medicine specialists work in hospitals, but DMHC's palliative care team comes to your home or business. If you are in pain, nauseated, or just plain exhausted, you do not have to summon up the resources to drive to an office or sit in a waiting room. DMHC will come to you. You will receive the expert attention and compassionate care characteristic of all DMHC services. It's what we do...because it's what our patients want.
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GOOD NEWS:
Insurance Now Available For People With Pre-existing Conditions!
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The Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") created a new program that provides a health coverage option for individuals who have been uninsured for at least six months, have a pre-existing condition, and have been denied coverage (or offered insurance without coverage of the pre-existing condition) by a private insurance company. This program will provide coverage until 2014 when such individuals will have access to affordable health insurance choices through an Exchange, and can no longer be discriminated against based on a pre-existing condition.
Also, adult children are now eligible to be covered under their parents health coverage until age 26. Plans and issuers that offer dependent coverage must offer coverage to enrollees' adult children until age 26, even if the young adult no longer lives with his or her parents, is not a dependent on a parent's tax return, or is no longer a student.
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DNR - Did you know?
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Doctors, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician's Assistants are
legally qualified to sign Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) forms.
The Office of Emergency Medical Services recently released an updated memo based on interpretations by the North Carolina Medical Board regarding Do Not Resuscitate Order Forms, commonly known as the Goldenrod form. According to healthcare lawyer Kenneth L. Burgess, the memo clarifies "that portable DNR orders signed by a physician's assistant or nurse practitioner are legal and should be honored just as if the physician with whom the PA or NP works had signed and issued the order, and that portable DNR orders signed by a PA or NP should be honored by all health care providers."
End of Life decisions can be very difficult. We encourage you to discuss them with any of your DMHC medical team members at any time.
We are here for you and your family.
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Profile: Dr. David Fisher | |
Dr. Fisher is a Family Physician certified in Geriatrics and Hospice & Palliative Care. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Rush Medical College in Chicago. Dr. Fisher did his Family Medicine residency as well as a Fellowship in Geriatrics at Wake Forest University.
Dr. Fisher was initially drawn to medicine because he wanted to use his technical and interpersonal skills to empower, partner with, and advocate for patients. Many years later, these continue to be goals he strives to achieve every day at Doctors Making Housecalls.
As a third year resident, he gravitated to Geriatrics from his exposure to the transformative stories and life experiences of his older patients. He recalls an active 94-year-old former pilot telling tall tales of flying with "a guy named Charles" - Charles Lindbergh! The courage, resiliency, and wisdom of older people inspire him to this day. As does the challenge of frequently working with the multiple conditions and multiple medications that often accompany aging. Dr. Fisher sees himself as a guide; taking a reasoned (and seasoned) approach to help older patients and their families navigate the many questions and decisions that often have to be made.
He wrote the book How to Keep Mom (And Yourself) Out of a Nursing Home - Seven Keys to Keeping Your Independence (which is available at Amazon ) and shares one of keys with us today: Quad Strength. The muscles on the front of thigh are some of the most important for overall elder health. They are essential for walking, getting in and out of chairs, and balance. Simple day-to-day maintenance of the quads, like doing leg extensions at your desk or gentle knee bends while holding the kitchen counter can help maintain strength and prolong functionality.
In the realm of Palliative & Hospice Care, Dr. Fisher sees himself as the leader and facilitator of a team that includes the patient, family members, caregivers, and other healthcare staff. This whole team focuses on "What are the patient's overall goals?" Oftentimes, patients are tired of hospitals, tests, and invasive procedures and may have difficulty expressing that fatigue to family or the healthcare team. Dr. Fisher's friendly and compassionate approach tries to clearly understand a patient's wishes. He then leads the team to meet those goals. Along the way, he offers the very real hope of an adequate relief from pain, realistic expectations and prognoses, and the potential to explore emotional closure towards the end of life.
Dr. Fisher is the father of three (soon to be six) children and is an avid Big 10 fan, which he hopes we in the ACC won't hold against him.
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If you wish to find out more about our practice or make an appointment, please visit DMHC's Website, or call our office at ( 919) 932-5700. Our staff is eager to help you or you can reach me directly at Extension 301.
Sincerely,
Alan Kronhaus, M.D., CEO
Doctors Making Housecalls
www.doctorsmakinghousecalls.com
(919) 932-5700 |
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