OP1 - Calgary Herald€¦ · doctor, chiropractor, nurses, and special- ... Back on track A Calgary...

OP1

A SPECIAL SECTION

MOVING TO THE United States topractice medicine was not an option for Dr.Donovan Kreutzer and Dr. Sarit Sengar.Working together for years in a busy hybrid

family practice/walk-in clinic in Calgary, theyknew there had to be a better way to practicethe thorough and collaborative medicine theyfelt their patients deserved. Critical to thatidea was the need to be able to spend the timeeach patient truly required and to focus on twoshared health care philosophies— practicingboth proactive and preventative medicine.Dr. Kreutzer and Dr. Sengar wanted a

middle ground and they believe they havefound it with the formation of ProvitalHealth and Wellness.The Provital clinic, centrally located in

southwest Calgary, provides what they call“truly collaborative care,” including theservices of three physicians, a naturopathicdoctor, chiropractor, nurses, and special-ists such as a dietitian, exercise kinesiolo-gists, psychologists, massage therapists,pedorthist and pharmacist, plus referrals tonumerous allied specialists.“So many health concerns are interre-

lated that it just makes sense to be able toprovide an integrated, collaborative form

of health care,” says Sengar.Each client enjoys 24/7 physician avail-

ability as well as full access to Provital’s teamof specialists, including an initial “compre-hensive, head-to-toe health assessment andtailored health plan” involving the full rangeof Provital specialists as a basis for ongoing“preventive and proactive health care.” Bloodtests are drawn on site and sent to outside labsfor analysis as a means of saving their clientstime. When referrals to outside specialists arerequired, Kreutzer says, Provital physiciansand staff spend the time needed to advocatefor their clients in order to help expediteneeded consultations.For this access to Provital’s full team of

specialists (including educational seminars,workshops, bootcamps and so on), its clientsdo pay an annual fee. Adult fees are $3,900�� respectively. There are also discounted ratesfor families, snowbirds, students and evencustom corporate plans.“One of the biggest misconceptions

about our services is that all fees representout-of-pocket expenses,” Kreutzer says.“The reality is that with even a traditional

�� portion of their annual fees, sometimes eventhe full amount, as long as they access theservices covered by their plan.”Provital’s team also takes the time to work

�� plans and to show them exactly how muchthey can reduce their out-of-pocket expenseby each year. The remaining balance canthen be claimed as a medical expense oneach client’s tax return.“We’d like to dispel the misconceptionabout who actually uses healthcare services

like us,” Kreutzer says.“It’s not just an optionfor the wealthy. It’s simply for those who wantto be proactive with their own health and wantto ensure they get the thorough and collabora-tive health care they feel they deserve. Ourclients range from young families to single pro-fessionals to boomers to retirees to companies— and everyone in between.”“I think the most important thing to

know about our team here at Provital isthat we are all here based on our desire topractice better collaborative medicine and todeliver the preventative and proactive healthcare our clients and their families deserve.”

Provital takes proactive approach to your health

– CORPORATE PROFILE –

We’d like to dispel themisconception about

who actually uses healthcare services like ours.

It’s not just an option forthe wealthy. It’s simply

for those who want to beproactive with their

own health and want toensure they get

the thorough andcollaborative health carethey feel they deserve.

Provital Physician & Co-ownerDr. Donovan Kreutzer

Name: Provital Health and Wellness

Location: Suite 204, 2031 33rd Ave.S.W. Calgary, T2T 1Z5

Contact info:Phone: 403-685-4520Fax: 403-685-4525E-mail: [email protected]

Web: www.provital.ca

Services: Providers of thorough andcollaborative health care services toindividuals, families and corporateclients. Provital provides timely,preventative and proactive healthcare, with the services of familyphysicians, naturopathic doctor,chiropractor, nurses, dietitian, ex-ercise kinesiologists, psychologists,massage therapists, pedorthist andpharmacist on site – plus numerousallied specialist partners.

2 Options | Spring 2012

Contents4

6

8

10

Options | Spring 2012 3

CORPORATE PROFILES

2

5

Provital Health & Wellness

Copeman Healthcare Centre

North Valley Hospital9

19 Preventous Collaborative Health

Back on trackA Calgary man has discovered the art of aging gracefully after signing on with a private health clinic.

Get in lineDespite some reductions in wait times, Albertans continueto sit in queues for months before receiving medical treatment.

12 Pain freeKnee replacement surgery at the famous Mayo clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz. has given a Red Deer man a new lease on life.

Med-cationSome Canadians, unwilling to wait months for surgery, are travelling to Montana for speedy treatment.

Investment optionPrivate facilities are offering Calgary patients a timely alternative for MRIs.

12 Not waiting in painWhen his shoulder pain became unmanageable, a Lacombe farmer headed to Montana for surgery.

14

15

Right fitFinding a good family doctor proved challenging for a Calgary man until he discovered a private medical clinic in the city.

Not acceptableA Southern Alberta farmer is used to waiting for many things, except 18 months for a desperately needed shoulder surgery.

16

17

18

Search for the cureFor Canadians seeking alternatives for cancer care, there’s help across the U.S. border.

Hopeful outlookAn American laser treatment trial for prostate cancer patients is showing promise with fewer side effects.

At easeHaving 24/7 access to a doctor gives these Calgarians peace of mind for themselves and their two teenage daughters.

FEATURES

Median wait time in weeks that Canadians seeking surgical or other therapeutic treatment faced in 2011.

2011 Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada

19

Average number of weeks Albertans waited for a referral by a family doctor to treatment in 2011, a reduction of one week from 2010, but still more than double the 10.5 weeks recorded in 1993.

Fraser Institute

21.1

By the numbers

is a special publication of the Calgary Herald Publication date: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012

Special Projects Manager: Barb Livingstone, 403-235-7339 [email protected]

Advertising: Susan Walker, 403-235-8784

Design/cover illustration: Jennifer Worley

YOUR GUIDE TO PRIVATE MEDICINE

ptionsO

2011 average wait in weeks to see a specialist in Alberta, an increase from 9.9 weeks.

Fraser Institute

10.7

Percentage of wait times in Alberta from specialist to treatment that are considered longer than clinically reasonable.

Fraser Institute Waiting Your Turn Report

30%

Amount in billions the Alberta government spent on health care for the fiscal year 2010-11, about $4,000 per person.

Fraser Institute

$14.85

Percentage of Canadians who are satisfied with their health-care system.

2009 Harris/Decima poll

42%

By COLLEEN BIONDI

Four years ago, 56-year-old Dan Ganyo, operations manager for the Oil Sands unit at Nexen, was in Fort McMurray

getting a new $6.2 billion plant up and running. The group was behind schedule on the project and putting in 12 to 14 hour days. It was gruelling.

When he moved to Calgary with the company in 2008, he was feeling lethargic and had difficulty focusing. “I felt two degrees off kilter,” says Ganyo. “I was not quite myself. I was pretty run down.”

He started looking for a family doctor to have a complete medical assessment, but couldn’t find anyone without an unwieldy wait list. Walk-in clinic experiences were less than satisfying.

He went online and found the Copeman Healthcare Centre operating in Vancouver. He flew there and — over a period of two days — got “the most thorough examination”

he has ever received. The assessment highlighted several risk factors — Ganyo was overweight, had high blood pressure and was burned out.

As luck would have it, Copeman was just setting up a sub-office in Calgary. Ganyo returned home — with a treatment plan — and signed up here. In fact, he was Copeman Calgary’s first patient and has now had four annual assessments.

He hooked up with the clinic nutritionist to adjust his diet, worked with a kinesiologist to create an exercise program and even saw a clinic psychiatrist — who referred him to a hypnotherapist — to deal with stress issues. The psychiatrist advised there was nothing wrong with him, just that he’d been working too hard for too long. “That was the best diagnosis I could’ve heard,” says Ganyo.

Ganyo was determined to get better. He lost 40 pounds, quit smoking with the help of the clinic’s smoking cessation program, started running again, ditched the blood pressure medication after six months and cut

back his hours of work. “It took about two years to get myself back on track,” he admits.

All was going well, when last spring he developed intense pain in his hip (as a child he’d had Perthes Disease of the hip). He went from running five kilometres every day to being in a wheelchair. It turned out his socket joint and femur were disintegrating, a not-so-rare phenomenon for boomers who had this childhood condition.

In June 2011, X-rays at the Copeman confirmed he needed hip replacement surgery and the four-hour surgery was scheduled for July 2011.

He credits the “top-notch” referral service at Copeman (in conjunction with the support of his nephew, who is a local anesthesiologist) for the quick treatment.

After the procedure, he did physiotherapy, was off crutches in eight weeks and walks today without a limp. He has replaced high impact activities with work on the elliptical machine, but otherwise, life is back to normal. Some would argue it is better than

normal. This scuba-diving enthusiast, for example, has just returned from a five-week holiday communing with aquatic life in Cozumel.

The cost for the Copeman plan is $3,045 per year. With this program, patients have speedy access to general practitioners and to clinic professionals. Ganyo is a new man today (“with titanium parts,” he quips) and credits Copeman for his transformation.

“I call it the ‘art of aging gracefully,’” says Ganyo of his new life focus. “I think if I had not joined the Copeman clinic, you and I might not be having this conversation now.”

‘That was the best diagnosis I could’ve heard’

PROFILE


I felt two degrees off kilter. I was not quite myself. I was pretty run down.

Calgarian Dan Ganyo has made several positive lifestyle changes since signing up with Copeman Healthcare Centre in 2008. — Wil Andruschak photo

THE COPEMANHEALTHCARECENTRE set a new standard for primarycare in Alberta when it opened the doorsof its Calgary Centre in October 2008.The centre was developed to offer each

client a personalized and expert team ofprofessionals focused on all aspects oftheir health.The state-of-the-art, centrally located

17,000-square-foot facility was expandedin 2011, and construction has now begunon a clinic in Edmonton scheduled toopen in the spring.Copeman Healthcare has created a

western Canadian network of doctors,specialized professionals and researchersto develop and implement some of themost advanced programs of screening,diagnosis, prevention and health manage-ment available in the world today.According to founder and CEO Don

Copeman, the company began with asimple premise — to deliver unparalleledaccess to medical expertise while provid-ing each patient with a highly personal-ized and “unhurried” experience.In addition to expert doctors, the

centres are staffed with a complementaryteam that includes psychologists, psychia-trists, neuro-psychologists, physiothera-pists, registered dietitians, kinesiologists,

exercise medicine specialists, nurses,health coaches and other specialized pro-fessionals who work together for the earlydetection and treatment of disease.The centre is the only one of its kind to

have a program recognizing that completewellness must address all three areas ofphysical, psychological and brain health.Copeman’s brain health program is the

�� intervention for age- and disease-relatedcognitive decline.Copeman Healthcare has become Can-

ada’s leader in collaborative, team-basedhealth care, but the services and technolo-gies it has developed are now being shapedfor implementation throughout the world.One of the centre’s greatest contribu-

�� management is its computerized HealthManagement System, which is a secure,online personal health record combinedwith sophisticated risk assessments, healthsurveillance and self-management tools.Changes in laboratory results, mea-

sures and lifestyle trigger personalizedreminders about important risk factorsand transmit both positive and negativetrends to the patient’s health team. Thisadvanced technology is made available toevery client of the centre.

The centre offers a warm and comfort-ing environment as well as an atmosphereof genuine caring that belies the size andsophistication of its operations.“We are committed to a large, expert

staff and the most current science andtechnology, but creating a very personal-ized and highly available service is just asimportant to us,” says Copeman.“We have a simple motto, which is

to treat every client like we would haveour own loved ones treated. Our clients’health teams are dedicated to them andcommitted to looking after every aspectof their health.”Although the centre has numerous

subscription programs and services, themost popular offering is LifePlus, an all-inclusive prevention and health manage-ment program.This service costs $3,900 per adult in

�� year thereafter. It includes a comprehen-sive, four-hour annual health assessmentand a complete package of professionalservices to support a client’s individualhealth plan. Family programs are alsoavailable and the centre offers one of themost advanced programs for the preven-tion of child illnesses available in theworld today.

Calgary’s leader in private family care

– CORPORATE PROFILE –

Copeman Healthcarehas introduced a

highly personalized andservice-focused

approach to personal,family and corporate

health care thatdelivers excellence inprevention and health

management.

Name: Copeman Healthcare Centre

Location: 4th floor, 628 12th Ave. S.W.Calgary, T2R 0H6

Contact info:Phone: 403-270-CARE (2273)E-mail: [email protected]: www.copemanhealthcare.com

Services: Advanced personal andfamily health care; 24/7 physician oncall; integrated physical, psychologi-cal and brain health; exercise medicineand physiotherapy; comprehensivehealth assessments; corporate well-ness; registered dietitians; concussionmanagement services; dementia andAlzheimer’s screening; stroke and braininjury rehabilitation; integrated personaltraining; cardiac health and rehabilita-tion; health coaching and therapeuticlifestyle change.


By BRIAN BURTON

Two steps forward and one step back — that was 2011 for the Alberta health-care system.

Alberta Health Services cut nearly two weeks off the time it takes to receive medi-cal procedures after diagnosis by a specialist, reducing the average wait from 12.2 weeks to 10.4 weeks. But the average wait to see a specialist in Alberta increased from 9.9 weeks to 10.7 weeks.

In the end, the total average wait time for treatment was reduced from an all-time high of 22.1 weeks in 2010 to 21.1 weeks in 2011, according to the Fraser Institute, which pro-duces an annual report on wait times across Canada. The Waiting Your Turn report annu-ally documents “the degree to which queues for visits to specialists and for diagnostic and surgical procedures are used to control health-care expenditures,” the Fraser Insti-tute said.

Alberta was one of only four provinces to reduce total wait times in 2011 — and the only one among the country’s four most populous provinces.

But it still had the longest wait times

among the four largest provinces. (Ontario 14.3 weeks; B.C. 19.3 weeks and Quebec 19.9 weeks.)

Report author Mark Rovere said Alberta’s total wait times are still too long and more than double the 10.5 weeks recorded in 1993. Alberta wait times from specialist exam to treatment are 30 per cent longer on aver-age than surveyed physicians consider “clini-cally reasonable,” Rovere said.

Despite high per capita spending on health care, Alberta still exceeds the national aver-age wait time of 19 weeks from referral by a general practitioner to admission to hospital, he said.

For fiscal year 2010-11 the Alberta govern-ment spent $14.85 billion on health care, or about $4,000 for every person in the prov-ince. This amounted to 39 per cent of the total budget of $38 billion and, before he stepped down, former premier Ed Stellmach projected health-care spending would soon reach 44 per cent of the provincial budget.

Analysts have said six provinces are on a pace to spend half their total revenues on health care by 2020. For the decade end-ing in 2020, experts project Canada’s total health-care spending will reach $2 trillion.

“It’s seriously time to rethink how we fi-

nance health care in Canada,” Rovere said. He called for a blended system of public and private insurance, with publicly-funded in-surance only for the needy. He said hospitals should be funded for the number of patients they treat, rather than by annual lump sums that result in the use of waiting lists to ration health care. And he suggested that private facilities should be allowed to compete with public hospitals in the provision of services.

“The word private shouldn’t mean Amer-ican-style health care,” Rovere said. A 2009 Harris/Decima poll found that, while only 42 per cent of Canadians counted themselves “satisfied” with their health-care system, 91 per cent of Canadians preferred their system over that of the United States. Also in 2009, a Nanos Research poll showed 86.2 per cent of Canadians favoured “public solutions” for the improvement of health care.

Rovere said the Canadian debate on im-proving access to health care has tended to be ideological rather than practical and that several European countries have had good success in delivering care and containing costs through a combined system of public and private insurance.

He said only Alberta and Quebec have been willing to seriously consider alternatives

to the current system of universal, publicly funded health care in Canada and that they will be central to finding an affordable health-care model for the future.

Founders of Calgary’s private medical clinics say access to specialists is a growing problem for all general practitioners. (Private clinics bill medicare for insured services and offer a slate of additional uninsured services for an annual fee direct to patients.)

“Once people do get in front of that spe-cialist they get some of the best health care in the world,” says Dr. Rohan Bissoondath, a general practitioner and partner in Pre-ventous Collaborative Health in Calgary. But Bissoondath says wait times for elective orthopedic procedures are unreasonable and he has recently referred several patients to clinics in British Columbia and California for repair of torn rotator cuffs (shoulders).

In other cases, he says, he tries to “farm out” surgeries to specialists in Canmore and Banff with shorter queues.

He says the average orthopedic surgeon is limited to performing surgeries one day a week due to government funding constraints.

“Why not give them a second day at a pri-vate facility,” he asks.

“Why not let patients pay? They’re saving

COVER STORY


Albertans still waiting, more or less

a tonne of money, versus going to the U.S. It saves money for the public system and it cuts wait times for others. If I’m the 100th (per-son) in line and I can’t afford to pay, I hope the other 99 can. Then I’m not in a line.”

He compares Alberta’s approach to health care with its stand on education.

“Education is just as important as health care and we’ve had a private, two-tiered system for education for more than four de-cades,” Bissoondath notes. “The health-care system is not financially sustainable. The tire is flat but the Friends of Medicare say, ‘Don’t change it, just fix it.’”

Dr. Donovan Kreutzer is a general practitio-ner and partner in the private Provital Health and Wellness clinic in Calgary. Kreutzer says an aging population is increasing the demand for specialists “and we’re seeing that right now. The backup is astronomical.”

In his experience, he says, patients can wait nine months to see an orthopedic specialist but there are several other areas of concern. He says patients routinely wait six months to see a gynocologist or a rheumatologist and multiple sclerosis patients face extended waits to see neurologists.

He says the wait to see a rheumatologist is an especially serious problem because of the

extreme pain rheumatoid arthritis causes. Even in the case of an urgent cancella-

tion request, the wait time is likely to be two months. He says many patients are giving up and going to the United States for treatment, rather than wait.

He adds that diagnostics are another pinch point, especially colonoscopy screening.

“I think they’re booking into 2014,” he says.People worried about a history of colon

cancer in their families are often paying $3,000 to have a colonoscopy done at the pri-vate Cambie Centre in Vancouver, Kreutzer says.

“There needs to be a private option for colonoscopies in Calgary. It can take a year or 18 months to get a colonoscopy here and you have to live with the fear that you have

something that will be 12 or 18 months worse while you wait. I can get my dog in to see a veterinarian in a couple of days.”

Kreutzer predicts that the Canadian system will be forced to reform in years to come as increasing budget constrictions lead to declining standards and public pressure for change. He says he thinks public-private partnerships might be part of the solution.

“I’m not seeing any other way out of this.”

Don Copeman, founder of the Copeman private clinics in Vancouver and Calgary, commends the province for improvements in access to hospitals but says access to special-ists is still a very big issue.

“It’s progress — but there are no huge so-lutions,” Copeman says. “In the last year the

private organization that was doing a lot of the hip and knee surgeries ceased to exist,” he says. “We lost that service in Calgary and it was an unfortunate turn of events” when the province terminated its contract with the private facility.

He says one way to alleviate the special-ist logjam would be to improve funding for services provided by general practitioners, so that they could give more definitive diagnoses and remove many of the less complex cases from the specialist queues.

“There needs to be more investment on the front lines of primary care,” Copeman says.

He says private clinics can do more of this work because their business model allows more time with each patient.

In addition, he says, private clinics are able to devote more time to finding specialists with shorter wait times, they are connected to a network of private-care options for those who can afford them and “we actually do get faster specialist waiting times” by developing a more complete referral file.

Specialists are “almost ethically obliged to see our patient first” because the patient workup is more intensive and more complete and there’s less need for further diagnosis, Copeman says.

Several European countries have had good success in delivering care and containing costs through a combined system of public and private insurance.


WAIT TIMES FOR SPECIALISTS STILL EXCEED WHAT PHYSICIANS CONSIDER CLINICALLY REASONABLE

CROSS-BORDER OPTIONS

By JACQUELINE LOUIE

Canadians headed to the U.S. for medical treatment are looking for quality care and faster service. Often, their time

away becomes a relaxing vacation in a beautiful location.

Calgarian Daniel Overell has been to the U.S. for a variety of health reasons: six years ago, he

went to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona because of a gastrointestinal condition. Last fall, he headed south again, to Northwest Health Care in Kalispell, Mont., to have his right shoulder operated on after dislocating it multiple times.

The 26-year-old had been on a waiting list in Canada for about 16 months and still hadn’t had a consultation with a surgeon. When it got so bad that he couldn’t use his right arm any more and was unable to work, he decided his best option was to get the shoulder operated on in the U.S.

Northwest Health Care was highly recommended

by a family acquaintance, and the clinic’s geographical proximity — a six-and-a-half hour drive from Calgary — was another major factor

in his decision to opt for private care south of the border.

Within two weeks, Overell was booked in for an appointment (Northwest Health Care could have taken him even sooner, but his schedule didn’t allow it). After the initial appointment with the surgeon, he was told to show up the next day for surgery.

After surgery, Overell also saw another physician at Northwest Health Care, a GI specialist, for a different health issue. In total, he spent about four days in Kalispell before returning to Calgary.

The shoulder surgery has been “very successful,” says Overell, who is back to work as a welder and fabricator. “I’m quite impressed I didn’t have any kind of infection or complication with it at all. The service I received was really immaculate. The level of care was incredible.”

Northwest Health Care is seeing more and more Canadians walking through its doors. “It is something that is becoming more popular,” notes Northwest Health Care senior executive director, Ted Hirsch. “Kalispell and the Flathead Valley are not far over the border. A lot of Canadians are already visiting our valley to shop, to vacation, to purchase condominiums and time-shares, to go hiking in the parks and to go fishing. As a hospital, we’ve always been available with a full range of services for anyone who may be travelling to our valley and parks.”

For Canadians seeking a medical procedure or service, together with a sightseeing trip or vacation, Northwest Health Care is a full-service hospital offering a wide range of services and technologies.

A large portion of Canadian patients come from Alberta, as well as from Saskatchewan and B.C., looking for faster treatment.

Northwest Health Care makes it easy for patients because there is just one contact for them to deal with — Northwest Health Care’s medical tourism co-ordinator, Mary Strauss — who will co-ordinate everything for them, from the initial consultation to procedures, to accommodations, restaurants, and more — “whatever that person needs,” says Northwest Health Care marketing manager Mellody Sharpton. “People don’t have to follow up with multiple offices or departments. If someone calls here, they have one contact from the beginning to the end of their visit. She is there to help.”

On average, three to five Canadians visit Northwest Health Care for treatment each month; in early January the health-care facility had already surpassed that number, with six patients from Canada booked in the first half of the month.

“We co-ordinate it all; we minimize the challenges to sorting out how to get it done. We try to package everything into one price; we try to make it as simple and as easy to understand as possible,” Hirsch says.

Some procedures are offered on an outpatient basis, with patients being able to return home within one to two days. Regardless of the procedure, patients are in and out very quickly.

“What I hear most often from clients, is they liked the fact they can come down for a consultation, have the surgery and be home in most cases in a week to 10 days,” Strauss says.

North Valley Hospital in Whitefish, Mont. saw more than 250 Canadian patients in 2010. “We have a lot of Canadian visitors, and those numbers are rising,” says the hospital’s marketing director, Catherine Todd. “We don’t have the wait times that people may be experiencing in Canada.”

According to Todd, the Canadian market is becoming increasingly important to U.S. hospitals, especially those located in the border states. North Valley Hospital is a popular choice among Albertans, since it’s just an hour south of the border.

“You can think of us as a boutique shop,” says Todd. “We don’t do everything. What we do really well, is that patients get the personalized attention of a small hospital, combined with the leading-edge technology normally found in much larger facilities. We believe that providing those two things together brings better healing. We’ve put together a great process to help patients not only make the transition in their travels, but also to have a great experience when they are here.”

North Valley Hospital gives patients post-discharge instructions, and physicians provide time for patient follow-up, either in person or by telephone. The hospital also works with a number of medical facilities in Calgary to make sure that patients receive the necessary follow-up care.

There are two types of patients who visit North Valley hospital. The first group, are those who are in the area and have an unexpected need to come for medical care at North Valley. In the second group, patients go to North Valley Hospital for elective procedures linked to a vacation — or at least a stay in a beautiful environment.


Cross-border shoppingCanadian patients, including many Albertans, travel to North Valley Hospital in Whitefish, Mont. looking for faster treatment than they would receive at home.

— Photo courtesy North Valley Hospital

Daniel Overell

Mary Strauss

Canadian visitors on

the rise

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

� ��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

� ��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

� ��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

� ��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

� ��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��


By MARIA CANTON

Significant advances in imaging technology mean MRI referrals are now a critical first step in the detection

and diagnosis of an ever-growing list of conditions, making the medical imaging technique among one of the most sought-after patient procedures.

The burgeoning reliance on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), however, has led to often-lengthy wait times as thousands of patients a month are referred by their doctor for the scan.

According to the province’s Alberta Wait Times Reporting website, between 1,300 and 1,600 non-urgent MRIs were performed monthly in 2011 in the Calgary Health Region, with each patient having waited an average of almost seven months.

Additionally, 250 to 400 urgent MRIs were also performed monthly in the Calgary region during the same time period, with an average wait time ranging between 2.5 and six weeks. There are also categories for semi-urgent MRIs and combinations for all three levels.

Access to timely health care has long been a topic of discussion not only in Alberta, but across the country and in 1993 Alberta became the first province to

allow private-for-profit MRI clinics.Enter Mayfair Diagnostics, a physician-

owned-and-operated private imaging clinic in Calgary that promises to see doctor-referred patients seeking a MRI within 24-48 hours.

According to clinic co-director Dr. Stephen Valentine, who received a body imaging fellowship from Harvard’s medical school, the clinic’s philosophy is one of “know now.”

“We want to take care of the patients when they want to be taken care of,” says Valentine of the clinic that opened in 1999 and is owned by Radiology Consultants Associated.

“We’re offering people options and we believe that having options in health care is a benefit. If someone wants to invest in their health, then they should have that option.”

Mayfair Diagnostics, which has a team of six doctors, sees between 20 and 30 patients a day, not including the obligations it has with the Calgary Flames hockey club and the Calgary Stampeders football organization.

A MRI starts at around $750 and up. “It’s really about supply and demand. The

number of patients who need to be seen within the public realm is endless and there are only so many MRIs in so many cities and towns, so the line is always dramatically long,” says Valentine.

“The number of people able and willing to pay is a much smaller subset of the public

and that is one reason why we can handle our patient loads so efficiently.”

A MRI is a medical imaging technique used to visualize the structure and function of the body, providing detailed images of the body in any plane. MRIs provide much greater contrast between the different soft tissues of the body than a CT scan (computed tomography), for example, making it especially useful in neurological, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and oncological imaging.

A MRI does not use ionizing radiation, but instead uses a powerful magnetic field to align the nuclear magnetization of hydrogen atoms in water in the body.

According to Valentine, one of the biggest benefits of seeking a private MRI is that it increases the efficiency of the overall system.

“If we can get a patient in quickly and document that they have a significant condition, then they will be seen very rapidly in the public system, rather than feeling unwell and waiting a long period of time for a MRI,” he says.

“And conversely, we can also find that things are normal and that a patient doesn’t need to be waiting six months for their MRI just so they can then get an appointment with a surgeon that they may not need — we can eliminate the time

spent waiting and wondering.” The use of MRIs for breast cancer

screening, sometimes in place of a mammogram and sometimes in addition to one, is also on the rise, an increase Valentine says they have already noticed at Mayfair.

“There is always more and more scientific evidence being released that shows the value of various imaging techniques,” he says.

“In the last two to four years we have noticed a great increase in the number of breast MRIs that we do here and that are being done everywhere.”

Of course, advances also mean more patients joining the MRI queue.

“I believe that physicians and health-care providers appreciate the efficiency we offer, every one of our patients has a referral, and in the past we have opened our doors to help the public system shorten their waiting lists,” says Valentine.

Alberta Health Services, the provincial health authority responsible for planning and delivering health services to more than 3.7 million Albertans, and the Alberta government have recently unveiled a five-year Health Action Plan that includes a commitment to improve access and reduce overall wait times.

“We are very busy and we are getting busier all the time,” Valentine adds.

Private MRI clinics take ‘know now’ philosophy

MRIs


— Th

inks

tock

pho

to


PROFILES

‘I am very satisfied’By COLLEEN BIONDI

Kees Muilwijk, a 54-year-old dairy farmer near Lacombe, has been milk-ing cows since he was a boy in Hol-

land. Since moving to Alberta seven years ago, he and a hired hand have milked 160 cows, twice daily, on his 320-acre parcel of land.

Seven months ago his shoulder started hurt-ing. He thought it was likely a result of doing the same, repetitive milking movement — day in and day out — for so long. The throbbing, stabbing and shooting sensations were sporadic at first, then almost constant. “It was really painful,” he says. “I couldn’t sleep.”

He visited his local physician who gave him a cortisone shot. This helped for a few days, but the pain returned. He went to Calgary for an ultrasound, then his doctor referred him to an orthopedic surgeon in Red Deer. They were advised it would be a year to see this specialist for a consult.

The shoulder pain got worse. Muilwijk’s doctor suggested he get a magnetic reso-nance imaging (MRI) scan which would detail the injury and perhaps speed up the referral process. There was a four-month wait

for a public MRI, so Muilwijk, who was “sick and tired” of the pain and concerned about its severity, paid for a private one in Red Deer in September 2011. The injury was con-firmed as a partially torn rotator cuff.

At this point, Muilwijk could not milk the cows. His hired hand was a huge help, but young men from Holland were also brought in to assist.

During the wait for the specialist, Muilwijk tried to manage the pain. There were more cortisone shots, which didn’t help, and stron-ger pain medications which bothered his stomach. Finally he paid for another MRI, this one with a contrast component added in. The result was daunting; the tear had grown and was now almost complete.

At this point, his doctor was calling and writing letters to the specialists (he’d also sent a referral to a Westlock specialist in case his wait list was shorter) but to no avail. “They are frustrated with you for calling so often,” says Muilwijk. “And you are frustrated with them.”

Finally his doctor mentioned a patient who’d gone to Kalispell’s Northwest Health-care facility for knee surgery and had an excel-lent experience. He suggested Muilwijk call

down to check it out. He did and spoke to outreach co-ordinator Mary Strauss. Within 20 minutes, he had the cost ($8,125 US) and was advised the surgery could take place three weeks later. “The decision was made really fast,” admits Muilwijk. “We could afford that.”

The surgery took place on January 10, 2012 and was a complete success. “I am very satisfied,” he adds. It took one hour, then Muilwijk was put in a sling and stayed overnight in a local hotel. The next day, he consulted with the surgeon who approved his return to Lacombe.

Post-surgery treatment has included icing, gentle exercises and pain medications. His

shoulder still “hurts like crazy” but he knows he is on the mend. This month he started full-bore physiotherapy in Lacombe and can try lifting light items at six weeks.

Muilwijk loves to ride horses. He can hard-ly wait to get back to that, to milking and to getting his life back again.

He’ll also apply to Alberta Health Care for reimbursement which, he understands, could be up to 30 per cent of the surgical cost he incurred stateside. The cost of the entire excursion — with hotel, gas, meals — was $10,000 US.

“Not everyone can afford that,” says Muil-wijk. “That is what doesn’t feel good. We need a better medical system.”

Lacombe area dairy farmer Kees Muilwijk, right, is on the mend after having shoulder surgery at a private medical facility in Kalispell, Mont. Along for the ride is friend Nita Floryn.

— Photo courtesy Kees Muilwijk

By COLLEEN BIONDI

When Craig Dore, president of Target Safety Services in Red Deer, was in high school, he crushed his right

knee playing football. He had five surgeries over the years to repair

tears and rips to the anterior cruciate ligament and the medial collateral ligament and to stabi-lize serious cartilage damage. He managed to exist well enough by altering his lifestyle — no more football or hockey — and treating the compromised joint with regular icing, some ibuprofen and a “roomful” of braces, canes, crutches, straps, wraps and heating concoctions.

On the long weekend in May 2011, all that changed. He fell, badly damaging all that re-pair work to his knee.

His general practitioner spoke to a surgeon on Dore’s behalf. The surgeon couldn’t see him for a consult until December 2012. Dore booked a next-day magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan for $800 and the seriousness of the damage

was confirmed. What also presented was ad-vanced osteoarthritis. He continued his treatment regime and got a high-tech, custom-fitted brace made for $2,000, but he was still in pain.

Dore started to investigate private options outside Alberta. He spoke seriously to two or-ganizations in British Columbia but, after look-ing at his diagnostics, neither agreed to take on his case. They suggested he approach the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Dore went online. “The website gave me a good feeling,” he says. He called and spoke to the inter-national liaison staff at the facility. “It was a com-fortable situation from that point forward.”

Days later, in early August 2011, he was at the Mayo for a full-day consult. After completing the screening tests it was determined that he was a viable candidate for a full knee replacement. He agreed to proceed and after a quick trip home to get organized, returned to Scottsdale the day be-fore the scheduled surgery for a complete battery of blood tests and a meeting with a senior staff who signed off on his suitability. The three-hour

surgery took place on August 18.After coming to (a mild anesthesia was used

along with a nerve block), staff had him up at day’s end and moving around with a walker the next day. What followed was out-patient physio-therapy over a 10-day period.

In Red Deer, Dore committed to an exten-sive physiotherapy program. “I rehabilitated very strongly,” says the 49-year-old. “I worked at it hard.”

The result? “I can’t believe it. I feel awesome. I have no pain whatsoever.” Dore now has full range of motion and is back at the activities he loves — working out with a personal trainer three times a week, fishing and hunting. “It is glorious getting up in the morning without pain.”

The cost for the surgery, a condo rental, flight and incidentals totalled $40,000 US. “But I would’ve paid twice as much for half the result,” says Dore. “The Mayo is a kind, gentle, well-run organization. They treat the patient as well as the condition. It was an out-standing experience.”

‘I would have paid twice as much’

After having knee surgery at the Mayo, Craig Dore is pain free and back to activities he loves.

— Craig Dore


T H E W A I T I S O V E R

Our New Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is now open to solve your most challenging diagnosticproblems. Have confidence in knowing that your MRI will be interpreted by a team of experts whofocus their practice in Subspecialized Radiology.

Call us today 403.210.9090www.advancedmri.ca

By COLLEEN BIONDI

As the managing director of Clark Hetherington Financial Ltd. in Cal-gary, Jeremy Clark has long business

days which often creep into the evening. The last thing he wants to do is be distracted by, or spend his precious free time worrying about, his health or that of his family.

Prior to 2010, that is what he was doing. Since moving to Calgary from Montreal over a decade ago, he’d had two doctors. One had a “terrible bedside manner. You had to battle to prove anything was wrong,” says Clark, who once had to convince this physician that his ankle was broken. The next one was nice enough, but totally disorganized, so it was difficult to book an appointment and there

were long wait times once you were at the office. “He was always late.”

At a business event in the summer of 2010, he bumped into an employee of Provi-tal Health and Wellness, who told him about the clinic. Clark took a tour of the place, was impressed with both the professionalism of the staff and the emphasis on the patient ex-perience, and immediately signed up.

“I could see within 10 minutes there would be a fit,” he adds. “It was a quick decision.”

There was additional impetus to consider Provital at that time; Clark’s wife was now pregnant and needed focused care. His mom, who’d been dealing with chronic neck and shoulder pain, had not been getting the relief she was looking for. They were both “really unhappy” with their providers.

Since joining Provital, Clark gets regular

check-ups and is being monitored for high blood pressure. A competitive runner, he also sees a massage therapist every three weeks (12 sessions per year for each adult are included in this family plan), which is boosting his performances.

The 36-year-old, who is healthy, appreciates how robust the sessions are and the priority on preventive health.

Last summer his wife, baby daughter and mother were involved in a car accident on a Friday night. There was $15,000 damage to the vehicle. Thankfully no one was hurt, but they were still concerned about the baby, so called Provital. The doctor on call answered and took the family through a 30-minute telephone assessment to ensure the baby — Keiko — was just fine. “That is exactly why we signed up for this,” explains Clark.

Finally, Clark’s mom, who is now also a cli-ent of Provital, has been seeing a clinic kine-siologist for exercise sessions and a psycholo-gist to deal with the stress of volunteering with vulnerable refugee families. Her pain is much better managed.

The cost of the service for Clark, his wife and baby is $6,500 per year. “It is worth the money, without question,” he adds, for the 24/7 access and the wide range of professional care.

Clark pointed out, in a recent Provital feedback survey, the need for extended office hours and additional staffing and these sug-gestions were accommodated. Clark is now talking to clinic staff about better communica-tion with community specialists.

“Knowing these folks, they absolutely will get that fixed. I am confident about that. I highly recommend Provital.”

‘It is worth the money, without question’

PROFILE


Jeremy and Elaine Clark enjoy some family time with daughter Keiko, 10 months. — Wil Andruschak photo

Private MRI & CT exams – without the wait.

Call 403.777.4MRI (4674) • www.mayfairdiagnostics.com

Virtual ColonoscopyMRICT Angiography

Official Diagnostic Imaging Provider of:

PROFILE


By COLLEEN BIONDI

Ken and Jane Reese are farmers from southern Alberta and they are used to waiting — for the ground to thaw

in the spring, for the perfect weather to grow durum wheat and for the fall harvest to reap the year’s bounty.

But then Ken had a serious accident in January 2011. He was working on a truck in his shop when it started to flip backwards on him. To protect himself, he grabbed the front of the truck, suspending his entire body weight from his left arm.

Originally thinking the resulting injury was a mere strain, he took physiotherapy. But in April an ultrasound revealed a major tear in his rotator cuff. Ken’s doctor referred him to an orthopedic surgeon in Lethbridge who saw Ken four months later. In the meantime, Ken had limited range of motion and reduced strength and had to hire help to work the farm. The surgeon confirmed that surgery was

required, but it would be 18 months out.That was when the waiting became too much.

“That was not acceptable,” says Jane, a retired nurse. Jane had noticed a full-page ad for a place called Benefis Health System in Great Falls, Mont. and placed a call. She left word for “clini-cal navigator” Stacy Allen, who returned the call within 24 hours and confirmed they could do the surgery speedily.

“She was absolutely fantastic,” says Jane. But Ken had picked up a knee infection,

so surgery was delayed for 12 weeks for the infection to clear and his immune system to rebound. The day before surgery, reports confirmed arthritis and bone spurs in the joint as well. The surgeon said he would clean out the area at the same time as repair-ing the rotator cuff. Had this additional issue not been picked up, the surgery could’ve been seriously compromised.

The surgery on Dec. 15 was brief — 45 minutes — but extensive (due to the added complication of clearing out the bone spurs, he was not a candidate for orthoscopic sur-

gery), as the ligament had retracted almost one inch. With his arm in a sling, the 61-year-old was given Percocet and released to a near-by hotel the same day with a cooling “cryo cuff” to wrap around his shoulder and arm to help with pain, inflammation and swelling. The day following, the dressing was changed and the Reeses came home.

The experience at Benefis was a pleasant surprise on additional fronts.

“The cleanliness was beyond anything I have ever seen in hospitals in Alberta,” Jane says. “You could eat off the floor.”

The surgery site — the Orthopedic Cen-ter of Montana — is attached to the Benefis hospital so if there were complications (there

were none in Ken’s case), additional attention would be immediate.

And staff members were never too busy. “They were kind and caring and answered every question. We were treated like royalty.”

Total cost for the Reeses — $10,000 US for the surgery and all incidentals. “We thought that was more than reasonable to get it done and get back to farming.”

Now happily back home, Ken will un-dergo up to two months of strenuous phys-iotherapy to get his arm and shoulder back in shape. His local general practitioner was fully supportive of the decision he made to go stateside for help and will assist with and monitor rehabilitation here in Alberta.

‘We were treated like royalty’

Ken Reese travelled to Great Falls, Mont. for shoulder surgery, saving himself an 18-month wait. — Photo courtesy Ken and Jane Reese

By BRIAN BURTON

When Mary Brown Stephenson was diagnosed with cancer in 1982, she had certain advantages — or

so it seemed. Her son, Richard J. Stephenson, was the

owner of a small private hospital with excel-lent connections to the medical community and financial resources to provide the best care. But over the next four years, before her death, Mary Stephenson’s family found that the most renowned cancer hospitals in the United States were dedicated more to research and technical expertise than to patient care.

After her death in 1986, Richard Stephen-son set out to change the standard of care for cancer patients, recruiting leading oncolo-gists to devise what he called the “mother standard of care.” Stephenson asked his team of doctors to design and deliver the type of cancer treatment and care they would want for their own mothers and to implement that standard at a new facility in Zion, Ill. that he called the Cancer Treatment Center of America.

They opened their doors in 1988, special-izing in advanced and complex cancers. Can-cer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) has since grown to four hospitals, in Zion; Philadelphia, Pa.; Tulsa, Olka; and Phoenix, Ariz. A fifth hospital is scheduled to open this summer in Atlanta and there’s an ambu-latory clinic in Seattle. CTCA offers minimal-

ly invasive diagnostic imaging and hundreds of the latest technologies and procedures for treating every kind of cancer. It advertises regularly on U.S. television channels and those TV spots are seen by many Canadians.

Dr. Richard Staren is president and CEO of the Phoenix facility, a surgical oncologist and a cancer survivor. In 2004, he was diagnosed with a sarcoma of the left thigh and was treat-ed at a hospital in Ohio for more than three months. Staren says the experience taught him the importance of an integrative approach to cancer treatment, something he says was lacking in the treatment he received.

Staren says CTCA is built to be responsive and patient focused, rather than bureaucratic.

“We promise every patient a complete treatment plan within five days, no matter how complex the case or how many special-ists may be involved,” he says. “If you have someone with cancer, you want them to be treated immediately, and we do that.”

“Health care has been notorious for a lack of transparency,” and cancer care is no excep-tion, Staren observes. Too often, he says, new cancer patients get a 30-minute meeting with an oncologist before being inducted into an all-invasive, prescribed regimen of treatment.

“Cancer ends up taking control away from patients and we try to give that back,” he says.

In the CTCA model, he says, newly diag-nosed patients spend between two and three hours with a treatment team that includes an oncologist, clinical nurse, registered dieti-cian, naturopath and nurse care manager.

The team provides information and op-tions and “empowers” patients to participate in their cancer care. The extent of that par-ticipation depends on the comfort level of the patient.

Under ‘Tips for Empowering Yourself,’ the extensive CTCA website advises not to let cancer become a lifestyle in itself. “Staying involved in work and leisure activities may help you feel more in control and less off-balance,” it says.

Staren says CTCA combines “state-of-the-art traditional medical care” with all the support systems cancer patients may require. These include nutrition, psycho-social counselling, physical rehabilitation, pain management, naturopathy and chiro-practic care. And he says CTCA oncologists are recruited on the basis of compassion, as well as expertise.

No matter which CTCA facility a patient chooses, treatment standards are the same, he says. The only difference is that only the Philadelphia hospital provides stem cell treatments and patients who need this proce-dure are referred there. The Phoenix facility is the world’s first all-digital cancer treatment centre. This, Staren says, enables doctors to search and analyze all patient records to find up-to-the-minute statistics on what’s working and what isn’t and to receive test results in the shortest possible time.

American patients typically use private insurance to pay for CTCA treatment. Staren says private insurance usually covers the ma-

jority of costs but he admits insurance can be “somewhat of a limitation.” In some cases, he says, CTCA provides diagnostic services for a set fee and patients then receive treatment at other facilities. So far, only a few Canadians have been treated at CTCA facilities and they have typically paid the full cost of care.

CTCA spokesperson Tiffany Jenkins says her organization is “in the early stages of an outreach to Canadians.”

Dr. Donovan Kruetzer, a partner in the private, Calgary-based Provital Health and Wellness clinic, says he rarely refers patients to the U.S. for cancer care because of the costs and because he believes Calgary’s Tom Baker Cancer Centre is a first-rate provider that’s part of the Alberta public health-care system.

Dr. Michael Putland, a general practitioner in Victoria and a former Calgary Herald paper carrier, says he was an intake physician at the CTCA Phoenix location for 18 months before returning to Canada to be closer to family.

“We have incredibly good cancer care available here in B.C.,” Putland says. “But people up against tough odds (who) still want to continue their battle” may want to seek alternatives. He says he has seen first hand that “quality of life can be remarkably improved by all of their holistic care” at CTCA. Sometimes, he says, it’s a “great op-tion” for faster, more in-depth diagnostics.

“It’s nice for Canadians to have that option (and) it’s a wonderful thing to be able to offer patients.”

CANCER TREATMENT


Patients empowered

to participate in their

cancer care

— Th

inks

tock

pho

to

www.radiology.ca

X-Ray • Ultrasound• Bone Density

• Digital Mammography

• View your baby’s images on a42”HDmonitor to enhance the

ultrasound experience

• Free CD of your baby’s images

• Same day ultrasound appointments

Call 403.777.3000

By BRIAN BURTON

Canadian men have a one-in-seven chance of being diagnosed with pros-tate cancer sometime in their lives.

The good news is that treatments have be-come very effective and the Canadian Cancer Society says 96 per cent of patients are surviv-ing five years after treatment.

Less encouraging is that up to 50 per cent experience long-term or permanent erectile dysfunction (ED) as a result of treatment and up to 25 per cent live with incontinence.

Now, a small, phase-one clinical trial in Indi-an Wells, Calif. is conducting out-patient focal laser ablation treatments for prostate cancer and showing dramatically reduced incidence of ED and incontinence. And the multi-para-metric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tech-nique used to guide the laser provides greatly improved accuracy at identifying tumour sites. Routine use of MRI-guided lasers for prostate cancer treatment may be years away, but initial results are very encouraging, says Dr. John Feller of Desert Medical Imaging.

“Our trial is being driven by the need to reduce side effects of existing whole

gland therapy,” Feller says. Among established detection and treatment

methods for prostate cancer, the most com-mon currently include ultrasound-guided biopsies for detection, most likely followed by either laparoscopic surgical prostatectomy or radiation brachytherapy.

Laparoscopic surgery, often called keyhole surgery, involves tiny incisions in the abdo-men to insert a miniature TV camera, a light and surgical tools. The entire prostate is re-moved but the smaller incisions enable quick-er patient recovery times than conventional open surgery. Patients spend about a week in hospital and require roughly six weeks to re-turn to normal activities. Brachytherapy uses ultrasound to guide needles that place tiny radiation pellets within the prostate gland to kill tumours. Patients are typically in and out of hospital within 24 hours and, while they usually experience fatigue during the 60 days that radiation pellets are active, they can re-turn to work almost immediately.

Feller says standard trans-rectal ultrasound guided biopsy is about 65-per-cent accurate at identifying tumour sites, but that means it missed up to 35 per cent of tumours due

sampling error from the random nature of the biopsy. By contrast, he says, MRI guided biopsy, also performed trans-rectally, is 90-97 per-cent accurate (for Gleason Score 7 and above prostate cancers). It is able to detect the movement of water molecules within healthy tissue and the lack of such move-ment that characterizes denser cancerous tissue. A computer-aided detection program can then be used to mark cancer sites for destruction by laser and mark healthy tissue for protection so that the laser shuts off if normal tissue receives measurable heat.

So far, he says, 11 patients with Gleason scores six and seven have been selected for treatment in the last 18 months, including one Canadian.

“There have been zero side effects,” he says. “Focal laser therapy offers some big upside.” Based on these results, the clinic’s informed-consent documents for prostate cancer treatment quote projected erectile dysfunction at five per cent of patients and incontinence at 2.5 per cent.

Feller says it’s too soon to calculate survival rates, especially because of the slow-moving nature of prostate cancer. But he says he sees cause for “excitement” on two levels. There’s good evidence that complications of treatment

can be significantly reduced for prostate cancer patients. And multi-parametric MRI is enabling more accurate identification of cancer sites.

The trial is considered patient-funded re-search, meaning recipients of treatment pay $15,000 each to cover costs. Patients “walk in and walk out” in the same day, Feller says, so hospital time is not a significant cost. But laser and MRI machines together cost more than $2 million and each patient requires a special disposable laser applicator at a cost of $3,500 each. Each treatment also involves the time of two physicians, a diagnostic radiologist and an interventional radiologist.


Laser therapy shows promise in prostate cancer treatment

— Th

inks

tock

pho

to

PROFILE


Phoenix/SCoTTSDALE, ARIZONA ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

I was born with a severe and complex heartcondition, and wasn’t expected to live past my 16thbirthday. Then I went to Mayo Clinic. Thanks totheir pioneering bypass surgery, I’ve celebrated over50 birthdays since. My answer was Mayo Clinic.

carol allanCalgary, Alberta

Like Carol, you have full access to Mayo Clinic’s world-class health care. As a not-for-profitorganization, we have been putting the needs of our patients first for more than 100 years.Our expert teams of specialists and premier medical facilities are available to you for diagnosisor treatment of a serious condition, a comprehensive wellness exam, or even a second opinion.In most cases, a physician referral is not needed. To make an appointment please visitmayoclinic.org/canada or call 1.888.441.2133. If you want to connect with others who’vebeen there, please visit connect.mayoclinic.org/

By COLLEEN BIONDI

Adrienne and Peter Nickerson spent over 20 years working in Fort McMurray before moving to Calgary in 2008.

When they came here, they had difficulty finding a family doctor. They couldn’t find anyone to take them or wait lists were too long to be viable. It was important they find someone to care for their needs; they are two active adults with two active teenage daugh-ters — Alexandra, 15, and Victoria, 13.

Peter, vice-president of special projects at Suncor, heard about Preventous Collab-orative Health from a work colleague and investigated. After a meeting with director and medical doctor Rohan Bissoondath, the Nickersons signed on. The cost for the com-prehensive and inter-disciplinary services of this clinic is $500 per month for the family.

Adrienne, director of operations at Cana-dian Oil Sands, likes the theory behind the health-care facility. “You establish a relation-ship with your doctor so he knows your medical history, your lifestyle and who you

are as a person.” What might seem like a minor symptom on the books is often taken more seriously. Peter has a high pain toler-ance, for example, so if he complains of pain, Bissoondath knows something is wrong.

“The clinic also encourages patients to live a healthy lifestyle,” adds Adrienne. On staff are nutritionists, nurses, fitness professionals and a psychologist; there is even a gym in the back of the centre.

Although the Nickersons haven’t taken advantage of the other health professionals so far, they might in the future. So far, they work on being active independent of the clinic — the girls are elite cheerleaders, Adrienne is a competitive weight lifter and a West African dancer and Peter is a cyclist.

A few years ago, Alexandra woke up and couldn’t move her neck. “We panicked,” says Adrienne. It was a Sunday and they called Bissoondath. He diagnosed it as torticollis, recommended a few Motrin and rest, and to call back if the condition did not improve in a few hours. It did. “So instead of going to the hospital,” says Adrienne, “we had the rest

of our Sunday as a family.”Another weekend evening, Alexandra had

stomach pains. This time Bissoondath asked her to come to the office for a personal as-sessment. It was nothing serious, but the ac-cess, the trust, Alexandra’s comfort with the doctor and the speedy resolution made it all worthwhile. In January 2012, she suffered a concussion and Bissoondath told her to take a break from training. “She will listen to what Rohan says,” acknowledges Adrienne.

When Peter had a bike accident on the way to the Eau Claire YMCA one weekday, he suf-fered a serious gash on his arm. He went to

work, cleaned himself up, phoned Preventous, went to the clinic for stitches, and was back to the office by noon. On an even more serious note, after complaining of serious headaches in June 2010, Bissoondath made a quick referral to a neurosurgeon on Peter’s behalf. The prob-lem was a benign brain tumour. Peter had sur-gery and all is now fine. “It is good to know we have Bissoondath on our side,” says Adrienne.

Although the clinic’s service cost may be viewed as expensive, it is worth every penny, says Adrienne. “Knowing we can contact Ro-han anytime… you can’t put a value on that peace of mind.”

‘You can’t put a value on that peace of mind’

The Nickersons, from left, Adrienne, Alex, 15, Peter and Victoria, 13, make an online movie selection. — Wil Andruschak photo

��

��

��

��

��

� � ��

� ��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

� ��

� � ��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

� ��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

� ��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

� ��

� � ��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

��

� ��

��


Riding horses, camping, hunting. These outdoor activities are just a few of the things Jami Ellis loves to do. But with the extra weight she carried, she found theywere too difficult to do.

As a surgical technician, Jami has seen how a person’s lifestyle choices can affect their overall health. Because of her weight she, too, was living with healthissues of her own—high blood pressure, bone and joint pain, and sleep apnea. Even with the help of a dietitian, Jami found that she couldn’t lose the weight sheneeded to. So her doctor recommended she visit Benefis Bariatric Institute where she was scheduled for gastric bypass surgery for weight loss.

“This was a life-changing surgery,” says Jami. “At Benefis I received excellent care, and now that I’ve lost morethan 114 pounds, my health has improved and I can do anything I want. I can actually get on my horse again!”

Benefis Bariatric Institute in Great Falls is a Center of Excellence for Weight Loss Surgery. To see howthey can help you, call 406.455.2840 today or log onto www.benefis.org/bariatrics

No longer saddled by her weight,she’s riding high again.

Live well.

OP1 - Calgary Herald€¦ · doctor, chiropractor, nurses, and special- ... Back on track A Calgary...

Documents

Transcript of OP1 - Calgary Herald€¦ · doctor, chiropractor, nurses, and special- ... Back on track A Calgary...