17 minute read
At the Ready
Humpal Physical Therapy continues to provide essential health care to the Coastal Bend community. By: Phillip J. Cronkhite Jr.
n this new time period that we, as humans and health care providers, find ourselves in, it is important that we continue to take care of ourselves, in both body and mind. Here at Humpal Physical Therapy, as an essential health care provider, we remain open at all six locations in the Coastal Bend to help our community in these endeavors. I
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We have always maintained well-cleaned clinics, but now we have ramped up the cleaning and disinfecting of the clinics. We have also implemented new screening procedures of patients and caregivers. We care about the health and safety of our patients and our employees.
Physical therapy, in general, is intended to help restore patients to their prior level of function. But also, physical therapy can help improve cardiovascular endurance. It helps improve overall well-being. By doing so, it should help keep people healthier and help them battle diseases, including the COVID-19 virus.
We want our patients and our community to be safe in these trying times, and we would like to see you attend your essential physical therapy appointments, just as you would attend your essential doctors’ appointments.
But fear not! If you are unable to attend a visit, Medicare has given permission for you to receive what is known as an e-visit. Your physical therapist can talk to you by phone about your current plan of care and exercise program, and answer any questions you may have. We can even provide a new and updated home exercise program that can help you continue to improve at home if you are unable to come in.
We want the community, and our patients, to know that we are here for you. We remain open and stand at the ready to continue to help you get healthier. Remember: Choose More Movement, Choose Better Heath, Choose Physical Therapy. Humpal knows!
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5017 Saratoga | Corpus Christi, TX 78413 361-692-2177 Open: Tuesday -Saturday 10-6 PM
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THINK
Dr. Kathryn Soward: building strength in others
By: Steven Alford Photos by: Michael Giordano
POSITIVE
FOR
MOST OF HER LIFE,
clinical psychologist Dr. Kathryn Soward has felt a passion for helping others. As a young girl, she would listen to adult conversations at family gatherings in Corpus Christi and try to unpack their problems and find solutions.
“I always knew that I was designed to try to understand people,” Soward says. “I was always curious about relationships – why people made certain decisions and choices in their lives.”
That curiosity led to a degree in psychology, earning her undergraduate at Texas A&M University in College Station, and a graduate degree at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Soon, she ventured to Santa Barbara, Calif., to finish her studies at the prestigious Fielding Graduate University.
At the heart of Soward’s method of patient care is a deep-rooted dedication for helping others to be the best versions of themselves. “Relationships are what’s most important to me. It’s why we’re here,” Soward says. “I’ll push people where I think they should go, but in a gentle, loving way.”
In graduate school, Soward devoted her dissertation to the study of resilience and positive psychology, focusing on people’s strengths instead of their weaknesses. It’s the opposite approach of the standard medical disease model, which searches for what is wrong with a patient instead of what is right. Soward’s approach draws on people’s strengths in an effort to harness their positive qualities – elevating others through difficult situations so they can ultimately strengthen themselves.
Soward became passionate about positive psychology in graduate school, and eventually based her Corpus Christi practice around the strength-based model. “It’s about not asking, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ or ‘What is the reason this is happening?’” Soward shares. “It’s helping us learn through situations – to end up as a better version of ourselves by the experiences we go through.”
Soward has taken her passion for helping others beyond the walls of her Corpus Christi practice, having finished her first book, “The One Thing That Changed Everything.” It’s a joint effort with other successful women due out this summer, which shares the key moments in their lives when their career trajectory took off. It’s a story of empowerment while overcoming obstacles to achieve success.
The book is just the first step in a budding literary career, as Soward is now working on her second book, “The Road Map to Resilience,” a strength-based system she has carefully curated to help people create a better life.
Meanwhile, this spring, as the country found itself in an unprecedented shutdown due to the coronavirus, Soward pivoted her practice to find a way to continue to connect with her patients. This search led to “walk and talk” sessions, as she meets up for counseling sessions while walking through parks and along the bayfront with her patients. “It’s been incredible,” Soward says. “There’s been a benefit, and one of the best things I’ve done for my practice. Patients love it.”
Soward has also moved therapy sessions online to find ways to continue to connect with her patients during the coronavirus. Counseling sessions resumed via virtual conferencing software, connecting doctor and patient during a time of lockdown.
Whether walking trails with her patients or video conferencing on Zoom, during the unprecedented social shift brought on by COVID-19, the mission of Soward’s practice has remained the same.
When Soward opened the doors to her Corpus Christi offices 15 years ago, she made a promise to put patients first and stray from the standard industry practice of placing volume ahead of personal attention. “One thing I decided: I would just do it the way I wanted to do it,” she says. “A long time ago, I resolved I wasn’t going to get on the conveyor belt of churning out tons of sessions.”
Her practice focuses heavily on therapy and counseling for children, teens and adults. Soward also performs testing for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) and learning disabilities, while another major component of her practice includes serving as a psychologist for the City of Corpus Christi.
Soward counsels a range of emergency responders, including police officers, firefighters, 911 dispatchers, SWAT, CSI and hostage negotiators. This arm of her practice has become a major component of her patient load, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, as first responders work on the frontlines of delivering care.
“I’m just passionate about people who are first responders; they work and live with their purpose of helping people every day,” Soward shares. “I try to give them a space where they can increase their coping skills for handling stress while decreasing their fears during these challenging times.”
According to Soward, many of the same coping mechanisms she counsels for first responders can be used by anyone to get through daily life in the face of the coronavirus. The first step is to stare at the issue head-on and accept why we, as a society, must make fundamental changes to our social practices to protect others from contracting the deadly virus.
“One thing is not to just gloss over it or act as if we have to stay positive and smile and get through it,” she advises. “You have to own it and name it. If someone lost their job, that’s scary and upsetting; you have to talk about it.”
In a lonely world, when we are shut in at home, glued to our televisions and awaiting positive news to come out of the coronavirus pandemic, Soward says daily connections are key. “Our connections and our relationships are everything to human existence,” she says. “While we are social distancing, we are running a risk of increased anxiety, depression, obesity. That affects longevity if you are embedded in isolation and loneliness.”
A few ways to stay positive and connected during a social distancing stretch
might include writing down your feelings in a journal or blog, participating in therapy sessions online and, most importantly, staying connected to friends and loved ones.
Soward advises joining a Facebook group for cocktail hour or sharing recipes or gardening tips; joining your friends in a video space to laugh and share; enjoying a coffee date with a friend on FaceTime or Skype; and having a quality conversation every day.
It’s easy to sink into a daily routine of watching movies, playing video games or scrolling through social media endlessly, Soward shares. To stay positive during the shutdown, it’s crucial to have a routine and stick with it. “It’s easy to lean on those things too much,” she says. “We have to set limits on ourselves and recognize when we are tired or stressed. It’s important to maintain relationships and get outside for fresh air and exercise.”
Soward herself is a mother of three children ages 16, 18 and 21. During the coronavirus shutdown, she regularly takes her children to a tennis court to play a round – a great sport for social distancing, she adds. Whatever activities you enjoy, it’s important to stick with them and know when to turn off the TV and connect with others, Soward shares.
As the coronavirus continues to hang like a specter over the daily lives of millions of Americans, Soward is hopeful society will come out of the experience stronger in the end. She hopes it will make people realize what they enjoy most about daily life. “I think it’s going to create a huge appreciation for what’s most important in lives and really emphasize relationships and leaning in with love,” Soward says. “Life is really about connecting and emphasizing what’s important and taking away some of the materialism.”
Looking ahead at her practice, Soward envisions growing the online patient care component further as the world becomes more accustomed to virtual conferencing and working from home. She is currently working on a new podcast, along with a program of online counseling courses, enabling her practice to reach a range of patients beyond just Corpus Christi, creating therapy solutions for people across the globe.
Soward believes people will pull through this year’s downturn stronger and more resilient than ever with a better understanding of what is truly important in life.
Through therapy, meditation and quiet reflection, we can better ourselves and find a strength inside we never knew we possessed, she says. “I’m excited about what could happen. This could bring new exciting possibilities. That’s what keeps me thinking positively.”
For appointments or further information, call 361-814-1900 or visit www.kathrynsoward.com.
the Body and Mind Healing The 361 Wellness team brings breakthroughs in mental health treatments to South Texas.
By: Kathleen Naderer
361 Wellness is the first and only neuro-wellness clinic in the Coastal Bend. Located at 6625 Wooldridge Road in Suite 301, the complex in front of the Bayview Behavioral Hospital, 361 Wellness opened its doors in November 2019.
John Lusins, M.D., and Carrie Sessions, MSN, FNP-C, combine their extensive knowledge and expertise to fight on the frontlines in the battle for better mental health care. “Everything we do is to promote wellness and mental health,” Sessions said.
The main mission of 361 Wellness is to provide another resource to the often inundated South Texas medical community. Both Lusins and Sessions have encountered patients who are struggling to find hope and healing, feeling either caught in a revolving door of medicine or lost in the deluge of patients waiting for access to mental health care professionals.
Sessions emphasized a message of hope for those afraid they’ve exhausted their resources. She explained that 361 Wellness services are accessible to all and provide an effective alternative to those who are not responding well to traditional allopathic medicine.
At Lusins and Sessions’ clinic, patients can find a variety of unique and cutting-edge services not available elsewhere, including Kalypso Ketamine IV Infusions, NAD+IV Therapy and Vitamin IV Infusions and Injections.
Sessions praised Lusins innovation for recognizing early on that ketamine would be a game changer in treatment-resistant care. The two had long talked about creating a neuro-wellness clinic, and Lusins research into ketamine helped their dream become a reality. “This [ketamine treatment] is not just a drug or quick fix,” Session said. “It has the potential to be the biggest breakthrough in mental health since the first serotonin reuptake inhibitor [Prozac].”
Sessions now runs the ketamine program, working closely with patients who come seeking relief from chronic pain, depression and anxiety, fibromyalgia, migraines, PTSD and more. She’s witnessed firsthand how this groundbreaking treatment can turn people’s lives around for the better.
One person in particular stood out to her during 361 Wellness’ first Drops of Hope campaign. Drops of Hope is a nonprofit that offers free Kalypso Ketamine IV treatments to those in need. The first recipient was a combat vet suffering from severe treatment-resistant PTSD after several tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Sessions recalled how desperate and concerned his family was, since he was borderline suicidal on a regular basis. “Within six treatments, he was a whole different person,” she said. “He was able to live his life again.”
Another promising new treatment is NAD+IV Therapy. During a NAD session, a naturally occurring coenzyme of niacin is given over a period of four to six hours. This regenerates DNA, helping curb mental and physical declines, as well as managing withdrawals from alcohol and detoxing the body.
Like medispas, 361 Wellness also offers injections and IV infusions that can be tailored to improve aesthetics. Unlike
medispas, however, the neuro-wellness clinic’s primary focus remains mental health even when treating appearance.
According to Sessions, mental and physical health are often linked together. For instance, she has noticed that patients seeking aesthetic treatment such as weight loss injections feel better not only physically, but mentally.
“This can lead to a person having better self-esteem and feeling more self-empowered,” she said. “We address the psychological component to weight loss, like eating without guilt, and lifestyle adjustments, like increased exercise, which can act as a natural antidepressant.”
Other injections and IV infusions provide vitamins that can help prevent illnesses, boost immune systems and provide supplementation that people often don’t realize they need. Sessions explained that, due to many modern diets, people may be unknowingly suffering from a vitamin deficiency. Sometimes the symptoms of these deficiencies are mistaken for other diseases.
“One example is a B12 deficiency,” she said. “It can mimic a lot of mental health disorders, like depression and insomnia, or even physical disorders, like fibromyalgia.”
But what if you take a daily vitamin? According to Sessions, between absorption through the stomach and possible interference from other medication, many of these over-the-counter vitamins end up having little to no effect. However, when patients receive an injection or IV, the vitamins are directly absorbed by red blood cells, meaning the body receives 100 percent of the vitamin and the patient notices an immediate difference.
Most importantly, Sessions wants people to remember: “Be your own health and wellness advocate. Look up everything you’re putting in your body, because if you give your body what it needs, it will heal itself.”
For more information about 361 Wellness, visit 361wellness.com or contact their office at 361-986-3691. If you are interested in supporting Drops of Hope, 361 Wellness will be hosting a fundraiser this summer at the Country Club so they can offer this treatment to more people in our community. Call 361-443-8843 for more information about how you can help.
From Drained to Sustained The benefits of respite care services for caregivers
By: Angelica Flores
We have all had feelings of exhaustion and overwhelming stress at some point in our lives. It seems like our list of responsibilities is never-ending and the work keeps piling up. We feel drained and unlike our usual selves.
For caregivers of loved ones needing assistance, these feelings of burnout are all too familiar. As Drs. Richard Schulz and Paula R. Sherwood discuss in their article titled, “Physical and Mental Effects of Family Caregiving,” it is not only the dayin and day-out tasks of caregiving that are taxing and tiring. It is also “the onset and progression of [our loved one’s] chronic illness and physical disability” that causes additional concern and chronic stress.
Many caregivers often feel the load of their loved one’s care weighing solely on their shoulders because they do not believe they have anyone else to help them provide care. However, did you know that there are services available to provide relief for caregivers while also ensuring that their loved ones are being cared for properly? These services are known as respite care.
“Respite” is defined as a temporary break, so respite care can be understood as care aimed at providing relief for the typical caregiver. As Denise Danley, director of nursing for Legacy Home Health Agency, explains, “Respite care is an excellent opportunity for fatigued caregivers to rest, allowing them to regenerate their body, mind and spirit, and get back in the game. It can be used as an opportunity to go to medical appointments or have medical testing done, allowing the caregiver to care for themselves. If the primary caregiver gets sick or burns out, who will take care of the patient?”
While respite care seems like a clearcut solution for worn-out caregivers, it is often difficult for caregivers to accept help without feeling guilty or selfish for asking for assistance. By choosing to utilize respite care, caregivers not only help themselves – they help their loved ones receiving care, as well.
Consider an empty pitcher. Now imagine trying to share what is in the pitcher with somebody else. You try to pour into a cup from an empty pitcher and – you guessed it – nothing comes out. How can you fill a cup if there is nothing left in the pitcher to give?
In many of our nation’s households, our caregivers represent the pitchers and their loved ones represent the cups waiting to be filled. Without replenishing the pitchers, we cannot fill the cups. Similarly, without replenishing our caregivers with the necessary periods of rest and recovery in order to sustain their overall health and vitality through respite care, we cannot expect them to provide the best care for their loved ones on a daily basis.
At Legacy Home Health, we offer respite care for caregivers and “vow to deliver the highest level of compassionate, competent and cost-effective health care” for you and your loved ones. If you or someone you know could benefit from respite care, please give us a call so that we can assist you in starting services with us today. Let Legacy help you go from drained to sustained!
I N N O V A T E Y O U R H E A L T H
IV Infusions and Injections
Wellness Services
• iVitamin Injections • iVitamin Nutrition and Hydration • Medically Managed Weight-loss • Kalypso Ketamine IV Infusions
BOOK YOUR APPOINTMENT TODAY! 361-986-3691 www.361Wellness.com 6625 Wooldridge Rd., Ste. 301, Corpus Christi
PROVIDERS: John O. Lusins III, MD Carrie Sessions, MSN, FNP-C
