TCMS Austin Lifestyle Magazine #2 by Austin LIfestyle Magazine

kee p au s t i n well

keep au s tin well

Your Guide to Living Well Every Day

austinlifestylemagazine.com 79

Keep Austin Well providing excellent & affordable cosmetic skincare since 2000

contents

Your Guide to Living Well Every Day

81 Letter from the Editor 82 Collaborating for Children: A Plan to Mobilize Health Care Professionals in the Fight Against Childhood Obesity 84 Helping Haiti: First Hand Accounts of the Earthquake Aftermath 86 Bats Return To Austin: Know How to Protect Yourself 88 Tobacco Use: Helping Travis County Quit for Good editor Stephanie Triggs contributing writers Philip Huang, md , mph , Carole Barasch Photographers Cover photographed by William Jennings Art Director Tyler Lee sales inquiries sales@austinlifestylemagazine.com contact us keepaustinwell@austinlifestylemagazine.com about TCMS The Travis County Medical Society is a component society of the Texas Medical Association, a statewide professional organization of licensed physicians. Its more than 3,100 members include approximately ninety percent of all practicing physicians in the Greater Austin area. In addition to activities promoting high standards of medical practice, the Society provides representation and advocacy for patients and physicians at all levels of government and medicine. 80 austinlifestylemagazine.com

SPECIALIZING IN:

THERMAGE VEIN TREATMENTS ACTIVEFX & DEEPFX FRACTIONAL LASER TREATMENTS LASER HAIR REMOVAL FOTOFACIAL BOTOX MICRODERMABRASION ACNE TREATMENTS CHEMICAL PEELS DERMAL FILLERS DYSPORT To learn more, call us regarding our spring open house

Physicians you know, names you trust.

Dear Readers, Congress recently enacted health system reform legislation that hopefully will expand access to health care for millions of Americans. However, the new law did not address a looming problem that may threaten access to medical care for millions of patients on Medicare – the government’s largest health care program that covers senior citizens and people with disabilities, as well as military families covered by TriCare. The problem was created ten years ago in legislation that requires Medicare payments to physicians to be modified annually using the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. While unintentional, the SGR formula is fatally flawed in that it mandates physician fee cuts almost every year. For a decade, Congress has only applied temporary Band-Aids by extending implementation of the formula, thus putting off a permanent fix. This year Congress had the opportunity to fix the Medicare reimbursement formula once and for all as a part of the most sweeping health system reform legislation in history. But they didn’t. So ten years after SGR was created, its flawed formula actually took effect on April 1 with a 21% cut in Medicare reimbursement rates for physician services. It will drive doctors with large Medicare practices financially into the red and possibly out of the program. The last thing we doctors want is to have to tell our Medicare patients that we can no longer afford to care for them. On April 5, physicians and patients from across the state and nation united to launch a petition drive led by the Texas Medical Association to collect 1 million signatures. The petition simply asks Congress to stop the Medicare meltdown so patients can choose their doctors and their doctors can stay in the program. Congress knows about the problem. Congress knows that it jeopardizes access to care for Medicare patients. And Congress knows they can fix it. Please make your voice heard to ensure Medicare patients have a doctor to care for them when they need one! Tell Congress to finish its work and permanently fix the Medicare SGR formula. Go to www.ipetitions.com/petition/meltdown and sign the petition today.

Live well, Austin! C. Mark Chassay, MD Vivek Mahendru, MD President, TCMS Chair, TCMS Public Relations Committee

austinlifestylemagazine.com 81

keep au s tin well

From TCMS

35% of students in grades

keep au s tin well

3 to 12 from our own

are

Austin ISD

overweight or obese.

Texas: Health issues from excess weight include :

with an expected cost

in two-thousand ten of

Cancer

15.6 Billion Dollars $39 Billion in

of adults will be

2040

Heart Disease, Stroke, High Blood Pressure

and

fourty-six percent of kids meet daily recommendations for exercise and only twenty-two percent get their recommended servings of fruits or vegetables

O B E S E in

For the 1st time in American History...

the lifespan of

this generation

the lifespan of their parents

Type 2 Diabetes, Asthma, Sleep Apnea, Gallblader Disease, Hypertension,

Colon & Cervical Cancer, Congestive Heart Failure,

Ovarian Cancer, Postmenopausal

Breast Cancer Osteoarthritis and much much

more....

Collaborating For Children A Plan to Mobilize Health Care Professionals in the Fight Against Childhood Obesity

he Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity (TCPTCO) has been established in Austin at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, a member of the Seton Family of Hospitals. Founded by Stephen Pont, M.D., M.P.H, FAAP; Kimberly Avila Edwards, M.D., FAAP; and child psychologist Jane Gray, Ph.D.; the TCPTCO will involve multiple elements necessary to treat and prevent childhood obesity in our region, including a multidisciplinary obesity clinic, education, advocacy and research. The TCPTCO, funded through the generous support of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, represents a collaboration between Dell Children’s, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas – Austin Programs, UT Austin and the Texas Child Study Center. The TCPTCO builds upon the success of the Healthy Living Happy Living / Vida Sana Vida Feliz multidisciplinary familybased childhood obesity intervention at Dell Children’s that celebrated its first anniversary in January. This clinician-led, ten-week program has been presented to more than one hundred children in the area, in both English and Spanish, since it began. Children

82 austinlifestylemagazine.com

and their parents have been able to participate thanks to the support of multiple local and regional philanthropic foundations – including generous contributions from the Austin Community Foundation, the RGK Foundation, the Aetna Foundation and the St. David’s Foundation – demonstrating broad and substantial community commitment, support and readiness for the development and implementation of a childhood obesity center. The clinical component of the TCPTCO will provide coordinated, multidisciplinary care to treat the varied physical and psychosocial conditions associated with overweight and obese children. Experts in pediatric medicine, pediatric psychology and behavior change, nutrition and physical therapy will be involved in providing treatment based on the most current, evidence-based recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and other national professional societies and institutions. The multidisciplinary team will work together to individualize treatment for each child and families will be integrally involved in fostering, supporting and maintaining the needed behavioral, nutrition

change that will support obesity prevention. This project is implemented in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the California Medical Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Center for the Prevention of Childhood Obesity. Research will be a core component of the TCPTCO to advance knowledge, document success and expand services. The TCPTCO anticipates obtaining direct funding for research projects and also will collaborate and serve as a clinical translational research link between the bench research at the Dell Pediatric Research Institute and the community/school-based research of Michael & Susan Dell Center for the Advancement of Healthy Living, housed within the UT School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus. For more information, please visit: The Texas Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity (www.dellchildrens.net/healthyliving). Empowering families to live healthy, happy lives via the CL-E-A-R components : • Evidence based multidisciplinary CLinical treatment • Patient, community, and student/trainee Education • Community Advocacy and capacity building, through serving as a resource and partner for health-related collaborative community efforts • Novel Research to advance knowledge, document success and expand services.

Come see why patients travel to Austin from all over the United States for their comprehensive care by one of our fabulous female doctors. Go to our website and listen to what other patients are saying about their dental experience.

2303 RANCH ROAD 620 SOUTH • SUITE 140 • AUSTIN, TX 78734 512.263.8284 • www.AustinHealthyDentist.com

austinlifestylemagazine.com 83

keep au s tin well

and physical activity changes. The Texas Child Study Center, an outpatient mental health collaboration between Dell Children’s and UT Austin Educational Psychology Department, will provide direct access to mental health services for the center’s patients. Initiatives and best practices developed and implemented at the TCPTCO will be disseminated to local practitioners by leveraging resources already present at Dell Children’s including lay and professional publications, telemedicine and regional continuing medical education events. In addition, the educational arm for the center will specifically include education for current and future practitioners. While the diagnosis and treatment of obesity and its comorbidities is a much-needed service that will be provided by the founding clinicians, Drs. Pont, Avila Edwards and Gray are well-aware that the solutions to the childhood obesity epidemic must also include the community outside the clinic walls. In line with the educational and advocacy arms of the TCPTCO, the three clinicians joined with the Texas Pediatric Society (TPS) on Saturday, March 27, to launch the first in a series of statewide training seminars that are designed to mobilize health care professionals in the fight against childhood obesity. With Dr. Avila Edwards as the project lead, the TPS received a grant from the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality as part of the Be Our Voice advocacy training initiative. Through this initiative, funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, health care providers are given the advocacy tools, resources and ongoing support needed to implement evidence-based strategies for community

Helping Haiti First Hand Accounts of the Earthquake Aftermath keep au s tin well

he Travis County Medical Society has a strong commitment to community – close to home and far away – especially when disaster strikes in the form of a hurricane or earthquake. After a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, physicians, hospitals and pharmacies donated needed medical supplies and made financial contributions to relief efforts. Medical teams including TCMS physicians traveled to Haiti with various relief agencies to assist with the country’s medical needs. Below are excerpts from their experiences.

January 16

January 28

By the time we hit the ground in Port-au-Prince, we had a wellorganized team of sixteen. There were ten physicians, two surgical techs, three nurses, and one pastor/photographer. I took the approach that this is a military operation and I mentally put on a “suit of armor” to be able to do what I knew was ahead. I thought I had seen it all, and have been in a lot of situations over the years − in India, Africa, and even my residency in downtown Detroit couldn’t prepare me for the utter devastation I saw, inflicted on so many. It’s what I would imagine the aftermath of large-scale war would look like.… As the week ended, that bulletproof armor was soaked with tears and sweat − my tears and my sweat, mixed with those of patients and team members who would now become lifelong friends. There was no protection from the love and suffering of the Haitian people and both pierced my heart, changing it forever. The moment I arrived home, I started planning my return to Mission of Hope with my wife. We are in it for the long run!

Today our team members have been in town helping at the general clinic. They saw over one hundredpatients in the clinic at MOH today; mostly general medical issues, several forearm fractures, distal radius fractures in kids. They are having some amputees coming back for evaluation. There is more time for organization of long term medical care at MOH. The goal is to get patients where they need to be and the long term care that they will need to have.

Timothy C. Gueramy, MD Medical Park Orthopaedic Clinic www.facebook.com/ austinmedicalreliefforhaiti

84 austinlifestylemagazine.com

Joel H. Hurt, MD Texas Orthopedics http://txortho.blogspot.com

February 1 We departed the Dominican Republic by bus and crossed into Haiti in the early morning hours, arriving in Port-au-Prince midmorning.The devastation, loss of human lives, and destroyed property was mind-numbing. United Nations’ cars and various aid groups and personnel were ubiquitous. Tent cities were everywhere. In the following days, we held clinics in three different areas, serving more than 1,200 gracious and deserving Haitian patients. We were able to offer pain relief, sleep aid medication,

vitamins, antibiotics, wound care,immunizations against tetanus and piperazine,(a liquid medication taken by mouth for the treatment of intestinal parasites). In addition, we distributed food donations to each family. David Vander Straten, MD CommUnityCare

February 15 It was a hurried start, with lost bags and found bags – Touch Down! Looking out amongst the rubble and trash everywhere, you see lines of people celebrating a national day of prayer. The air is warm and dusty. Orientation was filled with fear and disbelief as our hearts went out to those involved in the Earthquake stories we heard. There was calmness despite the circumstances amid the patients in the ward many of which had neglected fractures and infected wounds. I worked on a twenty year old who lost both parents; her foot will never be the same. The team worked well together today. The night time is cooler with few mosquitoes. Now, it’s time to rest.

above, top: Patients waiting to be seen by the medical team. Note the number of fractured bones from falling cinder blocks; above, middle: Team members stayed in tents on the Mission of Hope compound. The building has a small

J. Brannan Smoot, MD

kitchen, three bathrooms, and nor-

Texas Orthopedics

mally holds about 25 guests. 75 people

www.facebook.com/mohhaiti

were using the facility at a time; above, bottom: Tim Gueramy, MD, Joel Hurt, MD, and the OR Team operating on a young girl.

MD-directed weight loss: The fast, effective & safe way to finally reach your goals.

Lose up to

1 pound every day with all-natural HCG

Cosmetic and Holistic Dentistry

Dr. Liesa Harte, a board-certified MD, creates a 100% customized weight loss plan based on your medical history and lifestyle. Get the results you’re looking for with: • Medication, including HCG – a prescription medication that reduces appetite & increases fat metabolism to help you safely lose weight. • Nutrition counseling that shows you how to give your body what it needs, without feeling deprived. • Lifestyle counseling to help you identify & overcome your emotional & psychological barriers to weight loss. • Dr. Liesa’s personal care, with the accurate information & support you need to make changes that last!

(512) 961-8863

5450 Bee Caves Road, Suite 1E • Austin

AD_AustLife_Harte.indd 1

Comprehensive care with a personal touch...

FREE private consultation

Meet with Dr. Liesa to find out how she can help you get control of your weight and enjoy the happier, healthier life you deserve.

• General and Cosmetic Dentistry

©HSS 2009

Over the past 17 years Dr. Liesa has developed a passion for helping people prevent disease and live vibrant, healthy lives at every age. Dr. Liesa’s private Austin practice is the fulfillment of a dream… to provide a unique healthcare experience and a deeper level of personalized care that makes a lasting difference in the lives of her patients.

• Limited Root Canal Treatment 10/20/09 8:25:20 AM

• Limited Oral Surgery • Teeth Whitening • Non-surgical Treatment of Periodontal Disease • Safe Metal Removal • Laser Therapies Available

1221 West Ben White Blvd., Suite 110A

(512) 443-5813 www.naturaltoothfairy.com We accept Care Credit austinlifestylemagazine.com 85

keep au s tin well

The Bats Return to Austin

Know How to Protect Yourself Carole Barasch Manager-Communications & Community Development Austin / Travis County Health & Human Services

ustin is once again home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. While bats contribute greatly to our ecosystem, you need to know how to protect yourself around these animals. Bats can enter homes, apartments and businesses through unscreened windows and open doors and will generally leave on their own if given the chance. If you find a bat in a room, open windows, turn on lights, and then leave the room and close the door to keep children and pets out of the area. It can take up to 18 hours for a bat to leave a resting place, so you may have to check the area every few hours to see if the bat has departed. Do not try to catch a bat you find in a room unless testing is necessary because a person or pet has been sleeping in the room while the bat was present. If you must remove the bat from its resting place, wear thick leather gloves and carefully place a wide-mouthed cup, jar, or can over the resting bat. Carefully slip a piece of cardboard between the opening and the resting surface then take the container outdoors to release the bat. • Never handle a bat – alive or dead – with your bare hands!

86 austinlifestylemagazine.com

• Keep people and pets away from a sick, injured, or dead bat and call animal control at 3-1-1. Rabies exposure occurs only when a person is bitten or scratched by a potentially rabid bat or other animal, or when abrasions, open wounds, or mucous membranes are contaminated with the saliva, brain, or nervous system tissue of a potentially rabid animal. It may take several weeks or longer for people to show symptoms after being infected with rabies. The early signs of rabies can be fever or headache, but this changes quickly to nervous system signs such as confusion, sleepiness, or agitation. Once someone with a rabies infection starts having these symptoms, the person usually does not survive. This is why it is critical to talk to your doctor or health care provider immediately if any animal bites you – especially a wild animal. If you or anyone you know could have been in contact with a bat, please call the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services’ Disease and Surveillance Unit at 972-5555 or your local health care provider.

TH E IN FIR CE ST A NT RA ND O LT EX NLY AS !

keep au s tin well

Single-Incision Hysterectomies Through the Belly Button Austin Area OB/GYN is transforming the way you think of surgery. We are the first and only in Central Texas to perform single-incision hysterectomies using the next generation FDA approved SILS™ procedure.

Call Us Today! Find out if you are a candidate for this groundbreaking procedure.

keep au s tin well

Tobacco Use:

Helping Travis County Quit for Good by Philip Huang, MD, MPH Medical Director / Health Authority Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department

id you know that tobacco use remains the single greatest cause of preventable disease, disability and death in the nation, Texas, and Travis County? Tobacco use is a major risk factor for multiple cancers, heart disease, stroke and lung disease. Approximately twenty-four thousand adults die of a smokingattributable illness annually in Texas. That is more than die from AIDS, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, car accidents, fire, and murder – combined. For every one person who dies from tobacco-related causes, there are twenty more people who are suffering with at least one serious illness from smoking. Smoking is also a health threat to nonsmokers. Secondhand smoke contains a complex mixture of over four thousand chemicals, more than fifty of which are cancer-causing agents (carcinogens). Secondhand smoke is associated with an increased risk for lung cancer and coronary heart disease in non-smoking adults. Because their lungs are not fully developed, young children are particularly vulnerable to secondhand smoke. Exposure to secondhand smoke is associated with an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia in young children. In addition to the health-related costs of tobacco use, it also costs our businesses and taxpayers money. In 1999, tobacco-related disease cost the state approximately $10 billion ($4.5 billion in direct medical costs and an additional $5.5 billion in lost worker productivity). In 1998, about 15% ($1,265,000,000 or $543.87 per recipient) of all Medicaid expenditures were spent on smoking-related illnesses and diseases. Despite all these risks, approximately 18.5% of adults in Travis County still smoke cigarettes. That is why it is a tremendous opportunity for our community to be receiving $7,473,150 in federal stimulus

88 austinlifestylemagazine.com

funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the next two years to decrease tobacco use and decrease exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. The grant focuses on policies, systems and environmental changes to reduce the burden of chronic disease. The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department (A/TCHHS) is the lead agency for this effort and activities are being designed to prevent and reduce tobacco use by working with community partners in schools, worksites, health care settings, faith-based organizations, retail settings and the media. Key activities will be to: assist major health care providers and substance abuse facilities in referring to telephone quitline services or to other local community cessation services; reduce youth access to tobacco products and marketing; implement extensive media education campaigns to promote a tobacco-free lifestyle and counteract tobacco industry promotions; and promote worksite and other tobacco-free settings in an effort to protect the public from the harms of secondhand smoke and increase access to clean air. If you want to quit using tobacco products today or you are taking the first steps toward quitting and need assistance, there are resources for you. Contact Megan Cermak, program coordinator for A/TCHHS’s Austin Tobacco Prevention and Control Coalition for more information and resources at 512-972-6763 or megan.cermak@ci.austin.tx.us.

Texas Quitline Call 1-800-YES-QUIT for free advice and counseling on how to stop smoking. The Quitline is open from 7 am–9 pm Monday through Thursday, 7 am–7 pm on Friday, and 8 am–4:30 pm Saturday and Sunday. Austin residents also are eligible for free nicotine replacement therapy through the Quitline.