Health Fair a busy affair

If you told some people that an event was scheduled to start at 7:00 in the morning, they would advise you that no one would show up that early unless there was free breakfast.  At this year’s Caribou Medical Center Health Fair there was no breakfast, though there certainly was a decent selection of lollipops, keychains, and other items.  Just as certainly, though, there was a line waiting at the doors when they opened early Friday morning.

The Health Fair, sponsored by Caribou Medical center as a way to provide health information and resources to the community, gave a number of service providers from the hospital itself a chance to meet with clients and members of the community.  It also provided a central location for a number of other health-related organizations and agencies to tell people about their services.

Wearing the appropriate captain’s hats, Chelsee Bendtsen and Denise Bunderson explained their roles as “Patient Navigators” at CMC.  According to Denise, that means that “if you go to your primary care doctor and they decide that you need to go see a different provider—a specialist or whatever you might need in that way—we’re the gals that manage those referrals and get you to where you need to go.  It’s not always easy to navigate through your medical issues.”  The two are RNs at CMC.  

“It’s been good.  The community has been very excited for this,” Denise added.  “And people are able to put some names together with faces.  We do a lot of phone calls working with people.  When people need to get to therapy, or you need to see a cardiologist or an orthopedist or any other specialty, we follow up on that referral and make sure you get where you need to be in a timely manner.  And if you have questions or things are not going quite right, then you call us.  And after you go to whatever appointment you are supposed to we’ll call and check up on how it went for you, to make sure you had everything you needed and what you need to do next.  Finally, we’ll get you back to your primary provider.”

“The main reason we’re doing this is to make sure our patients are heard and seen, and they can get what they need.  Being a rural community, we don’t have as many options, so we bring those options to our patients.  We have done a thousand referrals plus in the first quarter.”

Among the many service providers and departments on hand at the Fair from CMC were those from the lab, who offered discounted lab screenings during the morning.  The labs include standard screening panels for the rate of $35 for the starting complete health profile, with additional tests that can be added in.  The discounted rate runs from April 21 to May 23, and can be signed up for at the check-in desk of CMC.

Also on hand was Radiographer Benjamin Jacobsen.  “An ologist makes an extra zero on their paycheck,” he laughed.  Jacobsen had a popular table display of various X-rays demonstrating the kinds of things that radiographers and radiologists encounter on the job.  One X-ray showed a .22 shell inside an arm, along with darker spots that “show air pockets that happen during the entry of the bullet.”  While the information is perhaps somewhat obscure visually to a layperson, those trained in the field can instantly tell a lot from small differences in the images.  

An image that was less hard to make out was that of a quarter sitting inside the stomach of a younger patient from whom it eventually moved on, so to speak.  Another involved a case where the analyst was asked to look for medical evidence about weapon injuries to determine whether they were the result of self-harm or potential homicide.  As with many medical fields, the cases range from the entertaining to the very serious.  In any case, CMC has a range of resources available for patients.

“We have a brand new ultrasound, and a brand new MRI.  The MRI comes on a trailer three times a week, but ultrasound, CT, and X-ray are full time,” Jacobsen said.

Another provider at the Fair was Amy Fisher, who specializes in pain management.  “Most of my training has been in bigger cities,” Fisher said.  “It’s been really nice over the last couple years working in these communities because there are so many people who don’t travel or can’t travel, or whatever the circumstance may be.  It’s been great to be able to offer this service to people in those situations.  Being able to bring interventional pain management and not just pain medication has been a game changer.”

Interventional and other pain management is available for a wide variety of issues, including “low back pain, neck pain, joint pain, CRPS, bone inflammation, and a lot more.  One thing that doctor Measom offers is a minimal lumbar decompression.  Historically, the only way you could get that was through a surgeon, but he does it on an outpatient basis.  It’s really cool to offer these kinds of things—it’s fun to see the transition from people who think that the only way to treat the pain is through medication, and we’re able to show them that there are other options they may not have known about.”

Recently hired SEICAA director for Soda Springs Renae Lynch was among the representatives of agencies outside CMC itself, which also included WIC, Southeastern Idaho Public Health,  Enhabit Home Care, Symbii, Mountain View Dental, Bayer, the Soda Springs Library, Portneuf Medical, SSPD, and many others.

“It’s been a great tournout so far!” Erika Dannelly, director of Development and Marketing said.  “People were lined up at 7:00, and it’s been steady ever since.”

As Caribou Medical Center expands its service lines over the coming year, it also looks to expand its physical footprint in the area.  CMC announced last year that it had purchased property in Grace just south of the city park, where it intends to build a clinic to provide services in the area.  A survey of the property was recently completed, and bidding for the project is set to begin soon.  

“We really just want people to be more aware of what we offer, and let them know that there are a ton of services they can get right here in the county!” Dannelly said.