Somewhere Between Not Hard Enough and Too Hard

During the past several weeks, we’ve been focusing on heart disease. We’ve talked about the signs of a heart attack and how they may differ between men and women. We’ve talked about knowing your numbers and getting your blood tested to learn your cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

This week, we turn our attention to your heart rate when it comes to resting and exercise. Are you making that workout count? Cardiovascular exercise has tremendous physical and mental benefits to reduce your risk factors for chronic disease and increase your overall mental and physical wellness.

Remember, you should always visit with your healthcare provider before you begin any new exercise regimen to be sure you are healthy enough for exercise.

When you have the go-ahead from your healthcare provider, it’s time to learn your numbers. The American Heart Association recommends knowing your resting heart rate and your maximum heart rate.

First, determine your resting heart rate in the morning as you wake up but before you get out of bed. Place your first and second fingertips on the inside of your wrist and feel for your heartbeat. Using a clock or watch with a second hand, count the number of beats you feel in a ten-second period. Multiply this number by six and you have your resting heart rate per minute.

The AHA says that your maximum heart rate for exercise is 220 minus your age. If you are 50 years old, your maximum rate during exercise is 170. Your range should be 50 to 85 percent of that number.

A simple way to know where your heart rate may be is that if you are working at 50 percent, say while on a stroll with a friend, you can carry on a conversation. If you are engaging in moderately intense activity, you can still talk, but probably not be able to sing. If you cannot say more than a few words at a time before needing a breath, you are working vigorously.

Another way to learn your personal target heart rate is at the Paul W. Ahrens Fitness Center. Our personal wellness coaches will conduct a fitness test on our treadmill to determine your ideal numbers.

GRMC offers wellness coaching to help you wherever you are on your wellness journey.

If you are just starting out with exercise, our coaches will work with you and your physician to help you assess your needs and create a safe and effective workout that is just right for you. Or if you have been exercising for a while and want to step up your efforts for a greater challenge, they can design a super workout.

Take this journey step by step. First step: Talk with your healthcare provider. Second step: Call GRMC Wellness Services at 641-236-2999 and ask to make an appointment with a personal coach today.  

Doctor's office? Urgent care? ER? Where do I go?

Because life’s injuries and illnesses don’t conveniently happen according to schedule, GRMC is providing another option for care. Manatt Family Urgent Care will open on Thursday, February 13 at 7 a.m. for walk-in service.

Emergency Conditions:

If you are ever in doubt, come to the GRMC emergency department or call 9-1-1 when these conditions are present:

     Bleeding that will not stop

     Breathing problems (difficulty breathing, shortness of breath)

     Change in mental status (such as unusual behavior, confusion, difficulty arousing)

     Chest pain

     Choking

     Coughing up or vomiting blood

     Deep or large wound

     Fainting or loss of consciousness

     Feeling of committing suicide or murder

     Head or spine injury

     Severe or persistent vomiting

     Sudden injury due to a motor vehicle accident, burns or smoke inhalation, near drowning

     Sudden, severe pain anywhere in the body

     Sudden dizziness, weakness, or change in vision

     Swallowing a poisonous substance

     Upper abdominal pain or pressure

           From American College of Emergency Physicians

Manatt Family Urgent Care is staffed by Wendi Beck, PA-C and Heidi Powers, ARNP. Michelle Rebelsky, MD, is the clinic’s medical director.

Urgent care does not replace your primary care provider, but can serve as a bridge for care when you can’t get in to see your regular provider.

Urgent care is for:

·       Non-chronic conditions that are urgent, but do not require emergency care.

·       Patients age two years and older.

·       Times when you need to be seen but can’t get into your regular healthcare provider because their schedule is already full or before and after primary care offices are closed.

Urgent, but not emergency health issues include:

Respiratory illnesses:

Colds, coughs

Chest or nasal congestion

Seasonal allergies

Sinus infections

Sore throats/laryngitis

Mild fevers

Head, ear and eye conditions:

Minor headaches

Pink eye/stye

Ear ache/infections

Skin conditions:

Rashes/itch

Athlete’s foot

Cold sores

Insect bites

Sunburns

Cuts that need stitches

Stomach and general urinary infections:

Diarrhea

Nausea/vomiting

Yeast or bladder infections – burning during urination

Minor Injuries – other conditions

Mild asthma

Simple burns

Cuts that need stitches

Minor sprains/strains

Minor musculoskeletal injury

For example, let’s say it is Tuesday afternoon and your child’s school calls to tell you that your child is running a fever and is complaining of an earache. You call your regular healthcare provider and they do not have any openings available for your child to be seen that day. That’s a good time to go to Manatt Family Urgent Care. No appointment needed, just come in.

Another example – Your husband twists his ankle at softball practice at 5:30 p.m. Your regular healthcare providers’ office is closed. Another good reason to drive to Manatt Family Urgent Care.

Don’t have a medical home or a regular primary care provider? Manatt Family Urgent Care staff will help you find a provider who meets your needs.

If your healthcare providers’ office is closed and Manatt Family Urgent Care is closed and your medical need – including those listed above – cannot wait until one of them is open, come to GRMC emergency department.  We’re always there when you need us.

Links:

1. Recognizing Medical Emergencies

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001927.htm

The Number One Killer of Women

Do you know the warning signs of a heart attack?

We’re pretty well acquainted with signs in men and while everyone experiences a heart attack in their own way, there are symptoms that make you pay attention. Men tend to experience symptoms in their chest – tightness, pressure, and pain.

For women, the signs are much more subtle. They look and feel differently. It may feel like the flu coming on with nausea, sweating, lightheadedness. Women may feel the tightness and pain in their jaw or in the back between the shoulder blades or radiating down the arms rather than in their chest. There may be shortness of breath even without chest pain.

Because these heart attack symptoms in women tend to look a lot like other health issues, women will often dismiss them. And that is where the danger lies. Don’t ignore these symptoms – seek help immediately. If you are wrong and it is the flu, count yourself lucky. If it is a heart attack, those minutes truly make all the difference between life and death.

Learn more. Go to www.heart.org.

February 7, 2014 is Go Red for Women Day. Show your support by wearing red.

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/WarningSignsofaHeartAttack/Heart-Attack-Symptoms-in-Women_UCM_436448_Article.jsp

A Walk in the Shoes with One of the Nation’s Top 50 Rural Hospital CEOs

“Undercover CEO” is a popular new television reality show where the CEO of a major corporation will go undercover and work in an entry level position somewhere within the organization. They learn a great deal about their employees and how they do their job. Many learn that the processes their employees go through in their work are difficult, awkward, and sometimes, truly rewarding.

 

From time to time, GRMC President and CEO Todd Linden does this, but not undercover. He will shadow an employee to learn how they do their job to be able to have a full sense of the hospital operation at every level. Todd refers to this as “A Walk in the Shoes.”

Let’s take a quick “walk in the shoes” with Todd.

A typical day? There’s no such thing as a typical day. Every single day presents something new. There is an agenda to the day that can be cast aside at a moment’s notice if say, for example, the local high school experiences a sewer leak and more than 35 students and teachers arrive in the emergency department. If that happens, Todd jumps in and takes on the role of helping to escort students to receive medical attention.

Most of his days are back-to-back meetings with physicians, department managers, conference calls, patients and members of the community, and with other administrative team members. He makes time to join the GRMC Auxiliary Board monthly meeting to update them on what’s new at GRMC. Meetings with board members, potential donors, and teams of people working on capital improvements and renovations fill his daily agenda.

Meetings in the community. Todd currently serves as a trustee of Grinnell College and on the Grinnell Chamber of Commerce board. He has served on several community boards and committees.

Email. Todd receives hundreds of emails on a daily basis and does an amazing job of sorting and replying given the sheer number of them.

Phone calls. If communication isn’t by email, it’s by telephone – landline or cell while he’s dashing to a meeting.

Travel is a big part of the job. Sometimes, meetings have to happen face-to-face and not via telephone. Todd is a hospital administrator who is regularly called upon to present to groups around the country on topics like healthcare reform and board governance. During his tenure at GRMC, Todd has created a well-worn path between Grinnell, Iowa, and Washington, DC, where he has advocated for healthcare reform, equity in Medicare reimbursement, and for the greater Poweshiek County community.

It’s no surprise to us that Becker’s Hospital Review this week named Todd as one of the “Top 50Rural Hospital CEOs to Know.” 

In the announcement, BHR says: “These 50 presidents and CEOs have shown commitment to providing high-quality, accessible care to their patient populations and have approached the challenge of rural healthcare with great aplomb.”

For 20 years, Todd has been president and CEO of GRMC. That’s pretty impressive when the national average tenure for a hospital CEO is five years.

It’s been Todd’s vision and leadership that has led GRMC to be the organization we are today. Congratulations, Todd, on this well-earned national recognition!

*For this list, "rural" was defined as being located outside a major metropolitan area or healthcare hub. Leaders were selected based on a number of factors, including awards received; local, regional and national leadership positions held and their organization's recent performance. Nominations were also considered.