Dr. A Show 168 Preview: Dr. Deb Clements

This week, on Doctor Anonymous Show 168, I will be welcoming Family Physician Dr. Deb Clements who spent time in Haiti last month delivering health care to the people there. Check out her first person account in the video above. Dr. Clements is the Program Director at the Family Medicine Residency Program at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

So, I hope you can join me on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 9pm Eastern Time/8pm Central Time (1am UTC). If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. In addition, you can call into the show to say hello. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.

Stop The Medicare Meltdown

People are probably sick of hearing about this, and I know that I am sick of talking to people about it. But, today, June 1st, 2010, is the next deadline where there is a 21% cut in Medicare payment to physicians. Last Friday, the House of Representatives voted to freeze the cuts.

However, the Senate was not able to take up the legislation. The Senate won't be back in session until June 7th. Just like they did in the past the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will hold claims for the first 10 days in June in anticipation that there will be a retroactive fix when the Senate returns to session.

Everyone agrees that this has been and will be a crazy process until a permanent fix is done by Congress. There is a petition that is being circulated urging Congress to make that permanent fix. You can add your name right now by clicking here to Stop The Medicare Meltdown. I also encourage you to check out the video above from a Columbus, Ohio news station with comments from our friends at the Ohio State Medical Association. Congress, stop the madness!

Tornado of May 31, 1985

In this area, May 31, 2010 is not only the day we observe for Memorlal Day. It is also an anniversary of a day that changed this area forever. According to news reports, over the span of two hours, three tornados struck this area taking 19 lives and causing $140 million in damage. (Also check out the video above which was the best documentary of the storm)

In the picture above from another news story, it describes the memories of a skating rink that was destroyed at the time. I was in junior high at the time. I personally didn't know of this skating rink. But, in the 1980s, roller skating was a big thing (at least around here) and the news story describes that this skating rink was a very popular place to the local kids.

I share my memories of that Friday night 25 years ago, in the video below. But, basically, one of the memories I have is the realization of the power that weather can have. The news article also describes this in that there was (and still is) a cemetery in the area with very tall and old trees. Following the tornado, I remember seeing on the news - and eventually in person - all of those tall trees gone. Ever since then, my anxiety level increases when I hear those tornado sirens and when I hear any kind of tornado alerts....

Dr. A Show 167 Wrap-up

Thanks again to Dr. Jay Lee who was my guest on Doctor Anonymous Show 167. Check out the opening segment of the show in the video above. During the first part of the show, we discussed his background, including how he came to find medicine as a career, Family Medicine as a specialty, and public health as a passion.

In the second half of the show, we discussed advocacy for Family Medicine and for our patients. We also talked about utilizing social media for Family Medicine and patient advocacy. One of the great points that Dr. Lee brought up was, in addition to asking patients about health issues, to ask patients if they are registered to vote. Check out the video below for the closing moments of the show.

You can listen to the entire audio podcast of Doctor Anonymous Show 167 in the player below. Or, if you like, you can download the show and listen anytime by clicking here. I also encourage you to download other Dr. A Shows over on the show's iTunes page. Also, don't forget to check out the Facebook Fan page for the show and hit the huge "Like" button. Thanks so much for your continued support for the show!

Dr. A Show Tonight!

Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 9pm ET (1am UTC)

Join me tonight for Doctor Anonymous Show 167 with our guest Family Physician Dr. Jay Lee (pictured above) who is the Director of Health Policy at Long Beach Memorial Family Medicine. Dr. Lee obtained his Master of Public Health at Harvard University. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the California Academy of Family Physicians.

If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. In addition, you can call into the show to say hello. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.

Dr. A Show 167 Preview: Dr. Jay Lee

This week, on Doctor Anonymous Show 167, I'm happy to welcome fellow Family Physician Dr. Jay Lee from California. According to his facebook page, he is the Director of Health Policy at Long Beach Memorial Family Medicine. Dr. Lee obtained his Master of Public Health at Harvard University. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the California Academy of Family Physicians.

So, I hope that you can join us live on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 9pm Eastern Time/6pm Pacific Time for Doctor Anonymous Show 167. Even if you cannot join us live, you can download the recorded podcast over on the show's iTunes page. Also, check out the video promo for the show above. And, finally, don't forget to check out the Facebook Fan page and hit the "Like" button while you're there. See you for the show!

Dr. A Show 166 Wrap-up

Thanks so much to Friggen Ben and Kat for joining me on a special 2 hour Saturday night edition of The Doctor Anonymous Show were we chatted about sports, news, reality shows, and entertainment news. In the video above, Ben shares with us his current journey on his way to his gastric bypass surgery this summer.



You can listen to Doctor Anonymous Show 166 in the player below. Or, if you like, you can download the show and listen anytime by clicking here. If you enjoy this, you can download other shows over on the show's iTunes page. And, don't forget to check out the Facebook Fan page and hit the huge "Like" button at the top. Thanks for your continued support of the show!

Dr. A Show 165 Wrap-up

Thanks again to Larry Bauer who is the Chief Executive Officer for the Family Medicine Education Consortium. About half way into the show, we really started getting into ideas to help reform the US health care system. I encourage you to listen to that section of the show for a very good discussion.



In the video above, we also discussed the FMEC Northeast Regional Meeting which will take place October 29-31, 2010 in Hershey, PA. I'm happy to say that I will be doing a presentation at the conference on Family Physicians and Social Media (imagine that). So, I definitely encourage physicians, residents, medical students, and anyone else interested to join us at the meeting in October. It's gonna be a great time! (Also check out the video open to the show and the video closing to the show)



You can listen to Doctor Anonymous Show 165 in the player below. Or, if you like, you can download the show and listen anytime by clicking here. You can also have access to previous shows by clicking here. Don't forget to go to the show's Facebook page and press the "Like" button. Thanks for your continued support of the show!

Dr. A Show 165 Tonight

Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 9pm ET (0100 UTC)

I invite you to check out Doctor Anonymous Show 165 tonight when our guest will be Mr. Laurence Bauer who is the Chief Executive Officer at the Family Medicine Education Consortium and you can check out their website at FMEC.Net. You'll see a description of the organization in the video below.

I had a great conversation with Larry a few weeks ago when he asked me to present at the FMEC meeting this fall on the topic of Physicians and Social Media. Larry is a Social Worker by training but the stories that he can tell on how he got from being a counselor to working with Family Physicians - these are interesting stories - and part of the reason I asked him on the show.

As you can probably figure out from seeing the recent schedule of the show, I have been highlighting guests who are Family Physicians. If you didn't already know, I am a Family Physician myself and I think that family docs have many great stories to tell about themselves, their families, and their patients.

What the Family Medicine Education Consortium highlights are docs and groups of docs who are doing innovative things - in health care - that no one knows about - yet. The slogan to FMEC is "Driven To Innovate" and I'm very excited to talk with Larry about this and other topics on tonight's show...

If you are new to the show, I encourage you to catch us live. There is a great chat room that also goes on. You can even see my shining face on the webcam. In addition, you can call into the show to say hello. Can't catch us live? That's ok. You can listen anytime after the show as it is saved as a podcast so you can listen anytime!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Play/Chat" button. Then, of course, press the "Play/Chat" button.

American Stroke Month

May is American Stroke Month as designated by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. As I talk about in the video above (and in case you're wondering, yes, that is my new iPad sitting there right in front of me), stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. And, every 40 seconds, someone in the United States suffers from a stroke.

The key thing to recognize is that symptoms are sudden - whether it is weakness on one side of the body, difficulty with talking, difficulty with walking, or other neurological changes. One of the important things to remember is that even subtle weakness or difficulty with speech can be an early sign.

The symptom does not necessarily need to be severe. I have had a lot of patients who had very mild symptoms, thought the symptom was going to go away, only to have a major stroke a few hours later. So, if you, a loved one, a friend, an acquaintance, or even a total stranger, start to have these type of symptoms, get medical attention right away - Don't wait.

Check out more information over at the American Stroke Association website. If you found this interview helpful, I encourage you to check out other interviews I've had on local TV news on health topics over at MikeSevilla.TV - Click on the "My TV Interviews" link...