Health
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
UKIAH, Calif. – MCHC Health Centers dentist Dr. Connie Austin not only provides excellent dental care, she inspires disadvantaged youngsters who have big dreams.
Austin is a shining example of what can happen when you pursue your goals relentlessly, and her story is a reminder of the importance of a mentor in children’s lives.
Austin grew up in Mississippi with two sisters, cared for by a single mother who did not go to college, but who championed her children’s educations nonetheless.
Austin did well in high school and had dreams of becoming a dentist, but when she realized she had to continue with physics in college, she did not have much confidence, so she began reassessing her goals – considering becoming a dental hygienist rather than a dentist.
“If I’d had a counselor or someone to encourage me, I probably would have continued on my original path, but I was scared. I hated physics. If I’d known how much harder it would be to learn it later in life, I would definitely have stuck with it in high school,” she said.
Shortly after beginning college, she fell in love and began thinking about getting married and starting a family, and that solidified her decision to forego becoming a dentist.
“I didn’t want to wait forever to start a family,” she explained. She got married, but never had children, and seven years later she and her husband divorced.
By this time, she was well established in her career as a dental hygienist. She continued to work for a dentist in Houston, Texas for years, while one dentist periodically nudged her – asking her if she was happy, telling her she was a great hygienist and could certainly become a dentist.
Over time, his message sunk in; she realized the barriers to her becoming a dentist had disappeared. She had confidence that if she worked hard enough, she could pass the required courses, and she had no one to care for but herself, so she decided to go back to school.
The test to become a dentist is called the Dental Admission Test, or DAT. It is a standardized test that assesses competencies in areas important to dentistry.
The test includes four sections: Survey of the natural sciences (including biology, general chemistry and organic chemistry), perceptual ability test, reading comprehension test, and quantitative reasoning test. A person can take the DAT up to three times but must score well by the third attempt or be permanently denied.
Austin had always done well in school, so she signed up for the DAT figuring it would not be too difficult for someone who had spent the last 15 years as a dental hygienist. She did not study much and was very disappointed when she did not score high enough. The test was much harder than she anticipated.
She reasoned that if she studied, she would do much better, but working full-time and being an adult learner was more challenging than she expected. She took the test a second time, and did far better, but not well enough. It was a moment of truth: How much did she want this?
She was inspired by Randy Pausch’s book titled “The Last Lecture.” Until then, she had not put her full determination into this goal. This all changed. She studied during every lunch break. Instead of going home after work, she went to the library to study.
She decided Pausch was right: “Road blocks are for people who don’t want it bad enough.” On her last attempt on the DAT, her score improved dramatically.
During her first year in dental school, she became a National Health Corps Scholar, a prestigious scholarship program that pays for college tuition and a monthly stipend in return for service in an underserved area.
She finished dental school followed by an Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency, then began working at MCHC Health Centers in July.
She chose MCHC because she liked the community and organization. She said, “It’s a great program.”
She especially enjoys the focus on dentistry for children and also appreciates the integrated approach to care – having medical, dental and behavioral health professionals work together to help patients. “I really like the family element here,” she said.
She feels grateful that she now has the opportunity to do what she always wanted to do, and she also feels a responsibility to pay it forward.
“My mom never finished eighth grade, but all of her children went to college. She told us to shoot high,” she said, “But she didn’t always know how to help us. I never had a mentor in that sense.”
So, Austin says she wants to provide that mentorship. She currently has a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands living with her and she is making community connections, so she is in a better position to help others.
“You can always find a reason not to do something, to justify not taking action. But that doesn’t get you where you want to go,” she said.
Dr. Austin is one of two dentists who are National Health Corps Scholars at MCHC, a local non-profit organization providing access to comprehensive healthcare for people in Ukiah, Willits and Lakeport.
MCHC Operations Officer Jill Damian said, “MCHC is proud to bring compassionate, well-trained providers to our region,” and she noted that all MCHC health centers accept Partnership (Medi-Cal), Medicare, Covered California insurance and other insurance.
Learn more at www.mchcinc.org.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Sutter Lakeside Community Clinic recently welcomed Richard Deits, MD, to its roster of providers.
Dr. Deits, a heart specialist, is board-certified in cardiology and internal medicine, and has nearly 40 years of experience in practice.
He diagnoses and treats cardiovascular disease, as well as helps patients manage chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels.
He joins Dr. John Minotti and Dr. Jaime Molden in providing cardiac care to Lake County.
Dr. Deits’ original career was as an electrical engineer; his work with the government led him to discover the intricacies of human physiology.
“I found that the human body was the most impressive piece of engineering I’d ever seen,” said Deits. “To figure it out, I had to go to medical school.”
He received his MD from D Geffen School of Medicine – UCLA, completed his internal medicine residency at St. Mary Medical Center (Long Beach), and cardiology training and fellowship at Harbor – UCLA Medical Center (Torrance).
Prior to joining Sutter Lakeside Community Clinic, Dr. Deits has been in solo practice in Los Angeles and group practice in Orange County, and has served as the COO and vice president of an Electronic Medical Records company in Pasadena, Calif.
His most recent work prior to coming to Lake County was as a member of Oak Hills Medical Corporation in Bakersfield.
Dr. Deits is accepting new patients.
To schedule an appointment, call Sutter Lakeside Community Clinic at 707-263-6885.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
People should not buy or eat romaine lettuce; restaurants should stop serving it; and anyone who has it on hand should throw it out and clean the refrigerator immediately.
This advisory was issued as a precaution after 32 people in 11 states have become ill in the last month with an aggressive form of E. coli, a bacteria blamed for a number of food-borne outbreaks in recent years.
This E. coli outbreak was first identified on Oct. 8 and has led to the hospitalization of 13 people, including one person who developed kidney failure. So far no deaths have been reported.
Roughly a third of the cases were reported in California; the others are concentrated in the northeast and in the Great Lakes region.
Another 18 people have gotten sick in Canada. The source has not yet been identified, but the lettuce was most likely grown in the US or Canada.
While the bacteria in these cases are genetically different from an E. coli outbreak associated with Romaine lettuce earlier this year, the strain in this current outbreak (identified as Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7) has been involved in other outbreaks.
The most serious one was in 1993 that killed four children and left nearly 200 other people very ill from eating contaminated hamburger meat.
Symptoms of E. coli Infection
– People usually get sick from Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) 2–8 days (average of 3–4 days) after swallowing the germ.
– Some people with a STEC infection may get a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Up to half of the people with known infections in this outbreak have needed to be hospitalized.
– E. coli infection is usually diagnosed by testing a stool sample.
– Antibiotics are not recommended for patients with suspected E. coli infections. Some studies have shown that administering antibiotics to patients with E. coli infections might increase their risk of developing kidney problems, and a benefit of treatment has not been clearly demonstrated.
What to do
– Consumers who have any type of romaine lettuce in their home should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick.
– This advice includes all types or uses of romaine lettuce, such as whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, and bags and boxes of precut lettuce and salad mixes that contain romaine, including baby romaine, spring mix, and Caesar salad.
– If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine or whether a salad mix contains romaine, do not eat it and throw it away.
– Wash and sanitize drawers or shelves in refrigerators where romaine was stored.
– Restaurants and retailers should not serve or sell any romaine lettuce, including salads and salad mixes containing romaine.
Take action if you have symptoms of an E. coli infection
– Talk to your health care provider.
– Write down what you ate in the week before you started to get sick.
– Report your illness to the health department.
– Assist public health investigators by answering questions about your illness.
For more information go to: https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-11-18/index.html .
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- Written by: Sutter Lakeside Hospital
The seminar will be on Thursday, Nov. 29, from 5 to 6 p.m. in the hospital conference room at 5176 Hill Road East in Lakeport.
Interested participants can register by calling 707-262-5121.
The seminar will include light refreshments, a brief presentation on common musculoskeletal and speech-language conditions, and an open forum for attendees to ask questions.
Half of Americans report muscular or skeletal injuries – painful and debilitating injuries or conditions that affect daily productivity.
In fact, musculoskeletal conditions are far more common than other chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes, or respiratory disease.
From a child with a broken arm to a senior with a hip replacement, physical therapy can benefit people of all ages.
Physical therapy can reduce or eliminate musculoskeletal pain, help patients recover from an injury without surgery, improve mobility, recover from a stroke, and more.
Additionally, rehabilitation services include speech-language therapy. Speech-language therapy aids patients of all ages in a number of ways, including recovery from a stroke or overcoming a stutter.
Sutter Lakeside recently expanded its speech-language therapy program to include pediatric speech-language therapy, which can help children with speech disorders such as difficulty producing sounds or pronouncing words correctly, and language disorders such as difficulty understanding or processing language.
For more information on rehabilitation services, visit www.sutterhealth.org/lakeside.
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