News

 Greater Regional Welcomes Orthopaedic Surgeon

Greater Regional Medical Center announced Damian Mizera, MD, a board certified orthopaedic surgeon, will join the Greater Regional medical staff in December.   Mizera, a general orthopaedic surgeon with experience in bone and joint care, specializes in adult joint replacement, knee and shoulder arthroscopy and fracture care.

Mizera will lead the effort to open a new Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Clinic at Greater Regional. The Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic will provide patients with a range of orthopaedic care including arthroscopy and joint replacement as well as sports medicine services.  Combined with the new Greater Regional Surgery Center scheduled to open in the Spring 2012, the state-of-the-art Radiology and Rehabilitation Departments and the full array of complementary services available at Greater Regional, a vast majority of orthopaedic care will be available locally with no need for patients to travel to a metropolitan center.  The new clinic will be located in the Medical Arts Plaza.  Dr. Mizera began welcoming new patients in December.  His office can be reached at 641-782-3887.

Greater Regional Offers Vein Clinic

Greater Regional Medical Center has announced the opening of a new Vein Clinic.  The Vein Clinic is a new service line being offered in coordination with Dr. Chris Downing and will enable vein care to be provided locally. 

Approximately 25 million Americans suffer from venous disease, a condition which often results in varicose veins and other painful symptoms.  These symptoms can have a significant effect on a person’s lifestyle.  The VNUS Closure ® is a minimally invasive alternative to traditional vein stripping for patients with superficial venous reflux, an underlying cause of varicose veins.  Greater Regional Vein Clinic will be offering this treatment for area patients suffering from the symptoms associated with varicose veins.

To learn more, the public is invited to attend an educational session on Tuesday, October 18th at 5:00 p.m. in the Medical Arts Plaza Conference Room or on Tuesday, November 1st at 5:00 p.m. in the Lenox Community Center.  A light meal will be served at the educational sessions.  In addition, an initial screening event will be held Tuesday, November 15th between the hours of 5:00-7:00 p.m.  To pre-register for any of these events, please call 641-782-3828.

To schedule an appointment with the Vein Clinic, call 641-782-2131.

Medical breakthroughs hold promise for people, and costs

Written by:  Dr. Richard L. Deming; Medical Director of Greater Regional Cancer Center and Mercy Cancer Center in Des Moines

   You see it every time you open a newspaper or listen to the radio: the newest miracle concoction to help you lose weight, feel younger or extend your life. It is enough to make the most open-minded person skeptical, but as a physician, I take a critical eye to all new claims.
However, every once and a while, a miracle claim occurs which truly excites the medical community. Such a situation happened recently with the announcement from the University of Pennsylvania of a new therapy for leukemia.
This potential breakthrough has been shown effective in three cases thus far. It has helped two patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia become cancer free after a year and has greatly improved another patient’s condition, although not completely rid him or her of cancer.
This new therapy uses the cancer patient’s own body to fight the disease by genetically modifying the T-cells in his/her blood to attack the cancer cells. The major side effects are damage to infection fighting blood cells and extreme flulike symptoms as the cancer cells are rapidly expelled from the body.
   To be fair, this is an extremely small number of patients to declare an all-out cure, but the potential is present if this success can be repeated.
In fact, therapy of this kind may have the prospects to be replicated for other blood cancers or expanded to all forms of cancer.
This type of innovative medical breakthrough can significantly reduce the cost of chronic disease and relieve an incredible financial burden to our health care system. With cancer consuming approximately $263 billion annually in direct and indirect expenses, an outright cure would free up billions in health care costs and allow researchers to focus on other conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Furthermore, we must not forget the personal cost cancer consumes. In Iowa, more than 17,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed annually, and in 2010 cancer claimed the lives of nearly 6,400 of our citizens. These lives lost are productive Iowans with families who suffer emotionally and economically at the death of their loved one.
   Everyone in Iowa has been touched by cancer. My mom died of cancer when I was young. As a cancer doctor for over 25 years, I have been witness to the deaths of thousands of wonderful, intelligent, caring and compassionate patients. They live on in our memories and serve as a constant source of inspiration. I am also blessed to witness the incredible grace, grit and determination of cancer survivors who inspire me every day to continue the fight. It’s for all of them that I continue to carry the torch.
   The continued success of earth-shattering research like this hinges on the establishment of public/private partnerships to fully utilize the resources provided. Collaboration and shared research will break down the silos holding back years of gains. We must also continue to fund research opportunities through our universities, medical research facilities and government health entities, including the National Cancer Institute, to grow research potential. Fostering this talent pool could lead us to the next generation of medical innovation.
   We never know when the next breakthrough will occur or what new procedure will cause significant gains. I hope this new gene therapy is the baseline cure for blood cancers and beyond. However, without continued support of our higher learning institutions and medical research facilities, we may never succeed in our ultimate goal to eliminate one of the most costly chronic diseases, cancer.

Greater Regional Medical Center Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Program Certified by Industry Leader

Greater Regional Medical Center is proud to announce the certification of its cardiovascular rehabilitation program by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR). Greater Regional Medical Center was recognized for its commitment to improving the quality of life by enhancing standards of care. Greater Regional has offered a certified program to the region since 2005.

Cardiovascular rehabilitation programs are designed to help people with cardiovascular problems (e.g. heart attacks, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, etc.)  recover faster and improve their quality of life. The program includes exercise, education, counseling and support for patients and their families.

The Greater Regional Medical Center cardiovascular rehabilitation program participated in the one month application process which requires extensive documentation of the program’s practices. The AACVPR Program Certification is the only peer-reviewed accreditation process designed to review individual programs for adherence to standards and guidelines developed and published by the AACVPR and other professional societies. Each program is reviewed by the AACVPR National Certification Committee and certification is awarded by the AACVPR Board of Directors.

Certified AACVPR programs are recognized as leaders in the field of cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation because they offer the most advanced practices available. AACVPR Program Certification is valid for three years.

About AACVPR
Founded in 1985, the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the mission of reducing morbidity, mortality and disability from cardiovascular and pulmonary disease through education, prevention, rehabilitation, research and disease management. Central to the core mission is improvement in quality of life for patients and their families.
 

Greater Regional Welcome Internal Medicine Physician

Milicent Young, M.D. recently joined the Greater Regional Medical Center – Morning Star Internal Medicine Clinic as an internal medicine physician.  Dr. Young attended Drake University in Des Moines where she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology.  She graduated medical school at Finch University – The Chicago Medical School in 1999 and completed her residency in 2002 at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network in Lehigh, Pennsylvania.   Dr. Young has most recently been a staff physician and diabetologist at Diabetes America in Texas.
 Greater Regional Medical Center has planned an open house to welcome Dr.Young to the community on Friday, August 26th at 10:00-11:00 a.m. in the Medical Arts Plaza Conference Room at the Medical Center.  The public is invited to attend.

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Young, call the Morning Star Internal Medical Clinic at (641) 782-3641.