The Volunteer Voice
E-Newsletter
March 1st, 2019
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VIM Participates in United Way's
Poverty Simulator
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Did you know nearly
thirty percent
of children in the Wyoming Valley live in poverty? On Tuesday, February 19th,
Chelsea Collins
, Social Care Coordinator, and
Sara Herr
, Master of Social Work Student, had the opportunity to participate in the
United Way's Poverty Simulator
held at the Salvation Army in Wilkes-Barre. Dozens of community leaders participated in the exercise and gained a new perspective of what it's like to live in poverty.
Patients at VIM work with an income at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and face many of the scenarios from the simulator on a daily basis. The
Health Equity Program
at the clinic assists patients with resources for social barriers that may effect health in the areas of nutritional foods, employment, transportation and housing.
Click the link below to view the news coverage of the event provided by WBRE.
Pictured above, on the right, is Sara Herr, participating in the simulation.
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Patients Begin Utilizing Pennsylvania Vision Foundation Benefits
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Thanks to a new partnership with the
Pennsylvania Vision Foundation
, patients at VIM are now able to utilize vision insurance benefits. After the VIM Nursing Director submits an application to VBA, notice is provided and the patient is able to select a doctor of their choice from the provider list.
Benefits include
comprehensive exams, spectacle lenses and frames. PA Vision Foundation covers the cost of the insurance benefit, allowing free vision services to the VIM patient. Another example of how partnerships and collaborations are key to
assisting VIM
in providing comprehensive care to low income uninsured patients.
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A thirty-two year old male patient first came into the dental clinic with an
abscess tooth
and many dental caries. A treatment plan was established to get the patient out of pain and for him to receive dentures. After a cycle of antibiotics, the patient had
numerous teeth extracted
by Dr. Richard Grossman, volunteer dentist. Once the healing process was complete, impressions for dentures were taken. When the patient received his dentures he was thrilled to have a new, full smile and
thanked the staff and volunteers
for all they had done.
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Welcome to Our New Volunteers & Students
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Valerie Simmons
joined the clinic as a volunteer this week. She will be assisting as a receptionist and helping with other office duties. Valerie is a
retired nurse
and is excited to be a part of VIM since she
"loves helping people"
.
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Justin Kacyon
is a pharmacy student from Wilkes University that began his advanced pharmacy practice experience at the
clinic last week
. He is in his fourth year of pharmacy school and from Nescopek.
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Lucy Vavrek
joined the clinic as a volunteer nurse. She currently works full-time in a local
emergency department but still finds it in her heart to volunteer
. Lucy chose to volunteer at VIM to "help my community and those who may need help". As a bi-lingual nurse, she is also
helping to translate
for patients, which she enjoys since she doesn't speak Spanish often.
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Amanda Walsh
is a pharmacy student from Wilkes University that also began her advanced pharmacy practice experience at the clinic last week. She is interested in practicing in a
managed care
or community pharmacy upon graduation. She is also an
avid animal lover
with seven cats and two dogs at home!
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Brianna Boyer
is a pharmacy student from Wilkes University and spent time volunteering at the clinic this week. She is in her second year of pharmacy school and would like to
practice pharmacy
in a setting with plenty of patient interaction. Brianna "loves to learn and share her knowledge with
the local community
".
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Shlonda Branton
, a nursing student from Wilkes-Barre Career and Technical Center completed her
six-week rotation
at the clinic this week. She would highly recommend this internship to other students and said it was an
excellent learning experience
. We wish her much success in all her future endevours!
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Healthy Smiles Program
Visits Local Preschools
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The
dental clinic staff
have been busy presenting the "Healthy Smile for a Healthy Start" Program during
National Children's Dental Health
month!
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Schoolhouse Day Care Center in Plains on February 15
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Cookie Corner in Wyoming on February 20th
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Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre on February 27th
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Updated Narcotics Agreement
By Frances Feudale, DO, Medical Director of VIM
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The clinic recently updated the
Narcotics Agreement Form
. The form is now called the “
Agreement for Controlled Substance Prescriptions
” and will be available in English and Spanish. It is a policy at VIM and extremely important to use this form on ALL patients who are prescribed ANY controlled substances including narcotics, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, amphetamines, and other substances (i.e. testosterone, midrin, tranxene, chloral hydrate, and soma). This is not an all-inclusive list. The full list is available at the following link -
Full Narcotics Listing
.
There are certainly times when our patients will need controlled substances to
treat their condition
but as we all know many of these medications can easily become addictive so when prescribing these medications please keep these things in mind:
1) Try to use other medications and therapies first.
3) Counsel the patients on the risks of addiction and explain that this is short-term therapy ONLY.
4) Start at the lowest dose possible; prescribe the least amount possible and do not give any refills.
5) Schedule a follow up appointment to re-evaluate the medication’s effectiveness before providing refills.
6) Document your goals and treatment plan in MEDENT so that other providers can follow it.
7) Get others involved early (counseling, orthopedics, chiropractors, etc.).
8) Re-evaluate your patients often and always consider weaning patients off these medications, especially those who have been on them for a long period of time.
If you
have any questions
regarding this, please feel free to contact Dr. Frances Feudale at drfrances-vim@hotmail.com.
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Wilkes Pharmacy Student Presents at
Clinic's Monthly In-Service
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On Tuesday, February 26th,
Danica Benson
, a pharmacy student at Wilkes University, presented "The Importance of Pharmacology" to the clinic's staff and volunteers. She presented
information on how medications
enter the body and the various effects they have. Danica has also been a
dedicated volunteer
at VIM for many years, helping out wherever she is needed.
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Save the Date
Upcoming Educational Community In-Services
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Learning about other Luzerne County
community agencies in order to refer patients
is one of the many ways that VIM provides case management services. All in-services are from
9:00 am to 10:00 am
and are held at the clinic. If you would like to join us for the next presentation, please
RSVP to Chelsea
at
chelsea-vimwb@hotmail.com
or 570-970-2864.
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Tuesday, March 26th
Volunteers of America
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Tuesday, May 28th
Victims Resource Center
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Recently, news outlets have been reporting
measles cases
across the United States. Thirty-six cases of measles have been confirmed since the beginning of the year in Washington state and Oregon, with two cases known to have spread to Hawaii from visitors who carried it there from Washington. If that isn’t bad enough, our neighbor to the north, New York, is having its worst outbreak in decades with more than 200 cases. Since measles is
extremely contagious
- if you are NOT vaccinated and come into contact with measles, you have a 90% chance of contracting the disease. It is only a matter of time until we see another case in Pennsylvania.
Measles is a virus that lives in the nose and throat of an infected person. It can spread to others through coughing and sneezing and can live for up to two hours in the
contaminated air
or on an infected surface. It typically begins with a fever (101°F) or higher, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes. Two or three days after symptoms begin,
tiny white spots
may appear inside the mouth. Three to five days later, a rash breaks out. It usually begins as flat red spots that appear on the face and spreads downward. The spots may become joined together as they spread. When the rash appears, a person’s fever may spike to more than 104°F. After a few days, the fever subsides and the rash fades.
Infected people
can spread measles to others from four days before through four days after the rash appears.
Fortunately, most will recover but some will suffer mild or moderate complications like otitis media, pneumonia, bronchitis, or diarrhea. However, even in healthy children and adults, measles can cause
serious illness
requiring hospitalization. For example, one out of every 1,000 measles cases will develop acute encephalitis, which often results in permanent brain damage and
one or two out of every 1,000 children
who become infected with measles will die from respiratory and neurologic complications. Furthermore, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a rare, but fatal degenerative disease of the central nervous system characterized by behavioral and intellectual deterioration and seizures that generally develop 7 to 10 years after measles infection.
If you
suspect a case
of measles, please place a mask on the patient immediately and isolate the patient from others as much as possible. Immediately contact the
PA Department of Health
at 1-877-PA-HEALTH for consultation regarding testing, assistance with diagnosis, treatment, isolation precautions, etc.
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Patient Centered Medical Home Update
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This week's conference call with the Americares team covered the
Access & Continuity
and
Care Management
modules of the self-assessment on VIM's Electronic Medical Records system. The clinic has two modules left to review with the Americares team before moving on to the
work plan portion
of the PCMH certification process.
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Volunteers
in
Medicine
190 North Pennsylvania Avenue
Wilkes-Barre PA 18702
Phone: 570-970-2864 | email: vimwb@hotmail.com
website www.vimwb.org
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