Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 14, JULY 14, 2008, THE ISLANDER
(News to Q-CeCv
The Best is Yet to Be
By Clark Gillespie M.D.,
Professor Emeritus, the University of Arkansas
Flat feet and hypertension
Our beloved government is a great
collector of facts and figures (as well as
cash) and of storing them with great
precision and detail (but not the cash).
These statistical collections of theirs, of
course, also include every conceivable
medical figure and number.
Trouble is it is often hard to for us
regulars to retrieve the information
that we need. Just for example, sup
pose I wanted to write to you about flat
feet and its senior medical problems,
and I wanted to highlight the story
with the number of us Americans so-
afflicted.
Well, that information is available
but you have to piece it together over
time from its splintering amongst vari
ous age groups, ethnic groups, and
sex groups, as well as severity groups,
weight groups, complication groups
and on and on. Then you must taken
the given per thousand figures for each
group, and translate those numbers
to real flat-footers, have a drink, go to
bed, and start the story again tomor
row morning.
Excuse my dilly-dallying over a
matter that has little to do with this
column’s concerns, but I was frustrated
just looking for a figure that comprised
the total numbers of us who were liv
ing with high blood pressure -hyper
tension.
All I can say to you from my search
is that for the last year of record (2004),
some 44,000,000 clinic and 1,500,000
ER patient visits revealed hyperten
sion to be the primary diagnosis. We
are all aware that this blood pressure
disorder is a very large source of our
American illness and disability - and
these figures simply sustain that fact.
Also just note that this hypertension is
responsible for 50% of our heart attack
events and 75% of our stroke events!
Enough said.
Enough said about those figures,
that is. What is not yet said, though,
is the fact that hypertension is a silent
but totally reversible medical problem
and that only about one third of us
plagued with it get or take the appro
priate treatment to achieve that goal.
A study in the Journal of the Ameri
can Medical Association of June 25th,
2008 and written by Daniel W. Jones,
M.D., along with Eric D. Peterson,
M.D., MPH, reports upon this sad
situation and states that we will not
even meet the modest 2010 goals of the
Healthy People Initiative which years
ago asked for a 50% treatment target
by that year.
Searching for clues to explain this
immense failure, the authors have
reported certain cause related to phy
sician inertia for not, as they report,
increasing treatment measures when
the pressure goals are still unmet.
We patients, however, must carry the
greatest failure load since we often
decline to seek or to continue care, we
practice massive medication neglect,
and lifestyle abuse - all practices that
rank high in management collapse
against this silent killer.
In order to reduce such exorbitant
waste of life, talent and therapy, these
doctors here report on their double
programs in attempting to increase
success in hypertension management
and control.
The first program offered patients
with uncontrolled hypertension, free
home blood pressure monitoring equip
ment plus access to a secure website.
Using this web site the participating
patients would have access to informa
tion and question-answers from clini
cians also involved in the program.
The second study involved a similar
group of equally hypertensive patients.
They, too, would be given pressure
monitors and a secure website - plus
the personal services of a clinical phar
macist. Of course, both groups had
been started on proper medication and
care.
At the end of a full year of observation
the first group had slightly improved in
care continuation - up to 36 % - a figure
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which represented a 5% improvement
over routine clinic management. Sig
nificantly better, however, the second
group had a continuation rate of 56% .
This whole study, although inter
nally valid and statistically sound and
meaningful, is not itself applicable
for wide, non-study use in general
practice. As just a single and simple
potential limitation, not everyone with
hypertension has internet access nor
capability.
On the other hand, it becomes clear
in the second study that unstructured
access to live and personal medical
internet resources is a powerful source
of continued treatment strength and
support. Indeed, some major health
organizations are finding this internet
approach to be the next big advance in
medical care delivery.
The American Heart Association,
for instance, is developing a Blood
Pressure Management Center which
will allow patients to automatically
upload personal blood pressure data
from their home along with other per
sonal health information relevant to
this problem. Thus, help and support
becomes equally downloadable - but
still, all of this medical care and help
is dependant, of course, on computer
access and a little bit of internet know
how.
We are concurrently still searching
for any other viable source to help us
control this abysmal destroyer. Our
search, incidentally, involves a diligent
look for just a little bit of personal
responsibility.
All in all, we surely will be finding in
our search, new tools that will involve
patient and physician in integrated
clinical settings, will be more effective,
cost-sparing, and, most importantly,
will save lives. “I
Glynn Family Medicine Center
welcomes new physicians to team
The Glynn Family Medicine Center
welcomes family medicine physicians
John Blumer, MD, and Chester Mes-
sick Jr., MD, to the team. Both physi
cians will begin seeing patients on July
16.
Blumer, a native of Louisville, Ga.,
completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s
degrees from the University of Georgia,
and received his medical degree from
the Mercer University School of Medi
cine in Macon. After completing his
residency in Charleston, SC, at Trident
Family Medicine,
Blumer returned
to Louisville to
practice at Jef
ferson Hospital
before accepting
the offer to join
Glynn Family
Medicine Center.
“At age six, my
twin brother had open heart surgery
and that is what started my interest in
medicine,” Blumer said. “And growing
up in a small town and always seeing
a family doctor, my idea of becoming
a doctor was to become a family physi
cian—that is what I wanted to be.”
Blumer is currently a member of the
American Academy of Family Physi
cians and the American Medical Asso
ciation and has been published in sev
eral medical journals.
He and his wife Valerie were attract
ed to the Golden Isles right away.
Blumer, an avid fisherman and out-
doorsman, participated in the South
Carolina Department of natural
Resources Master Angler Program as
well as other conservation efforts. His
wife will teach science at Glynn Acad
emy beginning in August. They have
two children, Jack, 4, and Amelia, 6.
Messick completed his undergradu
ate degree in chemistry/biology from
West Chester University in West Ches
ter, Pa. He gained medical experience
through stints as a medical specialist in
the U.S. Army, including a registered
radiologic technologist, a cardio-pul-
monary marketing specialist, and a
pharmaceutical representative.
“I have always had an interest in
medicine, but during college decided to
forgo medical school to spend time rais
ing a family,” said Messick, a native of
Salem, N.J. “My reversal of that plan
came at age 46 when I watched my 16-
year-old daughter driving the family
car and knew that task was nearing
completion. At that moment I knew I
‘was going’ to medical school."
Messick completed his medical
degree at Texas Tech University School
of Medicine in
Lubbock and his
residency at St.
Vincent’s Medi
cal Center in
Jacksonville, FI.
His decision to
move to South
east Georgia
was easy, he said.
“The people I have met at Southeast
Georgia Health System are commit
ted to improving the health care of the
community. I witnessed that in their
friendliness to myself and my wife,
Kathy; their investment in a newly ren
ovated practice, and their pride in the
hospital staff and facilities,” he said.
Kathy is a sonographer and Jack
sonville native. Moving to the area with
the couple is Messick’s stepdaughter
Lauren, 8. His daughter Ashley is a
consultant in San Francisco and his
daughter Katherine is an attorney for
Fullbright & Jaworski in Houston.
Glynn Family Medicine Center is
a member of Cooperative Healthcare
Services, Inc., which is a strategic affili
ate of Southeast Georgia Health Sys
tem. Beginning July 16, patients will
be seen in the new location at 3222
Shrine Road, Suite A, near the South
east Georgia Health System Brunswick
Campus. The Center’s horns will be
Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. For more
information or to make an appoint
ment, call (912) 264-6303. For more
information about the Health System
and CHSI services, visit www.sghs.
org. □
John Blumer, MD Chester Messick Jr., MD
