Author Archives: rgrenier

HealthWise Summer 2017 – Heart Disease, Lyme Disease, Board Certification


Welcome to the summer edition of HealthWise, the newsletter of Maryland Primary Care Physicians. In this issue, you’ll learn how “knowing your numbers” can prevent heart disease, why Lyme disease cases are on the rise, and how our doctors’ board certifications mean better care for you. Read on and feel free to share these health tips with friends and family.
 In this issue: Heart Disease  |  Lyme Disease  |  Know Your Numbers  |  Certification

dr. harms
Taking Control of Your Heart Disease Risk
By: Dr. Falana Carter
There are two types of risk factors for heart disease – things you can control and things you can’t. In this 90-second video, Dr. Falana P. Carter gives us a rundown of these risk factors and what we can do to limit their impact on our heart health. Watch the video to learn more…
Watch the Video

stress



Bad Tick Season May Lead to More Lyme Disease

By: Dr. George Cavanagh
Following a mild winter, Maryland’s tick population was expected to explode this summer. This could lead to a record number of Lyme disease infections in 2017.

Warmer winters allow black-legged ticks, which are the chief carriers of Lyme disease, to remain active longer and spread the illness into new regions of the country…

Read More


runner



Heart Disease Q&A: Knowing Your Numbers

With Dr. Falana Carter

Q: Isn’t heart disease something out of our control – you get it or you don’t?

A: There are two types of risk factors: things you can’t control and things you can. The things you can’t control are your genes: they may predispose you for high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes…

Read More


runner



Board Certified for Better Care

By: Michael Riebman, MD and MPCP President

 

If you look at the online profiles of our doctors, you’ll see they are “Board Certified” in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, or Cardiology.  This is an important distinction for physicians, and it gives you additional assurance that you and your family are receiving the best possible care.

A little background: To practice medicine, doctors must undergo years of rigorous training…

Read More

MPCP News:

We’re Growing!

Please join us in welcoming these new medical staff to MPCP:

Medicare Wellness Visits

If you’ve had Medicare Part B for longer than 12 months, you are entitled to an “Annual Wellness” screening visit. Your MPCP provider will help you develop or update a personalized prevention health plan. This visit is covered once every 12 months (11 full months must have passed since the last visit), so contact your MPCP office to schedule an appointment.


Additional Reading

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Hey there where ya goin’, not exactly knowin’, who says you have to call just one place home. He’s goin’ everywhere, B.J. McKay and his best friend Bear. He just keeps on movin’, ladies keep improvin’, every day is better than the last. New dreams and better scenes, and best of all I don’t pay property tax.

Hey there where ya goin’, not exactly knowin’, who says you have to call just one place home. He’s goin’ everywhere, B.J. McKay and his best friend Bear. He just keeps on movin’, ladies keep improvin’, every day is better than the last. New dreams and better scenes, and best of all I don’t pay property tax.

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HealthWise – Fall 2014 Your Diet After 50, Teen Stress: Tips for Parents, Acid Reflux



 

Welcome to the fall edition of HealthWise..

In this issue of the Maryland Primary Care Physicians e-newsletter, our providers offer great advice on your diet after age 50, how to deal with acid reflux, tips for teen stress and more. Please read on and share these health & wellness articles. If you need help scheduling an appointment or flu shot, please click the appointment link or visit www.mpcp.com. Happy Thanksgiving!

 
 
 
 In this issue: Your Diet After 50  |  Teen Stress: Tips for Parents  |  Q&A: Acid Reflux
 
 





 
 





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Diet After 50: Food choices & exercise prove critical.
 
For adults age 50 and over, making healthy food choices and staying active are crucial lifestyle habits. Recent studies show that a good diet can not only help you resist illness and prevent certain diseases, but also defy or delay some of the common effects of aging.

“We need fewer daily calories as we age because our metabolism naturally begins to slow,” says MPCP Arnold physician, Amanda Malone, M.D. “Since you don’t need as many calories, those calories you do consume become very important…

 
 
Read More
 
 
 



 


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Teens and Stress: Tips for Parents

By: Lisa Meade, PA-C

 

A recent study by the American Psychological Association (APA) confirms what I see weekly in my practice: Teens feel a great deal of stress and anxiety, but often don’t have the proper coping strategies to deal with these feelings.

The APA report “Stress in America” included data on American youth (teens ages 13-17) for the first time this year. The report found that teens

 
 
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Heartburn, Acid reflux…How do I get relief?
A Q&A with Loraine Dailey, M.D.

 
Q: I’ve heard acid reflux can be serious. Is that true?
A: If you’ve been taking antacids and refraining from eating lots of different foods, but you still have acid reflux- or “heartburn”- you may have what doctors term GERD. GERD stands for GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease. And yes, while the symptoms are annoying, GERD can also be serious and cause…
 
 
Read More
 

 
 


 


MPCP News:

MPCP Patient Portal Update

This month, we will be doing a test of the new Patient Portal with our MPCP Arundel Mills office.  All patients for whom we have an active email on file will be invited to enroll. Once this test phase is completed, we will roll out the Portal to all MPCP patients at our other offices.

Please make sure your correct email address is on file with your MPCP office! That’s how we will contact you for enrollment.

Once enrolled, you will be able to schedule appointments and request prescription refills via the Portal. Also, you will be able to receive information from our system to your secure Portal account, including clinical summaries of your visit, patient education, lab letters and referral requests.

 











 


New Providers
 
Sarah Sullivan, CRNP, joined our Pasadena practice in August. She received her Master of Science in Nursing degree from University of Maryland, Baltimore in 2004. Ms. Sullivan is board certified by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) in Family Practice, and is accepting patients of all ages.

Shavonne Salaam, CRNP, recently joined our Glen Burnie practice. She received her Master of Science in Nursing from University of Maryland, Baltimore in 2014. Ms. Salaam is board certified by the AANP in Family Practice and is accepting patients 14 years of age and up.

 

Additional Reading

 


 

Is it a Cold or Flu?

Q & A with Neil Padgett, M.D., MPH

Q:  How can I tell if I have a cold or the flu?

A:  While the common cold and flu can have similar symptoms, they are very different illnesses in terms of how long they last and how severe they are.

The first sign of a cold is often a sore throat. Symptoms that follow can include a runny nose, congestion or a cough. A cold usually lasts a few days to a week. Adults don’t often run a fever with a cold, but children may.

Flu symptoms are likely to come on suddenly and be more severe. Common signs of flu are a sore throat, fever, headache, muscle and body aches, congestion and cough. Some people get vomiting and diarrhea. While the flu can last a week or longer, it can also result in more serious illnesses like pneumonia, particularly in the elderly or very young.

Q: How can I treat a cold or flu?

A: First, get lots of rest and drink plenty of clear fluids — water, broth and sports drinks. Next, treat your symptoms with over-the-counter medications to ease fever and aches, congestion and coughs. For the flu, your doctor may prescribe antiviral medications such as Relenza® or Tamiflu®. They can make flu symptoms less severe and help you recover faster.

Q: Should I take antibiotics?

A: Antibiotics will not help because they fight bacterial infections, not viral illnesses like flu or the common cold. Taking an antibiotic will not make you feel better or help you get better faster.

Using antibiotics when you don’t need them contributes to a growing problem: antibiotic resistance. Due to over-use of antibiotics, some diseases that were once easily cured by antibiotics have become resistant to them. So, if you have a cold or flu, antibiotics are not a  treatment option.

Q:  When should I see a doctor?

A:  If you experience persistent coughing, fever, congestion, headache or painful swallowing (which may indicate strep throat), you should talk with your primary care provider. In general, if your symptoms aren’t getting better ‒ or start getting worse ─ call your doctor.

Q:  How can I prevent getting colds or the flu?

A:  Wash your hands often and avoid close contact with others who have a cold or flu.  A cold is contagious during the first three days, while a person with the flu can be contagious a day before feeling the symptoms and up to 5-7 days after getting sick.

The annual flu vaccine is your best defense against the flu.  After you get the shot, the vaccine takes 1-2 weeks to give you maximum protection, so the sooner you get vaccinated, the better.

Neil Padgett, M.D., MPHDr. Padgett is a Maryland Primary Care Physicians, LLC partner and is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1984 and completed his residency program in Internal Medicine at University of Maryland Medical Center in 1987.