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Author Archives: Trudy
Patient Advocacy Corner: Ready? Set? Go!
By: Ariel J. Warden-Jarrett, MD, FAAFP
Healthcare policy seems like a game of hide and seek. This is frustrating to patients and providers, as it seems like the game is rigged for the insurance company to always win. Patient advocacy helps to level the playing ground and happens to be one of my passions. As the current president of the Maryland Academy of Family Physicians, I continue to realize that for the state of our healthcare system to improve, we need people dedicated to framing the narratives of healthcare policy.
Get Ready
Advocacy experience has taught me that our legislators are moved by hearing the “stories” of their constituents. For example, If you feel passionate that medication costs are rising out of control and hindering your health, your legislative representatives should know about it. I once heard of a story where the legislator actually reached out to the drug company for a patient, and the cost was reduced to an affordable rate for the patient.
Get Set
At Maryland Primary Care Physicians, we have providers who take time to reach out to both state and federal legislators. But to be more effective, it helps if the providers and patients work collectively to advance the needle of healthcare progress.
The first step is to find out who your representatives are, then reach out. If your care was delayed because of a prior authorization, they should know, as this practice potentially hurts both providers and patients.
Learn to speak out! There are websites and smart phone applications that make it easy for you. Reach out on topics that you are passionate about.
Go!
This resource is a great place to start. You enter your address/zip code, and your state and federal legislators are listed. Clicking on their profiles gives you their contact information. Tell your stories! Let’s push the needle forward.
It’s time to inform the legislators who make decisions about your healthcare about how their policies are impacting you. Most of them do not have degrees in healthcare, yet their influence to vote on policies framing healthcare is powerful. They won’t know unless we reach out.
Keep reading your newsletter and emails. Share your stories, and together we can ignite to become a force of positive impact for our healthcare system.
Get Ready. Get Set. Go!
Move Over Lyme Disease, Here Comes Babesiosis
By: TIMOTHY KLEPPER, M.D.
Tick season is here, and we’re hearing the usual warnings about Lyme disease. But due to a mild winter and spreading tick population, there’s a new threat to watch out for: babesiosis (bah-bee-see-oh-sis).
Both Lyme disease and babesiosis are parasitic diseases carried by deer ticks, also called black-legged ticks. The CDC reports a significant increase in reported cases of both this year in the eastern U.S.
Lyme disease and babesiosis differ in their symptoms and health risks. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the two, and what you need to look out for.
| Babesiosis | Lyme disease | |
| Likelihood of infection | Low, especially if tick is attached for less than 36 hours | Low, especially if tick is attached for less than 36 hours |
| How soon symptoms start | 1-4 weeks after tick bite | 3-30 days after tick bite |
| Symptoms | Mild to severe flu-like symptoms: fever, chills, sweating, loss of appetite, nausea, tiredness
In severe infections: yellowish skin or eyes, pale skin, dark urine, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, neck stiffness, sudden mood changes |
Circular bulls-eye rash around the tick bite
Early infection: flu-like symptoms: tiredness, muscle pain, joint pain, headaches, fever, chills |
| Risks | Can be life-threatening, especially if you have a weak immune system or don’t have a working spleen. May cause anemia, enlarged spleen, fluid buildup in your lungs, blood clotting problems, kidney or liver failure | Late infection: neck stiffness, pain and swelling in your joints, numbness or pain in your limbs, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, heart problems. Usually not life-threatening |
| When you should see a doctor | If you were bitten by a tick and have flu-like symptoms, especially if you have a weak immune system | If you were bitten by a tick and have an expanding red rash around the bite or have flu-like symptoms |
| Usual treatment | Combination of anti-parasitics and antibiotics Antibiotics | Antibiotics |
How to prevent tick bites
The best way to avoid getting sick with babesiosis and Lyme disease is to not get bitten. Remember the ABCs of prevention:
“A” stands for avoid. You want to avoid areas ticks are found, such as where there are low bushes, leaf litter and tall grass.
“B” stands for bug spray. Use it when you’re outdoors and think you’re going to be exposed to tick bites. The CDC recommends a bug spray that contains either DEET 30% or picaridin. You also could use a spray that has oil of lemon eucalyptus in it.
“C” stands for cover up. Wear protective clothing. If you have clothing over your skin, ticks won’t be able to bite you.
What to do if you’re bitten by a tick
Use tweezers to grasp the tick as close to your skin as possible, then pull the tick off with steady pressure. Then wash your hands and the area of the bite with soap and water. Sometimes, the mouthparts of the tick will break off and stay in the skin. If you can remove them easily, use the tweezers to pull them out. If you can’t remove them easily, just let the skin heal. Your body will break down the remaining mouth parts over time.
Remember, your chances of getting a tick disease are much lower if you remove the tick within 36 hours of being bitten.
Dr. Klepper is a Maryland Primary Care Physicians, LLC partner and is certified by the American Board of Family Medicine. He cares for patients in the Queenstown office.
Where Are We Now With COVID-19?
By: FALANA CARTER, M.D., CO-MEDICAL DIRECTOR
August 2023
Three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, daily information about the disease has receded from public view. Infection rates and deaths are down, emergency measures have ended, and people’s lives have returned to some level of normalcy.
Does that mean COVID-19 is gone?
No, daily infections still occur but the disease has changed since 2020. Mutations of the virus combined with effective vaccinations and natural immunity have reduced the illness burden and death rates.
Like many viruses, COVID-19 continues to mutate and create new strains. In the future, emerging strains could remain relatively mild or cause a serious illness. Currently, the medical community is tracking the variances and learning more about the complexity of the virus, but no clear end of infections is known.
COVID-19 has changed from a pandemic that spreads quickly and endangers large populations in a country or the world to an endemic condition. This means COVID continues to circulate within an area or community. Today, COVID -19 is currently circulating at lower levels, following the pathway to potentially become a seasonal infection flaring more in the fall and winter.
COVID-19 is still a threat
It’s important to remember that though the pandemic has receded, people still get infected with COVID-19, and 50-100 people are dying daily in the US. Those with underlying health conditions – such as obesity, diabetes, asthma or chronic lung disease, sickle cell disease or decreased immunity, and those over 65 years old — can have serious complications and become dangerously ill if infected. We should all be mindful that interactions with those who have high risk for serious complications should be limited if you have any respiratory symptoms.
As many as 16 million Americans are affected by Long COVID. Those patients with Long COVID continue to experience symptoms long after the infection ends, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, headache, and difficulty thinking or concentrating. Researchers continue to explore the underlying cause of Long COVID, but we do know those who are not vaccinated have higher risk for lingering symptoms.
Where we go from here
In just three years, SARS-CoV-2 started as a limited virus overseas and developed into a major respiratory illness that affected the entire world. Increased knowledge of COVID-19 has allowed medical technology to develop various treatments that include: effective vaccines, oral medications and IV infusions that decrease serious complications. As a result of increased community immunity, treatment options and less potent mutations, COVID-19 is no longer a daily hurdle. It’s clear that COVID-19 isn’t going to disappear, so everyone needs to remain vigilant with risk management. Keep current on COVID vaccinations to new variants, continue to follow the news about the virus, and look out for others who are at high risk.
Dr. Falana Carter is Co-Medical Director of Maryland Primary Care Physicians. She is certified by the American Board of Family Physicians and cares for patients in the Arundel Mills office.
