Feb, 2015: February is the month of love. And whether you have someone in particular who is the object of your affection, or you simply LOVE that February is the shortest month of winter in Wisconsin, February is a fun month to celebrate all things good in life.
As I wrote about last month, one of the best things to love in life is being in good health, but you probably never think about that unless you are not feeling your best. For me, the road back to normal health in the month of January was very long indeed, filled with way too many visits to the ER and a couple major diagnostic misses by multiple MD specialties. I could go on about how disappointed I am in the state of our local health care system and the ability to treat and manage not terribly unique or rare diagnoses in young, previously healthy adults. However, I am certain that most if not all of you reading this right now have been in this same situation yourself, feeling like you are not really getting the best care, at the right time, when you need it most.
This month, instead of sharing the not so good, let’s take another approach, and instead make something positive come out of an otherwise dismal experience. First, MotionWorks is excited to give residents of the Fox Valley another option of where to go when you have a bad headache that is not resolving with your normal care at home. You could go to the ER, be given narcotics that may or may not work, wait for days to weeks on end for IV infusions, or you can now come to MotionWorks Physical Therapy for our Urgent Headache Care program, and receive immediate and lasting pain relief from your migraine or tension headache ON THE SAME DAY YOU CALL!
Secondly, I would like to start a brand new way of talking about healthcare. A way that will help my friends, families, neighbors, and patients to identify and choose for themselves excellent providers who, along with their staff, provide the most excellent care in a variety of specialty areas. Trust me, when you need a good provider, time is of the essence, and there is little time to research the name and location of the best provider to see.
So, in this month of love, we would like to highlight the excellent providers in our area who simply do their job and do it well, actively thinking about the problem, thoroughly reading your history notes from other providers, and actively engaging in investigating and solving the problem, or at least ruling out other serious diagnoses before treating you with an appropriate and well thought out plan of care.
I encourage each of you to spread the love to help out your friends, families, and neighbors right now by naming the name, location, and specialty of the providers in your life who have given excellent care. If you like you can even list several reasons why this provider is so good, such as, he or she is a great listener, he/she responds quickly when I have an urgent need, and he/she gives me a say in my treatment plan, etc. This list can include anyone, from your family doctor, ER doctor, specialty doctor (i.e., neurologist, orthopedic surgeon, neurosurgeon, podiatrist, cardiologist, etc), physical, occupational, or speech therapist, dentist, chiropractor, massage therapist, whoever you think goes above and beyond, and list them on your Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram, or wherever.
Better yet, do a Google or Facebook review for that provider. Let’s create a public love-fest this month for your most excellent healthcare provider(s) and be public about it, so we can spread the word about where to go and who to see for a great patient experience you can be both comfortable and confident will help bring your medical problem to resolution. Remember there are other review websites as well like Healthgrades and WebMD that can help people who don’t see your Facebook post to differentiate the best providers, but let’s just go all out on social media to give these great providers the kudos they deserve.