Blog Posts in March, 2015

Urgent Care Provider Reminds Parents About Lake & Boating Safety

Our community is fortunate to have proximity to Lake Hickory’s 4,223 acres of water and 105 miles of shoreline to enjoy many kinds of boating and recreational water activities. But don’t forget water safety and, should you need medical attention – Catawba Valley Urgent Care – Piedmont offers convenient emergency medicine for non-life threatening incidents. In the U.S., 71 ...

My Story: Why Dr. Jeff Neal is Starting "Walk with a Doc" in Hickory

Walking is low impact and easier on the joints than running. It is safe – with a doctor’s okay – for people with orthopedic ailments, heart conditions, and those who are more than 20% overweight. The most recent provider to join Catawba Valley Cardiology, Jeff Neal, DO, PharmD joined the practice in July 2014. Realizing that he was now embedded in traditional Southern culture, he ...

Measles: More Than Just a Little Rash

Measles remains one of the leading causes of death among young children globally. On average, the disease kills between 1 and 3 of every 1,000 infected children. “Measles is HIGHLY contagious. A person with measles is contagious from just before having symptoms until 4 to 5 days after the rash appears.” said Joy Duckworth, NP-C of Catawba Valley Family Medicine Taylorsville. According ...

What Everyone Needs to Hear

We may take our ability to hear for granted – until we lose it. According to The National Institute for Occupations Safety and Health (NIOSH), occupational hearing loss is one of the most common work-related illnesses in the United States. Approximately 22 million U.S. workers are exposed to hazardous noise levels at work. Thousands of those workers actually suffer from hearing loss due to ...

CVMC First in Area to Offer New Heart Failure Solution

Heart failure is one of the most common reasons why people age 65 and older are admitted to the hospital. Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to work adequately to send blood to the organs and muscles of the body. Patients with heart failure are frequently hospitalized, have a reduced quality of life and face a higher risk of death. In a continuing effort to provide patients with the ...

The Best Time to Start Breastfeeding is Within a Few Hours of Birth

Why We Promote Breastfeeding Breastmilk is the best food for your baby and it is good for you too! CVMC actively promotes breastfeeding through our prenatal breastfeeding classes, our one-on-one sessions with the 2,000+ new moms who deliver at our Birthing Center each year and our breastfeeding helpline and support groups available after discharge. We also offer many resources to help overcome ...

March of Dimes Grant Helps Mothers and Babies

(Hickory, NC) —The North Carolina Chapter of March of Dimes has awarded a grant of $25,000 to Catawba Valley Medical Center (CVMC) for Maternity Services Center Pregnancy Program for the 2015 year. “These grants address maternal and child health issues such as the staggering prematurity rates in our region that are of concern,” said Trish Hickling Beckman, Director of Maternity ...

Blood Thinners and Your Diet

To prevent blood clots which can lead to heart attacks and strokes, an anticoagulant drug called Warfarin ( name brands include Coumadin®, Jantoven®, Lawarin®, Marvin®, Waran® and Warfant® ) is often prescribed to “thin” your blood. According to the United States Food and Drug Administration, Warfarin is prescribed to over 2 million each year, but it is also one ...

Committed to Cardiac Rehabilitation, Sybil Hughey Now Shows No Signs of Prior Heart Attack

Sybil Hughey, 68, was not entirely surprised when she began experiencing chest pain in September, 2014. She was aware her family history put her at higher risk for heart conditions, so she had been proactively engaged in prevention efforts by keeping regular primary care appointments and taking medications prescribed for high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. She was also a regular at CVMC ...

Understanding & Managing Anxiety

It’s one thing to feel occasionally nervous or tense. But for someone with an anxiety disorder, these emotions can become debilitating. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), anxiety disorders are the most common of all mental disorders, with an estimated 15 percent of Americans affected by these debilitating illnesses each year. Unmanaged, anxiety can severely affect ...

Use Your Head, Wear a Helmet

Did you know that more children ages 5 to 14 are seen in emergency rooms for injuries related to biking than any other sport? A crash or fall can occur in a split-second and can happen anywhere; even in your back yard or the sidewalk around your block. These types of accidents can potentially have serious or fatal effects. Helmets can reduce the risk of severe brain injuries by 88% yet only 45% of ...

Family Nurse Practitioner Christi Lucus Now Scheduling Patients at CVFM - Mt. View

HICKORY, NC – Feb 5, 2015 – Catawba Valley Medical Group (CVMG) announced today that Christi Lucus, NP-C, has joined its experienced team of providers at Catawba Valley Family Medicine – Mt. View on Highway 127 South. Lucus is now scheduling patients on a fulltime basis between 7:45am and 12:30pm and 1:30pm to 5:00pm, Monday through Friday. Lucus is a certified Family Nurse ...

What You Need to Know About Pulmonary Hypertension - The Other High Blood Pressure

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) occurs when the blood pressure in the pulmonary artery rises far above normal levels. The pulmonary artery is the blood vessel carrying oxygen-poor blood from the right ventricle, one of the pumping chambers of the heart, to the lungs. In the lungs, the blood picks up oxygen and then flows to the left side of the heart, where it is pumped by the left ventricle to the ...

Men Go With Your Gut, Get Screened for Colorectal Cancer

Did you know that colorectal cancer is preventable, treatable and beatable? So why is it the third most common cancer diagnosed in men and women in the US and the third leading cause of cancer death for men and women? “Individuals aren’t participating in the preventative screenings recommended by the American Cancer Society,” said Peggy Messick, RN, BSN, OCN, Disease Prevention ...

CVMC MYHealth Patient Portal Offers Instant Access to Personal Health Information

HICKORY, NC – Jan 23, 2015 – Catawba Valley Medical Center (CVMC) is pleased to offer a new tool to enable patients to take a more active role in managing their ongoing care with secure and convenient online access to personal electronic health records. With online access to the MYHealth Patient Portal, patients gain access to the information derived from data captured during visits at ...

New Year's Baby Signifies Many Reasons to Celebrate CVMC Birthing Center

Ringing in a New Year at the hospital isn’t the way everyone dreams of celebrating a new calendar year. But, the birth of Holden Robert Biggs at 7:30am on Thursday, January 1 symbolized both a family’s new beginning and marked the end of a year that brought a record number of births to the CVMC Birthing Center where 2,087 babies were born. Just a few day later, patients and staff ...

My Story: Quick Response and Cardiac Rehab Key to Terry Sherrill's New Lease on Life

On the afternoon of Monday September 29, 2014, Terry Sherrill arrived at the CVMC Emergency Department (ED) complaining of chest pain. Within minutes, he was diagnosed with a ST Segment Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) – a condition the American Heart Association calls a severe heart attack caused by a prolonged period of blocked blood supply that affects a large area of the heart. He was at ...

Diabetes - a Trend You Want to Avoid

If you’re like many men, you may not have had a routine physical in a while. According to the American Medical Association, men are 24% less likely than women to have seen a doctor in the past year. This means men often miss the opportunity to learn they have pre-diabetic conditions or gain the advantages of detecting diabetes early. Early detection helps avoid some of the more serious ...

Parents, HEARS what you need to know about Ear Tubes

The American Academy of Otolaryngology refers to ear infections as a right of passage for children. Ear infections are common in younger children, most having experienced at least one ear infection by the age of five. There are two types of ear infections: viral and bacterial. Viral infections tend to resolve on their own, while bacterial infections are treated with antibiotics. “For a ...

CHESS and Catawba Valley Medical Center (CVMC) Partner to Adapt Value-based Healthcare Delivery Model

HIGH POINT & HICKORY, NC – CHESS (a population health management company based in High Point) and Catawba Valley Medical Center (CVMC) announced Monday that they have joined into a long-term partnership that will assist the Hickory-based health system in changing its health care delivery model from one based on fee-for-service (volume-based) to one rooted in pay-for-performance ...