Most of my patients don’t know this, but when I started my little Family Practice almost 27 years ago it was named: “Duluth Family Practice and Wellness”. I had a dream. I didn’t just want to be a Family Doctor who treated you when you were sick. I wanted to help people get and stay well.
Unfortunately, the dark ages of Primary Care were just beginning. Managed Care hit town along with CPT and ICD codes that determined what would and would not get paid for and how much each service was worth (in the eyes of the insurance companies). Family Doctors and General Internists became pawns in the game. “Wellness” was not a thing that appeared on their radar screens.(I have previously blogged about my letter-writing and phone-calling campaign to the big boys at Aetna and my loss of innocence about the real nature of health “insurance”. )
Well, at last, after 26 years we are finally doing under my roof the very thing I dreamed about. It’s called HeartFit.
If we didn’t pay attention to anything else about your health than cardiovascular disease risk reduction and prevention, we would still be doing you the best all-around service. Because if we are tracking and reducing your risk of vascular disease, we will also bring in reduced risk of diabetes, arthritis and degenerative joint disease, and even cancer. A healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle changes everything.
HeartFit is a program of MACE (Major Adverse Cardiovascular Event) risk assessment and reduction. We take your personal and family vascular disease history. We assess your lifestyle and current diagnoses that impact heart health. We take body measurements: (biometrics) We do labs pertaining to lipids, blood glucose utilization measures, and inflammatory markers. Finally we perform vascular health screening ultrasounds (similar to but more comprehensive than the frequently-advertised “Life Line Screening”). Then we can design and help you through a pro-active exercise and diet plan designed to tell you where you are, where you need to go, and to help you get there.
Check it out on the website information about the HeartFit program. We can now deliver cardiovascular prevention services to you, diagnostic, predictive, and life-changing programs.
Some dreams can come true.