Announcer And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall. 00;00;06;01 - 00;00;30;25 Cary Hall Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. You know, we're up to 221 affiliates now. Our newest one, KYST-AM, in Houston, Texas. We are very happy. Houston, Galveston, actually. We're very happy to have them on board as part of the HIA Radio Network Family and America's Healthcare Advocate, we’re on Saturday’s there from 7 to 8. 00;00;31;00 - 00;00;54;06 Cary Hall And, you know, I know you're listening because I got a phone call after Saturday's show last week from Houston, Texas. Is that I just heard you on the air. So welcome aboard. We're very happy to have you on board. A KYST-AM in Houston, Texas. If you want to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn. You can do that at America's Healthcare Advocate, the website America's Healthcare Advocate dot com. 00;00;54;12 - 00;01;12;08 Cary Hall If you have a question or comment, anything I can help you with, send me an email. I get a lot of them, but I answer each and every one of them. I'm happy to do that. So if you have a question or comment, please send me an email. I'll be happy to help you. If you are chronologically challenged and you are looking for Medicare, Medicare Advantage or Medicare insurance of any kind. 00;01;12;14 - 00;01;38;07 Cary Hall You can reach out to good folks at RPS Benefits by Design. Carolee Steele 877 385 2224. Anywhere in the United States, they are happy to help you. 877 385 2224 or online at rpsbenefitsbydesigninc.com. Also, if you're an employer looking for better health care coverage for your employees, call Maria. RPS Benefits by Design. 00;01;38;11 - 00;01;56;20 Cary Hall Same phone number. 877 385 2224. And the website is the same rpsbenefitsbydesigninc.com. They've got plans that might surprise you. They're not what you see in the typical marketplace. All right. Back in studio with me, Doctor Ikeme So happy to have you back. 00;01;56;23 - 00;01;57;08 Dr. Ikeme Thank you for having me back. 00;01;57;08 - 00;02;25;17 Cary Hall We're going to break in. Drew today. Very happy to have Drew Hare here. Here. Drew is the president of the market, president of CenterWell here in the Kansas City metro. Happy to have him, in studio today, and Dr. Stephanie Ikeme in studio with us again. After the last show we did with us which was very popular, and we know that because a lot of you were up on the podcast platforms, by the way, all these shows were on 14 podcast platforms and on YouTube, and we're up to about 256,000 views on YouTube. 00;02;25;22 - 00;02;48;25 Cary Hall Thanks to all of you out there and about 60 some thousand podcast downloads. So we thank you very much for that. So Dr. Ikeme is joining us again today. She is a native of Long Island, New York, attended St Joseph's University in Philadelphia, where she undergraduate degree was in biology. She earned her medical degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New York, now known as Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine. 00;02;48;27 - 00;03;13;17 Cary Hall And she went on to do her residency at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Philadelphia. She is a primary care physician and she really enjoys preventative medicine, especially in women's health areas. And she is joining us again today after the last show she did with us talking about what the folks at CenterWell do and how they do it. Drew Hare is the president here in Kansas City of the CenterWell Program. 00;03;13;24 - 00;03;32;29 Cary Hall Drew is a 20 year veteran health care in health care. Having served in a variety of roles like EMA to executive leadership. He's worked in nonprofit companies and physician owned companies, as well as for profit companies. Has been all of his career here in the Midwest. His current role? He's responsible for operations and strategy of the seven CenterWell locations. 00;03;33;04 - 00;03;37;11 Cary Hall There are seven of them in and around the Kansas City metro. Welcome to both of you. 00;03;37;13 - 00;03;38;10 Drew Hare Thank you for having us. 00;03;38;11 - 00;03;56;27 Cary Hall We're going to break even right today Dr Ikeme, what do you think? Okay. All right. So listen, you know, here we are. I just told you off air. I was in Chicago. Indianapolis and Omaha. I had to fly because my wife would not let me drive with the weather and everything. Needless to say, I came back sick. Okay, I got bronchitis. 00;03;56;27 - 00;04;18;14 Cary Hall Okay. Now I went in. I got tested. I got back on a Thursday. Friday morning. I was in the E.R. First thing, 5 a.m. being tested for RSV. COVID flu had none of it but got bronchitis. This is an everybody I talk to, especially if you're traveling, is getting this stuff. So it's that happy time of year. Okay. 00;04;18;19 - 00;04;24;03 Cary Hall It's winter, it's cold. This stuff is raging. What should people be doing? 00;04;24;05 - 00;04;46;13 Dr. Ikeme Well, of course, like you said, I calling it the trifecta season, we have COVID, Flu and RSV. So we definitely want to be careful of the people who are around. Number one is take care of yourself, be healthy If you're having any medications, make sure you're taking medications correctly, making sure you're eating right, Diet, exercise, you want to be the healthiest as you can to you definitely want to make sure that if you're around people, you're washing your hands. 00;04;46;20 - 00;05;06;00 Dr. Ikeme And if you're around sick individuals or people who have symptoms, you know, you may want to put that mask back on to prevent you from getting sick. And three, the best thing about medicine is we're always improving, always finding ways for our patients to prevent them from getting sick. There’s vaccines for all this stuff, too. I mean, how lucky are we to have that? 00;05;06;01 - 00;05;20;05 Dr. Ikeme So it's always good to go to your primary care doctor to make sure that you're up to date with your vaccines, because the vaccines not only help to prevent the transmission of these viruses. But also, if you do get them, you're not as sick as you could be, especially if you have chronic conditions. 00;05;20;06 - 00;05;33;20 Cary Hall And I've got I got the COVID booster, I got the flu shot. I got the pneumonia shot. I still haven't gotten the RSV because I have been able to get in and to get it done. But I will. But the point is that, especially for those of us that are chronologically challenged. 00;05;33;20 - 00;05;47;07 Dr. Ikeme Absolutely. And, you know, as we get older, our immune system doesn't work as well. So it's critical that we have the best protection that we can in vaccines do prevent that for prevent us from having these types of complications when we do get sick. 00;05;47;09 - 00;06;04;20 Cary Hall Yeah. And to your point about washing your hands, so when I got on the plane, I had my little sanitizer bottle right there and I had another product I use called Trilogy that kills COVID and all the stuff on contact you can actually spray in your mouth. It's all natural. But I went out and bought an M95 mask because I'm not going through this again. 00;06;04;20 - 00;06;14;19 Cary Hall I'm like, You know what? I'm going to I'm going to be that guy on the plane with that damn mask on. I'm going to wear the mask because I'm just I'm I don't want I knew this was going to happen. 00;06;14;19 - 00;06;15;16 Dr. Ikeme Right. And, you know. 00;06;15;21 - 00;06;18;01 Cary Hall And I did I watched I did everything I could think. 00;06;18;01 - 00;06;18;22 Dr. Ikeme To do. 00;06;18;24 - 00;06;33;01 Cary Hall But I had some that guy sitting across the aisle for me hacking his head off on one of these flights. And I'm like, dude, you know, please, okay, you know, just do something. Okay. But it's just, you know, people just aren't paying attention. 00;06;33;02 - 00;06;37;24 Dr. Ikeme Right? And it's and it's hard because you're the one who suffered the consequences of something. 00;06;37;24 - 00;06;44;07 Cary Hall I know the guy that gave it to me. I'm confident that's where it came from. Yeah, Drew's laugh, but I'm. if I see that guy again, I'm going to know. 00;06;44;09 - 00;06;56;25 Dr. Ikeme Right. And we're paying the consequences. We had Christmas, you know, New Year's, we family gathering. So it was very easy for us to get sick this year. And particularly since we have three viruses going around, it's very easy for us to get sick. 00;06;56;26 - 00;07;11;16 Cary Hall Yeah. So Drew talk a little bit about you guys approach this differently? I mean, you know, trying to get into a primary care doctor typically this time of year is not an easy thing to do. You know, they're booked up, you're trying to get time and you're sick. Now you want to go see somebody, You guys shift gears a little bit. 00;07;11;16 - 00;07;24;17 Cary Hall CenterWell, does this differently. Let's talk about how you how you adapt to this and improvise to help people get care quicker, especially since you're focused on seasoned citizens. You know, those of us that are seniors, Drew. 00;07;24;19 - 00;07;43;08 Drew Hare Yeah, I think one of the neat things about our model and being senior focused is you don't have a lobby full of sick kids, sick families, things like that. It's only seniors. So when you come into our lobby, there might only be one or two other people. You're not you're not waiting. We call it a lobby because there's light refreshments, there's a coffee bar. 00;07;43;08 - 00;08;03;06 Drew Hare But the goal is to get you in, make sure we got the right paperwork and then start. Start your visit with your physician. And so we take a lot of precautions to make sure that we're not contributing to the problem. And then also about a third of our visits every day are set aside for acute issues. So, Cary you mentioned you woke up at 5 a.m. not feeling well. 00;08;03;09 - 00;08;21;12 Drew Hare Yeah, you could have easily called our office, you know, right at 8 a.m. and said, Guys, I'm congested. I was just traveling a whole lot. I don't feel well. Can I come in? And we would have had open spots that day for you to to come in and be seen. And so all of our all of our centers, all of our providers offer that to patients. 00;08;21;14 - 00;08;26;19 Drew Hare So it makes it easy to get in. Saves you a costly trip to the emergency room where there's other sick people. 00;08;26;20 - 00;08;31;27 Cary Hall Yeah. Yes. Right. So five in the morning, there was nobody there. Me, I was really happy about that. 00;08;32;00 - 00;08;43;14 Drew Hare You might have gone in with bronchitis, but you might have been coming out with something else. So yeah, you know, when you come into our office, we have the ability to get you back quickly and some dedicated visits for issues just like that. 00;08;43;15 - 00;09;02;04 Cary Hall Okay, So we've had, you know, monster snow all over the country. This weather's been horrible, you know, 15 below zero during the Chiefs game. I mean, it's crazy what's going on. What about people they can't get out of the house or don't? Hey, I'm 84 years old, not me, but I'm saying I'm an 84 year old. You know, maybe I've got problems trying to walk, etc.. 00;09;02;10 - 00;09;05;25 Cary Hall I don't want to have to do that. How do you accommodate those people? Drew Sure. 00;09;05;25 - 00;09;28;15 Drew Hare It's a great the great thing about being senior focused is we try to take that perspective and into consideration when where we're designing our visits. So when we have days like we had last Friday, where it's snowing like the dickens and the temperatures below zero, we actually can convert. We made a decision last week to go virtual. And what that means is we convert all of our appointments to virtual visits. 00;09;28;15 - 00;09;44;17 Drew Hare So our our doctors logged into the the laptop, the patient's on the other line, and you can conduct that visit from the comfort of your home. You don't have to get out and try to drive into this stuff. You don't have to get out and battle the cold. You can still connect with Dr. Ikeme through a virtual visit. 00;09;44;20 - 00;10;05;00 Cary Hall And it's a great system and it works really well. If you want to learn more about this, go to the website Senior Focused Kansas City dot com. seniorfocusedkansascity.com. Hey, maybe you want to make an appointment. Maybe you need to go see a doctor. 816 640 8522 Give them a call. We'll be right back after the break. 00;10;05;05 - 00;10;08;27 Cary Hall Stay tuned. We've got more. The doctors in the house. 00;10;08;29 - 00;10;42;05 Steve Kuker The Golden Rule, treat others as you want to be treated. I'm Steve Kuker and this is one of the founding principles of my firm senior care consulting. Since 2002, our value statement has included honor, our mother and father, respect our elders, care for those in need, and treat your family as our own. We've been honored to help hundreds of families make one of the most difficult decisions they could ever make, serving them in their greatest time of need. 00;10;42;07 - 00;11;16;11 Steve Kuker If you're looking for someone who can provide you experienced and objective guidance when searching for a senior care community, reach out today and discover the services of Senior Care Consulting at 913 945 2800. Know your options and choose with care at seniorcareconsulting.com. 00;11;16;13 - 00;11;38;15 Cary Hall Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. In studio with me today, Dr. Stephanie Ikeme and Drew Hare talking again with the folks at the CenterWell, about how they deliver a unique service of primary care to senior citizens, to those of us, as I say, that are chronologically challenged, it's totally different. 00;11;38;22 - 00;12;04;06 Cary Hall It's a better way to experience primary care if you want to learn more. The website seniorfocusedkansascity.com or call them at 816 640 8522. If you just want to get down there and see what it's like, schedule a visit They'll be happy to see you see Dr. Ikeme or one of the other great doctors, Dr. V, who was on here a couple of weeks ago, call up, make the appointment, go see them. 00;12;04;06 - 00;12;24;03 Cary Hall I think you're going to find it's a different kind of experience. All right. So, Drew, let's just go through this model because it is very, very different. There's nothing like this comparable while there are other primary care clinics, okay. But there are not other primary care clinics that are solely focused on senior citizens. And that changes the whole dynamic here. 00;12;24;03 - 00;12;26;10 Cary Hall So let's talk about that a little bit. 00;12;26;12 - 00;12;44;10 Drew Hare Sure. The biggest difference between the way we do it and traditional primary care is we have it's about time. Okay? Our our providers carry much smaller panels. They carry a panel size of about 500 to 550. Your typical primary care carries a panel of somewhere between 2000 and 2500. 00;12;44;10 - 00;12;48;12 Cary Hall Well, wait a minute, wait. You want to repeat that again? Typical primary care. 00;12;48;15 - 00;13;12;11 Drew Hare Typical primary care carries somewhere between 2000 and 2500 patients. Our physicians carry a panel of about 550 patients. And the reason for that is we know we get better health outcomes when we can focus on the relationship aspect of the patient doctor relationship. So, for example, you know, a lot of our patients experience what we call social Social determinants of health (SDOH) issues. 00;13;12;12 - 00;13;34;02 Drew Hare They might have transportation issues or food insecurity, housing insecurity. And we can't solve whatever is medically wrong until we fix some of those issues. I'll give you a great example at one of our centers a couple of years ago, we had a husband and wife couple we were seeing who were battling constant pulmonary issues. Right? Well, turns out they had a leak in the roof. 00;13;34;02 - 00;13;55;03 Drew Hare And so every time it rained, they were putting buckets on the living room and bailing them out. So they had developed some lung issues due to the constant humidity, some mold, things like that. And it took them a couple years to open up to us and share some of these issues. But once they did, we were able to get them connected to a roofing company that was able to help them out and and get a new roof. 00;13;55;03 - 00;14;02;01 Drew Hare And once that once they stopped dealing with a leaky roof, all of a sudden their health issues started improving. 00;14;02;01 - 00;14;16;21 Cary Hall Remarkable. I mean, just as an example, I mean, to to to find that out and then to say, okay, wait, you got a problem, you need to fix it. You didn't do that. You said, let us help you find somebody to help you fix it and do what needs to be done. That's totally different. 00;14;16;24 - 00;14;21;13 Drew Hare Right? But it took us a little time to build the trust with them where they were comfortable sharing it. 00;14;21;15 - 00;14;39;01 Cary Hall Yeah, but in the other thing you said, and I want to go back to a minute is time the issue of time? You have the time. The average time spent with the primary care physician in this country is seven and a half minutes. I can see why when you're looking at 2000 to 2500 patients, that's astronomical. I'm amazed. 00;14;39;05 - 00;14;49;28 Cary Hall I had no idea it was that high. I thought it was around 1000. I had no idea was that high. So it's no wonder they're turning them through every seven and a half to 10 minutes. Your model is completely different. 00;14;50;00 - 00;15;14;16 Drew Hare Right? Right. And we know that with 40 minute appointments that you get time to share with the physician or the nurse practitioner. Here are the things I'm worried about. Here are the things that I'm concerned about. And they might seem trivial to a patient, but they actually matter a whole lot to us. If you're having trouble walking, if you keep stumbling at home on hardwood floors, if you're you might notice something different with your skin. 00;15;14;18 - 00;15;32;02 Drew Hare It might not be anything even rash related, but it helps people like Dr. Akeem figure out what's going on with you. But we we can't do that if we only have 8 minutes. You might have five things to talk about, and we only get through one. With these longer visits. You have time to go through all five of those things and it helps our physicians and our nurse practitioners put the whole puzzle together. 00;15;32;04 - 00;15;39;19 Cary Hall And if they need to be referred out to a specialist or just some other facility, you guys help with that with care guides? 00;15;39;21 - 00;15;59;20 Drew Hare Absolutely, Yeah. Our referral coordinators can help coordinate visits to specialists. We do try to handle as much as we can in the office, but there's times where we need to engage subject matter experts in cardiology or pulmonology or dermatology, things like that. And that's where we engage our specialists. And so we can help patients with things like prior authorizations. 00;15;59;22 - 00;16;15;27 Drew Hare We can help them understand who might be the best specialists to send them to. And then once they see that specialist, those notes are coming back to us so our physicians can can you know, understand what's going on from a medical perspective and then help inform that patient about what's going on with their medical condition. 00;16;16;02 - 00;16;44;23 Cary Hall Yeah. So basically, it's all interconnected. You're the way you're doing it is. First of all, you're starting with a much better base because you've got the time to spend with the patient. That's really empowering, right? Yeah, absolutely. And then from there, you're taking it to the treatment level, the preventative level, whatever the case may be. And if they do have to go out, then you're involved in setting that up and that information is flowing back to you so that you have a point of contact and you're you're you're the total care. 00;16;44;28 - 00;16;58;21 Dr. Ikeme We're the headquarters is the primary care. We need to know what's going on in all aspects of the patient, particularly if they're seeing other specialists. We want to know what they're being treated for and how they're being treated for it. So there's there's no complications or errors when we're treating the patient. 00;16;58;27 - 00;17;27;08 Cary Hall Yeah, And I would assume that also means, you know, when you're talking about coordinating, because most of us that are, you know, seniors take medications, some of us take a lot of medications. I'm fortunate. I don't. But there are a lot of people that do. How does all that interact if you're going someplace where you're being prescribed something but they don't know what you're already doing or they give you something and then you, as the primary care doctor, don't know, you know, what they're on and now all of a sudden they're having problems or complications because the meds don't work. 00;17;27;15 - 00;17;45;13 Dr. Ikeme All right. And we want to prevent those type of errors, Right, because it's detriment to the patient's health if we don't know what the specialists are doing. So that's why it's important when we have these referral coordinators, not only do they set up the appointment for the patients, they actually get those notes back to us. So we know exactly what's happening with the patients, which is critical for their health care. 00;17;45;13 - 00;17;59;27 Cary Hall Yeah, So I guess you could say at CenterWell, there's a center for all of the care to we have to put that into a commercial somewhere that there's a center for all this information to come back to. And that is where your primary care focus is. 00;17;59;29 - 00;18;21;22 Drew Hare I'll give you a great example, Cary. Even as good as we are, sometimes we we have patients that end up in the hospital with a pneumonia or something that requires hospitalization and then coming out. Sometimes medications have to be changed for clinical reasons in the hospital and that AIDS and then being discharged. But when they come out, there's oftentimes a lot of confusion about what am I supposed to keep taking? 00;18;21;22 - 00;18;43;01 Drew Hare What can I stop? What was the medication that I was only supposed to take in the hospital? We have visits built into our schedule so that when we know somebody is being discharged, they're on our schedule within a week and we get a chance to intervene and say, Hey, let's just go through all your medications. Let's talk about why you were in and let's make sure we're doing everything we can so that you don't have to go back in and be readmitted, that we're protecting you from that. 00;18;43;06 - 00;19;00;05 Cary Hall So here's the thing, folks. Okay? You just heard you say she has been, you know, had to go back and be readmitted. They're being proactive, not reactive. And that's one of the key differences in the way Centreville does this thing. And I think that's one of the huge benefits in the way they do it, especially for those of us, obviously, through senior citizens. 00;19;00;05 - 00;19;18;02 Cary Hall So if you want to learn more, go to the website. Senior focused Kansas City dot com senior focused Kansas City dot com. A lot of information up there you'll see Dr. Ikeme up there you'll see Dr. V up there all there physicians are up there. You can schedule a visit. Just want to go see what it's like. Go see if you want to do an appointment. 00;19;18;06 - 00;19;47;20 Cary Hall 816 640 8522 They do have same day appointments, believe it or not. 816 640 8522 We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to coast across the U.S., we've got more. Don't go anywhere. 00;19;47;23 - 00;20;09;26 Cary Hall Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show. Broadcasting coast to coast across USA here on the HIA Radio Network. You know, I just told you about our new affiliate in Houston, Texas. Very happy to have you on board, but we are on 14 podcast platforms now. Compliments Mr. Dave Thiessen, who is my producer behind the camera, and Darren Wilhite, the producer behind the audio here at Audacy Studios. 00;20;09;26 - 00;20;37;13 Cary Hall So let me tell you about the podcast platforms. We're on Spotify, SoundCloud, RSS Podcast, Overcast, Rumble, Stitcher, TuneIn, Pandora. I couldn't believe that. Pocket Podcast. Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Amazon Music, Google, Audacy. And we're also on YouTube. YouTube views are up to about 256,000, about 66,000 actual downloads of the show on the podcast platforms. We really appreciate all of you doing that. 00;20;37;15 - 00;20;52;21 Cary Hall It is a great way. If you missed a show or you want to tell somebody about a show, you know to go, maybe you want to tell a friend of yours, your husband say, maybe we ought to take a look at that CenterWell thing. Well, don't try to explain it. Just put the podcast on. Okay. You put the podcast on. 00;20;52;25 - 00;21;10;04 Cary Hall Listen to Doctor, listen to Drew. Listen to all of our guests when they come on and talk about the various topics that we cover on this broadcast. So that's a great way to do it. All those podcast platforms are up there and they're getting a lot of action because of all you actually had. One of our one of our one of our sponsors actually was in Turkey. 00;21;10;05 - 00;21;27;00 Cary Hall They walked into the office, They had our podcast up on the screen in the office, and I ask him if that was him. And the answer to that was Yes, it was. So there are folks listening all over the place to America's Healthcare Advocate. All right. So let's let's let's go back to this, because this he floored me when he threw this number out there. 00;21;27;03 - 00;21;49;12 Cary Hall Yeah. So 2500 patients versus you're seeing 500. What does that mean in terms of getting to know the patient? Familiarize yourself having a time with the patient, as Drew talked about. Now, one example, being able to draw out seniors a lot of times. So like to talk, hey, I just need to get in here and get out. I don't want to make any changes. 00;21;49;14 - 00;21;53;25 Cary Hall Yeah. How does that change the dynamic of the whole care process? 00;21;53;25 - 00;22;17;03 Dr. Ikeme Dr. Ikeme Well, it makes the providers get to know their patients, so we're just not in and out. We actually take our time to see what's going on with the patient, and it's more than just, What's my problem? Here's the medication and get you out the door. It's knowing the whole patient, knowing their social issues, knowing if there's any detriments or this, any barriers for them to keep themselves healthy. 00;22;17;05 - 00;22;31;20 Dr. Ikeme And so in order for that to happen, we need to take our time. This is why we have 40 minute visits not only do we go through the medicines, we want to make sure you understand what's going on. Do you understand your diseases? Do you understand why you're taking the medications that you're taking? Do you understand why we're doing the test that we are taking? 00;22;31;27 - 00;22;36;06 Dr. Ikeme The better you know about your health, the better outcomes will be for the patients. 00;22;36;08 - 00;23;04;20 Cary Hall And the better they know about it. But what's more important is that, you know. Right, So that you can be again, I talked about being proactive, not reactive. Right? Most of what we do in this country is reactive treatment, that that's the fee for service model just doesn't allow for being proactive. You're doing quite the opposite of that because if you have the time to spend with the patient and you can talk to them about, you know, what are your symptoms, what are you doing, are you isolated? 00;23;04;20 - 00;23;13;26 Cary Hall Are you a widower? Are you sitting at home watching television 24 seven? Are you getting out or are you so people don't realize that all has an impact on health, does it not? Right. 00;23;13;26 - 00;23;32;03 Dr. Ikeme And that's a benefit of having a smaller patient panel. Not only do we get to know our patients in a better level, we also see the more we have the time to see them more. So instead of saying you're seeing your doctor, you know, once a year we may see you 2 to 3 times a year, which is great because if there's complications that happens and things that need to be changed, we can pick that up more quickly. 00;23;32;04 - 00;23;39;03 Dr. Ikeme We can prevent more complications from happening. And that can only happen if we have the time to do that and we have their frequency to do that with our patients. 00;23;39;07 - 00;24;01;04 Cary Hall So let's talk about, you know, one of the things that it seems to be recurrent in senior citizens and and it's more prevalent than it is in the typical population is diabetes and type two diabetes. This country is raging. Okay, overweight, wrong diet, etc.. But a lot of people aren't even aware that they're pre type two diabetes. 00;24;01;06 - 00;24;14;10 Cary Hall Okay. And if they if they're not aware, they can't correct it. So talk about how you address that when you do a typical physical and a blood panel and you see an A1C that's starting to hit the top of the charts, what do you do? 00;24;14;16 - 00;24;38;00 Dr. Ikeme So when I see my patient, especially in the beginning of the year, I say we start a fresh brand new year, brand new, You. So I like to do testing that they may pick up things that we may not usually see. So I look at your family history, I'm looking at the medications they're on. I like to see what risk there are for other diseases that that may run for being an older person or older female or male. 00;24;38;02 - 00;25;02;01 Dr. Ikeme So when we run these tests, I tell them why we're running that, because they're at risk for complications for they current medical diseases, but also they're at risk for developing other medical diseases. So we have to make sure that we're we're doing our preventative screens. Once we do that and we find out, okay, maybe you're pre-diabetic or you're just starting to get diabetic, we want to make sure you understand completely what that means, because diabetes is just not taking medications. 00;25;02;01 - 00;25;22;27 Dr. Ikeme It’s a lifestyle, it's a lifestyle change. We have to change your diet. You got to understand why what's happening in your body to make sure that you understand why you're taking your medications, why we're changing our diet to prevent any complications from that, Because diabetes affects more than just, you know, blood sugars. It affects your your heart, it affects your kidneys, it affects your circulation, it affects your mind, It affects a lot of things. 00;25;22;27 - 00;25;29;11 Dr. Ikeme So we want to make sure that educating our patients on what is developing with their diseases is important. 00;25;29;13 - 00;25;49;26 Cary Hall Yeah. And if they you know, again, the importance of the primary care visit, the importance of getting that blood panel done, the importance of interacting with you and understanding that I'm at risk here. And if you don't do something about it and you roll into type two and then God forbid you roll over to type one, now we really have a problem. 00;25;49;26 - 00;26;05;24 Dr. Ikeme Exactly. And we have to make sure we're following up. I just can't leave you and send you on your way and hope for the best. Right. We want to make sure you follow back up. How are you doing? Are you are you recording your your blood sugars? You need help with your your diabetic glucose machine. You understand what these numbers mean. 00;26;06;01 - 00;26;15;10 Dr. Ikeme Education is key to keeping the diseases at bay and keeping them under control because we want to prevent those complications that we know could be detrimental to people's health. 00;26;15;11 - 00;26;28;01 Cary Hall I'm a sandwich generation child. My my mother is 92 years old. She is a type one diabetic. I'm having trouble keeping track of her. Can they come in and sit down with you? 00;26;28;01 - 00;26;44;01 Dr. Ikeme Yeah. So especially when you have a new diagnosis, we definitely want to make sure when we're keeping close tabs on you. Right, Because it's definitely a lifestyle change and most people are not aware that they have to do because it does it does take over, you know, how you approach things, especially when you're eating, because that's what we do several times a day. 00;26;44;01 - 00;27;02;25 Dr. Ikeme Every day we do have resources in our clinics where we have, you know, nurses that will help educate our patients. You know, they'll come in and say, look, let's talk about let's talk about the food that you're eating. Let's look at counting the carbs. Let's take a look at your glucose machine. Let's let's make sure we know how to use it, what the readings mean. 00;27;02;27 - 00;27;19;19 Dr. Ikeme So we do take our time to make sure that we're educating our patients on the diseases that they have. And if they're having issues like, okay, you know, today I checked my sugars and it was, you know, 250 and we said, let's go back. What do we eat today? Were you sick? Did you take your medications? How did you take your medications? 00;27;19;19 - 00;27;33;13 Dr. Ikeme Do you know when to take it? Do you know why you're taking it? Which one are you taking? So these are the questions that we want to make sure that a patient understands when they're dealing with this type of disease so they can make sure they have better outcomes when dealing with controlling it as well. 00;27;33;13 - 00;27;57;00 Cary Hall So what I'm hearing here, Drew, is the level of intensity in the drill down that you guys do is just significantly different than what you're look, there's a lot of primary doctors. They do a wonderful job. That's not the point. The point is you have the time and the resources to do what Dr. Ikeme just talked about. I mean, that's critical if you're going to keep these diseases from progressing, becoming greater chronic disease issues. 00;27;57;00 - 00;27;57;13 Cary Hall Yes. 00;27;57;15 - 00;28;17;16 Drew Hare Yeah. Dr. Ikem you said it well, Right? Education's a big component of what we do. People. If you're going to make lifestyle changes, that requires time, energy, and you got to know enough about the disease and the changes you're making to monitor its progress and figure out if you're making headway or not. And you just can't do that in five or 10 minutes. 00;28;17;16 - 00;28;39;01 Drew Hare It takes it takes a while to help our patients understand exactly, here's how the disease works. Here's how decisions you make around diet and exercise. And here's what happens if you miss a medication. All of these things can impact the state of the disease. And so it takes our clinicians several visits to to help people fully understand what might be going on. 00;28;39;01 - 00;28;47;14 Drew Hare So, yeah, to your point, Cary, I mean, you just can't do that in a handful of visits and in a typical primary care setting, there's just not enough time. 00;28;47;16 - 00;29;01;06 Cary Hall Yeah, and that this is really kind of funny because we keep coming back to that one word: Time. I mean, it's really what this comes back to every every, every we keep coming back to this time. You have the time. 00;29;01;07 - 00;29;01;28 Dr. Ikeme We have the time. 00;29;02;02 - 00;29;03;24 Cary Hall And you also got the resources. 00;29;03;24 - 00;29;04;14 Dr. Ikeme Absolutely. 00;29;04;14 - 00;29;21;03 Cary Hall So to that point and the story about the roof, you know, I think Drew shared stories me some time ago about a gentleman who couldn't wasn't going to come because he didn't he didn't have transportation. And you talk a little bit about how you arrange things like that. 00;29;21;08 - 00;29;39;10 Drew Hare In some cases, you know, if somebody is deficient in transportation, we have resources where we can help with visits to the primary care clinic. Most Medicare plans have transportation benefits built in. And so just by virtue of understanding your plan design, you can take advantage of things. 00;29;39;10 - 00;29;57;02 Cary Hall Which you do, and that we do quite okay, which that that's another thing that's different. Okay. You know, you work only with Medicare patients, so Medicare Advantage, MedSupp or just straight Medicare or even if they're on VA, you understand the benefits and how they work. They may have it and not even know they have it. Right. That's part of the problem. 00;29;57;09 - 00;30;11;02 Cary Hall All right. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Stay tuned to doctors still in the House. We'll be right back with more. 00;30;11;04 - 00;30;31;00 Cary Hall Welcome back. You're listening to America's Health Care Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. My producer behind the microphones, Darren Willhite, my producer, doing all the video work that goes up on those podcasting YouTube platforms. Mr. David Thiessen helping us today to get this broadcast together and put it out to you across the country. 00;30;31;04 - 00;30;49;13 Cary Hall If you want to learn more about CenterWell and their primary care focused on senior citizens, that's what's so different about this. You heard Dr. Ikeme talk about it. The key word here is time. They have time to spend with you. If you if you're interested that if you want to go someplace where it's going to make a difference. 00;30;49;16 - 00;31;21;05 Cary Hall The website senior focused Kansas City dot com, senior focused Kansas City dot com call them 816 640 8522. Same day appointments virtual appointments they've got. You can go in there and get help if you need it. Now they're able to do that. It's very, very different in the way they deliver primary care, which is strictly focused on senior citizens. Drew let's talk about you've got seven locations, so wherever people are in the metro, they can find a facility close to them. 00;31;21;11 - 00;31;46;28 Drew Hare We have seven locations here in Kansas City, Grandview, Raytown, Olathe, Kansas City, Kansas. We have one in the midtown area of Kansas City, Missouri, and then two out in Independence, one out at 39th street, out by the mall and then one in old Independence up on the old square. I think one of the great things about CenterWell too is we also have a national footprint so you can find us in in 25, 26 other states including your new affiliate in Houston. 00;31;46;28 - 00;32;00;15 Cary Hall I didn't know that. Okay. So that's interesting. So 25 or 26 other states. Yeah, Well, so so here's a question for you then. If you're traveling and you're a CenterWell patient and you want to go to a CenterWell, facility, another city, can you do that? 00;32;00;17 - 00;32;05;07 Drew Hare We do have some snowbirds here in Kansas City that spend about half the year in Florida right now. 00;32;05;09 - 00;32;09;02 Cary Hall Now, it's really a good time to be a snowbird because we're sitting here with, yeah, well. 00;32;09;02 - 00;32;18;23 Drew Hare If someone is going to Arizona in fall in February, I'm very much looking forward to it. But yeah, we do have some snowbirds where we coordinate that between the our sister facilities and some of those other locations. 00;32;18;25 - 00;32;36;29 Cary Hall Okay. So that's good to know. So if you are if you've you know, if you're out there in that RV, okay, you're you're going to go to Arizona and play golf for Florida, that's good to know. If you're a central patient, you've got access. So there's some good news. So, Doctor, let's wrap this up because again, as we've talked about in the opening of the show, you know, it is that time of year. 00;32;37;01 - 00;32;58;00 Cary Hall You know, people are the stuff is raging, right? Whether it's RSV or COVID or I saw numbers here today where COVID is back up to numbers. It's the ER’s are full. You know, people are being admitted. This RSV thing is really nasty. There is a vaccine which a lot of people aren't aware of right. That you can get. And I have not gotten it, but I intend to get it. 00;32;58;00 - 00;33;16;25 Cary Hall I just have been able to get in to get it. But let's talk about you know, if you're feeling sick, you're waking up sick. You know, the kinds of things you could be dealing with is let's just wait and see how it is. But let's let's let's give it a day or two and see how it is. Not now my wife and she's going to hear this does this all the time. 00;33;16;27 - 00;33;23;00 Cary Hall When I came back and I knew I was getting sick, I was in there five in the morning. The next day is a good wait? 00;33;23;03 - 00;33;39;16 Dr. Ikeme Well, it depends on your health, which is why it's so critical that you see your primary care doctor, because they know you better than anyone. And so if they know, like, this is around the time you get sick, we get up our respiratory infections that can tumble down. I rather you come see me first. Let's not wait. 00;33;39;22 - 00;33;59;01 Dr. Ikeme Let's prevent it from getting more worse. Let's prevent. You're getting complications from getting sick. And let's treat it and nip it in the bud. So it really depends what you have, how your health status is. And that's why it's important that you see your primary care doctor on a regular, regular basis so they know exactly when to you to call and see them. 00;33;59;06 - 00;34;20;28 Cary Hall But instead of trying to self treat. Right. Okay, my wife's going to hate this. Okay. And self-medicate. Right. And let it spiral into something else. Right. Doesn't make more sense. Hey, you know what? I know something's coming, but exactly what happened? I wasn't there yet, but I knew it was coming, right? By golly, I was there the next day. 00;34;21;01 - 00;34;29;07 Cary Hall Okay, so it doesn't make sense. As you said, to nip it in the bud and do it in the very beginning instead of letting it go on. And then you got a bigger problem. 00;34;29;07 - 00;34;45;28 Dr. Ikeme Right? And then let's say that you go see the primary care doctor. They're like, okay, you know, things. Maybe it's not too bad. Let's just wait and see. Now I'm my ears are up. I'm aware what's going on with you. I have a heads up on, you know what I need to watch? Cary closer because he can tumble real quickly. 00;34;46;02 - 00;35;03;16 Dr. Ikeme And so I have the heads up. So it never hurts to see the doctor, whether it's the first time you're having symptoms or you waited two days. As long as we know what's going on with you, we can treat you right away. So why take the risk? Go see your doctor if you're not feeling well, even if it's something that could be treated at home, at least we know what's going on. 00;35;03;16 - 00;35;07;23 Dr. Ikeme So that if things do get complicated and do things do get worse, we can treat it right away. 00;35;07;23 - 00;35;15;23 Cary Hall Yeah. And the other thing is that if they don't want to come in, if you're break learn and I really don't want to have to get dressed and go out there and it's cold, they can do the virtual thing. 00;35;15;23 - 00;35;32;07 Dr. Ikeme Exactly. And virtual makes it a lot easier And we can see, you know, I know my patients face. I know when they're sick, you know how kids are going to go. I'm finding they're like, no, you're not looking too hot. And I know when my patients are sick, even though they may not want to tell me because I know them well, I can be like, look, let's let's just treat this, you know, get this out of the way. 00;35;32;07 - 00;35;42;11 Dr. Ikeme And if you're not, if you're feeling better, great. And if you're not, come see me in person. So the virtual visit, this makes things a lot easier for the patient if they don't want to come in, but they still want to be seen and be treated. 00;35;42;14 - 00;35;52;00 Cary Hall Yeah. And then you know where they and of course, the fact that you're not seeing 2500 people might have something to do with that. When you said, you know, your patients. 00;35;52;00 - 00;35;52;15 Dr. Ikeme Your patients. 00;35;52;22 - 00;36;03;13 Cary Hall You've got a pretty good idea of what's going on with them. And if if they're saying, well, I'm experiencing this or I'm experiencing that, you can go back and look at what's their history as you would guess where we're going. 00;36;03;15 - 00;36;20;00 Dr. Ikeme Right. And, you know, the good thing about knowing your patients is you have a history. So I'd be like, yeah, Cary, I know you say you're feeling okay. This will bug. You know, you have a little bug here, but remember last year, remember when we didn't we, we waited and things tumbled to bronchitis, pneumonia, and you had to go to the hospital. 00;36;20;00 - 00;36;32;23 Dr. Ikeme We're not going to do that again. Let's not take that risk. Let's just go ahead and treat it so we can prevent that from happening. So the good thing is that we have a history. I know what's happens with you, so it's good to see that your primary care doctor, especially in this season. 00;36;32;23 - 00;36;44;14 Cary Hall Yeah. And this season is really makes it very difficult. Drew we’re wrapping up here. But if you were going to give a message to senior citizens, why should they take a look at CenterWell, now and look at making a change. 00;36;44;17 - 00;37;06;09 Drew Hare Well Cary, you said it earlier, right? It comes back to time. And the only way we can be really successful at what we do is by having time to connect with our patients, to understand more than just the medical diseases and the medical processes that are going on. It's it's the stuff beneath the surface, right? We don't want our patients having to decide between, should I take my blood pressure medication or should I put food on the table? 00;37;06;12 - 00;37;22;04 Drew Hare If that's where you're at, we've got the ability to help you solve of those issues. But I can't do that. We can't do that in short time increments. We need time with you to understand what's going on with you and really, you know, dive into some of those issues at a deep level. 00;37;22;06 - 00;37;38;16 Cary Hall You know, if you're looking for primary care and you're a senior citizen, you really are looking for a better way to do this. Okay? And you're not you're not being rushed through and you want somebody that really understands what your issues are or you want a better level of care. You really need to give these people a call and just go see what they do and how they do it. 00;37;38;16 - 00;37;59;20 Cary Hall You've seen Dr. Ikeme on here. You've seen Dr. V on here. The way they deliver care, it is just completely different. There are not 2500 people seeing a primary care physician. If that doesn't say at all, I don't know what does. The website is senior focused Kansas City dot com senior focused Kansas City dot com. The phone number 816 640 8522. 00;37;59;22 - 00;38;21;19 Cary Hall Give them a call find out I think you'll be surprise. And now ladies and gentlemen, I leave you with this thought from Dr. Martin Luther King. We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters, or we will surely perish together as fools. Truer words were never spoken. Thank you for watching. America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. 00;38;21;21 - 00;38;23;00 Cary Hall Good bye, America.