Compression Stockings Q&A

December 19, 2011 — Petersen Medical

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Petersen Medical Joins in the Festivities at the Utah State Developmental Center

June 30, 2011 — Petersen Medical

Summertime–blue skies, warmer weather, outdoor festivities, and parades.

What happens when you can't go to the parade?  Then someone needs to bring the parade to you.  That is what the Utah State Developmental Center in American Fork, UT decided.

The Utah State Developmental Center (USDC) is a state operated Intermediate Care Facility for people with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/ID). The Developmental Center offers 24 hour supervised residential and day training/employment services as well as community outreach services. Approximately 235 individuals, many in wheelchairs, reside at the Developmental Center.

Waiting for Parade to Start

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Some Petersen Medical Employees Volunteer to Take A Big Climb for the American Lung Association

February 28, 2011 — Petersen Medical

Petersen Medical's Stair Steppers

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Petersen Medical—A Proud Sponsor of BYU

February 17, 2011 — Petersen Medical

Company and employee support of our "Serve Others First" core value has been achieved in a variety of ways.  Obviously, taking the best possible care of our patients is our main focus.  But, we also "Serve Others First" by contributing time, money, and support to a variety of different causes.

One of the ways we determined that we could serve others and give back to the community at the same time was to become a corporate sponsor for Brigham Young University's Athletic program for the 2010-2011 year.

Football season provided us an opportunity to give t-shirts at the home football games; we even organized a tailgate party offering free food, prizes, and fun prior to the BYU-San Diego State home game.

Our most fun activity, though, has been the mobility races we organized for time-outs at some of the home game basketball, including the game between #4 ranked San Diego State and #9 ranked BYU.  Even more fun was running our mobility race at the rivalry game this past Saturday between BYU (currently ranked #7 ) and the University of Utah, before a sell-out crowd, which included Deron Williams and CJ Miles of the Utah Jazz.

Two volunteers were taken from the audience, given a 30-second training on how to operate the Jazzy scooters, and told that they would race each other (while riding on the scooters).  The race consisted of racing to and around walkers placed almost at half court and back again. The first one to make a basket, while still sitting on the scooter, would be the winner.

Check out the photos from of one of our races:
BYU Mobility Race

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The Pulmonary Press

February 15, 2011 — Petersen Medical

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Petersen Medical Donates Books to the Reach Out and Read Program

January 31, 2011 — Petersen Medical

Jean Landon
Marketing Coordinator
www.petersenmedical.com

After the hectic times of the holidays, many find January dull and bleak.  For me, however, I grab a good book and take advantage of the spare time by reading.

It is not a surprise, then, when I discovered through the Reach Out and Read program that 34% of children enter kindergarten without the basic language skills they will need to learn to read that I thought gathering preschool books for the local medical offices supporting the program would be the perfect service opportunity for January.

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The Pulmonary Press

January 14, 2011 — Petersen Medical

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The Pulmonary Press

December 23, 2010 — Petersen Medical

MedGroup
December 2010

Happy Holidays
We wish you twinkling lights, and light snows,
A home alive with cookie smells,
A child to play with,
A dog to pet,
And the hope of answered prayers.

The Six-Second Quieting Response


When you feel tense, annoyed, or upset—recognize the beginning of a negative reaction to stress. As soon as you recognize these feelings are getting started, make yourself smile and imagine that your eyes are sparkling. A smiling face can’t send negative signals to your brain. If you are in a situation where smiling outwardly would be inappropriate, you can always smile inwardly.  You certainly can keep yourself from frowning.  In order to counteract the negative thoughts and perceptions that contribute to stress, say to yourself, “Alert, amused mind; calm body. I am on top of this situation.”

Take two slow, deep breaths, counting to four each time you inhale or exhale. Imagine the air slowly filling your lungs from the bottom to the top. As you exhale, keep your jaw loose and relaxed, your tongue resting on the lower part of your jaw, and your shoulders limp and relaxed. Imagine a wave of warmth and heaviness flowing from your head to your toes and relaxing every muscle in your body. Say to yourself, “I can allow myself to relax and handle this situation better.”  From Dr. Charles Stroebel, The Six-Second Quieting Response

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Secret Santas Invade Petersen Medical!

December 21, 2010 — Petersen Medical

This year Petersen Medical's service has ranged from donating supplies to young pregnant mothers, cutting material to make bears for abused children, sponsoring wheelchair races for Camp Kostopulos and rubber ducky races for the Make-a-Wish Foundation to helping individual families with medical hardships.

The Pulmonary Press

November 26, 2010 — Petersen Medical

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Co-Morbidities of Sleep Apnea

October 21, 2010 — Petersen Medical

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The Pulmonary Press

October 19, 2010 — Petersen Medical

MedGroup
October 2011

Oxygen Fire Safety

Oxygen does not explode, but it does support combustion. That means anything that would normally smolder or be difficult to ignite will burn easily when extra oxygen is available. Be careful around stoves, and never, ever smoke when using your oxygen.

What to do Before a Fire Occurs . . .

• Have you given thought to how you would get out of a burning apartment or home?  Identify and determine the nearest emergency exit or exits within your home.  It is important to always know the safest and quickest exit from any location you are in and it should always be based on your physical capabilities.

• Install heat or smoke detectors throughout your home.  Key locations for smoke alarms are: the kitchen, basement, storage areas, trash areas, accessible attics, sleeping areas and hallways.  Please note that there are various types of smoke alarms.  Heat and smoke detectors can reduce the chance of dying in a home fire by approximately 60%.  It is important to make sure your smoke alarms are functioning properly.  Make sure all smoke alarms are kept cleaned and vacuumed regularly to remove dust particles.  In addition to this, you should test the batteries monthly and replace batteries at least once a year to ensure that they are working properly. If you are unable to perform these tasks yourself, ask your friends, family members, building managers, or someone from the fire department to help you out.

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Join Forces with Petersen Medical to Support Jonas and Maggie

October 5, 2010 — Petersen Medical

Thank Goodness for Social Networking!

Facebook posts by two friends brought some a very special family into our lives at Petersen Medical—the Coleman family. The posts discussed a recent news report they had seen on KSL.  The story was about a family who has two children that have been diagnosed with a genetic disorder call Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Type 1.  SMA Type 1 is the most severe form of the disease and is terminal; most afflicted by this disorder die by the age of 2.  SMA results in the loss of nerves in the spinal cord and weakness of the muscles connected with those nerves.

Meet Maggie and Jonas Read More OVERLAP Opportunity September 30, 2010 — Petersen Medical Respiratory & Sleep Management Volume 5 Number 7 September 2010 By Janis Rizzuto Serving patients who need both PAP equipment and oxygen is a strong way to expand business. Are you doing enough to diagnose and treat this population? The term “overlap syndrome” was coined in 1985 to describe patients who have both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnea. Since then, it has been recognized that the co-existence of COPD and OSA is associated with increased morbidity. Estimates of the incidence of overlap syndrome depend on how one looks at it. The clinical literature suggests that about 10 percent of OSA patients have some degree of COPD, and between 20 percent to 40 percent of COPD patients have some degree of sleep-disordered breathing, according to Ann Tisthammer, BS, RRT, vice president of clinical education and training at ResMed, San Diego. Either way, respiratory therapists report that they encounter overlap patients in their work for HME businesses, and that the population benefits from using two technologies, positive airway pressure devices and oxygen equipment. Ricky Hubbard, CRT, respiratory manager at Zurcare LLC in Ridgeland, Miss., says this group of patients is unique. “They tend to be more compliant with their treatment because their condition is more involved than a typical CPAP patient,” he says. “They realize there could be more consequences if they are not compliant, and the consequences may be more severe than if they were just an OSA patient.” Zurcare has a program to monitor compliance with regular data downloads and some wireless technology. However, Hubbard says that only about 5 percent of Zurcare’s patients have overlap syndrome. He says they typically start out receiving sleep therapy, and then oxygen is added when desaturation is discovered via an overnight oximetry study. Few patients come onboard with orders for PAP and oxygen equipment at the same time, he says. Read More The Pulmonary Press September 20, 2010 — Petersen Medical MedGroup Volume 2, Issue 1, September 2010 Prescription Errors Electronic prescriptions significantly reduce medication errors according to a study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Researchers compared the number and severity of prescription errors between 15 health care providers who adopted e-prescribing and 15 who continued to write prescriptions by hand. A review of the paper-based prescriptions and electronic prescriptions found that one year after adopting e-prescribing, the percentage of errors dropped from 42.5% to 6.6% for the providers using the electronic system. For those who continued to write prescriptions by hand, the percentage of errors increased slightly from 37.3% to 38.4%. Illegibility problems were completely eliminated by e-prescribing. Read More Real-Time Health Management Through Text Messaging August 31, 2010 — Petersen Medical When Dr. Jennifer Dyer, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Ohio State University, discovered that 2.5 billion text messages are sent each day in the US and that calling plans of roughly 75 percent of teens have unlimited text messaging, she decided to try to harness the power of text messaging for her teen diabetics. According to an article in The Suncoast News, Dr. Dyer, who is also an endocrinologist at the Nationwide Children's Hospital, in Columbus, Ohio, conducted a study on the effects of weekly customized text messages to her teen diabetics. Read More "Every Time There Is Change, There Is Opportunity" August 25, 2010 — Petersen Medical HMENews, page 8 August 2010 THE UTAH MEDICAL EQUIPMENT DEALERS ASSOCIATION (UTMED) held its annual conference in May at the Embassy Suites in Salt Lake City. One of the hot topics at the conference:  competitive bidding. Panel speaker Rich McKeown, president and CEO of Leavitt Partners and chief of staff for former HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, said of the program:  "The train has left the station.  I have no doubt that competitive bidding is here to stay.  There will be some that will adapt and thrive in this new structure and some will just go away.  Every time there is change, there is opportunity." Read More The Pulmonary Press August 12, 2010 — Petersen Medical MedGroup Volume 1, Issue 1, August 2010 COPD Awareness Improves,  But Work Still Needs To Be Done Awareness of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) is still low, but it’s improving. That’s the take-home message from a survey conducted in 2009 by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). According to the government agency, 68% of adults are now aware of COPD, up from 64% in 2008 and just 49% in 2004. Awareness among current smokers rose from 69% in 2008 to 74% in 2009. Less than half of all adults, however — just 44% — understood that the COPD can be treated. Physicians maintained a more optimistic view, with approximately nine out of 10 primary care physicians agreeing that available treatments can optimize quality of life for their patients with COPD. “Awareness is an important first step,” says James P. Kiley, PhD, director of the NHLBI Division of Lung Diseases. “However, awareness alone is not enough. People at risk of developing the disease need to know what the disease looks and feels like, and most importantly, to understand that it can be treated. The key is to get tested and start treatment as soon as possible.” Read More Petersen Medical — A Proud Sponsor of Camp Kostopulous July 13, 2010 — Petersen Medical Saturday, July 10th, 2010, was the first annual Wasatch Wheelchair Rally held at beautiful Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. This event was organized to raise funds for Camp Kostopulos' year-round adaptive recreation programs and activities for more than one thousand youth and adults with physical and mental disabilities. Petersen Medical not only had the opportunity to participate as a sponsor for this great event, but also sent volunteers to answer mobility questions and inspect wheelchairs for spectators and race participants. We even provided free water! It was great to participate in the support of such a great cause.  Several employees brought their children to help.  What a great way to promote acceptance and understanding for people with special needs. Read More Petersen Medical Employees Cut 120 Bear Kits for the Utah Children's Justice Center. June 1, 2010 — Petersen Medical At Petersen Medical, one of our core values is “serving others first”. As part of that value and our commitment to serve the community, we have committed to participating in at least one service project each month. For April, our service was focused on the Utah Children’s Justice Centers and the teddy bears provided to children who have been abused.  The bears are donated by a volunteer group called the “Teddy Bear Ladies” Utah’s Children’s Justice Centers provide a child-friendly atmosphere designed to help children feel safe and comfortable while they are being interviewed regarding alleged abuse. Read More GET A FREE CONSULTATION 1-800-888-5137 blogger facebook twitter BBB.org ACHC Accredited privacy legal careers Copyright © 2012 Petersen Medical. All rights reserved.