Stay Healthy & Be Well Health  &  Wellness  News  That  You  Can  Use  

Winter  2015  

This  is  a  the  quarterly  newsletter  for  Urology  Group  of  

Athens    patients  and  friends  alike  to  stay  up-­‐to-­‐date  on  urinary  issues,  health  and  

wellness.  

“Personal  Patient  Portals”  

“Your  PC  Muscles  &  The  Kegel  Exercise”  

“Get  to  Know  Dr.  Blankenship”  

“Women  &  Overactive  Bladders”  

“Save  Salt  For  The  Sidewalks  This  

Winter”  

“Winter  Afternoon  Tea”  

“Personal  Patient  Portals”  

Urology  Group  of  Athens  will  be  introducing  its  personal  patient  portal  program  in  2015.    Patients  will  be  able  to  use  it  to  access  a  set  of  forms,  materials  and  information  all  designed  around  improving  patient  outcomes.  

As part of the Health Reform Act, physicians are now rolling out what are termed personal patient portals. A patient portal is a secure online website that provides patients with 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere with an Internet connection.

The portals are very secure with access only available using a username and password that the patient can customize. The portals also allow doctors and patients to share health information remotely and assist in ongoing patient health.

Patient portals provide information like medication information, lab results. a calendar and timetable of upcoming appointments, a resource to download and complete forms, a place to view educational materials, and a means to secure prescription refills.

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, just over 4 out of every 10 primary care physicians are using patient portals of secure messaging with patients and patient information. About a third are using the portals for medication refills and appointment scheduling.

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“Your  PC  Muscles  &  The  Kegel  Exercise”  We all hear about the weight lifters, joggers and mall walkers, but few have heard of friends and peers doing their regular Kegel exercises. The Kegel exercise works with the pubococcygeus muscle – or PC muscle – that is a “hammock-like” muscle found in both males and females that stretches from the front of the pelvic bones to the tail bone.

The easiest way to locate the PC muscles is halfway through urination, try to stop the flow. Don’t tense up the muscles in your buttocks, legs or abdomen… and don’t hold your breath. Once you can slow or stop the flow, you have successfully located your PC muscles.

The exercise is easy, but recommend that person not do it with a full bladder or an urge to urinate. Contract you PC muscles… hold the contraction for three second then relax for three seconds… then repeat this 10 times. Try to do a set of 10 contractions, three times during the day Working the PC muscles helps many prevent urinary stress and incontinence and increase urinary control.

Stay Healthy & Be Well Health  &  Wellness  News  That  You  Can  Use  

Athens’  roots  with  a  calling  to  return  to  Athens  and  serve  the  

community  

Pioneered  robotic  surgery  in  Athens  

Graduate  of  UGA  and  The  Medical  College  of  Georgia  with  residency  at  University  of  Tennessee  

Get  To  Know  Dr.  John  Blankenship  

“Physicians  today  are  pioneering  new  ways  to  diagnose,  assess  and  treat  patients  that  is  moving  healthcare  forward…  along  with  wellness  and  recovery.”  

Many  Uind  it  hard  to  believe  that  Dr.  Blankenship  takes  time  out  of  his  schedule  to  get  on  top  of  a  tractor  and  work  the  soil  on  a  farm,  but  he  does.    In  addition  to  own  a  residence  in  greater  Athens,  he  also  owns  a  farm  north  of  Athens  where  he  goes  to  relax  and  take  short  “time  outs.”      

“My  farm  is  the  ‘high  touch’  that  I  use  to  balance  the  technology  that  is  used  in  medical  treatment  today.    It  nurtures  the  ‘high  touch’  of  healthcare  that  U.G.A.  is  committed  to  deliver  to  patients  and  family.”    

John Blankenship grew-up in Athens, graduated from Cedar Shoals and went on to earn a 4-year degree from the University of Georgia. He has two older brothers who pursued careers in medicine and studied at what was then the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. When Dr. Blankenship – back then just simply John – visited one of his brothers and toured the anatomy lab, he became inspired to become a doctor too.

“Times have changed a lot from back then compared to how we use technology to process information as well as diagnose our patients today,” says Dr. Blankenship. While healthcare changes from Washington are translating into limited time with an actual physician, Dr. Blankenship remains very committed to get-to-know his patients and better understand what they do and value in their day-to-day lives.

As a patient is quoted as saying, “The best part of my Urology Group of Athens experience is Dr. Blankenship. He gives me his undivided attention. He has a great way of explaining my situation in a way that I can fully understand.”

Yet as much as he is high touch in building personal patient relationships, Dr. Blankenship is also one of the very first Athens area physicians to learn and use robotic surgery. Today, Dr. Blankenship uses robotic and laser surgery as needs fit and leads many of other physicians in the use of it at St. Mary’s hospital.

As Dr. Blankenship shares, “When I go to my farm, I get back in touch with my roots and why I do the work I do to serve the greater Athens area… the place that’s my home.”

To learn more about Dr. Blankenship, watch his video about his perspective of health and technology at www.urologygroupofathens.com/our-team/.

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Stay Healthy & Be Well Health  &  Wellness  News  That  You  Can  Use  

Our  approach  to  urology  is  crafted  to  meet  the  most  

important  player  on  the  stage  of  life…  YOU…  and  we  hope  that  staying  on  top  of  

the  webs  and  interactive  changes  illustrates  this  

mission  

“Women  &  Overactive  Bladders”  

Many  think  of  urology  in  the  context  of  men,  but  women  face  urinary  health  challenges,  too.  

In fact, millions of women face the challenge of an overactive bladder each year in the U.S. About 40% of all women in the U.S. live with Overactive Bladder symptoms.

There are a number of pharmaceutical companies currently running ads for different drugs that can assist with the problem, but many women living with Overactive Bladder symptoms don’t ask for help – partly because they are embarrassed about their situation.

Overactive Bladder isn’t a disease. It’s a name given to a set of urinary symptoms like the “gotta go” feeling – the sudden, strong urge to urinate that seems out-of-control. Overactive Bladder can happen when the nerve signals between the bladder and the brain tell the bladder to empty even when it’s not full. The situation can happen when the bladder muscles are overactive too.

As women grow older, the risk of Overactive Bladder increases. Women who have gone through menopause seem to be at a greater risk. Caffeine, alcohol and highly spiced foods can increase the risk too.

If you or family or friends might be experiencing the “gotta go” feeling more than in the past, contact Urology Group of Athens to craft a program to address the issue.  

Your kidneys regulate the amount of sodium kept in your body. When sodium levels are low, your kidneys conserve sodium. When levels are high, they excrete the excess amount of salt in the urine. If the kidneys can eliminate enough sodium, the sodium starts to accumulate in your blood.

The increased blood volume, in turn, makes your heart work harder to pump the expanded blood volume through the blood vessels, thus increasing the pressure in your arteries. Certain diseases such as congestive heart failure, liver disease, and chronic kidney disease can contribute to the inability to regulate sodium.

Good  cancer-­‐Uighting  alternatives  to  salt  

include:  (1) Garlic  (2)   Ginger  (3)   Dill  

(4)   Parsley  (5)   Turmeric  

“Save  Salt  For  The  Sidewalks!”  

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Although our body needs some sodium to function properly, sodium in excess is not good.

Sodium helps maintain the right balance of fluids in your body. It helps transmit nerve impulses, and also influence the contraction and relaxation on muscles.

Stay Healthy & Be Well Health  &  Wellness  News  That  You  Can  Use  

Top  herbal  teas  include:  

(1) Lemon  Balm  Tea  (2)   Ginger  Tea  (3)   Rosehip  Tea  

(4)   Peppermint  Tea  (5)   Orange  Blossom  

Tea  

“Winter  Afternoon  Tea”  

Many of the classic winter drinks like coffee au lait and hot chocolate or mocha varieties are not good on the bladder and kidneys. So the big question often asked is what are the best alternative options.

Best news is that hot water is very good at helping the bladder. A paced consumption of water throughout the day is much better than gulping down a bunch of water all at once. And when we drink hot beverages, we tend to pace our consumption much better.

Lemons and cranberry juice both add flavor as well as help keep the urinary tract healthy. They also combine nice with Green Teas that contain very powerful antioxidants that help fight infections of the kidney, bladder and urinary tract.

Other teas that contain ingredients like juniper berry, orange peel, parsley root and Peppermint leaf are also very good. You can even do an Internet search for “tea for bladder health” and find a selection of herbal teas specifically branded around bladder and kidney health.

The next issue of Stay Healthy & Be Well will be issued in March For more information on the different topics addressed in the

newsletter, we encourage you to check out Patient Resources available on www.urologygroupofathens.com

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Check  out  the  next  issue  of    

Stay Healthy & Be Well

In  late  March  2015