Happy Birthday to us!
Greetings,
Wow! It's hard to believe one year has passed since we opened ZoomCare at Bridgeport Village. It's been a great privilege to care for you and your families this past year. About 3000 of you sought care at ZoomCare this past year. We greatly appreciate that many of you have returned with your families and referred friends. Your trust in us inspires us and motivates us to make ZoomCare the best care anywhere. Many thanks to our fantastic team of Doctors and Associates, our partners, and many supporters including our families. We hope to see you at our 1-Year Birthday Bash on Thursday May 24 from 7PM-830PM at ZoomCare at Bridgeport Village. See Events.
We began this journey by asking the question, "Can we place our customer at the center? Can we make our patients the star of the show?" Our answer is "Health Care on Demand". Naturally, job one is excellent clinical care provided by board-certified experienced physicians supported by a devoted Associate team and a state-of-the-art information system designed from the ground up for ZoomCare. But that's not enough. Everything we do - our culture, technology, our office environment, our way of working - is designed to put you in control of your time, your money, your information and foremost, your health. Here are some of our 2006-2007 milestones.
- Online Scheduling
Kiosk Check-in (and paperless check-in) - ZipScriptz (our onsite pharmacy)
- Simple, Published Prices
The ZoomReceipt (Know your bill. No surprises.) - Video Handouts
- Zelp (ZoomCare's email Help)
- ZoomGrant (our monthly community grant program: local non-profits can apply online)
- ZoomNews and Podcasts
Not bad for year 1. But we have much more planned for 2007-2008. Many of you have offered suggestions. Please keep this feedback coming! Send us a personal note or go to Improve Your ZoomCare. We'd really appreciate your suggestions for new locations.
Each day, each hour, we work with you — we care for you one-one-one in the most personal way we can. Listening, analyzing, collaborating with you and creating a plan to get you well. This is our focus. Yet, on a different level, you can't read the papers or catch the news without a discussion on the challenges facing health care in America. While our sole focus is on caring for you each day, we also believe that ZoomCare points the way to health care's future.
Wishing you the best of health.
Sincerely,
David Sanders, MD
dsanders@zoomcare.com
&
Albert DiPiero, MD, MPH
adipiero@zoomcare.com
P.S. If you haven't yet checked out ZoomCare, check out our Third Thursdays.
Dr. Katz's Corner
Allergy medicines:
The good, the bad, and the flonase..
(click on the Dr. Katz's smiling face to hear a podcast about this subject)
We all remember the great war — the one between Pepsi and Coke, which has been raging over the last few decades. Another war has been smoldering behind the scenes of the medical world — between different allergy treatments, Flonase and Nasonex. Both are nasal steroid sprays, both are designed to fight against allergy symptoms, both are very safe and work great, both are — or rather were, expensive. But now one of the two pulls ahead in the race to your medicine cabinet: Flonase**.
Not because it's better — but because Flonase went generic in the last year — and that means you can get the same good stuff (fluticasone) for about half the price.
Why use a nasal steroid at all? Nasal steroids alleviate more symptoms, more effectively, for more people than do antihistamine pills. But some people need both nasal steroids and pills to help. In fact, some people need intensive therapy with a combination of medicines including antihistamines, nasal steroids, eye drops, and Singulair — a medicine that helps allergy problems and asthma but works differently than antihistamines. When these combinations are not enough, immunotherapy ("allergy shots") can help.
I personally dig the way Flonase smells, which is like a breath of Portland Rose Garden. Others like how it relieves congestion in their nostrils, or ZoomHoles as we call them. But no one loves the price. Now you can save your money for fun stuff, like paper umbrellas to put in your soy milk.
Other allergy medicines have seen a price reduction, too. Now that Allegra has become available as a generic called fexofenadine, the cost becomes much more affordable. Ditto with Claritin, available now as generic loratadine for a fraction of the cost. That leaves more money for paper umbrellas and REI socks.
You may ask, "Why does Dr. Katz care so much about the price of my medicines?" It is true that I'm a multi-trillionaire, and I use 1000 dollar bills to blow my nose. But I do care very much about value. In fact, all ZoomCare Physicians are concerned about value, and we're keenly aware of prices. That's why we spend a lot of time in the room talking to you about choosing the best options — combining both price and quality.
You may ask, how do I know so much about allergies? There are many reasons:
1) I am an allergy sufferer myself. This, of course, is information that I only share with you, my closest personal friends.
2) I am brilliant and know everything about everything... except politics, and auto mechanics. And sports. And geography. And French. That's all. And country music.
**I do not own stock in any pharmaceutical company. Besides the annual stipend they give me, and the chalet, my love for Flonase runs deep. Actually, as you may know, we at ZoomCare do not accept any gifts, free samples, dinners, chalets, vacation homes, kick backs, back rubs, or ball-point pens from any drug companies. Not even coffee mugs.
(To hear part two of Dr. Katz's podcast about allergies, kindly pick, or click this nose)
As part of our commitment to growing deeper roots in the communities we serve, each month, ZoomCare gives a ZoomGrant of $250 to a local area non-profit.
Congratulations to June's winner:
Oswego Playschool
If your organization would like to apply for a ZoomGrant, you can do so on our website. Or, click here.
Don't forget...
Our birthday party:
TOMORROW!!
This Thursday, May 24th from 7-8:30 in the evening.
Join us for cake, live music, and Health Care on Demand!
See you there.
To RSVP please respond to Amanda at athibodeau@zoomcare.com
In This Issue
Meet the Kiosks
Your largest organ's way of getting your attention
And the ZoomGrant Winner is...
Quick Links
Come to our birthday party!Schedule an Appointment
ZELP ME!!
Check out our prices
Job Opportunities
Meet the Kiosks!
We are proud to introduce one of our newest innovations, the ZoomKiosk.
Now, you can communicate directly and securely with the doctor in an easy to use format.
You can make a reservation to be seen, or you can check in for an already reserved appointment, with just a few clicks of the mouse.
Since you enter in your own information, you can control the quality and pace of your visit.
The kiosks enable you to input valuable information about your health and medical history, making your face time with the doctor that much more valuable.
Ask Your ZCP:
Red eye? Uh oh.
(click on the red eye to hear a podcast about conjunctivitis)
Red eye - not what it appears at first sight
A 40 year-old woman woke up one morning with an irritating watering of her right eye. Her eye was red and itchy and had some mucus crusting in the morning. Her daughter had had a mild case of similar symptoms several days ago. The daughter's pediatrician diagnosed a viral conjunctivitis. The condition got better on its own quickly with no treatment. So the mother felt no need to have this evaluated. However, for three days the symptoms worsened: the itching became constant and intense; the watering from the eye was clear but constant; the eye became redder, especially after a day of wearing her contact lenses. Finally the eye started to hurt, she had difficulty keeping her eye open, and her vision became blurry. At that point she came to see her doctor. The woman had inflammation and ulcers of her cornea - the transparent covering over the pupil. This required treatment by an ophthalmologist and close follow-up until her condition improved.
This patient illustrates how a simple symptom can turnout to have a much more serious condition. "Red eye" is one of the most common reasons for visiting a doctor. The most common cause of red eye is conjunctivitis, which is inflammation of the membrane that lines the inside of the eyelids and the white surface of the eye. Most cases of conjunctivitis are due to infection with a virus. This viral conjunctivitis is the equivalent of the common cold of the eye: in other words, it is a minor condition that gets better on its own. Usual symptoms of viral conjunctivitis include itching, burning, or gritty feeling of the eyes, watery discharge. There is no pain and no change in vision. Since the cause is virus, antibiotics are of no help. Over-the-counter antihistamine decongestant eye drops, such as Naphcon-A® can help relieve symptoms. This is what the woman's daughter had and what the woman may have started off with. But this patient's condition quickly worsened, and, possibly due to continued wearing of her contact lenses she developed involvement of the cornea. This illustrates why people with red eye which does not improve in 12 to 24 hours should see a doctor: namely to rule out more serious causes of red eye which can threaten one's vision. Clues that the patient had a more serious condition included the pain, the change in vision and the difficulty keeping her eye open.
Other common causes of red eye include bacterial conjunctivitis and allergic conjunctivitis. Bacterial conjunctivitis is an infection of the conjunctiva caused by bacteria. Clues include thick secretions from the eye all day long. This should be treated with antibiotic eye drops. Allergic conjunctivitis is due to allergy-inducing substances (such as pollen or cat dander) contacting the eye. Clues include redness, itching and clear watery discharge, usually from both eyes.
Contact lens wearers deserve special attention since even minor conditions like viral conjunctivitis can become complicated by secondary infection and other conditions.
Finally, don't mess with your sight. Seek care immediately if you have any of the red flags of eye illness: pain, change in vision, difficulty keeping your eye open, pain with light, head ache or nausea and vomiting with red eye.
- Dr. Albert DiPiero MD, MPH
