2011-05 northern colorado medical & wellness

68
MAY 2011 www.medicalandwellness.com | www.stylemagazinecolorado.com A STYLE MEDIA AND DESIGN, INC. PUBLICATION :: EST. 1984 CHILDHOOD OBESITY THE MYSTERY OF AUTISM WELLNESS FOR THE FAMILY

Upload: style-media-design-inc

Post on 29-Mar-2016

216 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

May - Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness Pediatrics & Family A popular regionally focused issue featuring topics of health, prevention, and medical treatment focused on the family. Recent advancements in protocols, research, and treatment are presented in a clear, and interesting format. Articles of interest to pet owners are included. Medical specialists and healthcare providers are featured as well as new state-of-the-art procedures and equipment.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

MAY 2011

w w w . m e d i c a l a n d w e l l n e s s . c o m | w w w . s t y l e m a g a z i n e c o l o r a d o . c o mA STYLE MEDIA AND DESIGN, INC. PUBLICATION : : EST. 1984

CHILDHOODOBESITY

THE MYSTERYOF AUTISM

WELLNESSFOR THE FAMILY

Page 2: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine2

FRONT RANGE CENTER for BRAIN & SPINE SURGERY, P.C. Specialists in Neurological Surgery Since 1978

NEUROSURGERY & ORTHOPAEDIC

SPINE SERVICES

LIVE Ll FE to the FULLEST

We Bring Together The Best Comprehensive Care From Both Disciplines

• Same precision and respect for nervous tissue required for brain surgery in your spine surgery.

• Latest technological advances in spine care, cervical, lumbar disc replacement, and minimally invasive surgery.

• Often we review each other's surgical recommendations providing a second opinion for free.

·We routinely work together assisting each other in surgery.

·Together we have over 80 years of neurosurgical and orthopaedic spine experience.

·We work in all of the hospitals and surgery centers in the tri-city region.

Page 3: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 3

Page 4: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine4

Page 5: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 5

Comprehensive Care for Your Child a Poudre Valley Health System offers many services for children in

northern Colorado. When you need infant and pediatric care, our

expert team is here for you. Some of our services include:

Birthing Services You may choose to have your baby at Medical

Center of the Rockies (MCR) in Loveland or Poudre Valley Hospital (PVH) in Fort Collins .

Both hospitals have compassionate staff to care

for you and your baby throughout your labor,

delivery and postpartum time.

Pediatric Surgery Pediatric Surgeon, Dr. Edward Gregg Ford, has

more than 20 years of professional experience specializing in complex surgical care for children

ages 0 to 18. Dr. Ford works closely with

our team of pediatric anesthesiologists and hospitalists to ensure your child receives expert,

compassionate care.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) PVH has a state-of-the-art Level lllb NICU for

babies with special care needs and is the only NICU

of its kind between Denver and Billings, Montana. The NICU team understands the stresses that come

when a baby is in the NICU and is here to care for

your baby and support your family.

Cleft lip/Palate Clinic At PVH, we understand that learning your

baby has cleft lip or palate can be very difficult.

Our team of experienced cleft specialists includes surgeons, pediatric orthodontists and

dentists, physician specialists and therapists . For

more information, call our team coordinator at 970.495 .8421 or go to pvhs.org/cleftclinic.

All of these services mean one very important thing for you and your family: you can keep your child close to home and receive world-class care in your own community.

Were here for you.

Page 6: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine6

7sty le media and design, inc.

| 970.226.6400 |w w w. s t y l e m a g a z i n e c o l o r a d o . c o m

w w w. m e d i c a l a n d w e l l n e s s . c o m

Publisher Lydia Dody | [email protected] Angeline Grenz | [email protected]

creative director Scott Prossersenior designer Lisa Gould

digital director Austin Lamb | [email protected] sales eXecutives

Jon Ainslie (970) 219-9226Karen Christensen (970) 679-7593

Lydia Dody (970) 227-6400Saundra Skrove (970) 217-9932

Craig Spellerberg (970) 568-2203

office Manager/about town editor Ina Szwec | [email protected]

accounting Manager Karla Vigileditorial assistant Audrey Springer

office assistant Trisha Milton

contributing writersConnie Hein, Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer, Marty Metzger,

Erica Pauly, Corey Radman, Heather Schichtel,Laura Sebastian, Tracee Sioux

PhotograPhers Marcus Edwards, Brent Yoder

contributing PhotograPher Mari Wolf

affiliationsFort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce

Loveland Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center

2011 style MagazinesJanuary-Loveland/Greeley Medical & Wellness

Magazine and DirectoryFebruary-Style

March-Northern Colorado Medical & WellnessApril-Style

May-Northern Colorado Medical & WellnessJune-Style

July-Northern Colorado Medical & WellnessMagazine and Poudre Valley Health System

Physician DirectoryAugust-Style

September-Women’s Health & Breast CancerOctober-Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

November/December-Holiday Style

Style Media and Design, Inc. magazines are free monthly publications direct-mailed to homes and businesses in Northern Colorado. Elsewhere, a one year subscription is $25/year and a two year subscription is $45/year. Free magazines are available at over 150 locations throughout Northern Colorado.

For ad rates, subscription information, change of address, or correspondence, contact: Style Media and Design Inc., 211 W. Myrtle St., Suite 200, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521. Phone (970) 226-6400. Fax (970) 226-6427. E-Mail: [email protected]

©2011 Style Media and Design Inc. All rights reserved. The entire contents of Style Magazine are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without the expressed written consent of the publisher. Style Media and Design Inc. is not responsible for unsolicited material. All manuscripts, artwork, and photography must be accompanied by a SASE. The views and opinions of any contributing writers are not necessarily those of Style Media & Design Inc.

Page 7: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness
Page 8: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine8

The articles in this issue of Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness are presented for your general knowledge and are not a substitute for medical advice or treatment. If you have any questions or concerns about your health, please contact your doctor or healthcare provider.

Teach children how to make healthy choices now and circumvent the rising number of obese children. Learn more in “Fighting Childhood Obesity” on page 14.

on the cover:

10 Publisher’s Letter

12 Health News

14 Fighting Childhood Obesity

20 Wellness for the Entire Family

24 Early Puberty - Should We Be Concerned?

28 Autism: Battling a Mystery

30 For Rusty: One Family’s Struggle with Profound Autism

34 Drug Interactions in Children

40 Healthcare Reform’s Impact on Private Practices

44 Medical Expansion in Northern Colorado

50 Smile with Confidence

38 In Search of Baby

56 Massage for Pregnant Women

58 Sleep For Your Best Performance

60 Bringing Home “Baby”

64 Homes with a Heart: Foster Carefor Animals

MAY 2011

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

50

MASSAgE FOR PREgNANT WOMEN

HOMES WITH A HEART: FOSTER CARE FOR ANIMALS

56

64

28AuTISM: BATTLINg A MYSTERY

contentS

WELLNESS FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY

DRug INTERACTIONS IN CHILDREN

34

20

SMILE WITH CONFIDENCE

59 get Fit/give Back Calendar

54 Are Your Toes Ready for Summer?

66 Physician Spotlight: John guenther, M.D.Looking Forward to Every Day

39 Preserving Fertility

Page 9: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

With digital mammography, you can benefit from less radiation exposure, shorter exam times and

enhanced image clarity resulting in up to 28% better breast cancer detection. Early detection, especially

if you're 40 and over, is the best way to protect yourself from breast cancer. And we make your

mammogram as pleasant as possible with easy check-in and a caring atmosphere. So be extra sure,

and go to the place where experts work best.

Call and schedule your mammogram today. Loveland: 970-593-6191 Greeley: 970-395-2500

~

~ Banner Health

McKee Medical Center North Colorado Medical

I '

Page 10: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine10

[email protected]

Publisher’s letter

Family Wellness

As the days become warmer most of us yearn to be outdoors enjoying our beautiful spring sunshine. Some of us choose to run, and by the looks of this

issue’s Get Fit, Give Back Calendar, the running opportunities are numerous from May through July. Many of the listed run/walk events raise money for area non-profit organizations and I invite you to join me in walking to support one of my favorite causes at the Pink Boa 5K Run/Walk and increase awareness, celebrate life and raise funds for Hope Lives! The Lydia Dody Breast Cancer Support Center. The event is May 21st,

8:30am, at the Front Range Village on Harmony. Register for this inspiring, fun annual event at www.blacktie-colorado.com/rsvp and then enter event code:PinkBoa11. This non-profit provides many free services for women right here in Larimer County who are diagnosed with breast cancer. Over 12,000 free services have been provided to these women since the organization began in 2001.

For many years running was my daily discipline but now I only do occasional sprints on the tread-mill unlike our Style Editor, Angie Grenz, who is planning on training for a marathon this summer. Her discipline and commitment is commendable and I admire and support her challenging goal!

Being active is important at all ages, and encour-aging our children to have an active, healthy life-style will result in them growing up to be healthy adults. Getting off the couch and becoming active needs to be modeled by parents and the choices are endless. Read “Wellness For the Entire Family” for some ideas on how kids can be engaged in activities starting at an early age. I remember how important it was to me to involve my two girls in various activities. As toddlers both Meredith and Ali went to Mountain Kids for basic movement skills. Ali attended Skate and Create at EPIC and started group ice skating lessons at age 3. Both girls went to Canyon Concert Ballet and attended Carole Torguson’s beginning classes. In those early days, the schedule was packed with activity and there was little time left for TV.

Fast-forward to today and childhood obesity rates in the United States have tripled in the past three decades. And, right here in Larimer County, 25 percent of children are overweight or obese,

and 50 percent of adults are too. Read “Fighting Childhood Obesity” to learn the cost of obesity, how parents must set the example, what schools are doing and tips on promoting healthy eating in your family. Prevention hinges on two basic issues: teaching children healthy eating habits and making physical activity a way of life.

We chose to focus on families and children in this issue and hope you enjoy the variety of articles on this theme. Learn about some of the causes and consequences of early puberty in the article “Early Puberty – Should We Be Concerned?” Get acquainted with the serious issue of how autism affects a local family in “For Rusty: One Family’s Struggle with Profound Autism.” And learn the basics of the condition in “Autism: Battling a Mys-tery.” These and more fill the pages of this issue.

We have enjoyed bringing you health and wellness information in these Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness issues and many readers have let us know they especially enjoy our pet care articles. I am impressed with the high quality of veterinary expertise we have in our area. Read “Homes with a Heart: Foster Care For Animals” to learn about how area families save lives through fostering pets. And, pick up tips on taking care of a new puppy in “Bringing Home ‘Baby.’”

We enjoy hearing from you, so keep sending us your comments.

Well, the sun is shining and my garden is call-ing out to me.

Happy Spring,

Page 11: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Comprehensive, Compassionate Care

For The Whole Family According tQ quality oflife

of allergies

up-to-date care in a you and your family,

NOSE AND SINUS· BALLOON SINUPLASTY ·ALLERGY·

HEAD AND NECK SURGERY· THYROID SURGERY· SNORING~,-., ... -

BALANCE PROBLEMS· HOARSENESS· SPEECH AND VOICE

AUDIOLOGY AND HEARING AIDS· ADULT AND

0--====== ___ ,... ______ ,......., -~---, ~

~t Front Range Ear, Nose, and Throat

6500 29th Street, Suite 106 • Greeley, CO 80634

970.330.5555 • www.frontrangeent.com

Fellow of the American

2010 AmericanAca.denly of Otolarynology

Board Of Governors National Practitioner of Excellence

Sarmad Sabour, MD Otorhinolaryngology Training at the

University of Cincinnati

Doctor ofMedicine, University ofTexas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Bachelor ofScience, University ofTexas

Page 12: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine12

New Medical DirectorReflections Medical Spa has announced they are under new

ownership. James Thacker, M.D., is the new proprietor and medical director for the med spa, located at 4026 S. Timberline Road. Dr. Thacker will direct the med spa’s day-to-day operations, and Reflections now offers the exclusive Smartlipo service. Contact Reflections at (970) 372-0307 or find out more at www.reflectionsmedspa.com.

health news

Stroke Event PlannedSpotlight on Stroke, a community confer-

ence on stroke prevention, is planned for Saturday, May 14, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. The conference will take place at the Fort Collins Senior Center and will feature health-care professionals and a panel discussion that will cover topics such as stroke risk, preven-tion and treatment, activity, medication, personal reflections and coping solutions. Sheri Friedman, M.D., neurologist with the Poudre Valley Medical Group, is the keynote speaker.

Registered nurses will be on hand to pro-vide free blood pressure screenings, stroke risk assessments and information on blood pressure monitoring. The event is free and open to the public. For more information call the Aspen Club at (970) 495-8560.

Celebrating 10 YearsCaring Hearts Home Healthcare is celebrat-

ing 10 years in business. Denise Swingle founded Caring Hearts in 2001, when she recognized a need for providers of home healthcare services for the residents of Weld County that only had Medicaid. “We started out in a basement with one desk, but with the help of our local doctors, hospitals, senior living communities and just plain good service, we have grown up,” says CFO Sherri Shovlin. For more information, visit www.caringheartshh.com.

Grant AwardedColorado State University College of Vet-

erinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences has been awarded two grants totaling $700,000, which will allow researchers to investigate inter-actions between diabetes and tuberculosis. The grants were awarded from both the American Diabetes Association and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

Their hypothesis is that diabetes and tuber-culosis have a common disease pathway and that may explain why these conditions appear to be more severe when occurring in the same individual. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a report that says more than one in three Americans are expected to have diabetes by 2050. Those with diabetes have an increased risk for developing life-threat-ening infections.

Congratulations To Dr. BeardYouth Clinic’s founder, Donald Beard, M.D., has been selected as

the 2011 recipient of the Kathleen Ann Mullen Award, presented at a ceremony on April 26, 2011. The award recognizes Dr. Beard’s “outstanding contributions to the field of adolescent health in the Rocky Mountain Region,” given by the Rocky Mountain Regional

Chapter of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.

McKee Welcomes New Chief Nursing OfficerMcKee Medical Center announced the addition of a new chief

nursing officer to its administrative team in April. Debra Fox, BSN, MS, joined McKee on April 18 as the top nursing leader for the

facility. She will oversee all aspects of nursing care and serve as a member of McKee’s executive leadership team.

Fox came to McKee from St. Joseph Health System in Tawas City, Mich., where she served as vice president of patient

care, chief nursing officer and chief operations officer.

Page 13: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 13

Eight board certified pathologists with subspecialities and expertise from dermatopathology to breast and gynecologic pathology, to gastroenterology and more

Unrivaled client support with availability of pathologists for consultation and extensive tools to help physicians manage their patients

www.summitpathology.com

Christopher Bee, MD Richard Halbert, MDCory Dunn, MD Wentzell Hamner, MD

Michael Walts, MDArlene Libby, MD Thomas Neuhauser, MDIngerlisa Mattoch, MD

Maximizing Care Through Accurate Diagnosis

Page 14: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

By Angeline grenz

FIgHTINg CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Healthiest StateI N T H E N AT I O N ?

Northern Colorado is criss-crossed with trails. From high in the sky it may look like ants marching along these trails: hiking, biking, walking, run-ning, rollerblading – a whole rhythm of movement. But if you turned your telescope on our young population, where are they on a Saturday afternoon? Scurrying along the trail or planted firmly on the couch?

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine14

That might not be saying much. Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in the United States have tripled. Nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. Though Colorado has the lowest incidence of obesity, there is still reason for concern. In Larimer County, 25 percent of children are overweight or obese, and 50 percent of adults are, too. Weld County’s rates are even higher.

Page 15: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Even in the healthy state of Colorado, statistics indicate many adolescents are on the couch, nose buried in their iPod or eyes glued to a screen. Their choice of entertainment is entirely personal, but the effect of sedentary hobbies on the young is increasingly a community-wide problem.

“Thank you, Michelle Obama,” says Kirsten Sampera, M.D., pediatrician with the Youth Clinic in Fort Collins. The first lady is credited with helping to bring childhood obesity awareness to a national level, leading to the Let’s Move! Initiative, along with the creation of the Task Force on Childhood Obesity. While Let’s Move is focused on providing health information and resources for children, parents, schools and communities, the task force has been charged with reviewing programs and policies relating to child nutrition and physical activity with the goal of creating a national action plan.

The attention on a national level makes sense: the number of obese children in the United States has tripled over the past 30 years. The rising number of obese children will lead the way to an increase in the number of obese adults and continue to spur rising healthcare costs.

The Cost of Obesity“Obese children go on to be obese adults,”

says Mark Wiesner, D.O., with Loveland Pedi-atrics, speaking about the statistics related to childhood obesity. The flipside is true, also: a child is more likely to grow up overweight or obese if one or more of his or her parents are the same. “The biggest barrier to kids is often the parents. They suffer the same battle,” adds Dr. Wiesner, who has had his own personal battle with weight since a young age.

Health risks of obesity range from type 2 diabetes to stroke to coronary artery disease. Asthma, sleep apnea, early onset puberty and other conditions are also linked with obesity.

When working with children who are over-weight or obese, Dr. Sampera talks to families primarily about the serious risks of type 2 dia-betes, high cholesterol and organ damage, such as fatty liver. However, more minor health conditions are affected as well. “Obesity can definitely negatively impact other medical prob-lems,” she says. Some of these problems, such as sleep apnea, can be positively influenced by even minimal weight loss.

Childhood obesity has become so prevalent that doctors are now performing bariatric sur-gery on teen patients. “This was unheard of 19 years ago,” says Dr. Wiesner, yet he has read of adolescents as young as 13 years old having gastric bypass surgery. In order for children to be considered for bariatric surgery, they must be in the 95th percentile of the recommended body mass index (BMI) for their age and sex. Doctors will have also exhausted all other options before considering the step of bariatric surgery, adds Dr. Wiesner. But the health benefits that are gained by getting the weight off are often greater than the risks related to bariatric surgeries in these extreme situations. Yet, “it is a bad reflection on where we are as a society.”

A better plan, says Dr. Wiesner, is to help establish lifetime habits of exercising and eating well early. “It is hard to motivate kids later in

life. From ages 13 to 18 it can be a dif-ficult concept to get them to understand the long-term benefits of acting now.” Better, then, to make physical activity and healthy foods a regular part of their lives as early as possible.

Parents Must Set the Example

“Having the knowledge is not the issue,” says Brian Mesinger, Ph.D., psychologist with the Youth Clinic. Often, he says, parents falsely feel by adolescence children should be self regulating with their diet. “Children will not voluntarily alter their behaviors.” To this end, he says, parents must model behaviors if they want their children to become healthy eaters and participate in physical activities.

“Key number one is parent participation,” he continues. “Key number two is an organized plan that teaches lifestyle behaviors.” Dr. Mesinger adds that it is rare for children to self-moderate. “They don’t pay attention to internal states.” If the home environment is one of continual eating, or portion sizes that are too large, children may eat what is in front of them without paying attention to whether their bodies are full or not.

Dr. Mesinger encourages parents to engage in frank conversation with their child if they are overweight or obese. “You can’t hide the fact that they are obese.” Acknowledge the facts while promoting healthier lifestyle choices – for the entire family.

Sometimes, it is the grownups that need to alter their own behaviors with regards to the family lifestyle. “Fitness is not weight loss,” says Dr. Mesinger. Rather than building habits based around the cycle of dieting, have discussions on what comprises the basic parameters of what is healthy, he suggests.

And don’t forget the importance of sharing mealtimes together. “Mealtimes are still a time of socialization, a stable time for the family,” he says. “Forces are arrayed against families today.” Taking the time to eat together, says Dr. Mesinger, reinforces a child’s sense of security and well being, and provides the opportunity to model good eating behaviors.

Dr. Sampera echoes this advice. “There is great data about all the benefits of family meals.” Obesity awareness, school performance, social concerns such as sexual activity, and other issues are more likely to be addressed successfully in families that share this ritual.

Occasionally, children can begin overeating in response to other stressors or deeper emo-tional problems. If your child is overeating and also expressing unhappiness, withdrawing from the family, and discontinuing normal activities – “Look at what’s not happening,” Dr. Mesinger says – he recommends parents speak with a professional.

Within the SchoolSchools feel the pressure of promoting healthy

lifestyles while balancing restricted budgets and resources. Coming federal legislation from the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 will affect child nutrition within schools and possibly influence physical education programs, but the

Health IN JEOPARDY

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 15

According to the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, obese children have both

immediate health consequences and are at risk for weight related problems into adulthood. Here are some of the statistics:

• At least 70 percent of obese children have at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor, includ-ing high cholesterol, high blood pressure and abnor-mal glucose tolerance (a precursor to diabetes). Thirty-nine percent have two or more of these risk factors.

• Type 2 diabetes is being reported at increasing levels among children and adolescents who are obese.

• Asthma has been linked to childhood obesity.

• Fatty degeneration of the liver is linked to obesity in children.

• Sleep apnea occurs in approximately 7 percent of obese children.

The American Academy of Pediatrics adds these health risks to the list: gallstones, skin condi-tions, menstrual abnormalities, impaired balance and orthopedic problems.

final impact is still unknown. Nutrition programs within all school grade

levels must meet federal and state guidelines and a school district’s own wellness policy, according to Craig Schneider, child nutrition specialist with Poudre School District (PSD). But serving up a universal definition of what

Page 16: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Promote Healthy EATING AND ACTIVITY

Dr. Wiesner has compiled a list of rec-ommendations for families who want to promote healthy eating and activity levels in their children. He advises:

• Eat 5 fruits and vegetables per day.

• Get 1 hour of sweaty physical activity a day (doesn’t have to be all at once).

• Limit screen time to less than 2 hours a day.

• Limit or eliminate sugar-laden beverages like pop and juice.

• Eat breakfast daily.

• Use low fat dairy products by age 2.

• Eat meals together as a family.

• Limit fast food, eating out and take out (they tend to be high fat/calorie choices).

• Prepare foods at home.

• Make most fats unsaturated fats (fish, nuts, and vegetable oils rather than butter).

• Eat whole grains when possible.

• Use appropriate portion sizes.

• Wait 15 minutes before second helpings to allow time for the body to feel full.

year alone, from mileage clubs to family evening roller skating parties.

But, as Mueller says, “We are lucky here.” She has great parent support for her PA programs. Other areas of the country have much less interest and involvement from both students and parents. “I do hope the federal gov-ernment does become more involved. I think kids in other areas would be much better off.”

Take Action at Home“You are in control,” says Virginia

Clark, obesity prevention coordinator for CanDo – the Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat Obesity. “Advocate on behalf of your child.” Take control of the television and media and limit its uses. Take control, too, of the activities your children participate in, she suggests. “Set ground rules, such as no eating in front of the TV.”

“Be creative,” she advises. Try Tune Out Tuesdays, where the family agrees to keep the electronics off for one evening a week. It is essential that the family find fun activities they can enjoy together. There is compelling research, adds Clark, that links kids who are physically active with better academic achievement.

Be persistent. Parents may need to offer young children new foods between 12 to 20 times before a child will eat them. She also suggests mothers begin at pregnancy by expanding their own diets and making nutritionally sound choices: “Even at pregnancy, you don’t know how you will impact tastes down the road.”

Another good rule of thumb for family nutrition from Clark: “Parents are in charge of what and when children eat. Kids are charged with how much they eat.” Help kids to know how to eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full.

Dr. Sampera does offer some guide-lines for parents. Rather than tie par-ents to a specific calorie goal for their children, “what I usually talk to parents about is three healthy meals a day, with small, healthy snacks in between. That

plus physical activity and you shouldn’t have too much trouble [maintaining a healthy weight].”

Water should be the number one drink, she adds, with appropriate servings of skim milk and other dairy.

“I also ask parents about screen time: televi-sion, computers and video games,” she contin-ues. “Generally, we are looking for none in kids under 2, and less than an hour or two per day in older kids.”

Find activities that the family can enjoy together. “Where do you live and what do you like to do?” asks Dr. Sampera. “The goal is that you are building something sustainable that your children are going to incorporate into their lives.”

Dr. Sampera recommends partnering with

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine16

is healthy is a difficult charge for school districts, especially when lunches must ultimately satisfy the tastes of some very particular customers.

“In the end, is it something that kids will want?” Schneider asks. “Can we change children’s preferences?”

Coupled with this challenge is man-aging the cost of healthy food options, how long it takes to prepare made-from-scratch food items, and the quick turnaround of the typical school lunch. Despite challenges, PSD has incorpo-rated changes that provide kids healthier options. All PSD schools offer a fruit and veggie bar. They have also added many made-from-scratch items and use whole grains as often as possible. When the school year and Colorado’s growing season manage to overlap, Schneider says they have also made a concerted effort to bring in locally produced fruits and vegetables.

Past federal requirements for school breakfasts and lunches were based on providing for underprivileged children, according to Schneider. “There was never a cap on calories. It was more a question of how much food can we serve kids.” The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is anticipated to change that, setting caps on calories and limits on saturated fats and other nutritional guidelines. The past standard for schools was based on the USDA School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children, with the following minimum calorie requirement for school lunches: at least 517 calories for preschool, 664 calories for grades K-6 and 825 calories for grades 7-12.

The Colorado Department of Educa-tion also adopted a set of standards for schools with regards to beverages. The requirements extend to school meals, vending machines and in-classroom activities where beverages are provided, restrict the size of any beverage besides water, prohibit carbonated beverages and limit fruit juices.

But healthier meals are also costlier meals for school districts. “We have to look at meal price increases and our buying power,” says Schneider. Gas and food price increases and looming school budget cuts factor in as well. School meals are no mon-eymaker at PSD: an elementary school lunch costs $2.00, a middle school lunch $2.25. A final challenge: getting manufacturers on board with nutritional goals. “It is difficult to get manufacturers to reduce sodium and make other changes,” says Schneider. “They have been slow to accommodate schools.”

While school lunches are balancing coming federal restrictions with limited funding, school physical education (PE) programs are largely unmonitored. At Poudre School District, it is up to each individual school principal as to how often and what sort of PE classes they offer.

“At PSD, decisions on physical education are site-based,” according to PE Curriculum Facilita-tor Michelle Mueller. “It is dependent on what every school can afford. But no school goes without a PE program.” Some schools require PE every day, others only once or twice a week.

Schools are encouraged to apply for state and federal wellness grants for physical activity (PA) programs. Such programs can take place during lunch or before or after school and offer students other opportunities to be physical during the day.

All PSD schools do their best to acquire these grants, says Mueller. Mueller also serves as PE instructor for Beattie Elementary School. At her school, she has planned over 100 different wellness activities outside the classroom this

Page 17: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 17

Page 18: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

your pediatrician to help shape these good habits. “Prevention is really important. That is why well visits are so vital. We [pediatricians] ask questions that help us to start screening and try and pick out habits that we can gently mold in a healthier direction.”

After all, “the children we are raising are going to be the adults we are taking care of,” concludes Dr. Sampera.

A multitude of local, state and national resources are available to help parents navigate through better lifestyle choices for their children. Here is a brief listing:

CanDo, www.candoonline.org

LiveWell Colorado, www.livewellcolorado.org

Let’s Move!, www.letsmove.gov

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/obesity

Angeline Grenz is editor for Style Magazine.

In a Child W H A T I SOVERWEIGHT?

Body mass index (BMI) is used to indi-cate obesity by mea-suring weight in relationship to height. Though not a perfect standard, doctors can use these figures as a base for interpreting healthy weight. When calculating this in children and adolescents, BMI is broken down by sex and age to account for growth and development.

Children with a BMI between the 5th and 85th percentile are considered healthy. Children between the 85th and 94th percentiles are considered over-weight and those above the 95th percentile are considered obese. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide clinical growth charts that are available for children ages 2 and up. Visit their website for more informa-tion: www.cdc.gov/growthcharts.

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine18

Mark Wiesner, M.D.Loveland Pediatrics

Kirsten Sampera, M.D.Youth Clinic

Brian Mesinger, Ph.D.Youth Clinic

Page 19: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 19

HousE of NEiql-lboRly SERViCE

"Help For Today,

Hope For Tomorrow"

HNS emergency service programs create a safety net for thousands of our neighbors: elderly • disabled • children from low-income households newly impoverished • unemployed • homeless and near-homeless

Thank you donors, volunteers and community partners for making House of

Neighborly Service a successful outreach in this great community. Visit our website

for opportunities to join in our soth year celebration throughout the year.

For information regarding House of Neighborly Service and the emergency programs they offer or to volunteer please call970.667.4939 or visit www.honservice.org

Page 20: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine20

W E L L N E S S F O R

T H E E N T I R E FA M I LY By ericA pAuly

Hundreds of diet and exercise plans are thrown our way each year. Some include pills while others involve injec-tions, weighing our food and

timing ourselves on the treadmill. Most would agree, however, that the cycle of dieting is not the most productive method to living well. Rather, encouraging our children to have an active, healthy lifestyle from a young age is a better key to becom-ing happy, healthy adults.

We spoke with professionals in Northern Colorado to see what their opinion is on how to encourage a healthy lifestyle for our children. They all agree: it begins with us.

“The biggest challenge is to meet the parents

where they are and to discuss their own systems first, because these systems are the primary models to our children,” says Kirsten Sampera, M.D., pediatrician at the Fort Collins Youth Clinic. Bottom line: if the parents are living a healthy lifestyle, the children will follow suit.

An example of this from Dr. Sampera is helmet use. If Mom and Dad are out with the family riding bikes without helmets, chances are that when their children are of age to choose a helmet or not, they won’t. If Mom and Dad ‘made’ them wear a helmet as a child, but did not themselves, the child will grow up believ-ing that it must not be that important. It’s the same when encouraging a healthy lifestyle.

When should we begin to encourage healthy living in our children? A healthy diet should be implemented immediately. “It isn’t just

about offering your children healthy food at meal time,” says Dr. Sampera. “The food that is simply in your house will affect them. Have bowls of fruit washed and sitting out so it is easily accessible for them to snack on.

“The most important thing for parents is to figure out what their family likes to do together,” continues Dr. Sampera. “It doesn’t take much to encourage people to hang out with their family. Organized sports are a posi-tive thing for many children, but spending time doing things as a family is even more important for the children.”

Even our first lady has launched a Let’s Move campaign in hopes to get our children off the couch and outside to play. The Let’s Move initiative is geared toward solving the problem of obesity within a generation – a

Page 21: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 21

self-acknowledged ambitious goal, but one that comes with the power of the President behind it. The Let’s Move website offers practi-cal information to takes steps to eat healthy and get active: www.letsmove.gov.

Northern Colorado has an abundance of outdoor activities readily available for families to participate in together, at little or no cost. The Poudre River is only a short drive away; Rocky Mountain National Park is nearby as well. We have a plethora of parks, bike trails and green belts to play catch or Frisbee. Intense activities like hiking may tire a child easily, but just sitting by the river and skipping rocks on a Saturday afternoon will increase their excite-ment to be active.

“The more time children spend outside, the more likely they are to be active, healthy children,” Dr. Sampera says. By contrast, watch-ing television turns off mental engagement in children and makes them less excited about doing anything that exerts physical movement.

Sports like basketball and football are a great way to motivate children to learn about competition and playing with a team, but to cultivate mind-body coordination at a young age, gymnastics can be a good place to start.

“Gymnastics is a great base sport,” says Ron Baretta, owner of Mountain Kids. “Very few children end up in competitive gymnastics teams later in life, but our goal is to build their gross motor skills and self-confidence.”

Mountain Kids offers a program for parents and children beginning at 12 months old. “Obviously, any kind of movement for children less than 12 months is tremendous; however, we’ve found that organized activities are more advantageous in children who are at least 12 months,” says Baretta. “Our program is for the parent and their child. Our instructors show the parents how to teach their children, so the parents are essentially the teacher.”

Baretta mirrors Dr. Sampera in going to parents first to model healthy lifestyle living for their children. “It’s the parents who influence their children, so they must take the initiative first,” he says. “Parents who value wellness see that they can either take their children out to eat for dinner or spend that money on a memorable family experience.”

It is ever too late to get a child into living a healthy lifestyle? “No, not ever,” says Bar-etta. Dr. Sampera agrees, but adds, “The key age to get kids into living well is before their teen years. It’s difficult for teenagers to make changes in their life in general once they’ve hit puberty. Once you are in your teen years, it’s about finding your own identity, and there is a lot of pressure that goes alongside that. It’s a lot to expect that they will make changes to their diet and exercise once they are at that stage of life.”

Both Baretta and Dr. Sampera say to “make it fun!” Healthy living starts in the home and with the adults there. If the parents are inspired and excited, the kids will be too.

Summer in Northern Colorado is the perfect opportunity to get out and enjoy our community as a family. Longer days and no school present a lot of excess time that can be wasted by sitting on the couch after a long day at work. Find what gets you excited and start there; your children will follow in your footsteps.

Page 22: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine22

Below are a few resources to check out that may inspire a family outing, a little more education for everyone, or a new sport to get you and your kids up and moving:

MOuNTAiN KiDS Offering gymnastics, summer camps,

warm water swimming, after school camps and more for children as early as 12 months. (970) 482-3118 www.mountain-kids.com.

CANYON CONCErT BAllETOffering modern, jazz, lyrical, hip-hop

and tap instruction. Summer classes available for children ages 3 and up. (970) 472-4156 north studio or (970) 217-9262 south studio.

NortherN Colorado Youth hoCkeYOffering youth hockey leagues,

hockey camps and hockey programs for children ages 4 years old and up. (970) 337-3977 www.ncyh.pucksystems2.com

Page 23: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 23

Erica Pauly is a freelance writer and marketing direc-tor at GrowSecure Insurance and Financial Services.

HEAlTH KiDS CluB,POuDrE VAllEY HEAlTH SYSTEM Offers health and wellness resources

and a variety of summer activities, including a children’s and teen’s run series. For more information call: Laurie ZennerHealthy Kids Club coordinator (970) 495-7511 or visit www.pvhs.org/healthykidsclub.

FAMilY CAMPiNG AlONG THE CACHE lA POuDrE riVEr: www.coloradotravelexperience.com/Colorado-camping/Poudre-River-campgrounds.html

BiKE TrAilS iN FOrT COlliNS: www.fcgov.com/parks/pdf/trailmap.pdf

Page 24: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine24

EARLY PuBERTY – By TrAcee Sioux

PediatricswellneSS

I n the 1990s, clinicians began to notice that children in the United States and other developed countries were beginning to show secondary sex characteristics, and even reaching puberty, one or two years

earlier than previous generations. This was happening in both boys and girls.

This has led to a lot of speculation. Questions being asked about the trend toward the earlier onset of puberty include: Why it is happening? What might be causing it? Does it present a problem? The number of answers to these questions is as vast as the number of experts you ask. No one really knows the answers, but a lot of experts in various fields are examining possible causes.

There are two types of early puberty. “One being a secular trend toward the general population developing earlier than previous generations, the other being clinical precocious puberty,” explains Lori Hull, M.D., of Pediatric Associates of Fort Collins. “Girls are starting to achieve puberty at a younger age in the U.S. It’s a trend downward. Typically, now instead of being 11 or 12, it’s 10 or 11 that girls are having their first menstrual cycle.”

Clinical precocious puberty is a condition in which an underlying medical issue is causing a child to mature at a very accelerated rate. There are a variety of medical issues that could cause clinical precocious puberty: a brain tumor, toxicity in the environment and overexposure to estrogen are a few.

“Girls have typically been pubertal at age 10 and boys at 12,” explains Dr. Hull. “So, if someone has started developing secondary sexual characteristics earlier than 7 for girls and 8 for boys, it would be precocious puberty.”

Clinical precocious puberty prior to age 8 hap-pens to 20 in 10,000 girls, notes Nicole Roberson, M.D., OB/GYN at The Women’s Clinic of Northern Colorado. Of the practitioners interviewed, only one had seen a girl with a diagnosis of clinical preco-cious puberty in their Northern Colorado practice.

Secondary sex characteristic changes marking the onset of puberty in girls include pubic hair growth, breast bud development and a growth spurt. Boys experience enlarged testicles, pubic hair growth, voice changes and a sudden growth spurt.

Girls or boys who exhibit pubertal symptoms at 8 or 9, respectively, should see a pediatrician for a full examination. The physician might recommend

a bone age scan, a simple X-ray of the hand, and blood tests for possible hormone, thyroid and adrenal gland issues.

“If the child has precocious puberty because of a brain tumor or other underlying conditions like hypothyroidism, then there is a concern the underlying cause would need to be addressed and treated,” says Dr. Hull. “If it seems to be secular, it’s more of a psycho-social concern.”

One concern doctors and parents have about earlier puberty is that the child will be shorter than their later developing peers as adults. When a child hits puberty, they have approximately two more years to grow in stature. Part of puberty is a closing of the growth plate, so once the growth plate closes a person has reached their adult height. This is what doctors are looking at in a bone age scan. If the bones fuse at 8 or 9, the person might stop growing by the time they are 10 or 11, while their peers will continue to grow into adolescence.

Earlier puberty causes both boys and girls to shoot up earlier, but also to stop growing sooner. Mean-while, kids who aren’t developing earlier will have years more to increase in stature. While shooting up faster than the other boys might benefit them

S H O u L D W E B E C O N C E R N E D ?

Page 25: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 25

in the short term, psychologically and socially, the long-term implication of being shorter as a man could have the opposite impact on adult income and opportunity.

“Earlier puberty is generally positive in terms of psychological factors for boys because they are bigger, stronger, virulent,” says Scott Shannon, M.D., a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Wholeness Center in Fort Collins.

Is being a shorter adult a cause for concern? “The societal perception of height is that is an indicator of intelligence and ability,” says Dr. Hull. “Taller people are perceived as more powerful or more intelligent, and statistically taller people are more likely go to college and make more money. From that standpoint, yes, it is a problem.”

While height, though also important for girls, is not as important an indicator for women, socially and professionally, girls are sometimes ostracized by their peers for appearing different.

“It can often create more ostracism among girls; if you’re the only girl in sixth grade with breast development, that can be a negative thing,” says Dr. Shannon. “There are also the implications of dealing with sexual interest, which is harder because you’re not as ready for it.”

“There are problems associated with the long-term problems of having a child who is still mentally a child with a fully functioning ability to reproduce,” says Dr. Hull. “That can be a problem, as well as the hygiene issues of puberty. How is a 10-year-old supposed to handle a menstrual cycle and the clean-liness issues involved? And there is a psychological cost to children who have had precocious puberty.”

Jill K. Kuhn, PhD., a Fort Collins clinical

psychologist, notes, “A 9-year-old is not ready to deal with feelings that come with sexual interest, menstruation or breast development; it can have long lasting emotional effects, too. For girls, early puberty has a detrimental effect because they stand out and could be teased or sexualized.”

Normal or abnormal, puberty is a sensitive time for a child and all practitioners recommended one thing to help the child through the process: open communication between parent and child about what is likely to happen and changes the child is experiencing or will experience emotionally and physically. If parents are uncomfortable, several practitioners recommend bringing the subject up during exams with the child’s pediatrician.

“Children have a normal curiosity about sec-ondary sex characteristics at a very young age,” says Dr. Hull. “They ask questions like, ‘Why does mommy have that and daddy have that?’ A parent who addresses that kind of questioning in an open manner has an easier time later. I’d rather children hear it from their parents than on the playground.”

Dr. Hull highly recommends The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls by Valorie Schaefer as a wonderful resource.

The cause of the secular trend toward earlier puberty is unknown. Theories range from high doses of estrogen in foods like soy products, phthalates and bisphenol-A (BPA) commonly found in plastics, hormones given to animals before the animals enter the food stream, sexualized imagery in the media which kids have more access to, endocrine disrup-tors in hygiene products like shampoos and lotions, psychological stressors in the family such as divorce or abuse, physical inactivity, birth control hormones

passed from mother to child during conception or gestation, or simply evolution.

The most likely cause appears to be weight related. There are different ways of interpreting this: childhood obesity or better nutrition.

“My sense is that the cause, and I think a lot of the literature seems to back this up, is that in devel-oped countries children have better nutrition from day one,” says Dr. Hull. “Their body fat stores are higher, their protein intake is higher and they grow better. The onset of puberty is very closely linked to weight or height. We have better preventative medicine, we’re not sick as much as we used to be and we are better at keeping people hydrated and healthy even during sickness.”

“If you’re overweight, you will definitely have puberty sooner,” says Jim McGinnis, M.D., a pedia-trician at Youth Clinic in Fort Collins. “Kids who are significantly overweight will grow taller sooner and start puberty sooner and then stop growing. Those with significant delays in puberty would be those who have eating disorders, exercise to extremes or children who are malnourished.”

Dr. Shannon is also concerned with the childhood obesity trend. “In regards to overweight and obese kids, I see that as a concern on a mental health side. The more fit we can get our kids, the more active, the better. By trying to deal with overweight issues in an aggressive and assertive manner, the more we’ll improve health and reduce early puberty. Colorado has the distinction of being the least obese, but we can’t forget that in Colorado we’ve doubled or tripled the number of obese kids over the last 30 years.”

One theory is that some people do not process

Page 26: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine26

and eliminate estrogens as well as others, so the estrogen is “reprocessed” through the body, caus-ing early puberty.

Jason Barker, N.D., of Rocky Mountain Natural Medicine, recommends lifestyle changes. “Parents should be looking at reducing the environmental burden. If kids are consuming animal products, I want them to be as organic and clean as possible and not raised with any added hormones. The body produces estrogen, which circulates through tissues, does its work and gets processed and eliminated. Dark, green leafy cruciferous vegetables actually help your body process estrogen.”

“First, you want to reduce the exposure to estro-gens and xeno-estrogens,” recommends Jared Allomong, D.C., Allomong Center for Applied Kinesiology. “Then you want to help the body eliminate estrogens. Earlier puberty can be an estrogen clearance problem. Calcium glucarate, also found in cruciferous vegetables, can be a miracle thing for estrogen clearance. Supplements like DIM (diindolylmethane) can help your body process estrogens.”

Not all evidence points to secular earlier puberty being a negative thing. Catherine Gregory, CMP, CAP, of Maya Mama Healing Arts, notes that in many traditions, “The uterus is the seat of creative energy. It’s our source of creative expression, a new way to tap into the deeper creative aspect of ourselves. Another reason is the ability to create a human life, so that’s the ultimate in creative energy. It’s tapping into the force of the human ability to create.”

A study published by the National Osteoporosis Foundation found those who experience early puberty were less likely to get osteoporosis. The Bone Mineral Density in Childhood Study found that “early puberty was associated with greater bone mass while later puberty resulted in less.”

The Breast Cancer Fund is researching the role early puberty might have in breast cancer risk. Cur-rently, a first period before the age of 12 is believed to increase the risk of breast cancer by 50 percent in comparison to a first period after the age of 16. The Breast Cancer Fund is continuing research on the role puberty plays in breast cancer and other risks factors of early puberty.

Many groups continue to lobby the U.S. gov-ernment for more research in chemicals, plastics and ingredients that may contribute to the falling age of puberty.

Currently, there appear to be more questions than answers to explain the falling age of puberty. Puberty can be a rough phase of human development and early puberty may increase the risk factors kids face as they approach adolescence. However, puberty is not difficult for every child, nor is early puberty. There’s a great deal about this trend toward earlier development that no one understands. There may be many benefits or risks to secular early puberty not yet understood. Research continues among a wide spectrum of organizations, which are asking the right questions, and perhaps soon we’ll have more answers.

Tracee Sioux is the creator of TGR Body, www.TGRBody.com, a natural, organic skincare line that promotes healthy body image, and a parenting expert at The Girl Revolution, www.TheGirlRevo-lution.com.

Page 27: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 27

ORTHOPAEDIC & SPINE CENTER OF THE ROCKIES

Specialists in the medicine of motion

www.orthohealth.com

lany Brown A.T.

Progressive Allergy Testing and Therapy NEW: Sublinguallmmumotherapy

(970) 221-23571 (970) 593-1177

Shoulder & Shoulder Replacement Surgery

Sports Medicine

Knee

Spine & Pediatric Spine

Trauma & Fractures

Hand & Upper Extremity

Foot&Ankle

Joint Replacement/Arthritis

Pediatric Orthopaedics

Don't let a shoulder or other injury keep you off the course this

summer. The Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies has 24

physicians who specialize in the medicine of motion-helping

people just like you feel better and get going again. We've helped

tens of thousands of people of all ages get back to their sport, family

fun, or work. If we can help you, call us today at (970) 493-0112.

Serving the golfers and the people of northern Colorado, Wyoming,

and western Nebraska since 1969.

Fort Collins: 2500 East Prospect Road I Fort Collins, Colorado 80525 I 970-493-0112 I Toll-Free: 800-722-7441

Loveland: 3470 East 15th Street I Loveland, Colorado 80538 I 970-663-3975 I Toll-Free: 888-663-3975

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS

Christopher M. Eriksen, MD, FACS • Sarvjit S. Gill MD. FACS • David H. Zacheis. MD. FACS Matt L. Robertson. MD • Stephen M. Wold. MD

2 Locations To SetVe You!

FORT COLUNS 1124 E.Eiizabeth St Bldg. E #1 01

(970) 221-3372 •1-866-269-3026

LOVELAND 3820 N. Grant Ave.

(970) 461-0225 • 1-877-313-1177

Page 28: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

AutismMeDIcAl

By corey rAdmAn

AuTISM: BATTLINg A MYSTERY

Autism affects as many as 1 in every 110 children in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that autism’s diagnosis is on the rise,

and though increased awareness and diagnosis may be partly the cause, they can’t rule out an increased risk for autism in the population.

Autism’s origin is not fully understood, nor have risk factors been identified. The most prevalent developmental disorder to date, autism has no cure… yet. The CDC predicts that of the approxi-mately 4 million babies born every year, 24,000 of them will eventually be identified as autistic. The majority of those babies will be boys.

“The autism equation is large and difficult,” explains Aaron Skalicky, Ph.D., clinical director of NeuroDevelopment Center of Colorado. “Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) cover a range of neu-robiological disorders that can be mild to quite

severe.”Dr. Skalicky refers to three of the most common

traits inherent to autistic people as the unholy trinity: “Often we see communication, joint atten-tion (or social engagement) and repetitive non-functional behaviors as the primary symptoms. Most kids with autism [though not all] fail to develop spoken language before age 2. Social interaction varies by degrees. Some kids might not show much orientation towards the person speaking.” He goes on to explain that repetitive behaviors might look, on the surface, similar to OCD. For instance, a child might open and close doors or line up their trucks a certain way, over and over again.

“If you’ve met a person with autism, you’ve met exactly one person with autism,” says Amanda Marbry, whose son Rusty defies the stereotype that autistic kids don’t like physical contact. “He’ll sit in your lap forever; Rusty loves to cuddle.” There are so many different ways the disorder manifests that

each individual case can be dramatically different. Many parents of kids with autism have grown

weary of their children being compared to Rain Man, the biggest pop culture point of reference for most people. “It’s the first thing people will say. ‘What’s his special skill?’” says Phyllis Zimmer-man, president of the Autism Society of Larimer County (ASLC), whose son also has autism. “Not all people with autism have special skills. Savants are very rare, in autism and in the world.”

It is true, however, that some people with autism can be hyper-focused on one topic. “If that intellect lines up with something that soci-ety values, it can work to their benefit,” says Dr. Skalicky. For instance, many kids find facets of math or science completely fascinating (like space or statistics). When they can study the subject exclusively later in school, they do quite well professionally. “It’s a blessing and a curse, however. [That rigidity] does inhibit the ability to flow through the day and relate to peers.”

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine28

Page 29: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

DiagnosisIn his 35 years at the Loveland Youth Clinic,

Michael Quintana, M.D., has helped many families deal with autism. As a pediatrician, he uses the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended screening tool, the M-CHAT. Some questions from this parent survey include:

• Doesyourchildtakeaninterestinother

children?

• Doesyourchildeverpretend,forexample,totalkonthephoneortakecareofadoll?

• Doesyourchildeverbringobjectsovertoyoutoshowyousomething?

• Doesyourchildlookatyourfacetocheckyourreactionwhenfacedwithsomethingunfamiliar?

“If there is a preponderance of no answers on that quiz, then we know there is a need for more expert screening,” he says. Dr. Quintana usually refers families to Children’s Hospital in Denver because of their numerous resources.

However, there are qualified screeners in North-ern Colorado as well, including at CSU. “For kids whose symptoms are a concern, we use the ADOS tool (autism diagnostic observation schedule),” says Dr. Skalicky, whose practice offers diagnosis and ongoing therapy. “This survey sets up play and interactive scenarios. We watch the reaction of the child closely to see if he has difficulty following the examiners’ play or pretend story line. Most kids can generally follow along with a pretend game. Kids on the spectrum are more inclined to focus on their own play.”

This type of evaluation helps experts determine how profoundly a child is affected and what type of interventions will be most helpful. Dr. Skalicky notes that just as important as occupational and speech therapy is the need to tailor an academic plan to the child’s learning style. Many children with autism memorize information during kindergarten and first grade and appear to be learning as well, or better, than their peers. But when reading and math begin to require more abstract connections, comprehension can become a problem. Fortu-nately, research shows that children with autism can make significant educational gains with the right strategies.

He also stresses that there is a difference between high functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome.

Asperger’s Syndrome“Asperger’s is not really autism light,” Dr. Ska-

licky says. “Qualitatively, these are very different kids.” While Asperger’s is under the same diagnos-tic umbrella as autism, the main differences are in communication. “People with Asperger’s generally have a greater ability to use formal language,” he explains. “They develop vocabulary and grammar skills, but don’t necessarily understand nuances in language that help people to relate to each other.”

Jennifer Cotton would agree. Her 13-year-old son James (whose name has been changed for privacy) has Asperger’s syndrome. James tells the truth, whether you want to hear it or not. Introduced to a female tutor from CSU for the first time, James said, “You’re hot.” His mother was embarrassed, but she laughs about it now.

Trumpet Behavioral Health offers in-home, center-based, and in-school services for children and adults diagnosed on the autism spectrum or with other developmental delays. Using evidence-based instructional methodologies within Applied Behavioral Analysis, our services can include:

• Earlyinterventionprogramming

• Behavioral,skillandindependentlivingopportunities

• Languageassessments

• Individualizedprogramdesign

• Functionalcommunicationtraining

• Playandsocialprograms

• Behaviormanagement

• Parenteducation

• Integrationopportunities

• Pre-academic,academicandschoolreadiness

For more information, please contact Catherine Bladow, MS, CCC-SLP, BCBA

(970) 420-0578 or email [email protected].

The NeuroDevelopment Center of Colorado in Fort Collins provides comprehensive evaluations using a children’s hospital model. This includes using the ADOS instrument (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule), widely considered the gold standard in autism assessment. Licensed psychologists with specialized training evaluate cognitive processing, communication, behavior, social skills and sensory-motor development. NCC provides behavior support, outreach to schools, parenting techniques, 1:1 educational therapies and life skills programs. Evaluations are often completed in only a few weeks.

For more information, please call (970) 282-4428 or visit

www.ncchelp.com.

Autism Treatment Providers

in Northern Colorado

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 29

Aaron Skalicky, Ph.D. NeuroDevelopment Center of Colorado

Michael Quintana, M.D. Loveland Youth Clinic

Catherine Bladow, MS, CCC-SLPTrumpet Behavioral Health

Page 30: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

When did you first suspect something was wrong with your child?”

It’s a question that would sends chills down any parent’s back. But when it was fired from a seven-doctor panel, it nearly flattened Amanda and Shane Marbry. Both in their 20s, they had no idea what to think.

All along they were thinking their son, Rusty, was a little slow developmentally because he was born prematurely, but he would eventually catch up.

Autism never crossed their minds. Not their son.The professors and doctors from University

of Tennessee who diagnosed Rusty explained that he was a very low functioning child, and his autism was coupled with mental retardation. He would never speak, never read… for all intents and purposes, Rusty would be forever 2-years-old.

Rusty’s father Shane, a muscular former boxer, remembers the moment he understood what they were saying. “I broke down and just bawled; I was in shock. I kept thinking my son’s going to be in diapers when he’s 30. He’s never going to drive a car, or do anything the rest of us do. I mean,

For James, the social aspect of his Asperger’s is the hardest. His mother remembers, “That really started in fifth grade. He had to have his Lego Bionicles with him all the time. And he would do other things like flap his arms. The other kids just never understood. I would visit and nobody wanted to sit near him. Sometimes it feels like we’re outcasts – banished, punished because we’re different.

“If you look at him, he seems completely normal,” she continues. “They don’t really know what’s going on with his mind and body. They just think he’s weird. But he’s not. Everybody has a weakness. Mine is building things. His is social-ization. He needs help with that.”

Treatment“There is hope and treatment,” encourages

Zimmerman. ASLC functions as a resource for parents searching for interventions and educa-tion. Zimmerman’s own son has benefited and she wants to share the wisdom. “Especially with early intervention, you can move a child along the spectrum if you find a good combination.” Her son has responded very well to the “autism diet,” which omits gluten (from wheat, barley, oats, and rye) and casein (from milk).

Catherine Bladow MS, CCC-SLP, is a board certified behavioral analyst who has worked in the field of speech and language pathology for over 20 years and with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder exclusively for 12. She currently works for Trumpet Behavioral Health and uses the principles of Applied Behavioral Analy-sis therapy (ABA), which focuses on reinforcing desired behaviors to help individuals learn to be as independent as possible. One of her specialties is working with non-verbal kids.

“What happens to children who don’t have effective communication is that they learn to use maladaptive forms to communicate, like having tantrums or demonstrating self injurious behav-iors,” says Bladow. “These behaviors are forms of communication – not a good form but they can be effective. People will quickly respond to a child who is upset by their giving them tangibles or attention. This can become a learned response: I tantrum or cry and I get what I want.”

She continues: “I look at function. I want fami-lies to say, ‘What is the function of that behavior?’ Does he want something? Does he want to stop an activity?’ Even with self-stimulatory behaviors we try and figure out why they are demonstrat-ing that behavior. Maybe it feels good, it might be a calming strategy, or to get attention, or for boredom. There is always a purpose.” And finding that purpose, she says, is the key to redirecting undesirable behaviors.

ResourcesZimmerman suggests that families who suspect a

child might be autistic take full advantage of school district services, especially the early intervention teams, which are provided free to families. Other organizations that can help include Foothills Gateway, Inc. and Respite Care, which both offer incredible services for families of children with disabilities. ASLC’s website is www.autismlarimer.org.

Corey Radman is a freelance writer living in Fort Collins. She can be reached via her website at www.fortcollinswriter.com.

can you imagine?”The worry began when Rusty’s language, which

had been slow, just disappeared in an instant. “It was like he just went away,” mourns his mother. “Before then he had sentences, and would say ‘Ooooh Mommy! I love Mommy.’”

Then overnight, they say, Rusty just stopped speaking. He stopped tuning in to them.

Rusty has regressive autism, which Aaron Ska-licky, Ph.D., reports happens in about one third of all diagnoses. These are the cases that have caused the most heated autism debate. Some have tried to find a causal link between immunizations and the disorder’s onset. No such link has been found. “Research is advancing, but has not yet identi-fied a cause that can be applied to most cases of regressive autism,” says Dr. Skalicky.

Living in Dyersburg, Tennessee (population 18,000), the Marbrys had never really heard much about autism. They turned to his special needs program preschool for guidance, but instead found a lack of training and inadequate staffing.

Amanda remembers: “Rusty would not sit on the square at circle time; he was and still is very loud; he won’t wear shoes.” She continues – Rusty bites people and furniture; when upset he bangs

FOR RuSTYONE FAMILY’S STRuggLE WITH PROFOuND AuTISM

“By corey rAdmAn

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine30

Page 31: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 31

dance classes & camps!

• • In • ICS

flip, twist, tumble, swing!

mountains of fun!

Gymnastics Dance . ,. ti

Preschool Summer Warm Water Birthday After School Camp "ttarmups Day Camp Swimming Parties & Transportation Coffee & Clothing

www. mountain- ki ds.com (970)482-311 8 419 E. Stuart St. Fort Collins, CO 80525 [email protected]

INTRODUCING VASER ®SHAPE •Smoothes, firms & contours the body •Reduces appearance of cellulite

•See immediate results in one session •See optimal results after 3-5 sessions

CALL THE CLINIC FOR DETAILS ON OUR SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFERS.

AlluraCiinic.com • 970-223-0193 2032 Lowe St., Ste 103, Fort Collins I 4450 Union St., Ste 201 (1 mile east of l-25 and Hwy 34)

Page 32: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

his head on the wall; he has no idea what a toilet is for. “The school used to call me all the time to come get him because he was out of control.”

Ultimately, Shane and Amanda discovered that Rusty was being strapped to a chair and put alone in a room. Every day. For hours. When asked about it, the staff claimed Rusty liked it.

During a conference, one teacher confided, “We can’t educate your son. No one can. He needs to be in an institution.” Rusty was just 4 years old. Amanda, age 22 at the time, determined two things: one, that her family was going to stay together, and two, she was getting a lawyer.

For a while, the Marbrys continued to gut it out in their hometown. The school hired an aid dedicated to Rusty. The family added a second child and moved into a big house on six acres. Dyersburg was their home, and they didn’t consider leaving… until Rusty’s teacher again advised them to commit Rusty. They began to see that their birthplace wasn’t able to provide the same security and education that they had received as children.

Shane searched Google for “Best Places to Live,” and up popped Fort Collins.

So, with $6,000, an old Chevy Impala and their clothes, the family of four left everything behind and moved west.

Finding HomeIn their first years in Fort Collins, the Marbry

family continued to struggle to find appropriate care for Rusty and their younger son and still hold down jobs. Their anxiety and worry abated some, however, when Poudre School District teachers came for a home visit.

Shane and Amanda tell the story: “They sent two therapists out to assess his needs. At this point, Rusty was really bad from all the changes in our life.” They describe extreme behaviors like Rusty trying to self soothe by rubbing his toes on the concrete until they bled. He would chew his nails so much that his thumbnails actually came off. Worse was the hitting, kicking, hair pulling and screaming Rusty engaged in when he was upset. “He would just terrorize us,” they say.

“When the school therapists saw Rusty, they were like, ‘It’s no big deal,’” Shane says. Finding people who understood autism, even extreme cases, was like being able to breathe again. Finally, someone was on their side.

Rusty is still the most extreme case that many of his care providers and teachers have ever seen. His parents are grateful for the teachers in the special needs program at O’Dea Core Knowledge, for Respite Care, for the services he receives via Foothills Gateway and for their speech and behav-ioral therapist, Catherine Bladow.

They appreciate all the work so many teachers have devoted to their family, but note that Colorado isn’t exactly the Promised Land they were hoping for. “Colorado is one of the lowest in the nation for special needs funding,” Shane says, angry with lawmakers. (The Office of Special Education surveys show that Colorado is well below the national average in spending on special needs education.) As funding dwindled, the Marbrys saw some of the best teachers say goodbye to Rusty.

“It’s always special needs that gets cut first,” Shane adds fiercely. His frustration is understand-able. Every time Rusty’s class size grows and he loses services, Rusty’s skills wane. This means that he might not feed himself lunch, or will be riding the bus home naked because he hates to

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine32

Page 33: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

wear clothes.Bladow, who has been helping Rusty learn to

sign and build routines, says, “By far my biggest professional hurdle is funding. It’s huge. If we could find a resource, it’s endless what we could do.”

Marathon ParentingThe Marbrys have given up a lot in the fight for

Rusty’s care and safety: a home, jobs, quality of life, regular sleep. The parents alternate nights sleeping with him because Rusty’s brain doesn’t shut off for more than four or five hours per night. Someone has to stay awake to keep him from wandering outside or drinking the bleach – all things he has done at one point or another. Shane sighs, then peeks sideways from under his ball cap, one blue eye piercing out. “I had dreams, too,” he says.

Asked what they wish people would better understand about families like theirs, they say tolerance. “I wish autistic kids were born orange,” Shane teases.

People with Down syndrome have a predict-able appearance, and so do others with mental deficiencies. The public adjusts their expectations appropriately. However, when a child with autism acts out in public – like the time at Applebee’s when Rusty hurled spaghetti all over the other diners – their first instinct is to think the parents are lazy or self-involved.

“People do look at us like we are bad parents, but it’s just not the case. It’s not discipline he needs,” Amanda says.

She says the thing that gives her hope are the rare occasions when Rusty’s language surfaces. “One day I was crying on the floor. I was just so tired, and Rusty had spread feces all over the wall again. I just couldn’t hold it together. Rusty climbed in my lap, put his hand in mine and whispered, ‘Mom Mom.’”

The Marbrys and so many more like them are parenting marathon style. With few breaks and a mountain of perseverance, they take each day and live it with grace, determined to do it right for Rusty.

Corey Radman is a freelance writer living in Fort Collins. She can be reached via her website at www.fortcollinswriter.com.

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 33

Rusty’s profound autism has challenged his family to find help from a dwindling group of special needs resources.

Page 34: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

I t’s 2 a.m. and you hear your baby fussing in the next room. As you go to soothe her, you touch her forehead and realize it’s hot. Too hot. A thermometer confirms your baby has a fever. She is uncomfort-

able and you feel a bit panicked, trying to remember dosing instructions, what medicines can be taken at what age and what interac-tions can be harmful. It’s a lot to remember at 2 in the morning.

The world of medicine has come a long way in helping to soothe babies and children as comfort-ably and quickly as possible. When directions are followed correctly, our little people can pull through illnesses, fevers, infections and viruses safely.

Pain relievers are the most common medication parents seek to soothe their child. Parents often reach for two common pain relievers: ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Brand names for ibuprofen are Advil and Motrin, both sold in children’s dosage.

A common brand name for acetaminophen is Tylenol, which is also sold in children’s dosage.

Acetaminophen was FDA approved in 1951 and ibuprofen in 1974, but even though these pain relievers have been around for years, their interactions with young bodies can still be a bit of a mystery.

“Babies and children have an entirely different body composition than adults,” says Bridget Brown, M.D., of Loveland Pediatrics, part of the Banner Medical Group. “We tend to treat children like little adults, but the way they metabolize medications is completely different. Doctors and parents need to be cognizant of that.”

If your baby is under 3 months of age and has a temperature over 100.4 Fahrenheit, the recommendation is to call your pediatrician before administering any type of pain reliever, even if it is at 2:00 a.m.

“If you are not sure what to do, a quick phone call to your doctor will put your mind at ease and

help establish next steps should the pain reliever not work,” states Dr. Brown.

Since a majority of adverse drug interac-tions occur in children under 5, concern is understandable.

If your child is older than 3 months and able to receive over-the-counter pain medication without physician approval, it is still very important to follow dosing recommendation. “Dosing recom-mendation is based on a matrix that determines how a medication dissolves and how quickly it will metabolize within the body; even crushing or cutting a medicine in half will change how little bodies process it,” says Diane Hewlett, owner of Columbine Drug.

Both Dr. Brown and Hewlett discourage dosing combinations for children. “Parents will give ibu-profen for a fever and then a cough and cold medicine,” says Hewlett. “Sometimes parents don’t realize the cough and cold medicine contains ibuprofen too. It’s good to identify exactly what

Drug SafetyMeDIcAl

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine34

By HeATHer ScHicHTel

DRug INTERACTIONS IN CHILDREN

Page 35: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

the cold needs are and find one medicine that can meet those needs.”

Although one extra dose is not necessarily problematic, multiple doses can be hard on the liver and kidneys.

Sometimes it’s the old-fashioned remedies that have the best effects. A hot, steamy bathroom can do wonders for loosening a tight cough, and studies have shown that Vicks Vapor rub helps children and adults sleep better. Dr. Brown also recommends honey for a cough for children over a year old.

“It’s also important to remember that if the treatment you are using is not working, stop administering the medication and bring your child in to see the doctor,” advises Dr. Brown. If your child is fighting an infection, fever-reducing meds will only work for a while. If this is the case, it’s a good idea to see the pediatrician.

If fever and pain persists and a physician finds a bacterial infection that requires prescription medications, it’s important to remember the side effects of antibiotics.

Amoxicillin is a common penicillin-type anti-biotic that is used to treat bacterial infections. A common side effect of amoxicillin is a mild rash. Although this rash is usually not serious, it may be difficult to tell what is a mild rash and what is a more severe allergic reaction, especially in young children. Therefore, should such a reaction occur, it is important to contact your pediatrician right away.

Amoxicillin does its job very effectively – it kills the bacteria in your system. Unfortunately, this means the ‘good’ bacteria in your system, too. Because of this, children can experience belly pain, diarrhea and yeast or thrush infections. When children (and adults) are on antibiotics, it’s important to supplement diets with a good acidophilus, which introduces good bacteria into

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 35

using children’s medications is not enough – parents must be careful to follow dosing recommendations on the label.

Page 36: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine36

Bridget Brown, M.D.Loveland Pediatrics

Hewlett and Dr. Brown recommend keeping a log of what types of medications, what dosage and when they were administered for your children.

Diane Hewlett, pharmacist and ownerColumbine Drug, Loveland

Page 37: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

digestive systems. Acidophilus can be found over the counter or in fermented foods such as yogurt.

When children are ill, communication is key between your entire healthcare team. Doctors recommend that parents and caregivers keep a log of what medication was given, the time and dosage. “Parents are tired and they might be sick, too,” says Dr. Brown. “Many times Mom and Dad are administering meds. It’s good to document what is being given and when.”

This documentation is also important to the pediatrician in determining what has been tried, what is working and what is not.

In many cases, a 10-day course of amoxicillin is all a child will need to overcome an illness. More complex medication interactions can occur when a child is on other medications or being treated for severe conditions such as cancers, epilepsy and diabetes.

“At this time, it is even more important to have an ongoing dialogue with your doctor and pharmacist,” says Hewlett. For children on sev-eral medications, a good relationship with your pharmacist is imperative; they can help monitor what medications a child is taking and how they might interact with one another.

Phenobarbital, for example, is given for pro-longed seizures and is metabolized through the liver. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is also processed through the liver. If a child is having seizures and a fever, a combination of Tylenol and phenobar-bital could overload the liver in the short-term. Prolonged usage could result in permanent liver damage. In this case, ibuprofen, which is metabo-lized through the kidneys, would be a better choice.

Dr. Brown recommends that parents of medically complex children carry a list of current medications, dosage and reasons why they are being given. “We tend to see more issues with drug interactions in the emergency room when conditions must be treated immediately. If we know beforehand, we can administer a different drug that is metabolized differently.”

Even for children with minor medical conditions, it is important to let your medical community know so that they can make informed decisions. Adderall is a common drug used for treatment of ADHD. Currently there are no documented interactions between Adderall and common pain relievers, but doctors still need to know what their little patient is being treated for.

Few situations are more stressful than watching your child suffer from an illness and feel like you cannot help. As Dr. Brown says, “Many times this situation is much more stressful on the parents than the child.”

As in any medical situation, it is important to communicate needs and concerns to the medi-cal community, trust your instincts and never be afraid to call when you feel that things are not progressing as they should.

“It is better to call than to guess,” says Dr. Brown. “We see babies who don’t feel well every-day, but this might be your first sick baby. We’re here to provide comfort for both of you.”

Heather Schichtel is a freelance writer and market-ing professional living in Loveland. You can find her at her daily blog: www.samsmom-heathers.blogspot.com.

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 37

Page 38: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Reproductive TechnologyMeDIcAl

By Angeline grenz

IN SEARCH OF BABY

Today it is more common than not: many women choose to establish their careers first, getting married in their 30s, before deciding they are finally ready to tackle parent-

hood. By this time, they are often in their late 30s, perhaps 40s, and their chances of getting pregnant have declined, while the chance of an abnormal pregnancy has risen.

But new technology is enabling parents who are looking to start or continue building a family options that translate to greater success at becoming pregnant, less risk of an abnormal pregnancy and less risk of multiple births when they do become pregnant. This technology, available at Conceptions Reproductive Associates of Colorado, is making many families’ dreams come true.

Mark Bush, M.D., leads the way, developing in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology to make the process more successful – and more economical. His suc-cesses have garnered him national praise. In March, Dr. Bush was awarded the Joyce M. Vargyas M.D. Visionary Award, presented by actress Brenda Strong

and the Board of the American Fertility Association. The award honored Dr. Bush for his leadership

as the medical director at Conceptions, his clinical application of complete chromosomal screening (CCS) of the embryo prior to IVF implantation, and his contributions to reproductive medicine on a national level.

Of particular interest is Dr. Bush’ advances in CCS. When a woman plans to get pregnant after age 35, risk factors increase greatly and fertility becomes a concern. As you move even closer to age 40, the factors change exponentially. Finding the right fertility treatment quickly is a major concern.

IVF can be the answer to many fertility challenges, including blocked fallopian tubes, unexplained female infertility, and male infertility. Traditional IVF practices generally had two or three embryos implanted into the womb, and the doctors and parents would cross their fingers hoping that an embryo would take. Best-case scenario: one healthy baby nine months later. But more likely, other results included miscar-riages due to abnormal pregnancies, no pregnancy, or multiple births.

Octomom is perhaps the most widely recognized

instance of multiple births because of IVF prac-tices. Octomom Natalie Suleman had six embryos implanted via IVF, rather than the normal practice of two to three. All six successfully implanted, two embryos were twins, and in 2009 she gave birth to octuplets.

Through Conceptions’ approach, the danger of multiple births is greatly reduced. Because of the use of CCS prior to implantation, Dr. Bush’s clinic has increased the chances of healthy pregnancy and reduced the negative outcomes.

Women over 35 who are concerned about their pregnancy are often offered an amniocentesis to determine chromosomal abnormalities at about 15 weeks of pregnancy. Amniocentesis can detect Down syndrome, Edwards Syndrome and Turner syndrome. Through his process, Dr. Bush is able to perform amniocentesis on the embryos before implantation.

Prior to IVF, Dr. Bush takes embryos from each patient and tests them for chromosomal abnormali-ties. “We are all made up of made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes,” explains Dr. Bush. “There are many serious, lethal chromosome abnormalities. As eggs age, they are prone to passing chromosomal

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine38

NEW TECHNOLOgIES MEAN gREATER SuCCESS AT gETTINg PREgNANT

Ken Mosesian (left), executive director of the American Fertility Association, and actress Brenda Strong presented the Joyce M. Vargyas M.D. Visionary Award to Dr. Bush in March.

Page 39: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

errors to the embryo resulting in one of the three negative outcomes at IVF: a negative pregnancy test, a miscarriage or a bad result at amniocentesis.”

Conceptions grows embryos to day five and tests them for DNA abnormalities prior to implantation. They are able to rule out the embryos that would not come to full term and identify any healthy embryos. Parents can then have one healthy embryo implanted, increasing the odds of a healthy birth, saving heartache, precious time and the expense of multiple IVF treatments. Other healthy embryos can be stored for future pregnancies.

Dr. Bush launched the technology in January 2009 in collaboration with Gene Security Network. Conceptions has currently done over 100 of these cycles “with outstanding results.” Conceptions asserts that because of this technology they have a demonstrated low number of embryos transferred per IVF cycle, low multiple pregnancy rates and maintain high pregnancy rates with their clients. “We can give families the ultimate answer,” says Dr. Bush, allowing families to attempt IVF with the safety net of knowing that abnormal embryos won’t be implanted.

He recounts the experience of a patient who had a daughter at age 34 with no problems. At age 37, she decided to try again and found she had fertility challenges. She tried ineffective fertility treatments that resulted in two DNA abnormal miscarriages before turning to Conceptions. She now has a healthy baby and represents a similar story among Dr. Bush’ patients.

An added benefit of Conceptions’ CCS pro-cess: not only can they tell which embryos have an abnormality, they can locate the source, whether from the mother or the father. This allows parents to more easily assess donor options. They are the only fertility clinic in the Denver metroplex that can map the parental source of chromosomal abnormal-ity in the embryo.

In addition to new innovative IVF protocols, Dr. Bush is interested in educating women about their fertility choices and making those choices affordable to those not covered by health insurance. “Many

women are unaware of these protocols and technolo-gies,” says Dr. Bush. “By not getting the word out, women may use up valuable time on their ovarian clock pursuing less effective treatments.”

Dr. Bush believes in starting that education early. Conceptions’ median group of patients is in the 35- to 40-year-old range. He does outreach to college students in their 20s, to help educate them that they can have their eggs tested at any time to determine health and plan families accordingly.

While timing is critical, the cost of fertility treat-ments can be significant. Dr. Bush has tackled the pricing structure to make it more affordable for his patients. “We give access with regard to our pric-ing.” Conceptions’ website outlines their pricing up front; they also accept most insurances.

“But I thought, ‘What about the women without insurance?’” he continues. To make fertility more attainable for those couples, “Our cash price for IVF is all-inclusive. It includes all the technologies: injecting the eggs, growing the embryo to day five, and the pricing structure is extremely competitive.”

Dr. Bush has also found ways to reduce other costs for women: insemination rates, laparoscopic surgery for fibroids, and preliminary work prior to fertility testing are all offered at reduced rates for cash paying clients. Part of Dr. Bush’s recognition in March was an acknowledgement of his effort to make these services available at affordable rates for his clients.

Conceptions’ success speaks for itself; they are one of the top programs in the country with regard to pregnancy rates. Conceptions complies with the regulations outlined by the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (SART), which is the industry standard for monitoring pregnancy rates. “A low average of embryos transferred translates to low multiples [births]. Our triplet rate over the past five years is anywhere from zero to 4 percent. This is very low.”

Angeline Grenz is editor for Style Magazine.

Whether preserving fertility is essential because of an illness or an infertile couple needs a donor to have the child they long for, options are available. Few, in fact, realize that the state’s only commercial sperm bank resides in Loveland – CryoGam Colorado.

CryoGam is a full service sperm bank: they offer anonymous donor sperm, personal cryopreservation, male fertility testing, and sperm preparations for intrauterine inseminations for surrounding physicians. They are open to the public and ship nationally and internationally.

“We are the best kept secret in Colorado,” says Betsy Cairo, CryoGam director. As fewer fertility clinics keep their own donor sperm banks, the need for a center like CryoGam has grown in recent years.

“Our whole goal is fertility preservation,” says Cairo. Anyone looking at the possibility of sterilization from a vasectomy or surgery that could render them impotent, and oncology patients of all types because treatments the can render them infertile or sterile, can have sperm stored at CryoGam. In fact, Cairo recommends taking the step of preservation prior to a vasectomy, adding that it is an easy, relatively inexpensive way to be prepared in the event they later regret their decision. “It is certainly easier than having a vasectomy reversed,” says Cairo.

Reproductive clinics nationally and internationally can contact CryoGam to access their sperm bank. Patients considering donor sperm can access the website and search through the donor list to review short profiles. For a fee, they can access a 17-page, thorough personal family health history – including level of education, if they have children of their own, possible past drug use, genetic history of parents and grandparents on both sides and more.

CryoGam carefully selects their anonymous donors. “We turn away about 85 percent of our donors,” says Cairo, who runs an ad for donors on Craigslist and other venues. Donors must be between 18 and 35 years old and have been or are currently in college. Genetic diseases are screened for, such as Tay-Sachs, sickle cell and cystic fibrosis.

Storage tanks, called dewars, resembling giant ther-moses, hold specimens in liquid nitrogen that is monitored daily and does not rely on electricity for power. Human sperm does not have a shelf life in liquid nitrogen, as long it is stored properly. CryoGam has sperm that is more than two decades old that has resulted in pregnancy.

CryoGam also stores embryos and oocytes (female egg cells). Embryos and oocytes, which are much more fragile, are processed elsewhere and shipped to CryoGam for long-term storage, according to Cairo.

Cairo began the sperm bank as part of Greeley Medi-cal Clinic’s Fertility Center in 1988. She bought it from them in 1990 and moved it to Loveland. “Not seeing a commercial sperm bank in Colorado, I recognized there was a definite need,” she says.

By Angeline grenz

PRESERVINg

FERTILITY

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 39

The lab at Conceptions Reproductive Associates of Colorado is helping improve pregnancy outcomes with complete chromosonal screening prior to in vitro fertilization implantation.

Page 40: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine40

Healthcare ReformMeDIcAl

H E A L T H C A R E R E F O R M ’ S I M P A C T

ON PRIVATE PRACTICES By Heidi Kerr-ScHlAefer

H ealthcare reform is a huge topic with many complex layers. Very few people have read the entire 2,200-page healthcare reform bill, and

even fewer can claim to understand exactly what impacts it will have. In fact, no one knows how it’s going to play out over the next eight years of implementation.

You can ask 20 different Americans what is in the healthcare reform bill, and you will get 20 different responses, and many will contain inac-curacies and half-truths. If you ask 20 experts what impact the bill will have on the average American and the healthcare industry, the responses will also vary.

Understanding what was not included is much easier than getting a grasp on what was. For instance, pharmaceutical companies remain unaf-fected by the bill, and tort reform was also not addressed.

The fact is that every other section of the health-care industry and every segment of the population will be impacted by healthcare reform, but to what extent is yet to be determined.

Pay for Performance and Measuring Best Practices

Recently Style sat down with six private practice administrators from Northern Colorado to discuss some of the changes they expect to see as a direct result of the healthcare reform bill. They discussed how their respective clinics are preparing for the impending changes and how those changes will affect their patients.

“I think the bottom line is that there’s a big movement to try to bend the cost curve and get away from payers, government and commercial payers, paying for volume. They want to pay for value,” says Michael Bergerson, MHA, CEO of Orthopaedic and Spine Center of the Rockies.

He explains that the healthcare reform bill will alter the way doctors, clinics and hospitals get paid by insurers, Medicare, Medicaid and other payers in the system. Currently, if a hospital, clinic or ancillary provider performs a procedure on a patient they get paid per procedure. Under the healthcare reform bill, these practitioners will not be paid unless they have proven outcomes. The catch phrase for this is “pay for performance.” A good performance will be determined by whether a doctor or hospital followed “best practices.”

“Right now you can read a study in a medical journal that claims this is the next best thing, and then another study will disprove it,” says Bergerson. “There’s a lot of conflicting data out there and everyone’s just trying to get their arms around it very quickly.”

Tom Engel, CMPE, administrator of Urology Center of the Rockies, put it this way:

“Here is a 10,000 foot view of what’s happen-ing. If we are going to provide healthcare in this country at an affordable and effective rate, we have to follow best practices. Those who follow best practices will be rewarded and those that don’t will not be rewarded. By doing this you may be able to spread the same amount of money over a broader patient population and improve health stats and health outcomes.”

The challenge, of course, comes down to defi-nition and analysis: how will the healthcare field define the words and how will best practice be measured? In a profession still described as the art of medicine, this will be a difficult process. A physician’s definition of performance and good outcome will no doubt be different from how a commercial payer will define those terms.

Medical professionals from various fields of

Page 41: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

unlocking the miracle

couj;les toili t5o f!Jfi:aed & t(fo'(;t/d,y.

0

Assisted Reproductive Technology ( ART)

World Renowned l;:mbryology Team

In-Vitro l=ertilization ( IV!=)

Preimplantation Genetic Testing including Comprehensive Chromosomal Screening

Oocyte and Sperm Donation

l;:mbryo and Sperm Cryopreservation, Oocyte Vitri~cation (!;:xperimental)

Minimally Invasive Advanced i=ertility Surgery

Male !=actor Infertility

IV!= and Oocyte Donation Refund Program

Participating IV!= Study Center

www.Conceptions Re Pro.com

300 l;:xempla Circle, Suite 370 • LafayeHe, Colorado • 303.449.1084

271 W. County Line Road • LiHieton, Colorado • 303.794.0045

4500 !;:. 9th Avenue, Suite 630 • Denver, Colorado • 303.720.7887

1e

CONCEPTIONS REPRODUCTIVE ASSOCIATES

OF COLORADO

Mark R. Bush, MD, !=ACOG, !=ACS • MichaelS. Swanson, MD, !=ACOG • Tiffany A. Von Wald, MD, MPI-l, !=ACOG

Page 42: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Michael Bergerson, MHA, CEO of Orthopaedic and Spine Center of the Rockies

Nancy Timmons, CMPE, MSHA, administrator of Front Range Center for Brain & Spine Surgery

Carol Wittmer, COE, administrator of the Eye Center of Northern Colorado

Judson Standard, MBA, MSHA, CEO of Northern Colorado Anesthesia Professional Consultants

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine42

practice already have established and generally accepted best practices, but they will now be asked to measure this to a degree that has never been done before.

One essential tool in evaluating best practices will be using evidenced-based medicine, which analyzes the evidence gained from scientific meth-ods to assess the risks and benefits of treatments in healthcare decision-making. If the evidence shows a procedure has more risks than benefits, it shouldn’t be used. This scientific style of medicine will become an even larger part of every clinic’s repertoire.

There’s little doubt that pay for performance will incentivize doctors to get it right the first time, but there are still a lot of unknowns, and the next handful of years will prove how pay for performance plays out in a real world environment.

“It’s about changing the incentive from

procedure driven to health driven,” said Judson Standard, MBA, MSHA, and CEO of Northern Colorado Anesthesia Professional Consultants.

Technological AdvancesPay for performance has its challenges, but a

big component will be the technological advances that will become necessary in order to implement best practices.

“I believe that healthcare reform has made health information systems a priority and it is one of the most beneficial aspects for our patients,” says Nancy Timmons, CMPE, MSHA, and administrator at Front Range Center for Brain & Spine Surgery. “Patients will be able to review their own health record, and providers will have instant access to all of their patient’s records, allowing the physician to give the best, most informed medical advice to his/her patient.”

Page 43: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 43

Clinics and hospitals are working towards invest-ing in technology that will allow for better, more accurate and faster communication between their facilities. The technical advancements are a win-win because there are health and financial benefits to having this new technology in place.

“It can save a lot of money on unnecessary duplicate testing,” says Standard. “If somebody in Grand Junction has already had an MRI on their head and they present with symptoms that might need an MRI in Denver, that neurosurgeon or neurologist may not have any idea that scan was done two days ago on the other side of the state, and they wind up repeating the exact same scan.”

Of course, these high-tech advances aren’t cheap, but the Fort Collins practice administra-tors interviewed for this article agreed that these upgrades are simply the cost of doing business. It will be an even bigger burden on hospitals that will have to implement these changes on a much, much larger scale.

In the past, this country has experienced shifts within the healthcare industry, but as the private practice administrators pointed out, these were only successful as long as they didn’t interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.

As the current healthcare reform bill is revealed and implemented over the next eight years, it remains to be seen how it will evolve. Will this plan negatively affect the doctor-patient relationship? Right now there’s no way to predict the long term implications, good, bad or otherwise.

“For every piece of this we have a Plan A and Plan B,” says Bergerson. “Plan A is if healthcare reform continues to roll out and Plan B is if pieces are repealed or not funded. We have to be ready for both.”

So What Now? There have been thousands of articles written

about the healthcare reform bill, but those that attempt to put the plan in a nutshell simply aren’t telling the entire story because it is still unfolding. The clinics in Northern Colorado are preparing for any scenario, and maintaining a strong doctor-patient relationship is their primary goal.

Over the next few years, the public will be inundated with news about healthcare reforms. “There’s so much misinformation,” says Carol Wit-tmer, COE, administrator of Eye Center of Northern Colorado. She encourages patients not to stress out when they hear sensationalized thirty-second news spots or commercials on the topic.

For now, the public needs to remain diligent and take responsibility for their health. “People need to ask questions of qualified healthcare pro-fessionals, and they need to read and understand their insurance plans,” says Wittmer.

Northern Colorado is well known for its state-of-the-art healthcare facilities, skilled doctors and medical teams. Patients from around the country come here to have certain procedures performed. While the healthcare reform bill will result in some major adjustments within the industry, these administrators stress that Northern Colorado’s position as a magnet area for quality healthcare will not change.

Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer is a journalist and freelance writer from Northern Colorado. She is also the Mayor of HeidiTown.com, a blog about Colorado events and festivals.

Page 44: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

By connie Hein

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine44

M E D I C A L E x P A N S I O N

I N N O R T H E R N C O L O R A D O

What do a little boat, a 1950s ice cream shop and a Guy Lombardo song have to do with a story about medical construction underway in

Northern Colorado? Read on and you’ll see.

For several years we have seen evidence of the medical community continually doing what’s necessary to not only bring quality healthcare to Northern Colorado, but to also invest in their communities with remodels, facility expansions and new construction.

Center for Endodontic CareThe Center for Endodontic Care (CEC) is one

example. Drs. Anthony Girardi, Kelly Jones, and Amber Amelang-Severin, who provide specialized care for patients needing root canal treatments, built their newest facility in a beautiful location on Highway 34, at the south end of Lake Loveland. The lake itself is so beautiful it is the subject of a

1950s Guy Lombardo song “There’s a Lovely Lake in Loveland.”

And speaking of the 1950s, that was when the original building that became the newest location for CEC was built. Developer and architect Steve McMillan says they have pictures of the building housing a little take-out ice cream business with cars in the parking lot from the early ‘50s. McMil-lan and his crew left small portions of the original building intact, and with Rob Carlson, the general contractor, they built a core shell around it as a speculative venture about three years ago.

CEC purchased the building last December and began the process of not only making the building efficient and functional but also as beautiful as its largest, most impressive neighbor, Lake Loveland.

Dr. Girardi says one reason they chose the build-ing is because of the beauty and uniqueness of the location. “The office is an example of Loveland at its finest, showcasing mountain views, Lake Loveland and the shoreline.” As you look to the west, he says, it’s like a gateway to the beautiful

Rocky Mountains. McMillan says a rewarding part of this project

was to take the unique property that had become an eye sore and make it beautiful again. This is something that both McMillan and Carlson have done many times over the past 40 years. They are both long-time residents of Loveland and both love being part of keeping it beautiful.

Both men say that the staff and doctors at CEC were incredible to work with on the project.

“No matter how busy they were, the doctors always took the time to come to the site and help with whatever decisions needed to be made,” McMillan says. “It was obvious they wanted every-thing perfect for their patients.”

Carlson says the doctors were so organized that each of them knew what part they were to play in getting the building perfect for their patients. “It made our job so much easier. We always knew which doctor to call for any part of the project that we had questions about.”

He says the project went well not only because

Medical Practice ExpansionMeDIcAl

Page 45: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 45

of the cooperation by everyone at CEC, but also because of the subcontractors that worked long and hard to bring the project in on schedule. “If every project we do went as well as this one, life would be good.”

Drs. Girardi, Severin and Jones agree that the project went very smoothly but say it was also because of the attention to detail by McMillan, Carlson and their crews. Dr. Girardi says it turned out to be the most beautiful office he has ever owned or been part of. “I would highly recom-mend these men to anyone building in the area. They were like working with family.”

Dr. Girardi was in charge of the financial end of the project, while Dr. Severin managed equipment and supply purchases and provided staff training for the new facility. Dr. Jones focused on the design and decorating of the space. Every detail of the facility was designed with the comfort of their patients in mind.

“We have the newest in technology, surgical equipment and ‘gadgets’ that make it more efficient to do our procedures,” says Dr. Jones.

Dr. Jones says they also incorporated many fea-tures that are for the pure comfort and relaxation of their patients. “With the procedures we do, patients are often in a considerable amount of pain when they come to us. We want to make sure we do everything we can to quickly alleviate their pain, and get them as relaxed and comfortable as we can, and in to the doctor as quickly as possible.”

Among the features added to the office to ensure patient comfort are a soothing color pallet that mirrors the colors of the lake and shore, overhead televisions, satellite radio playing in headphones, WiFi, massaging dental chairs, and the windows that provide spectacular views in each operatory. “We hope the new facility makes the entire experi-ence more pleasant for our many valued patients,” says Dr. Jones.

They chose the location of the new facility for its convenience and accessibility to patients all over Colorado, including Windsor, Estes Park, Johnstown, Greeley and Berthoud. “Being right on Highway 34 makes our location easy to find,” says Dr. Jones.

One of the state-of-the-art exam rooms at Center for Endodontic Care’s newest location on Highway 34 in Loveland.

Page 46: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine46

Front Range Ear, Nose, Throat & Audiology

Sanjay K. Gupta, M.D., FACS, says the building and expansion of the Front Range Ear, Nose and Throat clinic was a lifelong dream that became a reality. “I have always wanted an independent clinic with room for services that would help my patients in as many areas as possible of ear, nose and throat treatment.”

The original facility was built at St. Michael’s in March of 2009. Dr. Gupta says they soon realized they were growing so quickly, they would soon need more space to serve the needs of their existing patients and to offer the many additional services they wanted to provide. They started the expan-sion project in October 2010 and moved in to the expanded facility in March.

Practice Administrator Lori Malone says they are very happy with the expansion and believe it will allow them to better serve their patients. The possibility of expansion was the reason they origi-nally chose the location. They knew they would be able to easily expand when necessary and it would offer easy access off a major highway for patients coming from all over the region. “Dr. Gupta’s patient draw covers a very large region including Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas,” she says. “We wanted a location that would be easy for patients to access – right off Highway 34.”

According to Dr. Gupta, they also chose the location because they wanted a space that would be not only convenient for patients and easy to find, but also a place where patients would feel welcome and comfortable.

The facility is large enough that the doctors can more easily accommodate emergency referrals from area dentists. Dr. Jones hopes that “other dental professionals will follow our lead and move in to this area near the lake, making it a dental community.”

Dr. Girardi says he is very happy to be part of the dental community in Loveland. “I have known and worked with most of these dentists for over 30 years and Kelly, Amber and I are excited to be available for them and their patients in this new Loveland facility.”

Dr. Girardi says CEC’s goal in adding an office in Loveland is to invest in the community. They did this in part by making sure they hired a local contractor and developer/architect who used local subcontractors whenever possible to invest their money in Loveland.

The new Loveland location is 516 W Eisenhower Blvd. Call them at (970) 232-3757 or go online to www.centerforendocare.com.

Front Range Ear, Nose & Throat completed the expansion of their greeley practice in March.

Center for Endodontic Care’s pristine new reception area with beverage bar puts patients and waiting family members at ease.

Page 47: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 47

C?'Vtf~ 'Tr~;u OF

PATIENT CARE SPECIALIZING IN

ROOT CANAL THERAPY

GENUINELY CARING FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL

Page 48: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine48

Malone believes they achieved that. She says the space has a warm, friendly, family atmosphere.

Paul Brinkman of Brinkman Con-struction was the general contrac-tor on both the building and the expansion. Brinkman said he worked closely with Dr. Gupta and Malone to secure the property for the expansion and on the design to make the most efficient use of the space. “Both proj-ects were great experiences for us,” Brinkman says. “It was great forming not just a business relationship with them, but also a friendship.”

He says Malone and Dr. Gupta are hard-working, top notch business people, and he is pleased with how the project went. “The doctors were easy to work with, so everything went off as scheduled and we’re all very happy with the end result.” He says his close working relation-ship with the city of Greeley also allowed everything to go smoothly.

Brinkman Construction began with the desire to offer a unique and fresh approach to construction and real estate services for clients industry-wide. With nearly 17 years of construction experience, Brinkman felt there was a niche to be filled that addressed not only the design and construction elements of a project, but also development and brokerage services for clients. This is exactly what they did to help Dr. Gupta’s team to build, and then expand, their space.

Brinkman says it is very rewarding for them to work with people in the healthcare industry because he is helping people who in turn help others, and they get to be part of that.

“It is so great to live in a community that has qual-ity, caring healthcare providers such as Dr. Gupta and his team. We are fortunate to have them in Northern

Colorado so we don’t have to drive to Denver.” Dr. Gupta says the expansion provides much

needed space to expand existing services and add new services and doctors. “We want this to be a place where our patients can come from all over the area and recieve a different kind of comprehensive approach that involves listening and understanding, and focuses on communication and compassion for not only those ear, nose and throat services we currently provide but other related treatments.” The added services include allergy testing and oral and shot treatments, full speech and voice evaluation and therapy for both adults and children with a special emphasis in public and private speakers and singers, and a full range of evaluations and treatment for sleep apnea. They also expanded their audiology department to include new retail space for hearing aids and diagnostic testing.

Providers now in the practice are Dr. Gupta, Sarmad Sabour, M.D., Sunny Park, PA-C, and James Skordas, AuD. “We are planning to add another

doctor to better serve our patients within the next year,” says Malone.

Dr. Gupta feels fortunate as a small business owner in the health industry to be successful and growing fast enough to need an expansion. He is glad to own an independent clinic so that they can work with patients from childhood through geriatric and take all types of health insurance. He says even though they are independent, they work closely with primary healthcare providers all over the area and with NCMC Banner, MCR and PVH facilities. “It is a good feeling to close the doors at night and know you have a business that is suc-ceeding and have helped someone.”

Dr. Gupta was recently rewarded for his efforts to provide quality care for his patients when he was honored by the

Academy of Otolarynogolgy with the 2010 National Board of Governors Practitcioner Excellence Award. He was recognized by his peers for his “exemplary medical skills and tireless efforts for the specialty of otolaryngology medicine in his community and to people across the globe.”

Front Range ENT is located at 6500 29th St., Unit 106, in St. Michael’s Square in Greeley, just off Highway 34 bypass and 65th Avenue. Call (970) 330-5555 or visit www.frontrangeent.com.

Oh, did we miss the little boat story? Dan Stans-bury, Brinkman Construction project manager for the expansion, built a miniature boat for all the little patients to enjoy in the waiting room at the Front Range ENT clinic. Brinkman says Stansbury put in his own time, off the clock, to lovingly construct the little vessel, envisioning children having a great time steering it through big imaginary adventures.

Connie Hein is a freelance writer living in Windsor.

Above: Front Range Ear, Nose & Throat’s sleek new reception area. Below: The Front Range ENT team Sunny Park, PA-C, Charlotte Lakamp,

James Skordas, AuD, Kquierstyn Leach, Christopher Kerrigan, Connie Martinez and Sanjay gupta, M.D.

Page 49: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 49

The Weight is Over. ..

Heard of In je

For

Patent Pending

ike anything on the market thus far your own stored fat for fuel (natural appetite suppressant)*

Flower Essences - emotional support and stabiity

Herbal blend - organ support and gentle detox

Distribu1ors committed to your permanent weight loss success! FORT COLLINS

Anderson Family Chiropractic 1927 Wilmington Dr., Ste 201 Fort Collins, CO 80528 (970) 225-1006 [email protected]

GREELEY

Christi Klein (970) 405-8777 [email protected] se hable espanol

Desired Reflections Debbie Oppie, Erin Blodgett, Christy Saxe 3926 John F. Kennedy Pkwy

Litelife Solutions 3080 W. 29th St. (970) 373-1970

"Happy Phase 2 client" Fort Collins, CO 80525 970-449-9132 info@ desiredreflections.com

EATON, EVANS, WINDSOR

HCG Solutions, Inc. 10 Oak (Hwy 85 & CR 74) Eaton, Colorado, 80615 (970) 454-3540 HCGSolutions@ yahoo. com

WELLINGTON, NUNN, BRIGGSDALE

HCG Phases (970) 373-1970 [email protected]

Greeley, CO 80631

LOVELAND/BERTHOUD/LONGMONT

A Gentle Balance Tamara Kennedy, RCMT (970) 217-7381 HCGMagicDrops@ aol.com

WYOMING

LARAMIE I CHEYENNE

HCG Phases (970) 373-1970 [email protected]

Results ARE Typ ical.com

• The FDA has not approved the use of HCG as a weight loss supplement.

-Tammy P.

BEFORE AFfER

1-855-HCG-ASAP (1-855-424-2727)

Page 50: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Craig Seager, DDS, MS, Crane Orthodontics

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine50

By Angeline grenz

SMILE WITH CONFIDENCE

For children about to embark on the oft-inevitable dental journey of the smile-challenged, Joan Cusack’s nerdy character wrapped in head-gear from the movie SixteenCandles

is the stuff of nightmares. Her official character title for the movie: Geek Girl #1.

But orthodontia has come a long way since this ‘80s classic, and youngsters today have the ben-efits of new technology to make their orthodontic experience much more pleasant and – with good planning – much more streamlined.

In fact, if orthodontists had their way, children would be in their chairs by age 7, when their journey would begin with a cohesive plan to help shape the growth of problem areas, possibly helping many children avoid more serious interventions later, and be out of braces with a perfect smile well before prom pictures and senior portraits.

“We start seeing kids typically around 7 or 8 years old,” says Craig Seager, DDS, MS, of Mark D. Crane Orthodontics. “Oftentimes, that is just to monitor their growth.”

“It is a bit of a paradigm shift from when we were kids,” explains Mark Crane, DDS, MS, owner of Crane Orthodontics. “Then, the philosophy was: go see the orthodontist when all your adult teeth are in and then maybe we will extract some teeth, maybe we will do some surgeries… Today, if we see kids at the right age, we can really intercept and prevent a lot of problems from occurring.”

“What we like to do is see them as they are developing to be able to treat them at the best time for that individual,” adds Dr. Seager. Treating younger patients can enable orthodontists to take advantage of growth and development to steer them towards treatments that may decrease time in braces, prevent surgical procedures or avoid having to extract adult teeth. “If we see them at age 7

or 8, sometimes we can do a limited treatment at that point, such as expanders or space maintainers if there has been premature loss of baby teeth or if we feel like we are going to lose space over time,” says Dr. Seager.

“It is not just their teeth,” adds Bradford Edgren, DDS, MS, of Orthodontic Associates of Greeley. “It is also their facial profile – how that face is growing.” By age 7, says Dr. Edgren, children have achieved about 75 percent of their facial growth; by age 12, they have reached 90 percent of their growth. “If expansion is needed, then you really need to be doing it as early as possible, around age 7.” If it is warranted, he can put children in braces at that time.

The child’s health may also be in the balance. Par-ents may be unaware that their child has an airway problem, but an early orthodontic examination, especially with the help of 3-dimensional imaging available today, can help identify these problems.

“Many times children can be suffering from upper airway problems that can be attributed to enlarged adenoids or allergies,” says Dr. Edgren. “If you can diagnose some of those problems early on, many times you can avert significant skeletal problems that will develop because of those airway issues.” Sleep apnea is another problem that is often associated with upper airway obstructions and can be identified by examining children at an early age.

Perhaps the biggest advantage that orthodontists have gained in technology is the access to better imaging equipment. “We are able to see problems better, approach them at a better time point, and have a better outcome on the dental health of the patient,” says Dr. Seager. New imaging equipment provides 3-D images that allow them to see exactly what they need to do to facilitate treatment, identify teeth that are not coming in properly, and diagnose jaw joint instability or conditions; the possibilities are endless.

“This is the neatest thing in technology for ortho-dontists,” says Dr. Edgren of his i-CAT scanner, a 3-D imaging system. Dr. Edgren incorporates the use of 3-D imaging into all his patients’ care. In addition to 3-D views from all angles, the machine allows for detailed examination that is not distorted, like the typical panoramic image. Dr. Edgren forecasts facial growth patterns in children – very effective in creating a treatment plan and illustrating where a child will be without treatment.

In addition to traditional treatment practices, Crane Orthodontics offers the latest in braces technology, including iBraces, Damon self-ligating braces, Clarity, SureSmile and Invisalign clear align-ers. Ibraces are placed behind your teeth so that they are unseen, and they are completely custom-izable to your dental needs. Damon braces use a self-ligation technique that uses lighter wires and lower friction brackets to move teeth faster. Clarity braces use a combination of ceramic and metal to achieve results in the most aesthetic manner pos-sible. SureSmile uses 3-D imaging for a precision appliance that requires fewer alterations and leads to shorter treatment times. And Invisalign employs a series of clear aligners that gradually move teeth, though this treatment scope is limited to specific bite problems.

Dr. Edgren also emphasizes a traditional treat-ment philosophy at his practice. “Quality treatment takes time. Some things you can’t change, and you can’t change the biology of moving a tooth.” Consequently, Dr. Edgren says he does not offer techniques that promise to move teeth in a matter of a few short months, or even in 18 months. The

OrthodonticswellneSS

Page 51: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Bradford Edgren, DDS, MS Orthodontic Associates of greeley

Mark D. Crane, DDS, MS Crane Orthodontics

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 51

average time his patients spend in braces is about 3.5 years. Treatment time, he says, is dependent upon the difficulty of the case, patient cooperation and the quality of the finish – in other words, on the skills of the doctor.

For example, he had a recent patient come from prior orthodontic treatment whose doctor (out-of-state) moved the teeth with braces, but did not leave enough room for an implant needed at the front of the mouth. To correct the problem, Dr. Edgren had to redo part of the treatment and put the patient back into braces.

Advances in wires, now made with nickel tita-nium that is highly flexible, do allow orthodontists to move teeth more efficiently, says Dr. Edgren. Smaller, polished brackets available today can also aid in comfort for the patient.

Both Crane Orthodontics and Orthodontic Associates of Greeley have a lab onsite to build orthodontic appliances. “We wanted to be able

Page 52: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine52

to provide more exceptional care to our patients in a timely manner,” explains Dr. Crane. “When we have an appliance we need to make, a retainer or perhaps replace missing teeth, we can have our lab technician come upstairs and really customize it right there… and get a more precise fit – which is better for the health of the mouth, teeth and jaw, and we can get a more aesthetic result as well.”

Dr. Edgren utilizes the traditional retainer for his patients – the one with the wire around the outside of the teeth and plastic at the roof of the mouth. “It is more expensive for me, but I feel they work better.” He still advises patients to wear their retainer full time for around 18 months and then at night after that indefinitely. “If they do that, their teeth will always look good.”

Treating young patients is also about putting them at ease. Dr. Edgren makes a concerted effort to engage all his patients in friendly conversation during their visits to his office. “We try to make it a fun experience.” His office also offers two to three college scholarships to his high school patients every year.

Crane Orthodontics is also very focused on the young patient. “Orthodontics is what we do, but not what we are,” says Dr. Crane. To that end, both he and Dr. Seager spend time getting to know each of their young patients. “We want to know, not just what is going on with their mouths, but with their everyday lives.”

To facilitate an environment that makes children and teens comfortable, Dr. Crane spent particular care on the layout and design of his waiting area, which has a game area for patients who are wait-ing for treatment and a second game area and theater room for children waiting on their big brother or sister.

“The idea came from my wife,” says Dr. Crane, who has four kids and a fifth on the way. She asked her husband, as they were designing the office, “When the mom comes in with all the other kids, what do they do?” The game room and theater

Page 53: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Three-dimensional imaging equipment allows Dr. Edgren to see undistorted images of his patients and improves treatment outcomes.

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 53

area gives siblings something to do while they are waiting with Mom and gives them a good overall experience at the orthodontic office – which will aid Dr. Crane later when those same siblings become patients.

Another practice at Crane Orthodontics is the “Wall of Fame.” Here a prominent wall displays professional photographs of their patients – a proud statement about the children that may have entered the office embarrassed about an imperfect smile and leave confident and grinning. “My patients look forward to that – they ask, ‘When am I going to get on the wall?’”

Dr. Edgren has a similar book in his office that tells the story of his young patients – who smile hesitantly or not at all for their initial photograph and then widely a few years later as they graduate out of treatment.

It is rewarding for these dedicated doctors to watch their patients grow, literally and figuratively, right before their eyes. “You can see the result with their new smile: their self esteem increases, they are happy and beaming,” says Dr. Seager.

“The driving force behind orthodontic treatment is function,” concludes Dr. Crane. “But if you get everything in the right place where it is functional, then it looks fantastic.”

Crane Orthodontics will be relocating their Loveland practice to a new location,

opening to patients June 2. The new address is 3520 East 15th St., Loveland. For more information, visit their website at www.

drcraneorthodontics.com.

For more information about Dr. Edgren and Orthodontic Associates of Greeley, visit

their website at www.dredgren.com.

Angeline Grenz is editor of Style Magazine.

Page 54: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine54

ARE YOuR TOES READY FOR SuMMER? By connie Hein

PodiatrywellneSS

Has a toenail-gone-bad ruined any hopes you had for feeling comfortable baring your feet in the upcoming warm months? Don’t despair – we found a new

procedure that could be the perfect solution.

Chad Knutsen, DPM, podiatrist at A Step Ahead Foot and Ankle Clinic in Fort Collins and Loveland, says the KeryFlex Nail Restoration System is the perfect solution when nails have been damaged by fungus or other trauma.

The system, which is new in the United States and approved for use only by podiatrists, has been used in Europe for over eight years. The process uses a polymer resin, special activators and ultraviolet light to create a new healthy looking nail placed over the damaged nail, allowing the original nail to grow out naturally.

Dr. Knutsen says the first step in the procedure is to examine the damaged nails to determine whether a patient is a good candidate for the process. “The patient must have about 15 percent, or approximately

an eighth to a quarter of an inch, of the original nail still intact for the process to be effective. We do not recommend putting the nail on bare skin because it has nothing to adhere to and it will pop off after a few days.”

The next step is to smooth the existing nail and take off any portion that is chipped or loose. A bonding agent is then brushed on the nail, and the liquid resin is painted, molded and shaped onto the nail, covering the damage and giving the patient a natural-looking nail that usually matches closely in color to the other nails. After the resin dries, an ultraviolet light is used to harden the resin. The nail can then be painted or left natural. Dr. Knutsen says using polish and polish remover doesn’t harm the new nail.

While the resin nail is on, there is virtually no maintenance except to file it to keep it short and smooth as it grows out. “The nail is very durable, so after the first few days the patient can carry on with normal activities such as running and swimming without worry of the nail being damaged or coming off.” He says if for some reason the nail does come off within the first few days, they replace the nail

with their remaining resin; but if the nail is damaged or pops off because it gets too long, was not filed smoothly and catches on something, there is a charge to redo the procedure.

“The great thing about this process is that the resin is quite flexible, giving the original nail the chance to grow out healthy,” says Dr. Knutsen. He says the procedure does no damage to the nail itself or the nail bed. After three to four months the patient hope-fully has a fully restored natural nail. “This sometimes takes more than one treatment, depending on the damage to the original nail.”

The clinic is using the procedure with great success on patients who are being treated for nail fungus with laser treatments. Nail fungal treatments are typically done three times. They do the initial fungal treat-ment, then the second treatment 14 days later, and the last one in 60 days. He says patients often have the KeryFlex nail put on after the second treatment because they have 60 days to enjoy the fresh new nail. They remove the KeryFlex nail to do the last laser treatment and then reapply a new one. This does not interfere in any way with the fungal treatment.

Page 55: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 55

Dr. Knutsen says they have been doing the pro-cedure in their office for about a year and have had great results with hundreds of satisfied patients.

The cost of the procedure ranges from $125 to $175 and usually takes around 45 minutes for the complete process. The nail typically lasts three to four months, and then the patient can come back for another treatment if necessary to continue the process of restoring the original nail.

Unfortunately, “insurance does not typically cover the treatment because it is considered cosmetic,” says Dr. Knutsen. He says patients have said it is a small price to pay for a healthy appearance.

To turn those toenails-gone-bad into toenails-made-healthy, call A Step Ahead Foot and Ankle Clinic Fort Collins office at (970) 493-4660 or the Loveland office at (970) 667-0769 or visit their website at www.asafoot.com.

Connie Hein is a freelance writer living in Wind-sor and the author or the Toliver in Time series of children’s books.

The KeryFlex nail restoration system is an easy solution to repairing damaged toenails.

Page 56: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine56

M A S S A g E

FOR PREgNANT WOMEN

W hen we think of mas-sage, we think of being swept away into a world of luxury and indulgence. However,

massage can be so much more than just an hour of pampering. Therapeutic massage has many health benefits including aiding in blood circulation, reducing stress, and minimizing pain – it can even induce labor.

For centuries, midwives have known the ben-efits of prenatal massage, but only recently has it become accepted as a practice that is significantly helpful during a woman’s pregnancy.

Melody Michel is a licensed massage therapist and the owner of Sunshine Therapeutic Massage in Fort Collins. She performs many different types of massage, including neuromuscular therapy, cranial-sacral therapy, and lymphatic drainage massage. She also performs both pre- and post-natal massage.

“I recommend prenatal massage because during that time your body is going through so many changes. And reducing your stress level – I’m talking hormonally – really helps the pregnancy

go better,” says Michel.While some massage therapists caution against

prenatal massage early on during a pregnancy, Michel believes as long as the touch is light, it is not dangerous. In the first trimester, women may experience an ache in their chest as well as intense fatigue, which causes a tensing of the muscles all over the body. Releasing the stored up stress in the muscles through massage will allow a woman to feel more relaxed, and she may even sleep better.

As the pregnancy progresses, women experi-ence back, pelvic and leg pain associated with the changes occurring in their body. A general lack of energy continues throughout the entirety of their pregnancy. Massage increases circulation, moving the oxygen and nutrients around the body, and this may help ease all the aforemen-tioned ailments.

Michel recommends Swedish massage because it promotes good circulation. “But for those really tight areas, sometimes a person just needs touch,” she says. “Bringing the body’s awareness to that area can help release the area.”

Pregnancy isn’t just demanding on the physical body, but is often taxing on a woman’s mental

health. While stress levels should be kept at a minimum during pregnancy, that is often easier said than done. Massage is an excellent way to keep anxiety at bay during this important time.

Partners shouldn’t shy away from giving their pregnant spouse or partner a massage; however, Michel recommends being gentle and using slower strokes. “There’s actually a point on the foot that can stimulate labor. I’d advise to be very gentle around the ankles, feet, lower legs and low back.”

Massage helps prepare the pelvis for birth by maintaining the health of the tissue. When a woman is giving birth, the pelvis actually breaks and often doesn’t realign properly. “By get-ting prenatal treatment, you can actually help reduce the post-natal aftermath of your pelvis not realigning,” says Michel. “It’s going to misalign somewhat, most likely because labor is traumatic – it’s natural, but traumatic.”

By participating in prenatal massage, a woman may actually lessen the pain of labor. Michel uses the example of a marathoner. If a person has been training before a marathon, they won’t be nearly as sore during and afterwards. Massaging the muscles prenatally will help them stay relaxed and will maintain a healthy blood flow to the tissues.

Some women opt to have their massage thera-pist present during the actual birthing process, whether it’s at home or in a hospital. “It can be stress-reducing to have someone there massaging and prepping their body for this emotional and physical experience,” says Michel.

Lara Ficklin-Kelleher of Fort Collins opted to have her massage therapist in the room during two of her three deliveries. “The labor massage helped me to focus on the contraction, not just the pain. My therapist was able to keep me grounded and calm – mostly – and made the whole process much better for me.”

Having a massage therapist in the room during labor also takes some of the responsibility and worry away from the partner or spouse.

While having a massage therapist present during the birth reduces stress, it may also aid in bringing the baby into the world. Massaging certain areas of the body can help induce labor, and women who are overdue sometimes turn to massage before trying out more drastic measures.

After childbirth, some woman experience aches and pains that can be relieved through postnatal massage. Michel’s goal is to get woman back to feeling how they did before they became preg-nant. “And perhaps they will feel even a little better than they did before.”

It’s important to keep the mind and body healthy during pregnancy, and prenatal mas-sage can help on both counts. Michel urges anyone interested in having prenatal or postnatal massage work to make sure the therapist has received training in this type of massage. When picking a massage therapist, it’s okay – and generally a good idea – to ask for credentials. Feel free to ask how many hours of training they received and if they acquired any special or extra training.

Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer is a journalist and freelance writer from Northern Colorado. She is also the Mayor of HeidiTown.com, a blog about Colorado events and festivals.

By Heidi Kerr-ScHlAefer

Pregnancy CarewellneSS

Page 57: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 57

Hope Lives In Us! breast cancer survivorship and the 11th Anniversary of Hope Lives!

J FEA1?HER

YOUR NEST

ives! Pink Boa Sk Run/Walk y, May 21, 2011 I 8:30am A .. · ·~

Front Range Village uncil Tree Avenue, Fort Collins Advance Registration $25 Cancer Survivor Registration $10

Day of Race Registration $30

GALLEGOS SANITATION

Page 58: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

SLEEP FOR YOuR BEST PERFORMANCE

The 2003 National Commission on Sleep Disorders estimates that sleepiness at work costs the United States $150 billion a year for healthcare expenditures and decreased worker productivity. Sleepy workers have a more difficult time concentrating, tend to be more irritable, and make more mistakes than their well-rested counterparts. One study showed that people who came to work after only five hours of sleep perform similarly to people who are drunk.

We also have a low average life expec-tancy compared to other developed coun-tries, and our sleep may be a major factor in that. Sleep deprivation is linked to dia-betes, heart attacks, strokes and psychiatric disorders. And insufficient sleep can lead to higher body mass index (BMIs), because people who sleep less consume more calo-ries and perform worse at physical activities.

Our electronics usage may be partly to blame. The National Sleep Foundation’s 2011 Sleep in America poll found that, at least a few nights a week, a stunning 97 percent of respondents used an electronic device within an hour of trying to go to sleep. People who regularly used electronics before bed, especially if they were texting or surfing the Internet, were less likely to report getting a good night’s sleep and more likely to admit to driving drowsy.

However, sleep deprivation isn’t a recent epidemic. “I think sleep problems have been prevalent since the beginning of the indus-trial age, when the demand for increased work days and productivity combined with

the invention of light [bulbs] and enabled humans to bypass natural rhythms and decreased total sleep time,” says David S. Kukafka, M.D., of Sleep Disorders Center of the Rockies. “I think we are just recognizing the problem more the last 10 years. That said, the use of cell phones and comput-ers, with more stimulation and light near bedtime, have probably also played a part.”

While many of us aren’t getting enough sleep, the ideal amount of sleep may be less than we think. Eight hours of sleep is the general recommendation, but that may be too long. Studies show that adults who sleep between 6.5 and 7.5 hours a night live the longest, while those whose sleep falls outside that range – on both the low or high end – are at risk for living shorter lives.

Poor sleep is especially an issue for grow-ing bodies, and children today are getting about an hour less sleep than kids 30 years ago. Childhood obesity rates have also risen in the past three decades, and sleep deprivation probably contributes to that: in children, especially boys, sleep deprivation is linked to being overweight and obese. Fur-thermore, childhood issues with weight put kids at risk for weight problems as adults.

Fortunately, letting children sleep in on the weekends cuts their obesity risk some, though it doesn’t eliminate it entirely. The best remedy is to enforce consistent bed-times and follow these guidelines for how much sleep kids need:

• Birth to 12 months: approx. 15 hrs/day

• 1 to 3 years: 12-14 hrs/day

• 3 to 6 years: 10-12 hrs/day

• 7 to 12 years: 10-11 hrs/day

• 12 to 18 years: 8-9 hrs/day The causes of our sleep problems are

vast, says Dr. Kukafka. “Basically, culprits for poor sleep are sleep disorders causing poor quality sleep (sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and chronic pain are the most common), insomnia disorders causing lack of sleep (depression/mood disorders, poor sleep hygiene, circadian or time clock disorder), and, rarely, parasomnias such as sleep walking and night terrors.”

While sleep issues are costing us billions, there doesn’t seem to be much effort geared towards fixing them. The National Institutes of Health only gives about $230 million a year to sleep research. Caffeine products and sleeping pills are heavily advertised, but neither is a replacement for natural, restful sleep.

“In our high tech, fast moving society, the need for enough sleep has been underval-ued and misunderstood,” says Dr. Kukafka. “Too little value has been placed on our need to get both enough sleep as well as quality sleep. We are just now understanding as a medical community that getting proper sleep may be as important as commonly accepted medical practices such as healthy diets and treating hypertension.”

Audrey Springer is editorial assistant for Style Magazine.

Americans are some of the most sleep-deprived people in the world, and it may be costing us.

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine58

By Audrey Springer

Page 59: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

May

7 – Walk MS, 7:30 a.m., Edora Park, Fort Collins, benefitting the Colorado-Wyoming Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, www.walkmscolo-rado.org

7 – Walk MS, 7:30 a.m., Chapungu Sculpture Park, Loveland, benefitting the Colorado-Wyoming Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, www.walkmscolorado.org

7 – River Run for Orphans, 8 a.m., The Ranch’s Thomas McKee Building, Loveland, www.nocoriverrun5k.org

7 – Cinco-Cinco 5k Run/Walk, 8:30 a.m., CSU Oval, Fort Collins, benefit-ting The Gil Gutierrez Memorial Schol-arship, www.cincocinco.colostate.edu

7 – Walk in the Park, 9 a.m., Prom-enades at Centerra, Loveland, benefit-ting the Huntington’s Disease Society of America Rocky Mountain Chapter, www.firstgiving.com

8 – Crazy Leg’s 10k and Trail Run, 7 a.m., Devil’s Backbone Open Space, west of Loveland, www.paulstofko.com

14 – A Day in May Predict 5K, 8:30 a.m., Walt Clark Middle School, Loveland, http://fc.thompson.k12.co.us

15 – Community Classic Bike Tour, 6:30 a.m., McKee Medical Center, Loveland, benefitting the Stepping Stones Adult Day Program at McKee, www.mckeefoundation.com

15 – FC Triathlon/Duathlon, 7 a.m., EPIC, Fort Collins, www.timberlinetiming.com

21 – Pink Boa 5K Run/Walk, 8:30 a.m., Front Range Village, Fort Collins, benefitting Hope Lives! The Lydia Dody Breast Cancer Support Center, www.hopelives.org

22 – Family Medical Clinic Fit Family 5 Mile, 8:30 a.m., Stanley Park, Estes Park, benefitting Families for Estes and Lifelong Learning of Estes Valley, www.fitfamily5mile.org

22 – Lory State Park Trail Race, 9 a.m., Lory State Park, Fort Collins, www.footoftherockies.com/Events.html

28 – Pelican Fest Triathlon, 8 a.m., Windsor Lake, Windsor, www.pelicanfesttriathlon.com

30 – Houska Houska 5K, 9 a.m., Houska Automo-tive, Fort Collins, benefitting the Bone Marrow Program and Poudre Valley Hospital Cancer Center, www.houskaautomotive.com

June

3 & 4 Relay for Life Weld County, starting 6:00 p.m. the 3rd, Island Grove Regional Park, Greeley, benefitting the American Cancer Society, http://relay.acsevents.org

4 & 5 – Relay for Life Fort Collins, starting 4p.m. on the 4th, Fort Collins High School, Fort Collins, benefitting the American Cancer Society, http://relay.acsevents.org

4 – Linnea Memorial Pet Walk & Adopt-a-thon, 9 a.m., Spring Canyon Community Park, Fort Col-lins, benefitting the Linnea Memorial, www.lin-neamemorial.org

10 – Drive FORE! The Point Charity Golf Tourna-ment, 8 a.m., Pelican Lakes Golf and Country Club, Windsor, benefitting Turning Point Center for Youth & Family Development, www.turningpnt.org/news-events.html

11 & 12 – Relay for Life Loveland & Berthoud, starting 2 p.m. on the 11th, The Ranch, Loveland, benefitting the American Cancer Society, http://relay.acsevents.org

11 – Fire Hydrant 5K, 8:30 a.m., Edora Park, Fort Collins, benefitting the Larimer Humane Society, www.larimerhumane.org

12 – Estes Park Marathon, 7 a.m., Estes Park High School Student Center, Estes Park, www.epma-rathon.org

12 - Greeley Triathlon, 7 a.m., Promontory Point Park, Greeley, www.greeleytriathlon.com

18 - 4th Annual Mulligan’s Pub Charity Golf Tournament, 7:30 a.m., South-ridge Golf Club, Fort Collins, benefit-ting the Shared Journeys Brain Injury Foundation, www.tournevents.com/Mulligans

19 – Father’s Day 5K, 8 a.m., Old Town, Fort Collins, benefitting the City of Fort Collins Recreation Department, www.fcgov.com/recreation

25 – Lifestyle Center 5K Run/Walk, 8 a.m., Lifestyle Centre, Fort Col-lins, benefitting the Larimer County Parkinson’s Support Group, www.active.com/running/fort-collins-co/lifestyle-centre-5k-runwalk-2011

25 – 2nd Annual Bike MS One-Day Ride, 9:30 a.m., CSU, Fort Collins, www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/bike-ms-colorado-wyoming/index.aspx

25 - Lake to Lake Triathlon, 6:30 a.m., North Lake Park, Loveland, www.love-landlaketolake.com

26 - Horsetooth Rock Mountain Trail Race, 7 a.m., Horsetooth Mountain Park, west of Fort Collins, benefitting Athletes in Tandem, www.athletesintan-dem.org

JuLy

4 – Race Against Cancer, 7:15 a.m., 1500 10th Avenue, Greeley, benefitting the Rocky Mountain Cancer Rehabilitation Institute, www.unco.edu

4 – FireKracker 5K & Kids Fun Run, 8 a.m., City Park, Fort Collins, www.fortcollinsrunningclub.org

16 – Loveland Classic, 7 a.m., Davidson-Gebhardt, Loveland, benefitting Thompson Valley Preschool, www.lovelandclassic.com

17 – Bent Rock Trail Race, 7 a.m., Red Mountain Open Space, north of Fort Collins, benefitting Athletes in Tandem, www.athletesintandem.org

17 – KRFC Radio Flyer 5K, 8 a.m., Avogadro’s Number, Fort Collins, benefitting KRFC 88.9 FM, www.footoftherockies.com/Events.html (the capital E matters here)

22 & 23 – Relay for Life Windsor, starting 6 p.m. the 22nd, Eastman Park, Windsor, benefitting the American Cancer Society, http://relay.acsevents.org

23 – Run for Hope, 8 a.m., City Park, Fort Collins, ben-efitting the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation and the Poudre Valley Cancer Center, www.runforhope.net

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 59

Get Fit, Give Back calendarMany of these great events donate a portion of their proceeds to local and national non-profits. So get off the couch, strap on your tennis shoes and get out there for a worthy cause.

NCYHPower Play 5K

& free kids fun run

NoCo Ice Center

Saturday, june 11Support local youth hockey and give youth a place to cultivate

team building and lifelong friendships by participating in this inaugural 5k event. the event takes place on Saturday, june 11

at the noCo Ice Center with the 5k starting at 9 a.m. and the kids rinky dink 1k fun run beginning at 10 a.m. after the race, head inside for the noCo Ice Center Open House with food, drink, fun activities, free ice skating and more. the Center is located near

the cross section of I-25 and Highway 392. For more information call (970) 206-4423 or visit www.ncyh.pucksystems2.com.

Page 60: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

BR INg INg HOME “BABY”By lAurA SeBASTiAn

Ah, sending out the announce-ments, getting the nursery ready, buying a… collar? Yes, and I.D. tags, chew toys, a crate for training, etc., because we’re

bringing home a fluffy kind of baby here: a puppy.

There is more to consider before taking this big step than most people imagine, so for your sake and your puppy’s, we’ve asked some Fort Collins experts what to do both before and after your little one arrives.

“Some of the most important questions to ask before you bring home a puppy include: Are you really ready to take this animal into your life – for the life of that animal?” says says Bobby Cawthron, DVM, owner of Aspen Grove Veterinary Care. “Can you afford veterinary care, dental cleanings and medical emergencies? Does your living space work for the kind of puppy you’re thinking of?

Do you want an active dog but realize you don’t have the time or aren’t home enough?”

Rainey Corbyn, DVM, owner of South Mesa Vet-erinarian Hospital, agrees, and adds, “A good pet owner is someone who’s nurturing and is looking to establish a lifelong relationship with an animal. If someone comes to me and says, ‘We’ve got kids and we want to get a dog,’ I have them consider a few things. Around 7 or 8 years of age is when kids are old enough to participate in the care of an animal and treat them well. Children younger than that should never be with dogs unsupervised. Toddlers and puppies don’t mix because children can be too rough. Also keep in mind basic care for a puppy means keeping them up-to-date medically, getting them proper training and spending time with them walking and playing.”

If you’ve thought this all out and still want to take the plunge, there are some basic yet essential things that will ensure your relationship with your puppy will be long and happy.

First, getting your house ready means buying supplies, from the basics (a vet-recommended puppy chow, toys like the popular Kong brand, a crate for training, leash, collar and I.D. tags) to the often forgotten (like grooming supplies, toothbrush kit, puppy shampoo). And don’t forget to puppy-proof your house, which can mean installing baby gates, cabinet locks, covering wires and cables, and checking for poisonous household plants and cleaners. A common suggestion is to get down on your hands and knees – puppy-level – and give your place the once-over. Also, put away your breakables and chewables; if you leave them out, it’s not the puppy’s fault if they become chew toys!

“But, just remember, no matter how much you puppy-proof, something is going to get destroyed, so be at peace with that,” Dr. Cawthron says. “It’s like having kids in that way.”

So now that puppy’s home and snuggled in, it’s time to set up a vet appointment, where he or she will need to be either neutered or spayed

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine60

TrainingveterInArY

Page 61: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

and have his or her first check up. “A puppy’s basic vaccine program consists of 8-,

12- and 16-week boosters,” Dr. Corbyn says. “And there are three vaccines: a distemper combination which covers two major upper respiratory viruses and parvo, a bordetella bacterial disease vaccine [for kennel cough], and a rabies vaccine. He’ll also need heartworm testing and medicine, as well as de-worming every few weeks in the beginning.”

Another must is enrollment in puppy training classes, which is what most vets and behavior-ists cite as the most important thing in building a healthy relationship between you and your precious pup. Proper training to a puppy is what proper parenting is to a human child – it builds confidence, teaches manners and keeps puppy from getting dropped at a shelter by frustrated pet owners. Behavior issues due to lack of proper training are the number one reason for puppies and dogs being abandoned.

“Behavior issues are the most frequent thing people come to me about,” Dr. Cawthron says. “All puppies need socialization to be independent and well-adjusted. I see so many puppies who don’t get out and see people until it’s too late, and by then you have issues. Puppies need new experi-ences, need to meet new people and other pets, so their world is different and exciting, so they have confidence and so they’re not so frightened when they come to the vet or when you have visitors or see another dog. They need to learn that new experiences are good, not filled with anxiety and the unknown. Slow and steady is the right way to do new situations. Puppy daycare is an excellent option as well.”

Ashley Foster, Certified Pet Dog Trainer - Knowl-edge Assessed, and manager of South Mesa’s Come-Play-Stay Training and Daycare Center, oversees a full series of training programs that will help new puppy owners with every issue – from socialization, biting and destruction, to manners, house training and crate training. And the sooner you start, the better.

“Between 8 and 16 weeks is the most crucial time for puppies to be exposed to positive things in controlled, positive environments,” Foster says. “At Come-Play-Stay we use only positive rein-forcement, nothing corrective. My mantra to pet owners is ‘ignore the things you cannot stand, praise the things you love.’ We teach replace-ment training, so you’re not just trying to stop a behavior, you’re teaching a replacement behavior. Also, set your puppy up for success. If you leave your puppy alone in the house for eight hours, he’s going to chew the rug, so set up successful environmental management so you’re preventing problems instead of trying to resolve them after they’ve happened.

“Also, to me, crate training is the absolute backbone of house training,” Foster continues. “Training varies in length, depending on the dog, but it’s vitally important that they love their crate; it’s not for punishment. I consider it giving the dog his own bedroom in the house; it’s meant as a safe place.”

As for those who think punishment is the way to go, Foster, as well as virtually every enlightened behaviorist, says it is an absolute no-no, and that punishment is well-documented as creating fear, aggression and woefully damaging what should be a bond of trust and love.

“I don’t use any punishment at all,” Foster says. “An example: if your puppy or dog has an accident

If you’re uncomfortable with your teeth, you could be holding back who you really are. But Invisalign’s clear, custom-designed aligners can be an inconspicuous and removable way to get a beautiful new smile. Many complex cases that once required braces can be treated with Invisalign, often in about a year. So check with an experienced Invisalign provider to see if it’s right for you. And let the real you bloom with a new smile.

STRAIGHT TEETH ARE WITHIN REACH. Call today for a free, no-obligation consultation.

HoldING bACk IS A THING of THE pAST A new smile lets you bloom

1-800-000-0000

dR. kATHy JoHNSoNCertified Invisalign DoctorDr. Johnson & Associates

12345 Main Street • Anytown, CA 12345Practice Logofor placement only

Miramont Office Park • 4745 Boardwalk Drive, Unit D102 • Fort Collins

(970) 223-6101www.smilefortcollins.com

AFTER

GetInvisalign

as low as$149 - $199per month!

*OAC

TRANSFORM YOUR SMILE WITH INVISALIGN - THE CLEAR ALTERNATIVE TO BRACES

Travis R. Willey, D.D.S. Steven J. Koehler, D.M.D.

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 61

Page 62: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

in the house, never rub his nose in it. He is not ‘getting back at you’ or ‘being bad;’ he just had to pee. When you rub his nose in it he sees that as a scary attack. So, if the deed is already done, ignore it, clean it up, and get rid of the scent so he’s not as likely to go there again. I use vinegar and water myself. Yet, if you catch him mid-act, do scoop him up, take him outside to go, and then praise him. Praise is the name of the game.”

Foster’s Quick Tip Roundup:• Do give appropriate socialization

• Don’t punish, practice “alpha training,” or use aggressive dominance

• Don’t simply leave an animal in your backyard

• Do socialize your puppy early on

• Do enroll in puppy training classes

• Do use positive reinforcement and praise

• Do teach independence

Rainey Corbyn, DVM, owner of South Mesa Veterinarian Hospital

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine62

Doggie daycare is a great option if you need to leave your puppy alone for several hours during the day.

Page 63: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Finally, there should be copious amounts of kisses bestowed upon your new puppy, as well as kind words, warm beds, gleeful hikes in the High Country, swimming excursions in the hot sum-mers, and chew toys stuffed with secret stashes of peanut butter. Oh, the list goes on, so have fun discovering the new world of puppy parenthood!

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Bobby Cawthron, DVMAspen Grove Veterinarian Care &

Boarding Facility(970) 416-0232

www.AspenGroveVet.com

Rainey Corbyn, DVM South Mesa Veterinarian Hospital

& Come-Play-Stay Puppy/Dog Training

(970) 226-6526www.comeplaystay.com

Laura Sebastian, who lives in Fort Collins, has worked as a freelance writer for 11 years.

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 63

Bobby Cawthron, DVM, owner of Aspen grove Veterinary Care

Page 64: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

FosteringveterInArY

H O M E S W I T H A H E A R T :

FOSTER CARE FOR ANIMALS By lAurA SeBASTiAn

There are thousands of animals fostered out of shelters around Northern Colorado each year, by volunteers who provide a service that literally saves lives. Among

the animals are the still-nursing young who’ve lost mothers, those who are sick, injured or recovering from surgery and in need of healing, and those who’ve been abused or abandoned by owners and need time to trust again before they’re ready for adoption.

What they have in common is a need for care, a warm bed and a kind person. After all, to “foster” an animal is to provide many of the word’s meanings: to nurture, to help flourish, to nurse, and to cherish. Mary Wolf, manager of Fort Collins Cat Rescue (FCCR), says that people who foster animals do even more. They save lives.

“Like most shelters, we have limited space

on-site, so foster homes allow us to help more cats in the community,” Wolf says. “Seventy percent of the cats we adopt out have at some time lived in foster homes while they were wait-ing for adoption. Currently, we have around 40 foster homes, but that number fluctuates during the year, and we’re coming up on kitten season [May through November], so we especially need foster homes now.”

If you have a bit of space, a little time, and a love for animals, yours could be one of those homes. Whether you fancy felines, are crazy about canines, or go nuts for birds, gerbils, rabbits or guinea pigs, foster options abound. There are more than 50 breed- and species-specific rescues in Colorado, and in Northern Colorado alone you can find them for Dalmatians and Dachshunds, Maine Coon cats or Siamese, and even for rab-bits, parrots and chinchillas.

But if you’re not ready for exotics, your

ever-exquisite cats and dogs at shelters such as FCCR or the Larimer Humane Society – two shelters that welcome and desperately need foster homes – may be just the ticket.

Foster parents come from all walks of life and have all levels of animal know-how, and if you’re new to the game, the shelter will help you every step of the way, from providing supplies and medical care for the animals to providing training for you and matching you with an animal that fits your abilities and lifestyle. Fostering is also ideal for people who want to help animals but either can’t or don’t want to make a lifetime commitment that a pet of their own requires.

At FCCR, some of the requirements include Larimer or Weld County residency, your own transportation, compliance with an inspection of your home (a separate room is needed to keep your foster kids in, for their safety and the safety of your own pets), and a commitment to keep

Kathlean James and Kristina Valentine, with Larimer Humane Society, hold a group of kittens in need of foster homes.

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine64

Page 65: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

the animal until he or she is adopted. “The shortest foster time will be five days,

or it can sometimes be months; it depends on many factors, but it’s worth it,” Wolf says. “I’ve fostered 160 cats over the past five years and have only kept one of those because, by letting them be adopted and know-ing they were going to a good home, I was then able to help another animal.”

Fort Collins resi-dent Katy Quinn, who plans to become a veteri-narian, is a foster caregiver for FCCR and has seen more than 200 cats cruise through her town-house’s doors in the past 10 years.

“You need to ask yourself a few questions before you commit to fos-tering,” Quinn says. “Do you have time for a litter of kit-tens, who need to be cleaned and get multiple feedings each day, or would you be better suited to foster an older animal who doesn’t need as much inten-sive care? Can you give medications if needed, scoop litter boxes twice a day? [Or, for dogs, go on walks?]. And they all need to be played with. Also, can you love something enough to let it go when it’s time for adoption?”

Though it may be hard to let them go, fos-tering is absolutely crucial to most shelters. In 2010 alone, the Larimer Humane Society (LHS) was able to help an additional 1,040 animals (49 dogs, 111 puppies, 128 cats, 716 kittens, and 36 small mammals) because of its more than 200 foster homes.

Kristina Valentine, foster coordinator for LHS, says they are entrusted with approximately 12,000 homeless, injured, orphaned and ill domestic and wild animals each year, and their foster program is instrumental in allowing them to find homes for as many as they can. Again, a commitment to following foster rules, undergoing training, and an open heart are all you need to get started.

“Foster families complete our on-line applica-tion and are required to attend our general volun-teer orientation first,” Valentine says. “All screen-ing is done during the department interview following the orientation. Foster parents are asked to provide a nurturing and comfortable environ-ment in their home for the animals to mature, heal, socialize, and become or remain adoptable.

They provide an invaluable service that gives an animal a second chance and a home a wonderful pet. The tremendous amount of time, energy,

and love given to the animals by our foster volunteers is greatly appreciated by our staff, the community, and of course the animals themselves!”

As Quinn says, in many ways, fos-tering is of equal benefit to both the animals and the humans. “The fact that I get to spend every day knowing that I am making a difference in the lives of unwanted animals and am making their lives easier and hap-pier than they would have been is amaz-ingly rewarding. When we see those heartbreaking TV commercials show-ing animals languish-ing in shelter cages it can be overwhelm-ing. We can feel it’s too big of a problem and think, ‘I can’t make a difference.’ But fostering can be a way for one person to make a huge dif-ference in the lives of unwanted animals because all you need is a little space in your home and a little love to give.”

Mary Wolf, manager of Fort Collins Cat Rescue, says they are always in need of foster families.

Web Sources for Colorado Animal Shelters and Rescues:• www.animalshelter.org/shelters/

colorado

• muttcats.com/shelters/colorado

For Foster Care Requirements and Applications:

Fort Collins Cat Rescue970-484-8516maryw@fortcollinscatrescue.orgwww.fortcollinscatrescue.org

Larimer Humane [email protected]

The next foster orientation is May 12 at the Larimer Humane Society shelter. There is limited space; please sign up on their website.

Laura Sebastian, who lives in Fort Collins, has worked as a freelance writer for 11 years.

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 65

Page 66: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine66

John Guenther, M.D.PhYSIcIAn SPotlIght

JOHN guENTHER, M.D.LOOKINg FORWARD TO EVERY DAY

By mArTy meTzger

A mutinous nail jutting out from a fence slashed into the boy’s leg, viciously ripping skin and flesh. The 10-inch long slice sent the 12-year-old adventurer painfully

hobbling homeward.

His mother was aghast at the bloody sight and “freaked out.” When level-headedness returned, she hurried her wounded son to the nearby local doctor for necessary repairs.

The physician jovially asked the child if he wanted to watch the suturing. Affirmative! Rather than being repulsed by the graphic procedure on his own leg, the boy thought it “cool to see inside the body.” And that simply, it was settled. Young John Guenther chose his future profession: he’d become a doctor. And he didn’t deviate from that early decision.

Following high school, the Lakewood, Colorado native attended the University of Colorado (CU) in Boulder and CU Medical School in Denver. During fourth year med school rotations, he picked pedi-atrics as the field in which he’d faithfully toil for decades to come.

Dr. Guenther served a three-year residency

with Brown University at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. Although he enjoyed life on the east coast, in 1989 he came back west to Colorado, accepting a position at the Fort Collins Youth Clinic.

“I fell in love with the community and the practice and haven’t looked back,” he says.

In 1964, Don Beard, M.D. (now retired), founded Fort Collins Youth Clinic and brought in major partners. He and Tom Wera, M.D., Jim McGinnis, M.D., and Max Elliott, M.D., set the standard of care for the practice. Dr. Guenther came on board as Dr. Wera’s replacement.

Incoming doctors at the clinic quickly establish their individual practices with help from senior doctors, who give a percentage of established patients to newcomers (with patients’ approval, of course) so that newly-added doctors won’t be frustrated by lengthy growth struggles otherwise common to medical offices.

“Our group supports one another in life stresses as well as in work,” Dr. Guenther says. “We’re either a very small community or a very large family.”

He names Drs. McGinnis and Elliott as truly amazing mentors who’ve helped him become who he is both professionally and personally. Part of that identity is as president of the Fort Collins

Youth Clinic for the past 10 years. But he says he’s just one member of a cohesive team and glowingly extols the skills and talents of the entire staff, which currently includes nine M.D.s, one D.O., one nurse practitioner and six physician’s assistants, all pediatric specialists.

Dr. Guenther has cared for some children throughout their entire youth and now numbers their children among his patients.

“You watch families develop and babies grow into adults,” he reflects. “I’m seeing quite a few second generation kids now. It’s a huge honor – a really neat, great experience.”

Whether first or second generation kids, Dr. Guenther chuckles as he recalls some who’ve displayed shock and confusion when encountering him out in the community.

“Why aren’t you at home?” they ask, innocently assuming that ‘home’ is the Youth Clinic.

And, if that assumption is somewhat accurate, Dr. Guenther’s workplace siblings are frolicsome folks. He usually bikes to work and, to remove temptation from would-be thieves, parks his Earth-friendly conveyance inside the building. One workday’s end, he retrieved the bicycle for his return trip and found that it had been decorated. Playing cards attached to the spokes with clothes-pins produced the faux engine racket familiar to most anyone who ever owned a childhood bike.

“Click, click, click, click, click!” the wheels exclaimed as Dr. Guenther pedaled a few affable laps around desks. After thus delighting the cul-pable office staff’s prankster ladies, he removed the noisemakers and set off for his actual home.

After all, contrary to the erroneous assump-tions of perplexed, young patients, Dr. Guenther doesn’t reside full-time at the clinic. Rather, he shares a home with Juli, his wife of 26 years. The couple has two children, 21-year-old daughter Lauren, who works in Loveland, and son Rob, a 19-year-old CU Boulder student.

In his spare moments, Dr. Guenther enjoys playing tennis, bicycling, non-competitive trail running and skiing. For his first 10 years in Fort Collins, he served as director for Larimer County Department of Health’s Failure to Thrive Clinic. He’s served meals at Catholic Charities Northern’s Mission for homeless individuals and families. Dr. Guenther’s skills also extend from human bodies to brick and mortar: he’s helped build houses with Habitat for Humanity in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans and in Fort Collins.

The 51-year-old physician says that he and Juli will travel internationally after retirement, perform-ing global medicine to improve worldwide child health. But for now, life as he lives it brings all the happiness, contentment and fulfillment Dr. Guenther needs.

“I came in fairly brash [in 1989 to the Youth Clinic],” he says. “Hopefully by now I’m attuned to the stresses of raising a healthy family. The day I don’t like what I do for a living is the day I’ll quit. But I wake up every morning looking forward to another day at work. I’m blessed in so many ways. I love my family, my community and my work. I guess I feel like I’m leading a charmed life.”

It seems that unruly fence nail from Dr. Guen-ther’s childhood helped build far more than it tore up.

Marty Metzger, who lives in Fort Collins, has worked as a freelance writer for 23 years.

Page 67: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness 2011 67

A design gallery with thousands of home improvement Ideas ... All name brands at contractor prices.

Complimentary Design Services when buying at Sutherlands

Page 68: 2011-05 Northern Colorado Medical & Wellness

Lydia’s STYLE Magazine68

www.stylemagazinecolorado.com211 W. Myrtle St., Suite 200

Fort Collins, CO 80521

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDDENVER, CO

PERMIT NO. 5377