Health

Free Prostate Screenings, Health Lecture – September 17 in Santa Cruz

August 29, 2011

In honor of National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, Sutter Maternity and Surgery Center (SMSC) and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation will host the 10th Annual Prostate Cancer Awareness Day on Saturday, September 17, 2011 in Santa Cruz, California. The event is free and open to the community. The event provides an extremely important prostate cancer screening opportunity for those men in the community who otherwise may not have access to screenings.

According to the National Prostate Cancer Coalition, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer in American men. It is the second greatest cause of cancer related death for men, second only to lung cancer. Over 90 percent of prostate cancer cases are found while the cancer is still either local or regional, and nearly 100 percent of these men are still alive five years after being diagnosed. In cases where the cancer has spread to distant parts of the body, 34 percent survive five years.

Event Information:

Free blood work (PSA test) and prostate exams 7 – 11 a.m.

Free one hour lecture 8 – 10 a.m., “Prostate Cancer: What every man should know about screening, treatment and prevention.” Lecture presented by Steven Roberts, M.D., a urologist and surgical oncologist at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

Are you at risk for prostate cancer?

You may be at higher risk, if you:

Have a family history of cancer
Are African American
Eat a high-fat diet
Are overweight
Have a sedentary lifestyle
Are over 50 years of age

Who should be tested?

All men should have a baseline PSA

How often should I be tested?

Men over 50 years old should have an annual exam
Men under 50 with risk factors also need to be tested

Learn more about Prostate Cancer:

PAMF Prostate Cancer Website

National Cancer Institute Prostate Cancer Website

Visit Prostate Cancer: A Family Affair, PAMF Prostate Cancer Nurse Navigator and patient advocate Frank dela Rama, RN’s new blog on Sutter Health’s MyLifeStages.org.

Event Date and Location:
Saturday, September 17, 2011
7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
2900 Chanticleer Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA 95065
Google Map

Weekend Appointments at Palo Alto Urgent Care

August 17, 2011

Busy patients will be pleased to know they can now make weekend appointments to be seen at PAMF’s Palo Alto Center Urgent Care Department. Patients can make same-day appointments for minor illnesses and injuries on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. by calling 650-853-2958. Walk-ins are still welcome.

“Our Urgent Care Department is sometimes busy with both simple and more complex medical problems,” says Richard Deslauriers, M.D., medical director of the Palo Alto Center’s Urgent Care Department. “By offering weekend appointments to adults for simple illnesses and injuries, we can provide our patients even better service by reducing the time a patient may have to wait and enabling them to schedule appointments when it is most convenient for them. Increasing patient satisfaction is one of our primary goals.”

The Palo Alto Center also has a Pediatric Urgent Care Department for children with urgent care needs. Many families with children are more satisfied when they have an appointment to address their medical needs; therefore, PAMF’s Pediatric Urgent Care has an appointment-based model of care. If you would like for your child to be seen in Pediatric Urgent Care, please call 650-853-6558, and your child will be scheduled for the next available appointment.

For patient convenience, PAMF Urgent Care Center wait times are available online. Additionally, free Internet wireless access is available PAMF locations for patients and visitors using their own computers with wireless connectivity.

Visit the PAMF Urgent Care Website to learn more about services, locations, staff and when to use urgent care.

New PAMF Medical Building Earns Leed Gold

August 15, 2011

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s (PAMF) new medical office building at 49 Wells Avenue has been awarded LEED® Gold certification as established by the U.S. Green Building Council. The most recent addition to Palo Alto campus, the 17,000 square foot, two‐story clinic opened to patients in October 2010. It houses the Breast Imaging Center, Encina Practice and Executive Health Program.

Developed in March 2000, LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, “provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions…and promotes sustainable building and development practices through a suite of rating systems that recognize projects that implement strategies for better environmental and health performance.” [Read more…]

PAMF Announces Opportunity to Participate in Novel Study

June 29, 2011

Study May Make Research More Convenient and Lower the Cost of Developing New Treatments

Clinical trials are expensive, which drives up the price of drugs and limits the number of new treatments that can be developed. Current trial methods are also inconvenient for participating patients. Researchers at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) believe that conducting trials from home, via a secure system, could lower this cost and make participation in clinical trials easier for patients.

“Because of concerns about patient privacy, nearly all clinical trials require patients to come in and meet with researchers face-to-face for follow-up assessments,” says Hal Luft, Ph.D., director of PAMF’s Research Institute and Caldwell B. Esselstyn, professor emeritus of health economics and health policy at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

“Regular email is not secure enough to replace these in-person appointments, which are costly and often inconvenient for study participants. However, a secure electronic messaging and data collection system—such as the one PAMF uses to communicate with its patients—is safe, private and may work for some research studies,” Dr. Luft says. Investigators at UCSF and Mytrus, a firm that conducts clinical trials, are studying this new approach to undertaking trials. The PAMF Research Institute is testing whether patients volunteering for this trial are representative of all patients with the problem.

The current study is of a treatment for overactive bladder symptoms. After a first visit, women will communicate with the researchers through a secure password-protected website. The 14-week study is approved by UCSF.

“If the results of the study show that this is an effective way for researchers and study participants to communicate, it could make developing new drugs much less costly in the future and help many patients,” Dr. Luft says.

Interested in Participating in the Study?

The study is seeking women age 21 or older who have symptoms of overactive bladder—feeling the urge to urinate at least eight times a day and sometimes at night, and occasionally leaking urine if unable to get to the bathroom quickly.

If this describes your symptoms, learn more about this innovative study or call 877-448-6987 for more information.

Additional coverage of this innovative, new clinical trial method and study has been featured in the following news outlets. A few of them are listed below:

Wall Street Journal

Philanthropy Website Highlights Patients’ Stories

June 9, 2011

What’s the best way to show our deep commitment to serving the health care needs of the people in our communities? Invite patients to tell their own compelling stories about the top-quality care we’ve given them.

A collection of these inspiring stories is now featured on the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Philanthropy website.

“Patients give because of the compassionate and exemplary care they receive,” says Mara Hook, regional vice president of philanthropy. “It is an expression of their gratitude for the people, programs and facilities of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Our patients’ generosity makes a crucial difference in our ability to fulfill our mission. One of the ways we express our appreciation toward these donors is by sharing their stories on our website.”

The recently redesigned Philanthropy website currently features seven inspiring patient stories, one of which is in video format. These patient stories are drawn from a variety of different areas and include:

The featured video tells cancer survivor and patient Marty Collins’ story. New patient stories will be added regularly to the site, to inform, inspire and encourage our commitment to excellent patient care.

“I invite you to view Marty’s video – an incredible and heartwarming story of a cancer survivor – and share it with friends and family,” says Hook. “At PAMF, our story is that of our patients and the excellent care they receive. If you know of any grateful patient stories, we would love to hear from you.”

Explore PAMF’s new Philanthropy website

New Santa Cruz Medical Facility to Open in May

April 19, 2011

The new 20,000-square-foot, two-story Palo Alto Medical Foundation medical office building located at 2907 Chanticleer Avenue in Santa Cruz, CA, is slated to open its doors to patients May 2011.

PAMF Works with School of Imagination to Provide Free Developmental Screenings for Children

April 18, 2011

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) is supporting the Happy Talkers Community Outreach Fair on May 1, 2011 and looks forward to helping to make this year’s event another success. The fair is organized by the School of Imagination (SOI), a non-profit education center in Dublin, CA, and provides a wide range of free developmental screenings for children.

PAMF’s Online, Mobile Teen Health WAY2GO! Program Receives Award for Innovative Approaches to Adolescent Health Care

April 13, 2011

The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) has awarded the 2011 Hilary E.C. Millar Award for Innovative Approaches to Adolescent Health Care to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s (PAMF) Wellness Assessment for Youth To Get Organized Program – known as WAY2GO! .

The 2011 Hilary E.C. Millar Award for Innovative Approaches to Adolescent Health Care is presented once per year at the Society’s Annual Meeting in Seattle, WA. Nancy Brown, Ph.D., a PAMF health education manager and the WAY2GO! project director, accepted the award in person and shared a slideshow and overview of the WAY2GO! program with meeting attendees.

Community Invited to Free Senior Health Fair in Santa Cruz, April 30

April 4, 2011

For the 14th year in a row, Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center and Palo Alto Medical Foundation Santa Cruz, will host a Senior Health Fair for the community on April 30, 2011, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This free event is open to seniors in the community and offers multiple free health-screening exams for diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure, dental hygiene, skin cancer, bone density, glaucoma, hearing and other health issues.

PAMF Reaches out to Parents on New California Pertussis Vaccine Requirement

March 25, 2011

Pertussis (whooping cough) has reached epidemic proportions in California, prompting a new California state law that requires all students entering the 7^th through 12^th grades to provide proof of having received a booster vaccination (called Tdap) against the disease.

In February 2011, the State Superintendent of Education, Tom Torlakson, sent a letter to schools informing them about this immunization requirement. Many San Francisco Bay Area school districts in turn contacted parents about this required booster.

“PAMF has tens of thousands of pediatric patients, so we anticipated an increase in calls from parents requesting their child’s immunization records,” said Kathy Korbholz, PAMF vice president of Ancillary Operations. “We coordinated a mass mailing to the parents of all PAMF pediatric patients who are affected by the new law.”

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