Clinical care – Here for Life

Celebrating ten years of breast cancer survivors

October 30, 2018

On Saturday, October 6th, almost 200 Hennepin Healthcare breast cancer patients, their friends and families and volunteers from the Comprehensive Cancer Center came together for the 10th annual Breast Cancer Survivors Celebration. Every year our clinic staff recognize women and men for their strength and commitment to fight and heal from breast cancer. We held the event in our new Clinic & Specialty Center‘s Stillman Education Room and spilled out into the atrium. Children and guests decorated pumpkins and won prizes at the fish pond. Patients and family visited information tables from our community supporters, including the African American Breast Cancer Alliance, Firefly Sisterhood, Livestrong, the American Cancer Society and Open Arms of Minnesota, just to name a few. Lunch was served and we had a raffle – all patients won a gift! This year’s celebration has been our biggest yet and we can’t wait for next year. (more…)

Getting from here to there: updates and resources for child passenger safety

October 23, 2018

Did you know 4 out of 5 car seats are installed or used incorrectly? Keeping up with the changes and recommendations for child passenger safety can be a challenge. Here are a few current recommendations and resources for keeping your child safe when traveling around Minnesota.

Rear-facing versus forward-facing positioning

This fall the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated their recommendations to promote keeping children in the rear-facing position for as long as possible. As infants and young children are at increased risk for head and spinal cord injury due to their relatively large head and developing musculoskeletal system, a rear-facing position reduces this risk by providing more head and back support in the event of a crash.²Therefore, instead of an age limit, the AAP now recommends children be rear-facing until they meet the highest rear-facing weight or height limit allowed by the manufacturer of their car seat.¹ (more…)

Free Hernia Information Session and Screening

September 27, 2018

The return to function and quality of life starts here

Abdominal wall hernias occurs when a part of an internal organ (typically the small intestine) breaks through a tear or weak point in the abdominal wall.

Hernias can happen to anyone, and significantly impact your activity level and quality of life. They can also lead to complications that are life-threatening. So, it’s important to seek treatment.

Hernias will not resolve on their own and can only be repaired with surgery. Fortunately, many hernias can now be repaired with robotic assisted minimally invasive procedures. This technique reduces recovery time, pain and potential complications

Signs and Symptoms

A lump or bulge that is apparent when standing and can sometimes disappear when lying down. For males, they can sometimes experience a swollen and/or painful scrotum.
Pain or discomfort during physical exertion, straining or lifting.
Weakness or pressure in the groin.

Free Screening Event – Saturday, October 13 from 9:00 – 11:00 am

We invite you, a colleague or family member who may have a hernia, to attend a free information session with our surgery team.

Schedule:

9:00 – 9:30 am Presentation for Jon Krook, MD and Ashley Marek, MD

9:30 – 10:00 am Demonstrations of the da Vinci Robotic Surgery System

9:30 – 11:00 am Optional hernia screening discussion with Dr. Krook or Dr. Marek

Location:

Clinic & Specialty Center

715 South 8^th Street

Minneapolis, MN 55404

Learn more, and register here

Parking

Free parking is available in the Clinic & Specialty Center’s underground garage off of Park Avenue between 8^th and 9^th Streets. Take the elevator to the first floor for our event.

A new perspective on standard care – CDC issues guidelines on mild pediatric brain injuries

September 26, 2018

There is nothing ‘mild’ about a mild traumatic brain injury, especially when we’re talking about kids. This is something we at Hennepin Healthcare have known for years. And we also know that the number of children getting mild traumatic brain injuries, more commonly referred to as concussions, are on the rise. (more…)

New MRI in the Clinic & Specialty Center is just what the doctor ordered

August 20, 2018

Something magical happens when medical equipment provides both an enhanced experience for the patient and advanced diagnostics for the clinician. The new state-of-the-art Philips 3.0Tesla MRI, located on the first floor of the Clinic & Specialty Center, provides a perfect example of how this technology comes together to serve both purposes.

The MRI includes the Philips Ambient Experience – an immersive audio and visual feature in which patients select a “themed setting” that provide a calm and peaceful experience during the MRI study.

The Philips system is also equipped with Compressed Sense technology that offers superior images quality and much shorter scan time.

We asked Dr. David Hilden to participate in a full-body MRI scan and give us his first-hand perspective of having an MRI performed and the advantages of the Ambient Experience and Compressed Sense technology. See the video below.

Why are my allergies so bad?

August 14, 2018

The answer is blowing in the wind.

Ragweed is a weed grows throughout the country, especially in Minnesota. Ragweed flowers in mid-August and one plant can release up to a billion pollen grains. The ragweed pollen can travel over 400 miles by the wind and unfortunately finds its way to the sinuses of allergy sufferers. (more…)

Don’t be Rip Van Winkle

August 7, 20182

Introduction by Connie Ullevig from the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorder Center at Hennepin Healthcare

Was Rip lazy, shiftless, irresponsible or suffering from a sleep disorder?

The 300 year old Rip Van Winkle legend describes a major, (protracted) sleep episode. Legend has it that Rip went for a walk in the woods with his dog and his hunting rifle to escape his nagging wife. High in the Catskill Mountains, he encountered a strange little man carrying a large barrel. Rip gave the man a hand and was given a drink from the barrel as thanks. Rip fell asleep and woke to find his dog gone, his rifle rusty and falling apart, his clothes in tatters and his appearance a mess.

Once he made it back to town he discovered his wife had died 20 years previously, and his small children were now grown.

Was Rip lazy, shiftless, irresponsible or suffering from a sleep disorder? (more…)

Jet Ski Accident Leads to Unexpected Diagnosis

July 18, 2018

Ricardo Ortiz went jet skiing with his family on Prior Lake, MN. It was a sunny summer day. He had an accident and later received an unexpected diagnosis.

He decided to go for one last ride on the lake with his son when he lost his balance and hit the water very hard on his left side. He started to feel the water coming into his mouth and nose and all of a sudden, everything was dark. When he woke up, he was in an ambulance. (more…)