RFFP Newsletter 2018

Roaring Fork Family Practice

.

Roaring Fork Family Practice

2019 Valley View Health Fair Save the dates!

978 Euclid, Carbondale 970.

963.3350 970.963.3350

March 11st– VVH – Blood Draw ONLYONLY – 6.30–to6:30-9am 9 a.m.

March – VVH – Blood Draw March 16 Ridge HighHigh School – 7 to –107-10am a.m.

March 16–th Coal – Coal Ridge School April 13 – Roaring Fork High School – 7 to 10 a.m.

April 13th – Roaring Fork High School – 7-10am April 27 – Glenwood Springs High School – 7 to 10 a.m.

April 27th –Glenwood Springs High School – 7-10am

350 Market Street, Basalt 970.

384.7115 970.384.7115

Remember… you can schedule your appointment online directly from our website www.vvh.org/roaring-fork-family-practice/ No portal account required You choose your location

Choose your location

You choose your date and time

Choose your provider /time

www.vvh.org/roaring-fork-family-practice/

Roaring Fork Family Practice “Thriving” in Healthcare

By Jennifer Bouchet, LCSW Since the end of January, our full staff has been engaged with a program that we call Thriving.

We jumped into this based on the growing phenomenon of burnout in the medical field. Dr. Knaus felt there must certainly be something that we could do within our clinic setting to address this, and ideally preempt it.

“If we feel great as care providers, we can give you great care.”

After a lot of talks about how and why, we were excited to stumble upon the ideas within the field of Positive Psychology and specifically the work of Shawn Achor. I wrote about some of this in the last newsletter. What we loved about Positive Psychology is the focus on the ongoing nature of building on wellness and potential rather than creating focus on what is not going well and finding a fix. Tangible, doable, daily practices and actions set us up to function better – because we feel better.

Our vision with Thriving was to create an ongoing culture change within the practice that emphasizes the value of the wellbeing of all staff, because

we know how critical each role is within this clinic. The premise was and continues to be simple: if we feel great as care providers, we can give you great care. Though the premise is simple, its application is not.

This is due to the ever increasing complexity of how medical care is delivered. You as patients are likely well aware of this complexity, being on the receiving end.

about the benefits of cultivating self-awareness in the present moment, which includes stress reduction, connection to more meaning in our activities, enriching our interactions with others, and much more. We learned to cultivate brief periods of quietness or stillness in the day to give our brain a break, which in turn allows for better functioning because it gets some down time.

We kicked off Thriving on January 29 to all staff where we laid out the “who, what, when, where, and why” of what we wanted to do. From that point, twice a week, in the all-staff morning huddle, we have talked briefly about ideas that contribute to all areas of wellness, including physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and relational.

Self-care was the third area of discussion. We considered what that really means and what it can really look like. We addressed the quiet bias that sometimes exists when “selfcare” is mentioned – the feeling that it’s indulgent, or that strong/tough/resilient people don’t need it. We spoke about the sometimes difficult and conflicting feelings that arise when we want to do some selfcare, like exercising or going on a walk with a friend, but we have other priorities eager for our time and attention.

More specifically, for the first 21 days, we encouraged all staff to write three new gratitudes every day. This short, simple practice trains the brain to start scanning for the positive rather than defaulting to the neutral or negative. Then we talked about it – what it was like to do, what we noticed, etc.

We spent the next month talking about mindfulness, as this relates strongly to mental and emotional wellness. We talked www.vvh.org/roaring-fork-family-practice/

“We took the opportunity to consider our practice-wide values….used to inform our intentions and guide our actions and decisions”

Roaring Fork Family Practice Since June, we’ve talked about connecting to some meaning in our lives, and particularly at work. A big part of this conversation has been about connecting to values and how this can deepen the experience of meaning. To help us, we brought in Laura Bartels from the Carbondale-based Mindful Life Program. She helped us to understand the nature of our minds a little bit more and the capacity we have as individuals to be intentional with our thinking and our awareness. It turns out this helps tremendously when feelings of meaning and purpose are waning. We thought about what’s important to us and we identified our values, which was not as easy or clear cut as many of us thought it would be. We then learned about the skill of “bearing them in mind” throughout the day “so that they may inform our intentions and guide our actions and decisions” (quote from Laura Bartels).

plan on continuing to talk about ideas and actions that cultivate thriving. In just nine months, it feels almost normal – and much more comfortable – to talk about things that are not normally talked about in a medical clinic setting. And it feels good.

Pulling this important lesson further, we took the opportunity to consider our practice-wide values so that we, as a group of people working together to care for others, have them as touchstones to also bear in mind throughout our days in the clinic, to inform our intentions and guide our actions and decisions.

Author and speaker known for his advocacy of positive psychology. He authored The Happiness Advantage and founded GoodThink, Inc.

judgment, and my

Check out his TED talk that inspired some of our work…

be heard and addressed. I

In keeping with that original long-view vision of supporting our clinic culture in this way, we

We improve ourselves with our patients in mind…

“When staff at the practice, from receptionist to physician, are calm and

Our inspiration for learning...

Laura Bartels Carbondale Mindful Life Program www.mindfullifeprogram.org/ Phone: 970.633.0163 Sean Achor

https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn _achor_the_happy_secret_to_bette r_work

aware of not only what’s going on inside their minds but also are attentive to me, then I know I will be listened to without

concerns, whether or not staff agree with them, will

will feel respected and more inclined to share what’s really going on with me.” – Patient Perspective

www.vvh.org/roaring-fork-family-practice/

Roaring Fork Family Practice Vaccines aren’t just for kids – adults get them too.

Are you up-to-date?

You may not realize that you need vaccines throughout your life. There are different diseases that can put you at risk as an adult. Vaccination is one of the most convenient and safest preventive care measures available. Talk with your provider to see which ones are right for you.

More information on these vaccinations and more can be found on the CDC website:

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/index.html

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recommends a yearly flu vaccine as the first and most important step in protecting against influenza and its complications.

It could take about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against influenza virus infection. That’s why it’s better to get vaccinated early, before the flu season really gets under way.

If you still need your flu shot, it is not too late! Call today.

The CDC recommends two pneumococcal vaccines for adults 65 and older.

Get a dose of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) first.

Then get a dose of the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) at least one year later.

If you’ve already received PPSV23, get PCV13 at least one year after receipt of the most recent PPSV23 dose.

If you’ve already received a dose of PCV13 at a younger age, CDC does not recommend another dose.

Shingles vaccination is the only way to protect against shingles.

CDC recommends that healthy adults 50 years and older get two doses of the shingles vaccine called Shingrix (recombinant zoster vaccine), separated by two to six months, to prevent shingles and the complications from the disease.

We have been experiencing occasional backorder with the Shingrix vaccine. When making or confirming an appointment, please ask if we have this vaccine in stock.

Questions or concerns about your health?

Call us First... 24/7 Clinical Advice Line 970.963.3350 Your care does not stop when the office is closed.

www.vvh.org/roaring-fork-family-practice/