Novant Health Healthy Headlines

“Beating incurable," produced by Gina DiPietro, follows a cancer patient through treatment. The inspiring podcast series covers Tim's journey in just an hour, where we learn how he finds the strength to keep moving forward, and how others can as well. While he's a glass-half-full philosopher by nature, Tim also makes clear that there are plenty of tough days. And that's OK. They are also survivable. As time goes on, Tim lays out some big decisions about how the experience has changed him. He's not glad he had cancer, but the experience, he believes, may be taking him to a better place.In this episode, we introduce you to Tim and explain how his journey as a Novant Health patient began. Highlights include:  3:11 - Tim relies on faith to see him through.  4:34 - He's found strength watching his mother battle the same incurable disease.  5:33 - Struggling with a loss of independence.  6:28 - An admirable determination.  8:00 - Tim's journey began with neck and back pain. How that led to a cancer diagnosis.  We'll also hear from oncologist Dr. Patricia Kropf and neurosurgeon Dr. John Berry-Candelario on Tim's care and the approach they bring to all their patients at Novant Health. Helpful links: Leave Tim a note of encouragement: Join the discussion at the end of this article.Listen to the next episode.

“Beating incurable," produced by Gina DiPietro, follows a cancer patient through treatment. The inspiring 5-part podcast series covers his journey in just an hour, where we learn how Tim finds the strength to keep moving forward, and how others can as well. While he's a glass-half-full philosopher by nature, Tim also makes clear that there are plenty of tough days. And that's OK. They are also survivable. Listen to Episode 1 of Beating Incurable.In the second episode of Beating Incurable, we dive deeper into the pain he'd been experiencing and how a visit with a specialist led to a stunning cancer diagnosis. Highlights include:  1:23 - How a fracture in Tim's neck led to a cancer diagnosis.2:10 - Something he never saw coming. 3:20 - Myeloma bone disease, a side effect of Tim's cancer, put him at risk of paralysis from the neck down. 4:33 - Helping patients take on a life-changing diagnosis. 7:05 - How doctors would treat Tim's multiple myeloma.9:22 - Explaining how he came to be featured in this story.10:09 - Tim's first revelation on how cancer has changed him.  Helpful links: Leave Tim a note of encouragement. Join the discussion at the end of this article. Listen to the next episode here. 

“Beating incurable," produced by Gina DiPietro, follows a cancer patient from diagnosis through treatment. This inspiring 5-part series covers his journey in just an hour, where Tim shares what he's learned about himself, how he finds the strength to keep moving forward, and how you can, too.  Listen to Episode 1 of Beating Incurable.Listen to Episode 2 of Beating Incurable. In the third episode of Beating Incurable, Tim Cooper has a stem cell transplant, an advanced treatment that could help push his cancer into remission. Highlights include:  2:28 - Previewing how a stem cell transplant works.  4:01 - Being in remission with myeloma is not the same as being cured of myeloma. 4:43 - Stem cell collection day.5:54 - Tim packs for his "two-week" vacation at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte.6:52 - Day of transplant. His "new birthday."9:55 - Tim shares a tough day in the hospital. 11:00 - Better days would follow...Helpful links:  Leave Tim a note of encouragement: Join the discussion at this end of this article. Listen to the next episode here.

“Beating incurable," produced by Gina DiPietro, follows a cancer patient through treatment. The inspiring 5-part podcast series covers his journey in just an hour. Tim's not glad he had cancer, but the experience, he believes, may be taking him to a better place. And he begins to share what's next for him. And changes he never saw coming.  Listen to Episode 1 of Beating Incurable.Listen to Episode 2 of Beating Incurable. Listen to Episode 3 of Beating Incurable.In the fourth episode of Beating Incurable, Tim Cooper struggles with loneliness and another set back in his health care journey. He also learns the results of his stem cell transplant. Highlights include:1:46 - Living with cancer can be lonely.2:32 - Coping with cancer. Tim shares what has helped him.  4:04 - Tim shares a milestone: He was cleared to drive!5:36 - Making strides towards regaining his independence. 7:29 - The results of Tim's stem cell transplant.8:01 - How Tim felt about the news.9:09 - Tim's low mood was only made worse by another issue he'd been dealing with. 10:00 - How doctors would address his worsening leg pain.Helpful links:Leave Tim a note of encouragement: Join the discussion at this end of this article. The fifth and final episode will be available soon.

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"The one thing we hear consistently from Black women is that they don't feel seen and heard. They feel their issues are pushed to the side," said Dr. Pam Oliver, an ob-gyn who grew up in rural North Carolina. Listen as Dr. Oliver explains why she's advocating for change as a Novant Health executive vice president and president of Novant Health Physician Network. Learn how you can support pregnant people in your life to reduce factors that contribute to pregnancy-related complications and deaths. It's also important to know the urgent maternal warning signs and when to seek care. 

A Novant Health pediatrician explains what breastfeeding mothers should know amid a lingering pandemic. That and more in this episode of Latch On: A Novant Health podcast featuring Baby Friendly breastfeeding content for women at all stages of their motherhood journey.

From support in the hospital to in-person classes and even virtual support, Novant Health offers a wealth of resources for breastfeeding mothers. Keep in mind, this article focuses on what's available in Charlotte, but lactation resources are offered across the Novant Health footprint. Find more information here. 

Latch On, a podcast series featuring expert advice on breastfeeding, decodes perinatal mood disorder with the help of Dr. Joseph Stringfellow, a Novant Health ob-gyn. And remember, parents can give themselves grace. We're all human, Dr. Stringfellow says.

Breastfeeding is one of the most common anxieties of early motherhood. It's also extremely beneficial for both mom and baby. In this episode of Latch On, a Novant Health lactation consultant explains why breast milk is best for babies.

Breastfeeding is one of the most common anxieties of early motherhood. It's also extremely beneficial for both mom and baby. In this episode of Latch On, a Novant Health lactation consultant explains how babies give hunger cues and what it means to feed on demand.

Breastfeeding is one of the most common anxieties of early motherhood. It's also extremely beneficial for both mom and baby. In this episode of Latch On, a Novant Health lactation consultant explains what "rooming in" with your new baby means.

Breastfeeding is one of the most common anxieties of early motherhood. It's also extremely beneficial for both mom and baby. In this episode of Latch On, a Novant Health pediatrician details all the ways breastfeeding benefits babies. And it's a long list.

Breastfeeding is one of the most common anxieties of early motherhood. It's also extremely beneficial for both mom and baby. In this episode of Latch On, a Novant Health pediatrician details all the ways breastfeeding benefits mothers. And it's a long list.

Breastfeeding is one of the most common anxieties of early motherhood. Latch On, a podcast series, tackles this head on. Listen as a Novant Health lactation consultant details how to position and latch your baby, plus other breastfeeding basics to help mom's get started.

Listen to Part 1 of our nursing series with Denise Mihal here. 

How an unprecedented pandemic and lucrative incentives from travel agencies have accelerated a nationwide nursing shortage, according to Denise Mihal, EVP and chief nursing and clinical operations officer. And more importantly, how leaders are paving a path forward in the first of this two-part series from Novant Health.

 Listen to Part 1 of our series on healthcare economics here.

Electronic health records and an influx of patient data has paved the way for an innovative role at healthcare systems. Alica Sparling, Novant Health VP senior healthcare economist, explains the rising demand for PhD economists in the first of a two-part series.

Businesses of the future understand revenue is directly related to its people - prompting a heightened focus on company culture, employee well-being and a radical shift in the role of HR. Listen as Carmen Canales, tasked with leading this effort at Novant Health, explains the evolution.

The lingering pandemic has only exacerbated physician burnout, underscoring the importance of programs that promote physician engagement and retention. Dr. Pam Oliver, who oversees hundreds of Novant Health clinics, explains what strategies are working and what's resonating with physicians right now.

The term “artificial intelligence” may conjure up futuristic images of flying cars or talking robots, but the way it's used is more practical than what we see in the movies. Dr. Eric Eskioglu, Novant Health executive vice president and chief medical officer, explains its potential to improve the health of our communities.

COVID-19 forced a sudden and significant leap in responsibility for healthcare supply chains around the world. Mark Welch, Novant Health senior vice president of supply chain, explains lessons learned and best practices for the future.

Regulatory changes have made it increasingly easier to perform orthopedic procedures in an outpatient setting. This shift was driven by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, with a goal of reducing the national spend on health care and creating access at lower cost sites. Here to explain how health systems are navigating this change is Dr. Bryan Edwards, system physician executive at Novant Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Institute, and Zack Landry, system administrative executive at the Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Institute.

Prioritizing employee retention and engagement is critically important for an organization's bottom line. "When a physician leaves, it typically costs 2 to 3 times their salary to replace them," said Dr. Thomas Jenike, Novant Health senior vice president and chief well-being officer. He explains the keys to success in this episode of Industry Insights.

Angela Yochem, Novant Health executive vice president and chief transformation and digital officer, explores why it's more important than ever for organizations to invest in digital solutions ranging from artificial intelligence to drones.

How can companies operationalize diversity, inclusion and equity? "When it really is part of who you are, and a part of your culture, it's much more holistic," said Tanya Blackmon, Novant Health executive vice president and chief diversity, inclusion and equity officer. Listen as she explains a successful approach.

In this episode, Novant Health dives into the new 2021 price transparency rules and why healthcare billing is so complicated. Hear from Jesse Cureton, Novant Health executive vice president and chief consumer officer, and Melonie O'Connell, vice president of pricing strategy.

Dr. David Priest, Novant Health chief safety, quality and epidemiology officer, has been integral in leading the charge against COVID-19. Listen as Dr. Priest discusses what the future of viruses may look like, why public health should stay outside of politics, and key lessons learned while combating the pandemic.

Hear insights on how artificial intelligence and data scientists are reducing the cost of care while increasing patient outcomes, tackling health equity and a worsening nursing shortage, new strategies to retain and attract physicians, best practices for supply chain leaders to carry healthcare forward … plus, devastating cost of ignoring workforce burnout... All that and more in Industry Insights: A healthcare podcast presented by Novant Health. Thank you for listening. 

A look inside a COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at Novant Health Rowan Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina, as doctors and nurses manage another hectic workday.

Gina DiPietro  0:06  Last year's flu season came at a time when people were social distancing, faithfully washing their hands and wearing masks to stop the spread of COVID-19. With online schooling and office closures also in play, the flu season was almost non existent. But with the easing of pandemic restrictions, this year could be a different story.Dr. Charles Bregier  0:27  It is the perfect storm that's potentially brewing up there. If COVID remains bad, and it's a bad flu season, it could completely overwhelm our healthcare system in our whole country. And we could potentially not have enough ventilators or not have enough respiratory machines and not have other vital equipment that we need to take care of huge amounts of patients.Gina DiPietro  0:49  That's Dr. Charles Bregier, Novant Health medical director of corporate health, and you're listening to Novant Health Healthy Headlines. I'm your host, Gina DiPietro. Tens of thousands of hospitalizations each year could be avoided if more people got the flu vaccine. And keeping flu patients out of the hospital is vitally important with the latest surge in COVID patients.Dr. Charles Bregier  1:13  You know, COVID is still really strong out there. And if you get COVID, and then you get the flu, it could really be a "twindemic" as we talked a little bit about last year ... in terms of causing much more severe illness having one disease after the other, and especially in a relatively close period of time. It takes your body a while to recover from an illness.Gina DiPietro  1:36  I was curious if someone could have flu and COVID at the same time.Dr. Charles Bregier  1:40  You certainly can. But it's relatively uncommon to have two different viruses at the same time.Gina DiPietro  1:45  The flu shot is recommended for anyone six months and older, with rare exceptions, A primary care physician can answer those questions or check out our latest cold and flu stories on Healthy Headlines. Here again is Dr. Bregier.Dr. Charles Bregier  2:00  There is a variable degree of effectiveness from the flu vaccine. In a good year, it's thought to be about 60% effective. In a bad year, it's thought to be about 40% effective. We don't know if it will be closer to 60 this coming flu season or 40. Time will tell. And it's really important, I think, just as much this year as it was last year to go ahead and get your flu shot. Get it soon. If you get it in October, that gives you pretty good protection all the way through April, which is usually the end of flu season. Because, you know, flu season can start anytime after October. Most typically it doesn't start until January, February, but we have had some years where it's been bad in November and bad in December.Gina DiPietro  2:45  Let's dive into that point he made about efficacy for just a moment. I've spent the past year and a half reading about COVID. And this fact has always stuck with me. While a vaccines' efficacy is important, what's equally as important (and in a lot of cases even moreso) is how many people get it. If a small number of people get a very effective vaccine, it's not going to make a dent in a community's disease progression. But if every single person got vaccinated, it would make a huge difference in disease burden. Bottom line: It's a community effort. That goes for flu and COVID. If you haven't been vaccinated for either, you can get both in one visit. I'll let Dr. Bregier explain.Dr. Charles Bregier  3:28  It's fine to get them both at the same time. They are both inactivated vaccines, which means there's no "live virus" in either one of them. Not in any of the COVID vaccines that are approved or in the flu vaccines that are approved. And yes, the CDC has said it is fine to get them both at the same time. And it's kind of efficient, isn't it? You can walk into your primary care doctor's office at Novant Health and get your COVID vaccine and your flu shot.Gina DiPietro  3:56  What would you say to a patient who said, 'Well, I got the flu vaccine so I don't need the COVID vaccine or vice versa?'Dr. Charles Bregier  4:03  That's a great question. The COVID illness is caused by SARS-CoV2, right? It's a coronavirus. The influenza vaccine, its components are different influenza strains. So, they are really different types of viruses.Gina DiPietro  4:18  I've heard that younger children may be even at a higher risk this flu season due to low immunity from either not having had any natural exposure or possibly not having been vaccinated in previous years. You know, schools sent kids home last year. Do you think that that is true?Dr. Charles Bregier  4:36  It certainly is a concern in the medical community for exactly the reason you said. People have been out less, they've been getting sick less. Almost everyone that I know has not had any significant illness, other than perhaps COVID, for a year or year and a half. Natural immunity from different viruses that caue upper respiratory infections is much lower. That may translate into a more severe flu season, especially for very young children.Gina DiPietro  5:07  Healthcare systems have been working to overcome this notion of vaccine hesitancy, right? There's so much misinformation out there. And that is part of the reason why some people have not chosen to get their COVID-19 vaccines. Do you worry this notion of vaccine hesitancy might spill over into flu shots, as well?Dr. Charles Bregier  5:34  I think that it definitely does. People are wise to question things and to look into situations and look into the research and see what the experts say. But unfortunately, there's so much misinformation on social media. And a lot of that is propagated by people who are making really untrue allegations ... saying the vaccine is not safe. Whether it's a COVID vaccine or a flu vaccine, and they are safe. I'm trying to steer people away from the negative connotations of vaccine hesitancy. And let's talk about vaccine confidence. Building vaccine confidence for flu vaccines and for COVID vaccines. And really, when you look at all the information out there at CDC that shows how tremendously safe COVID vaccines are, and how safe flu vaccines are, and how much they reduce, you know, the death rates among our at-risk populations throughout our communities - that's what we need to focus on.Gina DiPietro  6:32  Do you think that physicians also have opportunities to build "vaccine confidence,"as you said, as they interact with their patients?Dr. Charles Bregier  6:39  It's an obligation as well as a privilege to try to share that information. We've all seen what happens to people who can be severely stricken by a bad case of the flu. And we can share the fact that 'Yes, I myself am very confident in the safety of the flu vaccine.' I step up, I get my flu vaccine right around October 1st. I want to get protected as quickly as we can.Gina DiPietro  7:04  Is there anything else that we haven't touched on that you think is particularly important for people to know?Dr. Charles Bregier  7:12  One thing I like to stress is that, you know, we are in this for the long haul. I know that we all are tired of COVID. We've been living COVID for more than a year and a half now. And we're now in the midst of this fourth surge, which is on the way to becoming the worst surge we've had yet. And the vast majority of our people in our hospitals are unvaccinated. Similarly, we have to keep our guard up regarding flu. And you know, people think, 'Oh, I just need to protect myself against COVID.' But you need to protect yourself against the flu also. And the more we can do to just kind of realize that we need to stay the course... We need to do the mitigating strategies of social distancing, hand hygiene and masking. As well as getting our vaccinations. Eat healthy, keep well hydrated, get a lot of rest, take good care of yourself, get some regular exercise, take your medications that you're supposed to. And don't forget the importance of every aspect of wellness for yourself and your family, which includes a lot of the things I just mentioned, as well as going to your doctor regularly.Gina DiPietro  8:18  Fantastic. Well, this has been very informative. I appreciate your time, Dr Bregier.Dr. Charles Bregier  8:22  You're very welcome.Gina DiPietro  8:29  Gina DiPietro again, and thank you for listening to this episode of Novant Health Healthy Headlines. I encourage you to visit HealthyHeadlines.org where we have a wealth of content around cold and flu season and the latest on COVID-19. And one final reminder from Dr. Bregier - keep your hands away from your face, wash them often and wear a mask if you're in public, especially when you're inside. We hope you'll join us next time but until then, find the latest health information on Apple, Google, Spotify or anywhere you listen to Novant Health podcasts.

Gina DiPietro  0:06  When the COVID-19 vaccine first became available to the public, thousands of people rolled up their sleeves at Novant Health mass vaccination sites. Now, with greater supply of the vaccine and more flexibility, Novant Health patients have an opportunity to receive their vaccine at their medical home. You're listening to Novant Health Healthy Headlines, I'm Gina DiPietro. In this episode, John Howard, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Novant Health Physician Network, explains the shift away from mass vaccination sites and into Novant Health primary care and pediatric care clinics. Thank you for listening.John Howard  0:45  What we've seen in our mass vaccination sites is even with walking appointments is very low utilization relative to the cavernous space we have there. In the amount of inventory, we have a vaccine. In other words, the demand for the vaccine has dwindled, and it dwindled quickly. We really sort of hit a wall. And we recognize that in our communities for any number of reasons that vaccine hesitancy or vaccine reluctance was now the order of the day. Our transition to address that is to say, how do we work more closely with individual folks who are trying to overcome either questions or concerns, or maybe they've heard things that aren't exactly true about the efficacy or the safety of the vaccines. And we believe that the best place for that to take place is in a patient's medical home, our final pivot has been to move away from the vaccination sites, and now to be able to provide those vaccines and primary care clinics, Family Medicine clinics, internal medicine, clinics, and even our pediatric clinics for those who are eligible because it's not all kids yet, but it is adolescence, and to make sure that patients have the opportunity to talk with their physicians and the comfort of their medical home, in the comfort of that relationship between a patient and his or her provider to say, let me understand this, let me really understand why I should do this or what my issues might be, or if I have particular questions, I have a space a safe space to have those answers. And we believe now with vaccine hesitancy being the order of the day, that is the best way for us to serve our communities and make the vaccine available to people is connecting them back with their physicians or their family practitioners or their nurse practitioners who are available in their clinics.Gina DiPietro  2:45  As Hohn just mentioned, bringing the vaccine into clinics where it's administered by a trusted physician is a new opportunity to reach unvaccinated people. Dr. David Priest, Novant Health chief safety quality and Epidemiology officer, explains the impact he's seen firsthand.Dr. David Priest  3:03  It's that personal touch that really makes a difference. And I've seen that in my own practice. Individuals come in adamantly opposed to vaccination, and after addressing each of their concerns, they're willing to get it. There's so much information and misinformation that's been moved around the internet, you know, some patients just throw up their hands and say, I don't know what to believe and all this. That one on one conversation addressing concerns would provide a really makes a world of difference. Gina DiPietro  3:25  Gina here and back to my conversation with John Howard, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Novant. Health Physician Network. He said the end goal is to have the COVID-19 vaccine available in most if not all Novant Health Primary Care adult and pediatric care clinics by the end of the year.John Howard  3:43  So I think that creates a great opportunity to reach out into communities into local neighborhoods where we have clinics and say, Hey, here's a place where this is available. And we think it allows for an encounter that is more engaged with a patient's health, then all of the community sites where you could go to a Walgreens or CVS, not that those aren't very valuable resources as well. But you can't have the same dialogue, because that's not when your provider,Gina DiPietro  4:12  We've heard a lot about the variants that people are starting to notice. And we've also heard a lot about how people just aren't quite sure how long the efficacy lasts. What would be the implications from shifting more to this clinic model and distributing COVID vaccines. If a booster shot might be needed, I imagine that it would make it easier to distribute those?John Howard  4:37  The good news is is that the vaccines that we have available, still tend to be effective against the current variants in the marketplace. And the highest incidence of those variants are current and states and counties which have the lowest vaccination rates. So it's a good even common sense indicator and beyond. All the epidemiological studies that you can simply look at a map and see where that's occurring. The bad news portion is that as long as the virus has the ability to replicate, it has the ability to mutate, which means that the current Delta variant, for example, will very likely not be the last variant unless we take away the opportunity for the virus to continue to spread. And the way to do that is to encourage more vaccinations. Which brings me to the second part of your question is, when we think about boosters, long term efficacy, keeping the vaccine down, because in many ways, this really is a battle. It's a battle for the safety of our communities against a virus that has disrupted our lives in significant ways that there is not a person that hasn't felt this. It's sometimes very deep, and long lasting or permanent levels, even losing loved ones. So the way to fight that battle, is to make sure that we're creating this as a normal part of what we deal with mass vaccination sites in huge events and stadiums, or at arena's, which we certainly did, to accelerate that initial bush is not the way for us to continue to combat it. So whether it's been booster shots, or whether it's getting more people who have not yet received the vaccine to receive it, the best way to do that is to make that a part of our ordinary health care delivery. And so I do think the retail outlets such as Walgreens and CVS are valuable. But I also think the physician office is a valuable resource. And it's why we put so much effort in making sure we have clinics enrolled, and that we have physicians and other providers are willing to help us in delivering the vaccine. And when the boosters are needed, as we're still gaining evidence on what the what really the link of efficacy is for these vaccines, that we have the ability then to provide booster shots as needed, when that time comes and when it's appropriate. But we're not there yet. And I do want to make that clear. Boosters are not being recommended or delivered at this time.Gina DiPietro  7:10  Yes, certainly an important distinction there. And really, it just speaks to COVID taught us that we never really know what might happen. So to have different options where people can get vaccines is really important, because we may not be able to predict what happens next.John Howard  7:27  And that's exactly right. And to add to your point there, it's important to understand that as boosters become available, and as we need to do that Novant Health is fully prepared and at the ready to reactivate some mass sites, we need to if it's important, and there's a window to do that in, we're going to meet the needs of our community. We're going to make sure we're empowered to appropriately battle this virus and to make sure that we're successful, I think everyone today is enjoying the opening up again of our lives. And we need to make sure that we keep the virus on a teils so that we can continue to do that. And we don't see a resurgent virus affecting our lives and creating shutdowns as it's done in some other countries already. And that's our goal. As we're doing this work today.Gina DiPietro  8:16  Novant Health still has four mass vaccination sites across our markets. But hours have been reduced as you've seen some of the trends that you mentioned previously, where would be the best place for people to go to find those updated hours?John Howard  8:31  So on the NovantHealth.org website, we have our COVID-19 landing page. And that will always list our current hours and days of availability. So as we have shifted from long, seven to seven days to shorter hours, we are also reducing the number of days that are available for walking appointments with those mass vaccination sites. As we're doing that, you'll also see the list of clinics that people can contact for that availability. And they're also free, of course, to always reach out to their clinic or through my chart to say, Hey, I was wondering if you did vaccines, and if you're not doing to your clinic, is there one nearby because even if their home clinic is not doing it, there's very likely one nearby that will be able to service their needs.Gina DiPietro  9:15  Sure. So talk about that process. If someone's listening, and they think, hey, I'd like to see if my primary care physician or my pediatricians office offers this, that's the best place for them to go. And they do want to call ahead, they cannot walk into the clinics, correct?John Howard  9:32  At this time for walk ins that it's hard to plan and it's a bit disruptive. We want to make sure we have the right personnel there at the right time. So we're encouraging people to make appointments for those vaccines, but the full listing of the clinics that will be providing the vaccines will be always on our COVID-19 landing page on Novant health.org. So I would encourage people to go there to see what's there. If they say I don't see my clinic, then I encourage them to call their clinic or two Even check on a map because we have all the addresses listed and see what's nearby. And then they can call to schedule appointment. Or they can do that through My Chart, as well.Gina DiPietro  10:09  Great. Anything else around this topic that you think would be important for people to know?John Howard  10:16  I would just encourage people who have questions about the vaccine about what it means whether it's appropriate for them to get it and to get it now, whether they're concerns for waiting or for not getting it right. I know some people have had COVID and said, but I really don't need the vaccine. I think it's worth a discussion with their physician or provider to help them make the best decision for them. We want to respect everybody's decisions. But we also want to encourage them to be informed and to be able to be dialed into confidence that they have for their other health care decisions that they do their physicians and other providers.Gina DiPietro  10:59  Gina DiPietro here again. And thank you for listening to this episode of Novant Health Healthy Headlines, visit HealthyHeadlines. org and you'll find a wealth of stories about the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. And as John Howard mentioned, the COVID-19 page on the NovantHealth.org website is also updated regularly. If you enjoyed this podcast, please take a moment to rate and review us and subscribe to this and all the Novant Health podcasts. We post new episodes all the time and most are 15 minutes or less.

Margie "Kay" Pope  0:00  The right side of my face and started to drink from what they told me and I was still coherent and awake, but I couldn't form any words and I couldn't speak at all. Gina DiPietro  0:10  That's 64-year-old Margie "Kay" Pope of Sunset Beach, North Carolina, describing the most terrifying experience of her life. Margie "Kay" Pope  0:20  I'll never forget it - it was November 7, 2019.Gina DiPietro  0:30  Welcome to Novant Health Healthy Headlines. I'm Gina DiPietro. In this episode, Kay explains how a funny feeling that November night sent she and her 65-year-old husband, Frank, to the emergency room in search of answers. More on that and how a cutting-edge software provided quick access to care when she needed it most. Now back to Kay.Margie "Kay" Pope  0:56  It happened in the middle of the night. Fortunately, I was awake at the time I was having trouble sleeping. And that ended up being a good thing at that particular time because I realized all of a sudden my right arm was going numb. But it was a weird feeling numb wasn't your typical, you know, my hand is falling asleep. So I woke my husband up because I knew something was wrong. We contemplated for a little bit and you know, what do we do? So we made the decision to go to the emergency room. We're about 30 minutes from Brunswick, the Novant Health Hospital in Bolivia. So we drove there, got there about three o'clock in the morning. And they started running all the tests on me. They did a couple of CAT scans, they I think they did an EKG and some other things. And also they were in conference at the time with New Hanover Regional Medical Center. I found out later the stroke center there, they discovered that I had a clot that had moved in my brain. Gina DiPietro  1:55  She didn't know at the time, but that blood clot caused Kay to have a stroke. She was airlifted by helicopter from Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center in Bolivia, North Carolina, to Wilmington's New Hanover Regional Medical Center, recently acquired by Novant Health.Margie "Kay" Pope  2:10  When I got there, the stroke team was waiting for me wheeled me into a room did a procedure that I can't pronounce the name of and as soon as the clock was out, I was fine. All the symptoms were gone. Supposedly the procedure they did on me from what I was told they've got about a 4 to 6 hour window where they can do that. Otherwise it's too late. And I think that's kind of the point of what we're talking about is to acknowledge to people the faster you move on something like this, the better off the outcomes going to be. Because by the time I left the Novant hospital, airlifted to Wilmington, I could no longer speak. So the symptoms were gradually getting worse. It started with the numbness that I had no use of my right arm at all the right side of my face and started to droop for what they told me. And I was still coherent and awake. But I couldn't form any words, and I couldn't speak at all. Gina DiPietro  3:07  Wow, that had to have been so scary. Margie "Kay" Pope  3:09  Absolutely, the most terrifying thing I've ever had happen in my life. Gina DiPietro  3:13  Was your husband with you the whole time? Was he able to fly in a helicopter? Margie "Kay" Pope  3:17  No. And that was the bad part about that. He just saw me leaving the helicopter and didn't know what was going on.And then by the time he got there and they let him into saving the procedure was over and I was fine. And he was kind of in a state of shock because the last time he saw me, I couldn't speak, you know, and I had all these symptoms and the next time you saw me, I'm like Hi, I'm fine. So, he had a bit of an emotional turmoil to go along with it as well. Gina DiPietro  3:48  You'll remember she arrived at the emergency room around 3am and by six or 6:30 that morning she was out of surgery. While the Pope's quick thinking to seek help certainly played a role. So did Viz.ai - a video based platform that provides remote access to a neurologist, the expert in stroke care. Here's some context. in a rural hospital setting, it often takes at least an hour to get results from some of the more critical scans. But with this AI the scan is uploaded instantaneously to a "cloud" to be read by artificial intelligence. If a stroke is detected, the emergency physician is alerted immediately as the patient is transferred to a facility that can provide stroke care. A team of medical professionals led by an interventional neurologist is already preparing to take that person into surgery. Here's Dr. Vinodh Doss, an interventional neurologist and medical director of stroke and interventional surgery at New Hanover Regional Medical Center who performed case surgery that scary night back in November. Dr. Vinodh Doss  4:52  I'm awake. I'm at the hospital waiting for her to get there. We evaluate her it's clear that she still hasn't symptom should go straight to the angiography suite. And that's where we go to work. We got the artery open in a matter of minutes. And she obviously benefited from the care from beginning to the end. Gina DiPietro  5:13  Since you've been using Viz.ai, have you noticed an improvement in outcomes for stroke patients? Dr. Vinodh Doss  5:19  Oh, yeah. Using this technology, this is 21st century medicine. We know, if you come through our doors and Wilmington, you're gonna be triage and treated very quickly, we have some of the best treatment times in the country. But if you're just an hour, 45 minutes an hour away, that changes. And that shouldn't be the case using the technology. I think that's what it's been an eye opening experience with me just working with Brunswick on this, and how much providers have bought into it, and used it and leveraged it as in not just communicating, reducing unnecessary transfers, and encouraging the patients that really need to come to us and get treated. Gina DiPietro  5:59  Let's get back to Kay's story. A big reason she's sharing her experience lies in the fact that she did not ignore her symptoms. Time is key if you're experiencing a stroke. That's because up to 2 million brain cells die every minute when oxygen and nutrients are cut off. Margie "Kay" Pope  6:16  Fortunately, I didn't do my normal. Because I've always been a very healthy person have never really had anything like this happen to me. And I have a tendency to just say, oh, it'll go away, I'll be fine. Which is the worst thing I could have possibly have done. But fortunately, the way my body felt just told me there's something really wrong here. This is not going to go away on its own. But I sat up in bed, he got a wet washcloth, I was putting it on my forehead. And the other thing that was kind of strange is the symptoms were kind of coming and going, as I've described to people before it literally felt like a wave going through my body. And then after a few minutes, the symptoms went away. And I felt better. So we kept kind of hemming and hawing and saying, oh, everything's okay. Well, a nurse told me later, that was the clot moving. And the fact that like I said, I was kind of losing control of my right arm. just said, okay, common sense is going to kick in here. And it may be nothing, but I need to go find out what's going on. And I'm very glad I did. Because had I not done that the outcome would not have been good like it is now. Gina DiPietro  7:31  Do you have any lasting effects at all from what happened? Margie "Kay" Pope  7:35  Not from the stroke. But fortunately, or unfortunately, I found out I have a heart condition that I didn't know I had. And that's actually what they believe caused the clot. Gina DiPietro  7:48  Her condition, known as noncompaction cardiomyopathy, is a rare congenital disease of the heart muscle. It's genetic. And what doctors say prompted her stroke.Margie "Kay" Pope  7:58  Which is the other strange thing, you know, when all my life I never had any kind of an issue where I ever really had to have my heart checked out. But from what I researched later, you know, ultimately, people can die from things like this, or I could have been severely paralyzed. And now I learned all that I know the symptoms now. And you know, I love that we're doing this to promote to people because, like I said, this is the last thing that went through my mind when I was feeling this. All I knew was that something was wrong. But stroke is not what came to my mind. And everyone told me afterwards, I wasn't a candidate for as far as they knew for a stroke. Again, not knowing about the heart condition. You know, I didn't have any of the typical signs of someone who was at risk for a stroke. So you know, everyone that knew me when they found out what happened, they were shocked that I was the one that happened to.Gina DiPietro  8:54  The following afternoon, after just one night in the hospital, the Pope's were on their way home. Today, Kay is able to manage her heart condition and enjoy the beach with her husband, Frank. While they're both retired, Kay spent most of her career in the insurance industry doing commercial underwriting. And Frank worked in technology for a large bank in Charlotte, where they lived prior to their move to Sunset Beach six years ago. When looking out for the signs of a stroke, remember the acronym BE FAST. B is for balance or walking funny. E is for eyes. So vision changes loss of vision or double vision. F is for face or facial drooping. A is for arm drift or leg weakness on one side of the body. S is for speech. So slurred speech or problems talking and T is for time. Again, driving home the point that experiencing these symptoms means you should seek medical care immediately. Thank you for listening to this episode of Healthy Headlines. You can find more episodes under the Healthy Headlines channel of the Novant Health podcast family. There's tons of great content there. So feel free to browse around. We're on Apple, Google, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Gina DiPietro  0:06  The vast majority of people with COVID-19 develop mild to moderate symptoms and they will be able to recover at home. Welcome to Novant Health healthy headlines I'm Gina dipietro. Despite the significant number of deaths and hospitalizations caused by COVID-19 most people with the virus do well recovering at home. In this episode Dr. Kuran Shukla, a Novant Health family physician talks to Cliff Martens about steps you can take to fight through mild cases. Thank you for listening.Cliff Mehrtens  0:39  Which pain relievers Should I take if I have a mild case? Sure. So, again, with COVID-19 infection, most cases are mild. And certainly people can experience mild to moderate symptoms and spend several days at home to recover and during that time have body aches, muscle pains, fevers. The most important thing to remember is that most over the counter, common medications we take to manage COVID-19 does not treat or cure the virus, but it manages symptoms. And so in general for body aches and muscle pains,Dr. Karan Shukla  1:27  instead of monofin or Tylenol, naproxen, or Aleve, ibuprofen,which is sold under the name of Advil or Motrin can help lower fevers can help manage muscle aches and body pains and make the course of the illness a little bit more tolerable. The first thing is to remember that you want to make sure you're following dosing guidelines on the backs of the labels read exactly what the dose of the medication is that you are taking, and that you don't have any health industry health history that should prevent you from using these medications. Early on during the COVID pandemic, there was some question as to whether anti inflammatories like naproxen or Motrin, or Aleve, or ibuprofen, we're potentially going to make the process of the COVID infection worse, but subsequent follow up testing or studies have really not demonstrated that. And so whether it's Tylenol or ibuprofen or Motrin, or Aleve, either of these medications can serve to reduce fevers and to manage symptoms of pain.Cliff Mehrtens  2:51  But respiratory symptoms the things we would normally reach for during the year cold medicines I have a runny nose or I'm clogged up or things are, you know, I'm really having those sort of issues. How well and effective are those?Dr. Karan Shukla  3:05  Sure, a lot of the over the counter cough medications generally are helpful but are not as helpful as we would like to think of managing symptoms of cough. In general, I recommend my patients who are recovering at home, use a vapor rubs to help relieve coughs to make sure that they have an Air Humidifier and use steam inhalation to decrease nasal congestion. Certainly, honey can be used in ways to help soothe sore throats, in manage cough symptoms as well. You want to be aware that lower respiratory tract symptoms in COVID illnesses need to be monitored carefully. Because the lower respiratory tract symptoms like chest tightness or chest congestion, chesty, cough, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath may indicate that you're dealing with more than just an upper respiratory tract illness, but also potentially lower respiratory tract illness, which could be considered a pneumonia.Cliff Mehrtens  4:22  Let's talk about hybrid hydration excuse me, it's it's important throughout your life, but in this case, am I hydrating more if I'm trying to treat those symptoms? If so, what do you know liquids are more beneficial than others? What should I concentrate on?Dr. Karan Shukla  4:36  Sure. Staying hydrated during the recovery from any illness is very important. And during periods of illness, our body loses more water or more fluid loss through fevers or coughing, breathing rapidly. Certainly nausea or vomiting or diarrhea can add to those fluid losses. With COVID specifically, loss of taste or loss of smell may interfere with someone's appetite or desire to eat or drink. So staying hydrated is very critical at maintaining our body's metabolic processes at keeping our secretions or respiratory secretions loose, and when we are dehydrated, our secretions become thicker, which makes it difficult to clear and can lead to increased risk of pneumonia. So in general, a few tips would be to generally have clear liquids readily available to sip clear liquids or electrolyte containing rehydration solutions. Frequently, if you aren't able to tolerate drinking large quantities in or during that illness, you want to certainly make sure that you are having adequate urine output and that you're urinating every three to four hours. And generally that urine is clear and not very dark and concentrated. Though those could all be signs that you're dehydrated. By the time you're thirsty, or have a desire to drink, you're already past the point of being dehydrated when it comes to an illness.Cliff Mehrtens  6:28  Let's talk about isolating someone in multiperson house develops COVID-19 what are the key steps to isolating them in one portion of the house and limiting contact with them.Dr. Karan Shukla  6:39  So at the earliest signs of illness, you really want to start avoiding contact with people within your own home. And a lot of the times especially with COVID 19, I've seen that the symptoms can be very mild and very subtle. And people often mistake them for allergies or sinus infections or other upper respiratory tract infections, very subtle symptoms. So at the real onset of any symptoms you might be attributing to upper respiratory process, you want to generally avoid sitting with people in your home to eat or congregate. In other areas of the home where you would generally hang out. You would want to identify a particular bathroom if you have the ability to do so where you can use that other people who may not be having any symptoms can can use other bathrooms to avoid cross contamination. I would strongly encourage everyone in the home to wear masks at that point. Because you do not know who has the infection and who is in the process of developing symptoms. I think it would be important as well to clean all commonly touched surfaces, hard back chairs, table tops, remote controls, commonly touched doorknobs, to make sure all of these commonly touched surfaces are not potential vectors for transmission.Cliff Mehrtens  8:17  I know COVID-19 isn't a one size fits all sort of disease but virus but in general, someone with mild conditions about how long are they going to feel bad and before they start to turn a corner just in general before they that it runs its course.Dr. Karan Shukla  8:33  In general, a person with mild upper respiratory tract illness would be expected to have few days of symptoms that evolve during the course of their illness. They may start with stopped up nose or inability to smell maybe a little bit of irritated throat. They may go on to develop fevers, or chills or just not feel well. Typically the process of upper respiratory tract illness or a mild case of COVID-19 plays out over the course of a week to 10 days, after which the individual may start feeling better and have more energy and see resolution to their symptoms.Cliff Mehrtens  9:17  What are some of the warning signs? That tells me I'm no longer mild? I really need to seek emergency immediate care.Dr. Karan Shukla  9:25  Sure, it's very important that at the onset of someone's symptoms that they you know, take into account the date at which the symptoms started. The date at which they were potentially exposed may help to really monitor and log your symptoms or write them down as as descriptive as possible so that you can observe how the symptoms evolve. And certainly if you start out with upper respiratory tract symptoms like stop nose and runny nose and sore throat. That would be considered generally mild. If you start experiencing worsening or high grade fevers above 102 degrees Fahrenheit, if you develop worsening body aches or chills or sweats that would indicate that you're the process of the illnesses is certainly becoming more severe. If you have worsening lower respiratory tract symptoms, meaning difficulty breathing, difficulty doing basic tasks around the house without huffing and puffing, you notice you're getting winded easily as you go up a flight of stairs where as before you have no problems doing so, experiencing chest pain. Having nausea accompanied with vomiting, or diffuse and persistent, loose stools. These would all be certainly signs that I would consider red flags. If you have any changes in your mental status become confused or lethargic. Those are really emergency red flag signs that should require immediate medical evaluation. And most cases of COVID-19 do fall into the mild to moderate category. Certainly given the numbers we see every day on the news, there's a heightened sense of alarm when when someone in your network friend a neighbor or a family member comes down with COVID-19. And for the most part, these are potentially severe illness with the risk of severe complications. But for the most part, most people do well recovering at home with the basic symptomatic care management, attention to rest, maintaining adequate hydration and caloric intake or just having enough to meet the energy needs required to fight off illness.Gina DiPietro  12:23  Jeannie dipietro again COVID-19 is a potentially severe illness but you can bounce back from a mild to moderate case at home. Use the basic steps of treating symptoms with the proper medications. get plenty of rest and stay hydrated. Thank you for listening to this episode of Novant Health healthy headlines. If you enjoyed this podcast, please take a moment to rate and review us and subscribe to this and all the Novant Health podcasts. We post new episodes all the time. Most are just 15 minutesTranscribed by https://otter.ai

If something terrible happens and you’re unable to make your own medical decisions, who do you want to make them for you? And what kind of care do you want at the end of your life?   I’m Gina DiPietro, with Novant Health, Healthy Headlines.  Those two questions are at the center of a Novant Health program called Choices and Champions, which helps patients and care teams talk through important decisions. It encourages patients to choose a health care “Champion,” or the person who will stand in their corner when they can’t speak up for themselves, and think about other medical choices they may face in the future. End-of-life care is always top of mind for Dr. Colin McDonald, a neurohospitalist at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem. It’s true for his young patients as well as his older ones – the seriously ill ones along with the healthy ones. He cares for critically ill stroke patients and others with neurological injuries, including head trauma.   For 28 years, Dr. McDonald has been leading these conversations. In this episode, he talks with Melody Myers about why it’s important to have your care team document your “choices” in your medical record and to choose a Champion to speak for you if you are not able to speak for yourself.   Melody So tell me about the Choices and Champions program at Novant Health and why it's important and how you've worked with it. Dr. McDonald So there are two very important things that any patient needs. And I really say that no matter how young or how old. One of them is to have a discussion with a trusted clinician, who is able to document into the medical record, what their desires and wants, what their loves and dislikes happen to be, what their life would be like if certain things happen. And we call that choices, or advance care planning. Those are really notes that aren’t process-driven. Most of the time, they're blank text that you type into a computer, but they stand-alone so people can see, in October of 2020, Mrs. Smith had this attitude. And then you go forward from that. And suppose Mrs. Smith, in December of 2020, is now diagnosed, surprisingly, and out of the blue with a very aggressive and widespread cancer. At that particular point, Mrs. Smith's goals may have changed.  So when we talk about goals and advanced care planning, it's meant to be a life story that evolves with the life and the health of the patient. So that's one part of it. And that's supposing, and that's where you're right most of the time, pre-hospitalization, that the patient is able to manifest, discuss, express what their choices are.  However, as we all know cardiopulmonary arrests happen out of the blue, stroke-like events happen out of the blue, that's why we call them strokes. And when those things happen, a patient is not typically in a place to have the conversation about what their choices are. And that's where the Champion part comes in. You always look to the patient first, if the patient is able to tell you what their desires and wants would be. But you also tell the patient, there may come a moment, God decides where you're not able to do that. What I know, because I may not be there, I'm just one of the whatever, several thousand doctors at Forsyth Medical Center/Novant Health, I may not be there at that particular moment. What you need, you need a Champion that really knows you, understands this particular conversation, and then understands, knowing what they know about you what they know about your goals and desire, they understand that in almost any circumstance, no matter how difficult, we're going to be able to figure out what you Mrs. Smith would want done in this unforeseen circumstance.  Melody So what do you tell a patient who might be reluctant to name a champion? Dr. McDonald I'll begin by saying, I'm the Champion for my mom and dad, and I have been for many, many years. And my mom, who's a registered nurse, she was the one that was reluctant years ago for me to become her Champion, because she thought it was almost too much weight. And so what I told my mom back then, and what I think a lot of champions really believe there's no greater demonstration of confidence or love, than you turning to someone that you love and trust so much, and say, “You are the keeper of my decisions when I am not able to make those decisions.” And I think when you put it in those terms, it's pretty often and I would say even more than that, most often the case that patients embrace that idea when they look at it that way.  MelodySo what do you tell a family member who doesn't want to honor the Champion named? Dr. McDonaldYep. And so let's first talk about what do you do about a Champion that's been asked, and doesn't want to become the Champion, kind of the reverse of where we're going here. What I tell them, and this is something that I had learned at the Massachusetts General years and years and years ago, we called it the curse and the blessing. And the way we described it is, the blessing is that your mom, your dad, your friend has so much confidence in what you know about this person. Let's say it's Mrs. Smith, and she has placed all the confidence in you that can be no greater blessing than that. And then you actually have to go hard Scottish on them after that and say –  here's where the curse comes in – I would be asking Mrs. Smith, if she was able to tell me … I never met Mrs. Smith, when she would have been able to tell me. You were here representing Mrs. Smith. Knowing what her wants and desires were, you can tell me all you know about her joys, her hobbies, her loves, etcetera, her fears. You can tell me all about that and I can help guide you to what I think she would want. But I need to know a lot from you. And once you explain that to most Champions, they're OK with it, they understand that it isn't their choice. They're making a choice in place of Mrs. Smith, who was unable to make that choice for herself.  And that then gets to the other point, which I really don't see arise all that often. And that is what happens if you have multiple family members, and one of them has been identified as the Champion, and then there are some other children in the mix are other friends … and they may disagree as far as direction of care? At the end of the day, the Champion, if it is ascertained that that Champion was rightfully made, meaning when the patient was in sound mind and possibly sound body — but certainly sound mind — and made that particular decision, and you ascertain the Champion understands that they're making a decision based on Mrs. Smith's wishes, then it is pretty easy to discuss with family members: Ladies and gentlemen, this is who mom, dad, whoever, chose as her Champion. This is the person we need to be guided by. And I really, over many, many years, have almost never run into conflict once you sort of let families know that this was done with a lot of foresight on the part of the patient. Melody  How does a champion or advance directive take the burden off of the family? Dr. McDonald People have very, very busy lives. And it is often the case that it is at that unforeseen moment that bad things happen to good people. When someone was totally not expecting, for instance, a stroke or a cardiopulmonary arrest to befall them. And at that moment, you're able to tell the family, however spread apart they are — and you may be doing it by Zoom conferences — there is a Champion that has been identified. That Champion is such and such. I have had extensive conversations with her. I truly, truly believe she is speaking on mom’s or dad’s or brother’s or sister’s behalf and it really does take the burden off, because a lot of times, families are unaware that mom or dad have identified a Champion. So that comes as a surprise sometimes, but you know it's working well when the families realize, ‘Oh, that's the Champion I know mom or dad would have chosen.” Melody Can you take me through one of those conversations and just provide me with some insight on what that conversation was like? Dr. McDonald Yeah, so I'll give you a I'll give you an example — I'll give you two examples. I'll give you a choice example, and then I'll also give you a Champion example.  So my favorite choice example is from… it's now because it was before the pandemic began. So it would have been probably fall of 2019, we had a 90-something incredibly active woman come to the hospital. Never sick a day in her life, had played college softball back in the 40s. Just the picture of health, and came in with a non-disabling stroke that was related to a severe blockage of one of her carotid arteries.  And we've known — we've known since 1993 — that fixing a carotid artery to prevent a bigger stroke down the road beats medicine every day of the week. Not by a little bit, but a zillion, zillion miles. And so I remember this conversation with this 95-year-old, when I knew what she needed. She had lived to 95, we know that the benefit of doing the operation will be fully realized if she happens to make it to 97. So she didn't have very far to go to really prove the benefit of the operation. And we got into this conversation. And she was very, she was very bright. and to the point. And when I was talking about the operation, she said, “But Dr. McDonald, don't you think your friends are going to be crazy when you start talking about operating on a 95-year-old?” And I said some of them will. But it isn't about the age, it is about the individual patient.  And I said, so what drives your day-to-day joy? What drives your day-to-day activities? And she said: “Dr. McDonald, you know, I was a college softball player. I love baseball. I love watching the Atlanta Braves, every single game. That's what I live for.” And I said, Well, you know that if you had this operation, you would be much more likely to do that happily over the next several years than if you didn't. And so she made the choice, which we all considered reasonable, I'll have the operation. The last time I heard from her, she sent me a note recently. She's still doing great. She was so happy the Atlanta Braves did so well, almost getting to the World Series. But that's the kind of choice when it works, when you talk about loves and hobbies and stuff like that. It wasn't about living two more years, it is what would you do over the next two years that would make you happy as far  As tough choices, and I'll give you sort of a champion choice, and that's why it's so important and I led with this a little while ago. That's why it's so important not to treat the advance care plan or the choices as just a single, inevitable moment in time. It goes back to this idea where a patient had some clear choices back in October. They get diagnosed with a very bad cancer in December. No one has had a further conversation. And now it is late January, and the patient has come in with a disabling brain injury, and you turn to the Champion and you say, what would she want done at this particular point? And this particular Champion, really struggled, because she said, “We really haven't talked about it since this diagnosis of this really bad cancer, she's still trying to process those options.” And yet, there were opportunities to talk to the patient about it, and that would have been at doctor's visits, when they began to talk about this notion of an advanced cancer. Does that change your goals? And so with that said, that's why I really impress on people, that almost every encounter that a provider has with a patient is an opportunity to add to the advance care planning or the choice story.  And with that said, everything worked out in the end, it just took a little bit longer to talk through, to really get the Champion to feel comfortable that she was speaking for the patient, as well as the patient knew anyone about what the patient would want to have done. And we came to the idea that the patient, if she was healthy, meaning no head injury and not looking to several weeks or months of rehab, not knowing what the outcome, if this was a short-lived problem, we get through it. And then she'd see if there's any therapeutic options for the cancer.  But once I explained that that isn't the outlook, that this is several months of rehab, because we're really good at keeping people alive, we're expecting she's going to survive this. Several months of rehab, only God knows where things look several months from now. And once she heard that she processed several months of that with this cancer treatment that may or may not be treatable on, on hold. Where are we at this point?  This friend — it was not a relative, it was her closest friend, she had no family — she said, now I know what she would want to do, she would want to focus on comfort and dignity. Melody So are there any misconceptions around advance directives that you find? Dr. McDonaldYeah, I think the biggest misconception is it somehow means do not treat and or do not care. And that isn't what it means at all. It means there are going to be certain treatments that make no sense because they're not in keeping with the patient's choices. It never means do not treat, because one of the most important things we as medical professionals do, is that we offercare, we offer comfort, we offer empathy, and we never stop treating with those things, no matter what limits we put on medications, machines and monitors.     Melody Is there something people are surprised to learn when you have this conversation with them? Dr. McDonald I think the most common surprise for people is them coming to the realization that they are making this choice almost as if they are channeling the patient, as opposed to what I would want to have happen to me if I was in this situation. Or more to the point, what I would want because I selfishly — and not selfish in a bad way — I selfishly love this person and I don't want to see them leave me. But those are, I think, the most surprising realizations. That once you get a champion pass that, then all is good, and they realize this isn't about them, and that's why the person that wants the choices made picked them in the first place. Because they believe the choices aren't going to be made based on the champion, they're going to be made based on the patient.   Melody So what does your end-of-life plan look like?  Dr. McDonald And so there are things that I really enjoy. I enjoy cooking, I enjoy reading, I enjoy listening to music, I enjoy exercise, I enjoy being with family. That's my architecture out there. If I were to be deprived of several of those permanently, my champion understands that that is no life that I would be feeling worth living. And we would focus on comfort and dignity. So that's what my plan looks like. And you just heard, what is it about? It's about goals, loves and desires. And once you sort of establish those goals, loves and desires, it's easy to get to the specifics. Gina DiPietro againAs Dr. McDonald explained, having these important conversations helps you keep control of your medical care in the event of a serious injury or medical problem. It puts you in the drivers’ seat, and takes the burden of guessing or deciding off your loved ones who may have no idea what you’d want. Through Choices and Champions, Novant Health provides planning tools, step-by-step guides and personalized support from one of our Choices and Champions team members to ensure your decisions are known and can be honored. For more information, visit NovantHealth.org/ChoicesandChampions. Then share your wishes with your Champion, those who matter most to you, and your care team. Thanks for listening to this episode of Healthy Headlines. If you enjoyed this podcast, please take a moment to rate and review us and subscribe to this and all the Novant Health podcasts. 

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What does it take to vaccinate thousands of people in a single day? We go behind the scenes at the first-ever mass vaccination event at the Spectrum Center in uptown Charlotte.

Learning you have heart disease can be shocking, but reversible. Novant Health cardiologist Dr. Sandy Charles discusses things you can do to turn around your heart health and live a full life.

Alicia Roberts speaks to Novant Health cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Fisher, a practitioner of mindfulness meditation for 10 years, about what mindfulness meditation means to him and the many benefits it can bring to others in difficult times.

Headaches often are a symptom of the COVID-19 virus, and for many patients, it's something they're battling for months.

Amanda Smith, a Novant Health registered dietitian, talks about some common weight-loss mistakes, and some better alternatives we can all learn from.

Novant Health's Dr. David Pearce treats COVID-19 patients and sees the devastating effects of the virus. He shares why people should get the vaccine.

Talking politics with "the other side" in America has become more difficult than ever. Novant Health psychotherapist Soltana Nosrati explains how you have a conversation without turning it into a battle.

A well-placed nap is an easy and effective way to boost your energy and avoid dragging through the rest of your day. As little as 20 minutes works fine.

Air fryers have more or less been the most coveted counter-top kitchen gadget out there. In this episode, writer Hannah Six talks with registered dietitian Jennifer Anderson Logan who discusses how air fryers work, what foods work best in them, and whether or not she thinks air fryers are worthy of your most precious real estate: the kitchen counter.

High school sports in North Carolina are resuming, and Novant Health's Dr. Adam Culver discusses what steps athletes should take to remain safe.

After months of waiting, there is finally light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel with the emergence of three new vaccines. In this episode, Roland Wilkinson speaks to Dr. Charles Bregier, Novant Health medical director of corporate health, about the safety and necessity of these promising new vaccines.