New dialysis center aims patient centric approach
October 31, 2018Medicine isn't always a numbers game. If it were we'd all probably be paying a lot more attention to end-stage renal disease or ESRD. More than 31 million Americans suffer from renal (kidney) disease and, according to the American Kidney Fund, nine out of ten people who are already in stage three of this five-stage disease don't even know they have it. Worse, the University of California San Franc...
Shot of confidence: Why this flu vaccine may work better -SRMC Featured in Vero News
October 12, 2018The Florida Department of Health is adamant. Everyone should get vaccinated for influenza by the end of this month. Infectious disease Specialist Dr. Aisha Thomas- St. Cyr at Sebastian Infectious Disease Care and Steward Health agrees wholeheartedly with the FDH, saying "yes, I recommend everyone -6 months of age and up -get vaccinated." Why? Let's start with this: According to Dr. Robert Redfield...
Surgeons favoring tourniquet-free knee replacements
October 9, 2018Everybody has heard of tourniquets. In cases of traumatic bleeding, a tourniquet can save your life. In a total knee replacement procedure, however, there’s now ample evidence that tourniquets may actually do more harm than good. Sebastian River medical Center orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kenneth Sands has seen more than his share of traumatic bleeding after spending more than a dozen years as a U.S. A...
Venous insufficiency: Straight talk about 'silent disease'
October 2, 2018Venous insufficiency, says vascular and endovascular surgeon Dr. Hadi Shalhoub is, "the silent disease." That is probably one reason he is so vocal about it. Another is that, by his count, "70 to 80 percent of patients who come into (Sebastian's) Wound Care Center with a chronic wound come in with a venous insufficiency. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, "Venous insufficiency occurs when your l...
New doc helps bariatric team tackle obesity plague - Featured in Vero News
September 18, 2018When Dr. Natalee Stone joined the Riverside Surgical and Weight Loss Center and Steward Medical Group at the Sebastian River Medical Center, she went to work immediately, performing five separate bariatric surgeries on her very first days on the job – which happened to be Labor Day weekend. Why? Because, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third (36.5 percent)...
App-y days are here in fighting coronary artery disease - SRMC Featured in Vero News
September 6, 2018Worried about a heart attack brought on by coronary artery disease (CAD)? Dr. Lilian Ahiable, a fresh face at the Steward Medical Group in Vero Beach, is using a modern mantra to help stop CAD. There is, she says, an app for that. And why not? The American College of Cardiology says that every 40 seconds, someone in this country dies from CAD. Indeed, the ACC says cardiovascular diseases in genera...
For bariatric surgery, it’s Dr. Domkowski ‘hands’ down - Featured in Vero News
August 29, 2018When Diane Muller went looking for a bariatric surgeon to help her overcome her serious obesity problems – including a body mass index of 55, hypothyroidism, lymphedema and fatty liver disease – she probably didn’t expect to find a self-described “four-handed surgeon.” But she did.
‘Biologics’: Bright (and pricey) future of asthma treatment - Vero News
August 7, 2018Asthma, according to Dr. Charles Fischman of the Steward Medical Group in Vero Beach, “is one of the few disease entities in the United States now that is on the increase,” which is not good news. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says upwards of 26 million Americans currently have this disease, and admits “we don’t know why” the number of cases are climbing. Fischman, who describes h...
Highly skilled SRMC security guard protects and saves - Featured in Vero News
August 1, 2018Hospital security guards are often described in online ads as “someone who does not provide treatment to patients, but is a very visible hospital employee, often greeting patients when they enter the facility. Their main duty is to protect people, property and information as well as the hospital’s reputation.” Sebastian River Medical Center security guard Matt Ferraro more than lives up to that de...
Hospital’s dietitians battle epidemic of malnutrition - Featured in Vero News
August 1, 2018Sebastian River Medical Center registered dietitians Brittany Robinson and Laurie Beebe just dropped a bombshell on this Mecca for retirees. Malnutrition, they say, is far more commonplace on the Treasure Coast than most people realize – especially among hospital patients in general and seniors in particular. “I would say 70 percent of our patient population are patients that aren’t eating because...
Cancer patient grateful for the quality of her care - Featured in Vero News
July 24, 2018Vero Lake Estates resident Sharlynn Hewitt knows a lot about breast cancer. She ought to. She’s been dealing with the disease since 2015. And she’s far from alone. According to Breast Cancer Statistics, a biannual publication for cancer clinicians, breast cancer is the second-most common cancer diagnosed among U.S. women, with some 252,710 new cases reported just last year. It’s also the second le...
Transitional care critical to patients’ lasting well-being - Sebastian River MC Nurse in Vero News
July 3, 2018“Transitional care,” says registered nurse Virginia (Ginny) Currier, director of nursing at Sebastian River Medical Center’s transitional care unit, “is the bridge between hospital and home” for patients that need additional care after an operation or illness.
Sebastian River Medical Center and Steward Medical Group Welcome Physician Group Fischman & Borgmeier in Vero Beach
July 2, 2018Sebastian River Medical Center and Steward Medical Group are pleased to welcome the Fischman & Borgmeier Group to the Steward Health Care system. Charles Fischman, MD, David Biezunski, MD, Brad Grasman, MD, and Lori Raffa, NP, have practiced in the area for more than 20 years and bring an expertise in Internal Medicine and Family Practice, Allergy & Immunology, Pulmonary Disease, Endocrin...
Shoulder surgery may not mean joint replacement - Sebastian River MC Doc in Vero News
June 27, 2018The human shoulder is something of a paradox. It provides a far greater range of motion than any other joint in the body and it is in near-constant use each and every day, and yet the number of shoulder repair or replacement surgeries performed in this country is tiny compared to the number of knee and hip procedures.
‘Tick’ tock: Lyme disease grows as threat here - Vero News
June 20, 2018You can’t hide from Lyme disease in Florida anymore. While most people think of the disease in connection with the northeast, Dr. Aisha Thomas-St. Cyr at Sebastian Infectious Disease Care and Steward Health says the number of cases of this tick-borne illness are likely to double in the Sunshine State this year.
New ‘Cobra’ stent trial is underway at SRMC - Vero News
June 19, 2018Interventional cardiologist Dr. Charles Croft of Melbourne and nurse practitioner Jennifer Konowitz of the Sebastian River Medical Center’s catheterization lab are operating on the cutting edge of modern medicine, having just started work on a worldwide clinical trial for the FDA-approved Cobra PzF cardio stent by CeloNova.
SRMC’s ‘JointCoach’ is winning surgery patients over - Vero News
June 6, 2018Hospitals and outside surgery centers nationwide have been scrambling recently to get joint replacement patients out the door as fast as possible to cut costs and conform to new Medicare guidelines. But how fast is too fast? In January of this year Medicare began allowing total knee replacements as an “outpatient procedure,” with some patients spending as little as eight hours under medical care f...
Doc: Spine surgery much improved in recent years - Vero News
June 6, 2018While most people think neurosurgeons like Dr. Jacob Januszewski mainly, or even exclusively, operate on patients’ brains, it turns out these highly specialized doctors actually spend much more time treating back pain related to the spine and nervous system. Januszewski estimates the ratio in most neurosurgery practices as “about 80 percent spine and 20 percent brain,” and says that 80 percent inc...
Steward Health Care Names Christopher Baker, Brian Ackerman and Brandon Kahl Exceptional EMS Providers at “EMS Stewards of the Community” Awards
May 31, 2018In annual awards ceremony, Steward recognized EMS providers hailing from Brevard County Fire Rescue, Cocoa Fire Department and Indian River Fire and Rescue
Dr. Raman Ashta Featured in Vero News - Over-Medication for Seniors
March 7, 2018Dr. Raman Ashta is hardly the first person to move south to Vero Beach in order to spend her time doing what she loves. Retirees have been doing it for a century. That said, Ashta didn’t move all that far south and she’s still very much working full time. A family practice physician who has an office in Vero Beach but works for Sebastian River Medical Center, her southward trek only took her from ...