Archive for December, 2009
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
Weakness is a lack of physical or muscle strength and the feeling that performing normal daily activities just takes too much effort.
Fatigue is a feeling of tiredness, exhaustion, or lack of energy.
Both weakness and fatigue are symptoms of a larger problem, but not diseases. Because these symptoms can be caused by many other health problems, it is important to be evaluated by your doctor to find the cause of your problems.
Weakness can be caused by:
Hypothyroidism – A low thyroid level that can be dangerous if left untreated.
Hyperthyroidism – A high thyroid level that can be dangerous if left untreated.
A problem with the minerals (electrolytes) found naturally in the body, such as low levels of potassium or sodium.
Guillain-Barre Syndrome – a rare nerve disorder that causes weakness in the legs, arms, and other muscles and that can progress to complete paralysis.
Myasthenia Gravis – a rare, chronic disorder that causes weakness and rapid muscle fatigue.
Muscle weakness that is slowly getting worse requires a visit to the doctor. Call WOL+MED to see a doctor today.
Fatigue can be caused by:
A decrease in the amount of hemoglobin that carries oxygen throughout the body.
Problems with the heart, such as coronary artery disease or heart failure that limit the supply of oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle or the rest of the body.
Metabolic disorders, such as diabetes.
Hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism.
Kidney disease and liver failure.
Anxiety or depression.
The use of prescription and nonprescription medicines.
The use or abuse of alcohol, caffeine, or illegal drugs.
Fatigue that lasts longer than 2 weeks usually requires a visit to the doctor. This type of fatigue may be caused by a more serious health problem such as those mentioned above. WOL+MED doctors can help you with these problems.
In 2009, 60% of patients at WOL+MED, who complained of weakness and fatigue, were between the ages of 35 and 54. That’s a 20-year age range! If you or someone you love is having symptoms of weakness or fatigue, talk to your medical provider about finding out the reasons why as well as the possible solutions.
WOL+MED doctors can help.
Share on Facebook
Tags: Fever, High Fever, Influenza, Texas Womens University, TWU, University of North Texas, UNT, Weakness and Fatigue, WOL+MED
Posted in Healthcare | No Comments »
Monday, December 21st, 2009
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, there were 61,954 serious injury crashes in the state of Texas. Denton county had 1,208 serious injury crashes, Collin county had 1,616, Dallas County had 5,532, and Tarrant County had 4,491.
The #1 contributing factor to these serious injury crashes was failing to control speed, followed by driver inattention (going too fast and not paying attention).
The following data is the most surprising. If you were asked what the weather conditions were of most injuries, you would probably say rainy or icy conditions or driving at night. You would be wrong. 63% of serious injury crashes occurred during daylight hours and 88% happened during dry road conditions. Less than 7% of serious injury crashes happened during rainy conditions. Serious injury crashes happened only about 10% of the time when combining wet and icy road conditions.
Finally, the ages of drivers who were in serious injury accidents was not as surprising. Of those accidents where the driver’s age was reported, 27% were between the ages of 18 and 25, 23% were between the ages of 26 and 35, 19% were 36 to 45, 16% were 46 to 55, and 15% were 56+.
So, what does this data tell us? For one, watch out for young adults driving too fast in near-perfect conditions. I always assumed (and was wrong) that most serious injuries happened during poor weather / driving conditions, but everyone knows that the younger drivers are the most at risk for car accidents.
What do you do when you are hurt in a car wreck? Always call the police and get an accident report. This is very helpful for your insurance company. Call 911 if you or someone else is seriously injured. See a doctor who specializes in auto injuries as soon as possible following the accident. WOL+MED, for example, can see you the same day as your injury, and we specialize in auto injuries and urgent care. Also, you might need a personal injury lawyer and believe me, there are some really good ones out there.
Personal Injury Attorneys specialize in dealing directly with your insurance company and with the other driver’s insurance company. They make sure that all of your injuries and auto damages are fully covered. Many people think they can do all of this alone, but personal injury lawyers know how to get over the hurdles that some insurance carriers put in the way. As far as doctor’s bills are concerned, a personal injury attorney will give the doctor a letter of protection (LOP) and this will allow you to get all of the treatment you need with no out-of-pocket cost. Car accidents are unexpected to say the least. You’re not planning on having to pay doctor’s bills and auto body expenses. LOP’s will help you get all of that done with far less financial stress.
WOL+MED knows who the good personal injury lawyers are and we can recommend someone to you who will do the right job for you. If you or a loved one has been in a serious auto injury, give WOL+MED a call. We are auto injury experts and we want to be your doctor.
For more information, visit on the web at www.wolmed.com.
Share on Facebook
Tags: Ankle Injuries, Auto Injuries, Back Injuries, Car Wrecks, Emergency Room, ER, Fractures, Injured Workers, Knee Injuries, Minor Emergency, Minor Emergency Dallas, Minor Emergency Denton, Shoulder Injuries, Urgent Care, Urgent Care Dallas, Urgent Care Denton, WOL+MED, WORK INJURIES, WORKERS COMP
Posted in Attorney, Auto Injuries, Chronic Pain, Healthcare, Law, Lawyer, Minor Emergency, Pain Management, Personal Injury, Urgent Care | No Comments »
Friday, December 18th, 2009
In order to remain CARF accredited, WOL+MED is required to provide access or referral to legal entities for appropriate representation and to have information available to our patients regarding advocacy. In other words, we are required to help patients find attorneys who can help them with the legal aspects of their work injuries. Workers Comp attorneys can be very helpful for injured workers. Very often, people who were hurt on the job have trouble getting their injuries approved by the insurance carrier and sometimes they have difficulty getting their entire injury claim accepted. Attorneys can file for Benefit Review Conferences (BRC) and Contested Case Hearings (CCH) that often clear up the problems that injured workers have for getting treatment.
BRC’s and CCH’s can be overwhelming and intimidating for injured workers because they have to attend the hearings and represent themselves against lawyers and other workers comp experts who are trying to keep their case closed. If the case is closed, then injured workers can’t get the treatment they need to get better. When they can’t get better, they often lose their jobs, suffer from depression and financial loss, and more. Workers Comp attorneys can usually prevent these bad things from happening.
CARF recognizes the need for patients to have legal advocacy and so does WOL+MED. We can recommend very good, qualified workers compensation lawyers who will help get your case open or keep it open and help get your work injuries accepted by the insurance carrier.
Some people worry that they will have to pay the attorney and that usually is not true. Most of the time, the workers comp attorney is paid a percentage by insurance carriers, but ONLY when you get paid and ONLY when your case is going well. These lawyers have to do the right job for you before they ever get paid. The other thing that is very important to remember is that if you have to be off work due to a work injury that is not accepted by the insurance carrier, you most likely will not get paid. When your attorney gets your claim approved, that also keeps your checks coming. Many patients think that’s worth it since they wouldn’t get paid without their attorney.
When you’re hurt at work, the last thing you should have to worry about is if you will have insurance problems or if you will have to pay money out of your own pocket to get treatment. It’s not fair to you when that happens. WOL+MED helps you with these problems by recommending very good, qualified workers comp attorneys to be in your corner.
Share on Facebook
Tags: Ankle Injuries, Attorneys, Back Injuries, CARF, Federal Workers Comp, Fractures, Injured Workers, Knee Injuries, Lawyers, Minor Emergency, Minor Emergency Dallas, Minor Emergency Denton, Post Office Injuries, Postal Employees, Postal Workers, School Injuries, Shoulder Injuries, United States Postal Service, University of North Texas, UNT, Urgent Care, Urgent Care Dallas, Urgent Care Denton, USPS Injuries, WOL+MED, Work Comp, WORK INJURIES, WORKERS COMP, Workers Comp Attorneys
Posted in Attorney, Chronic Pain, Healthcare, Law, Lawyer, Minor Emergency, Pain Management, Urgent Care, USPS Injuries, WORK INJURIES, WORKERS COMP, Workers Comp Attorney, Workers Compensation | 2 Comments »
Friday, December 11th, 2009
WOL+MED has earned its 3rd straight maximum CARF accreditation for Pain Management, Work Hardening, and Work Conditioning. CARF stands for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehab Facilities. This is the international “Gold Standard” in rehabilitation. By the end of the current accreditation period, WOL+MED will have been accredited for a full decade. To become CARF accredited, a medical / physical therapy facility has to meet or exceed hundreds of standards for excellence. Among these standards are those requiring accessibility into the rehab programs, tracking of excellent outcomes, patient satisfaction, maintaining an excellent medical team, effective business operations, maintaining a safe treatment environment, and much more. CARF accreditation is an ongoing effort which means that WOL+MED is committed to always providing the highest level of service to its patients and their families. We don’t have to be CARF accredited. After all, it’s really hard. We do it because we know that it makes us better and because we know that it’s important to our patients.
At last check, WOL+MED has the only CARF accredited Pain Management program between Dallas and St. Louis, Missouri (traveling along I-35). We’re proud of our program and of our patients’ results. The majority of people who complete our programs get better and are able to get their life back. With our continued CARF accreditation, we’re committed to that high level of excellence.
If you know someone who suffers with chronic pain or they haven’t gotten the results they expect from other places, please tell them about WOL+MED’s CARF accredited pain management program. Go to our web site and read the testimonials from other patients who experienced success with WOL+MED. We can help.
Share on Facebook
Tags: Ankle Injuries, Auto Injuries, Back Injuries, Car Wrecks, Chronic Pain, Denton ISD, Emergency Room, ER, Federal Workers Comp, Fractures, Injured Workers, Knee Injuries, Lewisville ISD, Minor Emergency, Minor Emergency Dallas, Minor Emergency Denton, Pain Management, Pain Management Dallas, Pain Management Denton, Post Office Injuries, Postal Employees, Postal Workers, School Injuries, Severe Pain, Shoulder Injuries, Texas Womens University, TSA, TWU, United States Postal Service, University of North Texas, UNT, Urgent Care, Urgent Care Dallas, Urgent Care Denton, US Post Office, USPS, USPS Employees, USPS Injuries, WOL+MED, Work Comp, WORK INJURIES, WORKERS COMP
Posted in Chronic Pain, Healthcare, Minor Emergency, Pain Management, United States Postal Service, Urgent Care, USPS Injuries, WORK INJURIES, WORKERS COMP, Workers Compensation | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
After doing some research to find out who was getting injured at work in Denton County, I was surprised to find the high number of people who work in education that get injured at work. I’m sure these aren’t only teachers. The education industry also is made up of cafeteria workers, office staff, maintenance workers, bus drivers, and others. When researching further, I found that nearly 50% of the major Denton County employers are in Education, so it would make sense that so many injured workers come from that industry. In Denton County, we have the University of North Texas, Texas Women’s University, Denton ISD, and Lewisville ISD. These 4 alone represent almost 50% of the major Denton County Employers. In fact, UNT has over 7,700 employees!
WOL+MED treats all kinds of work injuries: shoulder injuries, knee injuries, back injuries, neck injuries, hand injuries, ankle injuries and more. We want to help when you are injured or when someone that you know is injured at work. The majority of our new patients come from referrals from other patients. If you know someone who was hurt while working at one of the Denton County schools, tell them to consider WOL+MED.
Share on Facebook
Tags: Bus Driver Injuries, Cafeteria Workers, Denton ISD, Education, Lewisville ISD, Maintenance Workers, School Injuries, School teacher injuries, School work injuries, Texas Womens University, Texas workers comp, TWU, University of North Texas, UNT, WORK INJURIES, WORKERS COMP
Posted in Education, Minor Emergency, Urgent Care, WORK INJURIES, WORKERS COMP, Workers Compensation | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Many people don’t realize that WOL+MED also provides minor emergency services in its Denton and Dallas clinics. We take walk-in appointments and we are open until 8pm during the week and for most of the day on Saturdays. Dr. Robert Helsten, MD is an expert in helping patients with emergency needs. Before coming to WOL+MED Dr. Helsten served in an emergency room for several years. Along with Dr. Helsten, Dr. Rodney Shultz, DC, PA-C is an experienced Chiropractor and Physicians Assistant. He is very well trained in suturing large wounds, which is a common injury found in Minor Emergency Clinics. WOL+MED is able to help patients with high fever, large cuts, sprains & strains, flu symptoms, vomiting, dehydration, fractures, back injuries, shoulder injuries, knee and ankle injuries, and much more.
If you or a loved one requires urgent care or help for a minor emergency, please give WOL+MED a try. We are an excellent alternative to the sometimes brutal wait times of the emergency room. Our medical team is always ready to help you.
Share on Facebook
Tags: Ankle Injuries, Auto Injuries, Back Injuries, Car Wrecks, Emergency Room, ER, Fever, Fractures, High Fever, Influenza, Knee Injuries, Lacerations, Minor Emergency, Minor Emergency Dallas, Minor Emergency Denton, Shoulder Injuries, Urgent Care, Urgent Care Dallas, Urgent Care Denton, USPS Injuries, WOL+MED, WORK INJURIES, WORKERS COMP
Posted in Auto Injuries, Healthcare, Minor Emergency, United States Postal Service, Urgent Care, USPS Injuries, WORK INJURIES, WORKERS COMP, Workers Compensation | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
WOL+MED has teamed up with the North Texas Food Bank to help feed families in need. The North Texas Food Bank uses a virtual food drive so that anyone can get involved. When you don’t have time to go to the grocery store and buy canned food, you can instead donate money online. When you don’t have time to take food to the food bank, you can donate money online. WOL+MED employees made enough donations during the Thanksgiving holiday to provide over 4,000 meals! We will continue to support the North Texas Food Bank thru the Christmas holiday and throughout 2010. If you would like to make a donation, you can click on the food bank icon located on WOL+MED’s home page. Thank you for your support!
Share on Facebook
Tags: Auto Injuries, Federal Workers Comp, FEMA, Injured Workers, New Patient Referrals, North Texas Food Bank, Post Office Injuries, Postal Employees, Postal Workers, TSA, United States Postal Service, US Post Office, USPS, USPS Employees, USPS Injuries
Posted in Auto Injuries, Healthcare, United States Postal Service, USPS Injuries, WORK INJURIES, WORKERS COMP | No Comments »
