Wellpoint Health is pleased to announce the launch of it’s new iphone application called Welltrack.

WellTrack is a personal health record app to designed to keep track of your medical and health records in a simple, easy-to-use way, along with several other great features!

TRAVEL
Travelling? Check to see if you’ve taken the recommended vaccinations for your destination.
-238 different countries and regions.
-Information updated using the latest CDC postings.

LONGEVITY
-Calculate your life expectancy!
-Algorithm takes age, sex, blood pressure, fitness, and much more into consideration!
-Uses datasets from peer-reviewed medical journals.

PROFILE
Keep track of all your personal medical information. This includes:
-Immunizations
-Medications
-Medical Problems
-Medical Procedures
-Test Procedures (i.e. blood cholesterol)
-General Wellness (i.e. calories consumed, minutes exercised, etc…)
-Medical Contacts
-Create multiple profiles for your family members and loved ones!

TRENDS
-View your medical information neatly graphed.
-Want to know if you’re losing weight? What you gained over the holidays? Track your progression!
-View your long and short term health trends!

Download today at http://www.welltrackapp.com

Our Wellpoint Health – Calgary Foothills location, is pleased to announce that we are now offering Prolotherapy with Platelet Rich Plasma as an option for our patients with certain types of ligament, tendon and joint disorders. This service is being administered by our Medical Director, Dr. Todd Gash.

Dr. Gash is a sports and Occupational Injury Physician who has been treating ligament, tendon and joint disorders with Prolotherapy or Proliferation Therapy, also known as Regenerative Injection Therapy for over 5 years.

Prolotherapy is the injection of a solution that stimulates the growth of new cells in order to heal painful damage of ligaments, joints, and tendons due to overuse, disease or injury.

Platelet Rich Plasma, known as PRP, is a promising solution derived from a patients own blood, that is used to accelerate healing of ligament, tendon and joint disorders. It is a new advancement in the use of Regenerative Injection Therapy.

Blood is comprised of red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), plasma and platelets. While platelets have been known to be responsible for blood clotting, they also contain healing proteins called growth factors which are released when activated in the body. These growth factors are responsible for tissue healing.

By concentrating platelets from patient’s own blood using a special centrifuge system, the concentration of platelets and growth factors is increased in the PRP solution by up to 500%.

Under ultrasound guidance, the PRP solution is then injected into the area of damaged tissue.

In general, depending on response to treatment, one to three treatment sessions are required six to eight weeks apart.

PRP therapy is believed to accelerate and enhance the body’s own natural repair mechanisms. While there are no large multicentred trials using PRP, many small trials and case reports have shown promising results.

For more information or to book an appointment to assess whether you or your employees may be a suitable candidate for prolotherapy or PRP, please call 403-236-8400.

Spring feels as though it has finally arrived.  Hopefully you have found some time to enjoy the good weather we’ve had lately.  

Based on feedback and requests from our previous events, we are pleased to present a session dedicated to Repetitive Strain Injuries.  Many of you have expressed frustration with vague diagnosis and unclear treatment plans for these types of injuries.  This session will follow a more traditional lunch and lecture format given by Dr. Sharma, CEO of  Wellpoint Health. 

Dr. Sharma will be discussing relevant risk factors and high risk activities; management of patients with repetitive strain injuries from the medical perspective as well as in the workplace; and return to work planning for employees with Repetitive Strain Injuries. 

If you haven’t attended one of these sessions previously, they are normally described as very interesting and informative.  I hope you will be able to join us. Details are as follows:  

Where: CBI Calgary South ( Suite 103, 240 Midpark Way SE)

When:  June 9, 2010

Time:   Lunch served at 11:45, presentation 12:00-12:45

Cost:    Cash or Food Donation to Calgary Interfaith Food Bank

Please RSVP to Sunil Sharma, sunil.sharma@wellpointhealth.ca or (647) 637-2233

Wellpoint Health Corp. has taken over the medical practice at CBI Health’s Midpark location effective April 1, 2010.  The clinic is located at 240 Midpark Way SE, #103. This clinic is a walk-in clinic and can accomodate general walk-ins and treatment of injured workers.

Hours of Operation are Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm.

The physicians working at this location are Dr. Antia Daniel, Dr. Ron Mayrhofer, Dr. Jamie Chau and Dr. Martelle Preller.

For more information or to book an appointment, please call (403) 256-8213 or visit our website at www.wellpointhealth.ca

CBI Health in conjunction with Wellpoint Health is offering a Lunch and Learn on “Occupational Health Testing” 

When:    March 4, 2010
Time:     Doors Open at 11:30am
Where:  Glenmore Inn (2720 Glenmore Trail SE)
Cost:      Cash or Food Donation to Calgary Interfaith Food Bank
RSVP:     Mark Powell, mpowell@cbi.ca or (403) 831-8004

How have you been doing with keeping up with your New Years Resolution so far in 2010? The most common resolutions made pertain to good health. Three common resolutions are to quit smoking, lose weight and exercise more. Here are some tips to keep you on the path you chose at the beginning of this year.

The most important factor in being successful at reaching your goals is self-motivation. Another important feature is to have reachable, realistic goals.

So let’s start thinking about smoking cessation. Everyone knows about the detrimental effects of smoking….ranging from cancer to heart disease and stroke. Once a smoker feels motivated to quit smoking, the battle is almost over. Sticking to the motivation is very important. How can a smoker go about quitting smoking? The methods vary from “Cold Turkey” quitting, hypnosis, nicotine replacement gums or patches and there are two prescription medications. The best thing to do would be to sit down with your physician and discuss the best option for you. The support of a friend or relative can also help. An important feature in quitting smoking is to substitute the behaviour of when a person smokes with alternative activities. For example, munch on a low calorie snack such as carrot or celery sticks, do something with your hands such as crossword puzzles or Sudoku, or go for a walk instead of lingering over an alcoholic beverage or coffee.

Weight loss is a very common resolution. How much weight should someone lose? Healthy weights are gauged with the Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist circumference. Charts listing BMI are based on a person’s height. A healthy BMI is below 25. Overweight ranges from 25-29 and obesity is higher than a BMI of 30. Body fat around the waist leads to poor health, increasing the risk of Diabetes and Heart Disease. A woman’s waist circumference should be less than 88 cm and a man’s waist circumference should be less than 102 cm. Healthy weight loss can be achieved as a half to one pound loss per week. To achieve this, it is important to follow a well balanced diet….fad diets rarely keep weight off. The important thing is to follow a healthy diet and stick to it long term. This includes foods from all food groups. If you are uncertain of what you should be eating, you should make an appointment with one of Wellpoint’s Dietitians.

The reasons to exercise vary from assisting in weight loss, increasing muscle tone, flexibility, strength and cardiovascular endurance. Exercise also makes a person feel happier by releasing endorphins into the brain. Which ever the reason, have realistic goals. These may include reducing weight, reducing body fat and the number of centimeters of a certain body area, increasing the angle or distance of a stretch, increasing the distance or time of a cardiovascular exercise. The minimum number of hours of exercise per week should be a total of 2 ½ hours per week. The ideal should be 5 hours per week, of which approximately 2/3 of the time is spent doing cardiovascular exercises. If you are uncertain of your present musculoskeletal health, you may want to book an appointment with the Wellpoint Athletic trainer, physiotherapists or chiropractor. They can assess your present condition and design a customized program for you.

Whatever goal you chose, remember, don’t give up and try to follow these tips to achieve a much healthier lifestyle.

By Dr. Monica Pearl, MD CCFP FCFP

Medical Director, Wellpoint Health Services

Dr. Pearl has over 19 years of clinical practice and is currently active staff at Women’s College Hospital and courtesy staff at Sunnybrook Hospital.

CBI Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation Centre and Wellpoint Health are pleased to enter into an agreement to start providing services within each others facilities starting in 2010.

Beginning January 14, 2010, CBI began offering WCB physical therapy treatment, Functional Capacity Evaluation, Post Offer Employment Testing, Physical Demands Analysis, Ergonomic Assessment and Return to Work Coordination at Wellpoint Health’s Calgary S.E. location in Foothills Industrial Park.

Wellpoint Health will also be moving into the CBI Sunridge location in February 2010 to provide OIS physician services, pre-employment medicals, nurse medicals, vaccinations and various other occupational medicine services.

Having physiotherapy services on-site at an OIS clinic and vice versa provides value to an employer through rapid access to required services.  Collaboration between assessment and treatment teams has been shown to improve outcomes, decrease length of disability and significantly reduce costs and time away from work (for health care services).

For more information about this new venture, please contact Mark Powell at mpowell@cbi.ca or (403) 831-8004. Please visit CBI’s website at www.cbi.ca

CBI Health Group is one of the largest, most diverse and respected healthcare management companies in healthcare today. In addition to their network of over 135 community and hospital based rehabilitation clinics, CBI also employs professionals in Eldercare, Home Health, Independent Assessment, and Medical services. As the industry leader, through their coordinated network of services, their commitment is to deliver the highest quality and individualized care to our communities.

Wellpoint Health Services Corp.  is a leading national provider of occupational and medical services. Wellpoint currently has locations in Downtown Toronto, S.E. Calgary in the Foothills Industrial Park and a new location within the Calgary International Airport. Wellpoint offers a diverse range of physician and nursing services to manage all Executive and Corporate Health Services for industry.

For more information about Wellpoint Health, please contact Shameer Dada at sdada@wellpointhealth.ca or (403) 880-2040. Please visit our website at www.wellpointhealth.ca.

Wellpoint Health places a great importance on supporting charities such as the Starlight Foundation. Starting in 2010, for every Health Blueprint or Wellcare package sold, a percentage will be donated to help the sick kids. For more information on the Starlight Foundation please visit http://www.starlightcanada.org/.

Wellpoint Health is opening a new medical clinic within the Calgary International Airport on January 14, 2010. The clinic is located on the Food Court level towards the Plus 15 entrance to the Hotel.

Wellpoint, in addition to seeing general walk-ins, will also be performing pre-employment medicals, nurse medicals, travel vaccinations, audiometric testing, drug testing and occupational injury treatment.

Hours of Operation will be Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm. Please call (403) 236-8400 to book an appointment. For a map of the clinic location in the airport, please click here.