Memorial Hospital starting new services

BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN (Staff Writer)
Published: October 28, 2011

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TOWANDA - Several new programs have recently started at Memorial Hospital in Towanda or will soon start at the hospital, including a pain management clinic, a vision therapy clinic, and a walk-in clinic.

In addition, Bradford County Dental Health Services has become part of Memorial Hospital, Jim Parks, the chairman of the hospital's board of directors announced at the hospital's annual meeting on Thursday.

Walk-in clinic

The walk-in clinic will be for people who suffer injuries at work or who become sick at work, said Carol Sager, Memorial Hospital's vice-president for development.

"Anyone in the community," regardless of whether they are employed, will be able to use the walk-in clinic, "but the focus will be on employees of industries and businesses in the area," she said.

The clinic will be staffed by an occupational health doctor, she said.

The demand for the walk-in clinic has increased because of the gas industry, which is an industry where injuries occur, she said.

"Most of the injuries (suffered by gas industry workers) are not serious, so they don't need to go to an emergency room," she said.

The walk-in clinic will allow people to be seen immediately, without an appointment, said Jeff Russell, a spokesman for the hospital.

The walk-in clinic will be operated by Mid-State Occupational Health Services of Williamsport, and it will be located next to the hospital's emergency room, in the area where the cardiac rehab facilities used to be located, Sager said. Renovations will be taking place to convert the area into the walk-in clinic.

Mid-State Occupational Health Services will also provide other services at the clinic, such as drug testing, and physicals for employees.

The walk-in clinic has begun to provide services on a limited basis in a temporary location in the lower level of the hospital's personal care home, she said.

The clinic will begin providing its full range of services sometime in November, she said.

After the renovations are completed in the spring, the walk-in clinic will move to its permanent location next to the emergency room, Sager said.

Pain management

A physician specializing in pain management, Bruce H. Levin, M.D., recently began traveling from Philadelphia twice a month to provide services at Memorial Hospital's new pain management clinic, said Russell.

While general physicians can prescribe pain management drugs, the hospital had not had a physician specializing in pain management on its staff prior to Levin, Russell said.

A flier from the hospital says the pain management clinic can be used, for example, by people with back pain, neck pain, headache pain, and joint pain.

Vision Therapy

The hospital's new vision therapy clinic is an outpatient service located in the hospital's outpatient therapy clinic, Russell said.

"Vision Therapy at Memorial Hospital is a type of occupational therapy for the eyes and brain," according to written information from the hospital. "It can be a highly effective non-surgical treatment for many common visual problems such as lazy eye, crossed eyes, double vision and some reading and learning disabilities."

The vision therapy clinic could be used, for example, to improve someone's vision after a stroke, Russell said.

Dental Clinic

Though it recently became part of Memorial Hospital, Bradford County Dental Health Services will continue to be located at One Progress Plaza in downtown Towanda, Russell said.

The board of directors of Bradford County Dental Health Services had asked that the agency become part of Memorial Hospital, Sager said.

The board of directors of the dental clinic are all volunteers and they "felt they needed help managing it," Sager said, explaining why the board approached the hospital.

Bradford County Dental Health Services "fits with our hospital's mission very well," Parks said. "They (the dental clinic) treat patients who are low-income" or "those without insurance," he said.

"We feel it's a needed ... service and we're glad it's part of Memorial Hospital," Parks said.

James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or email: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com.

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