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Episode 2010 Transcript:

00;00;01;14 - 00;00;05;16

Announcer

And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.

00;00;05;23 - 00;00;22;18

Cary Hall

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. You can find out more about us by going to the website americashealthcareadvocate.com. All the shows are posted up there. If you want to send me an email, feel free to do so.

00;00;22;18 - 00;00;39;14

Cary Hall

I get a lot of them, but I do answer each and every one of them. Not necessarily same day, but I answer them. So please feel free to send me an email from the website. If you have a question, comment or topic you would like us to talk about. I want to also welcome our newest affiliate, and I think we're at 234 now.

00;00;39;16 - 00;01;01;22

Cary Hall

We are we at 234. Dave I think we're 234. So our newest affiliate is KFRE-AM and FM 95.9 in Lubbock, Texas. We're very happy to have them on board. Welcome them to the America's Healthcare Advocate. They run for 2 hours down there. So we're very happy about that. I want to thank Anthony Garza. He is the station PD program director who put us on.

00;01;01;22 - 00;01;17;06

Cary Hall

And we're very happy to be part of the station in Lubbock, Texas. We seem to be getting really popular in Texas these days. Dave, I mean, I think it's our third affiliate in the last two months in Texas. So all of a sudden, I guess people in Texas are enjoying what we're doing. My producer today is Darren Willhite.

00;01;17;06 - 00;01;54;14

Cary Hall

He is the man behind the microphone and Dave Thiessen, the man behind the camera. We put all of these shows on podcasts and YouTube, 14 podcast platforms and YouTube. So they're up there. If you hear this, you want to tell somebody about the show, you most certainly can do that. So this is a show that, you know, I did on kind of short notice, but the good folks over at Blue KC most specifically Staci Schottman got this together for us and we're able to bring in studio with us today Dr. Becky Gernon, who has done this show multiple times, and Sharon Wilkinson, a nurse and manager of clinical performance at the Spira Care Health Care Clinics. Happy to have both of you on today.

00;01;54;21 - 00;01;55;01

Dr Becky Gernon

Thank you.

00;01;55;01 - 00;02;15;07

Cary Hall

So so this show today is on behavioral health. And this is kind of a topic a dear to my heart. I've seen behavioral health issues in first responders, military personnel. As many of you know, if listening a show for the last 15 years, I'm a Vietnam veteran and there certainly are issues surrounding veterans with PTSD and a lot of other things.

00;02;15;09 - 00;02;34;07

Cary Hall

So in and that also this also has to do with people that are just let's just say you're chronologically challenged. I've been married 40 years come November 14th. All right. I have no idea of what my life would be like if I lost my spouse. But I know this happens a lot as we age. That's another huge problem in behavioral health.

00;02;34;07 - 00;02;51;21

Cary Hall

And seniors tend not to talk about these things. Then their issues of anxiety, stress, depression, all of these other things. What I'm trying to say is there's a lot more of this than we realize that a lot of it's under the surface. And so let's just talk about that. Doctor, You guys have a thing, you know, about the stigma.

00;02;51;22 - 00;02;56;24

Cary Hall

This let's just talk about that. And it's changed. But it's still an issue.

00;02;56;26 - 00;03;19;06

Dr Becky Gernon

Absolutely. You know, the stigma is one of the barriers that we find really creates obstacles in terms of patients seeking the help that they need. Even during my medical training, many times behavioral health issues are siloed to a certain extent and separated from the more purely medical or physical health issues and at Spira.

00;03;19;06 - 00;03;19;24

Cary Hall

Well you can’t see it.

00;03;19;24 - 00;03;20;29

Dr Becky Gernon

Right? Exactly.

00;03;21;01 - 00;03;28;08

Cary Hall

If you have a broken arm, if you've got you know, if you've had a surgical procedure, you can pretty much tell you can't see this stuff.

00;03;28;11 - 00;03;40;15

Dr Becky Gernon

Right. But if you feel it, if you're the patient or the person suffering from it, and that's what we're trying to bring to light, is that it's okay to bring those things forward, those concerns forward and challenges.

00;03;40;17 - 00;04;03;28

Cary Hall

Yeah, it is. And share and let's talk about that and kind of an illustration of that. You had 3500 people at the Spira Care facilities last year who access behavioral health. You're a nurse, you're also the manager. But talk about that and you know, you and I talked about this off air before we started the show. One of the things that makes this model so different is the access.

00;04;04;05 - 00;04;14;09

Cary Hall

You know, there's access is a huge thing. So let's talk a little bit about that and why this model that offers behavioral health at the facility is so different. Sharon.

00;04;14;14 - 00;04;39;23

Sharon Wilkinson

Right. Well, the access is the key differentiator. You know, with us, you don't have to wait for an appointment somewhere else across town. You know, wait for that referral and everything to go through Your meeting with your medical provider and behavioral health need is uncovered or you have a chronic condition that's poorly managed. Lots of reasons why you could get an appointment with BHC just outside of a I have a problem with anxiety.

00;04;39;23 - 00;05;17;19

Sharon Wilkinson

I have a problem with depression, poorly managed diabetes, poorly managed chronic conditions. There's usually some underlying behavior that needs to maybe be peeled back a little bit so those providers will do a warm handoff directly to the BHC, see at that care center, and they're already meeting that one one on one. That stigma is reduced because they're meeting face to face, even if they have to schedule a follow up appointment to come back in that first initial barrier of not going to that referral is removed and the patient is already put at ease because they've met you and you're a normal person.

00;05;17;19 - 00;05;29;02

Sharon Wilkinson

The BHC’s are normal people, right? We're all the same. But this is somebody that's actually going to kind of help them set forward a plan to take control of their own behaviors that are impacting their health.

00;05;29;04 - 00;05;46;26

Cary Hall

So that connectivity is critically important. And I told you off air about my situation, this is number of years goals quite a while ago, actually, where I had some PTSD, PTSD issues had to go to KU. It was a real pain in the neck, getting the appointment, getting in and going through the process. you're not going to see now.

00;05;46;26 - 00;06;10;07

Cary Hall

You're going to see this now you're going to do that. The ease of which this is set up for the way that you've constructed this. So that yeah, I know it's something I should do. I'll get around to it and then you don't like. So talk a little bit about that because to me, the thing that stood out when I was going through this about 5:00 this morning as I was doing show prep, there is 3500 people.

00;06;10;07 - 00;06;31;04

Cary Hall

That is a lot of people that if you hadn't seen them or they weren't at Spira Care, how many of those people would have really done something? I mean, yeah, I would take a wild guess at that and say probably less than 10% that would have actually taken the initiative after identifying there was a problem or maybe wouldn't have even identified the problem.

00;06;31;07 - 00;06;33;06

Cary Hall

So I just think that's very interesting.

00;06;33;12 - 00;06;50;26

Sharon Wilkinson

Just to throw a statistic out there, about 50% based on their research are folks that have a a behavioral health or a referral, you know, outside of the Spira Care windows, they don't go I mean, people just don't go. It all sounds great and fine when you're talking to your provider. One on one right there. yeah, I'll go.

00;06;50;26 - 00;07;11;11

Sharon Wilkinson

I'll do it. But then no show rates are really high. Cancellation rates are really high. So with the patient and the provider right there in the Spira Care center saying, hey, I'm just going to we're going to walk by and we're going to meet your our behavioral health, They work with me hand in hand, you know, to to figure out a care plan that's best for you.

00;07;11;13 - 00;07;29;26

Sharon Wilkinson

And they walk them down the hall and they walk them right into their room. And then, like I said, they meet one on one and do what they you know, those initial sometimes people aren't really open to it. Right. But at least they've had that initial meeting and the BHC can hopefully give them a few trick tics, tips and tricks.

00;07;29;26 - 00;07;45;01

Sharon Wilkinson

Sorry on, you know, to take away that day. So the access is easy. It's just part of your visit. We make it seem like it's just part of your visit with your provider, your medical provider. And this is just one little stop that we ask you to do.

00;07;45;03 - 00;08;09;14

Cary Hall

So I had a lady call me the other day actually was yesterday, and her mother is in her late seventies. I think she's like 78 years old and she's having some significant issues. She's memory loss. She's not that things are just not she's just she won't go out of the house. Clearly, behavioral problems when she sat down with her and said, I want to go to the appointment, I want to talk to, I want to She exploded, at her.

00;08;09;21 - 00;08;31;23

Cary Hall

So I'm not doing this. I don't want this in my records. I don't want to know. But if they were in your setting and she comes into you and I specifically talk about this because this is a problem with seniors. It's a problem with I turn 75 in May. Believe me, when I see this with my peers and the issues that surround them, it's a real problem.

00;08;31;23 - 00;08;34;03

Cary Hall

So talk a little bit about that, doctor.

00;08;34;03 - 00;08;54;16

Dr Becky Gernon

It is, especially our seniors who sometimes have uncovered undiagnosed depression or anxiety issues that are driving some of those behaviors that we see, and interestingly enough, sometimes what looks in seniors like dementia or memory problems is actually caused by underlying depression or anxiety. Isn't that interesting?

00;08;54;17 - 00;08;56;29

Cary Hall

I did not know that. Yeah, that's fascinating.

00;08;56;29 - 00;09;09;09

Dr Becky Gernon

Yeah. So it's really important to treat those things, those underlying behavioral health concerns that manifest in the setting of those physical health concerns or those those medical concerns.

00;09;09;11 - 00;09;28;19

Cary Hall

So the other problem is stemming out as we're going to go to break here in just a second, we can quickly touch is isolation. This this woman is basically I mean, she's married, so but basically doesn't want to leave the house, doesn't want to interact socially. That's all part of this. Yes. But it is a behavioral issue. Is it not?

00;09;28;20 - 00;09;47;16

Cary Hall

Yes. All right. So that's that's what I thought. All right. When we come back from the break, we're going to continue this. You can tell this is going to be a fascinating broadcast. It's rare that we get two clinicians in studio like this to be able to do this. That's why I wanted to do this show today. If you want to learn more about Spira Care, the website is SpiraCare.com, SpiraCare.com.

00;09;47;16 - 00;10;03;08

Cary Hall

The phone number 833-605-6901 If you want to call, you know, maybe you've got that parent or maybe it's a spouse or maybe it's you. You might want to give them a call. You might want to go down there and take a look at one of the facilities and just get an idea of what they're all about. We'll be right back after the break.

00;10;03;09 - 00;10;14;06

Cary Hall

You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the high radio network. Coast to coast across the USA. Doctors in the house don't go anywhere.

00;10;14;08 - 00;10;47;14

Steve Kuker

The golden rule, treat others as you want to be treated. I'm Steve Kuker and this is one of the founding principles of my firm, senior care consulting. Since 2002, our value statement has included honor, our mother and father, respect our elders, care for those in need, and treat your family as our own. We've been honored to help hundreds of families make one of the most difficult decisions they could ever make, serving them in their greatest time of need.

00;10;47;16 - 00;11;19;23

Steve Kuker

If you're looking for someone who can provide you experienced and objective guidance when searching for a senior care community, reach out today and discover the services of Senior Care Consulting at 913-945-2800. Know your options and choose with care at seniorcareconsulting.com.

00;11;19;25 - 00;11;38;05

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. If you want to find out more about us, go to the website America's Healthcare Advocate dot com. As I said in the opening monologue, all the shows are posted on the 14 I think it's 15 podcast platforms now.

00;11;38;08 - 00;11;55;24

Cary Hall

And Dave shake his head. Yes. So we're on 15 now, so we're up there. You can find us some almost anything if you want to tell somebody about the show or you want to are you follow us online. You can do that also on the YouTube as well, my producer, Mr. Darrin Wilhite, behind the microphone, Dave Thiessen, the man behind the cameras.

00;11;56;00 - 00;12;15;12

Cary Hall

In studio with me, Dr. Becky Gernon and Sharon Wilkinson. She is a nurse and the manager of clinical performance at the Spira Care Clinics. And what we're talking about today is behavioral health, because it's an issue that we ignore all too often. We're kind of focusing on seniors here a little bit in this last couple of segments are going to do it again here in this segment.

00;12;15;17 - 00;12;38;28

Cary Hall

But we get it a third segment. We're going to start talking about some of the problems with youth. A lot of you know, we just did a show here not very long ago with the Johnson County sheriff, Carl Hayden, and I was shocked to hear some of the things that are going on with regard to drugs and other things that are influencing these kids and we'll talk a little bit about how parents deal with that kind of stuff and how behavioral health is an issue that feeds into that.

00;12;38;28 - 00;12;55;19

Cary Hall

So this is all the whole purpose of doing this is to bring this to the forefront. And the program that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City has, which is a remarkable program inside their primary care clinics, which are called Spira Care. And they are really quite remarkable at what they do. In fact, I'm going to read you a little something here.

00;12;55;24 - 00;13;14;21

Cary Hall

This is from this is a little something from one of the patients that is at Spira Care. “the behavioral health consultant I've met with is an excellent provider and represents Spira Care's mission. He listens intently and makes the conversation feel safe”. How important is that for them to feel safe.

00;13;14;23 - 00;13;34;13

Dr Becky Gernon

Critically important. We talked last time a little bit about stigma, and part of the fear is that I'm going to meet a brand new person that I don't know, and all of a sudden I'm going to be talking about all these sensitive issues. Personal Issues. Absolutely. But in Spira Care. What we aim for are really tight connections between our patients and their primary care provider.

00;13;34;13 - 00;13;45;16

Dr Becky Gernon

So what happens is the primary care provider is easily able to introduce the patient to one of his or her colleagues and done through a warm handoff, as Sharon referenced.

00;13;45;22 - 00;13;46;09

Cary Hall

Very different

00;13;46;09 - 00;13;57;04

Dr Becky Gernon

transferring that trust that the patient has with their primary care provider, transferring that trust over to a friendly colleague and a friendly face who's right there. It makes it a lot less scary.

00;13;57;07 - 00;14;16;16

Cary Hall

Yeah. And as Sharon said in the last segment, they actually they're there. They're not canceling it or. I don't feel like doing that. I'm going to go ahead and just not do it or not follow through on it at all so that it's very different than respect. Let's go back to this Seasoned Citizen, for those of us chronologically challenged issue again.

00;14;16;18 - 00;14;34;17

Cary Hall

So in this conversation with this young woman, she talked about her mother having significant hearing issues. And I wear hearing aid. I have for a long time and I've done some shows on this and the behavioral effects of not dealing with that issue, Sharon, talk a bit about that and how that feeds into this isolation thing.

00;14;34;20 - 00;15;02;26

Sharon Wilkinson

Right? So during COVID, I think this kind of escalated the problems that we're having with this self isolation and maybe what your friend was experiencing here. We were so used to just staying in, staying protected, whatever. Right. So now that COVID is over and, you know, it's free and it's everyone's able to be out and about, some some folks are still struggling with that staying at home stigma are in, you know, fear of really going out.

00;15;02;29 - 00;15;19;14

Sharon Wilkinson

Coming to the see your medical provider for your annual appointment or if you're having an acute issue or whatever, it doesn't matter what you're coming in for. If if we see an underlying or you let us know that you're having issues or problems with a certain area in your life, we're going to help address that.

00;15;19;14 - 00;15;29;09

Sharon Wilkinson

We're not going to push it away. We're not going to say, you need to come back for another appointment or whatever. We're going to address it right then and there and get them connected with the BHC as soon as possible.

00;15;29;12 - 00;15;50;06

Cary Hall

So how important is it? Number one, it's family member recognizes this. Okay. How important is it that they act on this and not let it? No, I won't say spiral out of control, but not let it spin out of control. And then it becomes something that's almost impossible to reverse, Doctor.

00;15;50;06 - 00;16;17;11

Dr Becky Gernon

Right. Well, you have to look for it Cary, That's one of the key features of our work in Spira Care. And so we screen all of our patients for underlying depression, anxiety and substance use disorders. It's part of our regular regular visit. Our routine preventive visits include a screening for all of those concerns. And so you have to go looking for it a little bit because despite best efforts, patients sometimes aren't willing to bring it up.

00;16;17;13 - 00;16;41;29

Cary Hall

No, no, they're not. And this young woman who is in Washington state, she was a listener, by the way, if that was the problem, you know, and she's uncovered it, but trying to get to the next level is becoming very, very difficult. So so “A”, the most important part here is that they have to recognize there's an issue and then “B” if there's an issue, it has to be addressed.

00;16;41;29 - 00;16;46;29

Cary Hall

If if you're going to do anything to try to reverse that and bring in some normalcy, correct?

00;16;47;01 - 00;16;47;24

Dr Becky Gernon

Absolutely.

00;16;47;28 - 00;17;07;12

Cary Hall

So that's very interesting. So let's shift gears a little bit. You mentioned drug screening, those kinds of issues. I mentioned in the in the opening here a little bit about Sheriff Hayden and when he came out and did that show, I was shocked at what he what he brought with him, the pictures of what's going into these schools.

00;17;07;12 - 00;17;30;22

Cary Hall

It's being sold to these kids. we've got a problem here in in between Kansas and Missouri. And problem is legalized marijuana in Missouri. And the THC levels in this stuff are 10,000 milligrams per piece of candy or whatever it is they're doing with this, they're bringing it over into and they're selling it or giving it to these kids in these schools.

00;17;30;24 - 00;17;40;05

Cary Hall

How do parents and parents know they've got this issue and the kid's got depression or anxiety? How do they how does that get addressed, Doctor?

00;17;40;08 - 00;18;05;05

Dr Becky Gernon

It's a big concern. I have three teenagers in my house and so it's a topic of conversation for sure. One of the things I think about and one of the tools I use in talking with parents is and teenagers is talking about the vulnerability of those teenage brains. It's one thing for an adult to make a decision to indulge in now legal THC in states where.

00;18;05;08 - 00;18;07;15

Cary Hall

THC by the way is marijuana people for those of you don't know that.

00;18;07;15 - 00;18;35;25

Dr Becky Gernon

Yeah, forgot about that. That's fine. But teenagers brains are in such a vulnerable place that the impact of marijuana (THC) and other substances on those on that brain development sometimes impacts brains for life, ability to function, cognition, memory, sleep, all those things that are so critically important at that point in life for normal development.

00;18;35;27 - 00;18;56;24

Cary Hall

You know, it it's a difficult topic. Yes, I had lunch with a fellow yesterday that talked about, you know, his kids not doing it. They're in school here in Johnson County and how they have talked about... I think a lot of parents are afraid to get close to this. They're afraid that they're afraid to deal with it because it becomes confrontational.

00;18;57;01 - 00;19;12;05

Cary Hall

How how do you help the parent deal? Parent comes in, I'm just I've got this going on. You know, I'm going to bring Johnny in here next week. What how do you help the parent be able to get that door open to at least address the issue? Before we go to break here?

00;19;12;10 - 00;19;33;02

Dr Becky Gernon

Absolutely. We believe in being really straightforward and opening up the discussion. Oftentimes, our behavioral health consultants, our physicians, our nurse practitioners and physician assistants can be helpful in facilitating that conversation. In my practice, many times I spoke with parents and with a kid in the room and introduced the topic for the first time.

00;19;33;05 - 00;19;49;07

Cary Hall

And that that obviously would help a lot because it breaks the ice and starts the conversation. That's really what we're talking about. So this is all part of what this broadcast is about today, addressing these behavioral health issues. We're going to continue to talk about this. We'll talk a little bit more about youth when we come back in this next segment.

00;19;49;07 - 00;20;08;25

Cary Hall

So stay tuned. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting on the HIA Radio Network Coast to coast across the USA. Stay right there.

00;20;08;27 - 00;20;18;20

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocates, broadcasting coast to coast across USA. Here on the HIA Radio Network. You know, this show today is on behavioral health.

00;20;18;20 - 00;20;40;03

Cary Hall

And we're featuring the people from Blue KC that are at the Spira Care centers here across Kansas City. And what they offer, which is so uniquely different than what you see in a typical primary care practice, this whole behavioral issue. And we're doing this because we're trying to inform you and we're going to run this show nationally because this is a very important topic.

00;20;40;08 - 00;20;58;05

Cary Hall

You know, we've talked about seniors now and some of the issues they deal with. You know, we're going to talk now about youth, and then we'll talk a little bit about first responders and some of those kinds of issues. But this is this is an issue that just doesn't get talked about, whether people are afraid of it or they want to brush it under the rug or there's a stigma to it, whatever the case may be.

00;20;58;10 - 00;21;19;14

Cary Hall

That's why we're doing the show And the unique model that BlueKC offers where their primary care clinics actually have the behavioral health experts. We’re sitting here today looking at two of them, Dr. Becky Gernon, who is here in studio with me, and Nurse Sharon Wilkinson, who is the manager of performance at the Spira Care Clinics. They're very familiar with this topic.

00;21;19;14 - 00;21;43;27

Cary Hall

Obviously, you deal with it every day. So that's the purpose in doing this. By the way, if you want information, the website, the SpiraCare.com, SpiraCare.com phone number is 833-605-6901. If you want to know about a plan that offers Spira Care, if they're all kinds of different plans whether they’re Medicare Advantage plans or ACA, Obamacare plans, whatever you happen to call ACA these days, you can call and get information on that.

00;21;43;27 - 00;22;04;13

Cary Hall

If you're an employer, you have group health insurance. It can be available to your group if they are on Spira Care as well. So that's all information it's good to have. So let's go back to the issues thing for a minute. Okay, Sharon, let's so this whole social media thing, this TicToc thing that's going on and you're smiling, but they're trying they're talking about outlawing, getting someplace.

00;22;04;13 - 00;22;21;14

Cary Hall

I mean, Florida, I think, did outlaw it. So, you know, and you hear about these kids that, you know, are dealing with depression, anxiety because of the talk a little bit about that issue and then parents have to deal with that. And I'm not quite sure. I think in a lot of cases how to deal with it.

00;22;21;14 - 00;22;39;08

Sharon Wilkinson

You're right. I think it's that peer pressure to the ultimate type of peer pressure as possible these days. Not only are they experiencing it through the schools, you know, throughout their day, they go home and we know they're all on their phones, you know, And so whatever platform you're on, I mean, those kids are going to see it.

00;22;39;10 - 00;23;17;10

Sharon Wilkinson

So the amount of peer pressure that is applied towards a teenager or a young adult these days is way more than what we ever experienced as a kid. So that doesn't help us, Right? So we've got those kids then that dabble in it or try it. And parents hopefully can recognize that. And, you know, if we if there's Spira Care members, you know, we'll address those types of issues with the parent and with the child kind of head on and, you know, to determine whether it's something that our BHC’s can handle with Spira Care or if we do need to send them out for some specialty care outside of the care centers, recognizing that some

00;23;17;10 - 00;23;42;24

Sharon Wilkinson

of these fixes are not quick fixes. Right. This could be could be years of therapy that these patients or kids would need. The other thing that we see often is kids who are the straight and narrow kids, right? Like never going to touch it, never going to do it, but still also being very much exposed to this same peer pressure, but then developing depression, anxiety at times as to, you know, like what am I supposed to do?

00;23;42;25 - 00;24;09;29

Sharon Wilkinson

What if I see it? What am I supposed to report this? If I report it, what's going to happen in really causing some significant anxiety in and sometimes even significant depression because they feel like they're in isolation compared to the rest of, you know, their peers around them. So we have to recognize both sides of this coin and be able to adapt those appointments to, you know, whatever we're dealing with at the time.

00;24;09;29 - 00;24;26;06

Sharon Wilkinson

But those that aren't using marijuana type products or whatever are just as much at a able to also feel the ramifications of, you know, this problem that's, you know, exploding.

00;24;26;08 - 00;24;50;08

Cary Hall

You know. Dr., just listening to Sharon talk about this, it's complicated as hell. I mean, it really is. I mean, this is again, you know, I said I turned 75 in May. We had party line phones where you could listen to your neighbors talk about what was going on, which I always found amusing. But, I mean, today, this thing and some of these kids, when you said there with their phones.

00;24;50;08 - 00;25;01;26

Cary Hall

Yeah, they are they you go to restaurants and then the family and the kids typically are sitting there with the phone messing with the phone instead of having conversation with the family, because it's almost like they're addicted to this.

00;25;01;28 - 00;25;10;18

Dr Becky Gernon

And so that's not far off Cary. The use the word addiction. And I think I'll sound like a broken record, but go back to the brain development issue.

00;25;10;24 - 00;25;13;06

Cary Hall

that ‘s exactly where I wanted you to go.

00;25;13;08 - 00;25;34;21

Dr Becky Gernon

It’s so important in teenagers, you know, the getting even those of us as adults getting used to that kind of instant gratification, which is actually a neurotransmitter that's firing off in your brain called dopamine. And that is the the drive that we all have towards that next post on Instagram or that next thing that I might be interested in buying and that shows up.

00;25;34;21 - 00;25;44;17

Dr Becky Gernon

And so that's driven by biology in the brain, believe it or not, and very hard to unwind that once that pattern starts.

00;25;44;19 - 00;26;04;29

Cary Hall

So how okay, so how do you and first of all, how do you recognize it? Okay. And then how do you address it? And start to make some progress on unwind it or at least make them aware of where they're going with it? They could be destructive going down the road really hard.

00;26;05;02 - 00;26;30;02

Dr Becky Gernon

And those conversations are difficult. In addition, we don't have great evidence yet in medicine. We rely on those really well-designed studies to tell us, and we haven't had enough experience with it yet to truly understand some of the impacts that our teenage brains are suffering under the weight of social media and instant gratification and those hits of dopamine in the brain.

00;26;30;04 - 00;26;52;13

Cary Hall

Yeah, it's it's scary, I think, you know, like I said, we've I've got six grandkids and I look at this stuff and it's like difficult to deal with and get like that show the other day with the sheriff where he came in here and showed us all of the different things that are being put in front of these kids that things like we had, we didn't see any of that.

00;26;52;16 - 00;27;13;21

Cary Hall

And so it seems to be getting more and more, which comes back to how important it is that parents have a place to go with kids to do something like Spira Care where they can get started. And as you said, Sharon, if you so if your folks can't deal with it, doctor there, that you all refer them out to a specialist, it's like a subspecialty.

00;27;13;21 - 00;27;23;13

Cary Hall

You can deal with that particular issue. So if it's like a young child, okay, and they're dealing with issues and they go to somebody that's different than the teenager that reasonable.

00;27;23;14 - 00;27;46;29

Dr Becky Gernon

Maybe there's all different flavors of behavioral health assistance. And our flavor of behavioral health help is in the form of brief focus interventions with kids and families and seniors and adults, for that matter. And so our folks are generalists, our behavioral health consultants are generalists. And so see all comers in our care centers in terms of age and condition and concern.

00;27;46;29 - 00;28;11;09

Dr Becky Gernon

And so we normalize asking those questions by incorporating talks about behavioral health into well-child checks, for example, and try to make it introduce the topic for kids even that young, so that as they grow and mature and develop relationships with the health care system, they're very accustomed to being asked those sorts of things and to understanding that that's part and parcel of their overall health and well-being.

00;28;11;11 - 00;28;38;02

Cary Hall

So that's well-child check. So I'm curious how that how do you and how do you unpack that? Because so you've got a 15 year old that the parent suspects is having some problems and they bring that in under the guise of we're going to go and get a well-child check. How do you approach that so that you can open that door to get them to say, yeah, I kind of think I'm yeah, maybe I do a little of this.

00;28;38;05 - 00;28;40;10

Cary Hall

This is fascinating. Talk a little bit about that.

00;28;40;10 - 00;29;02;18

Dr Becky Gernon

I think first of all, we should assume all 15 year olds are challenged by lots of different things. And so we just assume that in Spira Care and that's really standard of care across the Metro and across the country to just really recognize that teenagers are grappling with all sorts of things bouncing around in their heads. And so we assume that and just go right at it during our conversations and our our discussions.

00;29;02;20 - 00;29;32;22

Dr Becky Gernon

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And it's really important at a certain point that teenagers be allowed to have private time, usually with their primary care provider, which sometimes causes parental angst. But we try to facilitate that natural transition towards taking accountability, responsibility and being open about one's health. And sometimes that's a difficult piece too. But we try to make space for teenagers to begin to develop those relationships that are private and, you know, important to them, too.

00;29;32;25 - 00;29;51;14

Cary Hall

Yeah, So we're coming on the break in about a minute. But you really hit on something there, letting the teenager have a private space, because I could almost guarantee you that they're not going to sit there in front of mommy and talk about the fact that they might have been vaping at school. And somebody gave them a vape with THC.

00;29;51;14 - 00;29;56;18

Cary Hall

It it's when they're in that room with you and the doors closed. That's a different. Am I right?

00;29;56;22 - 00;30;28;00

Dr Becky Gernon

Sometimes, yes. And I never encourage teenagers to keep those kinds of things from parents, but I do want to provide them a safe, open place where they can talk freely and develop a trust and a relationship with a caring adult professional. And so in my hands, what I typically do will be to invite the parent into the room and then try to facilitate a little bit of that conversation, certainly obligated to inform parents whenever there's a concern that would threaten one's life or limb.

00;30;28;02 - 00;30;34;25

Dr Becky Gernon

But generally that’s standard of care in pediatric practice these days and in our family medicine practices.

00;30;34;27 - 00;31;04;09

Cary Hall

Fascinating stuff. If you want information on Spira Care, if you're a blue member and you're not on Spira Care, you want to find out about it, give them a call at 833-605-6901. And the website SpiraCare.com, it's available whether you're on Medicare with your own individual ACA policy or whether you're on a group health insurance policy, it's it's it's available across the spectrum of all the Blue KC products.

00;31;04;09 - 00;31;27;18

Cary Hall

So you certainly can get access if you're interested. And if you're an employer, it certainly is an opportunity for your employees to have great care, not just behavioral here. I'm talking about as far as primary care is involved. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to coast across the USA.

00;31;27;21 - 00;31;50;13

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. In studio with me today, Dr. Becky Gernon and Sharon Wilkinson, nurse and manager for clinical performance at the Spira Care Clinics. Our topic is Behavioral Health. It's been a fascinating show up to now, feeding you a lot of information, kind of like drinking from a firehose with these two ladies in here today, isn't it?

00;31;50;16 - 00;32;16;11

Cary Hall

But there's a lot to learn here and a lot to unpack, whether it's senior citizens or youth. And now we're going to switch gears. Now we're going to talk about first responders. But if you want information on Spira Care, the website is SpiraCare.com. As I said, going out of the last segment, it's available across the BlueKC product line, whether it's Medicare or group or individual, it's available across the line in different in different policies they offer.

00;32;16;18 - 00;32;40;25

Cary Hall

The phone number if you want to learn about one of the policies that has this 833-605-6901. So we had a very unfortunate incident here. Not so long ago in the Super Bowl parade for the Kansas City Chiefs. And gunfire broke out and people were shot. One woman lost her life and it was a tragic situation for the city and for the people that were there.

00;32;40;27 - 00;33;08;23

Cary Hall

What was interesting to me was afterwards how the mayor and a number of other elected officials talked about how these police officers, men and women, ran toward the gunfire while this was going on. And I talked to people who were actually there on the ground and talk to me about how these officers move them out of these situations and when at the people they knew were involved in the incident, when all that kind of thing is over.

00;33;08;24 - 00;33;29;24

Cary Hall

Okay. And years ago, when I was a very young man, after I got out of the military, I was a police officer in Washington, D.C., in Orange County, California. And you go through this adrenaline rush and you do this thing. And whether it's a gunfight or whether it's one another situation like this where your life is at risk and other people's lives, it's the afterwards when it's all when it's all over.

00;33;29;27 - 00;33;39;22

Cary Hall

How did that affect you guys Sharon how you've got a lot of unions, you've got a lot of first responders that you in Spira Care, right? Yeah. How did that affect Spira Care?

00;33;39;29 - 00;34;12;28

Sharon Wilkinson

We did see a pretty significant increase in the requests for appointments right. Not only amongst the adults but also amongst the kids, you know, just processing, you know, those terrible events, whether you were there, whether you were not there, you know, people watching it evolve on the TV and in some of those replays of even hearing those gunshots for some folks can trigger you know, some or some areas that maybe have been hidden in back in their minds.

00;34;12;28 - 00;34;33;10

Sharon Wilkinson

So we like I said, we increased the number of BHC appointments. Parents worried that had their kids at the parade, which was supposed to be a fun day, right? That was right. One of the worst parts of this are my kids going to be scared to death to go to a parade ever again? You know, can I take them out in public again in a large crowd?

00;34;33;11 - 00;34;58;01

Sharon Wilkinson

You know, we were seeing all kinds of things coming through, which are normal responses. Right. And parents asking, how do how do I address this with them? Sometimes we spoke with the children. You know, and just some of them just torn to pieces over this being there, maybe being really close to where the events happened and seeing things that maybe you wouldn't want your child to see.

00;34;58;04 - 00;35;24;06

Sharon Wilkinson

So really distressed moments where we know the number one thing talking about it, you know, is first step one, right? So for those kids, a lot of the BHCs did, you know, bring them in, you know, talk with the kids, talked with the parents on how they can support, you know, in moving forward so that, you know, the kids can kind of get past this and and not be afraid of those types of things in the future.

00;35;24;08 - 00;35;45;04

Cary Hall

So, Dr. how about the first responders, the firefighters that were there, you know, providing medical care for all the people that were shot, the police officers, you know, all those first responders? How how do you deal with those people when this is all over? Okay. And you're you know, things are settled now. They just they were in the middle of it.

00;35;45;05 - 00;35;48;14

Cary Hall

So how do you how did how did how did you all handle that as far as helping them.

00;35;48;20 - 00;36;12;24

Dr Becky Gernon

You know, carry? It's really going to vary from case to case. Some of those folks will go on to need specialty behavioral health care depending on the severity of their trauma response. Other of those individuals will maybe benefit from our approach with our behavioral health consultants and some of the the tricks and tools that we have to offer via primary care.

00;36;12;26 - 00;36;34;13

Dr Becky Gernon

One of the things that I'm reminded of is that that Mister Rogers quote that talks about “look for the helpers”, you know, that we can't pretend that bad things don't happen Kansas City or anywhere they are going to happen. But look for those helpers and those brave first responders are a great example of that in our own city and something to be really proud of.

00;36;34;16 - 00;36;55;07

Cary Hall

Yeah, it is. And I would imagine this also impacts their families. Right. Okay. As you were talking about Sharon, you know, the kids that were there, but also the responders, no family who's whose, you know, father or mother walk out that door and put a badge on every day or get into a fire truck, they know. Or an ambulance.

00;36;55;07 - 00;37;00;23

Cary Hall

Okay. They know there's a risk. So I would assume that impacts those families as well.

00;37;00;25 - 00;37;20;06

Dr Becky Gernon

Oh absolutely. And it's not just the the event at Union Station, of course, I turned on the news this morning and was so saddened to see that as in most weeks there are mass shootings and shootings going on all over the country. But in our own neighborhoods in Kansas City that sometimes go unnoticed and un-talked-about.

00;37;20;09 - 00;37;58;03

Cary Hall

Yeah. Yeah. It it is unfortunate and then I think today there's a funeral for the two police officers in Independence who were both shot and killed. It yeah, it's a dangerous world. And unfortunately, you know, that's part of what we live with. But, you know, that's why doing these kind of broadcasts to bring these things to the forefront, you know, whether it whether it's we're dealing with children in school or whether it's senior citizens that, you know, maybe you're a sandwich generation kid and you've got a mother that's 85 or 86 years old or another woman told me is driving her 91 year old father that she was trying to convince him he shouldn't be

00;37;58;03 - 00;38;21;24

Cary Hall

driving. Okay. I mean, sometimes you need a helper. Okay. I think I think Dr. Gernon probably made that very clear that, you know, that that quote by Mr. Rogers really makes a lot of sense having access to behavioral health in today's world, I think is extremely important. And that's part of what Spiral Care does. It's part of the program in the BlueKC he put in place to make this happen, it's been extremely successful.

00;38;21;26 - 00;38;34;03

Cary Hall

You go up online to look at some of the feedback from people that access Spira Care. It works exceptionally well. Behavioral health is a big issue and it's something that needs to be addressed. And that's what do and they do it very well. Thank you both for doing this.

00;38;34;04 - 00;38;34;23

Dr Becky Gernon

Thank you so much.

00;38;34;25 - 00;38;42;16

Cary Hall

We'll have to have to do this again sometime this, I think. I think this will help a lot of folks when they get to hear this. As we put this on the air and put it up on our podcast.

00;38;42;19 - 00;38;43;06

Dr Becky Gernon

We hope so.

00;38;43;10 - 00;39;00;09

Cary Hall

Thank you for being. Thank you. And if you want information, it's SpiraCare.com. That is the website. SpiraCare.com. You can go to the website and get all the information on what they do there. If you're interested in one of the plans that offers Spira Care. 833-605-6901.

00;39;00;17 - 00;39;03;23

Cary Hall

And now I leave you with this thought from Dr. Martin Luther King.

00;39;03;26 - 00;39;19;15

Cary Hall

Americans must learn to live together as brothers and sisters, or we will surely perish together as fools. Truer words were never spoken. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show. Broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Goodbye, America.