Open enrollment for insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace® begins November 1 and continues through January 15, 2023. During this time, you can enroll in, re-enroll in, or change a 2023 health plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace®. Coverage can start as soon as January 1, 2023.
ChesPenn’s Certified Application Assisters can help you get insured through Pennie, Pennsylvania’s health insurance program.
Call 484-462-0028 to get on the road to better health!
November is COPD Awareness Month – and not coincidentally, The Great American Smokeout is on November 17. COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is an umbrella term for emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking is its primary cause.
COPD can progress for years undiagnosed. Some of the first symptoms are shortness of breath, chronic cough or wheezing, chest tightness, and sudden tiredness. While many people are not diagnosed until their 40s or later, cases in individuals as young as 20 have been confirmed.
If you’ve ever had a friend or loved one with COPD, you know the suffering it causes. Breathing becomes harder by the year. It becomes impossible to go out of the house without portable oxygen, and eventually even to get around at home without continued access to oxygen. Flare-ups can mean visits to the emergency room when it suddenly becomes impossible to catch a breath, even with oxygen and breathing treatments at home. The strain on the heart often leads to congestive heart failure. It’s a terrible disease and terrible to watch for friends and loved ones. There is no cure, and treatment options are limited.
There is one easy way to prevent COPD – don’t smoke and if you do, stop. Now. ChesPenn offers smoking cessation counselling with free nicotine replacement under the Southeastern Pennsylvania Tobacco Control Project (SEPA). Anyone interested in the program can contact Tina Beahm, Community Health Educator, at 610-485-3800 Ext. 687. Find additional smoking cessation resources through the PA Free Quitline: 1-800-QUIT-NOW or https://pa.quitlogix.org/en-US/Enroll-Now .
November 17 is a great occasion to begin the journey to healthier lungs and a longer life!
When you go in for a medical visit you probably think “I’m going to see my doctor” not “I’m going to see my medical assistant.” But your medical assistant can be just as important to your care as your doctor. They take your vitals, get your history, and may administer vaccines. You and your doctor both depend on their training and dedication to make sure you get the care you need.
At ChesPenn, Ashlee Mathis trains and supervises all of our medical assistants. Twenty years ago, she started her career at what was at that time Crozer’s Center for Family Health at Upper Darby. This site eventually became the location of Crozer and ChesPenn’s collaboration to provide family medicine residency training in a community health center setting. Ashley worked for Crozer for 17 years, becoming the Clinical Manager for the Residency Program. She then spent 5 years in Population Health where she developed the training programs for Crozer’s Family Medicine MAs.
In 2019 Ashlee joined ChesPenn as Clinical Support Manager, leading MA staff across all three sites. She was drawn to ChesPenn in part by the extraordinary resources we can offer to patients. “What I love most is the community we serve and resources we can provide. Talking to patients who came here as kids and now bring their kids. And the resources – social services, behavioral health dental care – you don’t get that in most primary care practices. It’s a dream to have all of those services.”
Ashlee was also excited about the payment model at ChesPenn, especially the fact that uninsured patients can pay on a sliding fee scale. “When I first interviewed that was a big motivator,” she shared. “Because I worked in population health – I’ve seen the challenges for patients who are uninsured – what is available to them and what isn’t.”
The consensus among Ashlee’s coworkers is that she is a strong, supportive leader, partner, and mentor. Lead Medical Assistant Angie Moore described her as “a team player who is wise and is so many wonderful things. She takes care of us; she makes sure we’re ok. She communicates well.” Office manager Elide Marquez Romero added, “Ashlee’s willing to do anything that the patients need. She cares about the patients. We work great together – we’ve joked that just the two of us could run the whole office if we had to.”
When asked about the challenges of her role she pointed to the staffing issues that ChesPenn shares with other healthcare organizations in the current workforce market. “I think our biggest challenge is staffing but that’s not specific to ChesPenn – that’s everywhere. The providers have been very accommodating – they and the nurses help us out. We just work together as a team to overcome the challenges.”
ChesPenn has recently received funding to launch a training program for medical assistants. Ashlee is looking forward to the start of the program. “I’m excited about the possibility of starting a MA training program. This could open up opportunities for kids in the schools as well as for us. MAs are actually relatively new – only 20 or so years – and the training and scope of care have really expanded. It’s a great opportunity for someone coming out of high school to get started in healthcare.”
Ashlee’s experience as a trainer and leader makes her the perfect person to lead this new training initiative, building ChesPenn’s ability to train and develop generations of young healthcare professionals for the future.
According to researchers at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the incidence of pediatric diabetes has increased significantly since the beginning of the pandemic. Compared with rates in previous years, the number of diagnoses among Black youth doubled during the first year of the pandemic, and the number of diagnoses among Hispanic youth almost doubled. This is especially bad news for ethnic minority families in economically challenged communities, which have historically had higher rates of diabetes.
ChesPenn pediatricians have especially noted a significant increase in prediabetes among their patients, mostly connected to the dramatic increase in obesity among children and youth since the beginning of the pandemic. Prediabetes is a warning families can heed that children are either becoming insulin resistant or are not producing enough insulin to metabolize the sugar in their system. Families who can catch this process early can avoid the need for life-long medication and the serious health consequences that come with diabetes.
Dr. Jenna Higgins, Pediatrician at The Center for Family Health at Eastside, shared that she and her colleagues focus on healthy life choices for children who are at risk of diabetes. According to Dr. Higgins, “We don’t focus on weight. But healthy eating habits and more activity. We try to suggest one or two healthy changes so families don’t get overwhelmed. Things like not eating in front of the TV or switching juice or soda for water can make a big difference and are relatively easy changes to make.”
Risk factors to be aware of include:
If your child is overweight and has any two of the risk factors listed above, talk to your doctor about getting his or her blood sugar tested.
