March 25, 2020 COVID-19 Update 

During this time, our number one priority remains the health of our patients, our team, and our community. As a result, we are taking the following measures to limit patients and community members in our clinics.

Service Update:

In response to Governor Tony Evers Stay-At-Home order, we will be reducing our in-clinic services to essential health services. This includes Medication Assisted Treatment and limited group and individual counseling for our Recovery program, medical visits, emergency dental, emergency chiropractic and limited pharmacy services. Some examples of what is included within these services can be found below. These will be offered on a limited basis based on the severity of the case and whether the service needs to be provided in-person. If you are a patient scheduled with an essential service and are displaying any flu-like symptom, have traveled out of the country within the last 14-days, or have come into contact with someone that has COVID-19, please call our clinic prior to coming to an appointment. We will triage you over the phone. If we determine you should come to one of our medical clinics and are potentially contagious, we will ask that you utilize one of our curbside testing areas. Additional information on how to access this will be provided during your triage call.   

Other critical or essential services, such as Behavioral Health, we will provide via telephone and telehealth. We are currently working hard to get these services up and running as soon as possible. We will be reaching out to patients regarding their upcoming appointments but if you have any questions, please call us at 888.834.4551.

Due to our reduction to essential health services all of our clinics will be closed to the public, unless you have a scheduled appointment. If you need to make a delivery or pick-up medication that cannot be mailed, please call ahead to make arrangements as our doors will be closed.

COVID Hotline:

If you are a patient of NorthLakes and have questions surrounding COVID-19, please call 715.934.0113 between 8:30 am – 5 pm, Monday thru Friday.

What constitutes an Essential Health Service?

The following is a sample of appointments that may be covered within our essential health services. Please call our clinic for further information or if you have questions regarding an upcoming appointment.

Emergency Chiropractic:
Acute care visits

Emergency Dental:
Broken tooth
Abscess
Severe tooth Pain
Potential Infection
Uncontrolled bleeding
Facial trauma

Medical:
Acute pain or injury
Change in health with new or worsening symptoms
Well Child Checks where immunizations are needed
Post-partum newborn weight checks
Emergent or urgent procedures

Pharmacy:
Refrigerated medication
Medication needed within 48-hours
Other prescriptions will be mailed

Recovery:
Medication Assisted Treatment
Limited group and individual counseling

No visitors allowed:
To limit potential exposure of COVID-19 to our patients and staff, we are limiting clinic access to patients with a scheduled appointment. This means visitors, walk-in patients and other community members will not be allowed to enter our clinics. If you need to make a delivery, please schedule ahead of time. If you are a patient who needs to make an appointment, please call and get a scheduled time before entering our clinic. We apologize for the inconvenience but the health and safety of our patients and staff remains our top priority.

Pharmacy Update:
Effective immediately, we are asking patients to have their regular prescription refills to be filled via mail. Please allow up to an extra week for mailing. For patients who cannot wait or for refrigerated medications, we will offer curbside pick-up. Patients will be asked to call the pharmacy when they are in our parking lot and staff will hand deliver it to them. Payment by credit or debit cards is preferred to streamline this process but we will work with patients 1:1 on other payment options as needed.

This is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and necessary for the safety of our patients, our team, and our community.

MyChart Update:
With the spread of COVID-19, our patient portal called MyChart gives you another way to communicate with your care team and provides timely access to your health records. Through MyChart, patients can send secure messages to their care team around specific concerns they have about treatment or symptoms they may be experiencing. Our staff will then communicate back through MyChart. MyChart also has many other great features that include viewing test results, managing appointments and communicating with other health systems, giving you a great overview of your health record. If you currently don’t have access to MyChart, please call 888.834.4551 to obtain access or a patient service representative at your next appointment. There is also a MyChart App available for smartphones.

MyChart is available to most of our patients with the exception of our dental patients and our patients in Park Falls and Hurley.

Written by Dr. Lorelei Wakefield

As a Doctor of Chiropractic, health and wellness is my main focus.  We have all been given the right components to keep ourselves healthy.  Our immune system is our defense to keep pathogens out.  Health comes from the inside out, so what you do to keep your immune system healthy is important. It isn’t up to anyone else but you to take care of your immune system to keep your good health. You don’t have to become a victim to poor health or give in to Pathogens, you can become a champion and win the battle against them.

Here are proven ways to improve immune health as well as overall health: 

Chiropractic Adjustments: These have been proven to help strengthen the immune system, by improving nervous system function to keep the whole body functioning at its optimum.

Eat Clean: Eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meats and dairy, try to eat organic when you can. Stay away from sugars and processed foods both cause inflammation in the body that leads to disease.  Add more garlic, ginger, turmeric, and pepper to food.

Drink Water: Dehydration weakens the immune system.  Everyone needs to drink half their body weight in ounces of water per day!  So if you weigh 100 pounds you need 50 ounces/day.   On days you drink soda, coffee or alcohol you need to increase your water intake to flush the chemicals out from these products.  So if you have a 12 ounce beverage increase water intake by that same amount.

Exercise Regularly: Just 10-30 minutes per day of walking, yoga, stretching, dancing, or whatever you can do to get your heart rate up to sweat.  This helps release toxins and flushes out pathogens.

Supplements: Research has shown for many years that increased antioxidants such as vitamin C help support and boost our immune systems.  Children need 200mg/day for maintenance dose and 800-1000mg when starting an illness.  Adults need 1000mg/day maintenance dose and 3,000-4,000 mg/ day when starting cold or flu. Vitamin C reduces the duration of the common cold by 8% in adults and 14-18% in adults, along with providing a number of other wellness benefits.

Zinc: Within 24 hours of the onset of common cold symptoms, take daily for 1-2 weeks.  It can reduce the length of cold symptoms by 33% and can reduce the incidence of common colds.

Vitamin D3: This vitamin is essential to your overall wellness. Adults need 1,000- 5,000 IU’s daily.

Probiotics: Healthy gut flora is the first line of defense against pathogens. Adults need 15   billion cultures daily and 5 billion cultures for kids.

 Relax and Rest: De stress! The less stress on your body, the more strength it has to fight off any disease.

Detox your environment:  Not only is there a lot of toxins in our food, there are a lot in our environment, so going through all cleaning, hair care, etc. products you use and evaluate which products are toxic and what you can replace them with will help your health. 

Good luck on your journey to good immune health.  We can all be Champions!

 

Dr. Lorelei Wakefield is a Chiropractor at NorthLakes Community Clinic – Park Falls.

March 13, 2020

As a valued NorthLakes Community Clinic patient, we wanted to take a moment to update you about our efforts around Covid-19. 

Right now, there are no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in our service area but given the rapid spread, we recognize it could reach us and we want to be prepared.  Our primary focus is to minimize any possible contamination within our clinics, along with ensuring our staff and patients are safe. 

You may notice in our lobbies that magazines and other shareable products such as toys have been removed.  We are asking patients to wear a mask as soon as they enter the building if they have a fever, cough or flu-like symptoms. We are asking some additional screening questions at check-in regarding travel and potential exposure to someone with Covid-19.  These recommendations come directly from the Centers for Disease Control.

We are also asking patients who have flu-like symptoms to cancel non-essential appointments versus coming into the clinic. If you need immediate medical attention, please call ahead to determine if you should come in or go directly to the local Emergency Room or public health office. 

Lastly, we want to take this moment to remind you that your best defense is hand hygiene. Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or utilize hand sanitizer when no sink is available. Limit your interactions with large crowds of people. And, if you or anyone in your family is not feeling well, please stay home.   

For up to date information from the Centers for Disease Control, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

For the latest information on Covid-19 in Wisconsin, please visit: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/outbreaks/index.htm

Again, our primary goal is to keep our patients and staff safe.   

Thank you for your cooperation during this time!

Submitted by Dr. Cory Sateren, Optometrist
NorthLakes Community Clinic – Ashland Optometry

As you dive into your annual spring cleaning, it is also a great time to consider an annual eye exam. In addition to helping you remember to get your eyes checked, it is a great time to think about new sunglasses for upcoming outdoor activities or making sure your children’s eye sight hasn’t changed. But have you ever wondered what exactly an optometrist can do for you?

An optometrist is an eye doctor who examines and treats eyes for both vision and eye health conditions. He or she prescribes glasses and contact lenses as needed to improve vision. They also prescribe medications to treat eye conditions such as bacterial infections, pink eye, allergies, and inflammation.  In a routine eye exam, the optometrist will determine whether you need glasses to give you best long distance and close-up vision.  They may also test your color vision, depth perception and eye movement and tracking.  A refraction is the portion of the exam that determines whether glasses would improve your vision. Factors that may affect your vision comfort at work or school, such as computer screen time and types of demands on your focusing will be considered. As part of your eye exam, the optometrist will evaluate your eye health with dilating drops, and can detect eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration. As we get older, we may experience more difficulty with reading or glare when driving at night. Our eyes may become dry and irritated more easily.  We also are more likely to develop health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure which can affect our eye health. Optometrists are part of the health care team and communicate with family doctors and specialists as needed.

Busy adults and children can benefit from regular routine eye exams to ensure good eye health and the best vision. Your optometrist considers your hobby, work and lifestyle needs when recommending corrective lenses, glasses and contact lens options. Contact lenses have been a popular option for vision correction for decades. New materials and styles of contact lenses allow for more people to find comfort and clear vision while enjoying the convenience of leaving their glasses at home.  If you have ever wondered if refractive surgery to get rid of glasses could be for you, a visit to your optometrist is a good place to start the discussion. Your optometrist can examine your eyes and if you are a candidate, refer you to the appropriate refractive eye surgeon.

NorthLakes Community Clinic currently offers optometry services in Ashland. We accept everyone, regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status. We also offer a sliding fee scale for patients who qualify. To learn more or schedule an appointment, please call 715.682.4666.

­We have all experienced stress and being lost in our emotions. Those feelings can be very overwhelming and hard to move on from. Mindfulness is a great way to overcome those feelings. Mindfulness is a state of mind where you are observing your thoughts and feelings without judging them, and helps to teach us to live in the moment and not dwell on the past or have anxiety about the future.

This series, lead by Dr. Allison Allen, clinical psychologist at our Ashland Downtown clinic, teaches practical mindfulness tips to become the observer of your thoughts and feelings, which helps to feel less stressed and overwhelmed. 

Part 1 – What is Mindfulness?

This first video covers what Mindfulness is and how our mind is structured so that we can become more aware of how it can work for us and not against us.

Part 2 – Learning Mindfulness

In part 2 of this series, Dr. Allison Allen shares an important exercise that is the foundation of mindfulness, learning how to recognize your thoughts.

Part 3 – Mindfulness and Disengaging Negative Thoughts

This video examines a crucial exercise to help disengage the negative thoughts that can pop up in our heads that promote stress and anxiety.

Part 4 – Mindfulness and Breathing Better

Did you know that you can stress yourself out just by the way you breathe? This video walks through how the way we breathe can contribute to our stress and gives breathing techniques that can help us to slow down and tell our minds to relax.

Part 5 – Mindfulness and Observing Emotions

Have you ever felt lost in your emotions or have a feeling that just sticks with you? This video explains a simple technique to help become an observer of your emotions by using language to identifying them. When you use language to identify your emotions, you change the relationship you have with them and instead of just experiencing emotions, you can also observe them. When you become the observer, it will shift how you experience the feeling so it’s less overwhelming and you allow the feeling to show up but then allow it to move on.

To help identify emotions, use a feelings wheel like this one: https://ytp.uoregon.edu/sites/ytp2.uoregon.edu/files/Feelings%20Wheel%20in%20PDF.pdf

 

 

Part 6 – Mindfulness and Treating Yourself Well

Dr. Allison Allen gives us one last tip to help in the mindfulness journey: treating yourself well. Being able to be kind to yourself and giving yourself grace is very important and encompasses all the other mindfulness lessons in this series.

 

We hope that this series was helpful and gave you some practical tools to help, but if you feel that you could benefit from seeing a behavioral health therapist, please call 888.834.4551 to schedule an appointment.

“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. But, it changed my life,” declares Iron River resident Merwyn Lovblad of an experience four years ago that nearly destroyed him.

“I was at a friend’s house and didn’t feel right so I went home to take it easy,” he says of that fateful day. “Later that day a friend called and immediately knew something was wrong and called for help.”

Merwyn was having a stroke. The stroke left his right side paralyzed and he was unable to communicate.  At the time, doctors said he had little chance of a full recovery. Merwyn even recalls them saying, “You will never go home and live on your own again, let alone drive.”

But, Merwyn had a different plan.  He lives for hunting, fishing and playing with his 6 grandchildren.  He genuinely believed if he put his mind to it, he could recover.  He was right. Merwyn spent a brief time in a rehabilitation facility relearning basic skills like eating, speaking, walking and writing. But, before long his care team, while hesitant, said they’d let him try living on his own.

“When I got out, I went for a really slow walk with my son in the woods. I knew then that I would do anything to stay at home,” he recalls.

Recovery was slow but steady. During this time, Merwyn established care at NorthLakes Community Clinic in Iron River.  At first, he was just getting blood draws done for a previous heart condition that were then being sent on to Ashland but over time, he decided to establish all of his medical care at NorthLakes.

“The people here know me,” says Merwyn. “It is easy and they understand how to help me.”

As Merwyn recovered from his stroke, he started to acknowledge another issue that had been a part of him for years—his weight.  At his heaviest, Merwyn tipped the scale at nearly 300 pounds and would get winded easily. The combination of his stroke and weight made it difficult for him to get out in the woods, hunt and fish, or play with his grandkids.

It was about this time he approached his provider to see if she could issue a disabled hunting license. She refused. “She told me the only disability I had was that I needed to lose weight,” he recalls.

Once again, Merwyn was determined to take control of his life. He joined the local TOPS group in Iron River. TOPS which stands for Taking Off Pounds Sensibly is a hands on approach to weight loss. The group meets weekly in Iron River at the local church. In addition to joining the group, he also started walking more and changed his diet. The results paid off. Today, he weighs in at 173 pounds and recently won an award from the national TOPS organization for his efforts. More importantly, he’s enjoying hunting, fishing and playing with his grandkids. While he wouldn’t wish a stroke on anyone, he says it was this experience that changed his course in life.

“After the stroke, I wondered if I could ever get better. I’d wake up each day and ask myself if I was better and the answer would be no. But then I decided I needed to make a change. If nothing else I hope people learn from my story, they can do things they think they cannot do. They can do this. Because if I did it, you can do this too.”

Today, Merwyn still checks in regularly with his care team at NorthLakes Community Clinic in Iron River. He’s grateful for their help and for pushing him to be the best version of himself.

“I want to be around many years for my grandkids,” he says. “They helped me make sure I would be.”

NorthLakes Community Clinic loves partnering with patients on improving their overall life. They accept everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.  If you are interested in establishing a health care partner for you or your family, please call 888.834.4551 or learn more at nlccwi.org. 

Turtle Lake, WI – NorthLakes Community Clinic recently purchased a variety of supplies for use in its school based behavioral health practice from money raised and donated by the staff of CESA 11 (Cooperative Educational Service Agency). NorthLakes works with several schools to provide behavioral health therapy to students right in their school. The school provides a safe and secure space for the student and the provider to meet, and NorthLakes provides the therapist. This works out well for everyone involved including their parents who don’t have to leave work to drive their child to an appointment.

Some of the purchased items include a weighted blanket, multiple social and emotional skill building games and books, puppets and Lego animals for play therapy, a cool lamp to help with the atmosphere of rooms and decrease dependency on fluorescent lighting, storage bins, Inside Out characters to process emotions, sensory items, curriculum to help run groups, as well as items to help build client’s ability to develop body regulation.

“The items that we were able to purchase through the CESA 11 donation will help our young clients learn healthy ways to express their thoughts and feelings, build confidence to tackle their struggles and feel comfortable in a warm and welcoming atmosphere to open up in session,” says Jes Springer, director of school based behavioral health services at NorthLakes,

“many of the books purchased will help build these social emotional skills, as well as the creation of group therapy sessions to increase the availability and variety of services to the districts.”

NorthLakes provides school based behavioral health throughout its service area.  The school’s that are in CESA 11’s jurisdiction and NorthLakes has a presence in are:

Barron, Birchwood, Cameron, Clayton, Clear Lake, Prairie Farm, and Turtle Lake, all K-12.

 

Do you think that you, your child or someone else that you know could benefit from meeting with a behavioral health therapist? Get in touch with NorthLakes by calling 888.834.4551 or learn more about all that we do at nlccwi.org.

Every morning, Brodie Dugger walks into his office unsure of what to expect. As Director of IT, Dugger and his team of 5 manage the technology needed to run 14 clinics in 12 communities spanning 20,000 miles in northern Wisconsin. 

Dugger joined the team in 2011 as the network administrator assisting two clinics and 35 employees.  He never knew what the position would turn into, only that he was excited to remain in Ashland.

“I had been working in Minneapolis and hated it. It wasn’t somewhere I wanted to raise a family and was happy to return home.”

Born and raised in Ashland, Dugger attended Northland College and pursued his passion for hockey.  His wife Becky is also from Ashland.  The two have three children, one of whom is following dad’s footsteps and playing hockey… only as a goalie.

“He chose the one position I don’t know a thing about,” the former forward says. Despite that, he does his best coaching his son and dozens of other 8-10 year olds on the Ashland Squirts and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

“I love this place. I love the outdoors. The people are great. I love that destinations are measured in miles and not by how long it takes to drive somewhere,” he explains.

He also loves working at NorthLakes Community Clinic. But, it isn’t the technology he’s drawn to.

“It is the mission and the people I get to work with every day that I love about my job.”  That’s a good thing since on average, Dugger and his team respond to about 500 IT tickets per month ranging from ‘my computer froze up’ to ‘our entire medical record system is down.’ Many of these tickets come with a frazzled staffer on the other end relying on Dugger and his team to get things resolved quickly so that staff can continue delivering quality care.   

“I’m a people person. I enjoy working with a team member to understand what their tech problem is and then laying out very simply how we’re going to fix it,” he says. “I don’t necessarily speak tech or get excited about burying my head in a computer but I love solving people’s problems.”

A component of health care that’s often overlooked but critical in achieving NorthLakes’ mission to respond to the health care needs of our communities with an integrated array of quality services and actively remove barriers to care. 

To respond to the health care needs of our communities with an integrated array of quality services and actively remove barriers to care.

These words drive the work that NorthLakes Community Clinic does daily. The mission, written by a patient-majority board of directors, pushes the staff to go beyond traditional healthcare service delivery to serve patients throughout northern Wisconsin.

Founded in 2008, the Lakes Community Health Center was incorporated in Iron River to serve Ashland, Bayfield and Iron counties. It quickly doubled in size when North Woods in Hayward and Minong merged to create NorthLakes Community Clinic. Today, nearly 25,000 patients are served at NorthLakes’ 14 clinics in 12 communities throughout northern Wisconsin. In addition, the clinic’s outreach efforts by offering the state’s largest seal-a-smile dental program, dental outreach at Nursing Homes, WIC offices and daycares, and a school based behavioral health program reach an additional 23,500 people.

Responding to Community Needs:

“Our growth was fast and furious but a direct response to community needs,” says NorthLakes Community Clinic CEO Reba Rice. “We recognize that a lot of folks do not have access to basic services so anytime we go into a new community, it is only after we’ve determined the community wants us there. Our region has limited resources so we want to make sure we are not duplicating efforts and serving as many people as possible.”

As part of this process, careful consideration is taken into what services are offered in each community.  This is done by talking to community stakeholders, listening to patients and board members, establishing a community advisory committee and doing an assessment of services currently available within the community.

As a federally qualified health center, the focus is providing primary care to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. Primary care takes a comprehensive and preventative look at one’s health. This includes medical, chiropractic, dental, behavioral health counseling including substance use disorder and recovery services, optometry, psychiatric services, pediatric speech and occupational therapy and prescriptions for patients.

These services are available to everyone in the community, regardless of their insurance status. There is also a sliding fee scale program to assist those who qualify. The exception to this is where demand far exceeds capacity at which point we work with the patient to find them access through a partner. For example, in Ashland, children on Medicaid receive priority status to receive dental services because NorthLakes is one of the only providers that accepts Medicaid for dental. These limitations are difficult decisions to make but are critical to increasing access for individuals.

“Anytime we prioritize patients it is a direct response to being overwhelmed with demand for services,” Rice says. “In the case of dental, there is a major statewide shortage of dentists and limitations on dental practices accepting Medicaid. We recognize that we may be the only choice for these individuals so we want to ensure we provide as much access as possible to these folks. At the end of the day, access is our mandate and we take that very seriously.”

Responding to Individual Needs:

NorthLakes recognizes that opening up appointment slots in rural communities is only part of the access issue.  One distinct position you’ll find at NorthLakes is Community Health Workers. These folks collaborate with people to navigate both social and health services.  This might include helping people apply for health insurance, arranging transportation to appointments, or enrolling them in prescription assistance programs.  Equally as important, these individuals also work to identify barriers to services when people are not showing up for appointments and re-engage people in their care.  They talk with people about their social supports and level of stress, and assess relationship safety, referring to supports as appropriate.  These folks also offer culturally appropriate information and education, and can also connect people with programs and resources, helping people navigate complex systems.

“If we are going to achieve our vision of healthy, prosperous, engaged communities where everyone thrives, we must go beyond providing quality clinical care,” Rice says. “Our patients and community deserve more.  They deserve to feel safe and have their basic needs met along with having access to the resources they need to thrive. While we cannot achieve all of this alone, we are committed to addressing the social drivers of health to create real and sustaining change in the health outcomes of folks in northern Wisconsin.”

At NorthLakes Community Clinic, we believe primary care is a critical component to ensuring long-term health. One of the easiest ways to receive primary care is by establishing a primary care provider.

A primary care provider, often shortened to PCP, is a doctor, physician’s assistant, or nurse practitioner who is your main healthcare provider. This is the person you would see for a physical or wellness check, when you have a sore throat or other acute problem that is not an emergency, or to help you manage a chronic illness like diabetes. They can provide preventative care as well as diagnose and treat common medical conditions. When you need more specialized care, a primary care provider will make a referral and follow up to make sure that you get the care you need.

Selecting a primary care provider who fits your needs allows you to build a long-term relationship and not only helps you stay healthy, but helps your provider give you better care. While it can feel overwhelming to try to find a provider, the National Institutes of Health recommend thinking about the following questions when considering establishing care with a provider:

• Is the office staff friendly and helpful? Is the office good about returning calls?
• Are the office hours convenient to your schedule?
• How easy is it to reach the provider? Does the provider use email?
• Do you prefer a provider whose communication style is friendly and warm, or more formal?
• Do you prefer a provider focused on disease treatment, or wellness and prevention?
• Does the provider have a conservative or aggressive approach to treatment?
• Does the provider order a lot of tests?
• Does the provider refer to other specialists frequently or infrequently?
• What do colleagues and patients say about the provider?
• Does the provider invite you to be involved in your care? Does the provider view your patient-doctor relationship as a true partnership? (MedlinePlus)

It’s important to have a provider you can trust. By selecting a primary care provider who is a good fit for you and your needs, you will set yourself up for a healthier future and a better healthcare experience.

We currently have primary medical care providers at our clinics in Ashland, Hayward, Iron River, Lakewood, Minong and White Lake. If you are interested in establishing a primary care provider at any of these clinics, please give us a call at 888.834.4551 today. If you already have a primary medical provider established elsewhere, be sure to share that information with our front desk so we can be sure to share information with them as needed.

Lori Cannon is a RN who works on clinical processes around integration, care coordination and building a patient centered medical home.