“Mammograms save lives, period, end of story. But it takes decades to appreciate just how many,” announced ABC News Medical Unit correspondent Courtney Hutchison, reporting June 28, 2011 on a 29 year long mammogram study in Sweden. “The researchers found that seven years of mammograms made for 30 percent fewer breast cancer deaths years down the road, when compared with women who didn’t receive mammograms.” According to Dr. Laurie Margolies, chief of breast imaging at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, the longer follow-up period is essential, because a number of breast cancers are very slow growing, and they...

Read More ›

$80 June Mammo Special - No Referral Necessary Higher quality! Radiologists can focus on and evaluate areas of concern utilizing magnification and contrasting. Faster! Digital images are interpreted by the radiologist and returned within 24 hours. Safer! 50% less radiation than film mammograms; less radiation than any other digital mammography system in our region. More comfortable! Requiring less time, the new mammography is a gentler way for women to stay current on their breast screenings. EPHC is the only health care provider to offer digital mammography in Plumas or Sierra Counties. For further information or to make an appointment in our Imaging Department,...

Read More ›

Eastern Plumas Health Care’s Annual Sports Physical days are Thursday, July 7 and Thursday, July 21 in Portola; Tuesday, July 12 and Tuesday, August 2 in Loyalton. Call now to make an appointment for your child’s discounted Sports Physical: 530.832.6600 at our Portola Medical Clinic, 480 First Avenue, Portola; 530.993.1231 at our Loyalton Medical Clinic, 725 Third St., Loyalton. Only $25, payment is required on the date of service; insurance cannot be billed. Please have your child wear shorts and a short sleeved shirt to their appointment. If you are eligible for Medi-Cal CHDP, EPHC asks that you call and schedule your...

Read More ›

EPHC Welcomes Much Needed Dermatology Specialist Melanie Buckley, Physician Assistant, is the newest addition to Eastern Plumas Health Care’s staff. Her specialty, dermatology, is so in demand, weeks before her arrival she already had a full schedule of patients for her first day here. Buckley said she expects to see a lot of skin cancer patients—much of this from sun damage. She’ll determine whether skin lesions are benign or malignant, and she can do small skin surgeries in EPHC’s Portola office. According to Buckley, past skin damage (that’s all of us who lay our bodies out every summer and baked them to...

Read More ›

Women who undergo routine mammograms at EPHC’s Imaging Services now have the latest diagnostic technology available to them, digital mammography. EPHC is the first healthcare provider in this county and beyond to feature this state-of-the-art digital mammography system together with the breast cushion, mammopad for greater comfort. EPHC is very excited to be able to offer the newest technology for breast cancer detection. Digital mammography is different from conventional mammography in how the image of the breast is acquired and, more importantly, viewed. The radiologist can magnify the images, increase or decrease the contrast and invert the black and white values...

Read More ›

Rebecca Rores, Doctor of Dental Medicine, will celebrate her one year anniversary at Eastern Plumas Health Care’s Dental Clinic in Portola on June 15. Rores, it seems, is such a favorite--especially with children--that the word is getting out and patient numbers at the clinic have jumped significantly. She’s a native of nearby Sparks, NV, where she attended UNR before transferring to the University of Washington her junior year. After graduation, Rores spent four years working and traveling “to figure out my passion,” she said. During that time, she discovered dentistry. In college, Rores said she took a career aptitude test,...

Read More ›

Eastern Plumas Health Care begins its “Secrets to Healthy Living,” a free series of monthly informational talks on June 23, 6:00 p.m., in the Education Center on its Portola campus. Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Mary Morrison, the driving force behind the series, wanted community members to know how much their health care providers appreciate them. She and Dr. Colin Kopes-Kerr are planning the series together. Morrison, Kopes-Kerr, and their colleagues, want to impart some of their trade “secrets” to getting healthy and staying healthy—especially in ways that won’t break the bank in tough economic times such as these. They feel it’s...

Read More ›

If really you want to keep up to date on what's going on at EPHC, come on over to our Facebook page. There, you'll see short informational updates along with lots of photos of our staff, volunteers, and the people we serve. You'll gain an understanding that EPHC is a vibrant community where we take service seriously . . . and not so seriously. We have 250 employees. Most of you have a friend or family member who works or volunteers here. Our Facebook page allows us to let our hair down a bit and show you who we really...

Read More ›

Dr. R. Douglas Collins, Board Certified in Neurology and Internal Medicine, joined our staff on June 1, 2011. Now patients suffering from: headaches, dizziness, back and neck pain as well as post-stroke and neuromuscular problems can be treated at our Portola Clinic by Dr. Collins. He received his MD from New York Medical College, and he did Residencies in Neurology, Neurological Diseases and Blindness, and Internal Medicine. He has been in private practice on the East Coast and in California, and he has been Associate Professor of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina and Associate Clinical Professor of...

Read More ›

Recently, Portola Jr./Sr. High School teamed up with Eastern Plumas Health Care for a Healthy Lifestyle discussion and Career Tours. 180 7th – 10th grade students walked over from the school campus to listen to Family Nurse Practitioner Mary Morrison manage to make health and wellness relevant to teenagers. It was an amazingly respectful and interested group of young people, and even when they broke up into groups for their respective Career Tours, the kids managed to make the event looked well choreographed. Students could choose from the following list of specialties in an effort to learn about their...

Read More ›