Eastern Plumas Health Care is pleased to welcome Dr. R. Douglas Collins. Dr. Collins is Board Certified in both Neurology and Internal Medicine. He’s also certified in pain management and provides alternatives to narcotic treatment, including trigger point releases. Dr. Collins will be here beginning June 1 and will be here for the first two weeks in June. Initially, Dr. Collins will be at the Portola Clinic, working there two weeks per month, five days a week. We anticipate scheduling him in the Graeagle Clinic starting in July. Also, Dermatology specialist, Melanie Buckley, P.A., will join the staff later in June....

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Eastern Plumas Health Care is offering Low-Cost Diabetes Testing as its June lab special. May’s Low-Cost Health Screening was so successful that the hospital has decided to continue with the monthly specials. Diabetes is a significant problem in Plumas County, and it seemed like a natural choice for the second month of low cost testing. Diabetics can have both a Fasting Blood Sugar and a Hemoglobin A1C test for only $25 total. No appointment is necessary, and you don’t need to have been seen at EPHC previously to take advantage of this offer. Testing is available at the Portola Hospital...

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Our Low-Cost Health Screenings have been so successful, we're holding them over through the first week in June. If you haven't taken advantage of this great deal, you still have time! The Low-Cost Health Screenings are available every week day at the Portola campus, and on regular lab days at the clinics in Graeagle, Indian Valley, and Loyalton. No appointment is necessary. Here’s your chance to be proactive about your health. Regular health screenings to make sure you’re in good health or to detect problems as soon as they arise means you’ll live a longer, healthier life. At EPHC, we encourage...

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Terri Becky recently joined Dr. Kopes-Kerr's Healthy Lifestyle Stars. Patients visiting the Portola and Graeagle Clinics will be able to see the "Stars" in display cases there. She's completed all 5 items in Dr. Kopes-Kerr's "Formula for Good Health," which include: 0 cigarettes; 5 servings of fruits and vegetables/day; 10 min. of silence, relaxation, or meditation/day; a body mass index under 30 (this is a combo of your height a weight); and, 150 min. of exercise/wk. When asked why a healthy lifestyle is important to her, Terri said, "Because I want to have a good quality of life in my...

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When Ramona Feiman fell and broke her hip, she spent a week in the hospital in Truckee. Because she was determined to heal close to home, in Loyalton, she asked that she be transferred back to Eastern Plumas Health Care’s Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) there. Feiman is one of the few patients in recent months who has been transferred back to her local EPHC facility, near family and friends, while undergoing rehabilitation. In many cases, EPHC’s two Skilled Nursing Facilities (the other one is in Portola) aren’t on the list of patient choices at larger urban hospitals, so only those...

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EPHC is offering Low-Cost Health Screenings every week day in May at their Portola campus, and on regular lab days at their clinics in Graeagle, Indian Valley, and Loyalton. No appointment is necessary. Here’s your chance to be proactive about your health. Regular health screenings to make sure you’re in good health or to detect problems as soon as they arise means you’ll live a longer, healthier life. At EPHC, we encourage you to take advantage of this extremely low cost health screening. The $40 screening includes: Cholesterol, CBC (Complete Blood Count), Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, HDL, Direct LDL, Ratio, and...

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Hepatitis C currently affects 5 million Americans. 1 in 5 people are at risk for the virus, and 30% of people who have it have no idea how they got it. Many people, in fact, may be at risk without knowing it. According to Mary Morrison, a Family Nurse Practitioner at Eastern Plumas Health Care who has been treating this virus for 14 years, risk factors include: IV drug use or snorting drugs, blood transfusions before 1992, tattoos, piercings, a shared razor or toothbrush. Further, many people who contract the virus, which is passed by blood to blood contact, show...

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EPHC’s Lab Manager, Bill Carlson, has reason to celebrate. At this week’s Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) inspection of the laboratory facility, a process that can last up to three days, the inspector was so impressed with what he saw that he completed his inspection in a single morning. Carlson explained that every two years, CLIA evaluates the lab, looking at the myriad of quality control data (including daily control studies and monthly evaluations during which Carlson checks for any accuracy problems and corrects them), proficiency testing, instrumentation testing, and more. The state also makes sure that all lab personnel...

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Director of Nursing, Mark Schweyer, reported on the progress he’s made in EPHC’s Telemedicine program. Schweyer has a multi-dimensional approach, focusing on grant funding, partnerships with other organizations in our region (including Tahoe-Forest, Plumas County public health, schools, and public libraries), educational opportunities, and patient specialist services. The Sierra Institute for Community and Environment is providing $10,000 for a telemedicine equipped cart. EPHC is also slated as a recipient on UC Davis’s telemedicine grant, for which they’ll receive a second telemedicine cart. In addition, UCD will provide “pediatric emergency room coverage,” allowing EPHC’s ER doctors to access UCD’s expertise at...

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Eastern Plumas Health Care’s Auxiliary has donated $100,000 towards the purchase of the hospital’s new digital mammography equipment. At a recent Auxiliary luncheon, EPHC’s Chief Executive Officer, Tom Hayes, explained the hospital’s drive to offer digital mammography to EPHC’s patients. Perhaps the most significant improvement over film mammography, he said, is that results will be reported within 24 hours. Digital imaging is also much quicker, so the process of taking the mammogram is easier on patients. Further, digital images are easily stored in a patient’s medical record, making the comparison of a new mammogram with previous ones in order to...

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