On Friday October 2, 2009 Family Care Partners will be joining Christina Appelgate in the fight against breast cancer by participating in the 2009 Lee National Denim Day Ambassador. A donation of $5 allows employees at the family practice in Jacksonville to wear denim jeans on Lee National Denim Day. This donation will go to Lee Jeans, who started the fundraiser in 1996 to help fight breast cancer. Lee will use the funds we raise towards research of less toxic, more effective treatments, development of early detection blood tests, and advocacy work to help educate those faced with breast cancer.
Did you know 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime! Only 5 to 10 percent of breast cancers are due to an inherited gene mutation. There are more than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S.and you will find a few among the general practice here at Family Care Partners!

As you come by the office in Jacksonville to visit your primary care physician, you will see us dressed down for this worthy cause.

You may visit www.denimday.com for more informatin, or stop by the office to make a donation to help with the fight against breast cancer.

Family Care Partners, one of Jacksonville’s leaders in family practice medicine, is proud to tell you about the Quit Smoking Now program that has been adopted.   Ms. Karen Nutter, the Lead Tobacco Cessation Specialist, works with this great program to help people stop smoking, and has gotten us all excited about the possibility of a more smoke free environment. We at FCP have been participating in this for about a year, and couldn’t be more proud of it’s success. In these 6 weeks sessions those who participate are helped to understand the addiction of smoking, and how to beat it. Karen has been alternating classes between the Arlington and Northside locations, and has helped many people kick this habit!!  If you are interested in participating in the Quit Smoking Now program you can call 1-877-QUIT-IT-NOW, or you can talk to your primary care physician about a referral for this free program.

Family Care Partners of Northside  has put their own spin on the popular TV show “The Biggest Loser.” Started  in 2008, our version of T.B.L. gave us a reason to put down those forks and spoons. With an incentive of weight loss and money (especially the money) my co-workers and I have reached many of our set goals. This contest  has really motivated me because I  have struggled with being overweight. For a long time I felt like I could never lose the weight  until Family Care Partners Northside started to have their own Biggest Loser contest. Which by the way is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. My experience so far with the contest is: that it works!  When you’re competing to lose the most weight each week you have to make certain sacrifices. To tell you the truth, I watch what I eat more now and I intake less of the fast food, which I think was one of my weaknesses.  I started adding more salads to my lunch menu instead of french fries, burgers and pizza. Now I see by adding fruits, vegetables and a nice small dinner your goals of weight loss can be reached. Good luck to all my co-workers on reaching their goals. ( too bad I  am going to win the money )  :0)

Our providers at Family Care Partners North Side and Arlington proudly offer diabetes education classes for our patients, which are held twice a month and consists of 3 classes.

• 1st Class: Teaches patients to better understand diabetes. Diabetes mellitus, or sugar as it is commonly called, is a chronic (life-long) disease in which the body either does not make enough insulin or it cannot properly use the insulin that it makes. Insulin is a hormone that is produced by the pancreas and is necessary to break down glucose (sugar) into energy to be used by the cells of the body. When insulin is absent or does not work properly, glucose builds up in the blood leading to hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) and resulting in diabetes.
• 2nd Class: Focuses more on treatment, exercise and how important is to lose weight.
  For example: Exercise is critically important. 10,000 steps a day are needed to lose weight. Exercise improves glucose and that makes people feel happier. Losing weight is important, but so is getting fit. Many people who are overweight have arthritis and leisure centre gyms or fitness clubs can help. Staff there can tell you what exercise may help. Even if you cannot lose weight, exercise has many health benefits.
• 3rd class :Talks about diet and nutrition. Too much fat, even healthy fats, are harmful.
  Cut down on fried and fatty foods such as butter, margarine, cheese and fatty meats. Choose reduced-fat spreads and cheeses instead. Try skimmed or semi- skimmed milk. Trans-fats (which may be in hard margarine, biscuits, cake for instance).

 It’s also important that good cholesterol is maintained: Low lipid levels prevent/slow down retinopathy and all other diabetic complications HPS . Fibrates lower triglycerides, Statins lower cholesterol. Diet and exercise lower both.

Please feel free to contact your Family Care Partners location if you are interested in joining our class.

Our very own Nancy Wooten in Radiology is the founder of the Health and Wellness program here at Family Care Partners.  She approached William Carriere, M.D. the medical director and owner of Family Care Partners about starting a wellness program. Dr.Carriere agreed and a weight-loss program was launched and  in June 2008 the first Weight Watchers At Work program began. Since the program started employees of Family Care Partners have lost a total of 600 pounds.  When the patients started noticing the dramatic weight loss they were curios as to what was taking place. Now Family Care Partners is offering a weight loss program through Weight Watchers for the patients and community. They currently have 52 individuals participating and have lost an amazing 350 pounds.

In addition to the weight loss programs, Family Care Partners is involved in many other health related projects. Family Care Partners offers a Gym Membership to it’s employees and also offers an In-Service program through Avmed. In 2008 a Stop Smoking clinic was started for anyone interested.

Family Care Partners also began sponsoring several Charity Fundraisers in 2008 . Not only do we raise money for different causes, several of our employees also participate in the walks that are associated with the different charities.  Just in 2008 alone we raised $703.32 for Go Red, $286.00 for JDRF, $3,200.00 for Susan G. Komen. Family Care Partners also collected non-perishables  for the Second Harvest Food Banks Pound of Food and we donate blood quarterly  to the  Florida Georgia Blood Alliance.  At Christmas time Family Care Partners participates in Angel Tree where we provided for 50 under privileged  children.

This year Family Care Partners has surpassed last years fundraising.  For Go Red we collected $1,477.20, JDFR $1,504.00, ALS $140.00, DSAJ $2,200.00 and will have over 100 walkers.  Nancy is working with SVMC to host a 1st Annual Mean’s Health walk/run for 2010.

Family Care Partners want to provide our patients with the latest news from the CDC about H1N1 Flu (swine flu). the link below from the CDC provides you information on how to take care of a sick person in your home.
www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance_homecare.htm

Family Care Partners has teamed up with local vendors to host a Health fair at Family Care Partners of Arlington. The event will be held on Saturday September 19, 2009 from 8:00 am til 2:00 pm. Come and enjoy. There will be FREE Vision Tests and Glaucoma testing. Raffles, food, and speakers. EVERYONE WELCOMED.

WELCOME TO THE NEW AND IMPROVED

Family Care Partners WEBSITE. My name is M.A. ADAMS
and I will be bringing you blogs that will make you smile.
As a new blogger for Family Care Partners I hope to bring a little fun and some smiles your way. I will add some useful information to help you through your week.

The 1 mile Buddy walk for DOWN SYNDROME is scheduled for September 26,2009, Family Care Partner’s looks forward to this special event.
So come join us, lets walk together with family and friends, A fun filled day for every one to share.

FCP NORTHSIDE is very proud of our staff, even our patient’s are involved including Pharmaceutical Reps.

At FAMILY CARE PARTNERS we give special thanks to Dr. William Carriere for being our sponsor.

So come join us as we make a difference . For more information on this Buddy walk please visit this Web Site DSAJ.ORG and join Our group “BRYCE Squad”