Allina News

[KSTP-TV, March 3, 2010] There is a debate in the medical community over whether children should be given antibiotics if they get an ear infection. There is some concern it can do more harm than good.
Dr. Eric Barth, a pediatrician with Allina Medical Clinic in Ramsey, spoke to Megan Newquist about the controversy. Watch the [...]

[The Alley, March 1, 2010] Community residents celebrated the first year of the BYI at the Cultural Wellness Center (CWC) on January 30th. Atum Azzahir, CWC Executive Director and facilitator of BYI community meetings, reviewed the progress that has been made:

A community-authored definition of health
A set of guiding principles for BYI work in the community
An understanding [...]

[KSTP-TV, Feb. 17, 2010] Studies have shown patients with diabetes have a greater risk of suffering from depression. Sometimes it’s a challenge to correctly diagnose depression for people with diabetes.
Dr. Alan Steed, a psychologist with Allina Medical Clinic, talked about the issue with KSPT-TV’s Megan Newquist. Watch the interview below and see more at kstp.com.

[WCCO Radio, Feb. 18, 2010] After two weeks in Vancouver caring for Olympic athletes in the Olympic Village clinic, Allina Medical Clinic-Northfield physician Scott Koehler, MD,  is home. He was interviewed on his experience at the Olympics on the WCCO Radio News Hour today. Listen to the interview below.

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Allina Medical Clinic’s Dr. Scott Koehler on [...]

[Finance & Commerce, Feb. 15, 2010] Go Home Gorgeous is growing and expects to keep on expanding. The Edina-based provider of luxury massages and other post-partum relief for new mothers has added its in-hospital services this month at United Hospital in St. Paul.
Go Home Gorgeous founder and owner Rachel Swardson expects several other hospitals soon [...]

[WCCO Radio, Feb. 16, 2010] Can you die of a broken heart? Turns out you can according to a growing body of research. The latest study comes from Allina’s Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital.
MHI’s Dr. Scott Sharkey discussed that research on WCCO Radio’s Mondale & Jones program today. Listen below or at wccoradio.com.

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[WCCO Radio, Feb. 12, 2010] Former President Bill Clinton had two stents inserted into a coronary artery Thursday and was released from the hospital a day later. Cardiologist Kevin Graham, from Allina’s Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital visited with WCCO Radio’s Susie Jones and John Hines about the procedures performed on Clinton and [...]

[Isanti County News, Jan. 20, 2010] A doctor prescribes a long-lasting narcotic, such as Vicodin, Percocet or OxyContin, to a patient complaining of chronic pain. The patient, with a smaller dosage, faces an empty pill bottle in no time and is denied refills. A search then begins and evolves [...]

[Owatonna People's Press, Feb. 12, 2010] Operations are running smoothly at the Owatonna Hospital, which relocated to 26th Street in October. So smoothly, in fact, that some of the patients who have been treated at the facility are coming back to volunteer their services.
That’s one of the experiences that Sue Simons, volunteer services supervisor for [...]

[MinnPost, Feb. 10, 2010] MinnPost columnist and Abbott Northwestern Hospital hospitalist Dr. Craig Bowron, writes this week on the departure of another Allina doctor heading home from Haiti:
After spending the last two weeks working in a field hospital in Port-au-Prince, internist and pediatrician Dr. Peter Melchert is heading home today (see two previous posts here [...]

[WCCO Radio, Feb. 10, 2010] February is Heart Month. Dr. Kevin Graham is a cardiologist and president of Allina’s Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. He talks with WCCO’s John Hines on a wide range of heart health issues including how vitamin supplements, including vitamin D, can improve how you feel and improve your [...]

[The Hospitalist, Feb. 10, 2010] A concerted effort to reduce patient falls in Minnesota hospitals culminated last year as the Gopher State reported zero fatal falls—a result heavily attributed to hospitalist efforts.
A report last month from Minnesota health officials shows that no patients died from falls in 2009. It was the first fatality-free reporting period [...]

[Northfield News, Feb. 9, 2010] Dr. Scott Koehler loves his job as a sports medicine specialist at Allina Medical Clinic in Northfield. He also realizes if he’s busy, that means somebody is hurt.
For the second time in his medical career, Koehler is taking his talents to the biggest stage in the world. He applied for [...]

[KMSP-TV, Feb. 9, 2010] A decade ago, the government’s healthy people program targeted 2010 to reduce children obesity to just five percent. The number is staggering. Now, 32 percent of our kids are obese. Some believe that puts children on track to die at a younger age than their parents.
Allina Medical Clinic [...]

[Pioneer Press, Feb. 9, 2010] Four days after spending more than eight hours trapped up to his chest inside a Farmington grain silo, Mark Malecha returned to work Monday. Authorities are investigating reports he was not wearing a safety harness when, while attempting to unclog clumped or frozen grain, he fell [...]

[Minnesota Public Radio Midday, Feb. 2, 2010] Peter Melchert, MD, a pediatric internist with Abbott Northwestern Hospital and Children’s Hospital and medical director of Children’s Surgery International is in Haiti with the volunteer group providing care for Haitians injured in the earthquake three weeks. He was interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio’s Midday program. Listen to [...]

[KSTP-TV, Feb. 3, 2010] A new report from the Minnesota Department of Health says the number of new HIV cases rose 13 percent in 2009, climbing to a 17-year high. HIV is an infection that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS.
Doctor Frank Rhame from the Allina Medical Clinic-The Doctors Uptown talked with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS [...]

[Pioneer Press, Feb. 3, 2010] A group of Twin Cities emergency physicians plans to open a standalone emergency treatment center in Woodbury—hoping to provide faster, cheaper care than the Woodwinds hospital ER a mile away. The group practice has been planning a standalone treatment center for three years, but targeted the east metro suburb after [...]

[MinnPost, Feb. 2, 2010] Every morning a flatbed named despair drives out of the Heartline Ministries compound and into the slums of Port-au-Prince, looking for the injured in need of help. When the truck returns several hours later and slides through the steel rollaway gates that guard the compound, a small medical staff goes to [...]

[KARE11, Feb. 1, 2010] A Northfield doctor will bring his sports medicine expertise to the 2010 Olympics beginning Wednesday in Vancouver. Scott Koehler, M.D., a sports medicine physician at Allina Medical Clinic-Northfield, volunteered to serve at the Athletes’ Village, caring for competitors from all countries.
Dr. Koehler is the team physician for both Carleton and Saint Olaf [...]

[Eden Prairie News, Jan. 29, 2010] More couples are turning to natural family planning as a way to achieve or postpone a pregnancy. Whether for religious, health or environmental reasons, these couples are shying away from contraceptives and having the family they always wanted.
Dr. Frani Knowles, a family medical physician at New Ulm Medical Center, [...]

[MinnPost, Jan. 29, 2010] Earlier this week, the Minnesota Department of Health announced that the number of people with newly diagnosed HIV in 2009 had increased by 13 percent, marking a 17-year high. The increase was driven primarily by an uptick in the number of cases involving males 15 to 24 years old, 88 percent [...]

[WCCO-TV, Jan. 21, 2010] A Minnesota mother is sharing her story of survival and her one big regret after she was in a terrible motorcycle crash.
Last fall, Dayna Halbert was thrown off her motorcycle and into the truck that t-boned her in an Owatonna intersection. The other driver was going 60 mph, she said. She [...]

[Shakopee Valley News, Jan. 28, 2010] St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee has been designated as a Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) Blue Distinction Center for knee and hip replacement.
Blue Distinction recognizes medical facilities nationally that have demonstrated a commitment to providing quality care, resulting in better outcomes for patients. The program [...]

[Star Tribune, Jan. 29, 2010] If a final health bill passes—and that’s a big if—it’s likely to include a payment formula that would reward efficient, high-quality providers. Leading a coalition of hospitals from the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Mayo Clinic proposed a radical new payment formula, called a “value index.” Instead of paying the same [...]