Did you know the student athlete in your family has to have a qualifying sports physical every three years to be eligible to participate in sports? And, well-child exams are recommended yearly.
Summer is a great time to schedule exams your child may need, and MLHS can help you out with that.
Mille Lacs Health System invites you to start thinking about getting healthy this summer by participating in the Healthy Me wellness event.
The event will be a six-week long wellness challenge, where you can track your exercise and healthy eating on a daily log, and earn points toward incentive awards that will be given at the end of the event.
The event will kick off on July 11 with our co-sponsorship of the Isle Fun Run/Walk. You can earn 200 points right out of the gate if you participate in the run. Beginning July 13, you can sign up online by visiting our website, and look for the Healthy Me logo. You must give an email address.
Arden Virnig, a Family Practice Physician from Mille Lacs Health System, has just ridden 44 miles, from the main campus in Onamia to the neighborhood clinic in Garrison, and back. “As I rode our tandem bike solo today it made me think about all the ways as a parent you make so many little decisions that assume all of your children will be included in plans for the rest of your life,” he says. “We had room around the kitchen counter for six, we always bought vehicles that could carry six, we purchased tents that could sleep six. Then cancer comes along and you have to adjust. Now we only count to five.”
If you have ever had a loved one in hospice, you know how important this service is to the patient and family at a time when care with dignity and quality is so very much needed.
Our MLHS Hospice is an award-winning program that provides sensitivity and support for people in the progression of a terminal illness, bringing comfort into the lives of those who need it most. The program welcomes donations, and one of the ways you can donate is to sponsor a Monarch Butterfly in memory of a loved one.
Mille Lacs Health System in Onamia welcomes Dr. Ranjita Adhikari to their family of care.
Dr. Adhikari comes to the area from Altru Health System in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where she completed her Family practice residency. Prior to that, she received her medical training in Bangladesh, and did her first year of residency in Mckeesport, Pennsylvania, then finishing her residency at Altru.
As a child, Dr. Adhikari says a couple of her father’s friends were physicians, and she’d often accompany them to hospital. “I’d watch, so fascinated,” she says. “That white coat meant to me ‘there is a person who could heal people, and save lives.’ That is what I saw for myself and my future.”
Mille Lacs Health System is celebrating Health Care Week May 11-15. National Hospital Week also occurs at the same time, and National Nurse’s Week is May 6 – 12. However, because MLHS has many facets of healthcare operations, and wishes to honor everyone who works in its facilities, Health Care Week was created and designated to acknowledge all employees.
Click to download Summer 2015 issue of House Call
Mille Lacs Health System welcomes Dr. Jeff Skogen to their family of care. Dr. Skogen, a Nephrologist (kidney specialist), oversees the operation of the new DaVita kidney dialysis center in Isle and will be coming on board at MLHS, providing Nephrology services to the patients in the Mille Lacs area.
Dr. Skogen grew up in Isle, and when he was a teen, a person of influence in his life told him he thought he had the skills to be either a pastor or a physician. “It was that concept of ‘if just one person believes in you’ and he saw something in me that I didn’t yet see in myself,” he says.
The Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP) has selected Thomas Bracken, M.D., of Onamia, MN, as the 2015 Family Physician of the Year. This award is presented annually to a family physician who represents the highest ideals of the specialty of family medicine, including caring, comprehensive medical service, community involvement and service as a role model.