Published on April 13, 2023
OH Residency Program to Offer Free, Low-cost Screenings
By Freddie Bourne, Messenger-Inquirer
The Owensboro Health/University of Louisville Family Medicine Residency Clinic will be offering three walk-in wellness screenings beginning this month at its facility at 811 E. Parrish Ave.
The programs, which will be at “little-to-no cost” to patients, will include skin cancer screenings, school physicals and diabetes assessments.
Dr. Darby Cole, program director for the residency clinic, said this is the first year the three health assessments are being offered.
As a residency program, Cole said one of the requirements is to engage with the community in accordance with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
“It’s not just about seeing those individuals that come to the office appointments and just seeing those people that come into our hospitals sick through the (emergency room),” he said. “We’re looking at ways that we can engage and make a meaningful impact on the citizens that live here in this county and the area which we serve.”
Cole said the idea of offering the assessments stemmed from experiences during his own residency training.
“We tossed it around the faculty, (and) they all thought it was a great idea, and then we then started brainstorming (what to offer),” he said.
The free “head-to-toe” skin cancer screenings will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 15, which will include same-day biopsies for those with lesions, and will be billed to a patient’s insurance. Standard copays will apply.
Regarding the idea of offering skin cancer screenings, Cole said it hits a personal note, as many of his family members have been diagnosed with the disease.
“My grandfathers were farmers; and so a lot of farmers out in the sun get skin cancer,” he said. “I remember the burdens my grandfathers suffered, and so we thought about ways on how to reach out to the community, and this was suggested.”
Free school physical exams will be offered from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 13. All assessments will include height and weight measurements, pulse and blood pressure readings and vision and hearing tests.
Additionally, resident physicians will check the following for any abnormalities: abdomen, heart, lungs, mouth, nose, skin, teeth and throat.
Cole said the physicals were an “obvious go-to” to implement.
“(We could) provide a real service to folks because everybody that’s got a kid in school (is) gonna have to get those physicals done each and every year,” he said.
A diabetes assessment for patients, which will happen from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 17, will include urinalysis and on-site tests for determining glucose and hemoglobin A1C levels. Results from the assessments will be available the same day, while dedicated diabetes educators from the Owensboro Health Healthpark will be available for counseling or questions.
The assessment will be performed for $25.
Cole and other faculty observed “a tremendous burden” of people suffering from diabetes and its complications in the Owensboro area.
“At our hospital, we admit people almost every single week that have some sort of complication from diabetes — whether that’s end-stage renal failure and now they need to go on dialysis, or somebody who is about to lose a foot or lose a leg because of lack of circulation and diabetic foot ulcers that are not healing,” Cole said. “... The guidelines for treating diabetes are well-defined, our residents are well-versed in that ….”
Cole has goals in mind with the assessments for both the patients and those in the residency program.
“For our patients, we want them to have a pleasant experience and to realize that family medicine is here to do more than treat their acute needs that they show up with …. We want them to know that we truly are invested in our community, that we truly want to partner with the citizens in our community for their better short and long-term health,” he said. “... Each of our residents are charged with doing some sort of community service activity each year; and so thinking of ways to make this easier for our residents, to have an experience that satisfies ACGME criteria, as well as plugs them into (being) an effective contributor to the healthcare and the community that they live — we feel like these workshops will be an effective way of doing that.”
Cole hopes to hold more assessments for the residency program, particularly addressing street drug abuse.
“Every single week we admit people in our hospital who are suffering consequences of street drug abuse, particularly methamphetamine, and we see far too much of that in our community,” he said. “If we can brainstorm ways to make an impact and a difference in that for people, we would like to. We would like to start a public information campaign about the negative impact of methamphetamine and what it does to people’s heart and brain.”
No appointments are necessary for those who attend any of the screenings. All screenings will be overseen by a group of certified physicians alongside the residents in the program.
To learn more about the screening events and the residency clinic, visit OwensboroHealth.org/FMRClinic or call 270-688-2077.
About Owensboro Health
Owensboro Health is a nonprofit health system with a mission to heal the sick and to improve the health of the communities it serves in Kentucky and Indiana. The system includes Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, nationally recognized for design, architecture and engineering; Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital; Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center; the Owensboro Health Medical Group comprised of over 350 providers at more than 30 locations; three outpatient Healthplex facilities, a certified medical fitness facility, the Healthpark; a weight management program, and the Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center.
On average each year, we have more than 19,000 inpatient admissions, deliver 2,000 babies and provide the region’s only Level III NICU. Owensboro Health physicians perform nearly 33,000 surgical procedures, including nearly 150 open-heart surgeries. Our physicians and staff have 90,000 Emergency Department visits and more than 1.25 million outpatient visits annually. Visit our home page for more information.