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The Journey Out
The Journey Out Podcast is a podcast designed to be the helping hand for everyday people who are on their Exodus Journey!
You were designed for a purpose and many times, just like Moses, we need a burning bush or sign from God that it is time to leave, or journey out, from what we are used to, to be propelled to where we are called to be.
Join us for engaging, informative and resourceful conversation ranging from healthcare to entrepreneurship to family values.
The Journey Out
The Forgotten Population: How CenterWell Senior Primary Care is Revolutionizing Senior Care
Dr. Mary Wilson from CenterWell Senior Primary Care takes us on a compassionate journey through the often-overlooked landscape of senior heart health, revealing why this population deserves specialized attention and care.
The sobering reality of heart disease emerges as Dr. Wilson explains how high blood pressure, cholesterol issues, and diabetes interact to affect the heart's structure and function. "When your blood pressure is high, it makes your heart pump harder. Your heart is a muscle – it gets bigger. But a bigger muscle, especially for your heart, is not a good thing because your heart then cannot pump efficiently." These clear explanations demystify why controlling these conditions is crucial for heart health.
What sets CenterWell apart is their revolutionary approach to senior care. Unlike typical 20-minute appointments, they provide 40-minute sessions allowing providers to truly know their patients – their families, hobbies, and challenges. This extended time creates space for addressing not just medical needs but also social determinants of health that profoundly impact heart conditions.
For seniors facing food deserts or transportation barriers, CenterWell employs community health workers who conduct home assessments and coordinate resources. Their comprehensive care model includes clinical pharmacists reviewing medications, high-risk nurses providing weekly check-ins, and activity centers combating isolation through stretch classes, arts and crafts, and karaoke.
Perhaps most touching is Dr. Wilson's philosophy: "You're twice a child. So if you're twice a child, just like somebody took care of you when you were a child the first time, you need somebody to help take care of you when you're a child the second time." This perspective encapsulates why senior heart care requires special attention and why CenterWell's community-centered approach transforms the aging experience.
Whether you're a senior navigating heart health challenges or a family member supporting a loved one, this episode offers invaluable guidance on warning signs to never ignore and practical steps for heart-healthy living. Visit centerwellseniorprimarycare.com to find one of their eleven locations across the DFW metroplex and experience care that puts seniors at the center of being well.
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I know some people probably had it hard, but I was blessed. They ain't never saw my mom and dad in stress. They only shows. They said I'm living comfy from the sweat off they bags and that's why all I ever wanted was to give it back. I'm not ashamed cause I was raised right. I would only be ashamed if I didn't help you fight through the pain, Help you drain out the games that your mind plays. No matter what, I'm never letting my shine fade away.
Speaker 2:Forever searching for knowledge. Outro Music. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Journey Out Podcast. We are so excited to be talking to you all today, but I we hit a milestone yes between last episode and this episode, we have over a thousand subscribers, like y'all.
Speaker 2:We are just, we're just so excited that you guys find everything that we talk about here to be something that is getting you from one stage to the next again that exodus journey, which is why we're here. So we're so very thankful for all of you guys who are following and subscribing. Please continue to share, like, subscribe and comment, uh, and just make sure that you have that team around you to kind of get you from one step to the next. Now we have a very special guest yes yes, dr mary wilson from center.
Speaker 2:Well, senior primary care okay, yes, yes, yes, yes we have her here today to pretty much talk about heart health yes, heart disease and kind of how can we get past that? Right, that's what we're here to do today so and get some effective tips on right and so welcome, got you, welcome, thank you, thank you. So, first and foremost, please tell us about yourself, who you are, what you do and how you do it. Ok, absolutely.
Speaker 5:My name is Dr Mary Wilson. I have my doctorate in nurse practice. Nursing is actually a second career for me. My first career was a bank examiner for the FDIC. You didn't show your money Right. We had a medical emergency with my father and I switched from that career to nursing. Um got my BSN in 2009, got my master's in 2015 and got my doctorate in 2023.
Speaker 2:so awesome congratulations, congratulations and so you work in. You work for Cinderella Primary Team. Yes, I work for Centerville Primary Senior Care.
Speaker 5:Yes, I work for Centerville Senior Primary Care in the North Richland Hills location. Awesome. Well, we have about 600 patients, so, yeah, and we are a Medicare Advantage plan and then we take those. We take everything, I believe, except UnitedHealthcare Okay, awesome.
Speaker 3:All right. So who is Centerville Primary Care?
Speaker 5:Centerville. Primary Care is you get concierge service without paying a concierge price. We take our time with our patients, so your appointment we normally give you about 40 minutes, but typically when you go to a primary care provider they probably give you about 20 minutes. Right, I can tell you about my patients', animals, their children, children, their grandchildren, their hobbies. Um, I can see them out in public and be able to call them by name, right? Um, so that's what you get and you just get a lot of tlc, right?
Speaker 5:yeah, we love on you, so it's a family atmosphere absolutely right, and it's treating them from the inside out Correct, but also through that love like I said, and then we also offer like stretch classes, just things to get them out of the house as well. Awesome, all type of arts, crafts and things like that.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, and I wanted to kind of harp on that 40 minutes. I don't know anyone who has 40 minutes with their provider. So why was that? Something Center World wanted to make sure was the game changer for their seniors.
Speaker 5:So seniors have a lot of chronic conditions, one and two. A lot of times we, as their provider or the medical staff, we are the only ones that they will talk to, or maybe for that whole week, right. And so we want to make sure that we give them enough time to express what's going on with them and also, if they're just going through life changes, just to be that listening ear, right. I know I tell patients all the time, just dump it on the floor Like, get it all out here. So when you leave out this door, I want you feeling better. I don't want you feeling the same way or worse than when you came in Right. So the same way or worse than when you came in Right. So that's important.
Speaker 2:Right, it's very important Right, and so I know one of the most common chronic conditions that we're dealing with today is heart disease. First and foremost, what is heart disease?
Speaker 5:Heart disease is when your heart it does not work properly. Heart disease can be when you have high blood pressure, you have high cholesterol, you have things that affect that muscle, because your heart is truly a muscle and so when you have like, even diabetes, so anything that compromises the blood flow and the structure of the heart is considered heart disease, right.
Speaker 3:Okay, so do other diagnoses affect heart health.
Speaker 5:Yes, okay. So high blood pressure, especially if it's uncontrolled, can affect it. It can affect the structure of the heart. High cholesterol can affect the blood flow that gets to it because you have the plaque that's on your vessels, and then diabetes attacks every microvascular vessel in your body, whether it's your kidneys, your heart, like.
Speaker 3:So we have to be very cautious in keeping those things within their normal range as possible well, you said something that and, uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but you said high blood pressure affect the structure of your heart, correct?
Speaker 5:explain a little bit on that so when your blood pressure is high it makes your heart pump harder. So your heart is a muscle. It gets bigger. But a bigger muscle does, especially for your heart, is not a good thing, because your heart then cannot pump it efficiently because it's gotten bigger. So imagine if you have like a squeezy ball, like right, okay, you know, when you normally squeezing, squeezing it it's good, but over time you can squeeze a little easy and it gets the same thing with your heart.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay. And so what are some signs or symptoms of heart problems that seniors or their families should like never ignore, okay.
Speaker 5:So I always tell patients if you gain two or more pounds in 24 hours, if you gain five pounds in a week, if you're noticing that your legs are swelling all the time, if you're able to push down on your leg and it puts a dent in there, you have some fluid. If you're getting short of breath when you're normally walking to your kitchen and now you can barely take two steps to your kitchen things like that okay, yeah okay, perfect, and so, of course, aging we're all going to age, right?
Speaker 2:so that's not something that we can fight again. So how does aging normally impact the heart in like the circulatory system?
Speaker 5:so as you get older, um, you start to get those comorbidities, you start to get like the high blood pressure and things like that.
Speaker 5:So what we do we also test, like your circulation in your legs to see if you have any type of vascular disease and also if you have, like, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, copd can affect the heart.
Speaker 5:High cholesterol, diabetes, copd can affect the heart. Um, if you're overweight, if you have any of those two things and you have the medicare advantage plan, we actually do a screening echo to do to screen the structures of your heart and to screen the the blood flow, and a lot of patients come back as being heart failure stage b, which means you have no symptoms. So those things that I said, like gaining the two pounds at 24 hours, gaining the five pounds in a week, you're not having those things and as long as we keep, like, your copd under control, you're not having the exacerbations, we're keeping your blood pressure at goal, your lipids, your um, your a1c is, it's within range. We normally can keep you in the asymptomatic. But once you move to stage C and you start to have symptoms, then we actually have to start treating you with different medications for the heart failure.
Speaker 3:Okay, you said a little bit about screening, so what screening or labs should be conducted and how do CenterWell help with these screenings?
Speaker 5:So you should check your lipids, you should check your kidney function, which is your CMP. It checks your liver, your electrolytes, also having at least a base EKG. But if you have those comorbidities, then getting the echocardiogram and then the PVR which we test to see if you have some type of vascular. So for that now we check it. If you're symptomatic, so you're saying, hey, my legs keep swelling, so then we will do the PVR to check your vascular, and then if it's worse, I'm so sorry, no, no, no, you're good, no, you're good.
Speaker 3:No, no, I'm going to say no, you keep on, you're good, you're okay.
Speaker 5:So if we see that you are having those issues, we then refer you out to a specialist A specialist, yeah. And so typically the specialists that we refer out to, we send it to our referral team. They check your insurance to see, hey, yeah, this person's in network, you see them. Then the specialists will send us the note and we send them the initial notice to why we're sending them, like sending the labs or the test that we run.
Speaker 2:So it's an open communication with with both parties and so we all know that it first starts at home. Everything starts at home, so how important is diet and exercise to reducing heart disease and having some of those problems that you've talked about?
Speaker 5:Absolutely so. I'm sure everybody has heard of a food desert.
Speaker 5:We have a lot of food deserts in low income, which means they don't have access to healthier foods to the grocery store, to the organic foods, so they're eating more of the foods that have sodium in them, your canned goods, your ramen noodles out of the pack, things like that, so trying to get them to where they can get fresh produce. I know we partner with tarrant county um food bank to try and help with that. And then also I tell people, don't look at it as exercise, you just becoming a little bit more active. So if you normally walk to your mailbox to check your mail, if you do it two extra times, that's that's you becoming more active. Because when you say exercise to people, they think, oh my goodness, I need to get on a trip, I need to go to the gym.
Speaker 3:I had to get up another day.
Speaker 5:Yes, that's not the case. My thing is just park further out and walk further. If you're in the mall, you're in the air condition, just walk an extra lap or something, but just become more active. So I hate saying exercise okay. Yeah, I just say become more active so.
Speaker 3:So, even with becoming active, right, uh, the patients that are dealing with these symptoms or things that they are dealing with tell them why it's important, while being active, it's important to take the prescribed medication that is needed take your medication.
Speaker 5:We have so many patients that come in and like, oh, I didn't take my blood pressure medicine this morning. Take your medicine. If you are on blood pressure medicine, you need it. If you are on cholesterol medication, you need it. If you have COPD, you have an inhaler. Those things are chronic conditions. We're just trying to treat them. So we're not giving you the medicine just because, oh, we want to prescribe it. No, we're giving, trying to treat them. So we're not giving you the medicine just because, oh, we want to prescribe it. No, we're giving it to you because it's helping your entire body.
Speaker 5:So I tell everybody take your medicine. Take it even when you come to the doctor. Take your medicine so we can know that it's actually working. So if I have you on blood pressure medicine then you come to the doctor, I don't know if it's working or not because you didn't take it. So those things are important. So I stress take your medications please. But how it works with the exercise and, like I said, with the food, all of those things work together. Even American Diabetes Association knew at first we were giving metformin when patients were diagnosed Depending on their A1C. The first thing now is diet and exercise. Diet and exercise is important to so many things. And even if and a lot of people think diet means, oh, I can't eat this, I can't eat that Even you drink a Coke every day. If you go to drinking a Coke every other day, you will be amazed at the weight you will lose because of all the sugar.
Speaker 3:So well, I'm sorry, I need to always throw with the coast.
Speaker 2:Don't always do it look, look, I'm so happy you're here. I've been trying to tell him, but I think, I think, though, too, you did hit on something that was profound, I think, when you talk about the food deserts for those communities who don't have access to it. So let's step into their shoes a little bit. There is a lot of stress that comes along with the life changes their life situation. How can and I know that affects the heart. So what is the correlation between stress and the heart and what are some things that they could potentially do to kind of help with that?
Speaker 5:Stress is a silent killer. I want everybody to understand that.
Speaker 5:But if you're a Centerville patient, we have community health workers that help you get access to those foods that you need to help relieve that stress. So our community health workers, they help you get access to those foods that you need to help relieve that stress. So our community health workers are very important with this. So they're like the middleman between the clinic, the provider and life. So they will go to the patient's house, they will do an assessment on the patient. If something is going wrong with the patient, then they'll call us to do a virtual visit or try and arrange for the patient to come in as soon as possible. So at Centerville we do have those type of interventions because, we treat the entire patient.
Speaker 5:We don't just treat the medical part, we treat the behavioral health part, we treat the SDOH, the social determinants of health, yes, and that is so important to just your overall health. Um, so we, we are big on that. So if we see that something is going on, we even have a high-risk nurse that will call and check on the patient weekly to see if they need anything. They call, call, call us the providers or the clinic or whatnot, to make sure that we know what's going on with the patient. So that helps relieve that stress for those patients that we have. So I said that to say if y'all go, if y'all stressed out, come to center with so right, so that.
Speaker 3:so you just gave up. That's some great information. So listen, why does Cinderella feel the need to be in the community like that?
Speaker 5:Geriatrics is a population that I call the forgotten population, I think, as our loved ones age and then we become more active, more busy in our lives. I'm not going to say we forget about it, but it's like I hadn't heard from her, so she must be okay. So for Sittonville it was important for us to come in and plant our roots here in DFW. We have 11 clinics now, so it was important for us to come in and we're in every aspect of the Metroplex we're in DeSoto, Redbird, North Richland Hills, Arlington, Kambooy Seminary, you name it.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 5:There's a center well close to you Awesome. But it was important that we close that gap, because the gap is so big with them just having access Right.
Speaker 5:And a lot of the times it's just they don't have access to things. So, center well, it was important for us to come here to allow the patient to have access, access to specialists. Centiwell even paid for the transportation for you to get to your specialist appointment. They paid for the transportation for you to come to our appointments. So we truly this is the patient and is Centowheel all around the patient.
Speaker 2:If we truly practice it, and I love that, because most times when they're coming to their providers, they're coming because they need answers and when it's just like, that 20 minute focus of this is what we're going to talk about during this visit, and then you're out the door. You don't get that full like coordination of care, you don't get that whole person aspect that you're talking about. And so let's kind of talk a little bit about like care coordination and patient advocacy. So how you talked a little bit about it before, like when you need to make a referral to the cardiologist and how you're in the whole process, what does that look like? What does that process look like with the communication to the patient, but also with the cardiologist and the whole team? What does that look like? What does that process look like with the communication to the patient but also with the cardiologist and the whole team?
Speaker 5:So once we see that a referral is needed, the provider places the referral. It goes directly to our referral team. They are doing referrals. If it's just a routine referral, they're normally getting to them within like five business days. If it's urgent, I believe it's in like two business days, and if it's stat, it's within 24 hours. So what they do? They look at your insurance and then they find the specialist that is in network. They then set up the authorization, they then call the patient and they will text the patient as well to tell them hey, your referral has been approved for the cardiologist. You're going to this person at this time. Uh, please call to confirm the appointment. And it's as simple as that. Like the hardest part for them to do truly is to answer the phone or read the text. That's it for the patient.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I love that and so I know we've been talking about the patient, right, but what role does like the caregiver or that family member play in the heart health management after seeing you guys?
Speaker 5:so encourage your loved ones. Don't fuss at them um the providers fuss enough so when they go home.
Speaker 5:They don't want to be fussed at right. So encourage them, um, to say, hey, come on, let's go walk here, or let's go walk there, or have you taking your medicine today, or let's try this for to for lunch today instead of you doing a ham sandwich like you normally do, let's try this salad, you know some, something like that. But just just to be encouraging and and offer positive reinforcement, don't criticize them because they they're already upset with themselves as well, because they're like I'm trying the best that I can. The last thing I want to do is have you fussing me my providers, you know. So become that positive reinforcement and when they are doing good, then you can be like okay, well, let's go do this, you know. Give them some type of reward, because that will continue to encourage them to do better. Family is important.
Speaker 3:Right. So with that, with the family member looking out for their loved one, right, what would you say? And they send some signs? Or family, their loved one not taking the medication, or things like that, or they dealing with something new that they haven't seen, what would you say is the best way for them to get started To come to Cedarville? Would you, uh, ask them to do?
Speaker 5:so the family? I will. So a lot of family members come with the patient and I'm going to make sure that the patient is okay with it and the family member can chime in and say, well, hey, I've noticed this is going on with my mom. And then at that point I will ask the patient do you want us to have this conversation or do you want them to step out and we have the conversation? But a lot of times I have noticed patients feel like they are a burden on their family. Yes, and that is important to talk to them about. And then I also will talk to the caregiver as well. Like, well, mom's feeling this way, you know, and then they have that conversation, they have a breakthrough. I'm a therapist most days, more days than I'm doing medical, but that's important to break their wall down, because parents or the, or your grandparents or your aunts and uncles, they feel like it's time for them to live their life. But I tell them all the time you're twice a child. So if you're twice a child, just like somebody took care of you when you was a child the first time, you need somebody to help take care of you when you were a child the second time. So it's important that they come to those visits.
Speaker 5:Family members notice signs that I don't notice. Prime example I had a patient. She had a UTI, no symptoms, but the daughter knew. She just wasn't acting like herself Because I was like, oh so she's not having like freaking urination, burning. She was like no, she said but I'm telling you, my mom does this when she has a UTI. I tested the mom, she had a UTI. I tested a mom, she had a UTI. You also have to trust what they're telling you, right, you know? Because I could have just said, well, I don't believe, so it kept going, then the mom could have got septic in the hospital, et cetera. So you have to have that open communication with the caregivers because they are your eyes and ears when you don't see the patient.
Speaker 2:So you guys have like a little wellness center within your facilities. So talk to me a little bit about that. And why do something like that when most doctor's offices don't do that?
Speaker 5:Yes, every clinic has an activity center and the activity center is where things take place. We do karaoke, um, like I said, we have a stretch where an actual person that is certified in stretching uh comes and stretches the patients out. We have like a paint and sip or whatnot we had. We also did candle making I'm trying to think of everything we've done and we did even some type of like pottery or something, and then they made like a plant with some seeds, I think like herbs or something, to try and get them to get their own guard.
Speaker 5:But we do those things to keep them engaged. We do those things to get them out of the house, because if you sit in the house all day, you're going to become depressed, you're going to become down, you know, down Isolation. So we do those things to get them out. And then also for them to meet other patients and they realize that they're not the only person that feels that way, right, and then they, then they form their bun and their friendship. So we got some, some patients. They literally come to play karaoke, sing karaoke, eat tacos together and have fun and they act like they're like have never seen each other and they just saw each other last week, right? So it's. It's about building that bond.
Speaker 3:And it sounds like Center World is truly in the community.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, we are.
Speaker 3:Bringing the community out, interactive with them. Yes, that's great.
Speaker 5:And Center World is everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Our marketing team you look up, you have like 50 new patients, but that's thanks to our marketing team because they are out in the community and expressing all those things that we offer. But I know it, it sounds like, oh my goodness, but for us at center, well, that's just the nature, that's, that's just who we are. Um, we want the patient to know they're supported. We want the patient and the caregiver to know that we are a place that you can come and you can have all your needs met and you can walk out the door knowing that you are the center of being well.
Speaker 2:Look, I couldn't put that in your bed.
Speaker 3:Look look, hold on, hold on, no, no, no, listen, listen, hold on, listen. She said something. She act like she can sing a little bit. So go on and say that again with his tongue.
Speaker 2:I mean, I love, I love, I love that, but truly, but truly the way you guys take care of your patients and just really, from the food banks to the the activities, everything it's just commendable and I thank you for taking it because they're, like you said, the forgotten. Yes yes population majority of the time. So I thank you for coming on today and just telling us about the excellence of center world, but also the excellence of their, their staff, because look, you're you. You're just one piece of the huge 11 one piece puzzle.
Speaker 5:It's 11 clinics with providers, with referral coordinators, medical assistants, assistants, front office staff, chws, the high-risk nurse, the pharmacists. We actually have a clinical pharmacist that will go through our patients' medications and give us recommendations. So we have it all.
Speaker 2:One piece or the other, and I know they all think just like you, and so they're in good hands.
Speaker 3:So do me a favor. Yes, let the people know how they can get in contact with CenterWell.
Speaker 5:So Google, centerwell and I promise all 11 locations are going to come and then you just pick the location that's closest to you and then they'll then call and schedule the appointment. And then you may have to do some tweaks with your insurance just to make sure that you have a Medicare Advantage plan, but we have people to help with that. So it's just a matter of picking up the phone and calling your local clinic that's closest to you.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome. Well, dr Mary, it was an absolute pleasure to have you on the journey you did absolutely amazing and we thank you for just the invaluable information that you have given us you guys. That is it for today's episode. We hope you guys found it informing. We hope that you found it just something that you can bring to your family, say, hey, mom, dad, sister, whomever cinderella has your back as, as you're aging and going, you're in good hands here and and here on the journal podcast this is more again, like she said, information to help you with inside your home Right, so you can be a resource to your family and also a resource to your community.
Speaker 2:And so with that, we are out, peace out.
Speaker 4:Hello, I am Germany Murphy and I am the activity coordinator for Centerwell Senior Primary Care, and if you want to get in touch with Centerwell, learn a little bit more, you can go to centerwellseniorprimarycarecom where you can find locations, the number and different activities we are doing in Center. So come out and join us.
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