HPV is the human papillomavirus.

It is a virus that is, very common, affecting approximately eighty five percent of people throughout their life. Everyone's at risk, both men and women. So initially, people used to associate it more with women thinking about cervical cancer, but it is also found in men causing other types of cancer including oropharyngeal, anal, and rectal cancers. Unlike other sexually transmitted infections that are often transmitted by bodily fluids, HPV is transmitted through intimate skin to skin contact.

For prevention, we do have an HPV vaccine. It has been, highly tested and reviewed over the last fifteen years. It'd been found to be safe. It is typically given around eleven or twelve years of age, but it is FDA approved to give up until the age of forty five for both men and women for those typically that are at a high risk.

We prefer to get that vaccine in the child's system before they are at that increased risk with being sexually active. If the first dose of the HPV vaccine is given before the age of fifteen, it is a two dose series. One is given, and then six to twelve months later, a second dose is given. This gives you complete immunization, and you should not need any boosters later in life.

In summary, it's very important to have this discussion with your or your child's primary care provider to discuss the risk and benefits of the HPV vaccine and to discuss the complications that can occur down the line from having an HPV infection.

Here at Baptist Floyd, we have a level two NICU. And should your infant need, specialized care, we are able to take care of those babies that are thirty two weeks or greater, babies that weigh fifteen hundred grams or more, so approximately three pounds five ounces. We can take care of babies that have respiratory distress, prematurity, babies that might need antibiotics for a certain reason, babies that have low blood sugar, or even something as simple as, needing phototherapy for a high jaundice level.

One of the most important things about having the NICU here at Baptist Floyd in Southern Indiana is knowing that the parents can actually stay local to the area. Having a level two NICU here at the hospital with coverage provided by experienced providers that are in house for twenty four hours a day, seven days a week can give those families a little bit of extra security and comfort knowing that their babies are well taken care of. I think it's really important to keep mothers and babies together because it provides a sense of bonding. It helps the babies grow actually if the moms, can stay along with their babies.

I have a deep seated love for babies. So knowing that I could to help the tiniest of babies, in the beginning of their lives, and I kinda shape that for the parents' future, it's a very rewarding experience.

Gastroparesis or paralysis of the stomach, it's, a pretty rare condition. And so we're still learning a lot about it. But what we do know is that whenever somebody does develop it, it can change their lives pretty dramatically. Unfortunately, there's really no good medication that's meant to be a long term fix for that problem.

So that's where somebody like me, a surgeon, comes in. What, I include is endoscopic Botox injection of the pylorus muscle. The whole idea is we're trying to relax a muscle, and that muscle is the end of the stomach. And depending on how a patient, tolerates that, if that completely relieves their symptoms, excellent.

You know, we go in, we do a surgery to make that change permanent. We call that a pyloroplasty, where we open up the end of the stomach and make it wider than it was before. For patients that do not respond to Botox, we sort of think of it as the stomach as a failed organ. And so what we do is we remove about ninety to ninety five percent of the stomach and then reroute the intestine to connect to the stomach.

If anybody's ever heard of a, Roux en Y Gastro bypass for the purposes of weight loss, it is essentially the same thing. When we have patients that are suffering for months, years, sometimes their whole lives with with gastroparesis, it's, very satisfying to offer them a surgical solution that really makes them feel better from the moment they they wake up. And we are talking about a life changing effort, so we are seeing a lot of good outcomes with patients.

High blood pressure is often called the silent killer because usually patients do not show symptoms until significant damage has been done to the body and they end up having serious diseases like heart failure, heart attack, stroke, and even vision loss. For healthy adults, the recommended blood pressure level is less than one twenty over eighty. For elderly above sixty years of age, you can be more lenient. A blood pressure level of one thirty of over eighty is okay as well.

The best way to manage or lower your blood pressure includes lifestyle modifications like daily regular exercise. We recommend at least thirty minutes of moderate intensity exercise. Most days of the week, eating healthy diet, like focusing more on fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, trying to avoid high fat products, sugary products, cutting down on alcohol, quitting smoking. All these healthy lifestyle choices can help bring down your blood pressure significantly.

And for those in whom lifestyle modifications are not enough, we do have medicines that help lower the blood pressure. There are certain groups of people who should be vigilant about monitoring their blood pressure, especially the elderly, those with underlying kidney disease, diabetics, pregnant women, those who are overweight or obese, and those who have a family history of hypertension or heart disease. Here at Baptist Health Corbin, we can help manage your blood pressure so that you can go on and live a healthy and happy life.

Heart failure is a very complex clinical syndrome, due to either, deficiency, the filling of the heart or stiffening of the heart, not able to fill adequately, or due to weakness of the heart muscle resulting in decreased pumping of the heart.

Heart failure can certainly be prevented because it is caused most commonly by certain conditions.

They can make lifestyle changes to control their blood pressure, control their diabetes if they're diabetic, do regular exercise, control all the risk factors for coronary heart disease, like smoking and high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol. And once they get into heart failure, of course, they have to be under the care of a provider, where they are treated according to the guideline directed medical therapy. Patients who present with acute heart failure, they're treated in the hospital setting with aggressive IV diuretic therapy. And then once they are stabilized, they go into heart failure clinic where they are closely followed to make sure patient continues to remain stable and they are following all the recommendations appropriately.

There's a misconception about heart failure that it's a heart attack and it's a death sentence. It's not a terminal condition. It's a condition that can be treated very well and treated appropriately with all the advances that we have made in research on heart failure. We got excellent drugs that will make the patient to live a long, high quality life.

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- [Dr. Blankenship] Patients with orthopedic injuries,
usually an acute case,

would be one that happens from a specific injury and
really needs more of an immediate care as opposed to a

chronic injury symptom that's been there for longer.

- [Dr. Bearden] A lot of patients' first encounters
is at the ER or one of our urgent care facilities,

and they will get in touch with us directly.

And for the most part,
you're going to see one of us to further evaluate you

one on one in the clinic and then figure out the next
steps in your, kind of, treatment and recovery.

- So at the initial appointment,
we really try to get a good history and examination

of that patient to see what individual care we can
provide to that specific patient.

Initially, you know,
sometimes the patient needs different

anti-inflammatory medications,
conservative treatments involving immobilizing that

body part that's been injured,
and oftentimes all these things are done in conjunction

with physical therapy or rehabilitation type programs
that can be initiated to help the patient.

- So our orthopedic team has a lot of experience and
skill treating a broad range of orthopedic problems.

I think we can take care of you and provide very
high-level care right here in your hometown and

in your community.

- I think the fact that here, in Elizabethtown,
that we can provide specialized orthopedic care is so

important for the community to feel comfortable,
close to home, not to have to travel great distances

to give great care.

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