Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 8.37, it's Guest-O-Rama Tuesday, and it's time to get healthy with your medicine, Finger Lakes Health, and that means we begin with Kimberly Lacqua, who's got events and Soldiers and Sailors celebrations and all kinds of stuff. Good morning.
Kimberly Alakua: Morning, Ted. And we have a brand new provider today, and we always love that, so let's start with some of the events and screenings and things coming up. We have a lot going on, so on Thursday we have our Community Mobility Screening at Geneva General Hospital, as well as at Soldiers and Sailors, and then next Thursday we have our pre-dialysis class, and that's at Geneva General Hospital in the dialysis unit.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, that's really neat, because that's got to be a scary thing for somebody, and then you take them through it, and so when they actually go in, you're not surprised. I mean, what a great program.
Kimberly Alakua: Yeah, it's a very great program. We're very grateful that our dialysis team put this program together. I believe it's been running for about a year now, and I know the patients love it, and it just gives them a sense of comfort and provides them with the education before they start the dialysis treatment.
Paul Szmal: Of course, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We'll be talking more about that during the month, but I know you have some walk-in mammograms coming up.
Kimberly Alakua: We do. On October 9th, we have walk-in mammograms at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital from 8 to 12, and then from 1 to 4 p.m., and again on October 14th at Geneva General Hospital in Women's Health, those same times, 8 to 12 and 1 to 4 p.m.
And then also, we have going on, on October 16th, we're celebrating Salute to Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital. That's going to be an event outside of the hospital in a tent at 2 p.m. Senator O'Mara is going to be a guest speaker. We're going to have the Honor Guard from the American Legion, some other guest speakers. There's going to be birthday cake, cookies. The public is invited. That information can be found on our website.
Also on October 24th is a celebration, the night in the 20s at the mansion at Keuka Lake, which is a fundraiser for Soldiers and Sailors. That is going to be from 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $70 a person. Those are available at flhealth.org. And all proceeds are going to benefit a new digital x-ray room and suite and equipment at Soldiers and Sailors. Also, we have an opportunity for anyone who would like to be part of our Centennial Circle who makes a donation of $100 or more, gets listed on our website, and is part of the Centennial Circle to support Soldiers and Sailors.
We also have Dr. McKenzie Neumeier is a brand new orthopedic surgeon who just started with us, who is going to be starting to see patients next Thursday at IOS in Geneva. And he specializes in the anterior hip replacement approach, so we're very excited about that. And by the way, if you go to flhealth.org, you'll see the link for the Celebrating Soldiers and Sailors, their 100th.
Paul Szmal: I always say we love our old friends that we see year after year, and we love to make new ones. And so we have a new one here today.
Kimberly Alakua: Yes. I'm very excited to introduce to you Dr. Blessing Reese. She is a gastroenterologist with Finger Lakes Gastroenterology. And as you know, we are very committed to increasing access to care for our community, and we continue to increase services for gastroenterology to increase the number of patients that we can screen for colon cancer. So I'm very excited to introduce Dr. Blessing Reese. Dr. Reese, good morning and welcome.
Dr. Blessing Rees: Thank you. Thanks for having me. Good morning.
Paul Szmal: When you came in, you mentioned that Noni Flynn says hi. So tell us how you know Noni.
Dr. Blessing Rees: Oh, that's right. Well, Noni Flynn, apart from being a wonderful human being, is also my mother-in-law.
Paul Szmal: Wow.
Dr. Blessing Rees: So her son, Justin Reese, is my husband. So very happy to have her close by now. I'm sure Kim warned you.
Paul Szmal: I always ask new people to tell us about themselves, where you're from and your path to medicine. I know you were educated in North Carolina, at Northwestern in Chicago, at Harvard. So you've gotten a great education. Tell us about you and where you're from and your path to medicine and Finger Lakes Health.
Dr. Blessing Rees: Perfect. So I was born in Kenya. I grew up there until I was 18 and moved to the Statesville College. My parents were actually Nigerian citizens, but moved there before I was born. So my siblings and I all were raised in Kenya. And growing up there, I was exposed to such a high degree of inequality when it came to health care access and also to quality of health care that people are able to access. And so I knew from a young age that I wanted to, in some way, contribute to improving the health of the community that I was a part of.
So after college, I knew that I wanted to pursue medical school. So I went to University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, for my medical training. And after that, went to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. In between those two things, I got my master's in public health degree from Harvard, which is, I think, a good way for me to kind of understand public health and global health, which is a contrast to medicine, which is much more of a one-on-one kind of interaction between a patient and a provider. So I was in Chicago for six years, completing my internal medicine residency and then my gastroenterology fellowship at Northwestern before moving to this region, because my husband and I have a one-year-old son, and we really wanted to be closer to family. And we have a huge, loving, extended family up in this region, and my siblings are pretty close by in Toronto as well. So that was one of our reasons for looking in this area. And then Finger Lakes Health in particular, it seems like it was a place that really wanted to serve its community, and that's always been a big passion of mine. So it just felt like it was a match made in heaven, and I've been really happy ever since.
Paul Szmal: Now would you ever see yourself going back to Kenya at some point and addressing that inequality in care that you talked about?
Dr. Blessing Rees: I've talked to my husband about this, wanting to in some way contribute back to the community that I grew up in to begin with. And there are a couple of ways to think about doing that. I think it's going to be a little challenging at this stage with having a young child, but I'm hoping that in some way I can, if it's establishing some sort of training program in Nairobi or going and doing some missions work and teaching certain skills to the local providers there to kind of help with addressing certain health issues and improving the access I would love to. That's kind of one of my goals for the future.
Paul Szmal: So how long has Finger Lakes Gastroenterology been open on Routes 5 and 20? It's right up the road from us, not far from the Harley-Davidson. It hasn't been open very long, has it?
Dr. Blessing Rees: I think that office just opened earlier this year. December.
Paul Szmal: Okay, so. Yeah, last December it opened. So that always has to be nice to work in a brand new facility. You've got all the latest shiny tools and everything. I mean, it's like us in radio. When we get a new piece of equipment, we're excited about it.
Dr. Blessing Rees: Oh, absolutely. It's a really spacious facility, a lot of exam rooms, a lot of bright light. It's just a really great facility, I think, for patients to be in and to facilitate healing as well. A lot more with the patient privacy with the larger exam rooms, the larger waiting room. So a lot more patient comfort.
Paul Szmal: All right, so let's start with colonoscopy. When should we get one?
Dr. Blessing Rees: So previously the guidelines were that patients should start screening for colorectal cancer at the age of 50. But because of increasing rates of colorectal cancer, especially among adults under 50, that recommendation was recently changed by the US Preventive Services Task Force to be lowered to 45 as the starting age for screening. The exception to that is if you've had a family member, particularly a first degree family member who has had colorectal cancer in the past, then you want to mention that to your provider because you would need to start screening even earlier at age 40 or 10 years before that family member was diagnosed.
Paul Szmal: So what are some of the other gastroenterology services you offer?
Dr. Blessing Rees: So apart from doing colonoscopies for screening purposes, we also do colonoscopies for other reasons. So patients who have either inflammatory bowel disease, who have, you know, who recovered from diverticulitis, patients who require operandoscopies for reflex disease or abdominal pain, patients who have bloating. You know, we see a lot of patients both in the office and in the procedure suite. And so we just offer a range of procedures and services for patients.
Paul Szmal: So that reflux disease is something I don't remember hearing very much about when I was young. Is there, do our diets contribute to that, or why is there, or is it just better awareness?
Dr. Blessing Rees: I know sometimes it's better awareness of a problem. Yeah, reflux disease is one of the more common things we see in the GI practices these days. Sometimes it's triggered by certain foods people eat. So, you know, some people will say that eating tomato-based products really kicks up their reflux or, you know, spicy foods can do the same thing. Some people it's chocolate. And we have a lot of really great medications now to manage people's reflux disease. And it's important to do so because, you know, in some populations that can predispose you to esophageal cancer. And so, you know, I think addressing those symptoms early is really important for patients.
Paul Szmal: So what is hepatology?
Dr. Blessing Rees: Hepatology is the study of liver disease. And so that spans anywhere from fatty liver, which is one of the most common liver diseases in the U.S., often related to our diet and our lifestyle being more sedentary, to autoimmune disease, so autoimmune processes in the liver. It also, you know, people who have cirrhosis, which is an end stage of liver disease, which can be from a whole host of different reasons. So that's all under the umbrella of hepatology. And that's also a service that we provide at Finger Lakes Health.
Paul Szmal: I know alcohol is one cause, obviously, of cirrhosis. What's a good amount, I guess, if there is such a thing, of alcohol for someone to drink?
Dr. Blessing Rees: Well, there are standards set out for what classifies as too much alcohol consumption. And so for women, it's drinking more than seven drinks in a week. And for men, it's drinking more than 14 drinks in a week. Some people think that as long as they stay under that number, that, you know, they're fine, which I would just caution people against, because we know that prolonged exposure to alcohol can have really lasting effects on the liver. And then also, you know, binge drinking. So some people will just say, I just had, you know, a couple of drinks just on Saturday or just on Sunday. Binge drinking has also been shown to have problems to contribute to liver disease, if not more so than drinking steadily every day.
Paul Szmal: What are some of the preventive things we can do so that we don't have to come see Finger Lakes Gastroenterology? I mean, I'm sure things like fiber in the diet.
Dr. Blessing Rees: That's right. So diet is a big factor. So you know, in America and in many countries, people's fiber intake is way below what the daily dose should be. So increasing fiber intake, you know, there are supplements, fiber supplements people can use, but really just sticking to diets that are high in vegetables and fruits. And then also staying active as well, because we know that the sedentary lifestyle is in some ways contributing to a lot of our GI disorders. So, you know, really just, you know, what we all kind of learned about 10, 20 years ago when you're in school, just eating healthy and staying active is really going to keep you out of the GI office.
Paul Szmal: We've all heard the sort of generic term heartburn. How do we know when it might be something more and we'd better not just ignore it or take an over-the-counter thing and better take the next step and come see you?
Dr. Blessing Rees: So heartburn is an interesting one, because if someone has heartburn, but then also has, say, left-sided, you know, left arm pain or left-sided neck pain or jaw pain, we really want patients to also consider their heart as a potential cause, because it can be really difficult to differentiate those two things. But say your heart is healthy and you are just having this heartburn, say, off to eating, then if you're having it rather infrequently, it just comes on maybe once a month, and usually that's nothing to be concerned about. But if you're, you know, noticing that it's coming on more frequently and the heartburn is very severe, then just get checked out with your GI doctor, because it can be really treated really easily with some safe medications and can reduce your risk for further esophageal damage.
Paul Szmal: All right, Finger Lakes Gastroenterology is at 1150 Roots 5 and 20, just north of downtown, and they're taking patients right now, Monday through Thursday, 8 to 5. The number is 315-787-5310. They're open from 8 to 3 on Friday, 315-787-5310. Dr. Blessing Rees, delightful to meet you, and I'm sure we'll talk again. Welcome to the area, and thanks for sharing your knowledge with us today.
Dr. Blessing Rees: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Paul Szmal: All right, Kim, thank you as always.
Kimberly Alakua: Thanks, Ted. Don't forget, it's the 100th anniversary of Soldiers and Sailors, more fun events coming up. It's 8.50 at Finger Lakes Morning.
